An Introduction to Our Urban Farm

Welcome to our Farmyard!

This is a blog I’ve been meaning to start for months but….well, you know how it goes.  I just never seemed to find the time in the past.  This blog combines two of my passions…writing and urban farming.  I hope you’ll follow along and I also hope you’ll find something useful as we go along.

Credit is due to my wife, Bev.  She is really the spearhead behind this blog.  She has been lovingly prodding me to get this started.  She even took the step of naming the blog, another not-too-subtle hint that I needed to get in gear.

What are we going to do here? We’ll going to talk about all things related to urban farming.  Those of you who know me know my wife and I have one-eighth of an acre smack dab in the middle of Olympia, Washington.  On that one-eighth of an acre we have a large vegetable garden, berries, fruit trees, grapes, chickens, quail, rabbits, goats and guinea pigs.  We still have room for more and we have big plans, so you’ll be able to follow along as our dreams and plans come to fruition.

I believe in urban farming.  I think it is a movement that is gaining momentum in this country and I think it will continue to grow.  The state of the economy, for those of us in the bottom 99%, dictates that changes be made in our lifestyle.  Growing our own organic food is a huge step in the right direction.  Raising birds for fresh eggs is another.  Sharing ideas with neighbors increases a sense of community, bringing people closer together.  Managing an urban farm in a responsible manner helps the environment.

I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Let me give you an overview of what we’re doing, and then I’ll cover a specific topic with each new blog.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

It started with a small, 2’x3’ herb garden.  That was four years ago.  Next we added a 20’x40’ vegetable garden, then five chickens, then last year we began our quail enterprise.  The rest were added as we found the time and funds to do so.

We began, believe it or not, with the belief that lawns are a complete waste of time and effort.  We had a big yard and no desire to constantly mow it, so we decided to eliminate the lawn and put in something productive.  The garden was our answer to Monsanto and other corporations that are slowly poisoning us through our food supply.

WE ARE NOT PERFECT

We make constant mistakes despite the tons of research we do before making any addition or change to our urban farm.  In that way, our farm mirrors life.  About the only thing that can be said about us is that we don’t quit.  We keep trying something until it works for us, and I’ll share our mistakes along the way so you can learn from them.

So we’ll go from here. Thank you for joining us along this journey. I hope we post something that inspires you to give urban farming a try.  Share your ideas in the comments.  Ask questions as well.  We will all learn together.

Bill