Slow Dosing

     We live in a world pervaded by industrial chemicals; in fact, they are fed to us from the time we are in the womb until we die.  We touch and absorb them; we breathe them in; and unwittingly, we put them into and onto our bodies.  And we are exposed in ways that are not at all obvious.  For example, that mouse you are scrolling with and the cushion you are resting on, most likely are slow dosing you with BPA, phthalates and flame retardants.  The hand sanitizer or lotion you just rubbed into your hands probably has parabens; even your toothpaste and the food digesting in your stomach.  These chemicals enter your body and many of them mimic estrogen, contributing to health problems, such as breast cancer, thyroid issues, early puberty, and endocrine disruptions.  There are so many different chemicals and compounds in our everyday environment that it is impossible to escape exposure: even penguins in Antarctica were recently found to have DDT in their bodies.
     You might be saying to yourself, "What's the big deal? There's nothing wrong with me, even if I am exposed every day." And on the surface, you are probably right.  But you were young once, half of you are female, and you will be elderly someday, too, and those are the demographics of people most often affected by these exposures.  If you are pregnant, the fetus growing inside of you is being exposed to the same toxins and will be fed them through the milk of your breasts.  How insidious is that?  But I'm just trying to scare you, right?  Surely, someone would step in and do something if there is such a high risk to our health, right?  Who might that someone be? The FDA, the USDA and the EPA, each charged with an aspect of public health, all allow these chemicals to be manufactured and used.  In fact, they don't even do any of the testing themselves.  Instead, they rely on the research of the corporations that benefit financially from them.  And these tests often exclude important data, such as affects on mammary glands.
       So, what are we to do?  We can't hide from these chemicals in the woods and we can't shed our "body burden," as the build-up of these toxins in our bodies is known.  The agencies which are supposed to protect us are filled with bureaucrats who revolve jobs between the government, lobbying firms, and the corporations who benefit from this system.  As I see it, the best we can do is educate and advocate. Be a conscious consumer: learn about the health risks of these chemicals, where they are found, and do your best to choose products without them.  And support the companies that are doing the right thing, even if it costs a little bit more money.  Corporations aren't the only ones who can vote with their money!  And become an advocate: tell your friends and family about what you've learned, write letters to your elected officials, write to the offending corporations (the employees were once young, may be female, probably have a mother, might have grey hairs, and are still human!), or start a petition of your own.  We often think we can't do much on our own, but that is a mistake.  There are so many people just waiting for someone else to start the ball rolling that if one of us just gave it that first push, the momentum would naturally build! Another way to advocate is to become more self-sufficient.  You want soap or lotion that doesn't have parabens?  Learn how to make it yourself.  Don't want to breathe noxious fumes from cleaning agents? Read up on natural cleansers like vinegar, baking soda, and lemon.  Rather not eat food from cans lined with BPA? Grow a garden and preserve your own produce!  Whatever avenue you choose, the most important thing to remember is that if we do nothing, then nothing will change!      

Here Comes The Sun

May is here and with it, the sun! Well, sort of.  Today was blustery, raining off and on (which means free water!) and two days ago we had a light frost.  And tomorrow night will be colder than that last frost.  But, last week, the temperature was in the mid-70s for a few days, bringing everything to life and shooting upward, including the spinach and pea seeds that had laid dormant for several weeks.  The leaves and blossoms came out on all the trees and the grass grew wild (I already have to cut it again!).  The sun brought out people, too, walking and jogging and working in their yards.  The sounds of lawnmowers and weed whackers could be heard, but so could the songs of all the lovely birds darting to and fro. 

I don't know that I have ever appreciated springtime more than I do this year.  With spring comes the opportunity to really dig in and put into motion this homesteading experiment.  Too cold to plant outside, Carrie (my partner) and I were growing seedlings of all kinds in recyclable containers on a plant shelf in our laundry room.  As the weather has improved, we've been testing what we can get away with in order to extend our growing season; for instance, we moved the cold frame from the lettuce since they are now established and cold-hardy and put in some tomatoes.  And now, we are ready to move many more of the seedlings and starts into beds in the garden, including a dozen more tomatoes!  We still have LOTS of work to do (my head starts spinning just thinking about it) but we are already enjoying fresh lettuce from our kitchen garden. 

I have so much more to write and tell about, but this short post will have to do for now.  I hope that you, dear reader, are as happy as I am to see the miracle of life unfolding before us, all courtesy of the sun!     
     

The Tides of March

So, what happens when March comes in like a lamb and is swallowed by the lion on its way out?  The lettuce turns to watercress in the cold frame, that's what.  I learned an important lesson today, the hard way: observe where the high ground lays and plant there!  Right now, our lettuce seedlings are getting drenched and there is not much I can do about it, except hope they will survive and wait to see. Our town must be anchored in place by its trees, or I think we would float downstream.  The water table is currently about two feet below ground level, as I found out while digging holes for my fence posts between rainstorms last week.  At least, it was that deep before the umpteen inches of rain we've received over the past week.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I figure that as long as it is snowing in the mountains that surround our valley, the fish, fowl, and farmers will have water longer into the summer, which might ease some of the pressure of government over-regulation that plagues us here.  But in the meantime, my lettuce is swimming!  Swimming, I tell ya! All hysterics aside, I did almost complete my deer fence; just one more gate to build, and a strand or two of wire to put above the six foot high orchard fencing.  I figure if a deer is going to jump over an eight foot fence, there is really not much I can do to keep it out, except that it might be healthy enough to eat. Fuwhip! goes the crossbow.  Just kidding....kinda.  So, along with everything else, digging garden beds, planting seedlings, etc., my deer fence will just have to wait until the Tide of March goes out.    

Opportunities A-Brewing!

Like the late winter storms swirling about, much has been brewing on the "steadfront."  Not as much in the way of actual gardening as I had hoped for a month ago, but it's still wet and cold out there.  I did get some oat and clover seeds planted in part of the pasture in hopes of replacing the weeds with a more useful green manure crop.  And my partner and I have been nursing seedlings of lettuce, kale, broccoli, and FINALLY our tomatoes, which just needed a little warmth in front of the heater, apparently.  A cold-frame is next on the to-be-built list, so the lettuce has a place to grow.
Outside the garden, we have been developing some local food-independence opportunities. The first opportunity is a subscription to a CSA, or community-supported agriculture.  For less than $60 per week, our family will get fresh produce, half a dozen eggs, rice, and honey and then, each month, 8 lbs. of organic, locally-grown beef and two whole chickens!  The second opportunity is a "cowshare," which is a group of people who buy a milk cow together and share the repsonsibilities of milking and caring for the cow.  So, we'll have fresh milk, butter, and maybe even yogurt and cheese!  The third opportunity is a farmers' market that my partner and I are organizing with some other locals and hoping to get off the ground at the start of summer.
And we've been busy in the kitchen, too, cooking with food from the local co-op!  I made two loaves of bread last night and cornmeal pancakes this morning.  Today, I will make some cornbread to go with chili a friend is bringing to an organizing meeting for the farmers' market! 
But first, I'm going to go play in the dirt, er, mud, now, after the rain last night.  There's a deer fence to build, garden beds to plot and dig, compost containers to construct, cold-frames to build.....you get the picture!  Plenty to keep us busy and healthy!

An Urban Homesteading Primer

     Winter often provides perfect reading weather.  When it's cold and raining or snowing outside (like today!), I love to lounge on the couch by the window with some hot tea and a good book.  And to prepare for spring, I have been reading books and literature online about gardening.  I have also ordered enough used books online (I've been assured they will get here soon!) to start a small library.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying several books, including Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living. 
     Authored by Rachel Kaplan with K. Ruby Blume, this has been the perfect book for me to start with because it is a methodical outline of the principles and practices of homesteading, with an urban twist.  This book is Urban Homesteading 101.  But as the subtitle says, these are heirloom skills, often practiced for centuries, which can be applied anywhere, urban or rural.  The crux of the book is permaculture, which, simply put, is a practice of agriculture that sustains itself over time.  In each chapter, the authors discuss a different aspect of farm life and illustrate, through instruction and interviews with other homesteaders, how this movement embodies three ethics of permaculture:  

• Earth care - recognizing the earth as the source of all life.  The earth is also a living entity and we are a part of that life.  
• People care - "supporting and helping and helping each other change to ways of living that do not harm us or the planet, including developing healthy societies that prioritize the first principle, earth care." 
• Fair share - "placing limits on consumption of earth's limited resources, ensuring they are used in ways that are equitable and wise."

     I have no way of knowing, dear reader, where you are on your path, but for me, this ethic of responsible social, economical, environmental, and spiritual living makes perfect sense.  I believe the need for real change in how our society interacts with its members and with the earth is urgent.  How can we expect to survive, even as individuals let alone as a society, when we are so disconnected from the earth and each other?  But, you know, even surviving is not good enough.  Survival is a bare, stripped down and harsh reality...no where near the life of beauty and purpose we seek to create in every new generation, the hope we have for every new life to flourish and thrive, to achieve the highest opportunity of its existence.  That is what we secretly want without daring to express it, fearful that our hope will be mocked or proven false.  But what could possibly be more important than living to our highest potential as individuals and as a society?  Isn't that honoring the Creation?  And when will we choose that for ourselves, if not in this moment, in every moment?  A few lines from Hafiz, that brilliant poet:

 One regret, dear world,

That I am determined not to have

When I am lying on my deathbed

Is that

I did not kiss you enough.



     I encourage you, dear reader, to examine your life and see if there is not more room to love yourself, your community, and Nature.  It's a never-ending choice, but I find that when I do open myself to that reality, I can rejoice in the abundance of God and the Universe and share that love.  And if you are interested in how to put that love into action, I encourage you to read this book.     

Why an Urban Farm?

     By now, you must be dying to ask, "Hey, Pete, what's with the 'urban farm?'"  So, I'll tell you....

  ...It all started eight years ago, while writing an argumentative essay for a college English class.  I picked a topic I had seen in a newspaper headline: drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.  At the time, I thought, "Hey, why not? America needs oil and there's hardly anyone in Alaska, right?"  My initial research yielded lots of articles and information in favor of drilling wells in the final five percent of Alaska's coastline not yet open to oil exploration.  But then, I found reports from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  In them was detailed information about the many small pockets of oil spread over most of the thin sliver of coastal tundra where caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, tens of thousands of birds, and many other species raise their young during the short summer months before starting their migrations, often thousands of miles long.  So, I began to realize the impact that wells, roads, pipelines, oil spills, and trash would have on this unique habitat.  (For more details, my essay can be read here.) 
     At that point, I had to ask myself, "If not oil, then what?"  That question led me to solar and wind and renewable fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol (not starch-based), which can be made from hundreds of feedstocks, including about seventy percent of landfill materials.  Fuel from trash?  Suddenly the image of Christopher Lloyd putting banana peels and coffee grounds into a time-traveling Delorian came to mind.  And then I read a speech given by William McDonough, in which he outlined three principles of "sustainability":
   1.  Waste Equals Food - Eliminate the concept of waste.  There is only food for another metabolism.
   2.  Only Use Nature's Income - Nature does not go into debt to survive, so why should we?
   3.  Respect Biodiversity -  Sustainable solutions must be tailored for each situation. 
In the speech, McDonough quoted Thomas Jefferson (my paraphrasing):

The world belongs to the living; the dead have neither rights nor power over it.

Therefore, a man can only use what can be replenished during his lifetime,

or he creates a debt for future generations.

Generational tyranny?  Planning for seven generations ahead?  My father's words are always next in my mind:  Always leave a place better than you found it.  The "what" was crystal clear.  But not the "how"... 

     So, I struggled from then on with what to do with this new realization.  But I also lived my life.  I moved to Los Angeles for six years, finished school, got married, and started working in the film business.  I drove on the freeways and wished I didn't have to.  I daydreamed about building lightweight, three-wheeled cars and installing solar panels on every roof in the city.  I took long walks along a stretch of the L.A. River where the bed hadn't been cemented over and plants and wildlife abounded.  I tried guerrilla gardening, and I started a small garden at my apartment complex.  But some things fail, and I found myself back home in Northern California nursing a broken heart and figuring out what to do with my life. And slowly a picture formed in my mind.  First, there was a rocking chair on the porch of a log cabin I would build.  And then there were sheep and a garden to tend.  But I met The One and the vision changed...an urban farm... a homestead where we could create a life together and honor each other and the Earth. And now, you can follow the rest of the story as we co-create it, rejoicing over the abundance of God and the Universe....        

A Welcome Confession

     Welcome, dear reader, to this blog, this place in cyberspace to share exploits, ideas and hopes and dreams of life on an urban farm.  And to start this blog off.....a confession!....I am not an urban farmer.  At least, not yet!  In fact, except for landscaping and pouring kibble in a bowl, I have little experience with gardening or caring for animals.  What I do have, however, is a love of Nature, a burning desire to break free from the bondage of consumerism and a vacant city lot with full southern exposure!  Coupled with a can-do attitude, a voracious appetite for knowledge, and a wonderful partner, I am confident about our success.  The goal is to turn an old barn and horse pasture into a passive solar home and thriving, healthy, food-based ecosystem.  No problem....er...right...?

     As spring approaches, we will be rolling up our sleeves and building fences, digging planting beds, and sowing our seeds with tender love and care.  And along with growing food, we want to grow as people and serve our community.  So, please visit us often to read about our urban farming adventure and feel free to comment and share your thoughts, inspire us with your stories, or offer friendly advice.  May warm thoughts about sunny summer days in the garden sustain us all through the rest of winter!