With more people moving to cities, our food sources tend to get farther away from us. Urban gardening and urban agriculture are great ways to produce food for the masses where they are. It’s startling easy to grow food, even on a balcony or porch. Growing our own food gives us a greater appreciation for its value. Other types of urban gardening include hydroponic farms, rooftop gardens and farms, community gardens and guerrilla gardening.
I was very excited about planting kale for a winter harvest in my sun room. It was with great glee that I lovingly planted several seeds in each of my starter pots and laid them out on a baking sheet. They started coming up after only a few days, and I was giddy thinking about …
A morning where I can get dirt under my fingernails is a good morning, and this was a good morning. I followed some online advice about getting rid of the gnats I mentioned in my previous post, and it seemed to have worked. I mixed a tablespoon of neem oil, a tablespoon of non-toxic dish …
I have several times extolled the greatness of St. Petersburg, Florida, and I found yet another reason to love this little city. I am a big fan of composting. I don’t believe in throwing vegetable scraps filled with nutrients in the garbage to end up in a landfill. For one thing, they would contribute to …
For those of you who really know me, you’re probably surprised that I’d like to get some backyard chickens. Surprised because, at the moment, I eat neither chicken nor eggs! However, backyard chickens offer a few remedies to the reasons for my food choices. First, the reason I don’t eat chicken is because of the …
Today is the beginning of 18-days of adventures in permaculture. Several months ago, I signed up for a course in Eugene, Oregon that should result in a Permaculture Design Certificate. I say “should” because it probably won’t result in this certificate. Why? Because I just found out, quite coincidentally, that the structure of this course …
Last weekend, I had the good fortune of going to the ECHO farm in North Ft. Myers with my good friend, Tenille. Their website states: “Our goal is to improve the abilities of international community development workers assisting poor farmers by providing useful, important information and by networking their skills and knowledge with each other. …
Weeds… here in Florida, we all have them. They’re growing out from the cracks in our driveway and lanai. We pull them up, but they grow right back. It’s so tempting to spray them with poisonous weed killing agents and be done with them. But there’s another solution that doesn’t involve harmful chemicals leeching into …
Earlier this year, I had the brilliant idea of putting hoops over my garden. I cleverly did this using some PVC plumbing pipes. They came in 10 foot lengths, and I used brackets to hook them to my garden at 2-foot intervals. I was then lucky enough to find that Gardener’s Supply sells big sheets …
The absolute best part about growing your own food: eating it. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to savor the juicy flavor of homegrown fruits and veggies. I have begun to harvest some of my food, and it’s amazing! I have eaten three delicious strawberries and had 4 salads using my lettuce.
While we concentrate on putting good things into our own body, we should also think of our pets. What sorts of additives and ingredients are in their food? Most mainstream pet food contains “animal meal” – which means ground up miscellaneous animal parts. Often, the meal included cats and dogs. So, in essence, you are …