On one hand, there are people with plenty of space but no time, desire, or skill. On the other hand, there are people with the time, desire and skill, but no space.

What if there were a service that matches these two kinds of people?

SharingBackyards.com wants to do just that. It is a cool mashup using Google maps. You can zoom in on any area looking for people who have space or want space.

By the end of the year, Genesee County Land Bank will have almost 3,000 vacant residential lots in the city of Flint, MI. There is a silver lining to the house mess though: A growing army of urban farmers and gardeners is turning those vacant lots into vegetable gardens.

Click Here to read the article.

There is an article in Civil Eats Brigid Gaffikin about raising chickens. She writes about her emotional struggle between seeing chickens as pets and seeing them as food.

For anyone considering raising chickens (particularly an old softie like me) it is a must-read:

Click Here to read the article

I found this great upbeat article in World Changing about turning things around in Philadelphia.

Imagine instead that, 20 years from now, Philadelphia’s green economy enables everyone to work a few hours creatively daily, then relax with family and friends to enjoy top-quality local, healthy food. To enjoy clean low-cost warm housing, clean and safe transport, high-quality handcrafted clothes and household goods. To enjoy creating and playing together, growing up and growing old in supportive neighborhoods where everyone is valuable. And to do this while replenishing rather than depleting the planet.

Paul’s plan for Philly could be implemented almost anywhere.

Click Here to read this great article.

The Living Cincinnati blog brings news that urban farming is coming to Cincinnati:

Well it turns out that City Council last week finally passed a plan for mini-farms. What is a mini farm or an urban farm? Well, its exactly what it sounds like: a small farm in an urban setting. Why you ask? Well, there is always a question of what to do with some of the vacant unusable city plots of land. Most of them are unbuildable plots and just sit vacant and uncared for. Many major cities have started using these plats as small gardens and farms for city dwellers. The exact details will be worked out in the next month. City officials must decide how to lease the plots, and whether to charge anything. Lets hope they don’t. Bring back the victory gardens of WWI & WWII.

Click Here to read the blog post

Click Here to read the article in the Cincinnati Enquirer

The Portland Urban Farm Project has formed. The Portland Urban Farm Project’s mission is:

• To grow food locally within neighborhoods
• To share resources
• To build community

Citizens are rising up all over the country, taking n their local city council for the right to raise chickens, goats, and other small farm animals on their property. The latest is Ypsilanti, Michigan.

The nonprofit Growing Hope is working with interested city residents and leaders to renew discussion of what Amanda Edmonds hopes will be changes in Ypsilanti city ordinances.

“We’re not neutral,” said Edmonds, founder and executive director of the group that runs the downtown farmers market, community garden and education programs in Ypsilanti. “We’re advocates for urban agriculture. Our role is to disseminate information about best practices and the experience in other communities.”

Click Here to read more.

Here is a great article in Suite101.com about how to grow asparagus from seed:

Click Here

William Edward Cureton, II is known throughout Alabama, and beyond, as “Captain Compost”, and the purpose of his website is to encourage all gardeners from around the world to enjoy
and experiment with the amazing modern world of organic and sustainable gardening.

William is one of the main authors of the organic gardening forum FAQ page on GardenWeb.com.
He is the moderator on the composting forum on DirtDoctor.com. The “Captain” is also very popular on the Rodale Organic Gardening website forums.

Visit Captain Compost.

Urban Farmer is an eco-friendly garden and flower seed company. They use recycled magazines to hand package all of their fruit, vegetable, herb and flower seeds. They use only the highest quality heirloom seeds in our packets. Check out the entire selection of garden seeds at:

www.ufseeds.com.

Farmer Greg showed up at Blogger Dave’s house to deliver a solar oven. While there he showed Dave how to prune a new peach tree:

Most urban farmers confine their agricultural efforts to vegetables, fruit, and the occasional egg-laying chicken. But on her small plot in Oakland, California, Novella Carpenter has raised bees, goats, rabbits, geese, and turkey, among other fauna.

Culinate interviews Novella here.

 

AZ Sustainability has this article about a new Farmers Market coming to Phoenix January 31.

I also just found out about a new Farmer’s Market in Downtown Glendale on Saturday mornings, on Glendale Ave next to the Mad Hatter.

San Francisco resident Catherine Butler has recently started a consulting firm specifically for the purpose of helping you become an urban farmer.

Urban Edibles is an edible landscaping and permaculture design company whose purpose is to maximize productivity of urban spaces, localize food production, and promote community self-reliance, surplus sharing, food security, and ecological knowledge.

Catherine offers a free one-hour consultation. Urban Edibles can be your full-service farmer in your own backyard or if you are the dot-it-yourself type you can retain her simply for her consulting services, including:

–Backyard Farming with maintenance and harvesting help
–Complete Organic Gardening Services
–Edible Landscape Design
–Permaculture Design
–Medicinal Herb Gardens
–Habitat Gardens
–Greywater Consultation
–Rainwater Catchment
–Emergency and Disaster Preparedness
–Local Food Security
–Surplus Sharing Networks
–Consultation and Support for Chickens and Ducks
–Beekeeping Services

Visit the Urban Edibles website.

Maria wrote a great article on the City Dirt blog about GReg and The Urban Farm. Lots of great photos!

Click Here to read the article

I just read a great article about Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen and thie urban farm two blocks off Sunset Boulecard in Los Angeles:

Imagine sitting down to a salad of peppery arugula and heirloom tomatoes that you grew yourself. Or a Sunday omelet of eggs laid that morning, served with a thick slice of fresh sourdough, butter and apricot jam — all homemade, of course. Or imagine toasting your friends with a mead made from local honey. Where would you have to move to live like this? A commune in Vermont? A villa in Italy?

Click Here to read the article.

<a href=”http://seattleurbanfarmjournal.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-with-these-seeds.html”>Urban Farm Journal has a great article</a> about seeds. Hybrid seeds vs Open-pollinated vs Genetically-modified if you are new to urban farming this is a must-read. <a href=”http://seattleurbanfarmjournal.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-with-these-seeds.html”>http://seattleurbanfarmjournal.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-with-these-seeds.html</a>

When: Saturday, January 24th from 1:30 to 4:00 PM
Location: The corner of 3rd ave and Palo Verde – 1 block South of Bethany Home on 3rd ave.
Cost: Donation

Each year Chip and Greg give a fruit tree pruning class at the Urban Farm’s other orchard where we will learn to prune both deciduous and citrus trees. And then we turn the trimming over to you and we all learn the proper techniques of pruning. This is a donation workshop and you help us prune the orchard. Bring gloves, pruning tools and saws and a desire to learn.

 

 

One of the blogs I make it a point to visit every week is Tonopah Rab’s. Rob has an organic farm west of Phoenix (near Tonopah, naturally).

His post this week will really awaken the farmer in you.

The Queens County Farm Museum, just inside the New York City limits, has hired its first farmer in decades.

This historic 47-acre farm dates back to 1697. Once owned by Dutch settlers, the Queens County Farm Museum was taken over by the NYC Department of Parks and saved from further development in the mid 1970’s. For 33 years, it has provided much-needed open space and has served as a community center, with visitors and schoolchildren of every age and from every borough in attendance.

Over time, though actual farming on the property was reduced to a 3-acre plot of corn for the anual harvest festival. That is changing.

Queens County Farm Museum has experienced a surge in the level of interest in what they have to offer. Attendance at the farm in 2008 has seen record numbers, and they are now strategizing how best to meet this growing demand. As a start, this year they hired their first farmer in decades.

Click Here to read the article.