Want to be Self-Sufficient?

(click red for your listening pleasure. The Tullymore Polka-The Witch, from Waking Ned Soundtrack)

The infographic below looks pretty intimidating — even for me and I live on a quarter acre urban lot.

Positives: My house roof is ideally situated for solar panels and I have removed much of the original lawn and replaced with productive gardening space.

Negatives: I haven’t installed the solar panels yet; my garden includes only two fruit trees, both peaches which are vulnerable to late spring freezes; I have been thinking about adding chickens but have yet to do so.

The Plan (in this order):

1. plant two apple trees
2. widen garden space in order to produce more vegetables
3. research solar panels — cost is a factor!
4. get serious about the chickens!

This will not make me completely self-sufficient, but it will get me closer to that point.

Home Solar Power Discounts – One Block Off the Grid

Silence

“There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.”

—  Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Waiting for peanuts

We put birdfeeders up in our yard a year or two ago.  We waited to do so until we no longer had outdoor cats of our own, and until we had finally been able to grow the yard into a place inviting to us and to birds.  It didn’t take long for the birds to discover the feeders, different kinds of sparrows and finches showed up, doves soon joined them and even western tanagers for a short time in spring put in an appearance.  Not knowing much about bird identification at the time, we still enjoyed watching them sort through the seed for their favorites.

I’m not sure whether the increase in bird population this year is a result of the passing of the news that there are feeders here or whether it is because the trees are big enough to shelter more and more birds, or whether I am finally just seeing the many here, but it has been a lovely year.  While Tiff (my daughter) was an interpretive volunteer at Bryce Canyon she got to know a member of the staff who is a bird expert and learned much from him.  She in turn passed her enthusiasm on to me, we participated in the Audubon Christmas bird count in Bryce Canyon last year, bought some books, and have been trying to learn a bit more about birds– different species that are in our area, characteristics, etc.  It has made me much more aware of birds in general.  When we went to La Push, Washington in May I saw birds that I’d never noticed before.  I’m sure they had always been there, it was simply that my awareness of them was missing.  Now I see and hear so much more than I did before.

We have now seen warblers, orioles, woodpeckers, a pair of cedar waxwings last winter, and even watched young hawks (I had no idea there were hawks in town!).  There is a robin pair that has been teaching their young how to find worms in what I now call “the nursery” (our front yard garden), and four regular scrub jay visitors that take turns testing the peanuts we put on the patio for just the right one, then hide and transfer their nut of choice from one stash to another in the trees, bushes and garden.

My Turn!

Now that I know the birds are there I have reset my sprinklers to come on at three different times during the evening, night and early morning, dividing the total watering time by three so as not to overwater, to keep the neighborhood cats out of the yard.  Every once in awhile we see a cat trying to sneak into the yard and then it is running time — chasing the cat away like a protective parent.  I happen to like cats but I now keep mine indoors to protect the birds and wish others would do the same.  My awareness of my little outdoor environment, my yard, has changed because of the birds.  I see and listen differently, I plant differently, I interact differently than I used to, before noticing the birds.  It makes me wonder what other wonders I am not “seeing.”

My increased awareness has come at a cost.  The yard is not my exclusive ‘domain’ anymore.  I now knowingly and willingly share the space.  This requires that I not put bug and weed killer on the plants and grass,  I look to see what I will disturb by going out, and I am much more still outside than I used to be.  Mine is a different stillness than that Rachel Carson spoke of in the above quote.  Mine is one of appreciation in order to hear the living world around me.  Carson speaks of the absence of life, the absence of song as a result of DDT usage.  There is a consequence to our actions and we must understand that consequence in order to make an informed choice.  We must be aware of and willing to pay the price.  Silence is not a price that I am willing to pay.

The Church Garden

A friend (thanks, Karin!) has been giving me “heads up” on several earth and people (I know, people are part of the earth, too) friendly things going on.  I’m not going to talk about them here and now but will give links:

1.  A six-story vertical garden  on the facade of a children’s library in San Vicente, Spain

2.  Front yard ‘microfarms’ in Boulder, Colorado

3.  Here is an article about a “Back-yard Urban Garden” CSA (community supported agriculture) project in Salt Lake City.

I’ll let you check those links on your own but want to propose an idea that could happen anywhere.  Have you looked around at all the open space in whatever town you live? Here in Orem, UT there is a lot of open space, vacant lots, unused right of way, etc. that could be used for community gardens, and that isn’t even considering back or front yard space!

See all that grass? What real good is it doing?

Here’s another idea: What if all churches –I live in Utah and most of the church properties are LDS (Mormon) — instead of planting, watering and grooming the large spaces of grass that are typical around many meeting structures, use the space instead for gardens. The watering system could easily be converted to a drip system which would decrease water usage, and there would no longer be a need for mowing.  The gardens would be taken care of by those using that building for church services, much as we now do for custodial work.  It could be a place for ward/parish, family, youth, and scout service projects and the produce would be available for those in that particular congregation, with excess available for families in need, Bishop’s Storehouse, cannery, food bank, etc.  In LDS wards, there are emergency preparedness, family history  and compassionate service specialists (callings),  why not gardening or food production specialist?  It wouldn’t work for every ward or stake, especially in some urban settings where there isn’t the grassy area around the building, but in those where it would work, why not?

It seems to me that there are way too many positives that outweigh negatives.  I realize that not everyone enjoys gardening but I think there are enough that do that it would work.  I have had many youth groups ask if they could help me in my yard/garden as a service project so I’m sure they would be available for something like this.  For those who do not like or are not able to help with the garden, as far as I’m concerned, you can still have some tomatoes and zucchini!  The Little Red Hen story has merit in that it’s always good to help if you can, but there are some who just can’t, for whatever reason and just because someone doesn’t like gardening doesn’t mean the food should rot rather than share!

We put strong emphasis on self-sufficiency in our American/western/Utah/Mormon culture, but we also emphasize service, community, congregation and charity.  This type of enterprise serves all those components — at least as I envision it.  Gardening families like to put their own spin on the “A family that [gardens] together, stays together” and I think that it applies to the ward family, the neighborhood family, the human family as well.

I would really be interested in hearing what others think about the possibilities here.

Yard Gardening, Yes, Front Yard, too!

In the last few years I have seen photos of and read about “edible gardening,” “the sustainable garden,” etc. and have been intrigued by the idea that the garden, whether large or small, can be lovely, relaxing, therapeutic and edible.  What a terrific way to supplement living, especially for urban or suburban residents!  By planting kitchen gardens or even just kitchen pots/boxes the gardener supplements physical health (fresh fruits and veggies aplenty), budget (after the minor investment into seeds and supplies), aesthetics (a producing garden is a lovely sight), mental wellbeing (satisfaction from working, good exercise of mind and body), and the list goes on and on.

For me, working in the garden isn’t really “work” which I consider as doing something I must do but that don’t particularly enjoy.  I enjoy digging and planting, pruning and watering, tending and admiring the growing things around me (sounds like raising children!).  There is weeding that must be done, checking on bugs and things that could be harmful to our garden but overall, it is a refreshing, therapeutic, invigorating exercise.  I feel sadness when something dies (I still don’t know why one of my garlic plants was struggling to thrive and then just keeled over one day) or when someone comes through (raingutter installation man, for example) and steps on tender seedlings without thinking or awareness (how could he not see that I have that area planted?!).

Anyway, enough of that.  Below are some photos showing what I have done with my yard.  The story of  its evolution is for another day.  For now I will just give a brief explanation of each photo.

Photo 1: Walk through, sit, enjoy

Photo 1:  As you can see, not everything is edible!  I also have native (to Utah) trees, shrubs and flowers throughout the yard.  This is in the front; it used to be the standard plot of water guzzling grass but I started from the outer perimeter and over a period of years (because my kids were shocked that I wanted to get rid of the grass) gradually shrank the grass until it wasn’t such a shock to do away with it entirely (yes, it was subversive, but it worked!).  Now I have a fourteen foot diameter circular garden encircled by a bark path.  The remaining space around the perimeter of the front yard space that you can’t really see is a mix of trees, flowers, shrubs, pots, posts, etc.  It still gets enough sun for the veggies while providing privacy from the sidewalk and street.

Photo 2: Lettuce, cabbage and garlic in the front

Photo 2:  This is a closeup of the circular garden.  Very easy to build, very easy to tend.  I planted five different varieties of garlic, each variety  a spoke on the wheel to delineate the sections which hold cabbage, bush beans, cucumbers, crookneck squash and peppers.  The perimeter of the circle is also divided into sections by the garlic spokes, each section housing either carrots, beets, oak leaf lettuce, spinach or radishes.  These are giving way to the larger plants in the inner areas as their season passes and they are pulled.  I have lifted one wheel spoke of garlic, the earliest maturing Amish variety, and have replaced it with a row of swiss chard which is now up and doing well.  It’s all very fun.

Photo 3: Garlic and beans

Photo 3:Another shot of the circular garden, with a bean tower in the background. A neighbor described what he saw as my kiva and teepee. I laughed, but there are actually some similarities between my garden and a kiva– both are places of spiritual nurturing and appreciation and worship of the creator. My bean tower is made from tree branch poles I have brought back from my beloved Olympic Peninsula. This was the most recent thing I did this year, just last week even, and so the beans are barely coming up. That’s okay though because the bush beans are doing just fine.

Photo 4: Tomatoes need sun so these are in the sunny south flowerbed

Photo 4:Finally, to the back yard, against the south facing side house in a former flower bed. This most sunny spot in my yard is perfect for tomatoes and peppers so here they go with the phlox, honeysuckle and mock orange. I am going to smother more of the grass this fall with paper and leaves so that next year there will be an additional two feet out (total of 10 sf) for even more tomatoes and peppers.

My photos are amateur, as is my gardening but it is working for me and my family. Neither will show up in a slick home/garden magazine but I really do love gardening, harvesting, and learning more about growing and producing food. If you have never had the opportunity to pick a tomato from a plant in your garden, sit on the porch with a salt shaker and eat it like an apple with juice running down your arms as you savor the flavor, you still can! I just got an email today, July 7th, from a local nursery advertising vegetable plants 2 for 1! It’s not too late, growing your own is a wonderful experience.

Invitation: Are you growing your own food? Want to share your experiences, advice, photos? Questions?