Suburban Backyard Farming
Posted on | July 21, 2009 | 5 Comments
What could be more Organic & Thrifty than growing your own food??!?!? It doesn’t get much fresher than stepping outside and harvesting dinner! Gardening has so many levels of fulfillment, and anyone can do it! From roof gardens to containers to community plots, the opportunities abound for local, organic food to grow.
Sharon Astyk, (author of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Homefront) says of the future of suburbia:
“…without the arable farmland we turned into suburbs transformed into gardens, forests, and food producing areas, our kids and grandkids will starve. So we must find some way to make suburbia sustainable” (pg. 147)
Well, here it is, folks. The model we will have no choice but to adopt in the coming years as the cost of oil will soon drive up the costs of shipping food up from California or flying it in from Chile:
I’d love to hear from folks who have already ripped up their laws to farm their suburban plot. How is it working? Are the trade-offs worth it? If you haven’t, what’s prevented you from doing so? And would you be open to allowing someone else come in and farm your front/back yard? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Tags: backyard farms > food not lawns > Sharon Astyk > suburban farming
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July 21st, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
there is a new bussiness in Minneapolis where I live that will “farm” your yard for you, including planting and harvesting the fruits of your/their labour.
we are slowly digging up chucnks of our urban yard and growing food. in our front yard there is a random 4 by 4 ft area with 4 tomatoe plants, in our back yard we have a 12×6 ft veggie garden plus random veggies throughout the flower garden.
July 22nd, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
I can’t believe I have never thought of this. It’s a fabulous idea. We don’t have a yard yet, but I love this.
July 23rd, 2009 @ 11:11 am
I don’t think I’d be willing to tear up our front yard because it would upset my neighbors. I have been thinking about adding some fruit trees to the front though.
We have added a few raised beds to our back yard and some to a wide side yard. We live in an area with very hard/rock-like clay soil, so just planting in the ground is out of the question. Raised beds can be a bit pricey upfront; we’re hoping to add one or two more planting beds each year, plus some berry bushes.
This has been our first year with the garden. We definitely consider it a learning year. We’ve found that we’ve overplanted some things and underplanted others. We’re hoping to plant a little smarter next year.
July 23rd, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
I haven’t gotten started on our yard yet, but I did discover a book, “The Urban Homestead”, that has a ton of great projects and advice on urban farming and more.
July 24th, 2009 @ 10:02 am
Hi! I found you through Campaign for Real Health
It was fun finding planters made from sustainable material, non-fertilizer soil and worm-poo for fertilizer 
We currently live in an apartment in a Canadian city… and we’re Urban Gardeners. Our balcony is TINY and we’ve been able to grow organic carrots, garlic, peas and strawberries this year- from seed
It has been so much fun, and we can’t wait to expand our little urban garden to include peppers, lettuce and other treats for next season!