Back to the (micro) farm
Posted: January 9, 2012 Filed under: 2. Water Security, 3. Food Security Comments Off on Back to the (micro) farmAfter taking off December from posting to sell one business, launch another, and take a much need vacation to see the sun again, we’re back and ready to dive into our winter projects as we seek ways to opt out en masse fro the typical North American culture.
First up was finishing up a lean-to style greenhouse so we can continue growing our own food throughout our dark winter.We started with digging in to lay a foundation and finished with adding water barrels to store emergency water and absorb heat during the day (to then release at night).
Side note on the water barrels: they also serve as a more long term economical (and environmental) solution for storing emergency drinking water. Several years ago we bought (lots) of 1 gallon plastic containers to keep on hand in case of emergencies. It’s a lot of plastic and cardboard that now, when it is time for me to cycle back in, I have to find other uses for. Oops. Since I don’t want to repeat this every few years for the rest of my life, the food-grade plastic rain barrels and a siphon are a much better long term solution.
Staying on top of sowing
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security Comments Off on Staying on top of sowing
My favorite new free online tool to help with our food production schedule is SproutRobot, a dog-simple website from a startup down in Texas.
It’s not only straightforward and easy to use, the diagrams and instructions are hip and enjoyable to read over with my kids. It’s not flexible enough (yet) to encompass special cases like cold frames, greenhouses, and grow lights into the sowing recommendation schedule, but it’s an excellent start.
When slugs mate
Posted: October 18, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security Comments Off on When slugs mate
From the files of “I-wish-I-had-not-seen-that” I bring you…When Slugs Mate!
This is decidedly *not* what you want to see near your food production beds. Or actually in any other location.
Ugh.
Map Your Neighborhood Step 10
Posted: October 12, 2011 Filed under: 1. Philosophy, 2. Water Security, 3. Food Security, 4. Energy Security, 5. Alt Transportation, 6. Personal Training, 7. Physical Security Comments Off on Map Your Neighborhood Step 10
There is a brilliant woman named Dr. LuAn Johnson in Olympia, Washington who created the Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) program. It has the nine steps to complete immediately after a wide scale emergency such as a tornado or earthquake.
For our small town, we are adding a “Step 10” series to various citizens’ nine step guidebook to bridge the gap between an individual set of neighbors and the larger community surrounding them. Steps 1-9 of Dr. Johnson’s MYN program ensure you, your loved ones, and your direct neighbors are cared for and secured. As we roll out our town-wide plans to connect our neighborhoods for both emergency preparedness and sustainability projects, the Step 10 series will shift the focus of specific individuals to securing entire neighborhoods and then the whole town (which happens to be an easily defined area – it’s an island).
Perhaps this list will be useful for your town as well. Here are a few examples of our Step 10 additions for citizens to pursue after they have finished their Steps 1-9. They will seek to travel (safely, short distances) to their neighborhood’s designated shelter:
- Ham radio operators to begin communication coordination
- Doctors, nurses, EMTs and CPR experts to to provide medical attention
- Mechanics and engineers to ensure all generators are safely up and running
- Members of the horse and bicycle communities to begin transportation duties (medical supplies, communication devices, etc) where roads are likely blocked by landslides and fallen trees
As we do further work on these Step 10 actions, we’ll document them on our main website, as well as excerpts here on this blog.
New bio-fuel source from zucchini!
Posted: October 10, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security, 5. Alt Transportation Comments Off on New bio-fuel source from zucchini!
My grandchildren will look back at all my fretting about Peak Oil as pure silliness.
“Thank goodness we discovered a bio-fuel source made from zucchini in 2013!” they will say as they poke fun of me riding around on my electric bicycle. Happy motoring, indeed.
(Good gosh did I overplant zucchini, cucumbers, and gourds this year.)
In praise of the Golden Comet
Posted: October 3, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security Comments Off on In praise of the Golden Comet
Reading a post recently about Golden Comets from a new farm on our island reminded me of just how much I’m enjoying this particular breed of laying chicken.
In comparison with our previous flocks of Araucana, Dominique, Barred Rock, and Speckled Sussex birds, the Golden Comets are the rock stars of the laying community. They are a smaller bird which requires less feed, that produces larger eggs more consistently than most other breeds. And for those of you with close neighbors we have, they are relatively quiet. Highly recommended whether your flock is 2 or 200 birds.
What can you do about the global food crisis?
Posted: October 1, 2011 Filed under: 2. Water Security, 3. Food Security Comments Off on What can you do about the global food crisis?
Sending both financial and spiritual support to farmers across the globe is a good response to the global food crisis, but you can also directly help by growing your own food close to home.
Whether it is on the balcony of your apartment, the community pea-patch down the street, your own backyard, or via your local CSA, growing your own food not only helps you and your local loved ones, but those farmers around the world.
Learn more via OxFam’s interactive map on food prices around the world.
How to help bees survive the winter
Posted: September 29, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security | Tags: bait hives, bee swarm, bees Comments Off on How to help bees survive the winter
After our previous fun with bees, I got pretty good at capturing swarms (grabbed four more). But the last swarm got away as I was on an international work phone call patching together three different countries via Skype. It was frustrating as I watched out my window, tracking the swarm drift away in the forest. Bummer.
So given that our bee population dropped by half in one of the hives, we’ve got about 45 pounds of honey in one hive and 65 pounds in another. Since this is our first year with these colonies, we going to try to ensure their survival this winter by not harvesting at all.
Related: during the down time this winter I’m going to build several bait hives to put out for next year’s summer heat swarm extravaganza. We saw eight swarms other than our own go floating across our pasture during the several weeks when everyone’s bees took off. It looked like a bee highway!
Growing potatoes in straw bales
Posted: September 27, 2011 Filed under: 3. Food Security Comments Off on Growing potatoes in straw bales
I read about folks having success growing potatoes directly in straw bales – no soil required – and tried a version of that plan this season. It did not work.
We used leftover straw with ample amount of manure in it from our sheet mulching experiment (which worked wonderfully for the blueberries) to form new beds on top of pasture grass. I’m not sure if we did not plant the seed potatoes deep enough, but we lost 50% of the crop this year to sunlight trickling down through the loose straw. You could see that the potatoes were attempting to grow as we layered on additional straw later, but the sunlight stunted them.
But at least we’ve got a good base material in these new beds for a winter cover crop to get ready for the Spring!
Keep Calm & Carry On
Posted: September 22, 2011 Filed under: 1. Philosophy, 2. Water Security, 3. Food Security, 4. Energy Security, 5. Alt Transportation, 6. Personal Training, 7. Physical Security, 8. Wealth Management Comments Off on Keep Calm & Carry On
I have British friends who use this old catchphrase often and many times tongue-in-cheek. Which made me smile all the more when I saw the nearby graphic while reading one of my favorite blogs, Little Homestead in the City.
As we are ramping up our local efforts to build resilient neighborhoods on our island, it’s a good reminder to read about the history of victory gardens and related sustainability projects that our grandparents were quite familiar with, and that are becoming new again.
In her post Anais asks her readers their preparedness levels in these areas (at least one of which you’ll see we’ve not listed in our categories to the right – oops): Food, Water, Fuel Energy, Sanitation, Alternative Currency, Transportation, Communications, Medical & First Aid, Survival, Security.
I’ll prepare a future post regarding our sanitation plans in low or no power scenarios.
Opt Out En Masse 