Yard sharing and Farming the Burbs!

[Liz McLellan hyperlocavore.com]

Hey folks I wanted to let you know about what some folks are doing to get cheaper better food closer to home. Some are DIYers and banding together in yard sharing groups. Others are forming suburban/urban CSAs by farming linked together yards, feeding the families and then selling the extra at the farmers market. Check Kipp Nash out makng a living farming in the burbs of Boulder, Colorado!

There must be some kinda way outta here...

[Symphony farm]

As a small dairy farmer in Vermont, I sometimes fantasize about what might happen in the "burbs". I love idea of a neighbor hood cow! Think about it. The suburbs are designed into these little square, sometimes fenced in yards. All are equipped with water, and there are lanes and side walks that link it all. As a farmer this sounds like the perfect rotational grazing system. Instead of mowing the frikin lawn, and putting fertilizer on it, only to spend more time and money mowing it, why not have a neighbor hood cow. She could be on your lawn for two days and the lawn would be cut nicely! She would be yours for the two days, and you would be entitled to the milk, and responsible for the milking. Then onto the neighbors In two weeks, she would be back again working through the neighbor hood rotation. Instead of burning fossil fuels, and running lawn mowers, a neighbor hood would become a carbon sink, storing carbon in the soil. Children could have the experience of caring for an animal, making cheese, having the ultimate in fresh nutritious grass fed milk! All it takes is a group of people to change their mind, and their paradigm.

[Richard Lukens]

HI Liz!
Its great what you're doing with hyperlocavore, happy you are here on Architects!
Wondering if there is another link that you are inspired to add that folks can check out, the one
for Kipp Nash says it was removed by the user. Just don't want people to go to dead ends?
Best to you
-Rick

[Liz McLellan hyperlocavore.com]

Hey Richard!

Thanks and thanks for the heads up! I hadn't caught that. I will look into it and see if I can fix it.

Take care,
Liz

Richard Lukens said:

HI Liz!
Its great what you're doing with hyperlocavore, happy you are here on Architects!
Wondering if there is another link that you are inspired to add that folks can check out, the one
for Kipp Nash says it was removed by the user. Just don't want people to go to dead ends?
Best to you
-Rick

[Pierre Riche]

Hi Liz, My contribution to farming in the burbs are wine barrel aquaponic systems that i make. 

What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics is a miraculous and ingenious way to grow %100 organic garden vegetable fertilized by fish.  Its a symbiotic relationship between plants and fish. The  fish can be edible fish or decorative fish. Deliciously organic garden vegetables retrieve their vital nutrients from the fish's water.This is done by an electric  pump that pumps the water from the fish tank to the vegetable trough / s. Healthy, vibrant looking, abundant root growth act as a brilliant water purifier absorbing nesasary nutrients from the recirculating water. The clean root filtered water then flows back to the happy fish.The reason plants can live off of fish waste/effluent (ammonia) is due to beneficial bacteria that is naturally occurring in streams, brooks, ponds, and rivers everywhere. It is an aerobic bacteria that transforms the ammonia the fish produce into Nitrate that the healthy plants thrive on. The clean water then flows by force of gravely splashing back  into the fish tank. This splashing creates more surface area on the water to collect oxygen that fish love so much.

  Why is aquaponics a miracle?

 This  amazing food growing secret is an unbelievable  advantage to lazy gardeners. Miracle aquaponics  would like to ask you the following questions.

Why weed? when theres no weeds to weed. 

Why water?When your garden is watering it's self.  

Why feed fish? when it's being done by a timed feeder. 

Why fertilize? when the fish are doing it for you.

   I hope this adds food for thought to farming in the burbs.