Articles about urban farming from PC grad

Here's a list of interesting articles about urban farming from a High Altitude Permaculture Institute grad. Article topics include bees and chickens.

Urban Permaculture Class in Arvada June 12

From a friend who is teaching the vermicomposting section, I found out about "Using Permaculture to Create Sustainable Urban/Suburban Lifestyles", a 6 hour workshop happening on June 12 in Arvada, CO.

From the flyer:

We will cover simple: effective Permaculture soil building techniques, how to hide composting from your landlord and neighbors, indoor and outdoor container planting, sprouts and microgreens, how to plan an efficient low-work garden, creating the suburban food forest, the urban/suburban chicken, the urban worm (vermiculture composting), hands-on planting, and related topics specific to suburban and urban areas.

Cost is $45. For more info, see here or here.

HOAs and Community Gardens

I lived in a condo association for a number of years, and organized a community garden for 2 of them. Boulder has a number of area community gardens, but none of them were close enough for me.

A community garden can be a great way to build community--even people who didn't really want to garden appreciated seeing the veggies grow.

I didn't find a lot of good resources about this particular problem of starting a community garden within the confines of an HOA (though this page is full of information about starting a community garden, and this page is a great example of documenting support for a garden to an HOA), so I decided to post some of my observations.

• Define the type of garden you want--it can either be shared entirely, or divided into plots for each interested resident.
• Gauge the interest of residents as best as you can, but realize you can have a successful garden with just 2-3 gardeners.
• Gain the support of at least 2 owners. Yes, renters do have a voice with the board, but owners have a louder voice.
• Ask the board for permission. As in the link above, make sure you know what you're asking the board for: tool storage, water, money, gardening space, access to the space, etc, etc.
• Aesthetics are key for many board members, so address this up front, and make sure you keep the garden looking neat.
• Siting of the garden is crucial as well. Because of the aesthetics concerns, it's useful to find a place that is out of the way for at least the first year. But also find someplace that you won't ignore or have too hard a time getting access to.
• Put the garden to bed every year with a nice layer of mulch--that leaves it looking clean for the winter.
• Start small--it's better to have a few people interested in a small space that is kept clean and neat than to have an acre that is ignored and unkempt.
• Report back to the board a few times a year. Remember that the garden reflects on them, since they gave permission.

Any other thoughts on how HOAs and community gardens?

Denver Urban Permaculture Salon

From a mailing list I'm on

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The Salon of Urban Permaculture SoUP) is a new monthly potluck focused on building skills and community around permaculture in the city. Each SoUP gathering showcases a different urban permaculture site, and includes an informal talk, activity or workshop based around that month's theme. People of all levels of familiarity with Permaculture are encouraged to attend.

The first Salon is happening on Saturday, May 15th at 5:30 PM, at the Orbis House on 1818 Gaylord. The theme for the month is "Becoming Native to this Place", and we'll be exploring what it means to be an inhabitant of the South Platte watershed on the Shortgrass Steppe. You're encouraged to bring a dish featuring native or wild-harvested ingredients - although of course every dish is welcome!

DU putting in Permaculture Gardens

From a blog post, I found this: "Permaculture gardens are being put in around the DU campus as it is a dry environment. This is a long term plan."

He has posted a picture of the garden spot.

No mention of the garden being planted on the official DU website that I could find, but some minutes from spring 2009 showed that it was being discussed.

Denver Permaculture Classes this fall

The folks at Wild Green Yonder, announced a slew of permaculture courses. These include

Intro to Permaculture, Urban Permaculture, Permaculture for Renters, and Obscure Edibles for the Colorado Climate.

For more information, including pricing, visit their classes page.

Rainwater harvesting pilot program signed into Colorado law

Governer Ritter signed a law which "establishes a pilot program for the collection of precipitation from rooftops for non-potable uses." CBS has a nice writeup.

This is a great step, but only the first one. You cannot start harvesting rainwater now; you have to participate in the pilot program, which will last for ten years. There will be only ten projects selected, and the program is only open to "RESIDENTIAL OR MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL CONDUCT INDIVIDUAL PILOT PROJECTS TO COLLECT PRECIPITATION FROM ROOFTOPS AND IMPERMEABLE SURFACES FOR NONPOTABLE USES". Here's a PDF of the bill, HB 1129. Us normal folks should check out the FAQ and links from the Colorado Division of Water Resources: "Am I allowed to construct a graywater or rainwater harvesting system in Colorado?"

But hey, it's a start!

Meetup in Denver: Permaculture at the Home Scale

I recently joined a meetup group called the Greater Denver Urban Homesteading Group (if you haven't checked out Meetup.com, it's a great way to find local common interest groups meeting regularly). I have not yet been to a meetup, but they've already sent out some interesting classes (how to make saurkraut, intro to pressure canning). On the 28th of June, they're having an introduction to permaculture class, focused on household designs. Looks really cool:

Permaculture is an effective and rapidly-growing framework for applying patterns found in nature to human structures. Join certified permaculture teachers Adam Brock and Kenzie Davison as we explore how the ethics, principles and design process of permaculture can be applied to our own homes to create an integrated, regenerative system.

In case you're keeping score, that's the same Kenzie and Adam working on the Park Hill demonstration site.

Gardening the Land Between The Sidewalk and The Curb

I was biking around Boulder the other day, and ran into a lady who had taken ownership the space between the curb and the sidewalk. This space is called a planting strip. Rather than just leave the weeds and scraggly grass that had been there before, she had it rototilled put down some weed barrier and was placing some nice looking garden plots down. She planned to raise some vegetables and some flowers in the planting strip. Her main motivation was fun with her kids; secondary was making the space look better; it would have been hard to make it look worse.

I saw another property owner who rototilled their entire lawn, including the planting strip. I chatted with them briefly regarding their plans for the space. They were replacing most of the lawn with new grass, but did plan to plant some vegetable gardens in concretee garden circles that were set back from the street a good bit; see photo.

Both of these landowners were helping make their neighborhoods more beautiful. They were learning or refining gardening skills. And they were producing food in an area that was not productive before. I don't know if this fits the textbook definition of permaculture, but they were definitely taking steps to make their lives and lawns more sustainable.

However, these landowners had some concerns about these actions as well. The reason that the photos I've placed don't have more in view is to hide the locations. There was concern about being hassled by the city of Boulder. Apparently, some people have done this kind of planting strip gardening in the past and been forced to remove their gardens. One of the landowners claimed that as long as what you had in the strip was less than 36 inches high, you would be OK. I did some searching and found this link that doesn't really speak to this issue. However, the page it links to states the planting strip "shall be maintained and may be improved as such by the abutting property owner." You should ask your city's maintenance department for their rules and regulations. In any case, this property owner wanted to stay on the down low.

Other concerns included exhaust from cars and buses and pedestrian interference. I talked to a Ag Extension specialist about this a few years ago when I was looking at gardening a strip of land close to the road, and I don't remember that person being especially concerned. Pedestrian interference, aka people stepping on the garden, was dealt with by providing plenty of space for people walking on the sidewalk and/or getting out of their cars. Additionally, you can see the small fence in the first picture above; it's not meant to keep people out, but rather to warn people who might not be paying attention.

If you are looking for some additional garden space, the planting strip may be a good option. The pluses for using the planting strip (as opposed to other locations):

• it tends to get good sunlight due to the nearby road
  
• it might be in zone 1 or 2, depending on where it is in relation to your driveway
• it is land that is probably not very well used right now
  

The minuses:

• there might be issues with your governing locality
  
• the public nature of the garden requires more upkeep and visual concern than might be true otherwise
  
• you might not be able to erect more permanent structures (trellises, compost piles)
  
• foot traffic might cause damage to the garden.

More urban permaculture in Denver

Another article about urban permaculture in Denver. They have a nice list of resources at the end, too.

For nine people living together in Denver, their adventure in urban homesteading is all about cooperation.

"Two years ago, it was lonely, and now I'm swept up in it. It's overwhelming, exciting," said Adam Brock, 23. "It's not just gardening but what you do the other eight months of the year."

The homesteaders moved into the big house facing City Park about two months ago. Already, they have transformed a large chunk of the big yard into gardens using tenets of permaculture, an approach to gardening that tries to mimic natural ecosystems. In addition to the usual slate of vegetables and herbs, they are growing things like Siberian pea shrub.

Update 5/27: Here's the blog of the homesteaders in the big house across from city park

Denver neighborhood of Park Hill gets permaculture demonstration site

Via the Denver Post, news that Feed Denver and the Urban Land Conservancy are partnering to "create an urban agriculture demonstration farm in northeast Park Hill".

The conservancy, which recently purchased [a property in the area], will make long-term, permanent development plans for the site in partnership with the surrounding neighborhood. Permanent development will take a few years.

In the meantime, Feed Denver will work with Kenzie Davison and Adam Brock to create an urban ag demonstration as a viable farm for the neighborhood, as well as an education opportunity. The project will build a variety of plots to demonstrate the use of compost techniques for growing soil as well as permaculture techniques for growing food plants.

More in the article; I'm sure Kenzie and Adam can use help.

Permaculture Greenhouse at Naropa

Via VOA News, I learned of the Naropa greenhouse that will be dedicated Earth Day, 2009.

From the news story:

The word "permaculture" unites the concepts of permanence and agriculture. It begins with personal commitment toward protecting the Earth, then continues with action to make it happen. And, it's the theme of an Earth Day celebration that will feature a new permaculture greenhouse on the campus of Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado.

Backyard chicken site

Chickens can be an integral part of a permaculture design. They are omnivorous and have several different yields (meat, eggs, manure). They are one of the animals that is possible for anyone to keep (as opposed to larger livestock).

I stumbled across a site (via the the Permaculture institute's urban permaculture page) all about urban chickens. The City Chicken is chock full of good information:

You can have chickens...It's easy! I put up this page to inspire people who have been wanting to keep some chickens in their backyard. I hope the pictures and info will motivate you to try what you've been wanting to for a long time: Bring a little country into your city life. You are looking at this web site because you've been bit by the chicken bug and need to know how to get started with your chicken-keeping endeavors. Well, you could start here!

Boulder Permaculture Garden announced

According to this page on the Transition Colorado website, Boulder has approved a 1.3 acre permaculture garden. The garden will be located next to the Boulder homeless shelter, and is aimed at adult education as well as food production.

I was unable to find official verification of this announcement, but there is apparently a meeting on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 to finalize the layout and do more sheet mulching.

Much more on the event announcement page.

Two new Permaculture events in Boulder, and one in Denver

There's a two day introduction to permaculture, Permaculture at the Human Scale: An Introduction, at the end of March.

This course is appropriate for students new to permaculture as well as certified designers interested in applying permaculture at the social level or strengthening their analysis of invisible structures.

And there is a one day workshop/potluck/film, Permaculture Early Gardening & Potluck/ Free Film, during the ides of March (plus a gardening workshop before if you want--it's unclear if there is a charge for the workshop).

FREE FILM SHOWING: Bill Mollison's Global Gardener Part II, Dry lands application. Discussion on what Drylands Permaculture means here in Boulder Valley. Seed sources, water-saving strategies.

Lastly, there is a two hour workshop at the Denver Botanic Gardens, Urban Sustainable Living, in early April.

Learn about the ethics and principles of permaculture with particular attention to small lots, condos and apartments. Even without a “real” garden, you can live more sustainably in the city! Discuss espaliered fruit trees (one foot wide instead of 20!), the many uses of windowsills, using vertical space efficiently for living and storage, indoor worm bins, gray water, rooftop gardens and more.

Another Permaculture Class in Boulder

I wrote last year about the 2009 edition of Permaculture Through the Seasons, an eight month permaculture class that I took last year. If you missed that opportunity, there's another permaculture class happening in Boulder this April, 19-26th:

[An] 8-Day Permaculture Design Certification Course with an emphasis on Urban and Suburban Design. With the use of the Internet, students will begin this 72 hour course from their own home during the 3 week period prior to the week-long, on-site intensive, being hosted in the Boulder area. PIA certified instructor Wayne Weiseman will lead the course with local guest instructors. Boulder, Colorado.

I'd love to attend this course, but unfortunately have already made other commitments for that week. I especially am a fan of the emphasis on Urban and Suburban design--something we didn't really dig into in the 'Through the Seasons' course.

More info on the main instructor, Wayne Weiseman.