Thursday, September 10, 2009

Future Directions...


Beets
Originally uploaded by kristi_t
So, I'm experiencing a calling to farm. Yup, you heard it. I caught wind (through work & some urban Ag. work I'm doing in Delta), of SPIN Farming, and it just felt "right" somehow.

It's not that I don't think my work is meaningful or fulfilling, but I think that I need to do something with tangible results, in tune with nature's rhythms. For a long time, I thought this meant leaving the city & landing somewhere rural, & trying to make a life there. This caused a lot of consternation, but I've come to realize that there is huge potential here, and I want to take steps to make this city the city that I want to be in. This includes right livelihood, community, and local food. So naturally, why wouldn't I farm other people's backyards?

I'm not the only one who's crazy. Ward Teulon, aka
City Farm Boy, has, for the past few years been farming his neighbour's backyards, and making a go of it. Granted, his wife is a lawyer so he is lucky that he needn't make a huge amount, but according to the SPIN folks, it is doable.

So, I haven't figured out how to make a full on SPIN operation work for me in terms of dollars just yet, but I visited with Ward today & while we harvested kale, basil, parsley, potatoes, and daikon, we discussed options. He suggested that starting really small, with a friends and family
CSA would be possible with not much borrowed land, and while keeping my current job to make a living. How exciting! I'll be taking Ward's crash course in urban farming in October.

So, my question to you is.... do you or someone you know:
a) live in my neighbourhood, or close to it (Grandview-Woodland, Hastings Sunrise, or Trout Lake areas)
b) have a piece of back or front yard you aren't using that you'd be willing to let me farm in exchange for veggies, a CSA share, or rent
c) Have said land that gets min. 6 hours of sunlight a day, access to a water tap, beyond the dripline of large trees, and available for at least all of next season (Feb. to November)?

OR

Would you be interested in buying a garden share for the 2010 season? I'm just throwing ideas around, so no ideas yet as to how many shares, what would be grown, or how much it would cost. All depends on the land and time available.

Names I've thrown around include:
"Kristi's Eastside Edibles"
"Kristi's URban VEggies (KURVE)"
"Backyard Local Organic Community (BLOC) Farms"
etc. etc. Hooray for busy minds late at night :-S

Am I crazy? It's ok to say so :-)

Would love to hear your thoughts and words of wisdom.

Happy gardening, and happy harvest season!

5 comments:

ione doigsmith said...

Kristi I love this idea. Lots of work but you'll be great at it.
Oh and I vote for KURVE :)

Lisa said...

Kristi,

I would totally be into a CSA share from your farming - Ben tells me tales of the crazy quantities of stuff your garden has produced. He calls it his 5m Diet.

As I'm very new to healthy eating* (only recently accepted vegatables into my life), I would love it even more if my CSA boxes came with a simple recipe or two to help guide me as to how to prepare the bounty.

(*I'm a recent Micheal Pollen convert.)

Kristi_T said...

Thanks to all for your support! I'm in the process of developing this idea further & will keep you in the loop.

-K

Rachael said...

This is a great idea Kristi, and I'd be happy to support through buying a share or something like that. Boris and I don't have a yard to offer at the moment, but that could change once we move.

Unknown said...

Hi Kristi,

Great blog! It's great to see urban farming on the rise in Vancouver, but that's not why I'm writing.

I found your blog through the Stanley Park Earthen Architecture Project while reading about the two shake tests that were done on the cob building at UBC. Some colleagues and I in Victoria are working on an earthen construction project and we're looking for seismic and structural information on earthen materials. Do you know if any reports of the tests were published? Is there anyone at UBC I could contact? Any help would be great.

Thanks Kristi and good luck with your project too!

-Brian
brian.cockburn@gmail.com

P.S. my vote is for KURVE as well :-)