Back yard Straw Garden

With very little usable garden space in our yard we had to make do with what we could use. This space  where we had to cut down a blue spruce seemed to be just right. The blue spruce was unfortunately growing sideways and almost fell on the neighbors house this year. 

I had some cardboard from a friend moving and I bought a single bale of straw.

The area was already less "weedy" because the tree debris, so it was meant to be, since no grass was there growing already.

We laid out the cardboard where wanted to stop the weeds from growing.

I even had it resting on the back fence wall to keep the neighbors weeds out too.

Start laying out straw over whole area about 2 feet deep.

Make a nest with straw at bottom and holding up sides as a dirt holder and weed barrier.

Fill with soil and re- build nest. I laid rows with in the the bed. The back row has sunflowers, popcorn, and garbanzo beans planted there. The front row has summer squash and zuchinni's. The barrels have cantelope growing in them. This cheap and efficient gardening method is great because you can expand a little each year, use it as a compost during the winter months and the straw gets really warm so it kills weeds below and increases soil temp for really great produce production.

Raising Chickens for Eggs

Welcome to our backyard farm! We have a smaller yard, but make due with the space we have to create an urban farm. From container gardening to now chicken rearing, this continuing farm project is  a way for me to share my love of animals, gardening, cooking, and teaching children how to do the same. I had a friend build me a chicken coop that will hold about 4 chickens, I recommend building your own or hiring someone out to do the same. You can find coops at some warehouse hardware stores and farm or feed stores but I wanted one that would be super burley so the local raccoon's wouldn't eat them. Also, check into your local laws regarding livestock in the city, some places will allow you to have chickens as long as there is not a rooster present, other cities do not.

We have two smaller size chickens (Peanut Butter and Henny Penny) that I bought off craigslist and have been wonderful. We tried to raise chicks but did not have very good luck and not only that, they will not lay until 8+ months old, come up with illnesses and are very messy. The two hens from craigslist are already mature and laying hens. The "girls" are smaller chickens therefore lay slightly smaller eggs. The chickens are fed organic chicken feed, oyster shell, worms and snails we find, and non-meat tablescraps. 

We had our first eggs arrive in early June and have had a consistent laying ever since. Some days I will go out and find one egg and some days I will go out and find four. Pretty cool! I have some really "egg"cellent recipes to check out using fresh eggs: Quiche, Deviled Eggs, Egg Salad Sandwich.

For more info on how you can help donate or contribute to our little farm and other educational resources for the children please email me at fullspectrumschool@yahoo.com. Thanks!!

Container Gardening

Due to lack of time and space I decided last year to have a "container garden," I purchased large 50 gallon fabric/ biodegradable pots, I bought 2 whiskey barrel drums, and used planting containers I had around for the rest. See below, I was able to fit quite a variety of veggies in my 50 gallon pot, I had garbanzo beans in the back, pumpkins growing out the sides and up the tree, herbs, kale, beets and carrots. In smaller pots to left I have bell pepper in a similar fabric pot, strawberries in the terra cotta, and the hanging basil to the far right. I like to plant my basil in hanging pots because the snails love them and never save any for me. If they are hanging they cannot get to them ;)

The pumpkin climbing the tree for support works well and looks super cool.

Brussel sprouts, I was able to fit three in this pot. 

Second 50 gallon pot I have, with artichokes, nasturtium, salad greens, and  zuchinni.

My planting season was a huge success, I never had to deal with weeds and the plants did alright even though the conditions were a bit compact. If you cannot have a real garden at your house I highly recommend getting the 50 gallon biodegradable pots and growing a smaller garden.

Preschoolers love Planting!

One day we made strawberry baskets for our moms for mothers day. Another time, The kids helped fill up the garden boxes with soil and then planted seeds! We cut juice containers into a scoop, since we we only had a few shovels. They got a little dirty, but had a lot of fun!