Home Scale Food Growing

Sunshine, plants, and baby birds.

2010-05-11T14:04:00.000+01:00

It's been chilly the last few days, down to 44F at night and lovely and cool during the day. This was a welcome development after several days of over 80F, not that I'm complaining, the warmth has been delicious. Until this morning we hadn't had a drop of rain since we arrived, which has been great from getting work done but it was pretty dry. Yesterday, I started putting in the first raised bed and the ground is rock hard, admittedly this strip of land, see picture, on the north east side of the house was used as an extra driveway by the last tenant. The plan is to fit 5 beds in there. All my beds will be 8x5 so that I can build an 8x5 chicken coop to set on top of each in turn.

Meanwhile Jacqui took somewhat of a break from cleaning, she needed to give her arms and hands a chance to recover from 3 days of vigorous scrubbing, and potted up some of our seedlings. The rest will go in the bed; tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers. We've got cantaloupe, watermelon, and squash for a separate area where they can spread out.

I've also gotten the leaf mold pile up and running. I tossed in some half rotten split logs to help it along.

You'll notice from the pictures just how incredibly white our legs are. As we were walking recently we were accosted by a local gendarme on suspicion of being foreigners. Just the fact that we were walking instead of driving is suspicious enough but no this was due simply ti prejudice. Our white skin gave us away. This type of profiling based on skin color, now the law in Arizona, is heinous in the extreme. I can understand that we might prove a hazard to all the people going by in their tanks (locally known as SUV's) because the extreme whiteness of our skin temporarily blinds them, but that is no excuse for treating us as something special. Fortunately we were able to produce our passports and he let us off with a warning to "get a tan.... and a car" and we were on our merry way, thankful for our freedom as legal, if marginal, people. Of course that never happened but gosh aren't our legs white!

We have a nest with baby cardinals just outside our dining room window. Wonderful!

The AKG Sustainable Living Project podcast episode #4 transcript- Rain Water Harvesting

2010-04-21T09:48:00.000+01:00

Hello,
Here is the transcript for our latest episode for The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast;

"Hello this is Jacqui and Robb from the sustainable living project. First we’d like to thank Emma for allowing us to contribute to her wonderful podcast and for sending us her book as winners in her birthday plant competition. We are thoroughly enjoying the book, “The Alternative Kitchen Garden- an A to Z”, and highly recommend it to all our readers and listeners. And now on to our contribution for this month.

In our last post we mentioned our plan to create a rainwater harvesting and management system on our site. Why would we do this? The public water system is a surprisingly inexpensive way to get your water when the supply is plentiful and local. One of my instructors on my masters course was adamant that investing money into rainwater harvesting was pointless from an economic perspective as it would never pay itself back, and perhaps in the mountains of west central Wales she is right, I’ve never seen a rainier place. But this fails to address several issues with public water systems; they use large amounts of fossil fuel generated electricity to pump, purify and process water. They leak vast quantities of this energy rich water. The water they deliver has had a chemical cocktail of treatments added to it to make it “safe” for human consumption, more on that in a moment. In the US, the drinking water in many locations contains rocket fuel from the defense industry, pesticides from industrial agriculture, e coli from concentrated livestock feeding operations, heavy metals from sloppy mining practice, and in may cases is too acid to be safe for long term exposure. And of course there are the obvious inefficiencies of mixing sewage with treated drinking water and then having to clean the whole mess up again. In addition, depletion of ancient aquifers is a looming problem, threatening our future food and energy supplies.

As to chlorine, it is a chemical designed to be antithetical to life. It is used in water for one thing, whether in swimming pools or drinking water, to kill micro-organisms. Perhaps it is the best choice for large municipal water systems but there are many indications that consuming chlorine and its by products, notably trihalomethane, is not good for your immune system. The basis of healthy soil and thus healthy plants is a thriving, diverse ecosystem of micro-organisms. Thus, chlorine is designed to eradicate the very foundations of healthy soil. Rainwater is better for your plants as it is naturally soft and contains no chlorine. Rainwater can be purified for human consumption without chlorine.

So we have decided to harvest rainwater. Rainfall in Hickory averages around 4 inches per month. However, prior to the current El Nino cycle there were extended drought conditions. Water levels in the reservoirs in the SE fell to historically low levels causing jurisdiction and ownership disputes, threatened hydropower production, and brought on water usage restrictions.

Our property collection area, including the structures, is approximately 14,520 square feet. Assuming normal rainfall patterns return, we can expect 250 to 400 thousand gallons falling on our property per year. A typical household in Hickory NC uses 68,400 gallons per year, not including lawn watering. I’ve seen estimates that 10,000 feet of lawn will require an additional 312,000 gallons per year.

The large amounts of food and biomass we plan to grow would normally be expected to need more than the average lawn for irrigation but we believe that by using sensible permaculture techniques to increase the moisture retaining properties of the soil we can use less. Our demand should easily fall within the supply.

The key is to keep the rainwater from running off the property too quickly. Storage is to be accomplished in three ways: tanks to store clean water for household and garden use fed by rooftop collection, small ponds and reed beds to treat grey water and collect the overflow from the roof, and in ground storage via swales and raised beds with deep, rich soil. A swale is a ditch dug on a contour designed to interrupt run-off and allow water to slowly sink into the soil.

Instead of a single permaculture tip today we’ve got 8 principles of rainwater harvesting from an interview on Sustainable World radio with Brad Lancaster author “Rainwater Harvesting for Dry Climates”. You can find this interview at sustainableworldradio.com in the podcast archive. You’ll probably recognize the permaculture influence in these principles, the book is recommended by many permaculture practitioners.

1. Long thoughtful observation of how water behaves on site.

2. Start at the top of watershed. Our property has a slope to it, so we will need to address water flow from the top of the roof to the bottom of the property.

3. Start small and simple. As the house currently has an asphalt tile roof, we will start by installing water butts on our carport which has a tin roof.

4. Slow it, spread it, sink it. We will be installing swales and terraces on the property to reduce run-off, and to increase absorption and storage.

5. Always plan for overflow as a resource.

6. Maximise living and organic groundcover, no bare earth, no standing water (mosquitoes need 3 days of standing water to breed)

7. Maximise efficiency by stacking functions, for instance: use tanks as thermal mass and use berms on the down side of sales as high and dry paths; also, raise lots of moisture rich plants to cool the property in the summer.

8. Long thoughtful observation. Get the feedback; what works and what doesn’t.

And that’s it for this episode. Thanks for listening and remember you can visit us at sustliving.blogspot.com. We’ll leave you with another take on water, slightly edited for brevity, from Sandra Postel, Post Carbon Institute Fellow,

'I think with water there is certainly not a facing of reality yet. It is a major issue that we have to deal with. There is so much we could do with the water that we have to meet our needs in a more efficient and productive way. It is very easy to see how we could save 25% of our water use in most situations if we put our mind to it and planned for that. Each of us has a water footprint, water is in everything we use everyday, embedded water. To the extent we use less paper or buy fewer clothes, and recycle those things when we are through with them, to the extent we move our diets down the food chain, consume less red meat, we shrink our water footprint. Which means we are leaving more water for other people and other species. But only if we get real about the issue and proactive about the solutions.'

Behold this Compost

2010-04-10T10:40:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Organic Consumers Association for this

Quote of the Week

"Behold this compost! behold it well!
Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person-Yet behold!
The grass of spring covers the prairies,
The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden,
The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,
The he-birds carol mornings and evenings, while the she-birds sit on their nests,
The young of poultry break through the hatch'd eggs,
The new-born of animals appear-the calf is dropt from the cow, the colt from the mare,
Out of its little hill faithfully rise the potato's dark green leaves,
Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk-the lilacs bloom in the door-yards,
The summer growth is innocent and disdainful above all those strata of sour dead."

-Walt Whitman, from the poem "This Compost"

Video - An Experiment in Back Yard Sustainability

2010-04-07T21:03:00.001+01:00

"Peak Moment 51: Tour Scott McGuire's "White Sage Gardens" in the back yard of his rental home -- a demonstration site for suburban sustainability. He ponders, "How might a household produce and preserve a significant portion of its own food supply?" Composting, a water-conserving greenhouse, and seed-saving are all facets of this beautiful work in progress. [http://www.cocreativeliving.com]"

Jamie Oliver's Food revolution, a message from TED

2010-03-26T17:18:00.000Z

Dear Global TED Community,

I need your help with something. This won't take long... but it's a big deal.

Today, Friday, TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution comes to America. His show premieres on ABC tonight. The show is *awesome*. If people watch it, it's going to change their lives.

Here's what I need you to do:

If you're in America, please watch or record the show. I promise you won't regret it. Here are the program times. Here's the trailer.
Whether or not you're in the US, please encourage your American friends to watch. Forward this email to at least five people. They will thank you for it.

As a reminder, America, along with much of the rest of the world, is suffering an obesity epidemic. Millions of people are literally in danger of eating themselves to death. Jamie Oliver's food revolution tackles this head on... by helping families rediscover the thrill of delicious, healthy, freshly-cooked food. He is a magnetic spokesman for one of today's most important issues.

Please help make a TED Prize wish come true.

Very best,

Chris Anderson, TED Curator

P.S. While you're at it, please add your name to Jamie's petition. We'd love to get to a million signatures within the next six weeks.

Stinging Nettle, my favorite spring green

2010-03-24T20:25:00.001Z

This time of year I walk through the local parks and check on my favorite nettle patches. We had a long cold winter this year and the little sprouts are only about 2 inches high, not high enough to escape being wee'ed on by dogs. Though they are tastiest when they are young, particularly picked and eaten raw, due to the dogs I'll have to wait for em to grow a few feet. I pick the top cluster, roll it in my fingers to disarm the sting, and pop it in my mouth, chew it well and always have some water, apple cider, or beer at hand in case a wayward stinging hair sticks in my throat. If you want to avoid the possibility of the sting, wear some gloves and pick the top 6 inches or so and bring em home and cook em like any greens, steam, boil, or saute. MMmm...mmm good!

And they are very good for you.
"People have been using nettles for food, medicine, fiber, and dyes since the Bronze Age. Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) has a flavor similar to spinach, and is rich in vitamins A, C, D, K, and many minerals including iron, potassium, manganese, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, silica, iodine, silicon, sodium, and sulfur. Nettles also provide chlorophyll and tannin, and they’re a good source of B complex vitamins. Stinging nettle also has high levels of easily absorbed amino acids. They’re ten percent protein—more than any other vegetable. " - Dawn Gifford

Read more from Ms. Gifford over at Farm to Table "Stinging Nettles are good for you"

Farmers Speak: Bust Up Big Ag

2010-03-19T12:21:00.001Z

"There are 2 million farmers and 300 million consumers in the US. Standing in between are a handful of companies who control how food gets from one side to the other.

In 2010, the USDA and Dept of Justice are holding a series of hearings on this issue -- the matter of corporate concentration in food and agriculture. The first hearing was March 12, in Ankeny, Iowa. The night before, about 250 independent family farmers and community activists gathered for a town hall meeting to share their own experiences with big ag.

For more; www.bustthetrust.org "

Living off the land. It is a pretty sweet life.

2010-03-19T07:36:00.001Z

Why grow your own food or The many problems with industrial agriculture

2010-03-10T12:51:00.000Z

I recently received a request from an ex student of mine, now in college, needing a suggestion for a paper on sustainable agriculture. We ruled out genetic modification as others were covering that disaster, also water conservation was ruled out. What's left?
I quickly came up with many topics relating to the problems associated with Industrial Agriculture and only afterwards did I realize that I had neglected any suggestions relating to Sustainable Agriculture. I added those at the end. Looks like I need to focus on the positive a little more. Here is the text of the response to her request.

There are so many issues with industrial agriculture. Here's some off the top of my head;

If you want to deal with the nitrogen cycle and overfertilization you can look at it's contribution to climate change as nitrous oxide is 300X more potent as a greenhouse gas. Or you could look at the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and other river mouth oceanic areas around the world largely attributed to excess nitrogen runoff, again from overfertilization. There is also the issue that the nitrogen in chemical fertilizers break down and dissipate into the water table, atmosphere, rivers, far faster than organic fertilizers such as manure and compost.

A related issue is factory farming of livestock and it's link to the development of superbugs and the decreased effectiveness of antibiotics, not to mention the issues of cruelty.

Of course there is the well trodden issue of food miles with it's related issues of chemical use to keep food from ripening, thus drastically reducing nutritive content and exposing the populace to the excess pesticides used. Clearly Food miles also has implications to climate change and peak oil as it so heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Another heavily debated issue is the energy balance in corn ethanol and the the effect this industry is having on food prices as it furthers the damaging effects of the commodification of food (an issue in and of itself).

There are social justice issues having to do with the treatment of migrant labor, the destruction of the family farm, and of course the effects of climate change which impacts the poor disproportionately. A little known fact is that Industrial agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change on the planet when you factor in the deforestation involved with palm oil plantations and cattle ranches. Even without that it is one of the highest emitters in North America.

You could look at the estrogenic effects of the plastics used in food packaging, both on humans; girls reaching puberty much earlier, and on the feminization of various aquatic species. Other issues include;

Pesticides in the water table, specifically atrazine.
Corporate control of government regarding agriculture
(the subsidization of agribusiness via the farm bill)
Damage done to biodiversity via habitat loss and chemical usage.
The epidemic of obesity and diabetes since the widescale promotion of High Fructose corn syrup and it's leptin suppressing qualities.
The reduction in depth and quality of soils worldwide.
Farmer suicides worldwide, worst in India.

I can recommend you check out Rodale and the Organic Consumers Association for research and links to take you the other direction in investigation of positive alternatives, of which there are many.

Advantages of Organic Agriculture include;
carbon sequestration, superior nutrition, enhanced biodiversity, reduced food miles (if done that way), increased local resiliency (again if kept local), less reliance on fossil fuels, reduced reliance on medical infrastructure due to better nutrition and reduced farm related poisoning, protection of the water table, builds soil rather than destroys it, ....

You could also explore alternative agricultural technologies; foot powered water pumps, keyline design, permaculture, biogas production, composting, rainwater harvesting and storage, bio dynamics, biointensive, ....

Check out Appropedia and Agroinnovations sites.

Rabbits, not just a garden menace, they are food.

2010-03-09T07:36:00.003Z

We've been considering rabbits as livestock for some time check out this post over at the Good.is blog. Thanks to Re-Nest for the heads up.
Also, keep a look out for Dolly Freed's Possum Living. She inspired me over twenty years ago to pursue simplicity in all forms, she and her dad kept and ate rabbits and she goes into detail about how they did it. It's good to see this practical suggestion here. I will likely give this a try when we get settled in America, though I'm not sure I'll be able to kill them, rabbits are also excellent lawnmowers and they fertilize as they go.

Have you got limited food growing space....check it out

2010-03-08T20:46:00.003Z

5 Inspiring Kitchen Gardens for Small Spaces

The Sustainable Living Project podcast episode #2 at AKG

2010-02-18T13:31:00.000Z

Here is the transcript of the next episode now playing over at The Alternative Kitchen Garden Podcast and here in the audio player.

"While still in England and waiting for Jacqui’s US visa, we are doing the initial planning for our off grid permaculture based lifestyle and educational project in the suburbs of Hickory North Carolina.

We hope to demonstrate that a low impact, ethical, resilient, comfortable, healthy, and convenient lifestyle is possible in existing suburban developments. You can keep track of our progress on this podcast and at our blog, Sustainable Living at sustliving.blogspot.com

Our project will be sited on 1/3 of an acre with a 1950’s era, brick and timber framed, 1800 sq.ft, 2 story home. It has grid supplied electricity, gas, sewage disposal and water. Since we bought the property we have installed double glazing and loft insulation, and have done some landscaping to reduce moisture under the house. It has been rented out for 8 years while we have been living in the UK and Bermuda.

We plan to occupy the site in the spring and are currently studying the basics of permaculture design in the hopes of making fewer mistakes at the outset. Eventually we will attend a permaculture design course that is based in the same growing region.

The Permaculture tip for this episode is from Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future published in 1990 by Bill Mollison

The “Principle of Self Regulation - The purpose of a functional and self regulating design is to place elements or components in such a way that each serves the needs, and accepts the products, of other elements.” Thus “to enable a design component to function we must put it in the right place.”

As we apply this planing principle in our garden design, the siting of veggie gardens, fruit trees, biomass crops, compost heaps, leaf mould piles, water features, glasshouses and chicken coops will all require careful observation of the interaction between existing structures and environmental conditions. For example: a compost heap generates heat which can be used to warm a greenhouse or a chicken coop.

We will gradually transition to an off grid lifestyle which adds additional planning considerations regarding energy, waste and water. The placing of the energy systems will be governed by existing structural orientation, solar exposure and available wind patterns to which we will have to adapt.

Extensive collection of rainwater will require changes to the roof which is laid with asphalt tile. Dealing with waste onsite will require a whole series of design decisions which will be influenced by local regulations, relations with the neighbors, and our own ability to reduce waste producing consumption.

Some of the first design questions we are considering in detail relate to food production and initial structural modifications to increase the efficiency of passive cooling and heating.

Currently the clay subsoil is covered in a thin layer of topsoil, hosting lawn, shrubs and a few shade trees. How will we quickly create the large amounts of soil needed for growing? We will need a fast composting process with more inputs than our own property can provide and are considering a kitchen and garden waste collection scheme with our neighbors. This should foster an ethic of co-operation with our neighbors, a key principle of permaculture.

But how will the neighbors respond to this project and the obvious changes in the appearance of the property that will follow? What can we do to manage that issue? As we hope to spread the permaculture ethic, it is important to keep the neighbors happy. We are looking at where to put hedges and fences to screen less attractive items like biogas digesters, materials storage and compost piles. Any hedges will need to have productive qualities including biomass, habitat, and fruit, and fences will need to be durable but ultimately biodegradable; we are considering, bamboo and blueberries for this.

Next, Hickory is very hot in the summer and cold in the winter. What is the first thing we should do to reduce energy use in the house? Fortunately, we have excellent solar exposure along 3 walls of the house and this plentiful supply of energy needs to be properly utilized. In the summer we will need to utilize the excess solar gain on the south side of the house to produce ventilation, drawing cool air in from the North side. The first structural change will likely be the addition of a shade structure along the south side of the house that will block the sun in the summer but not in the winter.

This shade structure will also provide vertical growing space for climbing plants like cucumbers and grapes, further shading the area immediately surrounding the sunny side of the house. This interface between shelter and growing area will be the subject of our next episode when we’ll discuss the permaculture concept of zones.

And that’s it for this episode. If you have any questions about our project or this episode please leave a comment here at the Alternative Kitchen Garden Site or at our blog sustliving.blogspot.com."

The next AKG podcast audio

2010-02-18T13:30:00.001Z

The audio widget has been down for a day or so. it's now working and I have changed the file to the newest episode of the AKG podcast with the latest contribution from The Sustainable Living Project.

Antibiotic free livestock

2010-02-12T10:59:00.001Z

Beginning Farmers report on the Danish experiment with antibiotic free pork.

The black soldier fly and composting

2010-02-11T10:36:00.002Z

I've been looking for a low tech method for speeding up composting as we will need lots of good growing medium for our project in Hickory NC. I heard about this website and composting acceleration method through The Agroinnovations podcast. Check out the Black Soldier Fly blog

USDA Food Environment Atlas launched by Michelle Obama

2010-02-10T20:13:00.001Z

Check this out!

Food Environment Atlas

Thanks to Beginning Farmers.org for the heads up.

Grafting workshop in Sheffield - UK

2010-02-02T19:03:00.001Z

I received this from the Abundance team, looks good, might go myself.

"Come and learn the Art of Grafting on

14th March at 324 Albert Rd, Meersbrook, Sheffield, S8 9RD
Time - 11am - 4pm.

Grafting is the most common way of propagating fruit trees. In this session you will learn to graft your own apple or pear tree (your choice), and you can then take it home to look after. In the spring when the sap starts rising you will know if you've succeeded in grafting it!

This grafting Course will be led by Niels Corfield from Leeds Permaculture Network. Niels has had many years experience working with perennial plants, specializing in forest gardening techniques, and the permaculture philosophy of multiple layer systems. He has a wide knowledge of edible perennial plants and he works regularly with leads permaculture network, running workshops and events, teaching and educating about permaculture

This course runs parallel to The Abundance Project, in that it is one of the key tools in creating abundance. Fruit trees have an amazing capacity to bring nutritious food to people at relatively low cost and effort.

We will provide Cups of tea and drinks. Bring your own packed lunch and warm clothes.

Cost - £10 waged, £5 unwaged

Phone Stephen on 07960774732 for more information.

All the best

the Grow Sheffield team"

support the pollinators! - US site

2010-02-02T18:59:00.003Z

We all depend on pollinators, for much of our food, for our flowers, and for the pleasure of watching them in our gardens. Here is a site that will help you plan what to plant in your garden to support the pollinators. You can enter your zip code and download a planting guide for your area. Do it today they need our help!

The Pollinator Partnership

The Sustainable Living Project

2010-01-20T21:04:00.000Z

Since I started this blog I have posted about many developments of interest to me that pertain to sustainable living, from my own personal exploration of technologies to increase the sustainability of my lifestyle to trends which threaten the very basis of all our lives such as climate change and peak oil. Since those first posts in January of 2008 I have completed the work for my masters, I have attended transition training and helped start a transition initiative in Bermuda, I’ve built gardens in 3 countries, gone car free, and have generally tried to lower my carbon footprint. In some respects I have failed miserably, I have not managed to quit flying, I have not managed to get back to living off grid, but overall I feel I have been making progress.

And now I come to the culmination of much of my life experience over the past 30 years and most of my study and interest over the the past 10 years with the planning and implementation of a project in the US. This project and it’s peripheral issues will become the primary subject for this blog the closer we get to implementation.

Currently Jacqui and I are settling our affairs in the UK, shopping for a property in the southwest of England, obtaining my British passport, and applying for Jacq’s long term Visa for the US. As we have family on both sides of the Atlantic, we see maintaining viability in both the UK and the US as an investment in resilience in the sense that keeping options open provides security for the future, particularly for Jacqui. She comes from a long line of long lived women, all of whom seem to maintain their wits to the end. My genetics don’t look so good. The likelihood is that I will need more serious medical attention much sooner than Jacqui. Given the chaotic state of affairs with health care in America it is highly likely that we will return to the UK at some point in the next 15 to 20 years and almost certain that Jacq will return eventually. Thus we hope to find a house to buy that offers us a good southern exposure, some garden space, and proximity to the sea (albeit high above). In the meantime it needs to be viable as an investment. So we are looking for something we can rent out without spending too much time and money in renovation. We hope to put in an offer in the next 2 weeks. We must return to Sheffield no later than the end of February to attend to the details of Jacq’s visa application. Once that is in we will be waiting for a purchase to be accomplished. At that point we will move back to the southwest to live in our house until the visa arrives.

At that point we will search for a cruise line to take us to America. We are sailing because we can carry more tools, clothes, books and such with us at no extra charge and to avoid the carbon impact of flying. Also, I really dislike flying, I don’t like sitting still for hours and even the nicest airports are unpleasant places to spend any time at all. Our current hope to travel sometime in the spring.

We intend to set up a permaculture based off grid lifestyle and educational project in the small town of Hickory NC, where already own property.

Hickory is a lovely little town in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. It lies about an hour from the banking center of Charlotte, about an hour from the progressive town of Asheville, and about and hour from the crest of the Appalachians. It is struggling economically, it was even before the current recession, as it was built upon the furniture trade which has largely moved to China. We’ve chosen Hickory to be near my family and because we have purchased rental property there over the last 10 years.

We only own 3 properties but they have about 2 thirds of acre in total to work with. We will move into the largest place, a 3 bedroom brick home situated within easy walking distance of the downtown area and a supermarket. Situated on a third of an acre and excellent southern exposure we hope to grow significant amounts of food and biomass. Additionally we will take over the landscaping of the other 2 properties, a duplex across town, or as Brits would know it, both sides of a semidetached property. With the additional third of an acre, some of which is in woodland, we will supplement production.

We will be gradually taking the main property off grid, we already own 2 solar panels and a small wind generator which will be the beginnings of our energy system. To this we will add solar hot water, a multi fuel burner, various outdoor biomass stoves, a solar cooker, a bio gas digester, and significant passive solar and efficiency improvements to the structure. Additionally we will harvest rainwater, reuse greywater and of course practice the permaculture ethics throughout.

“Care of the Earth - provision for all life systems to continue and multiply
Care of People - provision for people to access those resources necessary to their existence.
Setting limits to population and consumption - by governing our own needs we can set resources aside to further the above principles.” - Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future 1990 by Bill Mollison page 2.

I will cover the details of our plan over the next several months here on this blog. After we arrive we will cover the implementation for the foreseeable future.

The Sustainable Living Project podcast episode at AK

2010-01-20T21:02:00.000Z

I have been a regular listener to the Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast for some time now and when Emma at AKG asked for correspondents to add content to her podcast I jumped at the chance. We are honored to be a part of her effort to help folks build resilience through food growing.

Jacqui and I have recorded the first episode which begins the documentation of our planning process for The Sustainable Living Project in America.

You can find the podcast containing our content here. Please see the transcript below.

“Introduction - Hello this is Robb and Jacqui from the Sustainable Living project. We are in the planning and design stage of establishing an off grid permaculture based lifestyle and educational project in the suburbs of Hickory North Carolina USA. Our goal is to demonstrate that a low impact, resilient but comfortable, healthy, and convenient lifestyle is possible in existing suburban developments. You can keep track of our progress on this podcast and at our blog, Sustainable Living at sustliving.blogspot.com

Initially taken from the joining of the the two words permanent and agriculture, permaculture has evolved to encompass many aspects of sustainable living. Indeed the prime directive of permaculture is that, quote, “the only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children”, unquote. That’s from Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future published in 1990 by Bill Mollison, a text we are studying for guidance along our path.

We believe that taking responsibility entails addressing the impacts of all aspects of our lives; food, water, shelter, waste, energy, consumption, and travel. We have chosen not to have children which does simplify things somewhat. On the other hand this has freed us up to live higher impact personal lifestyles. Up until now we have enjoyed living in and visiting far flung locations. This has left us with a carbon debt, or as we like to call it carbon karma, that we feel must be paid down. We believe that a permaculture based off grid lifestyle offers us the most effective path to achieve carbon equity.

Along the way we hope to rekindle our connection to natural cycles, build better health by growing and eating our own high quality organic food, establish household scale resilience as a response to the challenges of peak oil and climate change, and also to help build community scale resilience by starting a transition initiative.

Each episode will feature a different permaculture principle and how we are applying it to the design and eventual implementation of our project. We’ll get started with that in the next episode, for now we’ll leave you with The Principle of Cooperation from the aforementioned text by Bill Mollison - “cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems and of future survival”

Outro - And that’s about it for this episode. Thanks for listening and until next time visit us at sustliving.blogspot.com”

Farmers Market Database - US

2009-12-10T15:08:00.004Z

The Beginning Farmer website is a marvelous resource. They've published a Farmers Market database.

Support your local farmer, eat healthier low carbon seasonal food, find and visit your local farmers market.

The Alternative Kitchen Garden

2009-11-25T10:29:00.003Z

I highly recommend this website and podcast for those who grow or wish to grow their own food in the UK. The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a production of gardening book authoress Emma Cooper and has a presence on Facebook and Twitter as well as lots of links to other great sites, including my other site Sustainable Living.

Thesis abstract

2009-11-23T11:47:00.000Z

Using social research methods, including questionnaire, interview, and observation, four neighbourhoods in SW Sheffield were assessed to determine what factors are most likely to promote and support home- based food-growing. 68 questionnaires and 29 interviews were analysed. Each household interviewed was assessed for growing potential by measuring land area available, land area in food cultivation, solar resource, and availability of tools.

The hypotheses that emerged was that the group of people studied who grow food do not generally do so because they are concerned about food supply or to save money. They grow food primarily because they enjoy gardening, find it therapeutic and they want the freshest produce. They would appreciate access to more land to grow on but very few are interested in an allotment due to lack of proximity and time to adequately utilise one. Those who grow the most food are likely to have a university degree and be aware of threats to food security from peak oil and climate change. The most highly valued source of advice and training across the group are family members and other gardeners. Having a high level of personal community involvement and living within a neighbourhood that is active not only in growing but also socially is a key factor in the likelihood and/or the desire to grow food. The most successful growers live near and interact with other successful growers. Those who do not grow list lack of land and time as the primary reason, but the chances of growing are higher in neighbourhoods with more community involvement regardless of other factors.

Soil Contamination testing - Sheffield and UK

2009-11-23T11:11:00.009Z

ALcontrol Laboratories
Paul Armitage - Technical Sales
Paul.Armitage@alcontrol.com
General : 01244528700 Direct : 01244528727 FAX : 01244528769
ALcontrol Laboratories Units 7-8
Hawarden Business Park Manor Road (off Manor Lane) Hawarden
Deeside CH5 3US

Lancrop Laboratories
Manor Place, Wellington Road, Pocklington
York, YO42 1DN
Tel: 01759 305116
www.lancrop.com

Dr Sarah Pitcher NRM Laboratories Contaminated Land Analysis
DD: 01344 899034 Tel: 01344 886338 Fax:01344 890972
www.nrm.uk.com

Voelcker Consultants Analytical and Consulting Chemists
380 Bollo Lane, Acton,
London W3 8QU
Tel: 020 8993 2421
www.voelckerconsultants.co.uk

The following is excerpted from my thesis.

Research was done on Sheffield city topsoils in 2005.

“A model of soil variability ... was applied to 569 measurements of metal concentrations ... in the topsoils of Sheffield ... Each of the 35 spatial outliers that occurred in gardens have concentrations exceeding their Soil Guideline Value for residential land use with plant uptake, highlighting a potentially significant exposure pathway. ... coal and furnace waste at these sites suggests that their dispersal ... represents a significant point contaminant process. ... Cr and Ni showed a significant association with disturbed sites ... in part due to their prevalence in areas of historical steel manufacture. ... Pb concentrations in urban topsoil ... were twice the value in the rural environment ... highlighting a very substantial diffuse Pb load to urban soils.” (Rawlins et al. 2005 p.353)

Sheffield has centuries of mining activity and steel works that has impacted the soil quality both through direct dumping of waste and airborne deposition of contaminants.
According to Richard Clare, “In the ‘70s in Sheffield due to industrial pollution, there was a public health recommendation not to grow food anywhere in the city.” (Worthington 2008)

Complicating the situation is the difficulty in getting reliable recommendations from soil testing. While there are laboratories to get contamination testing done,

“There are no widely available reference materials for bioaccessibility testing validated against human or appropriate animal in-vivo studies. ... For lead, comparing in vitro data with human in vivo data indicated that the in vitro methods used by most of the laboratories in England and Wales underestimate bioaccessibility. ... This is clearly a matter of concern if such test results are used to make decisions within the risk management of land contamination." (Barnes et al. 2007 p.67)

Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires “... a science based risk assessment which takes account of toxicological information, and site specific ... circumstances” to determine if significant possibility of significant harm (SPOSH) exists. The Act also “requires that local authorities identify contaminated land and ensure that significant risks are dealt with.” (Defra 2008 p.3) DEFRA published a software tool, the Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA), to assist local authorities with this. The Act establishes to what degree remediation must occur primarily through a link to planning and development requirements.
The guidance provided by DEFRA is intended to assist local authorities, not the individual, with implementation of the Act. (Defra 2008 p.3) By leaving assessment of contamination primarily up to the planning process, are backyard gardens and existing allotment sites being overlooked? How does the homeowner or allotment holder gain access to CLEA tool for assessment of exposure on allotment sites? (COT 2008 p.1) My queries to the council to determine the extent of compliance have received no reply.

Research done by Dr. Rule, professor of biogeochemistry Loyola University, indicates that,
“Most soil contaminants will bind tightly to the soil particles and will move very slowly to the soil below.” (Rule 2008)

With the increasing interest in urban agriculture in Sheffield, are more of its’ citizens being exposed to existing, unmeasured, contamination of the soils?

“... vegetables, particularly leafy crops, grown in heavy metals contaminated soils have higher concentrations of heavy metals than those grown in uncontaminated soil. (Guttormsen et al. 1995; Dowdy and Larson 1995) A major pathway of soil contamination is through atmospheric deposition of heavy metals from point sources such as: metaliferous mining, smelting and industrial activities. ... foliar uptake of atmospheric heavy metals emissions has also been identified as an important pathway of heavy metal contamination in vegetable crops. (Bassuk 1986; Salim et al. 1992)” (Kachenko and Singh 2004 p.1)

Given the lack of guidance for the individual citizen regarding the risks of food-growing in the city from soil contamination, as well as the evidence that there could very well be significant contamination, it seems prudent to apply the precautionary principle and assume that soils within Sheffield are guilty until proven innocent.

Books - UK

2009-11-23T11:04:00.002Z

Fruit and Seeds - Sheffield and UK

2009-11-23T10:51:00.000Z

Seeds
Seedy Sunday: Seed Swaps across the UK and valuable information on how to save seeds etc:
http://www.seedysunday.org

Fruit
Julian Brandram, a local expert on fruit trees and soft fruit offering advice and trees for sale suited to the region.
http://www.appletrees.org.uk/

The Abundance Project, a team of volunteers who have been helping harvest city fruit and redistributing the surplus to the community on a non-profit basis
http://www.growsheffield.com/pages/groShefAbund.html

Allotments - Sheffield and Uk

2009-11-23T10:03:00.002Z

Allotment Associations Information
http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden/Allotment_Association/index.php

Sheffield forum allotment and gardening group
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/f-86.html

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd http://www.nsalg.org.uk/
O’Dell House Hunters Road, Corby
Northants NN17 5JE
Tel: 01536 266576

The Allotments Regeneration Initiative - ARI
http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/

Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/
A charity which supports and represents community gardens and city farms throughout the UK.

BBC - Gardening
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/

Sheffield City Council Allotments website
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out--about/parks-woodlands--countryside/allotments

The following is excerpted from my thesis.

Those who I talked to in depth about allotments expressed great concern about the council’s lack of commitment to adequate, fair, and supportive management of the allotments in existence, and dismay that so few are provided. The relationship between highly committed and experienced growers and the management has been quite dysfunctional at times and has hindered the positive development of the allotments in the Sheffield area. There have been many disputes with the chronically understaffed Allotments Department.

Certainly sufficient allotments to meet demand are not being provided. Interviewee #19 stated that they had been on a waiting list for 20 years. Apparently waits of 5 to 10 years are common. Meanwhile a great many sit unused. Of the approximately 3600 plots on 66 sites, 1000 are sitting unused or disused with approximately 1000 people on waiting lists, some of which were closed in 2008. (Clare 2009) In my opinion, if an allotment is unused for a certain period of time it should be rented to someone else through a sensitive and well-informed process involving all stakeholders, including the allotment federations. Also the rules governing the marketing of produce should be revised as needed to encourage maximum use of allotments and to help provide the city with local fresh produce. Terms of use agreements should be negotiable, particularly in the allowance of paid training to take place on allotments.

In my opinion, allotments are the heart and soul of urban agriculture in the UK. They have provided large quantities of food in hard times and are highly valued by those who are committed to them. They are also valuable centers of learning and gardening culture. Allotments have the potential to and indeed are already providing vital services to home-based food growers, from composting to seed swapping. Some home-based growers have an allotment and have developed methods of interaction between the two. Most use their home planting to bring on seedlings. Most do their composting on the allotment and bring it back home, though different forms of composting sometimes take place on the two sites.

Allotments have been the center of community supported agriculture projects, educational efforts, and a lifeline for disadvantaged, disabled, and/ or disturbed individuals who have been lucky enough to find their way onto a site. “In the most recent survey of allotment provision in Sheffield, 75% of tenants defined themselves as either disabled or disadvantaged.” (Clare 2009) In Sheffield several successful examples of these types of projects exist.

Gardening Organizations - Sheffield and UK

2009-11-23T09:21:00.000Z

Garden Organic
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/
Ryton Coventry
Warwickshire
CV8 3LG
Tel: +44 (0) 24 7630 3517 Fax: +44 (0) 24 7663 9229
Email: enquiry@gardenorganic.org.uk

Grow Sheffield
http://www.growsheffield.com/
email: grow@growsheffield.com
tel: 0114 258 0784
The Old Junior School
Southview road
Sheffield S7 1DB

Heeley City Farm
http://www.heeleyfarm.org.uk/
Richards Road
Sheffield S2 3DT
Tel: (0114) 258 0482 Fax: (0114) 255 1400

Low Impact Living Initiative
http://www.lowimpact.org/venues_north.htm
email (preferred): lili@lowimpact.org
telephone / fax: +44 (0)1296 714184
Redfield Community Winslow
Bucks MK18 3LZ UK

Permaculture Association
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/
Hollybush Conservation Centre
Broad Lane Kirkstall
Leeds West Yorkshire LS5 3BP.
Email: office@permaculture.org.uk

Royal Horticultural Society
80 Vincent Square
London SW1P 2PE
Telephone 0845 260 5000
info@rhs.org.uk
http://www.rhs.org.uk/index.htm

Sheffield Organic Food Initiative
http://www.organic-guru.co.uk/
e-mail: richard@organic-guru.co.uk
Telephone: 0114 2686727
41 B Burns Road
Sheffield S6 3GL

Soil Association
http://www.soilassociation.org
South Plaza Marlborough Street,
Bristol BS1 3NX
T: 0117 314 5000 F: 0117 314 5001
E: ff@soilassociation.org

Whirlow Farm
http://www.whirlowhallfarm.co.uk/
Education Department
tel : +44 (0)114 236 0096
email : educationenquiries@whirlowhallfarm.org

Composting - Sheffield and UK

2009-11-22T20:46:00.000Z

Before you can grow food you need good soil, I suggest you build your own. First you need some good organic compost. Here are some links and videos to get you started turning your kitchen waste into quality organic compost.

Composting

Sheffield council compost bins http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/env/waste/gardenwaste/compostbins

Sheffield council compost tips http://www.sheffield.getcomposting.com/Pages/Composting_Tips.html

Sheffield Organic Food Initiative - http://www.organic-guru.co.uk/

Community Composting Network http://www.communitycompost.org/

Green Estate http://www.greenestate.org.uk/dcn

WRAP composting http://www.wrap.org.uk/composting/news_information/index.html

Worm composting

Recycle zone http://www.recyclezone.org.uk/az_worms.aspx

Waste Online http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Compost.htm#Composter

The following are excerpts from my thesis.

There have been several initiatives by private citizens and community groups over the years to organise composting on a community scale. At one point funding was provided to set up an anaerobic composting system for Sheffield, but when the funding ended so did the project. Unfortunately, the council’s efforts in composting are meager: a small green bin programme, with no provision for the return of composted material, and reduced price composters is the extent of it. Many suspect that the waste contract with the Veolia incinerator is at the root of the problem.

There is a small amount of compost for sale through the City Farm, certainly not enough to supply a serious expansion of home-based food-growing. Several of my cohort mentioned being frustrated by the lack of dependable supply there. This leaves individuals to source compost at B&Q or other garden centers or to make their own. The composters available through the council contract with Veolia at a reduced rate are currently the best option as they solve two problems at once, reducing the waste stream and producing high quality soil improvement. The units are reasonably space efficient, but people need training in their use.

Other councils in the area also have not learned how to deal with composting.

“One sustainability official … had recently consulted with Bradford Planning about the potential for developing a localized ‘community’ composting system using the council’s park waste as one waste source. He was told that Composting was an industrial activity that would have to occur in the industrial part of the city. He commented that this made a mockery of the now widely embraced planning principle of mixed uses.” (Howe 2002)

Compost is a challenge on the individual level as well. Interviewee #6 said,

“I don’t have a car to get compost. That was why I got a composter; every day I throw away vegetable peelings. It got mushy at the bottom over winter but the stuff at the top had only been in there a couple of days.”

She gave up on it and mentioned that having free compost delivery would be a huge help. She had taken a bus to B&Q to have a bag of compost delivered which cost more than the bag of compost.