If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might know about my dream to have some land in the country, some forest, a stream, hand-built shelters, lots of food growing, and animals, and a community of groovy people. i've been meeting a lot of people who have this dream, and i'm not giving up on it. but in the meantime, i'm trying to make as much of it a reality as i can now, living in the city. It is possible, but renting a house is hard when you're trying to homestead, when you're trying to live self-sufficiently. So here's our house. But not really. We're lucky to have a pretty nice landlord. It's not that he particularly cares about what we're doing, or that he's excited about what we're doing...but that he doesn't really care what we do, as long as he doesn't have to do any work, or pay for anything, and that it looks "good" in the end.


So the major thing we've done is take down the fence and are in the process of putting it up in a different place, so we can have a way bigger yard. There was a driveway on the other side of the fence that the landlord doesn't need anymore. So now we have more room for bigger garden beds, a chicken coop, and a little pond. The pond is not for ducks even though i wish it were.
Most people are used to letting other people grow all their food, and going to the grocery store and buying it. That's just what we do. But these days, it's hard to ignore the inefficiency of this system. Such a waste of energy. I've worked on farms and seen how much work it is to grow just enough food to go to farmers markets. In order to supply food to the whole world in this way, it takes turning farms into factories, even organic agriculture gets turned into this giant, mechanized monoculture.
I won't philosophize too much more. It just doesn't make sense that we should use so much energy in the form of fossil fuels to grow and transport and process the food that everyone needs everyday. I ride my bike or the bus around town, and i see so many big empty lots just sitting there. And i hear about all the people who are unemployed, and see hungry, homeless people looking for work. I wonder why other people aren't making this connection. Not to mention so many lawns that could be turned into gardens and food forests. Let's start growing food a little closer to home. It would create work for people to do, and local food for people to eat. Ultimately, more sustainable.
Here in Portland, there are tons of community gardens. But they are expensive and there are at least year-long waiting lists to get a plot. So in the meantime, while i'm trying to figure out how to get everybody else to realize these things, that we have plenty of space to grow our food locally, i'm doing my best to grow as much food on the land that i have access to, and documenting it so that people can be inspired and get ideas for things they might be able to do.

Moving the fence: what it takes: a hammer to take down the fence boards... a shovel to dig out the fence posts and the new holes for where you'll move the fence posts... a couple good friends to help out... concrete from the store, water to mix it, and a wheelbarrow to mix it in. (the wheelbarrow you see in the picture, bought for $10 from a nice man i found on craigslist).... and just a little know-how (Ian's got some construction experience -- that's him kneeling)
Gardening can seem hard just because there's so many different philosophies about gardening, and people make it seem like there is a best way, a right way and lots of wrong ways. But the truth is, plants want to grow. They just need the right amount of water, light, and nutrients. If you've never done any gardening, even if you have done some gardening, it just takes a little reading, talking to other gardeners in your neighborhood, and willingness to experiment. And it's not like your garden is your livelihood (yet), so if some of your plants don't make it, you can still go to the grocery store and buy some food. And if you are not too easily defeated, you can learn a lot from your mistakes/failures.

I made those cold frames you see in the picture, with some old windows and wood from the Rebuilding Center, a great place close to my house that sells used lumber, windows, doors, cabinets, bathtubs, lamps, hinges, tiles, everything really cheap. Cold frames are a way to start seeds early that can take it a little cold, but can't be outside with no protection. I learned how to use an electric saw to make these.
There are some things that just take a lot of hard labor. Like when you want to put a path leading to your new gate where there are some big nasty bushes. So you just gotta go out there with your shovel and start digging, and keep digging and digging and digging. We'll get those bushes out, even if we have to take a chainsaw to them, or burn them out. We'll get 'em!
Here's a garden bed that's actually already been planted, mostly fava beans, a couple arugula plants, that actually survived the winter, and some tatsoi starts that we got at the farmers market.



And of course, the chicks are still cute. Their feathers are coming in, so i can see what they're going to look like when they grow up. Here's a funny picture of Huckleberry (her new name, the only one who really has a name that's gonna stick), checking out Babar doing yoga. They really want to jump up to higher spots, reminding me that they are birds, and birds fly and like to be high. Still hoping none of them are roosters. I guess i won't really know for a couple months.
Tomorrow i'll be going to ChickenFest at a nursery nearby, where i'll learn more about taking care of chickens and building a coop. Then next week, i'm gonna start building the coop.