A Quarter Acre Farm in Providence Rhode Island

Continuing with our theme of urban sustainability, here is an interesting article from The Providence Journal about a woman who farms 1/4 acre right in the middle of Providence Rhode Island. From the article:

For eight years, Hastings has farmed this fertile patch between her house and the house next door. It was an empty lot when she moved in, weed-choked and partly asphalt-covered. Junk cars rusted into the ground. A dump- truck-full of rocks had to be sifted out and carted away, a job that occupied many hands and consumed an entire summer.

But tests showed the soil was uncontaminated, and with enhancements and undying attention, Hastings has made it bountiful.

Read the rest in here and make sure to check out the accompanying online video.

Urban Homesteading Open House

Bard and Zoe's Strawbale Shed

Since moving to Albuquerque’s South Valley 2 years ago, our good friends Bard and Zoe have transformed their home and gardens into a sustainable oasis on 1/3 acre. Tomorrow, they are hosting an open house and invite the community to visit from 12noon – 4pm. They’ll share information and tips about such sustainable urban practices as rainwater harvesting, building a strawbale shed, bee production, edible landscaping and more.

For more information, please see mothernaturegardens.wordpress.com.

Urban Homesteading at Sunstone

John takes spent hay from goat pen for sheet mulching new garden beds.

Friends, it’s time to give you an update on what we’re doing here at Sunstone since moving to New Mexico last fall.

Our intention was to live rural with larger acreage as we did in New York, but after much thought, we decided to explore the urban homesteading model, settling just 11 miles outside of the city of Albuquerque in the historically agrarian South Valley.

Instead of a 100 or 20 or 5 acres, we landed on 1.5 acres in the fertile Rio Grande Valley. This is a far cry from the greenbelt we once called home, but already our smallholding has the same peaceful feel of our farmstead in the Catskills.

The urban homesteading model is one that we are excited about exploring and encourage others to experiment and learn with us. With 98% of the US population living off farm, one of the ways to really increase local farms, local foods and local economies is for people to start their own urban jungle of fruit trees, vegetables and healing herbs. We can’t all go “back to the land,” but we can each do our part to create greenbelts of our cities.

Some of the projects we will blog about after our period of “long and thoughtful observation” are sheet-mulching, planning an urban farmstead, harvesting rainwater and creating micro-pastures and edible fences for our goats.

To see what one enterprising family is doing with their urban homestead, check out the inspiring Path to Freedom website. Si se puede! – Jen

Goat Milk Cappuccino

I just made this frothy cup of cappuccino using my state-of-the-art cappuccino machine Tosca the goat!

I bring an empty cup to the milking stand and aim the high-pressure stream directly from teat to cup, filling it about 1/2 way with warm foamy milk. Back in the kitchen, I top it off it with freshly brewed espresso and a dash of cinnamon. -Tree

Goat Milk Cappuccino

Information About Using Wild Carrot Seed

We get many requests for information about using Wild Carrot Seed and always refer them to Robin Rose Bennett’s website. Robin has compiled quite a bit of information about wild carrot and is now conducting a study on using wild carrot for conscious conception. Click below to read her announcement about the study.