Uber Urban Farmer

Well, we planned on having two garden beds but with work, a kid and a yard that needs a lot of attention the second raised bed only has the 5 sunflowers I planted, dozens of maple saplings, and the wild garlic growing in it. The first raised bed came out nicely though. But still will need work.

The bed is a mount of dirt about three to three and a half feet high, 6 feet wide by 10-12 feet long depending how you measure this ovalish bed. The beds are designed around a landscape that took into account vertical, horizontal and curving lines.

I was impressed with the insect diversity. We had insect eating ladybug and wasps everywhere. There were at least 3 types of bees. I saw a variety of other insects too. I did not have a slug issue. I think it might of been because the bed was raised and did not stay moist. Also the sharp hairs on the pumpkin vines were everywhere. The hairs would of made it impossible for the slug to glide its soft body across them.

I did have a technique when planting. I wanted the garden to block the view straight into our back yard, hence the raise bed. I also wanted to intermingle the plants. I am not into monoculture. The main part of the mount including three side hosted the three types of sunflowers. I clustered them by variety Mammoth at the top, Yellow Heirloom around one side and the Red Heirloom around the other side/top. I then planted pole beans at their base. Two beans per sunflower. The bean grew up the sunflower using it as a trellis. The beans also provided nitrogen in the soil for the other plants. Then for a ground covering and then some I planted a squash...pumpkins for later use at Jake-o-lanterns. This worked out relatively well. Next time I will give the sunflowers a few more weeks head start before transferring the beans into the ground next to them. All plants were grown from seeds.

My spouse sequestered a flatter section of the garden (on the end) for his plantings. He grew a packet of seed that had mixed lettuces. He also had 4 kinds of rather hot peppers and celontro. All from seeds. I was beginning to think that he had adopted the four varieties as long lost children. Luckily our real daughter squeaked into the number one spot. But it was close at times.

There are still fresh beans on the vines. I let some of them dry there to collect later. I will see if I can get them to grow next year. Our harvest so far includes the following.

100 pole beans - Kentucky red and a green variety
52 plants of celontro - herb
7 pepper with a dozen more on the plants (habenero, jalepeno, peruvian heritage, cayenne)
4 the equivalent of four pre mixed salad packages you get from the store
3 dozen sunflowers - red heirloom, yellow heirloom and mammoth
2 pumpkins on their vines

dozens of gone wild lemon balm
dozens of wild garlic

The only thing that didn't make it was the tomatoes. Never even left the pots. Next year.

Things I will change:

1. Get the composter working
2. Get a Rain Barrel
3. Frame in the raised beds

I would like to point out no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or the such were allowed in my garden. The few 30 lb bags of soil we introduced to the garden, well my spouse's part of the garden was organic, bought fromUrban Roots but was sourced from a farm in our area. All our seeds, pots, etc were all from Urban Roots

Playground & Synthetic Chemical Spray

Well, I just got off the phone with the operations department of the Olmsted Parks (Delaware Park) Conservancy. And much to my delight I was informed that the playgrounds (or anything in that area) do not get sprayed with pesticides or herbicide or anything else. They do spray the golf course and the baseball field. They are trying to use plant based sprays when possible but they are more expensive then the petroleum based prays. They are on a budget. Apparently it takes three years to get the all natural sprays working and the ecosystem in balance with natural sprays. Whereas the petroleum spray is a zap'em dead type of deal.

Well at least my organic baby will be safe at Delaware park.


Some studies:

American Journal of Epidemiology List of Chemicals that cause hormone problems Study

EHP an easy source to finding article on health and toxins Study

Are you eating bananas or other food from other countries? Many countries still use DDT. Study

Pesticide concentration higher in woman and those that eat meat Study

Endocrine Disruptor and contamination through water supply into food chain Study

Lunch Boxes

What a fun way to pack a lunch ! These four animals lunch bags were designed by award-winning children’s book illustrator, Stephen Savage and being offered by Nubius Organics. I really want one. But due to the odd looks I would get for carrying one into a board meeting I think I will just have to live vicariously through my daughter.

Yellow Benny the Tiger, Green Meadow Rabbit, Lefty the Black & White Dog, The Pink Panda.




Features:

• Made from polypropylene and tested lead & food safety.
• Small handles for small hands.
• Insulates and protects drinks.
• Saves hundreds of bags over the course of a year.
• Unzip to a placemat and stores flat.

Clean Air

Is it me or is the sky clearer? I read a Forbes.com article that China has shut down some major industrial polluters. That pollution gets blown east across the ocean to the U.S. And now I wonder if our sudden clear skies are due in part to China's reduction in air emissions?

There is a history of China's air pollution including mercury traveling east over the ocean to the United States. Maybe with China's air in better health we can also take a deep breath.

Buffalo, NY has a history with air pollution and strong winds like China. As it happen the polluting industries that are still left here are in three major hubs...to the north in North Buffalo & Tonawanda, NY, to the east on the Buffalo-Cheektowaga boarder and to the south in the South Buffalo area. The wind blows from the southwest to the northeast. So, anyone living east of these facilities get doused with air emission. The south towns, Buffalo's west and central areas seem to be are relatively safe. This is simply because they are up wind from the factories.

To see who the top polluters are you can go to scorecard.org For Buffalo, NY readers here is a list of Top Polluters. The two biggest polluters are both in Tonawanda the Huntley coal plant with 2.6 million pounds and 3M Co. with 684,000 pounds of pollution.

For the Huntley plant Mercury compounds, Lead compounds and Hydrochloric Acid top the list of chemicals. From 1998 to 2002 the non cancerous chemicals have increase by 2969%. No I did not leave out a decimal point.

Arctic Survey

"What do you think will happen to the Arctic?" The following post on TreeHugger.com informs us of the competition between nations to access the oil reserves under the melting ice in the Arctic. As the ice melts oil sources are exposed. Read further here.

Treehugger.com

Organic Reuseable Lunch Bags

Back to School and a simple way to go Green is a reusable lunch bag. The bag does not have to be organic. Any reusable bag is a great leap forward into sustainability. But if you do want to move on... featured here is the next step, Organic lunch bag. The first is a simple organic cotton bag that does the trick. It is unbleached and measures 7 x 10.5 x 4.5.




As an alternative is the Mimi The Sardine Lunch bag that is too cute. It looks like a clutch. It is machine washable and measure 8.5 x 10 x 4.5. There are two types the monkey shown to the right and the Mimi The Sardine Bug Bag.

Vaccines - Post IV - NYS School Requierments

Link to NYS Requirements for vaccinations for entry into public schools.

Notice there is a different requirement if your child attends Pre-School or is going to Kindergarten.