Showcase: Denver Urban Homesteading

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Apr 13, 12 Showcase: Denver Urban Homesteading

Today’s post comes from Spencer Essey, a food activist blogger and publisher of Food State.

As the frost of winter begins to thaw and our minds turn to the outdoors and our lawns and gardens, so do our palates.  For those of us out there who aren’t huge fans of root vegetables, the winter can be a time of getting away from the local and healthy mantras we might subscribe to in the spring and summer months when fresh local produce abounds all around us.

And of course the best place to get all these fresh wonderful foods is from the farmers themselves, or at least their representatives at your local farmers market.

While it may still be too early for most farmers markets to get up and running in your communities, you don’t have to let your palate or your plate suffer any longer, because at least here in Denver, there is one farmers market that doesn’t let those pesky seasons determine their hours; Denver Urban Homesteading.

This dog is upset he couldn't go inside and get some raw cheese.

 

Located on the corner of 2ndand Santa Fe, Denver Urban Homesteading resides in an old commercial-industrial building which enables them to stay open year round, catering to the farmers and ranchers who also continue to produce year round.

From producers like Leffler Family Farms and their bounty of radishes, turnips and carrots, to Windsor Dairy who raise Swiss and Heritage Breed cattle which are capable of weathering Colorado’s harsh winters, Denver Urban Homesteading is here for us lucky Denver residents year round. I’d be remiss, however, to not mention the regulars like Rob from Mini Moos and Kids Too who brings in the freshest goat milk you can possibly buy on weekends, or the folks at Callicrate Beef bringing in some of the finest cuts around.

Anthony Zimora of Leffler Family Farms (he married in) located in Eaton, CO shows off his extensive offerings of turnips, radishes and carrots.

More than just a market however, DUH also offers classes on just about anything you could ever want to live a greener more sustainable lifestyle, with offerings that range from the basics of a vegetable garden to raising angora goats for fiber, the good folks at DUH have built a truly extensive network of people who want to share their knowledge with you.  Check out there events calender to see if something piques your interest and see some photos of some adorable angora goats.

Want to raise chickens for eggs?  Goats for milk?  How about bees for your own allergy alleviating honey?  Then check out what they have to offer and give them a visit.  Anyone interested in living a more sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle is sure to find something that interests them.

These are rainbow radishes from Laffler Family Farms ... delicious!

The market is open Thursday and Friday from 3 to 7 pm and Saturday from 9am to 3pm but for the true experience go on Saturday when all the farmers, chicken swappers, goat keepers and apiarists are there in person just chomping at the bit to share and enjoy with you.

Live well, eat well, and take a trip to Denver Urban Homesteading and be thankful we don’t have to buy our vegetables like this.  It might just awaken something in you that you never knew was there.

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The Fungus Among Us

Posted by in Blog, Fresh, Garden 2012 | 2 comments

Apr 05, 12 The Fungus Among Us
This weeks lesson: sterilize your seed starting trays before you start seeds in them.
No, seriously. Fungus is nature’s way of letting us know there is a world of life happening beyond our scope of vision. And that world of life is hungry and active and will probably ruin some of your tomatoes. I had already curbed an invasion of rogue mold spores a few weeks ago with hydrogen peroxide, now I was dealing with a whole new beast.
A few weekends ago we transplanted many of our seedlings into larger pots. Before long, a portion of our tomato plants are looking rather haggard due to a fungus that is coating the leaves. While I have been attempting to curb their decay with fungicides and H2O2, I’m afraid we are going to have to deal with dead plants soon.

Odd coloring to the tomato leaves isn't a great sign.

The likely culprit? Seed starting trays that had a lingering mold, mildew, fungus, whatever from last year. It waited until the seedlings had a bit of transplant shock (the limp, wilted look a lot of tomatoes get when being transplanted) before totally taking over. A risk, after all, when dealing with natural, heirloom seeds – many of them are rather sensitive to conditions they aren’t genetically designed to handle.
Now many of our tomatoes have stunted growth, are covered with a yellow fungus, and the undersides of the leaves are turning an alarming shade of purple.
Peppers, on the other hand, are growing famously.
How are your seed starts doing?
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Garden Update – March 26, 2012

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Mar 26, 12 Garden Update – March 26, 2012

Is this early, extremely warm Spring the country is experiencing a blessing or a curse? This time last year we were all still comfortably in hoodies, embracing the midday sunshine, and closing up the house at night against the early spring chill.

As of this posting, I am nursing my first sunburn of the year. This weekend – full of hiking and biking and time in the garden – was as fabulous as it was exhausting.

It was also the weekend of the transplanting. For the first time this year I had the thought: we might have started too many seeds.

transplanting garden vegetable seedlings

The long process, about 200 seedlings in all

Everything that had been living in the inch-wide Jiffy pellets for the past few weeks got an upgrade yesterday into an either 2 or 4 inch pot. Each pot required soil, labeling, watering and real estate. What conveniently fit into four small trays now has to jockey for space among 9 enormous trays that are continually circulated around the house and outside for sunlight.

Currently our home smells like earth. The winds have kept the plants indoors today and me trading out the pallets every few hours. If it weren’t for the unpredictable nighttime chills the plants would have gone straight into the ground.

keeping transplant pots labeled

Keeping things labeled

When transplanting:

Use a good garden soil. Pack the soil around the plant firmly, but not tightly. Gotta give those roots some room to spreadout.

Tomatoes have likely developed a long stem. When transplanting tomatoes, do your best to cover as much of the stem with soil. The plant will create new roots from the stem, allowing the plant to grow taller and stronger.

transplanting tomatoes

A buried stem in a 4 inch pot

Immediately after transplanting your seedling may look a little weak (dare I say, pitiful?) .Fret not, this is just a symptom of transplant shock. Water, warmth, and light will allow your plant to continue growing strong.

Keep everything watered, but not necessarily saturated. This is prime time for rotting roots and fungus attacks. Allow the soil to dry out from time to time.

And, of course, make sure your plants get plenty of time outside to harden off and acclimate to their eventual home!

seedling army

Eyes bigger than stomach

We have a few seed-trading events coming up. Hopefully we’ll be able to share this wealth among those we know!

How is your garden progressing? What are some challenges you are dealing with?

 

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Challenges of winter sustainability

Posted by in Blog, Build, Food, Fresh, Grow | 1 comment

Feb 06, 12 Challenges of winter sustainability

Our preserve shelf. Half empty.

We’re halfway through the winter here at the little urban quasi-homestead. One thing is absolutely clear: If this were little house on the prairie, I’d be dead and my corpse would have been eaten by wild goats by now. It is damn near impossible to be 100% self-sustainable during the winter months this day in age, especially in an urban setting.
Over the summer, fresh foods were easy to come by. Whether they were growing in our backyard or were acquired through farmer’s markets – we had plenty of them and we were rarely visiting big chain grocery stores. However, now that the summer frenzy of food trickled to a halt, even with our attempts at canning, we do not have a truly sustainable food supply.
Fortunately, grocery stores are an option for us. That’s the idea of industrial agriculture – to make simple groceries a reality for a lot of people. We rely a fair bit on what we get delivered via Door to Door Organics. What we do get from the neighborhood grocery store rarely extends much farther than grains and eggs. It’s a concerted effort on a lot of fronts – eating foods that are better for you, better for the earth.
As easy as the local grocer can make this, it’s boggling to think that there was a time this didn’t exist. Where what you were eating is pretty much what you could grow and procure on your own.
Looking back, I’m amazed at how much planning, forethought, and general ingenuity it takes to put up enough food to keep two people fed for the half of the year food isn’t actively growing.  Even when our gardens were growing and producing at full tilt, we weren’t 100% reliant on them. Although, they did put a huge dent in our food budget.
July, August, September – the hottest months around Colorado, and what were we doing? Burning the stove on high and boiling lots of water to preserve foods while they were still fresh. Even with our modern conveniences it was a lot of work. Some of what we canned could be eaten right out of the jar. Others are still basically ingredients. Putting them away was more of “we can’t let it go bad” and less of “what are we going to want to use this for in several months from now?
Some preserves go faster than others. The pickles seem never ending – we’re now giving them away as gifts. The applesauce and tomatoes are almost gone, we still have a large stock of fruit preserves and jams. We have been getting better at using dried beans and lentils in soups and stews (a beans go a long, long way in terms of calories).
I never really made it a goal to be 100% self reliant on the food that we grew here in our own gardens – I still enjoy supporting other food vendors in the community. But after such a successful summer I have come to miss having so much wealth outside my back door. This year I have several goals, but when it comes to growing food.
I am going to grow 100 pounds of potatoes. Probably using this model:
potato growing box

Potato growing box (click image for full directions)

Planting a winter crop on unused beds – if only so it doesn’t look so desolate. Winter crops also work well at preventing valuable soils from running off and keep nutrients active in the crop. At the beginning of spring, the winter crop is tilled back under the soil and the spring seedlings are planted.
Plant foods that have a longer shelf-life. Namely: gourds, squashes, pumpkins, onions, roots. Thicker skins mean they can stay on the shelf much longer.
Plant garlic, and onions. And other things that need a winter underground to be awesome. We always seem to need garlic at our house. While we’re at it: other herbs. We have been saving empty shaker jars that were previously home to store bought herbs. Last summer I dried and crushed basil leaves (one of the better-producing plants).
At this point, we’re still at least two months out from our final frost in Denver. Still a little early to start seeds indoors, but there is plenty to do.
What are you doing to maintain a green and sustainable lifestyle during the winter months? I want to hear ideas and suggestions!
BTW – Not Quite Hippie is experimenting with Pinterest. What would you like to see me do with it? 
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Tiny Houses – how small is too small?

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a tiny house

via tinyhouseblog.com

Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more attention given to the idea of the Tiny House.

It’s rather refreshing, especially in our McMansion era of homes with massive lawns and out-of-control utility bills, accessed through an endless network of asphalt at the edge of yet another suburban town.

Many find it nice, really, owning a home that they can call their own. Other’s take a Durden-esque criticism to it: a big house that you need to fill with things and keep from falling apart – debt upon debt upon debt.

But what if you weren’t living in a big house? Could you fit everything that was truly important to you within a few dozen square feet? Could you live in a Tiny House?

TINY: A Story About Living Small (Teaser Trailer) from TINY on Vimeo.

When I worked as a Ranger at Philmont several years ago, my existence was more or less that. During that summer everything I owned either existed in the back of my Jeep Cherokee or was skillfully packed into by Kelty. When I was on duty I’d hike about with everything from my closet to my bed to my kitchen pantry packed into a few thousand cubit inches. When I wasn’t, I was able to travel everywhere from Santa Fe to the Grand Canyon, always on a whim, still able to camp out or sleep in the back of the Jeep when it was time to retire for the day.

It was a true sense of freedom, which was ideal for a 20 year old. Sure, I’d be reliant on outside sources for things like showers and laundry, fuel and food. Beyond that my time was my own and my job was to guide Scouts through the New Mexican backcountry and prescribe them methods of not being eaten by mountain lions, dying of hypothermia, or getting really lost.

Point being: that summer, I could go anywhere all because I didn’t have the large, permanent things that typically tie people to one spot: beds, sofas, televisions, tax information, etc. However, I know that a lot of people like the idea of having a shower or a bed prescribed to them.

With the Tiny House idea, people are showing they can do so much more with so much less. By living in smaller spaces they are, quite literally, reducing their footprint. Tiny homes, many of which are portable, don’t necessarily have the power and water hookups that a typical home would have. Many of them run on solar power, have small reserve tanks for water, and use propane for heating and cooking.

Storage presents another challenge – meaning every purchase decision has to be considered. Where are you going to put the things you buy?

I’ve seen many Tiny Houses designed to be on wheels, built right on top of trailers. Depending on the skills and resources you have available, a well built Tiny Home could cost you a few thousand dollars. Significantly less, and far more earth friendly than the option of an RV. And, if you wanted you could build the house on a trailer and have it move with you.

I’m not entirely sure I could live in a Tiny House. It might be a part of the American sickness I could never shake: compartmentalization. A room with a reason, everything in it’s place. I’ve been working every day to make do with less. Use fewer resources, being smarter about acquiring things. The Tiny House idea revolves primarily around the idea of living simply through having less – the fewer things you own, the less you have to maintain, the less debt acquired. Still, it would take some getting used to.

And, frankly, I love the garden.While mobile gardening is possible, I’d rather have a plot of soil I can work with and enrich over time.

Could you live within a Tiny House? What are you doing to live with less?

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