Urban homesteaders will share their experiences at public talk - KW Record article

Urban homesteaders will share their experiences at public talk

September 13, 2008

Johanna Weidner
RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO REGION

Karin Kliewer wanted to enjoy the fruits of living on a farm, but she also wanted to be near the resources of the city.

The solution: urban homesteading.

Kliewer and her husband, Greg Roberts, now run the Little City Farm in downtown Kitchener.

"Basically, farming -- but on a small scale," Kliewer said.

The pair will share their experiences as urban homesteaders at a free public talk later this month in the One Book, One Community campaign.

This year's book is The 100-Mile Diet, the chronicle of a Vancouver couple's year-long odyssey to eat only local food. Authors Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon will visit Waterloo Region next week for readings as part of the events being held all month.

Now in its seventh year, One Book, One Community is like a regionwide book club, with everyone encouraged to read and discuss the same book.

The 100-Mile Diet urges people to think about what they eat and where it comes from, as well as sustainable living in general.

That's a part of daily life for Kliewer and her husband. Little City Farm's focus is living simply and in a way that's easy on the environment.

The couple grow most of their own food in an organic garden on their third of an acre, bake in an outdoor wood-fired oven, use solar power and build with natural materials. They get around the city on foot or bike and buy from local farmers.

To share their passion for sustainable living, the pair opened a bed and breakfast. Visitors have come from all over the world,Kliewer said.

"I think people are coming here because they know it's something a little bit different."

Quite often, people ask to pitch in and get their hands dirty in the garden or with other projects. For the morning meal, most choose the 100-mile breakfast of local, free-range eggs, organic bread made with local flour and jam made with local berries.

"Really, we're in a great area of the country," Kliewer said.

Kliewer and her husband also hold workshops -- from organic gardening and canning to soapmaking and beekeeping -- to help others in the community get started on sustainability.

Best of all, green living can be easy and even small steps make a difference.

"Anybody can do these things, even if you have a balcony," said Kliewer. "Everybody has something that they can do."

jweidner@therecord.com

100-foot diet - featured article in KW Record

Forget the 100-mile diet. Why not try the 100-foot diet?

Email the author

July 19, 2008

DINAH MURDOCH

I've written in this spot before about my own lack of gardening prowess, especially when it comes to edibles.

This year, I've broadened the range of potted herbs on my front porch. I've even branched out into heirloom tomatoes thanks to my mom, who started several plants from seed in the spring and gifted me with a couple that are now waist high.

But I guess I've always figured sustaining one's self on homegrown produce was more effectively left to those in rural parts -- people with acres of property, a barnful of seeds and tools, an encyclopedic how-to knowledge and a feverish work ethic.

That was, of course, until recently, after numerous encounters with various regular folks around the region who are practically farming in their own backyards -- right in the city. It's been referred to as "urban agriculture" or "urban homesteading." Some like to think of it as the "100 foot diet." And during a time when many of us are thinking about food miles, fuel costs and the origin of what's on our plates, it certainly makes sense.

Karin Kliewer, an avid organic gardener who lives in Kitchener, says she and partner Greg Roberts are eating what they cultivate in their Duke Street backyard from March to December. In fact, they're able to go all summer without buying produce.

Indeed, when I stopped by to visit, Kliewer made us a snack of flat breads (baked in an outdoor cob oven and topped with homegrown asparagus, greens, garlic scapes and fresh herbs) and homemade herbal tea.

Name it and it's probably in their garden -- grapes, apples, currants, shiitake mushrooms, peas, lettuce, carrots, peppers, edible flowers, sorrel, borage, 20 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, the biggest oregano plant (no, shrub) I've ever seen. You get the idea. Everything is grown sustainably according to principles of permaculture -- a somewhat complicated concept to explain in a short space, but one based on the notion that it's better to work with nature than against it.

Kliewer says she and Roberts enjoy the perks of living in the city -- being able to walk to work, for example -- but felt they could still incorporate aspects of what most of us tend to think of as "rural living" into their lifestyle.

Not too far down the road in downtown Kitchener, Tim Simpson and partner Aura Hertzog have a somewhat smaller but nevertheless substantial plot in their backyard -- they like to call it their "urban farm."

Simpson grows his plants from organic heirloom seeds and is able to harvest and eat "things you'd never find in a grocery store" -- Armenian cucumbers, strawberry spinach and Black Aztec corn, for starters.

Though his 22 tomato plants will yield more than the family can eat this summer, he'll busy himself making tomato sauces and relishes. He'll also do some freezing and plans to build a fruit cellar in the basement to house some canning and preserving. This way, Simpson says, they can extend their backyard eating into the winter and beyond.

Nina Bailey-Dick, a local food champion and yet another urban homesteader (beyond the fruits and vegetables, she has two hens in her Waterloo yard providing her family with eggs), says it's all about starting small. A cherry tomato plant is a good place to begin. Or maybe some sugar snap peas instead of the typical clematis for your trellis.

"Just do one thing," she says to those who might be intimidated by the notion of growing their own food. "You'll be overwhelmed if you try to do everything at once. Just take one step at a time."

dinahmurdoch@yahoo.com

Fork in the Road - CBC special on local food in Waterloo Region

This recent CBC short story focusses on the costs of importing food to Waterloo Region, and this region's efforts to go local. It showcases some of our local food producers and community gardens - the community garden is The Good Earth Garden located at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in uptown Waterloo, the produce auction is the Elmira Produce Auction, the CSA is at Ignatius Farm in Guelph, the farmers market is Waterloo/St. Jacobs, and comments are from Katherine Pigott of Waterloo Region Public Health department.

You can view the entire story on the CBC website at: http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/running_on_empty/fork_in_the_road_1.html. Note the links CBC put up in the latter website address: it includes our Food Miles and Food Flow analysis studies, a recent StatsCan report on food imports and the local food trend, and links to local farmers' markets.

Herbal landscape

I was amazed when I started to make a list of all the herbs we are growing here. I use many of them for my herbal business, making dried teas, tinctures, infused oils, salves, balms & soaps with them. Many herbs are expensive or even difficult to source in the local stores (or by mail order), so it's been useful to be able to produce many of these here on site. I know the quality is top notch when I harvest them at their peak, know they have been dried or preserved properly, and know they are organically grown. Best of all, they are always at my fingertips, whether I need to run out to the herb garden for chives, parsley and dill to add to the evening's salad, make an herbal tea of fresh sage for a sore throat, or infuse calendula for making fresh baby oil for Maya. Every home should have at least a tiny herb patch, even a few containers on the back deck, with basic herbs on hand.

Here is part of my list of what we are growing and some ways I use the herbs:

Teas
bergamot, red clover, feverfew, red raspberry leaf, nettle, sage, peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon balm, mullein, chamomile, sweetgrass, rosehips, coltsfoot, anise hyssop, stevia, valerian, hops

Tinctures
black walnut, echinacea, dandelion, nettle, yarrow, thyme, red raspberry leaf, lemon balm

Salves, Balms, Oils, Soaps
calendula, sage, yarrow, rosemary, ints, orris root, cayenne, arnica, witch hazel, evening primrose, st johns wort, chickweed, marshmallow, comfrey, aloe vera

Culinary
thyme, sage, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, dill, winter & summer savory, lavender, pesto basil, purple basil, lemon basil, thai basil, caraway, fennel

Edible flowers
borage, calendula, nasturtium, violet, evening primrose, wildrose, yarrow, dandelion, squash blossoms, lavender

Wild flowers
asters, bee balm, milkweed, butterfly weed, lobelia, red trillium, bloodroot, wild ginger, many others, sweet flag, blue cohosh, black cohosh (many have been purchased from local native plant nurseries) and also many cut flowers (annuals) which we use for bouquests in the B&B guest rooms

Garden bounty

Tomato photo: includes yellow pear, yellow plum, orange cherry, sweetie cherry, moneymaker, cherokee purple, green zebra, mennonite orange, jeune flamme, early girl, ground cherry and tomatillo.

Edible flower photo: includes spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, oregano, nasturtium, lavender, calendula, marigold, anise hyssop, sage, fennel, thyme, evening primrose, bergamot, violet, pansy, feverfew, yarrow.

September is a glorious month! Our garden is just past it's peak, but the harvest is still going strong. Every day I gather armloads of zucchini, and baskets of tomatoes, beans, hot peppers, lettuce, chard, kale, cucumbers, eggplant, basil and other herbs. I've dug up carrots, garlic, beets and potatoes. I'm collecting seeds to be saved and stored for planting again next spring. I'm preparing our cold frames for planting new seeds of chard, kale, mesclun, lettuces and Asian greens which will be ready for a satisfying early spring harvest. Here are photos of an assortment of our heirloom tomatoes (back in May we wrote about our annual Seedling Sale, where we had 15 varieties of tomatoes - many heirloom variety - for sale), and a selection of edible flowers.

We did a little survey of our property (gardens, as well as yard spaces) and came up with this tally of what we are producing on this property:
* 50+ kinds of vegetables
* 100+ varieties of culinary & medicinal herbs (see next post)
* 8 varieties of berries & grapes (raspberry, strawberry, black currant, gooseberry, chokecherry, blueberry, mulberry, grapes)
* 8 varieties of tree fruit (2 pears, 1 Italian plum, 3 apples, 2 cherry)
* 20+ kinds of edible flowers. It's an encouragement to see what can be produced, with minimal effort, on a small 1/3 acre property!

Documenting Strawbale Addition - 3

Here is a series of photos to catch up on where things are at with our strawbale construction. We are building a small addition to our existing 100 year old brick home. The strawbale section will consist of a living room and bedroom for us to live in, while the rest of the house remains our bed & breakfast space. We are basically creating our "one room cabin" that we have always dreamed of building (and of course we may still build another cabin someday if we decide to go rural). The space will include many of the features we have loved over years of looking at cabins, cottages and eco-homes, and has been a lot of fun to design. Even though it's a small space, Greg has spent hours pouring over books and drawing and re-drawing sketches of what might be possible, then talking this over with our architect and engineers. Now the end result is that this includes:

for heating -
the strawbale and plaster itself which creates incredible warmth, insulative value and an earthy feel, radiant floor heating, passive solar gain, and a wood stove;

for aesthetic -
green "living roof" on board & baton section, 15 foot ceiling for one length of strawbale section, a deep window seat (built on the thick strawbale wall), large windows over looking our pond/garden, door from bedroom opening into garden, board & baton detail on the wood framed section, sleeping loft, earthen floor and natural paints/plastering on inside.

We have had some set backs due to the vast amount of heavy rain this summer, foundation problems which resulted in a much larger excavation than planned, as well as delays with our permit. Last Friday (Aug 29) we finally officially received our complete permit after negotiating for almost 5 months! We have had a "half permit" for the past month or so, which allowed us to build the foundation but not raise any walls or strawbales yet. We did have other work to do, including preparing the new board & baton back room which will attach from brick house to strawbale (not to mention tending the garden, and spending time with new baby Maya!) The board & baton section is featured in the photo above and will house our laundry area and new full bathroom (with reclaimed clawfoot tub donated by Liz, and marble sink donated by Alfred)!

Part of our design principle includes limiting the amount of concrete that is used as this is so energy-intensive to produce. We used Durisol blocks (made of a composite wood fibre and concrete) as our foundation blocks. It comes to about the same price as using concrete but many more "green" builders are using this material. The blocks are made locally, near Stratford, and we picked them up ourselves with a rental truck rather than having the pay the shipping.

Photos here include the new board & baton back room, foundation and raising of first walls. We hope to start strawbale in the next two weeks, and plastering by the end of the month if possible.

September Local Food Events Calendar

September is local food month around here! The book chosen for our "community reads" (One Book One Community) selection is the 100 Mile Diet, and the authors are coming on a speaking tour at the Kitchener Public Library in the middle of the month. For the entire month there seem to be events leading up to and tailing this presentation - here is a list of what we've gathered info on so far (more to be added):

SEPTEMBER LOCAL FOOD EVENTS CALENDAR

Sept 6
- Film: The Fight for True Farming: Food Autonomy or Agribusiness, 1:30 pm KPL
- Kitchener Farmers Market! 7 am-2 pm. Visit Fertile Ground CSA (end of Market Lane) for organic locally grown produce! See: www.fertilegroundcsa.com

Sept 8
- Eating the 100 Mile Diet in Waterloo Region, with Marc Xuereb, Region of Waterloo Public Health Planner, 7 pm at KPL

Sept 13
- Kitchener Farmers Market! 7 am - 2 pm. Visit Fertile Ground CSA (end of Market Lane) for organic locally grown produce! See: www.fertilegroundcsa.com
- Preserving the Harvest, with Christy Hoffman (teacher/interpreter Joseph Schneider Haus) and Ken Diplock (Region of Waterloo Public Health Planner), 10 am at KPL
- Film: The Future of Food, 1:30 pm KPL

Sept 17
- 100 Mile Celebrations, with Pam Salisbury, owner of Flourish...fabulous florals, 7 pm at KPL

Sept 18
- 100 Mile Diet author's Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon speak at KPL, 7 pm Doors open at 6:30 pm. Door prizes. Copies of 100 Mile Diet will be available for sale.

Sept 20
- Kitchener Farmers Market! 7 am -2 pm. Visit Fertile Ground CSA (end of Market Lane) for organic locally grown produce! See: www.fertilegroundcsa.com
- Film: The Real Dirt on Farmer John, 1:30 pm KPL
- 100 Mile Potluck, hosted by Bailey's Local Foods (for food buying club members). Contact ninabd@gto.net for more details. Bring a dish made with local ingredients.

Sept 21
- Taste Local! Taste Fresh! In Victoria Park, downtown Kitchener, 2-5 pm. Cost $55/person. Call 519-513-8998 for booking tickets. Hosted by Waterloo Region FoodLink.

Sept 22
- Our 100 Mile Region: Abundant and Diverse, with Rolf Thiessen (geography teacher, tour guide) and Warren Stauch (tour guide) ; 7 pm KPL

Sept 24
- Urban Agriculture Presentation, with Karin Kliewer & Greg Roberts of Little City Farm, 7 pm at KPL

Sept 25
- Food Systems conversation. Bring your favourite books, magazines, opinions and recipes to share. At Exhibit Cafe in downtown Kitchener. Contact 519-568-8688 for more details.

Sept 27
- Kitchener Farmers Market! 7 am -2 pm. Visit Fertile Ground CSA (end of Market Lane) for organic locally grown produce! See: www.fertilegroundcsa.com
- Intro to Beekeeping Workshop and local honey tasting, with Les Eccles of University of Guelph Beekeeping Lab. 1 pm, hosted by Little City Farm in Kitchener. Cost $20/person. RSVP to info@littlecityfarm.ca.
- Film: A Growing Season, 1:30 pm KPL

Sept 28
- 100 Mile Potluck, at Exhibit Cafe in downtown Kitchener, 6-9 pm (last Sunday of each month) Bring a dish made with local ingredients. RSVP or learn more contact Jodi at 519-568-8688.

Sept 30
- Food Systems Analysis Through Film, 6:30 pm at KPL

puffball mushroom delicacy

Our friend Ken, an avid mushroom gatherer, who knows the nooks and crannies of the local woodlots where edible mushrooms grow, dropped a huge puffball mushroom off the other day. We cooked it up just like he advised - dipped in organic free range egg batter and breaded with wholegrain breadcrumbs, then fried in a little oil (he advised butter). He said not to marinade or coat in heavy flavours, as you need to let the delicate taste and texture of the mushroom come through. Very very tasty, and this puffball fed 6 people easily! (the puffball is the large round bread-like looking ball on the left).

Bailey's Local Foods

The past two weeks we've been savouring local organically grown (or low spray/no spray) fruit! It's such an amazing time of year in southern Ontario, when garden produce is at it's peak -- this may well be THE peak week right now -- and not to mention fresh fruit that we access here.

Bailey's Local Foods, a fairly new local buying club offers food from within a "100 mile" radius of Kitchener-Waterloo. This is not your typical buying club (purchasing bulk dried goods, flour and grains from a supplier), but it includes a whole range of seasonal produce from nearby farms, fruit from Niagara and berries closer, as well as organic meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, sauces, jams, salsas, and even handmade pasta made with local organic flour which Vincenzo's is going to prepare specifically for the group. The order options vary each week (based on availability and the season of course) and members can fill out the order by email and send it in to Nina, who coordinates the whole operation from her home in Uptown Waterloo. Orders arrive Fridays, and there is an exciting buzz around the neighbourhood as people wheel up with bike trailers, wagons, carts, etc to pick up their orders. How fortunate to have such dedicated local food advocates like Nina and her dad Wendell (who does much of the driving for Bailey's Local Foods) sourcing out healthful, local food suppliers for us and offering these options in our community.

We've purchased plums, blueberries, peaches and pears and have been canning sauce, freezing, drying, eating and baking with these all week in order to prepare for the winter months.

To contact Nina at Bailey's Local Foods, email: ninabd@gto.net

Beekeeping Workshop Coming on Sept 27

September seems to be local food month around here, and to this subject what better than to offer a workshop on keeping bees and hosting a local honey "tasting"! We're very excited to be have this beekeeping workshop coming up in a few weeks, as there have been many requests from people in our community about a workshop on this topic, in particular learning about keeping bees in cities and how to get started. There is even interest from one person in starting a beekeeping co-op, to share the work and responsibility of care for the bees. Maybe such a project will be able to grow out of this workshop? It took us a while to connect with a good facilitator, but we saw Les give a beekeeping workshop at Hillside Festival last summer and he had everyone inspired by his knowledge and enthusiasm. We look forward to hosting him here at Little City Farm. Here are the details - there's still space to sign up.

Intro to Beekeeping Workshop
Sat, Sept 27 from 1-3 pm

With Leslie Eccles of Eccles Apiaries, and the University of Guelph Beekeeping Lab

Featuring:
- How to get started with your own bees
- Information regarding the recent losses of bee colonies in Ontario
- Local honey tasting
- Honey for sale from Eccles Apiaries

Cost: $20/person
Reservation by SEPT 20 required
Contact: info@littlecityfarm.ca

Documenting Strawbale Addition - 2

Haven't had time to write, as this month has been so hectic with baby arrival and all the house renovations going on, not to mention loads of visitors and also abundant garden to take care of! Whew! Luckily (or unluckily) we've had so much rain this year that many parts of the build have been slowed down, and we've ended up getting more "down time" together inside the house. We are hoping for clear skies for the rest of this fall, so that we can get on with the strawbale walls, and then the more important plastering (which needs dry warm weather in order to set properly).

We've had many many volunteers helping out already - thanks to all who've come by for workbees and other project help. We hope to thank you all in a bigger way once the house is done. photos coming soon...

Introducing Maya!

For all of you who have been wondering about our impending birth, we are pleased to announce that our beautiful girl Maya Hazel arrived on July 28 at 5:40 am! We had attended the Hillside Music Festival during the day, and in the end realized that we spent our initial "real" labouring time there amidst the crowds and music stages! No surprise that Maya danced out later that evening. She was born in our home just as the sun was rising, with the assistance of two wonderful midwives. The birth went as smoothly as we could have hoped and it was truly an amazing experience.

Maya is strong and healthy, weighed 6 lb 15 ounces and was 22 inches with long graceful arms, legs, fingers & toes. Mama, Papa and babe are all doing well and Maya is settling in to life on the "farm". She's spending time stretching her bare feet in the sun each day, supervising the harvest of tomatoes, beans & kale, and lingering in the herb garden to smell the flowers. She had her first trip to the farmer's market on Saturday and seemed to enjoy the bustle.

Maya means "winged messanger" and we thought of her as our little honeybee, a keystone element that is vital for our future in terms of pollination of food crops. Hazel is named for the hazelnut tree, native to this part of the country and valued as a prized tree in permaculture gardening. The hazel tree also happens to be the Celtic tree designated for the month of July - very fitting.

Some books on natural birthing that we found helpful during the pregnancy are:

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin
Spiritual Midwifery, by Ina May Gaskin
The Natural Pregnancy Book, by Aviva Jill Romm
The Birth Partner, by Peggy Simpkin
Hypnobirthing, by Marie Mongan
Birthing From Within
Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, by Susun Weed

Monarch on Milkweed

Visited by the first lovely monarch butterfly of the season today...we usually get an abundance of these butterflies in July-August as they feed on milkweed, and spend time resting on various orange coloured flowers we've planted such as butterfly weed, sunflowers and blackeyed susan.

Fertile Ground CSA first pick up!

Yesterday we had the first pick up for the 40+ share members of the Fertile Ground CSA. What an exciting day - members came by with baskets, boxes, crates, bags, bike trailers, wagons, strollers to cart home their vegetables.

Members get either a small or regular sized share, and come each week from July-October. They weigh out and choose their vegetables, sort of like a grocery store or market set up, based on what is listed on our blackboard. We are really looking forward to hosting this pick up each week, and anticipating the harvest. The tables were laden, the first week's harvest was especially rich with greens. Here's what members received:

- spicy and traditional salad mix
- heads of red, green or speckled lettuce
- spinach
- radishes
- green onions
- chard
- kale
- asian braising greens
- tatsoi
- pak choy
- chinese cabbage
- herbs - sorrel, oregano, parsley, dill, cilantro
- strawberries (from another farm)
- fresh local fruit pies (for sale)
- wholegrain bread (for order)

Tiny House

Came across the "tiny house blog" while researching our own small strawbale. We've seen some amazing small home designs that maximize space and use some very innovative building techniques to make the homes/cabins feel spacious and open. With so much demand on land and resources, more of us need to look to small house designs if we are considering renovations or building new. The links and photo gallery includes yurts, pre-fab homes, cabins, timber frame, strawbale, stick frame, cob and much more!

Tiny House Blog
See: www.tinyhouseblog.com

Tumbleweed Homes
(offers plans, books, resources, blog, etc)
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com

Small House Society
(homes that are affordable and ecological)
http://www.resourcesforlife.com/small-house-society

Documenting Strawbale Addition - 1

We mentioned earlier in this blog that we are planning to build a small strawbale addition to the back and side of our existing house this summer. We are interested in building this addition to:

a) learn more about this sustainable energy-efficient building technique
b) use low impact, mainly locally sourced and reclaimed materials where possible
c) build a healthy space to live in, using natural plasters, paints and finishes on both exterior and interior of the building
d) offer a learning opportunity for the community, and plan to host workbees and involve volunteers every step of the way where possible
e) this is the second strawbale home to be built in our city, so it's also an opportunity to push the building envelope a little and encourage our local building department to become familiar with strawbale and other alternative building materials
f) allow us to continue our eco bed & breakfast business, while our own family grows (our new baby is coming in a few weeks!). One portion of the back addition will include a rooftop patio/garden which our B&B guests will have access to.

So, with all these hopes and dreams in mind we've been planning our addition for more than a year, and now are finally nearing the approval stage (which has taken much much longer than we anticipated). We plan to document the building process here on this blog, and hope others can be inspired or learn from our experience. In future we'll add more technical detail to our website, but this will largely be photos and a few lines of notes as time allows.

At this point, we've gotten a demolition permit and taken down the old summer kitchen (circa 1940s?) which was attached to the back of our exisiting 100-year old brick house. This area will become the transition space from brick to strawbale, and will house a new full bathroom plus mainfloor laundry area, with access through a breezeway to both the back garden and front door.

Materials that have been sourced so far:
- 175 clean strawbales from a local Mennonite farm
- strawbale mesh which was ordered through Ontario Strawbale Building Coalition (www.strawbalebuilding.ca)
- foundation blocks (Durisol product) formed using portion wood fibre mix to reduce concrete
- clay for earthen plaster sourced from area near Elora/Conestogo
- reclaimed styrofoam insulation from local building site to be used for foundation
- reclaimed marble sink and clawfoot bathtub (both in great shape!) for the new bathroom
- reclaimed doors from Habitat for Humanity Re-Store
- reclaimed energy efficient windows from local kijiji site

Architect:
- Whiting Design (Waterloo - has worked with variety of green projects)
Engineer:
- Burnside (Guelph - have worked with a variety of strawbale projects in the area)
Advice:
- Ben Polley (Hillsburg - from Home Alive!)

Helpful Books:
- Building Green (Clark Snell & Tim Callahan)
- Building with Cob (Adam Weismann & Katy Bryce)
- Strawbale Building (Chris Magwood & Peter Mack)
- More Strawbale Building (Chris Magwood, Peter Mack & Tina Therrien)
- Serious Strawbale (Paul Lacinski & Michel Bergeron)
- Small Strawbale (Bill & Athena Steen)
- The Beauty of Strawbale Homes (Bill & Athena Steen)

SPIN Farming

On the note of small scale urban farming, similar to what we do here, there is a very creative intiative that's been set up called SPIN Farming. SPIN offers new approaches to replace traditional large scale farming which is not working.

SPIN stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive

SPIN is a non-technical, easy-to-learn and inexpensive-to-implement farming system that makes it possible to earn significant income from land bases under an acre in size. Whether you are new to farming, or want to farm in a new way, SPIN can work for you because:

• Its precise revenue targeting formulas and organic-based techniques make it possible to gross $50,000+ from a half- acre.
• You don't need to own land. You can affordably rent a small piece of land adequate in size for SPIN-FARMING production.
• It works in either the city, country or small town.
• It fits into any lifestyle or life cycle.

SPIN is being practiced by first generation farmers because it removes the two big barriers to entry - land and capital - as well as by established farmers who want to diversify or downsize, as well as by part-time hobby farmers.

The SPIN website offers learning resources, photos, manuals, testimonials, and lots of useful information on how to become a SPIN farm. Check out:

www.spinfarming.com

Ignatius Farm Interns Tour

Last week we had a lovely visit at Little City Farm with six farming interns from Ignatius Farm. The farm is located on a 500 acre property, just outside of Guelph on Highway 6 north about half an hour from here. It's an amazing property, that includes not only the certified organic farm and CSA program, but also apple orchards with many heritage varieties, a forest restoration project in partnership with the Grand River Conservation Authority, access to the river, community gardens, demonstration gardens, incubator farmhouse, and the Jesuit retreat centre. We have been inspired when visiting and especially love to go during apple harvest season!

The interns who visited us are part of a 6-8 month intensive farmer training program called CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance Farmer Training) on more than a dozen farms that has been set up in southern Ontario. They live and work on these organic or biodynamic farms for these months, gathering skills to either set up their own farming venture or just build life experience. Several of the interns at Ignatius were interested in urban agriculture, and so the visit to Little City Farm and learning about the scale that we work on made sense. They also participated in a permaculture workshop again led by Tracie Seedhouse, our friend who runs Earthchild Designs.

Angie, who is operating her own CSA "Fertile Ground" on 2 rented acres outside of Waterloo this summer, also participated in the CRAFT program last year. Her placement was Everdale Organic Farm and Environmental Learning Centre, near Hillsburg. Fertile Ground CSA begins drop-offs tomorrow (!!) at our Little City Farm driveway. We are really excited about this venture, and the neighbourhood involvement by members who have purchased shares.

Here are websites for Ignatius and CRAFT:
http://www.ignatiusguelph.ca/farm.html
www.craftontario.ca/

Garlic Scapes

Just noticed today that the garlic scapes are ready to harvest. They grow like graceful birds looping up out of the garlic plants, and seem to appear overnight. Garlic scapes need to be trimmed off, to encourage growth under the soil to the garlic bulb (rather than letting the scapes go to seed).

Turns out garlic scapes are also rather tasty, and can be used in a variety of ways for a delicate spring garlic flavour. Most popular seems to be the garlic scape pesto, of which there are abundant recipes on the internet listed on every organic CSA farm website that offers recipes (evidently, they must appear in most every CSA box as a spring offering and share members invariably ask what to do with these unusual looking greens). Other ways to cook include sauteing, chopping into stirfries, serving with eggs, grilling, adding to salads, and lightly steaming as you would asparagus. I've also seen a garlic scape hummus recipe, and have eaten them pickled at my friend Christine's place. Here's a tried and true garlic scape pesto recipe:

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts or pinenuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup parmesan
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Method:
Place scapes and walnuts/pinenuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmesan to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator, or freeze for longer storage.

First fresh strawberries

First harvest of strawberries - oh so sweet! These are an early ripening variety called "Vestra" which we got two years ago from our farmer friend Brenda. Brenda is our source for local farming wisdom and we feel so lucky to know her. She and her family live about 40 minutes north-west of us, and grow about 5 acres of mixed produce for a local CSA, flowers for cutting (she supplied our wedding flowers a few years ago), a pick your own strawberry field (best organic strawberries around!), and have a beekeeping business. Her husband also makes custom wood furniture - busy family, but small family-farming in this area needs to be diversified in order to make a living. We've had many conversations with Brenda about that topic!

These berry plants in our home garden were given in exchange for going to work at her farm one day per week a few years ago - well worth the trade as I learned so much from being out there. They are now spreading well near our pond and underneath one of our apple trees, and we've had just the right amount of rain and heat to bring on a nice harvest this year. Mmm, strawberries & yogurt, strawberries & icecream, strawberries with poundcake, strawberry smoothies...

Uptown Waterloo - home to latest city chickens!

Congratulations to our friends Nina & Matthew, the latest hen keepers in our local urban community! They have found creative ways to introduce the concept of city chickens into their neighbourhood - and in the process are finding a positive response from neighbours, offering sound education about the benefits of keeping hens, and developing the growing "Waterloo Hen Association" (now 140 members+) .

(Article from Kitchener-Waterloo Record, June 10, 2008)
Waterloo resident puts chickens in the coop

MATHEW McCARTHY, RECORD STAFF

Mathew McCarthy, Record Staff

Kitchener, Ontario - Monday Jun 9, 2008 -Matthew Bailey-Dick next to his backyard chicken coop where he keeps two birds, Monday. Mathew McCarthy, Record staff

MATHEW McCARTHY, RECORD STAFF

Mathew McCarthy, Record StaffKitchener, Ontario - Monday Jun 9, 2008 -Matthew Bailey-Dick next to his backyard chicken coop where he keeps two birds, Monday. Mathew McCarthy, Record staff

MATHEW McCARTHY, RECORD STAFFKitchener, Ontario - Monday Jun 9, 2008 -Matthew Bailey-Dick next to his backyard chicken coop where he keeps two birds, Monday. Mathew McCarthy, Record staff

Advocate of urban hens isn't waiting for a bylaw to pass

June 10, 2008

Charlotte Prong Parkhill
RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO

Waterloo council probably won't decide until the fall whether to allow chickens in city backyards.

But the Waterloo Hen Association will keep pecking away at the cause.

Waterloo has no bylaw that says residents can or cannot raise urban hens. Matthew Bailey-Dick, founder of the hen association, hopes the city will agree to some guidelines, so those who want to raise chickens can do so without annoying the neighbours. "We've got to work together," he said.

Not that Bailey-Dick is waiting for permission to keep chickens. He's looking after the hen association's newest ambassadors. They're housed in a small portable coop in his yard on William Street, sandwiched between the flowers and the herbs. The hens, Zacheus and BockBock, are on loan from a farm outside the city.

Bailey-Dick doesn't want urban dwellers to get in a flap over the noise and the smell from backyard coops.

"They think of chickens, and they think of cock-a-doodle doodling and all kinds of barnyard animals," he said.

He wants to make it clear the hen association, which has about 140 members, is recommending flocks of fewer than 12 chickens -- with no roosters.

"We're looking for egg production," he said, pulling a light brown egg and a pale blue egg out of the nest.

The portable coop has a small, fenced-in run, where the hens can graze in grass, and an enclosed space to keep them safe and secure from predators at night.

Josie Winterfeld's kitchen window looks right out over the coop.

She can't hear them from inside the house and only rarely hears them clucking when she's outside.

"I love having them next door," she said. "I would consider having chickens myself. I absolutely love the taste of fresh eggs."

Shazaad Subhanally knew his neighbours were keeping chickens but he has never heard or smelled them.

"I mean, if they had 500 chickens, it would be a problem," he said.

"Five, six chickens? No worries."

He grew up with chickens around, and doesn't think it's any different than people who keep several dogs.

But Bailey-Dick has no concerns that hens will become as popular as man's best friend.

"I've talked to several people who are supporting this but don't want chickens themselves," he said.

Bailey-Dick will turn an existing shed on his property into a coop if council approves urban chickens.

Zacheus and BockBock are are safe in his backyard for now.

David Calder, general manager of corporate services for the city, is collecting input on the chicken proposal.

Staff will report to council in the fall.

"We're not going to come and take their chickens away at this point," he said.

Waterloo residents can voice their opinions about animal control at a public meeting Tues., June 24, from 7 to 9 p.m. at RIM Park.

The meeting will deal with several issues, including chickens, licensing of cats and limiting the number of animals per household.

Nettle Harvest

It's time to wild harvest comfrey and nettle, as it's growing everywhere around the city and beginning to go to seed! When wild harvesting remember to harvest carefully, in dog-free areas, where you are sure no pesticide has been sprayed or the plants are not contaminated by any other source. Harvest only 1/3 of the area, so as not to deplete the abundance for next year. To harvest nettle, wear long sleeves, long pants and gloves as the tiny hair will sting if brushed against your skin. This stinging is actually reputed to be beneficial and used for therapeutic purposes, increasing the body's circulation and aiding ailments such as arthritis. Feel free to experiment, but touch carefully and slowly! (For harvesting, I prefer to wear gloves).

We grow nettle intentionally at the back of our property (away from neighbours), even though it can be invasive and spread quickly within a season. We feed it to the chickens to strengthen their eggshells, and use it in our compost as an excellent source of nitrogen or for making a compost tea. It is rich in calcium and iron, and very tasty in soups (traditionally made into a cream of nettle soup), steamed, or dried/fresh as tea, and also nice as a spinach replacement in our annual "nettlekopita". Here's our recipe - I'm making this for dinner with fresh nettle just harvested:

Nettlekopita (aka Spanikopita - adapted from the original Moosewood Cookbook)
- serves 8

2 cups crumbled feta (we use local goat feta)
2 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
5 eggs (as fresh as possible)
1 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 Tbsp fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp dried)
salt & pepper to taste
2 lbs nettle, dandelion greens, spinach or combination
1 pkg defrosted phyllo dough (or alternate variation, make calzones with pizza dough)

1) Clean, stem and chop the greens. Salt lightly and cook, adding no water, for about 5 min.
2) Cook onions in butter/margarine, salting lightly. When soft, combine with remaining ingredients and the cooked greens.

To assemble:
3) Spread melted butter/margarine on 9x13 pan. Place a phyllo leaf in the pan and brush with more oil/marg/butter. Keep layers of dough coming, one on top of another, brushing each layer. When you have a pile of 8 sheets, spread half the filling ontop.
4) Continue with another 8 sheets, then apply the remaining filling, spreading it to the edges. Fold the excess phyllo dough down along the edges, making little tidy corners.
5) Pile as many more sheets of phyllo and butter/margarine as your baking pan will hold. Oil/butter the top layer.
6) Bake uncovered at 350F for about 45 minutes, until golden brown.

New sign for Little City Farm

We are attempting to make our place more visible, as some guests have had trouble finding our location without a sign out front. Our friend Margaret, an expert woodworker (among many other talents of hers) has generously created a rustic wooden sign made from an old reclaimed board that now hangs on our front fence near the gate. Another friend Susie, an accomplished artist whose main medium is painted tiles, created a new address tile for us - gorgeously surrounding our house number with lush vegetables, herbs, flowers and a garden rake. These photos don't do justice - look for these signs next time you come by our place. Thank you Margaret & Susie!

Seedling Sale Success!

The 6th annual seedling sale was a great success! Thanks to everyone who came out, helped set up, bought seedlings, tasted baked goods, toured the gardens, took part in the workshop, ate picnic lunches, played with our dog, and

generally created a vibrant community event for our neighbourhood! We lost track of counting, but estimated that more than 200 people came by during the morning. The long row of bicycles, baby strollers and vehicles up and down the street, and our depleted flats of seedlings can attest to the fact that this was one of our busiest public days ever. We are so inspired to meet so many people in this community who are excited about organic heirloom plants, and to know that gardens will be flourishing around town with our happy green striped tomatoes, yellow cherries, purple basil, herbs, melons, and more!

A huge thank you also to Angie Koch who led a highly informative workshop on biointensive gardening (i.e. how to garden more productively in small spaces). We heard many great reviews for the workshop and all the wealth of information that people took away from it. We will definitely run this event again next May 24.

Greenhouse filled with seedlings for sale

Our annual seedling sale is coming up next Saturday, May 24 from 9 am-12 noon. We've been growing seedlings since early February and the greenhouse is filled to bursting right now. There's still some transplanting to do this week, to get more herbs and flowers ready, and we are expecting a great crowd! This is becoming a regular neighbourhood event, and we decided to add in some extra advertizing this year on our website and in the local paper just to spread to word a little further.

This is the 6th year we are holding the sale, and this year we are also offering a free bio-intensive gardening workshop (how to grow more vegetables in small space), led by our good friend Angie Koch of the Fertile Ground CSA. We hope also to have fresh baking, bread, and treats...

As many people have been asking for a list, here are some of the seedlings that we'll have:

Tomatoes
- Bonnie Best, Yellow Pear, Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Patio, Mennonite Orange, Yukon Red, Early Girl, Sweet Baby Girl, Moneymaker, and more...

Basil
- Thai, Green Pesto, Purple Opal

Herbs
- parsley, fennel, dill, cilantro, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, savory

Kale, Broccoli, Cucumber, Squashes, Zucchini, Melons, Pie Pumpkin, Green Onions
and some annual flowers...

Growing Shiitakes - our woodland mushroom garden

Recently took a drive up near Stouffville to visit the farm of Bruno, "The Fun Guy" (fungi), who sells innocualted mushroom logs. We have been wanting to add fresh home-grown mushrooms to our roster of locally produced garden harvest, and were very happy to find a supplier of these logs within about an hour of where we live! Back in March we placed our order for 5 shiitake logs (he also has oyster logs, kombucha, etc), and now in May they were ready to be picked up.

After a little searching up and down the back roads, we finally found the right farm and drove in a long laneway lined with endless rows of oak logs stacked upright neatly along wire fences. The forest was also covered with white trilliums, fiddleheads, wild leeks and the scent was fresh, damp, earthy and wonderful.

Bruno sells his mushrooms at various farmers markets in the Toronto area, leads workshops on mushroom cultivation, does consulting for those wanting to start a mushroom business, and is planning to install a commercial kitchen in his greenhouse in order to produce value-added mushroom products. He gave us a detailed tour, explaining how the logs are innoculated by hand with plugs, need to be kept moist but not too wet, and how to harvest. Then we walked over to our section of logs and got the first taste - delicious! Delicate, almost sweet, like no other shiitake we've eaten before. We decided to take not only our 5 logs, but a few more to pass on to friends, as at $20/log (which will hopefully bear mushrooms for 3-5 years) this opportunity was not to be missed.

Our mushroom log collection is now neatly stacked behind our greenhouse, with just enough shade, a little access to rain, and close at hand to make observation and harvesting easy. In the photo, the white dots are the plugs out of which mushrooms will sprout (and log on far left has shiitakes growing ready for harvest).

For more details see Bruno's website at: www.mycosource.com

Fresh asparagus season

We've been enjoying the first new spring crops from the garden (and forest) lately - dandelion, chives, sorrel, fresh garlic, spinach, fiddleheads, wild leeks, and of course asparagus. The asparagus was planted about 5 years ago near our strawberry patch, and dug into a trench. The first year the shoots were too small to harvest, but over the years have become mature enough and so well-established that we have a decent sized patch to feed the two of us plus guests. Worth the wait!

Asparagus Frittata (with our farm fresh eggs)

A frittata is the perfect quick use for a time when there are just too many eggs in the house! Our hens have started laying well again, and we need to find new and exciting ways to use the excess. Friends and neighbours are generously happy to take eggs from us, but we still eat our fair share. The frittata is an Italian open-faced omelette - use whatever vegetables you have that are in season. Especially nice with asparagus and tomato...

3 Tbsp margarine
1 cup chopped asparagus (1-inch pieces)
2/3 cup chopped green onions, or other onions
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup shredded cheese, optional
1 Tbsp fresh basil or oregano
6 eggs
1/4 tsp sea salt and black pepper

1) In well-oiled cast iron skillet heat margarine, then add vegetables and saute until tender.
2) In medium bowl combine sauted vegetables, herbs, cheese, and spices.
3) Beat together eggs and add to vegetable mixture.
4) Re-oil cast iron skillet and heat on medium high.
5) Pour eggs into skillet, cook until bottom of egg is slightly set. Then place in preheated 350F oven and continue to cook for about 10 minutes until all egg is set and cheese is golden.
6) Can place under broiler for 2 minutes if desired.
7) Excellent with wholegrain bread as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Serves 2-3.

Fertile Ground CSA featured on CBC Radio

Angie Koch, of Fertile Ground CSA, plus friends and co-farmers Tarrah Young and Caitlin Hall, are featured in this recent CBC documentary "Down to Earth" (description from CBC below). They talk about the "new breed" of young farmers, who are city-raised, university educated, but are choosing to move to the land in search of sustainable ecological farming and organic food production in new and creative ways (e.g Community Supported Agriculture ventures such as Fertile Ground!). Angie will be distributing her 30 member CSA at Little City Farm each Tuesday this summer (from July-October) and we are extremely excited about her venture and this partnership! Following the first documentary, is a short interview with legendary food justice advocate Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet, among many other writings) who talks about the current state of the global food system and the future of global food security. DOCUMENTARY: DOWN TO EARTH

Here's one picture of a farmer: tough, weatherbeaten, pitchfork in hand, a bit grim, proud member of a vanishing breed. Here's another picture of a farmer: Thirty years old, five foot two, fresh-faced, female, city-bred. Meet Tarrah Young, proud and very determined member of a NEW breed. Tarrah - and people like her - are real risk takers. They're not starry-eyed back-to-the landers, and they know know what they're up against. Across Canada, the number of farmers under thirty-five has declined by more than 50% in the last ten years. For those who want to loosen the grip of the agribusiness giants, to spurn cheap pesticide-laden imports, and to eat local - this is really bad news. And we all have enough of that! So this morning, venture out with a few of agriculture's young pioneers. Frank Faulk's documentary is called "Down to Earth"

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/sundayedition_20080505_5659.mp3

FRANCES MOORE LAPPÉ

In the past few weeks, a hungry planet has become dramatically , and suddenly, even hungrier. Food riots have shaken communities as diverse as Austria and Uzbekistan, and as far apart as Egypt and Mexico. The Canadian government pledged fifty million dollars this week to be channeled through the United Nations. Individual Canadians are helping as well. The situation is desperate. Incredibly, Filipino Canadians are buying twenty and forty pound bags of rice and shipping it to relatives back home. And in Montreal, people are desperately trying to send food to their relatives in Haiti. At least six people were killed during riots in that country earlier this month in protests against rising food prices. Frances Moore Lappé has been an activist in the fight against world hunger for thirty seven years, ever since the publication of her blockbuster bestseller, " Diet for a Small Planet". That was in 1971. Ms. Lappé has written sixteen books since then. She is also a co-founder of the Small Planet Institute. Frances Moore Lappé is in our studio in New York this morning. Small Planet Institute: World Hunger Solutions

Locavore Meal a delectable experience!

On Sunday (May 4) we held the first "Local Community Dinner" featuring a menu based solely around locally grown and produced foods. The meal was organized by the Locavore KW group, who volunteered their time to plan, promote, source produce, cook the meal, serve, host and clean up! A HUGE thank you to the group, as well as all the volunteers who helped out to make this event a great success!

The meal sold out at 125 dinner guests, with very little promotion and only about 2 weeks notice. We will need to find a larger venue for the next time, (and there will be a next time!) as there is certainly a growing interest in our local community around celebrating and eating "100 mile" meals such as this.

Even for May, which is one of the leanest months for sourcing local foods (end of fall root crop season, and not yet starting new spring crops)...the menu was delicious! We were especially pleased to find local greenhouse grown tomatoes, cucumbers and GREEN BEANS! Wow - what a treat. Here' s the menu:

Organic Bread - Vegan

Golden Hearth Baking Co., Kitchener

Whole wheat, spelt & foccacia breads made with organic, locally milled grains

Greek Salad - Vegan

Tomatoes & Cucumbers.

Martin's Family Fruit Farm, Waterloo

Red Onion & Garlic

Cleason & Elmeda Weber, Hawkesville

Mozzarella Cheese (optional)

Oak Grove Cheese, New Hamburg

Maple Glazed Tempeh - Vegan

Tempeh made with locally grown soybeans

Henry’s Tempeh, Kitchener

Maple Syrup

Norman Bauman, Maplecrisp Orchard, Elmira

Roasted Seasonal Vegetables - Vegan

Garlic

Oscar Lutz, Woolwich St., Waterloo

Green Beans

Floralane Produce, Elmira

Carrots, Garlic, Red Onions & Parsnips

Cleason & Elmeda Weber, Hawkesville

Potatoes

Orchard Hill Produce, Elmira

Three Fruit Crisp - Vegan

Empire Apples

Martin's Family Fruit Farm, Waterloo

Raspberries & Rhubarb

Nauman's Fresh From the Farm Market, St. Clements

Organic Soft Whole Wheat & Rolled Oats

Perry Reibling, Oak Manor Farms, Tavistock

Organic Ice Cream

Mapleton’s Organic Dairy, Moorefield

Apple Cider

John Reimer, Cambridge

Produce was sourced through Elmira Produce Auction

(Growers usually Old Order Mennonite within 80 km)