Category: Sustainability

April 8, 2017 Urban Farming Series Reno, Nevada

Urban Farming/Backyard Food Production Class Series 2017

This 4 part urban farming series will go over basics ideas, methods and some hands on practice. Whether you are interested in growing herbs for cooking or medicine, or interested in growing as much annual food out of your yard as possible this series has a bit of everything. Suggest that you also take the 4 class series on composting along with this class series, that class starts on March 25, 2017 at Simply Water 4pm to 6pm.

1) We will begin with space, design, and foundation of food productions. How big of a space do I have? What do I need to do to prepare the space? Where is my water source from house plumbing to water collection? What can I grow in my space? What kind of tools? Are animal’s part of my plan and possible benefits? Composting properly and where? April 8, 2017 at Simply Water 1070 Gentry Way Reno, Nevada 89502 from 4pm to 6pm, $25pp

2) Mixing landscapes, fruit trees and bushes, preparing soil (bring sample of your dirt), ground planting or garden beds, transplanting and direct seeding options, flowers, herbs and medicinal plants (for bees, Animals and soil), dousing and Earth Acupuncture remedies for sorting out best places and energies for building up your back yard and for assisting with bug issues. May 20, 2017 location TBA, 4pm to 6pm, $25 pp

3) Companion planting, seed harvesting, seed saving, types of seeds: GMO, organic and heirloom, animals that fit best in backyard food productions, animals waste composting, dry composts, compost tea and sprays, importance of mycelium, treating mold, how to properly harvest food from plants to get a longer season from them. June 10, 2017 location TBA 4pm to 6pm, $25 pp

4) Late fall and winter growing, in the ground, green house or cold frame, how to properly cover crops, best and easiest winter crops for backyards and nutrient density for our bodies during winter and how to work with winter sunlight. July 8, 2017 location TBA 4pm to 6pm

Bridgette Lyn Dolgoff has been a life time student & practitioner of Shamanism. She is a sustainable, Biodynamic farmer over the last 7 years has built individual family food production. The Urban Farm Project was founded by Bridgette in 2009. UFP’s focus is consulting, building, education, in community on our return back to earth to cure, restore the soil life. Soil is key to regenerating the earth, our bodies through a nature’s food supply. Food is Medicine and cannot be replaced as such nor can anyone grow it for us to be our medicine. By Educating people to grow their own food and developing their own soil reconnects them to the earth. This is the medicine for all disease in us and around us.

To pay online go to coe-llc.com on home page scroll down to the pay for classes menu

Contact Bridgette at consciousnessofeconomics@gmail.com or 775.624.7862

A Season 4 everything…

Urban_Farm_Project_Logo2a_1280x720_HD (2)

4 everything there is a season:

FALL

is a good time: to have your soil evaluated; to prune roses, shrubs and bushes; to apply compost and put mulch or chips on areas of the yard that need nutrient; to remove plants and trees that are dead or not growing well ; to have / use biodynamic organic sprays for leaves to help fruit to mature; to cover sensitive plants for winter; to deal with erosion areas; to glean remaining produce; to collect and dry seeds; to build a winter cold frame; to replace organic material in your cold frame; to plant in your cold frame; to plant winter crops  as seedlings.

WINTER

is a good time: to prune trees and cut back last year’s growth; to create an effective food storage operation so that your fall and winter produce will last as long as you need it to; in late winter, to start sprouting seeds to plant as seedlings in spring gardens; to create a culinary herb window garden; to plan your summer garden; to build containers to harvest water.

SPRING

is a good time: to have soil evaluated; to plant new trees and plants; to build raised beds; to put in a new garden area; to have / use biodynamic organic sprays for soil fertility and root growth; to dig up rocky, sandy and clay areas and bring in new soil; to plant deep- rooting plants for erosion areas; to harvest rain / snow water; to direct seed in cold frames to grow into seedlings for summer gardens.

SUMMER

is a good time: to have soil evaluated; to have biodynamic organic sprays applied for soil fertility and root growth; to have / use biodynamic organic sprays for increased growth and fruit; to deal with molds and pests; to harvest produce; to collect and dry seeds; to build a cold frame for winter crops; to collect your seeds for a winter garden; transplant spring seedlings; to start winter seedlings by direct seeding; to remove the used organic materials from cold frame and put it on an area of your yard that needs compost.

I was creating a flyer for the Urban Farm Project here in Reno I had the  idea of putting on it the farming, gardening activities of every season in an attempt to get people 1) more motivated about their urban domains of food production and 2) to place the  flyer on their refridgerator as a reference on what they can do every season or perhaps hiring COE to help them!

Feel free to print a copy off this blog. Put it somewhere to remind you of where to focus your attention each season. It is not a completed list. If I have missed something feel free to let me know what it was and I will add it to the season that it belongs.

The second section includes my urban garden bed preparation for winter.

1) Built a block boarder to hold in soil that was eroding all over the sidewalks and out into the city drain. I used a run of the mill block that you see everywhere. Since I already had them, I used them. You can harvest bricks, pavers and an assortment of boarder creating items from houses being remodeled and habitat for humanity in your area usually has recycled building materials.

A few months ago the house across the street from where COE and I have been renovating began to be remodeled. I approached the new owner about the piles of bricks and pavers being thrown off the house and around the property. Since he was not interested in them, he wanted a modern look he was more than happy to let me have as many as I wanted. For me it is very important to be sustainable and thrifty. For the new owner he saved himself quit a bit of labor as well as dumping costs by me taking the materials off his hands. Whether you need the items or not at the time you come across them should not be an issue. You can store them, share them with others and if you are going to create and urban farm you will find so many uses for these used materials.

2) The bricks created a raised bed and since there was not enough soil in the garden bed. I had to bring in soil from other areas of the yard where too much soil was an issue. I added several wheel barrows of depleted soil. I will be building many different types of layers on top of the soil to fortify it. It is not necessary to have good soil, nature and I can make it good soil by spring.

I left about 4 inches of room from the top of the bricks to the soil and will be filled in with soil makings.

3) I was lucky to have piles of horse poopy here in the property that was delievered here a few months ago. I spread a medium layer of horse dropings over the soil. There was a bail of straw that was left from last fall which was rotting slowly.  Rottening is perfect to rebuild new soil. I spread out all the straw on top of the soil and horse poopy. I was able to use the straw. Otherwise I might have had to move it, take it to the dump more than likely. Again sustainabilty, using what you have, using what you can find close, using what someone else might have, saving money, saving labor, saving time and most of all saving out planet. The less we consume the less is manufactured and the less that ends up as waste in a land fill some where.

4) I had some old stumps and limbs, old dead wood laying around. Instead of tossing the old wood into the old garbage can I placed big chunks all over the garden bed. The old wood will break down slower giving the bed long term fuel, food to break down and turn into soil over time. Remember not to add materials that have toxic chemicals, those items should be removed from your yard properly, discarded properly of.

5) I watered the garden bed area to keep the material from blowing away and to assist with the breaking down. While I watered I thought good thoughts to the water coming out of the hose onto the garden bed. I thought good thoughts to the soil, the insects, the materials and to the forces of nature that will be working to break it all down and turning it into the best garden soil. This will support every need of the plants and provide very nutrient rich food for the bodies of the people eating it and in some cases animals as well.

6) There is a load of rich compost coming in a few days to place on top of what is there so far. It will get about a 3 inch cover of compost over the top. If you have a place in which you can create your own compost piles, go for it. The more your hand and heart are involved with what grows. Creating whats needed on your own land makes better medicine for the earth and will provide you with medicine as food back to you. More water. More good thoughts.

7) Lastly another layer of chips, wood chipswill come and be added to the top. Water and good thoughts.

In Nevada it can be extremely dry even in winter, check your garden bed weekly to make sure there is enough moisture to create the break down of the materials. Winterizing your garden bed for spring should be an annual activity.

Grow Food, Be free & Live for a Living!

COE

http://consciousnessofeconomics.blog.com/?p=52

In Your Own Backyard…

blackberries 3

Yesterday the last day of September 2011 we were out late afternoon picking blackberries off a very old mother blackberries bush. I am not sure if she could be categorized as a bush, check out the photos yourself.

After returning to Nevada in July after a 3 month large urban farm internship on the northern California coast I began to look at the area in which I was living much closer. The photos are taken in the old Sparks area. In most of our older areas of towns and cities you can find many old apple trees, peach trees, blackberries bushes and much more. With in a 3 block radius here in Sparks where I am renovating a yard I have found so many food producing plants growing on their own. I harvested 3 paper bags of peaches from the neighbors tree a few weeks ago. I Shared these beautiful and i have to say tasty peaches with 4 other families across the street. I told this tree eveyday how lovely she was and felt deep kindness towards her and it paid off in the sweetest fruit.

The issues that these old neighborhoods are facing as a result of the economic systems failing us are tragic. In the old Sparks area meth addicts and drug dealers make up a large percentage of houses being lived in. Many of these houses are no longer kept up and as a direct result the old food producing plants are dieing and under large amounts of stress due to the negative energy produced by drugs and the effects on the people taking them. we are loosing food supplies!

Notice the dog in the photos? That is my Gin Gin. She is the offical Super hero of this old community. Gin is 9 months old. She was living at a meth house across the street from where I am renovating and it is also around the block from where we were picking the blackberries in the alley way.  Gin Gin never seemed to have water in her yard, she was escaping constantly in the way of cars roaring down the street, she lived off of diapers and cat shit literally. I finally rescued her over 2 months ago. She is the smartest dog I have ever known. She is now my official peace keeper urban farm dog. Gin has some how become symbolic of this old community. Gin is fast becoming the love of my life! She loves anything I feed her, she especially loved the blackberries and goobled them as we picked them.

Without going off the deep end here i think that we all need to consider being a better part of our communities in different ways than the usual thinking process leads us.

Have you ever wondered your 3 block area and looked at what kind of plants and trees ar growing there? Are they food baring plants? Do the plants need pruning, cleaning up or maybe some compost to help feed them? Could they be removed to a better location and who could help with that? Could the fruits be removed? Could the fruits be taken to places where families in need could take them home? There are so many movements in this time period that are answering many of the questions I just asked and maybe your involvement in the future could benefit not only the plants, trees, earth, but could vey well benefit yourself, others and our animals. Just looking around and noticing sometimes all it takes for a bigger picture to open up to us. Lifting our eyes to the sky can open our minds.

We have such negitive news weighing on us day in and day out, I find getting away from it, digging in the dirt, touching a plant, a tree, an animal or another person with my hand and heart can uplift me in any situation. We are all in this together, all of us together, letting go of judgement finding what makes us more the same.

A group of us picked the most amazing blackberries yesterday, I came home and made a pie, it was so tasty, pure, it had love in it from the mother blackberry bush. She loves us for sharing in what she offers us, what she has grown for us and it is up to us to give her a future to contiue to feed us.

I encourage everyone to investigate your area in which you live, take a look and see what is growing there. If you find fruit gt prmission to pick it, then find a kid to help you harvest, any kid will do. Many kids have no idea where food comes from any more, our health, our future depends on educating them and that may mean educating ourselves on the same  issues as well.

Grow Food, Be Free & Live for a Living!

COE

http://consciousnessofeconomics.blog.com/2011/10/01/in-your-own-backyard/