Tuesday, July 15, 2008

urban homesteading

as food prices continue their steady slog to the upper stratosphere, we as a household decided it was high time we skipped capital accruing middle-people, put our own seeds in the ground and transformed (bit by bit) our rental oasis into a productive urban homestead. self-reliance in the city is a new battle-cry being hollered back and forth in blogs, magazines, and workshops. a steady & disheartening wash of internet research has made us suspicious of what we see in the supermarket, each product label the source of debate and moral tussling. living in the citycore fosters a disconnected & sallow engagement with our food production, and while farmer's markets bring us closer it just seems wasteful to not break up the hardpacked backyard clay and let seeds do what they do best. grow.

moreover, we are interested in quantifying this process, seeing just how it all pans out. measuring the yields, monitoring the air, soil, and water. biological diversity in the garden edges, temperatures in the middle of the pile, money saved, money spent. we are interested in the process the product and the documentation.
soil=garden=food=data=art=sharing=learning
so stay tuned we'll need all the help we can get.

2 comments:

jackson said...

don't forget it tastes better too

Vena on Vashon said...

I love this idea, when ya'll come home, I want to work on it together. On my urban farm I plan on having by then.