The Sidewalk Farmer

Red Raspberries and...

2010-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

The farm is alive and well! We have been enjoying red raspberries lately not a bumper crop yet, but any amount is very unexpected this early!

As you can see, the rhubarb is doing great! Also, you can see in the background that the Orange Tree is yellowing. I talked to Gary from Armstrongs and said that the rain must have depleted the iron, which causes yellowing. I bought a bag of natural iron supplement for trees and plants and fed it to the tree today.

The wild flowers are popping up too.

Trouble in Paradise.

2010-04-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

As you could more than likely tell from the comments people have left, there's been trouble in paradise. In fact, that is the reason why I haven't blogged in awhile.

Have you ever had one of those days where you are just a little down? Well, I was having one of those days when I decided to raise my spirits by doing a little farming. I walk over to my Sidewalk Farm and things seemed out of sorts. There were a couple of the baby apples rolling around and the leaves to the apple tree looked parched. At first, all I thought had happened was the tree had become a little too dry and lost it's apples. Then I noticed foot prints all around the base of the tree and they didn't seem friendly. I barely touched the trunk and the whole tree fell over.

I was sad to hear that Humanity had stooped so low that someone felt the need to break a baby apple tree for fun. As I looked around the "Farm", I notice the peach tree had been messed with as well. Luckily, it had a thicker trunk and the roots seemed to have taken hold much more heartily. My rhubarb had also taken a good stomping. It was apparent that there were deliberate actions taken to harm the farm.

There was nothing else to do, but go talk to my good buddies at the Auto Body Shop. I walked in with the broken tree to show them what had happened. William, my friend who had saved the lemon tree months ago, saw what I was holding and said he was sorry for not being there when it happened. I laughed and smiled at him and told him that he just made me believe in Humanity again. I also told him not to worry about it, it's not his responsibility. Right then, Lionel (the man who helped me plant the orange tree) came over and said he was the one who picked up the tree and replanted it. He said that if it get's enough water and is in the soil, there is a slim chance roots may return, but not likely.

Humanity is good. Well, 99% of Humanity is good. Isn't it so true that when something negative comes our way, we blame everyone/Humanity? On the other hand, if something positive comes our way, we thank the one person that was kind. I am going to do my best to switch that in my thought life. The next time something bad happens, I am going to think about the one, hurting and broken person, and not blame Humanity. Then, when something good happens I will think of everyone on God's good earth.

To whomever tried to destroy the Sidewalk Farm, thank you. I hope you will someday have wholeness.

S.U.F.P.S.R.B.'s Find a New Home

2010-03-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

We had a momentous occasion with the arrival of our first orange blossom! It is very exciting to think that there is a good chance that we will have lots of oranges! Just wait to see how happy I get when we pick the first fruits. It is almost impossible to count how many blossoms are exploding all over this tree!

The blueberries are also flowering and we have seen the first sign of what looks like a future berry! Still a little green, but the warm Southern California sun will change that.

The apples are growing too!

Lately, I've noticed a native plant growing around the base of all the tree rings. Once I pulled the grasses and weeds, this native plant revealed itself even more. It is a beautiful, creepy crawly, little plant. For whatever reason, it is most populous around the peach tree. If anyone happens to know what it is, feel free to post a comment.

Do you remember the S.U.F.P.S.R.B.'s? Well, our son's school was in need of some serious love. There was a planter box that was 20 years old + and happened to become unsafe. Nails started to stick out and the sides were falling apart. The other parents and myself decided to do something about. Last Saturday, we planned a Parent Beautification day and ripped that nasty ole thing apart. Granted, planted boxes were needed and I happened to have quite a few still not full of soil, so donations they became. They look great!

Everything is Growing

2010-03-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

This morning, I beat the heat and mowed the farm early. It truly is amazing how quickly the grass grows when it's rainy and sunny every other week. I had just mowed on Friday and here it is Monday and it needed it again. The edging needs to be done as well!

The weather has been amazing with highs around 75F and not a cloud in the sky. I knew it was going to be a challenging day for the trees/plants so I watered them this morning before the sun got too high. The amount of life trying to bust out is so exciting.

Flowers by Magnus' Window

Orange

Apple

Lemon

Avocado

Blueberry

Raspberry

Seedlings

Waiting...

2010-03-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

Not much has been going on at the farm lately. Just waiting on growth. We did plant some more seeds the other day, Broccolini, Butter Lettuce, and Cantaloupe.

I did find out about a local High School that has a community compost program. Long story short, they said I can come over with a truck and get as much as I need!! AWESOME! Now, I just have to get a truck for a day.

Rhubarb, Blueberries, & Artichokes

2010-03-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

Fridays are AWESOME. Street cleaning opens up the whole block. I can't help but think about how different this block will look after a year or two. Heck, I planted full size trees for the most part. So, in fifteen years this little sidewalk farm will look like a sidewalk forest.

It happened again today. I know, I have never mentioned this before, but it happens all the time. Perfect strangers stop and ask me about the farm. Interest is peaked. Questions are asked. Dreams are shared, and then it happens. They ask me how much of the fruit of my labor do I actually expect to harvest. "You know, everyone is going to pick it over", they say. It's funny because they just finished encouraging and complementing me on all the great changes I've made. 9 times out of 10 everyone says the same thing. But, my answer is the same 10 times out of 10. "I hope they do pick it over. Americans could stand to add a little 'homegrown' to their diet. Who knows, maybe my farm will open families up to eating more fresh fruits & vegetables." They look at me like I'm crazy and then walk away.

Andrea came home and told me she had a surprise for me. Her friend had given her a garbage bag full of rhubarb cuttings. I had known of their plant and had wanted to get a cutting for awhile. Any Sustainable Urban Farm is not complete without a good healthy crop of rhubarb. I know, I know... what good is rhubarb for other than pies? Surprisingly enough, I was wondering the same thing.

I picked our daughter up from school and swung by our favorite little French restaurant, Utopia, to get a treat. The owner and I are on a first name basis and we chat it up frequently. When he saw me walk through the door he pushed a hot plate of appetizers in my face and said he wanted me to try a new creation of his. Not afraid to try new things, I popped one in my mouth and he proceeded to describe his new delectable. Ironically, it was lobster pate wrapped with thinly sliced rhubarb! Whoa! Could the clouds have parted and the glory shone down directly on my tongue? I think so! Rhubarb + Lobster + Salt + (a myriad of mind blowing peripherals) = What else have I been eating my whole life? Just moments before, I was thinking about the limited use of rhubarb and how it is taking up too much valuable space on the sidewalk farm to just have one purpose. That's when I asked him what else can rhubarb be used for. He rattled of a list salty and sweet recipes that take advantage of the unique flavor of the red stalk we call rhubarb. Score!

OK. Yes, I planted some rhubarb. As you can see in the photo, not only did I get a plant out of it, but I got a bucket of compost and a pile of stalks to make a pie! Oh yeah, that's me in the corner flippin' the peace sign.

I know what you are thinking, just rhubarb? No, it didn't stop. There happens to be a new blueberry bush and a couple of artichoke plants too.

Remember the wild flowers I planted in the cinder blocks next to Magnus' window? Well, they are starting to sprout.

And, you may or may not have heard about the Up Challenge, but I/we are in full swing. I even made a t-shirt.

Aphid Update & S.U.F.P.S.R.B.

2010-03-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

I went out to the Sidewalk Farm this morning to check on the lady bugs and their progress. To my surprise, they totally knocked the aphids out of the park!!!!! No aphids. No chemicals. Just lovely Lady Bugs.

Noe was very excited to see all the lady bugs running all over. She had one in her hand, but it quickly moved up her arm and to her neck. She thought it was funny and scary at the same time.

Magnus' daughters were around today and the three girls had a blast looking for lady bugs.

Then a few of my friends swung by to help paint some of the S.U.F.P.S.R.B.'s I've been working on. It started to look like a factory after awhile.

Aphid Infestation!

2010-03-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

The other day I noticed some little green bugs on the apple tree. I hit the web to try and get the skinny on what they might be, and the news is not good. I'm almost 100% sure that the infestation of green mites are Aphids! Wikipedia has a ton of info on aphids and the consensus is that they are BAD. Crops with aphids are unhappy crops.

As I read more about these little pests, I learned that their biggest natural threat comes from lady bugs! Ha ha. In this picture there is a lady bug chilling out, waiting for a snack! Unfortunately, I only saw one lady bug, but there are clusters of aphids under most of the leaves. My little lady bug helper needed some serious friends to come to the feast.

Andrea and I rode our bikes to lunch and on the way home we sung by Armstrongs. Right there on the shelf were dozens of containers of lady bugs. The label said there are 500+ bugs in each. We headed home and waited for the kids to get back from school.

Once the kids were back and it started to cool off a little, we let them loose! The lady bugs grabbed onto the leaves and branches and hunkered down for the night. We even saw a couple aphids meet their demise!

Tomatoes and Wildflowers

2010-02-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

So, the tomato seeds we planted are still showing no signs of life. It's only been three days, I think we need to be a little more patient. In the foreground there is a yam starting to grow shooters. It's a weird fluorescent purple color.

Since it is Friday, I decided to mow and do a little farming. In the process, I noticed someone else doing a little farming of their own. Stinkin' speed trap!

The cinder block wall that I stacked up to the right of Magnus' window needed a little something more. I spread them out a bit more and filled them with soil. Hudson and I found a great wild flower mix called, "REAL SHADY". It's a mix of wild flowers that do well in low sunlight areas. I think it will bring a little color and beauty to the Sustainable Urban Farm.

Organic Fertilizer

2010-02-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

Everything is exploding! Here it is a weeks or so after I worked some organic fertilizer into the soil and... wow! I don't know if it is coincidence or if the stuff really works.

There are new shoots and clusters of buds all over every tree! Here's a shot of just one of the thousands of new leaves and buds on the orange tree.

The lemon tree is doing the same thing! Check out the lemon in the foreground with the bud cluster in the rear.

The avocado tree is also showing new growth. I'm not sure if it is going to flower in the traditional sense, but it looks like something is happening.

Blossoms on the apple tree are taking their course. The pedals are dying and there is a bit of swelling at the base of the old flower. Maybe a baby apple? Also, a bunch of new buds are popping out too!

When I first planted the peach tree, I thought it was dead. It was a lifeless stick. Now, it's green and on it's way to a great year!

My raspberries are thriving as well! Little buds are forming on the tips of each leaf cluster. I thought that raspberries take a few years to fruit, but when I see flower buds it makes me think it'll happen this year. We'll see.

The weather in LA has been so amazing this winter! We have had rain, followed by nice hot sunny days, and then back to rain and sunny days. So, it might just be the ideal conditions that's making everything bloom. I mean, the grass (well groomed weeds) is even flowering and I didn't fertilize that!

Fridays Are the Best!

2010-02-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

Street cleaning comes by at 12:45pm every Friday, so I hussel to get my edge work done in time. There's nothing like taking advantage of a city service! I know I've talked a lot about edge work and you are probably thinking that I'm a little obsessed with a nice clean edge. Well, I do like a clean edge, but I have yet to do any edging twice. There's just soooo much to do. Let's do the math, shall we? The little sidewalk farm is 250 feet long on each side. Since there is a sidewalk side and a curb side, that totals 1,000 linear feet of edge work!! Here's a shot of what it looked like this morning and a shot of my buddy Gavin lending a hand.

Final product!

I've had more comments about my cinder block planter bed than I care to go into. Most of them are negative. I guess people like to complain. One thing I did pay attention to was a comment that questioned the ability of the cinder blocks to hold dirt. I stacked the blocks and am only using gravity at mortar. The shear weight of the soil could push the blocks out into the sidewalk. So, Hudson and I decided to reinforce it with re-bar and concrete! It is amazing how cheap concrete is! The local hardware store sold me 180lbs of dry mix for $9. Granted it only did half the job and I have to go get more tomorrow, but I still think that's a great deal!

Once, my little helper and I ran out of quick-crete, we decided to tend to the compost. I've instructed our gardeners to walk across the street and dump their lawn clippings in my 4ft x 4ft planter bed. Hudson and I turn them into the soil every week. Sorry, I forgot to snap an "AFTER" photo. Oh, if you look closely, you can see a man in a white shirt walking across the street. That's William! He's the guy who saved our lemon tree! Yeah William!

There's only one week left in February and frost isn't really ever an option, so we decided to start our tomatoes. The garden supply store sells cardboard mini pots for starting seeds, but an egg carton seemed perfect to me. Andrea and I even picked up a few restaurant sized egg cartons after a great breakfast at Amandine.

How've You Been?

2010-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I've posted. Sure, excuses are just that, but I've been real busy.

You may have wondered how I can spend so much time farming. Well, one of the major reasons is the fact that I act in commercials. Yup, you guessed it. That's why I've been M.I.A. lately. This week has been spotty for Sustainable Urban Farming. I have done some work outside, but mainly I've been running around Hollywood. Here's a link to some photos I took at the job I shot this week. http://www.WillieRocks.com/att

So, last week Hudson and I were taking a walk through out little sidewalk farm and we came across a busy bee and some gorgeous flowers.

Then a few feet down on the cinder block planter bed, we noticed a strange bug hatching from a weird cocoon. It looked like a yellow lady bug without spots. In fact, my buddy Jon verified that it is a lady bug. Check out this cool link describing their life cycle. CLICK HERE. To make a long story short, Hudson and I laid down on the sidewalk and shot photos and videos of the metamorphosis. When something weird happened...

Have you ever felt chills run up your spine, like someone was watching you a little too closely? In that moment I had chills, so I held my breath for a second and I heard a man breathing in my ear. The camera and strange bug quickly lost my attention. I looked up to see whom I was going to have to punch in the nose and lo & behold... an EMT was crouching over me attempting to gather my vitals! He quickly noticed I was in good health and studdered, "Oh, never mind!". He walked back to his ambulance and explained the situation to his partner. I jumped to my feet and yelled to the men, "What service!". They laughed and pulled away.

My good buddy, Gary, from Armstrong's had suggested I fertilize all my fruit trees in mid February. I picked up a box of organic fertilizer and worked it into the soil. There is already a noticeable difference!

Today, my partner in crime and best buddy, Hudson... started cranking out as many pint sized planter boxes as we could! He had a very special project cutting up a cardboard box. Heh heh. Got to keep the little guys working hard.

Big Day on the Farm

2010-02-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

Can I say how beautiful the day was? Sure, there are other places on this glorious planted to live, but jeez, Los Angeles weather is PERFECT!!!!!

Today felt like it was time to mow. The rains brought an over abundance of growth and the grass was not excluded. I had noticed a major over sight. The edge work had not been done, so I knocked it out and what a difference!!

I also decided that the planter box around the raspberries was a little too much. Also, I needed more wood to make pint sized raised beds. Take a look and see how simply beautiful it looks without the box.

Blossoms are busting open on the apple, rosemary, peach, and lemon trees!! Check out these photos!

APPLE

ROSEMARY

PEACH

LEMON

Here's a shot of the entire space. Friday's are when the street cleaning takes place and I snapped a rare shot of the Sustainable Urban Farm uninhibited of parked cars!

One more thing! I checked my email the other day, and I saw a note from PayPal. I opened it and there was $25 bucks with my name on it!! My Uncle Joe sent it to me. How AWESOME is that?! He said that the money was for future trees/plants!

About a year and a half ago, my Aunt and Uncle came out to L.A. and we pick apples from some one else's tree. Hopefully the next time they come, we'll be picking them from our tree. Ha ha! Thanks Joe!! Say hi to Vera for me. Much love!

New Name

2010-02-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am the "Sidewalk Farmer". Why? Cause, "Living Off the Street" confused people. I know that "Living off the land" resonates with folks and so does "Living on the Street", but... Mixing the two of them together never really communicated what the "Sidewalk Farmer" communicates.

Same great blog, new great name! Ha ha.

Rain. Lots of Rain!

2010-02-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sustainable Urban Farming is put on hold today due to rain and hail. I'm sure the plants and trees are growing just fine without me.

S.U.F.P.S.R.B.

2010-02-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Dirt has been an issue for awhile now. I've built all of the raised beds that I'm going to build and now I'm just waiting on dirt. The cinder block planter bed needed some reinforcing, so I picked up three bags of quickcrete. I had no idea that stuff was so inexpensive. $2.95 for sixty pounds. I'm working on the wall and along comes my good buddy, and manager of the auto shop, Magnus. He told me that some people had complained about my wooden planter beds. He said they had hit their car door on it and were very unhappy. I can respect the fact that they are pressed right up next to the curb and it could make it hard to exit a vehicle.

Magnus said people should pay more attention and that they planter boxes should stay, but his boss doesn't want to hurt his business or offend the community. So, the raised beds had to go! Thank God, I was lackin' on dirt.

Thinking about all the time and energy that went into finding the wood, cutting it, building the boxes, and then painting them... I felt a little sad. Knowing that they never had dirt in them made it easier for me to move them and mentally let go.

Then "it" came to me like lightening on my brain! People weren't complaining about the planter beds! People were complaining about hitting their car doors. What if the people didn't have to worry about their doors and I could still have beds? That would solve everything. This whole Sustainable Urban Farm has been birthed out of seeing an opportunity and making it work. How is this little moment of adversity any different?

My friend Gregory is in from Canada for a week and we got to talking. Long story short, we brainstormed the new and improved "S.U.F.P.S.R.B."! Sounds great right? Ha ha ha. Sustainable Urban Farm Pint Sized Raised Bed. We took the whole thing apart, cut two of the sides down to two feet and put it back together. Instead of 4ft x 4ft, they are now 2ft x 4ft. This leaves 24 extra inches of room for car doors. Now, there is actually more room to open a car door than where trees are planted. Of course there is less square footage to plant per box, so I'm just going to have to double the amount of boxes to compensate. Ha ha ha. Seriously.

Buds & Hud Bud

2010-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

Even though I might not write about it everyday, we usually take a walk or two through the farm. The amazing thing about life is that it is always growing and expanding. If we look close enough and often enough we can see it happening. The apple and peach trees were like dead sticks when I planted them. Now, they are showing off their desire to thrive. In this picture you can see my little Mr. Man "Hud Bud" and a flower bud from the peach tree.

The apple tree is blooming even more so than my last update. It's very exciting to think that every flower could potentially be a delicious apple.

Even the rosemary is blooming like crazy!

Peach Blossom

Awesome rain gear!

Rain, Glorious Rain!

2010-02-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

Not the sunny So. Cal. we all love, but I'm not complaining! Now that I'm a Sustainable Urban Farmer, rain makes me happy.

Remember, I still have not eaten a single thing from our little strip of land, but growing food is rewarding!

The warm sun beating down and now the rain both bring me joy. Working the earth fulfills a primal sense of purpose. God worked to create nature. Working with nature makes me feel closer to God.

GROW FOOD

2010-02-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those perfectly amazing Californian days. I had picked our daughter up from school on my bicycle, with kid cart in tow. Then proceeded over to our son's school to give him a lift home as well. I looked over my shoulder and on the back of a billboard, someone had written "GROW FOOD" in graffiti.

That's AWESOME!

What is happening? Are people realizing that growing food is rewarding? Maybe our new system of trading time for money, then using that money to buy food is flawed.

After adding up the pros and cons of both lifestyles, maybe this graffiti artist is on to something!

Only one way to find out, right? Grow food and see for yourself. No, I didn't create this work of art.

It's All About the Kids!

2010-02-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Noe heard the news about our new avocado tree and she needed to get a picture with it ASAP. The early morning sleepy dust is still in her eyes and she's sporting mommy's jacket. If Noe had to pick her favorite fruit/veggie "Ah - Nuh - Con - Know's" would be at the top of the list! Heh, heh!

Later on in the day, Hudson and one of his buddies had a serious "Sidewalk Chalk Off"! I supervised the main event and painted half of the raspberry planter box in sections.

Here's the final product. Well, half of the final product.

Raspberries & Avocados

2010-01-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those ideal Southern California days. Hudson, my son, and I took a walk to Armstrong's and browsed the Hass Avocado trees. We found a five footer and made our way to the front register. We passed the raspberry section and picked up four Heritage Red plants. They should be called sticks, cause that's what they looked like.

Remember the other day, when I told you Fred was taking pride in the front flower beds? Well, he did a great job transplanting the current flowers, but it needed a little something more. Hudson and I proceeded to glance over the seed packets. That's when we found the perfect thing! So, when we got back to the Sustainable Urban Farm we kind of broke the rules and planted non-edible flowers. I know they'll be pretty! Photos to come, oh course.

We also picked up a few other seed packet, of which I'll give update once we actually plant them.

January has been a glorious month. The heat, the rain, then more heat and rain. If anyone out there in southern California has been thinking of doing some gardening, this January has been ideal. There's been days of perfectly sunny opportunities to plant, then days of cool rain that were followed by warm sunny spells, and then another blanket of free irrigation. Making a short story a bit lengthy... because of all the rain, the soil is quite like the consistency of the black rich stuff I came to know and love in Illinois!

On a side note, the fruit trees are blooming like crazy! Peach on the left, and apple on the right. Just think. Some day all this work might just pay off! Ha ha!

Nada Mas

2010-01-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

Any Spanish Buffs out there? Nada Mas means, Nothing More. It was one of those rare days that I wasn't able to do any farming. I did walk the farm in the morning and right before I came in for the night. All is well.

Free Labor

2010-01-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday got a little crazy and I wasn't able to blog. No worries, I'll fill you in on two days right now.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I was out to the Sustainable Urban Farm pretty early and decided to edge trim the grass in front of the auto repair shop. While I was working, I smelled a foul smell. It reminded me of the trash cans at a fair ground bandstand, overflowing with mostly empty beer cups. Half way down the block I could see three guys walking toward me. My whole life I had heard the expression "Drunk as a Skunk", but that moment was the first time I fully understood it.

They looked like they had a rough night and were still coming down. Right then, they noticed me working. The shortest one of the bunch came running over and took the sidewalk edger out of my hand. He tried to communicate that he'll work for me. I agreed to let him work, but I made it very clear that I was working for free so he will definitely not get paid. There was a long pause, but in order to save "face", he said not problem and began to work. The other two guys jumped in with a shovel of mine and proceeded to take turns.

Since I was doing nothing, I decided to stretch my back for a second and look around. The guys from the auto shop didn't see or hear the negotiation so they thought I had a crew with me and began to laugh. I waved and smiled, but felt like I needed to do something too. Well, my Ma and Pa raised me to work, and by this time I was till without a tool. The overly eager drunken gentlemen were busy edging the walkway, so I ran back to my workshop and pick up a rake and a broom. The playing field had been leveled, four guys with four tools. We worked for an hour and knocked that sidewalk OUT!

Manuel, Speedy, Marcos, & Me.

Today, I mowed the grass where we did the edge work and something very cool happened. One of the guys, Fred, from the auto repair shop started weeding. They see me out there almost every day taking pride in their shop and today, Fred decided to take a little pride himself!

Last week, I asked the gardeners at my building to cross the street and dump the grass clippings in the planter boxes. With that said, there was a ton of grass that needed to be mixed in with my kitchen scraps and soil. So, I turned the organic mixture over for fifteen minutes or so.

Another cool thing that I'm thinking about is community. My neighbors are starting to talk. They've seen what I've been doing and are interested. One lady told me that if I ever need help, to go ahead and ask. Which got me thinking about what I could use help with.

Soil. I'm still very low on dirt. How does a Sustainable Urban Farmer get quality earth to plant crops in these days? I know it's a longer process than paying a truck to deliver it, but I couldn't stop thinking about every body else's kitchen scraps. There are sixty-two people that live in my apartment building and my family of four generates about a bucket full of scraps a day! If I include the surrounding buildings/community and help build relationship through Sustainable Urban Gardening, wouldn't the world be a better place? I think so.

Living Off the Street is going to be bigger than just my family, I can feel it.

Raspberries & Rain

2010-01-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and took a walk through the little Sustainable Urban Farm. The weather was perfect with blue skies and a warm breeze. I decided to put my other 4ft x 4ft planter box out and the box for the raspberries. In a matter of ten minutes, 96 square feet of planter boxes were ready to be filled with dirt. In this picture you can see the 4ft x 20ft planter box on the left. That's where the raspberries will be planted later on this week, hopefully. I have yet to paint the box, it'll be the same color as the rest. On the right, the sidewalk looks a little dirty because grass/weeds had grown out over the dark spots. I tested out the new sidewalk edger and it works great!

By the time I finished working, that warm breeze turned cold and clouds rolled in. The rain started coming down around 2pm. I think we might be in for round two.

Cinder Blocks

2010-01-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day. I'm tired. Andrea and I went down to Home Depot and picked up 45 cinder blocks and an edge trimmer for around $80 bucks. I know, I know. I can't believe I spent cash too, but I needed to finish a couple of projects. Finishing the planter bocks was very important for me because I found a guy that will deliver free soil if I have the room to put. Now I officially can handle the dirt. Here's a before picture with a fresh stack of cinder blocks on the left.

The guys at the auto shop told me that they don't want to lose any street visibility, so I decided to plant the raspberries elsewhere. The tops of the cinder blocks will be filled with compost/soil and brightly colored flowers will be planted. In the bed itself will be perennial (year after year) all male Washington asparagus. Yum! Here's an after shot.

Let's rewind a little. Remember the reason why I asked the owner of the auto shop if I could take care of this little strip of land? Don't worry, pop quiz over. I asked if I could take care of it, because no one was. There was trash and abandoned shopping carts laying around. I decided to take this land and make it everything it could be. Well today, I feel like I received a sign... literally. There were four signs in fact. I was digging the foundation for the planter box when I came across these four wooden signs. They just sort off formed a sensible word in front of my eyes and it became my motivation. Elevate or L-IV-8, any way you look at it, that's what I'm doing to my Sustainable Urban Farm!

15. That's the number of cinder blocks I had left over. Not wanting to give them away or take them back to the Deep (Home Depot), I decided to build an unusual planter box. There's a weird pit just underneath the poster my kids made for the orange tree. The neighborhood has decided to dump random bits of trash down there. Since my lemon tree isn't bear enough fruit to make lemonade, I made lemonade out of the pit. The extra cinder blocks stacked perfectly in front of the pit. I will fill them with good soil and plant some dangling tomatoes or something beautiful and delicious.

Another Great Day!

2010-01-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

Today, all the neighborhood kids came by again! I didn't have any cinder blocks, so I thought we could build some planter boxes for the office window next to the orange tree. While I did the measurements, I told the children that they could design their very own work of art framed in a sidewalk square. Needless to say, it was a hit!

The planter boxes turned out alright too. Now, I just have to figure out what is going to go in them. Edible? Non-Edible? Tough call.

After a fun day of playing/working hard... it was time for a little spaghetti.

Rain? What's Rain?

2010-01-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

So, the rain stopped and the sun is blaring down again. Perfect weather is... you know what I mean.

Today, was a great day! Words can't express how clear it was. I walked outside to take in the fresh air and catch a few morning rays when I noticed the 3rd St. Promenade Clock Tower. I know it's not that far away from my Sustainable Urban Farm, but whoa! There's usually so much smog, I can't see past 26th street. If you look close, or click on it and make the image full size, you can even see the Pacific Ocean. Gee whiz, I love California!

Now here's the real test of clarity. It's rare when the mountains behind Los Angeles are visible, but today it made my wife cry. Remember when I said I love California? This is one of the many reasons why!!

Since the sun was shining and... well let's be real for a second, the sun hasn't shown it's pretty face in some time. We decided to give a tribute to our old friend and build a sun dial. After cutting down all those planks for the planter boxes I built yesterday, there was more than enough scrap wood laying around. Don't get me wrong, we hit YouTube for a little personal instruction before we attempted making our own solar guided time keeping contraption. Turns out it's deceptively easy, yet difficult simultaneously.

If one were to pull of a three sixty, that would me a full turn. Well, the Earth pulls a 360 everyday. From noon today to noon tomorrow the Earth will rotate 360 degrees in 24 hours, which is 15 degrees an hour. All you have to do is get a protractor, printable for free online, and measure out 180 degrees in increments of fifteen onto a flat surface. Then figure out what your longitude is and place a perpendicular object along the 90 degree line angled to your specific longitude. Oh, remember when I said deceptively easy, yet difficult? Forget easy. Ha ha. Long story short, here's the final product. We met a couple of neighborhood friends in the process and they hung with us for the rest of the day. FYI, the photo was taken at 12 noon.

Once the sun dial was finished, we needed to kill some time to see if it would keep up with the clock on my cellphone. I asked the crew if they wanted to paint a planter box and they all said yes! I checked in on them from time to time, but while they painted, I mowed. It's amazing how a torrential downpour will push all brown-ish colors completely out of the color spectrum. Green. Very green.

A quick game of Duck, Duck, Goose broke out!

Then some running.

Rosemary Flower

Hippy Flower Princess

Check in on the Sun Dial, and it works!!!

Counting tree rings.

This stump was once the only tree on this block. I think it was destroyed during a storm in 2004. Oh, times are changing.

Rain Powered Factory

2010-01-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

News flash! It's raining in Los Angeles. Yeah, I know this information isn't new, but today feels like the heaviest rain yet! I mean, the tree in front of my son's school fell over and was blocking the sidewalk. That's gotta count for something. Seriously though, it has rained harder today than any other.

The nice part about all this rain is that we were in a drought, I think we've caught up. Heh heh. More good news, I've been in the wood working mood. I don't really feel like finishing the cinder block wall in the rain, so my workshop has had a lot of company from me lately. Today, I milled down the wood Ardavan and I picked up. The rain is so relentless that I just kept working and working. After a few hours of cutting and drilling, I took a step back to snap off this shot. It looks like I'm running a planter box factory.

The planter boxes in the above photo are 4ft x 4ft, but I have a spot for another planter box that needs to be much bigger. How big? Glad you asked. 4ft x 20ft! I know I sound crazy, but I came up with a good plan. The 4ft x 4ft boxes sure are easy to pick up and walk out to the Sustainable Urban Farm. A 4ft x 20ft box would not be so easy, or even possible for that matter. Legos. Yes... Legos were my inspiration. They don't really look like Legos and they're wooden, but the panels fit together great! I built eight of them that are five feet long. That's four panels per side for a grand total of twenty feet. Once they are all put together, I'll cap each end with a four foot panel and a couple of supports just like the 4ft x 4ft planter boxes.

Now, the total size of farm-able planter boxes is 144 square feet! Throw in the cinder block structure which is going to be 11ft x 5ft & that bumps the grand total up to 199 square feet. That's crazy!!!!

Doth Mine Eyes Deceive Me?

2010-01-21T17:26:00.000-08:00

After what has felt like an eternity, the clouds have parted and the heavens have revealed their beauty, for now.

The family and I ran out to the Sustainable Urban Farm as fast as we could to snap this shot. The temperature dropped about five degrees in the short time we were there, which makes me think we are not out of the woods yet.

Earlier today, I met up with my good buddy Ardavan and we hit up a couple construction sites. The first one we went to had a ton of cinder blocks, but the foreman didn't like us. I think he was in the middle of something and was in a bad mood. No worries, we'll check back when the sun is shinning and maybe have Ardavan whistle the theme song to "Happy Days". That might put the foreman in the giving mood. Heh heh.

After hitting the proverbial brick wall, pun totally intended, we headed over to a different site. We went to the building I had hit last week to see if there was anything else to save from the landfill. My pal Manny was manning the helm and he remember me! Yes! He let us drive down into the bowels of the subterranean garage and have at it. There was so much plywood. We loaded six 24 inch x 72 inch panels, a ten foot long 4 inch PVC pipe, and a bunch of small, but long metal pipes and bolts. All in all, it was a very good day. I'll be able to build three more 4ft x 4ft planter boxes. Now all I have to worry about is finding more dirt.

It's only been an hour since I took the above photograph. Weather update... torrential downpour!

Ice, Buds, & Box

2010-01-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

Today it actually hailed. Ice fell from the sky and hit the side walk. Obviously, it melted as fast as it blew my mind. Yes, my mind was blown by hail. Remember, I was building that cinder block planter bed, with my shirt off, just a few days ago. I wish I could show you a photo of the hail, but I was unprepared for such an opportunity.

The rain slowed enough for me to run our compost out to the Sustainable Urban Farm and I noticed the apple tree. Wow! It looked like a dead twig the day I planted it, but now it looks like it can't wait for spring. You can also see the water in the ring. That's free water from above!!

Here's another planter box I'm working on. All said and done, there will be four of these 4ft x 4ft boxes.

Let it Rain!

2010-01-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the first day back after the long weekend and the rain is coming down! Los Angeles is an amazing place when it comes to weather. It's either perfectly sunny and gorgeous, or perfectly storming. Check out the street I cross everyday to get to my Sustainable Urban Farm. You can see the cinder block wall that I've had to put on hold. Ha ha.

Since the rain is so bad, I've been spending a lot of time in my workshop building planter boxes. The amount of wood I have found, will keep me busy for a long, long time. The rain is a blessing that is two fold. First, for the plants and secondly, it's forcing me to focus on indoor projects.

Being curious, I decided to check the weather to see how long this storm will last. It's going to be wet for awhile. The video at the top of today's entry has been weighing on my mind. That is a massive amount of run off! Rain, in theory, is cleaner and more pure than municipal water. Why are we not using all this precious water. All the water is really doing is scrubbing the oil and grime off the streets and running the toxic sludge into the Santa Monica Bay. If I could somehow store the rain before it left my property, in essence it perfectly usable for almost anything, like watering an Sustainable Urban Farm. Ha ha ha. Seriously.

OK. Let's see how practical this would actually be. I water the plants every day or so, using a 2.5 gallon bucket that I fill two to three times. That's 7.5 gallons times 365 days which equals 2,737.5 gallons per year. The average American uses 80 to 100 gallons per day. (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qahome.html#HDR3) That's 29,200 to 36,500 gallons per person per year! CRAZY!! The amount of water I'm using on my farm doesn't seem so bad now does it? Especially once you figure the number of people that will be able to eat from this urban farm.

Let's go back to run off. My apartment building is approximately 200ft by 100ft and all the water that hits the property is funneled out through gutters. I found a site online that says for every one inch of rainfall per 1,000 square feet, 561 gallons of water accumulates. (http://rainwater.sustainablesources.com/)
My building is approximately 20,000sqft with an annual rainfall of 14 inches. 20,000sqft divided by 1,000 equals 20. 20 times 561 gallons equals 11,220 gallons per inch of rainfall. 11,220 gallons time 14 inches of annual rainfall equals 157,080 gallons of wasted water per year. And that's just my apartment building.

The bright side is that I'm not using any water on my garden this week at all!

Kitchen Compost

2010-01-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

Real quick. It's a Saturday and I've taken the day off from farming, but I wanted to give you a tip. Andrea and I keep a Tupperware on the counter and just fill it with the scraps we create when making dinner. When it get's full, I empty it in the compost. I hear it's great for the soil.

By the way, these are Yams that are being peeled. Some people say sweet potatoes, I guess it depends on where you grew up or what your grandmother called them.

JACKPOT!!!!!!!!

2010-01-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

It is way to early to say this, but today was the best day ever! Let's get serious, none of the trees are mature and we haven't eaten a single thing from the farm yet. With that said, today I hit the jackpot!

I got an email from a woman I met on FreeCycle.org and she informed me that her driveway was full of good soil. Without hesitation, I loaded up my shovel and a bunch of buckets and was off. Holy moly! I don't know how much soil weighs, but my back feels tired. Take a look at this load of dirt. It was just enough to fill the second half of the green planter box!

On the way home, I decided to swing by the construction site where I scored all that free wood. There was a guy named Manny just hanging out and smoking a big fat cigar. He looked at me like a bouncer looks at nerd trying to get into a club. I immediately got the vibe that I was not welcome and he was gunna prove it. Right then, I notice a pile of beautiful pallets laying next to the dumpster. I smiled and said, "Hey. Are you going to throw those pallets in the trash?". His guard went down and he happily offered them to me. As I loaded the pallets, I kept asking questions. Do you have any broken concrete? Do you have any plywood that might get trashed? Next thing you know, I'm getting a personal tour through the construction site. I'd point at something and Manny would nod yes or no. Long story short, he said I could drive my car on to the site and load anything I wanted. Unfortunately, I was out of room after loading all that dirt and a bunch of pallets.

I went back to the little strip of land and unloaded pallets and dumped the dirt in the green planter box, then went back to the construction site. I know I keep coming back to the same old word, but jackpot! Yes, I got all this wood and these cinder blocks for free!

As I'm unloading the loot, my neighbor Lisa came by and blessed me with an AWESOME lawn mower! Talk about sustainability, this thing runs on human power! I really don't know how it happened, but for some reason my wife became driven to mow. She pushed that thing all around and ended up making the grass look very nice!

Inspired by a plethora of free gardening booty, I decided to tackle the cinder bock planter box. It sure felt like I was going to have enough blocks, but as you can see I might need to FreeCycle till I find another free source of cinder blocks.

Here's what the wall looked like at the end of the day. Not bad.

Edge Work & a Walking Tree

2010-01-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

I watered the trees this morning and my lemon tree looked like it had been out partying all night. The leaves were turned north and the dirt around the base was all messed up. It's LA and my little Sustainable Urban Farm experiment might draw some attention from sketchy people. There are more weirdos per capita in LA than anywhere else I've lived. Nothing major happened, so I brushed it off as "no big deal".

Since the dirt was all scattered about, I raked it back into a ring around the tree. Then I felt like doing the edge work along the side walk. The grass or "wild native vegetation" has not been tended to in over seven years, with growth about 8 inches over the edge of the sidewalk. Amazingly enough, the amount of soil and compostable material I harvested almost filled our green planter box. In the picture to the right, you can see the unkept edge in the foreground and the clean edge work in the background.

Then my buddy William from the auto repair shop came walking over. He told me that when he got to work this morning, there was an old man digging up the lemon tree. By the time William realized that the old man was a thief, the lemon tree was in a cart and going down the street! William said, that was when he realized he needed to chase the old man and stop him. The old man saw William coming and began to run. Being old and pushing a cart with a tree in it, the elderly gentleman knew that his thievery would be thwarted. So the old codger pulled the tree from the cart and dumped it on the side walk. Looking back and knowing William was still going to catch him, he ditched his cart and took off running. Again, the nature of the culprit's elderly-ness, William caught him no problem. By the time my friend had a chance to say, "What the Hell are you doing?"... the old man's knees began to knock and down he went. In that moment, the shear optimism of the old fart was astounding. Everyone knows that the maturation/fruiting process of a lemon tree takes years, but this filibusting fellow was on borrowed time. No, no he didn't die. He just smacked his face pretty hard on the sidewalk and William had to help him back to an upright position. At that point, William told me that he thinks the old man isn't going to ever come back! Wow, what a day!

More trees!!

2010-01-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

It rained yesterday and a little bit this morning. Which made me think that the ground could be more on the softer side. Digging holes for trees in a desert is a bit different than back in the rich black soil of Illinois, so any help I can get, I'll take advantage of it.

Armstrong's is now on my speed dial so I gave them a call. I was in need of a good apple tree. When I called, the man told me that a five gallon tree will produce fruit this year and will only cost $29.99! That's way cheaper than the Valencia I bought last week. Long story short, I walked over with my daughter and proceeded to tree shop. In fact, we found two trees. The other tree was a peach tree that is of the "Freestone" variety. So after two quality fruit trees and a bag of compost soil, I was out of there for $67.65. Not bad.

Noe and I quickly walked back to our Urban Sustainability Farm (I love saying that... ha ha ha) and planted the two trees. We came up with very original nicknames for each other during the planting process. She was "Farmer Noe", and I was "Farmer Daddy". The trees don't seem to have much life right now, but there are tiny buds getting ready to blossom and that makes me very hopeful.

Later on that day, my son Hudson wanted to check out the new trees too.

Too little dirt...

2010-01-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

I have too little dirt and two little dirts. Urban farming is urban for sure! I remember growing up in Illinois and whenever my mother needed some more soil, it was easy to find... and free. The kids and I built a raised bed which is 4ft x 4ft x 1ft, that's 16 cubic feet of soil needed to fill it. If we are going to be successful, I need to find a good, plentiful, and cheap source of planting soil! My brother, Ryan, suggested that I ask hired gardeners in the neighborhood about soil, I'll do that today. It's L.A., nobody does their own yard work. Weird.

As for the two little dirts, that's what I call Hudson & Noe. Here's a shot of them at the beach, last week, trying to catch a pigeon. "Little Dirt" isn't a mean thing, it's an endearing term my family uses. I'm not sure why my father called my brother and I little dirts, but it just seemed fitting for my kids too! Looking back through old family photos, maybe the term was coined because of this day. I think I'll ask next time I chat with my folks.

More Lumber & New Trees!

2010-01-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

So, my wife and I were doing the morning drop offs (taking the kids to school) and I saw a piece of plywood sticking out of a dumpster in front of a construction site. All this time, I've been keeping an eye out for random pieces of wood in alleys and driveways. On the way home, I went back by the site and notice that there was a bunch of large pieces of wood on the ground surrounding the dumpster. I asked the foreman if the wood around the dumpster was trash too and he said yes. My intentions were to dumpster dive, but there was such a bounty of nice pieces just laying around I didn't have to. I picked up two large pieces and walked back to my work shop to cut them down to size. Construction sites are way better than any other resource of free wood!!!

Andrea, my wife, gave me a dwarf lemon tree for my birthday in August of 2004. Back then, I was trying to convert our little patio into an Urban Paradise and I potted the tree. Unfortunately, our patio gets about two hours of sunlight a day and our lemon tree has been slowly dying. Like a knuckle head, I put a rosemary plant on the patio too. It did ok for awhile, but slowly became less and less healthy looking.

Long story short, today I planted the dwarf lemon tree and rosemary bush in full sun! Now our little Urban Sustainable Farm has three planted trees/bushes! It looks cool.

Raised Beds for FREE!

2010-01-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well, almost free. I always keep a sharp eye out for scrap lumber in alleys. Believe it or not, but in L.A., there are ally after ally full of pallets and other scrap lumber. This raised bed was built out of free wood. It looked good raw and untouched, but we thought it'd look even better if we had a color scheme in the Urban Sustainable Farm.

The kids and I took a trip to our local hardware store and asked if they had any oops paint. Oops paint is what they call the stuff that was mixed by mistake. It is usually pennies on the dollar and on a special shelf. We found two gallons of paint that were in the family of the color we wanted, so we bought them at $4 bucks a gallon. The colors were slightly different so we blended them in a five gallon bucket, at home, and painted an amazing 4ft x 4ft raised bed! We still have a lot of paint to spare.

We are going to keep an eye out for more scrap wood and see if we can make a total of four raised beds like the one we just made. My plan is to put them in between the five trees we will eventually plant. The trees are not purchased yet so they raised beds will get plenty of light. The way I figure, the beds will get a couple of years of light even after all five trees are planted due to the fact that the trees will be juvenile.

Let's do some math. Four raised beds that are 4ft x 4ft equals 64 square feet of garden. Then, there's the red zone that is 4ft x 20ft which equals 80 square feet. Plus, the triangle section that measures 20ft x 11ft (divided by two) equals 110 square feet. That is a total of 254 square feet of Urban Farm Land, not including where the trees are planted!

What to Plant?

2010-01-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

Gardening with a goal to be sustainable is a little different than if it was a hobby. No one can realistically be an island. I know that there will be things I will have to acquire outside of what my family and I can grow on our little strip of land. So, I think that when picking out things to plant, bartering should be in mind.

I do know that Valencia oranges have a very high value to land used ratio. As for wheat, I would need acres of land to equal the value of my oranges. Bartering is very much based in value even though no money is being used.

Another aspect of value is time. The amount of time I will eventually spend tending to the tree will be minimal. Processing of the oranges in order to make them barter ready is simply picking and bagging. Wheat is very complicated and time consuming if there is no mechanization available.

With an orange tree, there is a one time cost of buying the tree. Digging the hole, adding a bag of compost, and an occasional fertilizing should sum up the amount of work needed to receive fruit year after year. The wheat fields will need to be plowed, seeded, and harvested every season.

Conclusion: I need to decide on planting high value, low workload perennials. Of course, I will plant annuals as well.

When it comes to trees, I have enough land to plant a total of five. I've planted my Valencia already. Next is going to be Anna Apple, Freestone Peach, Cherimoya, and Hass Avocado.

Bushes, Shrubs, and Veggies:
Ever-bearing Raspberries
Green Asparagus
Globe Artichokes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Broccolini
Green Beans
Brussels Sprouts

Mesclun Salad
Spinach
Edible Dahlias

Herbs:
Shallots, Red Onions, Garlic, Mint, Cilantro, Italian Flat Parsley, Basil, Rosemary, & Jalapeño.

Rolling Composter

2010-01-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Remember the plastic barrel I got from the car wash? After a few dollars in new hardware, a saw, and a drill, my kids and I put the door in. I'm thinking about putting a few obstructions inside to help mix the compost. We'll see if it'll need it.

I was going to build a stand that would have rollers for the barrel to rotate on, but I think rolling it around in the grass might do the trick.

I pre-marked the holes for all the hardware before I made any cuts. Once the plastic door was cut out, the hardware went on nicely.

Click Here to see a video I watched that gave me a bunch of ideas for the composter. The guy's voice is a little weird, but he's got a ton of great info.

Our daughter was so proud of the rolling composter that she had to have her picture with. I'm proud of something in this photo too.

Soil

2010-01-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

When doing the whole Sustainable Urban Garden thing, I thought I had better put some thought into the quality of soil I'll be working with. When I bought the orange tree, I purchased a bag of composted soil thinking the soil would need a boost. Surprisingly enough, Leonel and I thought the soil was in pretty good shape. Not great shape, so we added the compost anyway.

I've seen trees with dirt rings around them and have wondered why gardeners do it, well I quickly found out! You can see that we piled dirt up around the trunk to make a ring too. Watering seems to be more effective cause there's no runoff. I just fill the depression (approx 8 inches) around the tree with water and it soaks straight down.

On the way to pick my daughter up from school, I passed some city work men fixing a pipe in the street. The was a large pile of black, rich looking soil right next to them. I stopped. The men looked up and I asked if they were going to back fill that dirt. They informed me that they were going to take the dirt to a disposal facility. The pipe is going to be fitted with a concrete enclosure/box that will take up a lot of room. My eyes got huge and I asked the men if they will be there for awhile. They said yes. Then I proceeded to tell them about my soil situation and if they'd be patient enough to wait a few minutes I'd be back with a car and a bunch of buckets to save them a trip to the disposal facility. They were very excited, but I could tell they thought I was a weirdo. Ha ha ha.

After filling both red buckets, I went back to dump them. Whoa, they were so heavy!!!... and it barely made a dent in my future raise bed area.

All the gardening books talk about compost, so I hit the web to find the best system for what we are doing. I knew for sure I didn't want an old school compost pile. Los Angeles and most cities have ordinances against gross piles of rotting matter. After an hour or so of light research, I came to the conclusion that the spinning barrel method is going to be the best. The only problem is that store bought barrel composters are expensive! ($200+) I didn't get discouraged, I just tried to figure out a way to get one for free! Turns out there are a ton of guys on the web that have made their own composters. One guy on YouTube told his viewers how to build a spinning barrel composter and how to get a barrel for free, he was right! See that white barrel in the background. It's mine and will soon be a composter.

Yup, that's a car wash. They get tons of soap every month in big 55 gallon/water tight barrels and are happy to give them away. I know what you are thinking. Aren't they toxic? The EPA has mandated that car washes use biodegradable soap, so I rinsed it out and put it in my workshop for later. There are a few designs I'm interested in, but I think a custom plan might be fitting for my situation.

Planting the first tree

2010-01-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

Sustainability is hard work. Toiling in the garden everyday sounds fun, but the idea of having a few trees that will give food with little effort sounds fun as well. My family and I drink fresh orange juice all the time. We also eat quite a few peeling oranges. All that said, we thought an orange tree would be a good first step toward our urban sustainability farm. Ha ha. We go to the local farmer's market and get a 25lb bag of valencias for $16 bucks. That makes close to two gallons of fresh juice which lasts us a week to ten days. If the market eludes us, we hit the grocery up for a half gallon at the tune of $9 bucks. So, let's do a little math equation. Being very conservative and saying we only buy farmer's market oranges once a month. Then completely leaving out store bought juice from this equation, we spend $192 a year on orange juice. I walked up the street to Armstrong's and found a healthy tree and a bag of compost soil for a total of $77.66. Not bad.

So, I got back to my little strip of land and I wasn't alone. There was a guy sitting up against the back side of the Auto Repair shop eating his lunch. He saw me coming with the tree and moved out of the way. To his surprise I stopped right in front of him and unloaded the tree from my cart. He looked at me, I looked at him and said that the tree will look great right here. He smiled and picked up my other shovel and began to help me dig the hole. His name is Leonel. I remembered his name very easily because I'm really into "Kings of Leon" right now. We put the tree in and it looks great!

As Leonel's time on break came to an end, his work mates came over to see what was going on. I had just trimmed the tree behind the orange tree and there were a bunch of branches still on the ground. The two new guys asked me if I needed help picking them up and before I had a chance to say no, they cleaned them up. We introduced ourselves, shook hands and smiled. Thanks William and Fred. I am already overwhelmed by the sense of community that it starting to grow.

First Day

2010-01-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

I grew up in a small town in Illinois. We had dairy goats, chickens, ducks, and a very large garden. You could say we lived on a farm, but we really never sold anything. There was a well on the property and plenty of wooded ravines. We were almost self sufficient. My mother was ahead of the organic and sustainable trend by about twenty years.

My brother and I helped mom to can tomatoes and make butter from fresh goat milk. When it was time to collect the eggs, we'd turn it into a game of Easter Egg Hunt. I even taught one of the chickens to sit on my head. We ate so much duck, we started giving dressed ducks away at Christmas time. The garden was healthy. The black rich soil made everything seem to grow out of control!

Well, time has gone by and I have a family of my own. We live in Los Angeles, on the border of Santa Monica, and there's no farm land in site. We live in an apartment and we don't even have a yard. My wife and I have talked for years about getting some land and raising our children with a sustainable lifestyle, but it just hasn't happened.

Then one day I read this article (click here) and it hit me. Do I really need to be way out in the country to grow food? Isn't Southern California perfect for growing almost anything? Yes & yes. All I needed to do was get creative.

There's an Auto Repair Shop across the street from where I live and for the past seven years, I haven't seen a soul take care of their grass. I'm talking about that little strip of land between the sidewalk and the street. It's only 4ft wide, but it's approximately 150ft long. That's 600 square feet of potential garden!

This morning, my son and I, walked over and asked if we could take care of this small piece of future paradise. The nice gentleman behind the counter went for a walk with us around the property and said, "Go for it!".

My goal is to be self sufficient in 3 years or less. I will barter and trade to get the things I can't grow. Is it possible? We'll see. I'll try to post everyday, but there might be times when nothing is happening.