A common concern among CSA members is where and how the food they and their families eat is grown. I love getting farm fresh produce from my CSA. However, I also love walking out my front door to snip off some fresh salad greens for my dinner before the CSA distribution has even started. I think back yard (or in our case, front yard) gardening is a natural extension of the CSA movement.
With that in mind, I attended an informational meeting about 15Thousand Farmers on Saturday April 10. The meeting was hosted by the Riverside Garden Club at Farnsley-Moremen Landing on a bright sunny morning in the Visitors' Center.
Speakers Valerie Klausen & Gary Heine from 15Thousand Farmers explained how the organization started. Klausen & Heine began by attempting to grow their own food. They realized that if they were having issues, others probably were, too. Klausen talked about her excitement around growing an 8 foot tall sunflower from a tiny seed and her desire to share this experience with others.
The name "15Thousand Farmers" comes from a Michael Pollan quote about how many people he suggested should become backyard farmers in the United States. Fifteen thousand is Louisville's percentage of that total.
Heine discussed moving to a new neighborhood that is mixed with apartments and single family homes. He wondered how to meet his neighbors and how to have sustainability conversations with these people. Back yard gardening seemed to be the perfect conversation starter. It was a topic about which everyone could get excited.
15Thousand Farmers is a grassroots organization focused on inspiring and providing information to fellow urban farmers to make the experience easier. The founding sponsor is Heine Bros coffee. Members can sign up for a dirt card on 15thousandfarmers.com as a way to count the number of growers and offer discounts at local gardening supply stores.
Robert Denning, owner of Cart Enterprises, LLC, gave a demonstration of the Square Foot Gardening method. The bed should be 6 inches deep made of nontreated wood or even cinder blocks if cost is an issue. Weed block is important because it enables the gardener to put the bed anywhere without worrying about grass or weeds coming up through the bed. There is no need to remove the grass under a bed. In fact, the garden can be placed pretty much anywhere there is enough sun - for example on a driveway or even on top of a garage. A square foot grid is also important in helping the gardener know what to plant where and how many of each seed to plant in each square. Cart Enterprises sells premade garden boxes and supplies.
Mark Foreman from Breaking New Grounds gave a demonstration on composting using lidded buckets. Foreman purchased his bucket, but an attendee mentioned that local bakeries use similar sized buckets for icing. Pickle buckets were also recommended.
Composting is easy, but it looks complex. Simply drill holes in a bucket, add kitchen scraps until it's full, layer it in well. Paper will tend to bunch up and take longer to break down unless it is mixed in. Once the bucket is full, leave it on cinder blocks to drain and take it down every few days to roll around. This is where the lid comes in handy. Foreman lets his sons kick it around in the yard. Compost tends to do better in the sun, but shade will work. You can remove the lid sometimes to let bugs get in to facilitate the composting process. After 6 weeks or so it becomes compost. If you leave it on the ground worms will find it.
The Riverside Garden Club meets monthly with a focus on providing information to members about flowering plants and vegetables. The organization is also responsible for maintaining the Farnsley-Moremen property. They are having a plant & herb sale on Saturday, April 17, 2010 (8am-3pm) and Sunday, April 18, 2010 (12pm-3pm) The proceeds support the mission of Riverside, the Farnelsy-Moremen Landing, Inc. and support its gardening program.