The urban farm in four short bullet points

I've been working on our farm plan, and one important step for me is determining the big picture of what our farm stands for and what our goals are. Today I'd like to introduce the four ideas that determine how the farm is run, what and how we grow, and the reasons behind our bicycle-themed name.

1. Two Wheels Urban Farm grows food sustainably using only organic practices. We do not use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides, nor do we plant genetically modified seeds.

2. We farm in town, taking advantage of land that would otherwise grow only grass.

3. By living and farming in the city, we are able to use bikes as a major source of transportation as well as recreation. The farm has an ongoing goal to utilize bicycles for more than 50% of all trips.

4. We strive to make farming as local and accessible as possible, growing and marketing delicious food, while fostering relationships with consumers and neighbors and reducing food miles.

Speaks for itself!

Living and farming in town offers many opportunities to bike for pleasure and transportation.

This week at the urban farm

This past week we finished building the raised beds at the home plot. Before the weather turns cold I'll have them all filled and ready to compost over the fall and winter. By spring, with some added finished compost before planting, we should be good to grow!

The new raised beds more than double the growing space at our home plot, and because they are terraced, our hill is now farmable!

Even though my instincts tell me this could be a bad idea, one of our hens now has a name: meet Lucy, the Buff Orpington with the small comb. She enjoys long walks around the yard, eating worms in freshly turned soil, and peeking into the window to spy on unsuspecting humans.

Lucy has captured the heart of our family, especially my mom and DD.

We're also already thinking about spring around here and experimenting with our new light system. Can't wait to start growing next season's seedlings!

Some barely sprouted test tomatoes seem very healthy under the lights.

The good, the bad, and the really darn ugly

Since returning on Sunday from a camping trip, I have been very busy this week harvesting, mowing, weeding, and cleaning up plots. As I start to take out the old summer veggies and plant the fall lettuce, spinach, and cabbage, I'm taking a good look at how everything has gone so far this season.

I gorge myself on salads all spring. About the time I am ready for salads again, fall is here I can plant them to my heart's stomach's content.

I'm still tallying up total pounds of vegetables and fruits produced, but this is my photo evaluation of things that are going well and some things that are just plain ugly.

First the ugly:

The tomatoes aren't picturesque as they once were. After a couple of strong thunderstorms, all of the tomatoes and tomatillos are lying sideways. The chickens are enjoying eating the ones that fall on the ground (luckily not too many), and tomatoes on the ground are also easy targets for hungry prairie voles. But nonetheless, the tomatoes are producing very well.

The bad (also really ugly):

The popcorn was almost completely devoured (most likely) by raccoons. But better them eat the corn than the chickens!

The potted butternut squash that stayed very small and hasn't produced a single fruit convinced me that I need to learn more about growing plants in containers.

And because I like to end on a happy note... the good:

In our case the chicken came before the egg. This is the Buff Orpington hen who's egg is pictured below. And as of yesterday there is a second chicken laying eggs!

Egg #1 (It was delicious!) These first eggs are tiny, but experienced urban chicken ranchers have told me that they will get larger over time as the hens mature.

I canned Bloody Mary Mix for this first time. Since I have so much pasta sauce, I decided to divert some tomatoes into brunch.

I've noticed a dramatic increase in pollinators with the addition of the teeny tiny rain garden. I am very pleased!

To chicken or not to chicken

When I was thinking about this post last week, I decided I would write about the pros and cons of backyard chickens. I was slowly and deliberately weighing the decision to add hens to the urban farm. And then in one moment (as things often do) the situation changed. My wonderful parents, having watched me read about, Google, and otherwise study chickens for the last couple of years, decided to gift me my very own chicken coop for my birthday. The coop hasn't arrived yet, but I am finally now moving forward and hoping to have eggs by late summer!

Peeps will never look the same.

Pullets or Chicks?

I couldn't decide between buying started pullets (young adult hens that are already laying or will be laying soon) or newly hatched, female chicks. But once my daughter got involved in the decision, we decided to raise chicks. The benefit of pullets is gathering eggs sooner. The benefit of chicks is being able to tame them early and, honestly, to just enjoy their silliness.

This book, among many others, gives a ton of good information.

Breeds?

Until I started visiting my friend's backyard flock, I didn't realize the variety of chickens available. We decided to get 5 chicks, with the ultimate goal of 4 hens (because it's difficult to see the differences between male and female chicks, there is a good chance at least one of our birds will turn out to be rooster, and keeping a rooster is against city regulations). The chick breeds we selected will all be winter hardy, which is very important in our cold climate.

Two of our chicks are Buff Orpingtons, the "Labrador Retriever" of the chicken world. They should be docile, kid-friendly, and easy to pick up. Two of our chicks are Australorps, a black chicken bred in Australia, and also a friendly hen to have around. The last chick is supposed to be an Easter Egger--a mixed breed that lays beautiful blue or green eggs-- but right now she looks exactly like the yellow Buff chicks, so only time will tell.

Buff Orpington

Australorp

Now for that backyard chicken pro/con list

Cons:

• Need daily attention
• Cost of supplies and feed
• Cleaning the coop

Pros:

• My city has a relaxed, open attitude towards backyard flocks
• Fresh eggs, and I will know exactly how the hens were fed and treated
• Chicken TV-- they are fun to watch!
• Composted chicken manure is fertilizer gold

I will update soon as the chicks grow and as we get the coop built!

Sleepy chicks