fresh from the garden
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Mason Bees are out!
Well after a six month long nap in the back of our fridge I took my mason bee cocoons out of cold storage and placed them in their new digs . The results were amazing . Last year I started off with 20 cocoons and ended up harvesting about 125. I thought that was pretty good Although I thought "just put these in the fridge still spring ,really?" but what the heck that's what they told me to do. Well yesterday morning while digging for some peanut butter (yes I keep my peanut butter in the fridge ,I like to break butter knives) I saw movement in the clear box the bees were sleeping in. A couple of bees were very slowly stumbling around .I guess they didn't want to oversleep. So out they came and before I could even get all of them into their mason bee house about 50 had hatched and were in various states of trying to wake up . Within 30 mins about 100 cocoons were empty and many new mason bees were out and about .Not bad for the first year . Throughout the day and at Dusk I saw quite a bit of activity so I guess some of the new generation will call this bee box home .And so the circle of life continues.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
WOw it's dusty around here!
After almost 2 and a half years we're going to give this thing another try. SO much going on that hopefully something will interest you and get you to come back for more. It's official, Suburban Artisan farm has it's own website www.suburbanartisan.farm (of course it's under construction and not ready for you to see just yet.) but it will be soon. Stay tuned as we show you some of the many new things going on around here. It's kind of funny to think of how one statement can change someones life . GROW FOOD NOT LAWNS. Seems simple enough right ? Got the bumper sticker, put it on the truck and there you go . I started to think about it and it made total sense to me (maybe it had something to do with the fact that I never could grow a really " Nice " lawn anyways) .Here are 5 very good reasons why it should make sense to you also.
1. Water usage. Maintaining a lawn in dry, arid regions requires regular watering to keep it green and lush. Really the only way to irrigate a lawn is with overhead sprinkler systems that generate a fair amount of water waste via over spray and wind. But even if 100% of the water intended for the lawn actually benefited the lawn, does it make sense to use precious water to grow lush grass that provides essentially no value. I understand that this is the norm – and mind you, I’ve lived in houses with grassy front lawns – but knowing what we know now, isn’t it time to reconsider whether this is a smart use of our water?
An edible garden in the front yard can be watered with a drip irrigation system or by hand, putting the water right where it needs to go, eliminating water waste.
2. Poisons. Because a lush green lawn is a sort of status symbol in many American neighborhoods (what is up with that?), people will go to great lengths to keep their grass glowing. Nurseries sell products that promise nutrition, boosting, and building. That sure sounds good, but what they don’t say is that many (if not most) of these products boost and build with chemical fertilizers. Products like “weed and feed” take it a step further as they build up the grass and kill the broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Double the chemicals, double the fun? People, these are poisons, plain and simple. If you’re growing a lawn in order for your kids to have a play space, please consider that those bare little feet are coming in direct contact with anything you put on the lawn. (If you must have a lawn, either for the kids’ use or due to residential requirements, please, please consider skipping the poisons!)
Of course, people can and do grow vegetable gardens with chemical fertilizers, too. But since the end product will end up in our bodies, I think people are a little more wary of dousing edible plants with poisons.
3. Emissions. If you succeed in growing a lush lawn, the next step is to chop it off. Silly, yes? Every time the grass grows a few inches, homeowners fire up the gas mower, chop off all of that lush growth, and emit noxious fumes that contribute to global climate change.
A vegetable garden does not need to be mowed.
4. GMO. Because it’s not hard enough already to eliminate genetically engineered crops from our lives, a “Roundup ready” bluegrass seed has recently been exempted from federal regulation. So guess what? If you’re installing a new lawn from seed or sod and it has bluegrass in the mix, there’s potential for genetically modified grass in your lawn. Because grass seed is typically sold as a blend with bluegrass as part of the mix, it will be very hard for consumers to avoid this genetically engineered plant. The only way to be sure that you’re getting GMO-free grass is to buy organic seed or sod, something that’s certainly not common in retail outlets at this stage of the game.
Organic vegetable seeds, on the other hand, are readily available, so consumers can be assured that their plants are not genetically engineered.
5. Economy. These days, it seems like everyone has a tight budget and a tight schedule. Why spend time and money maintaining a lawn when with the same effort, you could be generating food for your table?
The whole idea of a lawn comes from the middle ages , it was a status symbol for the kings "We've got so big of a kingdom that we don't even have to farm it all, we can just waste this perfectly good farmland ". Look down your street , think of how much food could be grown in the place of grass. Now think of how many fewer people would be hungry, how many fewer people would be sick (you know eating fresh veggies is much healthier for you). How much less oil would be used to get you your food (the average carrot travels 1500 miles to get to your table).How much money you could save . How much fun you could have . And if you really have to compete with the Joneses ,my tomatoes are bigger and tastier and look how long my cucumbers are!!!!!!!!!
So as I was saying GROW FOOD NOT LAWNS!!!!!
1. Water usage. Maintaining a lawn in dry, arid regions requires regular watering to keep it green and lush. Really the only way to irrigate a lawn is with overhead sprinkler systems that generate a fair amount of water waste via over spray and wind. But even if 100% of the water intended for the lawn actually benefited the lawn, does it make sense to use precious water to grow lush grass that provides essentially no value. I understand that this is the norm – and mind you, I’ve lived in houses with grassy front lawns – but knowing what we know now, isn’t it time to reconsider whether this is a smart use of our water?
An edible garden in the front yard can be watered with a drip irrigation system or by hand, putting the water right where it needs to go, eliminating water waste.
2. Poisons. Because a lush green lawn is a sort of status symbol in many American neighborhoods (what is up with that?), people will go to great lengths to keep their grass glowing. Nurseries sell products that promise nutrition, boosting, and building. That sure sounds good, but what they don’t say is that many (if not most) of these products boost and build with chemical fertilizers. Products like “weed and feed” take it a step further as they build up the grass and kill the broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Double the chemicals, double the fun? People, these are poisons, plain and simple. If you’re growing a lawn in order for your kids to have a play space, please consider that those bare little feet are coming in direct contact with anything you put on the lawn. (If you must have a lawn, either for the kids’ use or due to residential requirements, please, please consider skipping the poisons!)
Of course, people can and do grow vegetable gardens with chemical fertilizers, too. But since the end product will end up in our bodies, I think people are a little more wary of dousing edible plants with poisons.
3. Emissions. If you succeed in growing a lush lawn, the next step is to chop it off. Silly, yes? Every time the grass grows a few inches, homeowners fire up the gas mower, chop off all of that lush growth, and emit noxious fumes that contribute to global climate change.
A vegetable garden does not need to be mowed.
4. GMO. Because it’s not hard enough already to eliminate genetically engineered crops from our lives, a “Roundup ready” bluegrass seed has recently been exempted from federal regulation. So guess what? If you’re installing a new lawn from seed or sod and it has bluegrass in the mix, there’s potential for genetically modified grass in your lawn. Because grass seed is typically sold as a blend with bluegrass as part of the mix, it will be very hard for consumers to avoid this genetically engineered plant. The only way to be sure that you’re getting GMO-free grass is to buy organic seed or sod, something that’s certainly not common in retail outlets at this stage of the game.
Organic vegetable seeds, on the other hand, are readily available, so consumers can be assured that their plants are not genetically engineered.
5. Economy. These days, it seems like everyone has a tight budget and a tight schedule. Why spend time and money maintaining a lawn when with the same effort, you could be generating food for your table?
The whole idea of a lawn comes from the middle ages , it was a status symbol for the kings "We've got so big of a kingdom that we don't even have to farm it all, we can just waste this perfectly good farmland ". Look down your street , think of how much food could be grown in the place of grass. Now think of how many fewer people would be hungry, how many fewer people would be sick (you know eating fresh veggies is much healthier for you). How much less oil would be used to get you your food (the average carrot travels 1500 miles to get to your table).How much money you could save . How much fun you could have . And if you really have to compete with the Joneses ,my tomatoes are bigger and tastier and look how long my cucumbers are!!!!!!!!!
So as I was saying GROW FOOD NOT LAWNS!!!!!
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