Tag Archive for 'urban gardening'

What about composters in my garden?

Published on July 12, 2011 in Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I am getting ready to do some yard renovation – moving my fence to make some room in the backyard for a Shed. We realized at one point that it was going to create a little pocket behind the shed that would be a perfect place for a compost heap. Now the question is: how to go about it? Do I buy a composter, build one, or just bury stuff? I learned there is a bit of a recipe you should follow, and there are several shapes and sizes you may look at.

YouTube is a wealth of resources, here are a few:

  • A good explanation of why you might want to compost. Here is an example of the Kitchen Compost Keeper she mentions in the video.
  • A good in-depth discussion about making compost
  • 100% Recycled Composter
  • Repurposed Wine Barrel with skateboard wheel platform
  • Repurposed 50 Gallon Drum
  • Composting for Dummies

Urban Chicken Farming for Fun, not Profit

Published on August 2, 2010 in Books and Fun Stuff. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Our local Orlando Weekly paper recently published a cover story on “Clucking Around”, highlighting the hijinx of some anonymous downtown dwellers, who choose to remain so because raising chickens is illegal here in the City Beautiful. Go read the feature, it’s both informative and charming.
Clucking Around

On a similar note, a recent book read of mine had a chapter on raising chickens, not only for producing eggs, but as pets. There’s a great (sad) story involving some local predators as well, and the construction of an automatic chicken coop door.

The book is called Made by Hand, and it’s authored by the editor of Make Magazine, Mark Fraunfelder. In addition to the dozen or so other chapters about Mark’s journey toward self-reliance and connecting with his surroundings, he talks about tutoring his daughter, moving to the South Pacific and some other great stories that can’t be missed.

Citylicious: A Movie About Growing Food in Cities

Published on July 20, 2010 in Video. 0 Comments Tags: , .

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Learn more about or donate to the Sustainable Economies Law Center’s Urban Agriculture Program: www.SustainableEconomiesLawCenter.org

The Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) is working with a team of interns and volunteers to explore the legal needs of a growing urban agriculture movement. We are developing an online Urban Agriculture Legal Resource Library, and designing resources and presentations that explore legal issues that relate to urban agriculture, including: land acquisition, zoning, property taxes, land covenants, health codes, building codes, nuisance laws, land conservation tools, and so on.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) facilitates the growth of sustainable, localized, and just economies, through legal research, professional training, resource development, and education about practices such as:

· Cooperatives
· Community-supported enterprises
· Barter
· Sharing
· Local currencies
· Intentional communities, ecovillages, cohousing
· Affordable housing and limited equity housing
· Urban agriculture
· Community-based renewable energy
· Community land trusts
· Social enterprise
· Microlending
· Local investing
· Co-op banks/credit unions