Memories of Last Summer & Getting Ready to Grow!

Hi everyone, it's been somewhat quiet here on BaltimoreDIY, but there's been a lot of planning going on behind the scenes.

I've posted a photo of last summer's block party to remind me of all the work we got done last year to boost my spirits and get ready for this year. See below for some more memories of last summer! And of course, you can always click on the "Boone Street" link at the top of the page for a full chronological review of the farm and lessons we learned.

Cheryl, our farm assistant Baba, and neighborhood friend Big Willie getting things done while the sorghum grew tall...

Big Willie always asks us if we have tomatoes (even in December) and calls me Tinkerbelle.... we recently found out that he started a drama troupe at his church so we hope to have some public theater at the garden this summer!

Cheryl and I hoped to cut all this tall grass to use as straw for mulch or hay for animal feed, but we couldn't find a good scythe so we had to mow it eventually. We did cut some of it by hand with scissors but that wasn't really sustainable.

Ferb taking a photo while his brother Brian is apparently sneaking up on me as I'm getting my caffeine on! See the photo below to see Ferb among the squash...

 Ferb and the squash..

This year we plan on keeping track of the hours the neighborhood kids help us out at the farm so they can earn their "service learning hours" which will help them as they are applying to get in to Baltimore City's various high schools.

Here's all the urban homesteading fun going on this weekend!

By the way, I seriously recommend checking out the CGRN calendar if you are looking for exciting events in Baltimore related to sustainability.

Saturday

"Greening University": a medley of awesome community organizations are coming together to host workshops about starting community gardens, soil, landscaping for a healthy Chesapeake Bay, working with community associations, and more. I'll keep you all posted on the great information I learn.

After the Greening University, Cheryl and I have to sit down and purchase our seeds for the year! We also plan to set up our seedling station, since we better get rolling on planting those lettuce, cabbage, bok choy seedlings and more. We'll also buy some peas, radishes, carrots, beets, and perennial herbs.. and this is just for spring/fall planting! Summer plants are a whole other deal.

The Baltimore Foodmakers are hosting a potluck with the theme of "root vegetables" on Saturday evening.

Sunday

I already posted about the Urban Food Access talk taking place at 10:30 at the Baltimore Ethical Society.

I hope to attend, although Chicken Man and I have to stretch the rabbit skins that have been soaking in a solution of aluminum sulfate, sea salt, and water over the last two weeks, so maybe I should do that instead... I've also got some personal stuff to attend to and plan to do house chores and the like.

Coming Up

Stay tuned for more blog updates and new links across the top of the page, and our February urban homestead workshop will be announced soon!

Here is a PDF link to an upcoming farmer training class I will be taking this spring along with some fellow Baltimore City urban growers. I actually already attended this class in 2010 but feel like I could use a refresher, especially now that I am specifically working on Boone Street.

And now I will leave you all with a final photo memory of the farmer training class that I took in the past, seeing all these sprouts makes me excited and a little nervous for the growing season to come: