Thanks for a great write up on your experiences Kollibri. It’s a sobering read but also very inspiring. It was very interesting the idea of people paying what they think it’s worth and I’m curious, apart from the one household that was taking the piss, did people generally pay what it was worth or did they tend to be a bit more generous?
My veggie beds have laid fallow for over a year now but I’ve got several drums of compost ready to go and reading your words here have been a bit of a kick in the butt.
Apr 24·edited Apr 24Liked by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume
A very informed read, chiefly because you had all that direct experience in Portland. There is still that belief here in Toronto that a green lawn is preferable to a rows (or not rows) of crops. We rent here, so we have no choice of what can be in out front and back yards.
Even so, there are probably bylaws that control so much of what can be done. There are bylaws, for example, on the height of the grass. We have a modest backyard garden of tomatoes in our backyard; we plan to add to it a few vegetables.
But this is to supplement what we buy at the store. There is no possibility that our small backyard garden would be able to meet all our food needs for the year. It would require, as your article mentions, a concerted effort to have community gardens of some sort on every street corner. Given how real estate is viewed, this is not likely.
Do you have anything about food forests? I’m not a food grower yet, but have friends that are. And this is something I’ve seen where you create almost an ecosystem that requires very little maintenance compared to a garden once it’s up and going.
Thanks for a great write up on your experiences Kollibri. It’s a sobering read but also very inspiring. It was very interesting the idea of people paying what they think it’s worth and I’m curious, apart from the one household that was taking the piss, did people generally pay what it was worth or did they tend to be a bit more generous?
My veggie beds have laid fallow for over a year now but I’ve got several drums of compost ready to go and reading your words here have been a bit of a kick in the butt.
Thank you and best wishes to you !
A very informed read, chiefly because you had all that direct experience in Portland. There is still that belief here in Toronto that a green lawn is preferable to a rows (or not rows) of crops. We rent here, so we have no choice of what can be in out front and back yards.
Even so, there are probably bylaws that control so much of what can be done. There are bylaws, for example, on the height of the grass. We have a modest backyard garden of tomatoes in our backyard; we plan to add to it a few vegetables.
But this is to supplement what we buy at the store. There is no possibility that our small backyard garden would be able to meet all our food needs for the year. It would require, as your article mentions, a concerted effort to have community gardens of some sort on every street corner. Given how real estate is viewed, this is not likely.
Thanks for the interesting read about urban farming—something rarely heard about!
Do you have anything about food forests? I’m not a food grower yet, but have friends that are. And this is something I’ve seen where you create almost an ecosystem that requires very little maintenance compared to a garden once it’s up and going.