Community-based urban survival gardening

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

New mini tractor – Busted!

Here is the mini tractor we just picked up, for taking care of the larger plots. Sunroot farmie Sara Monial can be seen, her face filled with glee as she falls in-love-at-first-sight with this potentially useful machine.

Twenty feet into the bed, the tractor stopped tilling. What was the issue? The drive-train broke!

Close-up [...]

Steve Solomon’s Complete Organic Fertilizer

Steve Swanson is the author of “Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades”, one of only three must-read books for Cascadian farming. (The other two are the “Maritime NW Gardening Guide” from Seattle Tilth and “One Straw Revolution” by Fukuoko.
I have been using variations on Steve Solomon’s Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) since
2005, in many different [...]

2010 Planting Calendar

simple-2010-planting-chart
This planting calendar is of very limited use. It is only giving you a window of time when it is generally assumed that things will work. Local conditions and seasonal variations are highly significant. For example, I have had parsnips volunteering since January 31st. I saw sunflowers volunteering in the first [...]

50 Gardens (and counting)

Wonderful greetings from Farmer K:
On Saturday eve we held a Farmers’ Convocation. Calliope of Calliope’s Table, Tom of Mall56, Farmer K & Deva of Sunroot Gardens. Among the four of us we have 50 plots around Greater Southeast. Sunroot has 11 $-paying CSA subscribers, with room for 2 more shares (inquire with [...]

The future of farming: Between freedom & fear

[NOTE: The following is an email sent to a list of local CSA farmers, in response to a question from another CSA farmer, who asked: "Just wondered if any PACSAC farms had noticed a decrease in prospective CSA share sales or interest as a result of the current economy?"]
Sunroot Gardens has been sold out of [...]

Bike in the snow

Not a common sight in Cascadia.

Calendula in the snow, 12/14/08