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Sustainable Farming & Gardening

             Garden planning and design are key to sustainable farming and gardening. Before you plant your first seeds or starts you want to plan your ideal eventual plan. Sustainable farming and gardening is a big picture and takes awhile to get fully into place. If you plan on having dairy goats and chickens and rabbits and a vegetable garden then you will want to plan on high fencing for your garden with room for a chicken or rabbit tractor or both. Think about what you need for a completely self contained garden system.

             Fertilizer, what animal will you use for fertilizer? What is the best way to house that animal and get the fertilizer to your sustainable vegetable garden with the least amount of effort?

             Pest control, ladybugs can be imported but to keep them there you will need ladybug friendly plants. Chickens love crickets and slugs and other creepy crawly things.

             Water, how will you get water to your garden? Sprinklers and hand watering are options (especially in the beginning) but if you have a larger garden it will get tedious.

             Compost, you can use compost as fertilizer. This works well as you get started but requires more work than an animal that will do it for you. It is a great choice for an urban vegetable garden or larger gardens, and a lot of fun for children. See our compost and worms section for more details.

Do you go out of town a lot? Make you have animals that do not require daily handling and a watering system that is self sufficient or can be put on a timer, or nice neighbor that will help out for some nice zucchini or fresh milk.

             Sustainable farming requires no preemptive antibiotics, no pesticides, or oil based fertilizers (most commercial fertilizers), so it is important that you think these items through before you begin. There are organic fertilizers and pesticides on the market but Rudolf Steiner, the father of biodynamics (the first organic standards for agriculture), said that “a healthy farm would be one that could produce everything it needs from within itself”.

By not planting your plants in rows but in small blocks you are mimicking nature keeping more moisture in the ground.

Getting started

Why planning and design are key

The Suburban Home Farm

Timely Information and Support for the

Urban and Suburban Home Farmer.