By Mike Lieberman on September 20, 2010
We are very fortunate to live in a time when at any time of the day or night we can easily walk or drive to the store and have a selection of various produce available at our fingertips. With this luxury why would you want to spend your time growing your own food? I have a pretty simple answer to that: We are human. As humans, this is what we do. We grow food. It’s what we have been doing for thousands of years. It hasn’t been until the past hundred or so years that we have put the responsibility of producing food into the hands of others.
Who are these people that are responsible for growing and handling our food? And what are they doing to our food? How is treated? What are they spraying on it? Is that good for you? Is that good for the land? Who really knows? They could be professionals who have business interests more in mind than our health. What we do know is that if we go to the supermarket food will be there year-round. I am no scientist nor have I extensively studied this, but common sense tells me that this could not be good for us or for the land because it doesn’t seem natural or sustainable.
Some questions to get you thinking the next time you are in the grocery store buying food:
- Who grew that?
- How was it treated?
- How was the worker who picked it treated?
- Do these people have my best interest in mind, or are they just trying to make a higher profit?
In May 2009, I took control. I started growing my own food without any experience or land. During that time I was living on the fourth floor of a New York City apartment. All I had was my 2-foot by 3-foot fire escape that I turned into an organic vegetable garden. Despite the limited space, I was able to grow lettuces, kales, swiss chard, peppers, cherry tomatoes and a variety of herbs.
In April 2010, I moved to Los Angeles, where I started a balcony garden that I’m continuing to grow more food on. In comparison to my fire escape, the 13-foot by 4-foot balcony seems like a huge farm. Space is not an issue. If I could grow on a fire escape, you can grow given whatever space restrictions you have.
Here are four reasons to start growing your own food:
You’ll Appreciate Your Food More
By no means do I expect everyone to go out and start their own garden because I know that ain’t gonna happen. But what I do expect is for everyone to grow at least one herb or vegetable.
Why? Because it will open your eyes and change your relationship with food. It will help to re-establish that connection that we as a human race have lost. You will also appreciate the food that much more because you grew it and took care of it. Not only will you appreciate the food that you grew on your own, you will start to appreciate the food that you buy as well.
It’s Natural and Sustainable
Food supplies us with the sustenance and nutrition we need to survive. The taks of supplying us with food is not in the hands of other people. Look back at history. Civilizations were built around food. They were set up around areas that had access to fertile land to grow food. Think about everything that goes into food and what was built around it: growing, tending, harvesting, preparing, eating and sharing food. These days we just fast forward to the eating part, which we often do on the run. There is much more to food that just eating it (though that is fun).
Why if you live in the northeast part of the United States, can you get pineapple, mangoes and other tropical fruits year-round or at all for that matter? I can help to answer that question. It’s because the food is being transported from distances far away to get to you. Did you know that on average food travels about 1,500 miles to get to our plates? Now think about the oil and resources that go into getting that food to your plate.
You’ll Be Helping the Environment
We live in a great time where so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. The downfall of that is that so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. We are presented with all kinds of messages about how we impact our personal health and that of the environment. In reading some of the information out there, it feels disempowering to see something like the BP oil spill or the ice caps melting.
I wanted to do something instead of sitting back and letting someone else worry about the situation. It didn’t matter how small it was, I just wanted to do something. Food has always been a love of mine. I mean, who doesn’t love food? So I decided that I would grow my own. It would be beneficial to me and to the environment.
It’s Easy and Inexpensive
You don’t need to buy expensive tools and materials to start growing your own food. You can make a self-watering container for less than $5 out of recycled materials. You could turn a 2-liter soda bottle into a self-watering container or a hanging planter. These are some ideas to get you started. There are plenty of ways to make gardening cheap so you don’t have to invest lots of money. Check out my previous post on Crazy Sexy Life about Urban Gardening for the Everyday Person for more details.
Now you can get back to being human and growing your food. One plant will surely make a difference. Start growing some of your food today.
Photo credit: miss mass
Read More
By Mike Lieberman on June 7, 2010
When most people think of compost, they think of a huge heap of rotting food, dirt, flies and an accompanying horrible smell, which is why they won’t even think of composting in their homes or apartments.
Well, that is not totally true. Yes, compost is made of rotting food and dirt, but if it’s maintained properly, the flies and dirt can be kept under control, and the end result will be a resource that can help to feed and strengthen your plants and home garden.
And, by using your food scraps, you’ll also be diverting them from the landfill. One of the misconceptions about food in landfills is that it will properly decompose. However, as this waste breaks down, it winds up producing harmful CO2 and methane gases.
According to the New York City Compost Project, “The average New York City household discards two pounds of organic waste each day—adding up to more than one million tons of organic material a year.” So why toss away these things that you already have on hand that can help your home garden to thrive?
There are two ways that you can start to compost at home. One is aerobic composting, which is the kind of composting that most people think of when composting is mentioned. It’s pretty much the pile of food scraps and dirt. The reason that it’s called aerobic is because it needs oxygen to help break it down, so it must be turned so that air can circulate throughout it.
Indoor worm composting is another method. This one people tend to get squeamish about. Red wigglers are the most common worms used for this process. At a high level, the worms help to aerate the soil, breakdown the food, and their castings are great for your plants.
Here is more information on the different methods, so you can start yours at home today.
Aerobic Composting:
Find a Location For Your Compost
You can put your compost bin next to your regular garbage can, under your sink or in the corner of your kitchen. Where you put it is up to you. Location will determine the size of your compost bin.
What to Compost
Compost is made up of two parts—browns and greens. The easiest way to think of it is that browns are the dry items and greens are the wet ones. You’ll want a balance of the two. If anything, you’ll want more browns than greens.
Here is a simple, but not comprehensive list of things you can compost and likely have available:
Browns
· Fall leaves
· Shredded black and white newspaper
· Shredded cardboard packaging
· Old soil
· Stale spices
Greens
· Leftover fruit and vegetable scraps such as kale stems, celery leaves and bottoms, apple cores, banana peels
· Coffee grinds
· Tea bags minus the string and staples
The Compost Bin:Your options here are to buy one that suits your needs or to make one yourself. To make a compost bin with a 10-gallon metal garbage can, you’ll need the following:
Tools
· Drill with 1/4? bit
Materials
· 10 gallon metal garbage can
· Black and white newspaper
· Rubber mat
· Organic potting mix
· Composted organic manure
· Something to prop the can about 1-2″ off the ground to let air circulate. I used old furniture legs.
· Food scraps
Instruction
· Drill holes in the bottom of the garbage can. This allows for aeration and helps the compost do its thing.
· Shred the newspapers.
· Set up mat and rest garbage can on the furniture legs.
· Put in first layer of newspapers and some of the potting mix.
· Added a layer of the food scraps.
· Sprinkle some of the composted manure.
· Cover with layer of newspaper and potting mix.
· Food layer, then another layer of newspaper and soil.
· Close up and done.
One or two times a week, you’ll have to turn the compost pile to get the air circulating and speed up the decomposition. It will take about 2-3 months for the pile to decompose and become usable compost. While you are waiting, just set it off to the side.
Advice
When you throw full pieces of food into your compost pile, it takes longer to break down and decompose. By putting your scraps in the food processor or blender first, you will help to speed up the decomposition process. Only do this with items that are soft and easily blended down.
When starting your compost bin, it’s easy to add too many food scraps. This is something that you definitely want to avoid. If you add too many greens, the compost will become too wet and produce a horrific odor. You need to maintain a balance of the browns and greens. As a general rule of thumb, you don’t want any one thing in your compost to comprise more than 10% of the total.
Composting With Worms
Composting with worms is something that I was hesitant to start in my apartment for reasons that I’m sure some of you share as well. Eventually I broke down and started to experiment with them.
Much like with the aerobic composting bins, you can either buy or make your own worm composting bin. I haven’t had much success with making my own worm composting bin, so I’ve been using a store-bought Worm Factory 360. It’s been working out much better for me and the worms are thriving. The bin is tucked away in the corner of the kitchen and people don’t even notice it.
By worm composting you can get rid of more food scraps, because a pound of worms can go through three times their weight or more in a week. They also produce compost much faster than the aerobic method.
Regardless of the method you choose, it can be scaled up or down to suit your home and comfort levels. Both methods will help keep food from ending up in a landfill and help your garden to thrive. Now that you’re equipped with the basics of composting at home, when are you going to get started.
Read More
