The 2011 Experiment Went Well

So 2011 was a great year here. We learned a lot. We loved a lot. And we lived a lot. We found our magical combination of soil and organic fertilizer. Our neighbors are became sick of our zucchinis and our tomatoes. Don't plant the peppers so close to the tomatoes. Sunflowers take up to much room. Peas need a lot of love. Spinach doesn't like the hot summer. Rabbits love everything.

  
Jared was our saving grace this year. With his many years of growing experience and trial and error we had yields we would have never expected. Our small plot produced hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes. Tons of zucchinis. The basil was six feet high. None of this could be done without the help of of Jared.

Our produce produced more then food. One afternoon while hanging out in the front yard, a bunch of our neighbors came over to say high and thank us for the free food. I had two neighbors that had lived on the same block for over ten years that had never met until this sunny afternoon. What I learned is that so much can be accomplished via our food systems and through sharing in the harvest. Along with learning about growing we started canning. We canned 37 quarts of dill pickles, 60 pints of salsa, 30+ half pints of hot peppers, 50+ half pints of pepper relish, apple butter, pickled garlic and dilly green beans to name a few.

In 2012 the city of Minneapolis will unveil their Urban Farming Policy. This will lay out the rules to what is and what isn't allowed withing the borders of Minneapolis. I attended a few public meetings and forums about the policy. Recently they had a Minneapolis Homegrown meeting where R.T. Rybak spoke to the value of urban farm, community gardens, farmers markets, and farm to school programs.

So what does this mean for us? Well the plan for 2012 is to transition from a a homestead garden to a market farm. We are going to triple our growing space on Buchanan Street NE. We're in talks to farm a couple of different locations here in Nordeast. Our plan is to sell what we grow. We are going to offer seedlings, canned produce, and fresh produce for sale on site and at local farmers markets. Along with expanding our soil space we are going to add a chicken coop and experiment with aquaponics.

Talking with friends and family about what to plant, we keep getting asked if we are going to offer a CSA (community supported agriculture) program? Here is the idea that we are kicking around. We might take a trial run at a CSA program. We might offer 20 CSAs really inexpensive to see how it goes.

We're still planning on what we are going to plant next season. We welcome any suggestions, input, support or questions you might have.

-Mike