Foodtopia Dreaming Episode 2 An Urban farm

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Waking to more news of drought, resource depletion and fossil fuel consumption doesn't bode well.  Try and find the good today Eric.  Food would be a good place to start.  Local of course so I commit to buying some local produce this week.  Where from? Who knows.

I head off early to work, watering the couple of small plots I've taken on at the local community garden.  Great idea - more work Eric.  Take on things then go like crazy to keep up.  Nobody wanted the plots.  Right next to an abattoir - the Feng Shui experts would have something to say about this I'm sure.

A call later in the day to Rose, a local who has started up a veggie box subscription using local seasonal produce.  I'm in. That's a start.  There's some fennel too from my plot.  Perfect.

I book in to collect my first veggie box on Thursday.  Food shopping on the weekend means I can plan a little on Friday night.  Cook up the veggies and use them for an easy meal later in the week.  Or freeze them to stop them rotting in the crisper and being fed to the chooks.

Riding to collect a veggie box with my bike trailer on behind is one way to reduce the food miles.  Every little bit helps.  It's a strange sight. A person on a bike with panniers and a trailer looking like they are set to cross the continent.  A couple of kids ask how far I have traveled?  Just down the street I say. Confused they scoot away.  Not the answer they were after.

Where else am I going to find local food?  The farmers markets.  Really that's my dream.  A french or Italian style farmers market a couple of times a week 9-11am.  Monday and Thursday.  then a Bric-a-brac market on Saturday to browse, socialize and generally hang out.  Something you could do that is free.  There is not much these days like that - free that is, and social.

I hear that a local farmer close to town is looking to sell up and retire.  Rumors fly about the housing estates that will be built on the rich soil over this fertile land.

The news filters down that instead of selling they have least out four plots of land in the front section of their property to anyone who would like to start a market garden.  Access to water and tools.  Free for the first year, then rent to be negotiated after that.  Whoa that's ideal. 

A local organization hears of the project and provides a scholarship to two of their young people at risk.  The local tertiary college comes on board with a tailored horticultural course to enable the plot holders to learn the market gardening skills in six months - no need to learn landscaping or large scale agriculture.  Just the basics. planning a seasonal rotation of vegetables, harvest and germination times, crop protection, organic weed and bug control control, plumbing, watering program.  A talented local bookkeeper volunteers her time in exchange for veggies. A digital designer does a deal for veggies in exchange for logo's and social media support.

Two weeks later I head out to the farm to take a look at the site.  The smell of fresh soil, the sweet aroma of organic matter still breaking down wafts over the cycle path and the farmyard smell of straw gives me a clue I am nearing the farm. Seeing mounds of compost being spread and rows of rough ploughed earth is exciting for a foodie.  I pull up near the gate and take it all in.

The food possibilities run through my head for our region - we are temperate/cool climate.  It's late Autumn and the perfect time to plant broad beans and kale, pak choy, lettuce and spinach. Garlic should be in too.  I love raddish so that's in, as is some mustard greens, onions and shallots. leeks I don't have to worry about as I have some perpetual leeks in.  Go wild with burdock and parsnip and turnip.  Some Chinese cabbage (Wombok), all sorts of peas and herbs.  If you have sage, parsley, thyme and oregano you can turn any food into a tasty dish.  But I reckon they'll be planting a cover crop.  Maybe even laying down some plastic to kill the weed seeds in the first few centimeters of soil.  A few weeks of plastic cover is enough to germinate the seeds quickly in a warm, moist environment, then kill them off with a blow torch.  Harsh but effective.

I wonder what other people are planting before they get their winter crops in.

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