Urban Gardening and Off The Grid in the City????

  I ran across this video the other day and wanted to share it. I'm sure many have seen this but it is such an inspiration to those who think to themselves, "I can't garden, farm or be off the grid in the city, I don't own a farm"! Well think again, this California family has done it and with a little imagination you can as well. My hats off to them! As you watch this video share with us your ideas to achieve such a wonderful thing. Maybe you are already on your way to this or have already achieved it. Whatever the case, share your thoughts and even a link to your blog showing us. If you would like to go to my blog search button I have many posts to help you get started as well with Urban Gardening or click here for my top 10 posts for 2012 to get started!

They also have a website that documents their journey The Urban Homestead, or you can visit them at http://www.dervaesgardens.com/. Either way you go this is an inspiration since the price of food is so so high and even what you do buy is so mass produced that it doesn't have any taste of nutritional value! Happy Gardening and May God Bless you!

This is part of my Urban Garden!

Deuteronomy 28:12 "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand"

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"Black Gold and Other Soil Amendments"

   Well this is the time of the year when I will tuck most of my beds in for the winter, other then the one that I plant fall/winter crops in! There are many things to do in the fall but to me the must important thing to do is soil preparation for next year, The soil is the "Heart of the Garden".
 There are at least four factors to consider in selecting a soil amendment:

• how long the amendment will last in the soil,
• soil texture,
• soil salinity and plant sensitivities to salts, and
• salt content and pH of the amendment.

 Soil tests can determine the salt content, pH and organic matter of organic amendments. The quality of bulk organic amendments for large-scale landscape uses can then be determined.
  Remember each plant that you have planted has had its fill of a lot of the minerals and vitamins that are in the soil. So its our job to help replace those key elements so we can get the best out of our garden next season. Some people will plant a cover crop, which with my bed that I have kept open for fall/winter crops that what I will do but with the others I believe I will just use good old "Black Gold and Other Soil Amendment"!

The Redeemed Gardener

   If you don't know what black gold is, it's the product of those free compost bins I made in the beginning of the year. Read more on that at "Dirt Cheap Compost" and don't worry if you live in the city you can have compost with the "Champion Composters", worms! Here to the right is a hand full of the finished product out of my compost bins. I also mixed in equal parts of horse manure that I got for free from a friend of mine at church, you remember her from the trip we made to see her new born baby goats! All I had to do is go pick it up and they are glad to get rid of it! After I worked that into my beds, I took a couple scoops (about the size of a large coffee can) of die chicken manure and scattered it on top of the soil. Chicken manure is very rich in stuff that the soil needs. I got 5 gallon buckets of it for free as well from a friend of mine that owns chickens and by just asking he gave me some! Then as with the other Amendments I work it down into the soil.

Chicken Poop in a Bucket, lol!

  Why work it into the soil, because amending a soil is not the same thing as mulching, although many mulches also are used as amendments. A mulch is left on the soil surface. Its purpose is to reduce evaporation and runoff, inhibit weed growth, and create an attractive appearance. Mulches also moderate soil temperature, helping to warm soils in the spring and cool them in the summer. So that leads me to the final thing that I do to tuck them in for the winter and that's put a good layer of my mulched up leaves/grass mix, from the yard right on top of the soil, about 4 to 6 inches will do. Then I will work that in in the early early spring to the soil as well. You can also use bark mulch as well and here is a great video to watch on the use of mulch in the garden, "Back to Eden". These are just some of the things I do to get the soil prepared for winter and for next season. There are also many different "Organic and Inorganic Amendments" out there, I just chose Organic for all the best reasons! Here is a very good article I found from "Gardener's Supply Company" that is more in depth from the professional side of this subject. Remember I am a simple farm boy (living in the city) that has been known to be called "Jethro" before, lol! Those of you that haven't been with me for a while should read that article for a good ol knee slapper of a laugh!
  So for us simple folks here is a recap:

•   Test your soil, to see what it is missing and what type it is
•   Locate the type of Amendment you need for your garden (free/organic is best)
•   Work you Amendment into your soil
•   Tuck your Garden in with a good layer of mulch, (leaves, bark, news paper, etc)
•   And let God do the rest, "He Promises"

"You must keep all earthy treasures out of your heart, and let Christ be your treasure, and let Him have your heart." ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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"Government Pushing People off the Beaches and Other Public Lands"

   I am going to take off my gardening hat for a minute to bring some awareness to a bad thing that is going on at the beaches of some of our most favorite vacation spots! One of the biggest being hit is Hatteras Island, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina! Government pushing people off the beaches and business's shutting down because of some radically extreme thinking!You think, it is just in a couple of places, its not! You think this won't spread,  it will! You think it won't reach my favorite vacation spot,  it will! "The National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home." Click Here: to read "Summertime Blues" 

 Part 1 and 2 of a documentary by Kevin Hicks on the topic! A short documentary covering the emotional and economic woes of the residents of Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina due to beach closures and excessive measures taken by the National Park Service and environmental groups.

  Basically they are shutting down many, many areas of beach for different types of wildlife that may or may not be there. But  they are also killing other wildlife and dogs and cats to protect these birds! Makes a lot of sense I guess, lets go kill fox's, racoons to keep them from what God placed them here to do! This is also hurting the local economy to the point of many local businesses shutting down or laying off employees! The locals are outraged and we should be also!

  As of April 26, 2012, North Carolina Senators have drafted a Bill to stop this illegal action from happening.To view the "Senate Bill S.2372 to Restore Access to the CHNSRA" http://obpa-nc.org/joomla/!
  If you would like to watch the emergency Senate Hearing that is happening over this issue. You can go to The Natural Resources Website and watch, click on this link to watch!
  Here is a potion that you can go to to help Remove the "ORV Rule And Provide Free And Open Access" http://www.change.org/petitions/to-the-u-s-house-and-senate-remove-the-nps-orv-rule-and-restore-free-and-open-access
  Then you have the National Audubon Society sticking their nose into all of this! Here is a part of a good article titled "Big Green beach bullies strangling Cape Hatteras families" by Ron Arnold.

"Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society are choking off the lifeblood of communities that depend on North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area. In 2008, the National Park Service -- the federal agency responsible for the popular 70-mile-long world-class sport fishing and tourist destination -- caved in to the two environmental groups' lawsuit claiming human access to the area harms nesting birds." To read the rest of the article go to: Washington "The Examiner"! Also Read: http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/?e=191#body-anchor

  Here is the home page of all U.S. Senators: Contact Your Senator

We may never get to set here again!

   I am just asking that you contact the Senator's of your state if you agree and support "Bill S.2372". If you live in these local states contact everyone you can to make them aware of this! Thank you for your time! 


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"In The Garden"

 Walking through the garden with Him

Genesis 2:8 "The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed."

One of my favorite songs!

One of my favorites! She has such a remarkable voice!

Yes I always get chill bumps and tear up over this song. This was one of my dads favorites! We need to listen to the words carefully! There is power in these old Hymns!

Psalm 31:19
Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!

John Denver and "The Garden Song"

I stumbled onto this old song by John Denver and had to post it. I thought it appropriate for the blog!

The only thing I would like to add is that the someone that bless who will bless those seeds is our Father in Heaven. And there is No such person as "Mother Earth"!

Making A Rain Barrel

  With the cost of utility bills so high these days and needing a good water supply for your garden. Plus when my wife came to me and said that our water bill had almost doubled since the start of spring, I knew it was time to do something. So I looked into rain barrels. You can catch gallons of water for your plants and rain water is so much better for them. city water, city water has fluoride and chlorine in it. While city water won't kill the plants it does affect their growth. You will see much healthier and greener plants if you have away to save up rain water. You can buy them already made up or you can do like I did and make your own. You can use many different things to catch water in and as long as you place it at a bottom of a down spout and it doesn't leek, everything will work just fine.

  

  Here are my Rain Barrels completed! I made mine a little differently than in the information video I posted. The video is very informative and shows you step by step on how to build one. You can find these 55 gallon plastic drums at car washes, most of the time for free or very little. I have approx. 110 gallons of water and that goes along way. Make sure to drain it part way for the winter, so it will give the water room to expand and not bust the drum if it freezes. Well gook luck and have fun!

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John 4:11  The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

Chicken Tunnel in the Garden

   I recently came across an interesting idea for keeping chickens in the garden. Bruce Morgan has come up with a way to tunnel the chickens right to the area of the garden where he needs the work done.  I think that these smaller sections of tunnels would be easier for one person to move alone as well. This is a wonderful idea, one which I haven't tried myself but maybe in the future? It came from another blog

http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/homestead_acres.

This is so amazing and if you try it or have other ideas, please share with us!

Genesis 2:20 "So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field."