greetings from a teeny tiny farm.

[mopinko]

i'm mo, and i live in chicago. been a du'er for almost 9 years. did a few terms as a mod back on 2. really busy these days trying to turn a weed infested junky city vacant lot into a pocket farm. but i spent a heck of a lot of time here during the bush years.
funny thinking back all that time and realizing how young my kids were. how many trials and travails my friends here helped my through.

i think du3 is a work of real genius. a little messy, like democracy is. but, like they say, better than all the other things that have been tried.

so, welcome newcomers. the drinks cabinet is on the back wall in the lounge.

[Renew Deal]

1. Hi Mo!

A song for you:

[mopinko]

7. sigh.

love those old harmonies. thanks.

[SunsetDreams]

2. Hi mo!

What kinds of things are you planting?

[mopinko]

3. a little bit of everything!

trying to build a permaculture here, so for started i am trying to grow soil! i am in the historic bed of lake michigan, so it is mostly sand here, with just enough dirt to look black. awful.
so i am building a hugel bed, and violating several city ordinances. they are looking the other way for now, and i promised to zip it up as quickly as possible.
but we will have a dwarf orchard of about 20 trees, berries, asparagus, anything that comes back. trying mushrooms.
most of the veggies are heirlooms (hat tip to NRaleighLiberal), tomatoes of every size and color and peppers of all sorts. lots of potatoes including sweet, onions, carrots and beets, cukes, a couple small melons, lots of herbs, beans, kinda you name it.
also have a small flock of chickens going. i have 7 that are about a month old, and 5 that i picked up yesterday that are 2 day old little puffballs.

no tickets or law suits yet, but am fighting city hall. you see, according to the zoning, this lot is vacant. so, no water, no electric, without a building and no buildings unless i build a house. nutso. got the regulation crazy bitter loser neighbor, tho. gotta have one of those. this is the city, after all.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Growing soil, the most important part of gardening IMHO.

I have very dense clay soil and a climate where it turns into adobe for six months each year. Having said that our planting beds are nice, loamy soil now.

Good luck with your urban plot.

[SunsetDreams]

6. Sounds

like a little bit of everything indeed. Wow good luck with the soil, how on earth do you grow it? I'm curious because my backyard soil is really rocky. I've tried to plant a garden and then just gave up. It's almost like I need to dig up the entire yard several feet deep and put more soil in, but is there an easier way? That route sounds really expensive to me. Best of luck with City Hall, I hope it works out in the end for you. I mean really, what were they going to do with a vacant lot that's been sitting? It was wasted space.

[mopinko]

8. i am doing something called a hugel bed.

if you go to the link in my sig it has an explanation in one of the first posts. here is a wiki-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugelkultur#H.C3.BCgelkultur

basically, i am violating city ordinance by accepting landscape waste aka compost waiting to happen. there was a house at one time, and there was a 100 cu yd hole left behind, so i am lucky that i had that. i get to say- hey, i'm just filling in the hole.
it sure isn't easy, tho. a friend loaned me a little bobcat for the summer (he uses it to plow snow). it is a little one, but it is immeasurably better than the alternative.

and yeah, you would think the greenest ward in what is aiming to be the greenest city would want a garden and not and eyesore, but, well, i have no idea. the grief has been incredible.

[SunsetDreams]

15. Thank you mo,

I will look into that link. I wish you much success with not only your garden, but also with City Hall.

[zeemike]

17. I have great admiration for people like you

Who take on gardening in the city...but I think this is the future and a solution to a lot of ills.

[mopinko]

21. yeah, it has it's challenges.

like the bitter loser down the street who is campaigning against the smell of grass clipping.
but i have a steady stream of the curious, and folks that i have had a nodding acquaintance with who are now good friends.
i have a gift for finding that little gap between the lines, tho.

[zeemike]

22. I love the smell of grass clippings

But you are a teacher too to that steady stream of the curious...you are showing them what is possible.
and by the way when you start getting some good amounts of chicken manure your compost will really catch fire.
I had chickens and the manure made my garden do wonders....except don't put it on the tomatoes unless you want big plants and no fruit.

[mopinko]

24. well, these grass clipping got a little over ripe, but i still like the smell, myself.

thanks for the warning about the tomatoes. hard to imagine this soil being over fertilized, but that is the plan.
plan to do a chicken tractor, as even after the hugel bed is done, the remainder of the lot is sad and weedy. people are definitely finding the whole chicken thing amazing. and it is kinda strange that you can have chickens in a big city. lots of the burbs here don't allow them. some even pretty far out.

seems like it used to be everyone knew how to garden and grow food. surprising to me how many folks are finding it all shocking and/or exciting. but it gives me a reason to take a break!

[zeemike]

25. Chicken manure is high in nitrogen

which for some heavy feeding plants like greens and corn is great...but if you use a lot of nitrogen on tomatoes the will take over the garden but produce little fruit...I made that mistake long ago when I had chickens.
But chicken tractor I presume you mean putting the pen over the compost pile or the organic matte you gathered and put into the hole....that would be great for the compost and the chickens because they love to scratch at it looking for insects and the droppings would help the decomposition of the organic matter.
I had my chickens penned in a way where I could let them into the garden when I was through with it...they loved it....And they would scratch up and turn the mulch I used for me and help turn it into soil.

Yep this is all lost information that used to be commonly known....and you are helping to keep it alive.

[mopinko]

26. chicken tractor meaning that their pen would move

around the site, letting them denude a weedy patch and leave manure behind, then move on to another location. gonna use my old suburban for a coop, and attach a wire pen. figure to move it once or twice a year.

[zeemike]

27. that sounds like a good plan

I have seen others put the chicken house on skids and drag it to the next spot...the chickens benefit by it because they always have a clean pen and green stuff to peck at.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Hello, you very cool person, you!

packing up the peppers to send today!

[mopinko]

9. ladies and gentlemen, meet one of my favorite du'ers.

tomato expert extraordinaire. find him in gardening and ask him anything!

will dig up a couple more buckets. from somewhere. i hope.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. I think we are forming the DUFHTAS (DU former hot tub admiration society!).

doesn't exactly roll off the tongue!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. can we PLEASE get some pics?

pretty please?

[mopinko]

14. lotsa pics at the link.

some in rural/farm group.
i'll post a few later tho. on my phone now.

eta lots of my dogs in pets also.

[libodem]

12. Are you sure that is

The drink cabinet, my key isn't working right. (Shakes the door.)

[Paulie]

13. Hi Mo!

Lived mostly in West Rodgers Park (and still work here) but moved to southwest Cook.

Is it too late to plant? My two Garden beds are weeds right now.

[mopinko]

16. plenty of time to plant, especially these days when

you can buy giant tomato plants anywhere. depends on what you are planting, but there is plenty of time for most crops.

[maddezmom]

18. hey there mo

sounds like your little garden lot is turning into a thing of beauty.

[mopinko]

19. well, beauty, not so much.

but good work? yeah, all i can stand.

[Grateful for Hope]

20. Greetings, Mo. Good to see you here.

[mopinko]

23. hey back at ya.

[greatauntoftriplets]

28. I bet that it'll look great in a couple of months.

[mopinko]

29. i think next spring will be amazing.

looking forward to having time for things like some flowers, too. planted a few sunflowers, and dragged over a potted beebalm, but that and the occasional dandelion are about it.

[tjc1234]

30. hey

nice

[mahina]

32. hey Mo

good going on the farm, that is awesome!

[mopinko]

33. thanks.

i am enjoying it immensely, even tho it is exhausting.