UrbanWorkbench

Posts tagged as:

urban agriculture

Walking from the large brick building that used to house the airport terminal operations, but now was given new life as a fruit farming centre, Janie scanned the snow line on the mountains surrounding the valley.  The flat land around what was once known as the West Kootenay Regional Airport was once a living farm. In fact, [...]

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I Have Not Forgotten the Hens

by Mike Thomas on February 10, 2010

in Community, Sustainability, Urban Farming

Just to let my regular readers know, I haven’t forgotten about the issue of Urban Hens in Castlegar. For today’s post, I’d like to share this video from El Cerrito, California that shows some great examples of community building around a family’s chickens.

Castlegar City council has chosen to not pursue the issue, instead relying on the Community [...]

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I straightened up from the soothing task of weeding the rows of baby carrots, rubbing my back as I watched my daughter perched high in the peach tree across the yard. She was meticulous in easing the plump ripe fruit off the branches, gently shooing away the yellowjackets when necessary, obviously drawn to the sweet [...]

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Almost a Winter Harvest

by Mike Thomas on January 14, 2010

in Castlegar, Our House, Sustainability, Urban Farming

Our experiment to leave some crops in the ground failed pretty miserably so far. Just when we needed to feed the masses, I went out to the garden, dug down through the snow, then through the hay… and struck rock hard frozen soil. I actually pried out a carrot that was about 3 inches diameter, [...]

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OverWintering Vegetables

by Mike Thomas on November 2, 2009

in Castlegar, Our House, Sustainability, Urban Farming

With the first frost comes the need to harvest most vegetables. Our cold room is stacked with fruit and vegetables chilling out till it’s time to be eaten. Some vegetables can be overwintered in the garden , but there are a few steps to managing the crops that are left out in the cold. This [...]

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Harvest in the Kootenays

by Mike Thomas on October 5, 2009

in Castlegar, Kootenays, Urban Farming

There’s snow on the mountains, about a foot or so on Kootenay Pass I hear, this feels early, but maybe I’m just not quite ready for the onslaught. We are in the midst of harvest here in the Kootenays. Our house is full of stored, canned, ready to can, and dehydrated fruit and vegetables. The dehydrator is running as I write, Italian plums at the moment.

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BC’s Agricultural Plan and Local Food

by Mike Thomas on October 1, 2009

in Kootenays, Rural, Urban Farming

Image via Wikipedia

Flipping through the British Columbia Agriculture Plan, which is a beautifully presented document by the way, I was struck by one paragraph and how little has been achieved on this front, either through policy, or other means…
We will also work with community and farm groups and local governments to help facilitation projects that [...]

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Homemade, Homegrown Pink Popcorn

by Mike Thomas on September 29, 2009

in Castlegar, Transitions, Urban Farming

Regular readers will know that here at UrbanWorkbench, we’ve dabbled in all sorts of crops that are not regularly associated with the Kootenays. Last year it was wheat, oats and amaranth, this year we had great success with a bed of pink popcorn. With around 80 cobs of corn husked and drying, the next task [...]

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