Amy Middleton Loves New York

Here is the best of my exhaustive search today: (ok not exhaustive. exhausting.)

The Basics- greywater.com
Enviro Water Boy - LA Times
Grey Water Mulch Pit - Permaculture.org
Laundry to Landscape (Drumless Laundry) - oasisdesign.net and The Greywater Guerillas

California does not consider sink/dishwasher water to be “grey”- and I’m not sure what the implications of that are. My guess is it counts as blackwater and can’t feed into a permitted system?

Given that California is not a particularly rainy area (thank goodness!), I’m very interested in finding ways to reclaim household water for gardening purposes.

This is more political than I usually get on a Sunday, but Shelly Roche does a great job here of explaining just what’s at risk with the latest “food safety” bills.
PS I know I’m posting a lot of videos lately. Mostly it’s because I hate reading what I write but still want to keep the site somewhat current.

i just threw out our compost
behind the building in an abandoned weed field
but it smells so bad
i’m so nervous everyone will smell it
and it will be traced to me and i’ll have to pay a fine.
does that happen?
is it against the law to throw out compost?
and is there any way to make harlem smell worse than it already does?

I’m happy to announce that I’m going to be heading up the JustFood subcommittee for Online/Social Media to promote Pollinator Week and of course the legalization of beekeeping in NYC. Appointment to this position was the result of a rigorous process including:

• being one of ten people who showed up to a meeting last Thursday
• being one of two people who volunteered to serve on the committee
• being the only person who volunteered to head up a group

Now, the meeting was weird, and I felt completely out of my element. I was surrounded by people (nine of them, in fact) who were passionate about the global implications of dying bees, monocrops, and politics. I had come without personal agenda other than an interest in getting involved beyond petition signing. And here we are.

My role in this process is:

developing marketing materials and messages, working with Just Food’s Communications Committee to finalize outreach materials, conduct outreach through online social media and networks to disburse campaign materials and messages and broadly as possible!

Awesome, right?

One thing I noticed during all the buzz and brainstorming Thursday was the lack of any real campaign focus. Honey tasting events and petition signing are great, but if that’s where the story ends, we can’t expect any momentum. At the core I think there needs to be a unified and branded message that evokes a response more passionate than “I feel favorable about honey.” I’m totally open to ideas here- whether you want to join the committee or just forward on a slogan you could imagine as a sticker.

The teaser from ReadyMades’s April/May 2009 cover reads “Hoe Your Own: Farming In The City.” I don’t know what I expect from things like that, but I always manage to be disappointed when I flip to the article. “Oh look. You have a backyard. And it’s about an acre. How ever did you manage to grow that chard or find room for that chicken coop?” But really, what kind of magical DIY farming instructions exist for those of us without access to yard or roof or balcony? Such an article could be complete with just one word. “Move.”

Though I realize that a title of “Farming In The Suburbs” has less hipster appeal, it would at least win points for accuracy. City and Suburb have different working definitions, and moving from the former to the latter carries with it the coveted opportunity to plant, build, hoe. But there’s some sacrifice involved as well. Sacrifices of very real and very green city benefits.

Worldchanging.com recently published an article, Does City Living Trim Greenhouse Gas Emissions?, which compares energy consumption in urban and suburban neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, living in a smaller space, sharing construction resources, and relying on public transportation result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions per person.

While the personal benefit of planting may potentially be offset by the environmental cost of a personal vehicle, my plan is not to trade conscientious city life for an over-sized house, car, and tomato crop. It seems worth acknowledging, though, that it’s pretty easy to maintain a small carbon footprint when your shared apartment is only 600 square feet.

I thought this video was a quality mockumentary. After a lot of laughs and a little internet research, it looks like it might be legit? Please respond if you happen to know.

Today I went to a DIY Urban Agriculture workshop on Alternative Planting Bed Construction. For this post, let’s look at the purposes of raised planting beds. As previously reviewed, good soil gives your plants the right nutrients. But what happens when your soil is malnourished? As with humans, giving your soil proper nutrients does not produce immediate results, it happens over time.

Raised beds are one way to give your garden a “do over.” Rather than making changes to the land (or perhaps coupled with that), you can “build up” by bringing in a planter and filling it with high-quality soil.

Advantages of raised beds:

• provide a soil “do over”- start with high quality soil and easily add compost and organic matter
• prevent soil compaction (you aren’t compacting the soil by walking on it)
• allow for better sun, air circulation, and drainage
• extend the harvest season by warming up earlier and staying warmer longer
• are easier to maintain due to elevation(especially for gardeners with bad backs or pains)
• are good place to grow invasive plants
• serve as barrier to pests and bugs

Raised bed designs:

Tire Bed (picture found on this adorable blog)

Raised Beds featured in Gardenweb.com

Cold Frame Raised Bed available at Hawthorns

Tiered Raised Bed from mastergardenproducts.com

More to come on:
What kind of soil and matter to use
How to build a raised bed from recycled materials

I don’t know what it is about me and bees. Maybe it’s my love for bulk honey, that short film I made, or the time the bees took over my parents’ house. But I’m in love with the idea of beekeeping.

Did you know that beekeeping is illegal in New York City? Not that I would have a hive here anyway, since it’s also illegal to go on my apartment roof, and I don’t need another misdemeanor. But local honey is awesome, and bees keep urban gardens pollinated. To help keep NYC beekeepers on the right side of the law, please sign this: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/legalize-beekeeping.html.

Also, in case you live somewhere that beekeeping is legal, here is a beekeeping planner. I don’t know if this info is accurate, but it looks rather excellent.

At the GreenThumb conference I was privileged to take a class from NYCHA’s Rob Benneton on soil quality. (Side note: I had such a great time that I went to the website to see what other workshops they offered, and I found one on gardening that’s being hosted at a local community center next week. I called to register, and was told that since I don’t live in an NYCHA development, I’m not eligible. That got me to look around the site to see what the requirements are to qualify for NYCHA. An individual (not family) can make up to $43K and receive assistance. If any of you fall within that range and feel ok about the government helping you with your rent, please apply, then go to the workshops and take notes for me.)

Okay, back to soil quality. Initially I was going to summarize my notes, but I think instead I will spread this out over a few weeks and focus on more manageable sections. Today, let’s look at what soil is. An abbreviated WikiAnswers definition:

Soil is material capable of supporting plant life.
Dirt is soil which has been depleted of the characteristics which give it the ability to support plant life. (I guess you could call it “dead soil”?)

Soil is formed from glaciation and weatherization of rock, which is a key reason that soil type varies depending on the region. Its parent material affects its particle size and density.

Soil is a combination of minerals, organic matter, air, water, and living organisms. Plants (including of course trees, herbs, fruits, vegetables) need water, oxygen, light, and nutrients. Soil is the primary source of nutrients for plants, so healthier soil will result in healthier plants.

Next time we will look at soil quality indicators– the physical, chemical, and biological ways to determine the health and make-up of the soil.

Today in our quest to “divide the waters from the waters,” we are looking at a nifty product that takes the clean, fresh water that would normally fill a tank, and diverts it to sink use. When you flush, clean water runs through the sink faucet and then goes directly to the bowl, essentially eliminating the need for a tank. The system is not a “sink replacement” (it does not have an on/off switch, pressure control, or hot water). Rather, it effectively reduces water usage by “harvesting” the graywater produced from hand washing and reusing it for flushing, an activity that does not require fresh water. A simple setup such as the one pictured

• is cheap (less than $100)
• is extremely easy to install
• and encourages the very sanitary act of hand washing.

For more innovative bathroom water savers that don’t involve buckets, check out this Austrailian news clip: