Why are half your pics so small?
Pretty design reasons. If you want more detail, just click to embiggin.
Who is "us"?
Introductions were made here. I shared that house for almost three years before I moved to live in an apartment with my mom and sister April 28th, 2014. Megan lives across the street and John's a bit farther so I don't see him much.
Wasn't this called barefoot-squarefoot before?
Yes it was. I changed it to Barefoot Food because I don't plan on following the squarefoot method.
What does "Barefoot Squarefoot" mean anyway?
Squarefoot gardening is a technique developed by Mel Bartholomew as a way to "garden in less space with less work". Please read his book, it's a really great resource.
Well what about the Barefoot bit? You kept that in the title.
The barefoot bit is just my way of saying we won't be using chemical fertilizers or poisons so it's safe to walk amongst the food in your bare feet. That's one of our rules; no poisons.
What are your "rules"?
In my mind, the whole point of growing your own food is to avoid the nastiness of commercial farming. With that in mind:
1. No Poisons or Chemical Fertilizers: No Herbicides, No Insecticides, No MiracleGrow and No natural poisons like nicotine either. There's a blog post HERE that explains why we're avoiding chemical fertilizers. Hopefully the reasons we're avoiding putting poison on our food would be obvious.
2. Nourish the Soil to Nourish the Plants to Nourish the People: Our garden will be fed by manure, minerals, plant-mater, and eventually our own compost. In keeping the soil healthy we promote health for all.
3. Grow real plants from real seeds: We will grow open pollinated plants that are heritage strains whenever possible. GMO seeds are to be avoided no matter how disease resistant they might claim to be. We will not help Monsanto.
4. There's no such thing as too much food: Any harvest that cannot be reasonably consumed or preserved for later use will be donated to the homeless or women's shelters in our area. Any harvest not suitable for human consumption (because a squirrel ate half the tomato already or something like that) will be composted and turned into more healthy soil for more healthy food.
Natural? That's has gotta cost a fortune right?
Not really. We were keeping track but I couldn't be bothered to keep up with it. For 2012 we had to set everything up but that would need to be done no matter the method. There weren't really any costs associated with 2013 other than getting some more seeds. (I'm not counting the front lawn cause that was mostly just to get rid of the grass)
So what's the plan anyway?
Click here for my 11-step plan.
Are you selling produce/plants/seeds/etc?
No. At this time we are not selling anything.
Can I donate or help some how?
Sure! I participate in Secret Santa so I keep a wishlist on Amazon.
Or if you're talking cash monies you can donate with this:
