Will the gardeners be using your water and tools? If water is at a premium in your area, this isn’t a matter to be taken lightly.

I do think sharing (renting?) your space with others is a great idea to find kindred spirits, make friends and get your yard in shape.
As for your chain link fence…look around the area and see if anyone has some grapes that are doing well…in a variety which favors your growing conditions.
Chain link fences make great supports. I love them..they never require much maintenance.

With the state of the economy and the chance we are approaching peak oil…it is time to prepare.

Pay me a visit I will do my best to help you get ready.

I live in urban-ish Boston (next to Tufts University, actually) and have turned much of my green space over to food production. This spring, in fact, we are planning to get chickens (sort of illegal where I live). I’m a novice, and I’m learning as I go, but so far, season 1 went well. You can check out my travails at http://www.citylovescountry.com, if you’re interested. I’d love to see you there!

Best,

Dina

This article got me looking into farming/gardening and I found this quote when searching for information on raising Chickens :

<quote>
As many as 30 percent of the world’s farmers work plots of land as small as 2 1/2 acres, so the system can have wide application. Institute director Dr. Laren R. Robison explains: “With the right mixture of farm crops and small animals, 2 1/2 acres can supply the nutritional needs for a family of seven. And under the right conditions, our system can also produce a cash income.
</quote>
(From http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ba28ef960417b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 )

Well, I have gardened in the past, but it was always a small patch in the backyard near the fence. I don’t think I could do much with the front yard. It is the kind of place where your grass better look just like the neighbors and you either fertilize yourself or pay for a “lawncare program.”

Where I grewup, every yard was at least an acre. Our house was about 300 feet from any neighbors, and we always had large gardens ( and occasionally chickens). So the suburban life is an adjustment. If I tore up the front I’m sure the community would treat me like the Kevin Costner character in Field of Dreams, without the Hollywood ending.

It’s time for serious ‘RAISE THE SPADE’ or ‘GARDENS not GRASS’ campaigns. (t-shirts coming soon … heehee).

SandPine

Here one only has to sell $1000/year in farm products (includes livestock) to get the agricultural rate on property taxes.

I am also not sure why they didn’t do it in the back yard since there is actually more room there. Maybe they use that space for family time and thought the front yard didn’t get used anyway.

The second front lawn garden is much more elaborate with large stakes and chicken wire blocking it off from rabbits and some flowers planted in front of it to make it more appealing to people walking by.

This is Oak Park, IL of all places, I wouldn’t think that people would be so into gardening in the urban area next to Chicago that we live in. Nor do I think we have good soil for this, but maybe they know how to suplement it with fertilizers.

I wonder if all the soot that falls from the air because of the diesel trains that they park near by (running) will affect the outcome of this food? Is it safe to eat when it grows in a place that gets a layer of engine soot on the soil each month?

Since then, they have moved to a McMansion (oh, the travesty!), where the neighborhood has rules about how big one’s vegetable garden is. No matter — she sneaks her onions, garlic, and other greens in amongst the flowers that border the house.

I’ve had friends who’ve had them, but they were more as pets than anything else.

Would it be for milk, or do you eat the goats?

–

I’d like to eventually own enough land to have some animals, including some beef cows and chickens. What I don’t want to do though is have any animals, like milk cows, which need daily manual care.

We’ve got family friends who are dairy farmers, and they *need* someone to be there morning and night to milk the cows. I appreciate that people are willing to do that, but I want to be able to take off for a week of vacation from time to time.

But if you have a newer angle on it …

Seriously … are you interested in all how to sell this article to a major publication? (no pyramid scheme involved). This is very timely stuff and I could see any number of pubs I write for wanting to buy this one — the only problem being it has already been “published” here. But you can reslant it to make it fresh stuff.

Contact me if you want to know more … you and I really have never had a convo about selling freelance articles. I don’t even know if you’re interested in doing that, but I’d give you some time to understand the process.

I live in Seattle, which has a very strong municipally-supported community garden program that’s been going strong for over 30 years. Over 40 small gardens scattered through the city! My husband and I gardened in Seattle’s PPatches for over 10 years before we had more yard than we know what to do with….learned a ton and made lots of good friends. And ate well, and had lots of tremendous cut flowers, including those in my wedding bouquet!

However, this does not work if your neighbor keeps saltwater fish.

The quality of the produce is second to none , and I always end up with much more than I can use during the growing season. I do give some to my next door neighbors and the rest I can or freeze for winter storage. I am seriously considering buying a dehydrator, as my understanding is that some are very energy efficient and won’t cause my electric bill to skyrocket.

JD,
I haven’t followed your gardening project religiously, but I do recall you tracking your water resource, presumably calling that an expense. Have you considered a rain barrel or some other rain water catchment to provide you with free water between rain events?

Some homeowners in my neighborhood have also done away with the front lawn, and have a wonderful vegetable garden that extends right out to the sidewalk—at first, I thought it looked odd. Then I realized that they get more sun in the front of the house than in the back.

I spoke with a woman recently though, who says that when she started growing veggies in her front yard, she discovered that people were viewing this as an invitation to pluck her harvest right out of her yard!

Also, backyard chickens produce DELICIOUS eggs. We have six chickens and get on average about five eggs a day–I’d worry about my cholesterol, except for the fact that when you feed chickens mostly weeds and kitchen scraps (as we do) rather than all feed, the eggs get high in good cholesterol, low in bad, and also get nice high omega-3′s. Our yolks are bright yellow, and good enough that we’ve started selling them (just at break even prices, not for profit) to our friends. People love getting fresh eggs, and we love watching our chickens.