no impact man

It's been 28 days since I left the urban garden. I want to ride my bike over to check on the progress -- see how the garden has grown with the abundance of sun and rain New York has been experiencing. 

Ethan and I watched an AMAZING documentary a few nights ago that I want to share. It was recommended to us by his Aunt Rachel who is an environmentalist extraordinaire. If you have a Netflix account, you can watch No Impact Man instantly. No Impact Man, or more appropriately No Impact Family, is a documentary that follows a family who live in New York City as they embark on a year with no negative environmental impact. They make no garbage, buy only local food, don't use any form of transportation that isn't self-propelled... it's inspiring. They go as far as not using toilet paper and getting rid of electricity!

I love that I could identify with some of the things that Colin and his family set about doing. I was inspired to be conscious of everything that I do and take my "green" further. Where can I make improvements in my life to help the earth a little bit more? It's so easy to become complacent and make excuses that become your new 'norm'. 

"Oh, I have to use the to-go cup because I always forget my refillable mug..." Or getting your lunch bagged everyday when buying lunch... I often reuse the bags or bring my own when I'm buying lunch; bring reusable grocery bags to fill with fresh produce; simply turning the lights off or turning off the water when brushing my teeth. It all makes a difference! 


What can you do this week to make a difference? You could start by watching this movie and being inspired!! I'm going to bring utensils to work for reusing rather that plastic-consuming!!


Check out No Impact Man's blog here.

the masked man

maggie magpie builds a nest and the masked man

Tonight after work, in between feeding the dog and running to meet someone for a test drive (I'm selling my car... how New York of me,) I took a peak at the compost. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had added "brown" leaves, sticks and garden waste to the pile already. I apparently forgot I did this, I was so traumatized by the maggies. Intuition, ah yes, that little thing.

I dug into the recycle and started ripping up paper, including my Kitwazawa Seed Company catalog, that I feel really guilty about receiving, and this strange masked man.  

It's fun to transform your recycle goods into dirt instead of a big truck driving it all over the place to take it to some plant. Recycling is great, but composting is so much better! 

trial, error and maggies

no maggies please

I will spare your eyes a photo to prove this, but I have a maggie infestation in my compost pile. EEEEWWWWWW!!! (I'm going to say maggie because maggots just make my skin craaaaawl. I had an unfortunate experience with rotting meat in a garbage can once, and I'm a veg so it was traumatic to say the least.)

Luckily, I have my new handy, dandy The Urban Homestead book (my new favorite go-to gardening book) and it tells me I don't have enough "brown" in my compost and it's probably too wet. So, I need to add some shredded paper/newspaper - aka things in my recycle and mix it up really good to cover the maggies. GAG. 

Now, instead of ignoring my compost and keeping multiple compost buckets on my porch, I can fix this little problem. I thinking a worm bin on my porch would be a nice addition...

the super simple compost

I started my first compost last fall. It's a super simple way to cut back on your waste and make your own nutrient-rich black gold. Dirt. Yum!

You can start with a plastic tub or a wooden box - I used a cheap ikea plastic bin because I'm not using it for the vegetable garden.

diy super simple compost

Things you will need: Container, organic food scraps, yard waste...

Step 1: Cut some little holes in the bottom (I made mine too big and something kept digging under the bin and up into the composting scraps to have a little snack.) So, I recommend worm size holes, not rat/squirrel sized holes!

Step 2: Dig a hole to submerge your bin in the ground.

Step 3: Fill with vegetable scraps, grass clippings, dry leaves, etc.

Step 4: Cover with a heavy board and top with a couple bricks to deter any animals from getting into it and you've got yourself a compost!

Things you can compost:
Browns (High Carbon)
Wood ashes
Shredded cardboard
Corn stalks
Fruit peels/rinds
Leaves
Shredded newspaper
Peanut shells
Pine needles
Sawdust
Wood Chips

Greens (High Nitrogen)
Coffee grounds
Eggshells (I have read to avoid eggshells in urban areas because they can attract rats)
Vegetable peels/rinds
Garden waste
Grass clippings
Manures
Seaweed

Tea bags

Weeds (that have not gone to seed) 

Things not to compost:

Meat scraps

Fatty food wastes

Milk products

Bones 

Planning For A Beautiful Urban Garden

Ethan with our friends fresh off the plane from living in Europe for 3 years have brunch in the backyard. August 2009.

I moved to Brooklyn last August (2009). We have a beautiful garden in the back of our Crown Heights apartment that we share with our next door neighbors. Last summer/early fall I spent most evenings after work weeding and cleaning up the existing garden, which consisted of herbs and a few flower plantings. The last tenant put up twine for the morning glories to climb and planted some daisies. I have been dreaming about starting my organic vegetable patch ever since. Right now I am researching my planting schedule and prices of seeds.

I am planning to have a container garden to avoid any dangerous leaching from the backyard ground. I began my own compost last September, but I am considering starting one that isn't in the ground for the vegetables that we will eat.

I want to have lots of kale and leafy greens as well as lots of root veggies that will take us into fall. Ethan and I have been really into the Macrobiotic diet, so I want to plant according to a healthy, well-rounded meal.

I'm reading Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler for ideas on including nectar-rich flowers to encourage all the yummy bugs and bees to help my bounty grow big and strong. She suggests pot marigolds, california poppies, coneflowers, poached-egg flowers and nasturtiums.