Urban Agriculture

Lessons are learned. The great teacher is the consistency of staying with a project. Farmer Gerald Slocum has worked his red wriggle herd for nearly 5 years are even more. Starting out years ago in the pickup truck with a hand full of worms. Several years back a group of volunteers built the worm runs using recycled materials. The hot summer weighted heavy on the herd growth. Shade cloth was added to the project and it served to cool down the boxes. Gerald notice a increase in the … [Read more...] about Vermaculture Composting

There are several components to soil fertility that the farm has developed. The point is not to be prefect but to work with resources. Farmer Gerald Slocum showed me his Vermaculture project today. It was outstanding and adundant. The system was to wet today to harvest. I'll pick up some plastic to cover the worm bins. Heavy rains tend to leak into the boxes. I am planning on using the casting for a planting mix for trays I'm about to plant Also I plan to use the casing to add to the compost … [Read more...] about Composting has many options

There exist a culture of Doership in Houston's Inner City. Folks that live outside most all the time working the trade of land stewardship. Earth is a massive resource. Here in Houston with near prefect weather for year round growing and land everywhere a truly amazing opportunity is presenting itself. The Emile Street Community Educational Farm has the ability to host a wide range of experiences working sustainable systems. The use of water and soil are key assets to food production. From one … [Read more...] about Urban Pioneer Collective

The Last Organic Outpost nonprofit is a project based organization. Over the last several years Lowe's and CoreNet have contributed to vital components in farm operations. Lowe's has contributed two years in a row. The first year a team of Lowe's volunteers from area stores help clean the farm. Build a Community event area. Material donated by Lowe's built decks. Sifting tables. Cleaned areas for safety and site beautification. Due to these improvements the farm hosted Culinary competition … [Read more...] about Community Supporting local food Security

Gerald picked for the Central City Coop this morning. He does a outstanding job. He spent hours getting it right. I worked all day top dressing the beds. I told Kenly and Drea that the plants like to be tucked in. The plan is to reduce the watering By mulching heavy between the rows and the plants. Thanks to farm dirt there is lots of mulching material to work with. I was discussing with Tino best methods for growing. He was telling me what I was doing wouldn't work well. I explained that the … [Read more...] about Daily Activity log

Another wet week as today it's raining off and on. Yesterday there were times of heavy rain. I just walked the land and found quite a few cucumbers taking off. Also squash and especially peppers. With the mulching from CenterPoint tree companies everything is covered with 8" or more of shredded leaves. Soaking in the moisture and breaking down. The roadways have become composting areas staging a top dressing to plants to help deal with the hot weather evaporation. Exciting times working with … [Read more...] about Houston running a wet year

A measurement of real value. It comes from hard work. Everyday making the lift no matter how small. A continous effort that strengthen the cause. It's bigger that anything imagined.  Bigger than life itself. It lies beyond the veil in the area of the mystery.  Where all things go when in service to the good that was intended. Today's work was working the gate. Telling stories. Leading the tour. Tomorrow Houston TV coming out for a interview. Billy Lawton with Prairie View A&M came by and … [Read more...] about A Measurement of Value

A staging area has been added to the farm's infrastructure. Previously seed trays were located throughout the farm. With the new station all seeding is centralized creating a opportunity to plant lots of seed. Recently watering has come from the clarifier where the zeolite filter is back flushed daily. The heavy dense waste from the pond settles in bottle of the tote and is used for watering. Presently a 5 gallon bucket is used to transport the nutrient rich resource. Plans are being made to … [Read more...] about Staging neighborhood food security