Container farming

[KewlKat]

My MIL owns a 109 acre, former dairy farm, surrounded by many amish farms. It has 66 acres tillable and water from an underground spring with a small, depending on rainfall, stream that runs through the front of the acreage. She just turned 80, lost her spounse a year ago and frankly has pretty much nill for income. She's VERY healthy and active. She's now making pie crusts and waiting on tables at a nearby diner a few days a week. She takes NO medications of any kind. When they dairy farmed, they were never able to make a living or raise a family without both of them working outside the home and they are THE most frugal people I've ever known, paying cash all the way, except back when they bought the farm for a dollar down. They paid it off in like 5 yrs. She has NO desire to move off the farm. We had several serious farmers who wanted to lease the tillable land. She said no. Some around her have been planting crops these past few years and give her some of that, like to feed the few cattle she has. However, she ran low last year and we had to purchase some to get through the winter. She's worried if she leases the land she will upset these folks planting at her place (by telling them they can't do it anymore), etc. She has sold the lumber a time or two off the hillside and I again suggested that, but no. We're fit to be tied as to how to make the farm pay for the upkeep, taxes and provide some income for her. We are not in a financial position to continue to invest in this blackhole nor can we retire to spend more time there since our IRAs are in the toilet, etc. We live an hour away and can't be there as often as we like. It would not be practicable to move there and continue to commute to work what with the cost of fuel, weather, etc. Due to the current economy we don't know if we'll ever be able to retire, like so many others.

I recently ran across some information on square foot gardening and then the earth box. I was wondering if it would pay to try the earth box as it seems to be minimal work, organic from the get go (there are some organic farms in a hundred mile radius), can be put on a watering system and we could use the acreage that's not being planted by these "friends". I'm at my wits end here trying to work this out. I thought we could go down once during the week and then have the weekends. There are a few farmer's markets around that we could sell the vegetables. We have a short growing season here and if we're going to try this, I need to get my plan set now.

What do you think? Has anyone used the boxes for large scale? Am I dilusional? Anyone have any other ideas?

thanks.........

[elocs]

1. I supposed it depends on how large scale you are talking about.

I sure you have seen this video by Mel Bartholomew: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Lu-7FIj_g

I would read his newest book and Google about square foot gardening because you will find a lot of info. I am sure you could have as many 4'x4' squares as you wanted. Probably the most work would be in setting it up. SFG is certainly the most efficient way to utilize a given area to grow food, especially in a yard, and it gives the greatest output for the smallest amount of work.

Check out this link about how someone built their own SFG: http://ft2garden.powweb.com/sinfonian/?page_id=15

[Venceremos]

2. My experience with containers and SFG

we had a severe drought a few years ago so I did my vegetable gardening in containers (I usually plant in the ground). I was very disappointed in the yield in comparison to traditional gardening. For instance, I planted eight container tomato plants - the total yield was about the same as for five traditionally gardened plants. Also, the fruits were significantly smaller than regularly gardened plants. I used both "regular" plants and plants specifically designed for containers.

I also planted an SFG strawberry patch, and let it produce for three seasons. Again, the yield and size of the fruits was disappointing, so I went back to traditional.

I do think you could make some decent money for your MIL through selling at the farmer's market, but if it was me, I'd use traditional gardening instead of containers. In my experience, the only area that traditional requires significantly more work than containers/sfg is in preparing the soil for planting. But after the first year, even that isn't much more work.

[noamnety]

3. I did a little of both last year

some sfg, some plants just stuck in the regular ground.

Way less weeding on the SFG. Better yield and taste from the stuff in the ground. I think the extra organic "stuff" made the flavor what it was. I never would have believed that the dirt made such a difference in flavor, but I grew some hydroponic cherry tomatoes over the winter last year for the first time, and they were bland. I ate them, but they weren't much better than store bought for flavor. Then spring came, and rather than keep using electricity to grow them inside, I transplanted them outdoors, in the flower garden (no sfg). The flavor after being out there was entirely different, like a whole new plant.

Meanwhile, my sfg tomatoes - heirlooms that I've grown in the past, things like brandywines that should have been amazing - tasted like the hydroponic tomatoes did.

[plantwomyn]

4. In most rural areas

there is a county Co-Op. Check them out. Those who have planted there previously need to understand that "times is ruff". If they want to continue to plant they should pay a lease fee. The Co-op can give you an idea of the fee in your area just as a starting point. She can charge whatever she wants but she should get some $ for the use of her land. If they are not using it right they can hurt her ablility to reclaim it later. Herbicides, pesticides and the like could mess up her water too. I would be a good idea for her to make up a simple contract that lays out what they can and cannot do on her property and what her "cut" will be from the produce. The Amish are a great source for farming ideas if she can get them to help her with getting her property self sustainable. Running another farmers animals on her property is pretty low impact too. The Co-op and the Amish will be able to tell her the best "cash crop" if thats the way she wants to go.
She just stand up to the "squatters" and tell them it's pay to stay. Girls gotta eat!

[plantwomyn]

5. BTW

I'd kill for 66 tillable acres. To think about container gardening as if all you had was a patio is crazy.

[hippywife]

6. The Lasagna Gardening method

might work better for her. No boxes to build so it's less work and expense, and it utilizes cardboard and newspaper that would normally go in the landfill.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1999-04-01/Lasagna-Gardening.aspx

It lets you plant wherever you want so you can plant things that can't take full sun in shady spots and things that need full sun in others. Everything can be done in as many or as few small manageable plots as you like.

Check your library for the book and then buy it for her if it seems a reasonable solution.