Soil Testing, Stockbox and Growing Food On Base

I was watching a documentary on the local food movement and was struck by a comment made by one of the farmers “We don’t farm plants, we farm soil.”  Ok, so I know NOTHING about growing things, much less healthy fruits and veggies and I figure this guy seems to be pretty good at it, so I should probably listen to him.  I’m a big proponent of doing research on the web but at some point you need to get out in the world and get messy.  So I went old school and checked a book out of the library.

HomeGrown Harvest by the American Horticultural Society turns out to be a fantastic resource chock full of season by season advice and wisdom.  Definitely work looking into.  Sure enough one of the first things they recommend before starting a new garden is checking out your soil.

I went out to the middle of my site and dug a six inch hole and got a big handful of dirt.

Add a little water and it turns into a slightly sandy ball.  Looks like my yard is on the edge between sandy and silty, which means I need to watch my water drainage and work in a good bit of compost.

Out on the Left Coast they’re still in the vanguard of the local food movement and there are two new innovations that look pretty cool.

First a semi-permanent grocery store made from a recycled shipping container.  Stockbox, watch the video.

And here’s a story from Grist on using former military bases for urban farming. Check it out.