An Appreciation for Sustainablity.

     In an effort to achieve a sustainable life style, I have pondered many venues in order to find the right mix of elements that would fit into an urban setting without disturbing my neighbors, or my natural surrounding. However, still allowing me to peruse my soical experiment in an urban sustainable life style. I am finding that it is harder than I thought. First and formost I must give credit to full fledged farmers' who do this for a living, getting up at the crack of dawn, maintaining livestock, corn fields and equipment. Is not easy. Thanks, to all of you that have chosen to be farmers, you have all of my respect and admiration. It takes a lot of time, energy and sacrifice in order to feed America. I am trying to do it on a small scale and still find it a bit overwhelming.  I am still new at this, working towards self sufficiency is not going to come easy.

     Nevertheless, this what I have managed to accomplish.  I have already written about my chickens in a previous post. Though it may not be much right now,  I am laying down the foundations of what will be a working Urban Homestead. I have installed a rain barrel, which by the way was a free gift from the Department of Water Conservation. It collects all the rain water from one of the down spouts on our home. The water is then used to water all of vegetables in our garden beds which I had planted earlier this season. What is in these beds? You will find bell peppers, basil, cucumbers, lettuce, squash and a few tomato plants. I already harvested the lettuce for salads, and it is delicious. I still haven't worked out how much space is needed to be set aside to grow enough vegetables to sustain us through the growing season. That's still a work in progress. I still have to buy produce from my local farmers' market, and I love going there. This keeps my local farmers' in business. However, the plan for this season is to plant a couple of fruit tress, 2 apples, 1 peach, 1 pear, and about 8 blueberry shrubs. This should be enough fruit for a family of 4.

I have also started a crop of ornamental lavenders, in which I plan to propagate and continue to produce rooted cuttings.  With the intention of starting a wholesale nursery.  I have selected four cultivars from a wholesale propagator in California,  for their ability to with stand northern winters, their blooming time, color, fragrance and their uses in crafts. The lavenders also compliment my next project, which I will get to in a minute. However, I am nowhere near ready to be a wholesale distributor, nevertheless, the potential is there. This is just one more step towards sustainability. An urban home with the ability to produce a saleable crop. Well, that remains to be seen, at least that's the plan. I will keep you posted on my progress and see how far I get. There is still the issue of licensing and business details that need to be addressed before this project comes operational. For now I am content with just the growing of the lavenders.

     Having all of those lavenders growing in such a small space in an urban setting must look remarkable. The above picture is one of the lavenders growing in front of our home in bloom. I am hoping the fragrance will be intoxicating. I have the honor of living in one of the greenest boroughs of New York City, Staten Island. It is located just 25 minutes away from the City itself. Yet it lends itself nicely to a suburban feel. Every where you look you are surrounded by trees, grass, and urban gardens. I am surrounded by parks in every direction, you can't live here with out driving past one. Keeping this in mind, my next project is to establish a colony of working honey bees for the production of raw honey. I have been fascinated by the health benefits of raw honey and find myself wondering if I can produce my own, with the help of honey bees. I have ordered the necessary supplies to make this possible. I have also made it a point to plant perennials and flowering shrubs that will produce the most nectar for a good honey flow. I have taken careful considerations in maintaining a balance within my eco system by planting native flowers indigenous to New York.  A benefit of having a working bee hive in an urban setting would be the  dramatic improvement in fertilization and pollination. There will be more fruit to pick when the bees pollinate the trees and vegetables plants in the local community. I would be doing my community a service by sustaining and establishing a local working hive.

     I have taken the very same skills I apply as a healthcare provider along with the ethics of first do no harm and applied it to the very land I live on. I am a caregiver, taking great pride in the nurturing of patients back to health. Now I am taking that very same concept and applying it to the community in which I live. It is a well documented fact, for several years now the bee population has been in decline. By creating a habitat for honey bees I would be in essence helping the bees, and the local community, it's a win win situation.

     The next time your shoping for produce at your local market, give thanks to those who have made it possible for getting it there. From the farmers' to the working bee's, which do what comes natural to them.  Let us give thanks to the one's that, "LETTUCE BEE SUSTAINABLE".