New York UF experiment by Manny Howard or why not to be over ambitious

A story from the  New York Magazine about a challenge to be self reliant for 30 days is great fun and maybe the example of how not to be over ambitious.

I am sure  the subject of UF is about to hit our lifestyle press big time - urging us to be 'a la mode' and jump onto the band waggon. But when real life hits, I believe that the best approach to navigate our way into UF  (ie I mean for us the really Urban kind)  is to go the old way : learn to walk before you try to run!

For the full- rather amusing- video click here

Residents in a New York neighbourhood are waking up to the sound of a crowing rooster each morning.  The rooster, along with accompanying hens, ducks, and rabbits, is part of an urban farm, designed and constructed by writer Manny Howard in his native Brooklyn.

Howard reworked his tiny yard into a miniature farm, complete with animal pens and crops, in order to live the life of a 'locavore' - someone who only eats locally-produced food. He was put up to the challenge by New York Magazine, who financed the project to see if Howard could feed himself for one month exclusively off the food from his farm. He said: "It ended up being much more of a challenge than I thought it was going to be when I began it. Very quickly, it became clear that there was very little I could do without disaster." During the project, Howard lost a rabbit to maggot infestations, almost lost a finger during a chicken coup construction project, and lost part of his vegetable crop to a freak tornado. He also lost 29 pounds, both from the intensive labour and sparse meals, mostly chicken stew. But all the hard work was worth it, said Howard. Now he and his family have a new found respect for the food they eat and people who grow it. But before other urbanites try sewing seeds of their own, they may want to consider the cost - roughly £5,500 or about £90 for each of Howard's 60 meal

Via TREEHUGGER

An Experiment in Subsistence Farming, Brooklyn Style

 

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on  09.16.07

 

Food & Health
                                

 

In this week's New York Magazine, Manny Howard chronicles his experiment to live off his land as his sole source of food for a month—in a 20x40-foot backyard in suburban Brooklyn—much to the wild-eyed glee of his two young children, the increasing consternation and frustration of the first-time farmer, and the chagrin of his wife, who grows increasingly concerned that her husband is turning into Richard Dreyfuss from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

But just as Howard manages to wrest some semblance of sanity in his urban homestead, he miscalculates the due date of his pregnant doe and hastily puts together a nesting box a few sizes too small. The bloody result: The mother rabbit panics and begins devouring her offspring, moments before Howard's wife and 5-year-old daughter drop by the rabbit pen for a visit.

Then the tornado hits.

(Key to the farm layout below the fold.) ::New York Magazine

 

                              

A Four vegetable planters: cucumbers, cantaloupes, peppers, and heirloom tomatoes.

B The garage, a.k.a. “the Barn”: tool storage, rabbit feed, chicken feed, six rabbit hutches, a slaughter station, a refrigerator, and four egg-laying coops.

C The field, in four beds: 1 Tomatoes, beets, celery, yellow squash, purple eggplant, and a fig tree. 2 Collard greens, cucumbers, and callaloo. 3 Cabbage, Japanese eggplant, white eggplant, rhubarb, leeks, garlic, onions, fennel, rosemary, thyme, and mint. 4 Corn, broad beans, basil, bok choy, and parsley.

D The duck run: a duck coop, a duck pond, and two wayward rabbit hutches.

E The chicken run: a high-rise high-capacity chicken coop and a livestock holding pen (on the porch).

F The potato crop: a raised bed technically known as a “drill.”   
(Photo: Clockwise from right, courtesy of Manny Howard; Amy Eckert [2]. Illustration by Jason Lee)

                           

                              

A Four vegetable planters: cucumbers, cantaloupes, peppers, and heirloom tomatoes.

B The garage, a.k.a. “the Barn”: tool storage, rabbit feed, chicken feed, six rabbit hutches, a slaughter station, a refrigerator, and four egg-laying coops.

C The field, in four beds: 1 Tomatoes, beets, celery, yellow squash, purple eggplant, and a fig tree. 2 Collard greens, cucumbers, and callaloo. 3 Cabbage, Japanese eggplant, white eggplant, rhubarb, leeks, garlic, onions, fennel, rosemary, thyme, and mint. 4 Corn, broad beans, basil, bok choy, and parsley.

D The duck run: a duck coop, a duck pond, and two wayward rabbit hutches.

E The chicken run: a high-rise high-capacity chicken coop and a livestock holding pen (on the porch).

F The potato crop: a raised bed technically known as a “drill.”   
(Photo: Clockwise from right, courtesy of Manny Howard; Amy Eckert [2]. Illustration by Jason Lee)

                           

Comments

[Dagny McKinley]

I agree with the walk don't run comment. Dip your toes into different experiments before you jump in. Try sustainable living in your home before you sell and buy a farm with no idea how to run it.

Thanks for sharing!
Dagny McKinley
www.onnotextiles.com
organic apparel

[Dagny McKinley]

I agree with the walk don't run comment. Dip your toes into different experiments before you jump in. Try sustainable living in your home before you sell and buy a farm with no idea how to run it.

Thanks for sharing!
Dagny McKinley
www.onnotextiles.com
organic apparel