The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

This month's supplemental issue of Urban Sustainable Living is devoted to getting a jumpstart on your spring garden by starting your vegetable plants from seed. Check out the fantastic and resourceful Trudi Davidoff's Winter Sown method. It really works!Trudi has also generously offered to give away a collection of six types of seeds to ANYONE who simply sends a self addressed stamped envelope to her. CLICK HERE to Get the Details.

Kate Bryant breaks down the classic seed starting system of daylight balanced indoor lights. This was the first method I ever tried and it can save thousands of dollars in just a few years. I have also included an article on my own automatic Hydroponic/Aquaponic seed starting factory. This system has become the beating heart of my own garden producing 1400 to 1800 seedlings a year, supply my own garden, and a my neighbors garden's too!

This issue will feature a new column by Alex Lewin of Feed Me Like you Mean it. Alex is a chef and teacher at Cambridge Culinary School and voracious reader! Check out what nifty books Alex has stumbled into to help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle.

Visit with me in Dallas, TX February 20-21 at North Haven Gardens, For more info go on my live lecture visit www.nhg.com

And if your new around here don't forget to visit our archive page, which is being updated weekly with articles from last year! 

Check Last Months Great articles on Lasagna Gardening, Leafy Greens and More:

How to Winter Sow Seeds

Get a headstart on Mother Nature with Winter Sown

First, let me give you a little background as to why I sowed the seeds during the Winter. I live in a very small house, a cottage actually, and I simply do not have room for a light set up, also, any window space I have must be fought from the cat and "Prinny" likes to look out on the street and watch the world go by, so I have to give her a windowsill. She's a good cat and deserves her place in the sun.

I got hooked on seed trading, and as you all know seed trading is like Pokemon card tradeing for foodies......"you gotta have 'em all." I had tons of seeds, I had them all. Though I am not a novice at gardening, I am a novice at growing seeds. This was my second season doing so. Because of my lack of experience with growing seeds, and not having the space for a light set up, I traded for "easy to grow" seeds; I had to start them in the windowsill or out on the patio in flats during Spring and Summer. Read the Full Article HERE

Free Seeds

WinterSown.Org would like to freely give Urban Sustainable Living's readers a collection of six different packs of seeds to help get them going with their Winter Sowing! Seeds will include easy-to-grow annuals, perennials, an heirloom tomato and a kitchen herb.

Please send a self addressed business (no.10) envelope with two first-class stamps on it to:

USL/WinterSown.Org Six Pack SASE
1989 School Street
East Meadow, NY 11554

This exclusive offer is available to Urban Sustainable Living readers until April 30, 2010. Please expect 2 - 3 weeks for delivery.

Plan and Start your Spring Garden

Sow your own slew of seeds for a vibrant backyard vegetable harvest

There are few satisfactions to match that of starting your own vegetables from seed. Part craft, part science, the process awakens nurturing instincts in even the most hardened urban dwellers. Sowing seeds connects you to the very cycle of life, beginning with the alchemical blending of dry seed with moisture, temperature, light, and the day-to-day care and feeding that brings a bounty of fresh food to your table.

It may still be dreary outside, but now is the time to start seeds indoors so that they’ll be ready for outdoor planting in early spring. And with seed catalogs now appearing fast and furious, winter is the best time to dream up your edible garden for 2010. If you’re hoping for just a few salad staples, begin with tender, ruffled red and green lettuces, iron-rich spinach, and spicy radishes. More adventurous gardeners with refined palates should try their hand at seductive heirloom varietals: Charentais melons, purple sprouting broccoli, and ‘Brandywine’ tomatoes. But before you start sowing row upon row of fancy tomato cultivars, think about how many plants you can realistically manage in your outdoor garden. Your best sources of information and supplies are local seed companies, which offers a wide selection of regionally adapted varieties. By late February, sowing the seeds of your spring and summer vegetable garden can start in earnest. Timing is everything. Read the Full Article HERE

The Raw Milk Revolution Book Review

I recently read The Raw Milk Revolution , by David E. Gumpert I recommend it to anyone who is interested in raw milk; in the viability of small-scale farming in the US today; or, more broadly, in the balance between individual rights on the one hand, and the state's role in protecting public health on the other—a civil liberties issue, really.

Gumpert describes a few specific clashes of raw milk producers with regulatory agencies, and tracks a few specific pieces of raw-milk-related legislation. By shifting his focus among these cases with excellent dramatic timing, he has given his book some of the suspense of an episode of Law and Order, sometimes leaving us on the edge of our seats. He has succeeded in writing an engaging, almost titillating, book about raw milk practice and policy—quite an accomplishment.

His bias, which he makes no effort to hide, is in favor of due process and Constitutionally-guaranteed individual liberties, and against overreaching government agencies, unaccountable bureaucrats, and thug-like police and federal agents. Although he personally believes, for political and philosophical reasons, that people should have access to raw milk, he remains even-handed in his reporting; he is able to explore the actions, motivations, and inconsistencies of both camps. Thus his book is a valuable document, and not a screed. Read the Full Article HERE

Hydroponic/Aquaponic Seed Starting Factory

Hydroponic Seed starting system that feeds my Roxbury Neighborhood

Every year I start just over a thousand seedlings for my vegetable, flower, and annual gardens. I get a basic, primal joy out of the process. It is one of the highlights of my gardening life, spending those hours gazing at books, magazines, catalogues and playing with my seed packets as the gloomy, winter weather takes hold outside.

These seedlings make life more bearable for those of us battling cold climates. But the process doesn’t have to be so hit or miss. I used to grow the way you probably do. I set up a simple shelf with fluorescent bulbs balanced for daylight in the 5000 degree Kelvin color temperature. I set up elaborate watering procedures and, of course, freaked when I would come back from TV shoots and find that some of seedlings were either dead or shocked. I had to do something, anything to create an automatic system that was simple and would fit into my busy lifestyle and was husband proof. Read the Full Article HERE

Around The Web