The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

One project that is needed is a larger firewood shed. It has become painfully evident this winter that we don't have enough dry wood storage space. That means wood gathering in the dead of winter, not a fun task! Since woodburning is one of the things that has worked out well here for comfort and utility cost reduction, it will be a priority project. The tentative plan now is to build a 16' x 5' shed w/tin roof.

The next project will be doubling the size of our garden. We plan on planting roughly a 250 sq. ft. area. As it stands now we will be planting sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and onions. We have installed two 4'x4' raised beds. One has spices already planted in it and the other will be for onions. We have two compost bins in operation and hope to get some product to use this spring. We also planted a blueberry bush this fall and mulched it with pine needles, a tip Garden Girl had on one of her videos! We put in a shelf in front of a patio door to use as a plant starter area. We have been gathering containers to use for this purpose that would otherwise have went to the trash...another tip learned from a Garden Girl clip.

We also plan on trying our hand at water harvesting with a rain barrel next year. We found plans on the internet that seem fairly simple and much cheaper than buying one ready made. Another way to cut a utility bill! We have several alt. energy projects planned and hope to move forward on those. It seems our investment in an alternative energy system is paying off, last night as I was composing this letter we had a power outage and I lost my work! So I turned on my system and was able to have lights and heat from my wood burner until bedtime. Talk about good timing!

My wife thought at first, I had lost it when I started the solar installation in our yard but when situations like last night happen , I am the king of our castle! I have noticed the price of solar panels have dropped from about four dollars per watt down to about $2.58 recently. Another solar panel might just be in this year's plan. Have fun and enjoy! Ron Smith