SACRAMENTO – Sacramento is known as the farm to fork capital. A new movement that takes it one step further — backyard to table.
No matter how small your backyard, or in some cases your patio, viable gardens are possible — they use less water and less space, yet still produce healthy food.
Con10u2farm founder James Brady is pushing the urban farming movement. His goal is to teach people how to grow nutritious food by using reusable resources around them.
“I want to teach sustainable farming,” Brady said. “We think it’s important for everybody to learn the value of growing nutritious food not only for consumption, but in the urban communities for sale.”
Right now, there is no ordinance in Sacramento that allows urban farmers to sell home-grown crops.
Brady uses hydroponics as one method to grow crops; it uses sand, or gravel, and nutrients from animal wastes, such as farm-raised fish. He is joining forces with the TwinRiversSchool District to set up a sustainable farm at three of its school.
“I want kids to get excited about growing something. I hope this will inspire them to eat healthy, and then tell their family,” Brady explained. “Then you will have the whole family eating healthy foods.”
Several months ago, Brady collaborated with Larry Wilson of Soilogix to set up a barrelponics system. Fifty-gallon barrels are cut in half and placed on PVC pipes. The soil or compost is made of plants and other organic substance that will decay. About a pound of red worms live in the soil giving it nutrients from their castings – in other words worm poop fertilizer.
“It’s one of the best natural fertilizers there is,” Wilson said “While your garden is growing, they’re in there busy as a fertilizer factory.”
The system use an automatic watering system that uses less water than traditional gardens. “I have system that is twice this size and I use about six gallons of water and during the hotter months. It will probably go up to 12 gallons, which is about 85 to 90 percent savings for traditional gardens,” Wilson said.
The barrelponic system that is in Effie Gant’s south Sacramento home has 18 barrels. She grows everything from greens to herbs. Her patio measures 10 by 16, but she has also grown fruit and olive trees.
Gant said she has enjoyed eating the fruits of her labor.
“You can certainly tell the difference from when you go to the store or actually buying it conventionally.”
Brady said as long as there is a piece of land, no one should go hungry.
“We have a lot of open space in Sacramento, but a lot of the soil is contaminated,” Brady explained. “Our presentation is such we don’t need the soil. I can put it on a contaminated site. All we need is a water supply.”
If you want more information, you can contact James Brady at 916-285-5142.
