Backyard gardens become source of income

upi ^ | May 21

[JoeProBono]

Los Angeles, which has a growing number of people selling home-grown fruit and vegetables, is halting enforcement of an ordinance against the practice.

The Los Angeles City Council said it is suspending enforcement of a 1946 ordinance and weighing a new measure, the Food and Flowers Freedom Act, which would allow for the growing of "berries, flowers, fruits, greens, herbs, ornamental plants, mushrooms, nuts, seedlings or vegetables for use on-site or sale or distribution off-site," the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The measure comes as an increasing number of local residents and people across the United States are turning to their home gardens as a source of supplementary income.

Cam Slocum, 50, said he grows beefsteak tomatoes and salad green baby mache in his back yard and sells them to restaurants. He said he has 10 regular clients and he wants to add 20 more to keep his garden profitable.

Ken Takayama, chef de cuisine at French restaurant Melissein Santa Monica, said locals are increasingly coming into the establishment aiming to sell their vegetables. He said the number has been steadily increasing since the economy first started tanking three years ago.

"Every day, every week, it's something new," Takayama said. "You name it, they have it."

[TNdandelion]

Thank you. I am feeling tons better. :)

[EternalVigilance]

That's great.

But for my money, all a plot that size requires is one of these:

[FreedomPoster]

I would suggest that if gardening for taste, the first thing you need to do is concentrate on fresh herbs, and then tomatoes. Rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, cilantro, oregano, chives, mint, etc. I have them all going right now in a couple of 6’x6’ large raised planters I had built last year. It’s great running down to the back yard with a pair of scissors and having fresh herbs to work with.

[GatorGirl]

Hi Maine-iac...That is good advice. We always have lots of canned goods on hand, for hurricane season and just in general.

Do you have any recommendations for true air tight grain storage? In FL the humidity and bugs are murder on anything we try to store for any length of time. I just had to throw away two good sized bags of brown rice that were double wrapped in plastic due to bugs.

Thanks in advance for your help. GG

[maine-iac7]

good on you!

Those patio tomatoes can really produce

[winodog]

Raw?

[RegulatorCountry]

Brown rice doesn’t keep well anyway, it goes rancid. The oil-rich bran layer beneath the husk is the culprit. Stick with white rice for anything longer than six months or so. There are large plastic tubs with airtight lids that would serve the purpose of keeping bugs and humidity out.

[maine-iac7]

Wow! I want some vegetable laying hens!

[Brugmansian]

Its a source of food for me.

Prudent. It's like any other business. Worse than most because its so darn much fun and so so easy to let costs spiral beyond any possibility of making a profit. I did that. The below didn't make a profit (which was OK but if money were the object, I would have done things far differently):

[cripplecreek]

I cut several strips out of the sod in my backyard last night to expand my garden space.

[Ellendra]

lol I had a neighbor the point blank asked me if I was growing pot in the front flower bed. Cleome aka “Spider plant” doesn’t really look like it but the leaves looked like really fat MJ leaves to her. hee hee

That's something I'm worried about right now. I found a patch of sulphur cinquefoil on my land about a week ago, the leaves look exactly like mj! I tried to chop them out Thursday, but for every one I chopped I'd see 2 more nearby.

[JRochelle]

OK, that looks absolutely delicious!

Feta cheese?

[Red_Devil 232]

YOU HAVE

ADDED TO THE WEEKLY GARDENING PING LIST

I post the thread every Friday morning. We have some very experienced gardners who help out. Four or five are Master Gardeners and there are a couple who run nurseries or greenhouses.

So feel free to stop by any time during the week and enjoy the thread and have a good time.

This weeks thread

YOU HAVE

[FlyVet]

I add a bit of ham or bacon bits, and some Mrs. Dash, or some dehydrated onions.

[who knows what evil?]

I was actually referring to the difference in the TASTE of home-grown veggies to the cardboard crap sold in the grocery stores...there aren’t many herbs that can save that garbage; although I enjoy most of those you mentioned. Those herbs are even BETTER when prepared in tandem with FRESH garden veggies...

[samiam1972]

I did the same thing the first year we tried seeds. I killed 3/4 of our plants. It made me so sad! I wound up with about 4 cherry tomato plants. No one needs that many cherry tomatoes!!!

[FreedomPoster]

And on that note, the Mormons have lots of good info on the general subject of food storage. This has been covered on some of the disaster preparedness threads.

[crosstimbers]

May 2nd, 2010 by Emily Knudsen
Food Safety Modernization Act: The End of Homegrown Produce?

http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/05/food-safety-modernization-act-the-end-of-homegrown-produce/

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks for the ping, good ideas in some of these photos.

[goodwithagun]

Use a cheap trash can for a rain barrel. Just put a screen over the top to keep debris out. If you don’t have any back problems, dip a can in and water your plants by hand. Exercise, plus free water!