note: reprinted with permission from the Globe & Mail. originally posted on Posted on 20/10/08
Report on Green Solutions: Waste Reduction: URBAN FARMING
In every backyard, a garden plot
Entrepreneurs set out to farm unused residential yards - and make money to boot
October 20, 2008
VICTORIA -- It all started in June for Deb Heighway with a call from her brother, Craig, proving that good ideas grow roots and flourish quickly. He had declared himself CPO - "chief pitchfork operator" - of an urban farming venture in Vancouver, and he urged her to give the concept a try.
"The timing was right, as I had just finished a contract," said Ms. Heighway, who works helping people who have suffered brain injury. "And I said: 'Why not?' "
Ms. Heighway, who is originally from London, Ont., started off by purchasing a set of manuals online about small-plot intensive - or SPIN - farming: "It was $85, approximately." The guide was part of a series produced by the pioneers behind the SPIN farming movement in Saskatchewan, Wally Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen.
"So I started knocking on doors, just on my street," said Ms. Heighway, with flyers offering to "turn your yard into a productive vegetable garden. We'll do all the work and you get healthy, fresh and FREE vegetables."
And so Donald Street Farms came into being.
SPIN farming is an urban agriculture phenomenon that is growing across Canada and the United States. It offers more productive land use in the city as well as food sustainability closer to end-users.
It's an example of a greener mindset leading to a kind of enlightened self-interest: making good money while meeting needs and creating opportunities by using overlooked, available resources in a new way that is environmentally progressive.
When SPIN pioneer Mr. Satzewich started his venture, he rented land from Saskatoon homeowners, but Ms. Heighway chose the barter route.
In exchange for use of the land, each client gets a basket of fresh produce weekly throughout the season of about 20 weeks. Others who can't offer land can purchase "market share subscriptions" and receive a steady, weekly supply of produce throughout the season.
"I've seen subscription prices range from $400 to $850," Ms. Heighway said. She didn't have any official subscription clients this year because she started late, but she did sell fresh produce to people she knew in the neighbourhood, such as Shekinah Home, a place located on her street for people with developmental disabilities.
"I'm still not sure what I'm going to charge ... not $850. And I also want to sell at some kind of farmer's market nearby."
That's what Mr. Satzewich and Ms. Vandersteen do, according to their website. He rents the land for Wally's Urban Market Garden (about 25 backyards totalling about a half-acre of growing area).
He grows the vegetables (sometimes three successful crops a year in the same backyard "field") on the rented land and sells them at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market.
On their SPIN website, Mr. Satzewich and Ms. Vandersteen say growing produce in the city can be easier because the environment is more manageable in terms of pests and wind control. They indicate it's possible to gross $50,000 a year from a half-acre.
Ms. Heighway wasn't calculating profit this year, but her door-to-door sales worked: It wasn't long before she had three clients, one offering 1,000 square feet in her yard, another, 800, and a third, 500. She has two more lined up for next spring.
"When I started knocking on doors it was July, and as the summer went on, I was happy I only had three" yards to work. Ms. Heighway has also converted her own yard to SPIN farming.
City Harvest, another Victoria-area SPIN operation, is run by Paula Sobie and Martin Scaia.They've been urban farming since early 2007. Unlike other business startups in an urban marketplace, their relationship with Ms. Heighway's Donald Street Farms is not competitive.
"Paula and Martin have been nothing but helpful. I went to hear them speak in July about converting backyards into food-producing gardens and it was inspirational. They've got more than a dozen locations and little kids at home. ... I've called Paula for help and she's always generous."
Ms. Heighway uses organic farming methods and says, "I don't dig." She builds her beds up; it's called "lasagna" farming. First she lays cardboard onto the plot to make any remaining grass or vegetation mulch-able. The cardboard decomposes under a layer of manure and then she adds a layer of topsoil.
"It's called no-till farming - it's easier than digging and you can plant immediately."
She uses a hand-seeding device to plant seeds in the rows, which have sawdust footpaths between them. That way the urban gardener can straddle the crop rows while working. Ms. Heighway said her adult children like to help when they come to visit "because they both have indoor, chained-to-the-desk jobs.
"It's still hard on the back," she grinned. "I'll be doing a lot of sit-ups this winter."
This being her first season, she doesn't yet have a solid estimate of her costs.
"It depends how much I can get for free, like the compost. Free is good. The topsoil is about $40 a yard. And looking ahead, I need a shed. And an outside fridge. And some kind of sink arrangement," she says thoughtfully, listing her operation's future needs on her fingers.
The fridge and the sink will allow her to progress to basic food processing and storage, having things fresh and ready for market sales and for subscriber distribution.
"I think it's so exciting, and it's such a contribution" to Vancouver Island being better able to feed itself and to "improve local food security" so people will feel confident about the safety of the food they eat.
Get the SPIN
For information about small-plot intensive - or SPIN - farming, turn to the experts.
Wally Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen, the pioneers of the movement in Saskatchewan, have produced a guide that also includes input from Roxanne Christensen of Pennsylvania. The material covers what's needed to start "sub-acre" farming, and the authors are only an e-mail away if prospective farmers have questions.
Visit http://www.spinfarming.com for information.
Moira Dann