The Littlest Greenhouse

I ( very conveniently ) work at a hardware store. This gives me easy access to recycled materials like pallets ( for making planter boxes etc. ) and also affords me the ability to make odd things out of odds and ends. Today I made tiny little greenhouses with +Brian Assef out of clear plastic buckets. It took us about 15 minutes to make two & now Brian and his girlfriend have somewhere to start seeds safe from their cats and frost.

This is the bucket with proposed venting holes marked.

 Brian drilling the holes.

Taking a break in a shopping cart.

The finished product.

As I said before, it only took about 15 minutes and was made entirely from recycled materials. Voila, the littlest greenhouse. 

*Update

Only 10 days after planting +Brian Assef is seeing results from his micro greenhouse.

We will be giving more updates later from Brian's really little & tiny farm. 

Until then here is a video of Brian working hard...

 

Poultry Killing Cones Construction

Found this brilliant and simple design on +Youtube for a chicken "killing cone". Don't worry if you are weak of gut.. there is no chicken killing in this video.

Such a long list...

Dear Santa,
     I know it's ridiculous to complain about the weather in California... but please bring spring. 

Sincerely, The Littlest Farm 


It is ridiculous to complain about the weather here but there is so much work to do and so little time in the day.
Planter Boxes to build.
A new compost bin.
Prepare for Chickens.
Seeds to order.
Set up a new water capture ( which includes installing gutters ).



It can seem really overwhelming at points but damn if it isn't also exciting as all hell.

Immediately after the holidays it's time to get down to serious work. Spring is soon. I'm going to build a workshop - and then start building things in there.

Growing in Straw Bales

We have been doing a lot of research into growing in straw bales. It is a brilliant way to garden organically when you are short on space.
People we have talked to with experience have grown primarily root vegetables but I am finding there are endless options.
It is a great alternative to planter boxes.

From what we understand straw bales are better than hay bales because hay bales contain seeds and you would essentially be importing weeds into your garden voluntarily.
They can support tall plants so corn, tomatoes and vine beans are possible.
The bales make great compost after harvest.

Anyone have any experience? Tips or tricks let us know...

You can follow us on Facebook and Google+  

Starting Seeds

It can be a challenge getting seeds to start on any given day and even more of a challenge in the winter.

In our tiny little home we don't have the space to start seeds inside so creative solutions were needed.

Meghan re-purposed an old shower curtain and used some scrap wood leftover from a previous project and built this awesome mini greenhouse.

When we woke up this morning it was 38 degrees outside but it was nice and toasty in our seed started box. The greenhouse has even accelerated germination on some plants. Seeds that were supposed to take 2 weeks to pop out of the ground were peeking little leaves in just a week. It's amazing what you can do with what might otherwise be garbage. 

Shrooming

 Had a nice little hike today. We have had a decent amount of rain here in the East Bay of California which means mushrooms... sometimes.

While Meghan & I were out we found an endless supply of mushrooms but having no experience with determining how edible they were ... we brought home nothing.

Nothing but awesome pictures and a desire to learn more about mushrooms.

Have any tips, resources or instructions for mushrooming in NORCAL? Let us know in the comments. 

In the beginning there was dirt & seeds.

Welcome to The Littlest Farm blog. We are Meghan and Lucas, urban farmers in the making.

Working with a roughly 45 square foot growing area ( plus some other creative solutions ) we hope to be celebrating a bountiful harvest at this time next year.

Our initial growing area

We also have plans for a 63 square foot chicken run, a rabbit, some bees ( we hope ) and a separate garden for growing both medicinal and culinary herbs. 

Proposed chicken run

The flower and herb garden

As you can see we have a lot of work ahead of us but it should be fun and eventually very delicious. Be sure to join us on Google+ for lots of pictures and bonus projects.