Farm+Army=Farmington Jones & the Post Crash Posse

going to seed.

2010-09-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

this was a visit to the farm after josh had been away for a full week. things were more than a little unruly but he was quick to explain that he's not interested in obsessively weeding and maintaining a sense of order like a conventional farm. he appears to enjoy the wildness of it all. he showed off some of his seed crops (see the radish seed pods?) and dispensed fatherly life advice to my son. (ha.) he set me up with a basket of food and hacked off a sunflower for my kid. (doesn't his shiny soccer jersey shirt thing just ruin the whole pastoral feel of all these photos? oh well, free clothes from grandma, i'm not going to complain)

summer was so wet and mild, things never really went crazy for anyone. i've only gotten one red tomato out of 7 plants and a handful of red cherry tomatoes. i'm going to keep following the farm over the winter to see how they do.

one thing that i think is difficult to see from these types of photographs is the scale of the operation- it's really just a large residential lot. he is experimenting with different types of planting to maximize the space, like inter-planting different things in the same row. he has a couple of other locations, like the yard with the chickens in it- really just someone's large flaglot of a backyard, they let him plant some of his crops there.

oh yeah he also has a small market stand somewhere on upper hawthorne. i'll get the details and post them here.

oh yeah! and, my friend letterpressed a flyer for them:

that is all, thank you!

mid-summer.

2010-07-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Portland has had an unusually cool summer, with things only recently warming up. The farm is doing as well as it can be, lots of beets (my son and I were sent home with an armload) lots of chard. They're using salvaged black plastic pipes as planters to keep the soil nice and warm.

Josh is working out plans for weekly produce pickups and is hoping to approach local food carts for produce delivery. The first bee hive didn't make it, but they have 2 more set up now, one with a swarm captured on the farm site. I want honey!

I'm selfishly hoping that the summer stretches long enough to give us some semblance of tomato season- my backyard prospects are looking pretty pitiful but the farm is looking okay.

Will return as soon as possible!

salvaging

2010-05-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

I stopped by the farm yesterday to drop off a drawing for Josh and to see how things are coming along. He's gotten a lot done in the last month.

Lettuces are thriving, chard and spinach are ready to harvest for baby greens. Long rows punctuate the rocky lot, and burlap sacks are pathways between each plot.

After letting some of the greens go to seed (uh, on accident?) he is shrugging it off and letting the bees make use of the flowers. (Oh hey, there are bees now.)

The snap peas are thriving on bamboo trellises made from twine & salvaged bamboo rods. Almost all of them stood up to recent storms that brought heavy winds, but one started to tip over.

Bees are already a reality, and I'm looking forward to some honey whenever I can get my grubby hands on a jar.

This coop was dismantled at its previous location and is in the process of being reassembled here at the farm- Josh expects to have at least 10 chickens laying.

We spent some time discussing salvaged materials. Josh has a hookup at a large local coffee distributor (no, not the one my husband works for) and he is getting large bags of chaff (the thin husk that is a byproduct of roasting beans- it practically floats right off the beans) which he is using for mulch. He's also getting burlap sacks to create pathways, and large (and small) plastic containers that once held flavorings for coffees.

He sent me on my way with a bag of chaff for my own garden and a promise of an armload of spinach the next time I pop in. I'm certainly holding out for eggs and honey, but until then I'll pick over the greens and enjoy watching the snap peas crawl up their trellises.

Welcome!

2010-04-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Velocifeed is an Urban Farm project helmed by Joshua Dodds. Located on a lot in a close-in SE Portland neighborhood that was previously abandoned and left vacant for over 30 years, the farm aims to sustain locals and provide opportunities to barter goods and services for people in the neighborhood and beyond. We will follow the farm throughout the growing season, providing insight into the inner workings of a small farm operation and an online base to get in touch about barter and trade. Thanks for visiting!