Guide to Winter Growing
When the days shorten and the remainder of the natural world goes into hibernation, we continue to need quality local food. Winter farming is key to maximizing productivity of small urban farming spaces. The vigorous summer cycle takes a lot out of the soil and winter gives us the chance to rejuvenate our soils by aerating, adding compost and feeding the soil food web. We do this without interrupting our crop rotation or planting schedule, as we transition to winter crops. We also transition from production for farmers markets to our winter CSA.
ECO City Farms is one of the few year-round farms in our region. We are committed to learning, innovating and continuing to develop successful strategies for winter growing. This involves using appropriate tools for the urban farmer, including hoophouses, row covers, coldframes, geothermal and compost heat. We also must choose the most appropriate and productive plants for the winter harvest and market our winter produce in ways that work for the farm and the consumer. Read on for more about how we are incorporating all these strategies at our Edmonston farm in 2011-2012.
Read MoreECO City Farm in Bladensburg
ECO City Farms will be opening a second location.
”$25,000 to ECO City Farms of Edmonston, Md., will initiate the first phase of planning and construction to open an urban farm in Bladensburg, Md. The new farm will operate on 3.5 acres of land at Autumn Woods, a low-income housing complex, making it the second urban farm in the Port Towns.”
Click here to read the press release at Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch.
Read MoreKitchen is Taking Shape!
Our commercial processing kitchen is under construction! Take a look!
Volunteer Survey
As the year comes to a close we are looking for some feedback on how we are doing with our community. Please take 5 minutes to take our survey. Your feedback will help us improve our volunteer program for you and the Port Towns Community.
Read MorePhoto Essay of November
Christian masters the tilling stilts aka broadfork as we build out more beds in the hoophouses
Mural Keeps getting better
Aquaponics: The New Frontier
Eco City Farms recently received a small aquaponic system as a donation. “What is aquaponics?” you might ask. I asked the same question a year and a half ago.
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (farming fish) with hydroponics (growing plants in water). Using this combined farming method, you only need to feed the fish in the system—the plants are actually fed by fish waste, which is converted by bacteria into nitrates, a building block that plants need to grow. This serves a dual purpose—it allows safe recapture of what would be considered “waste” in a fish farm and creates a second food product. It also allows recycling of water that would have been contaminated and disposed of in both aquaculture and hydroponics, by naturally pulling effluent out of the water. In this way, aquaponics is cleaner and greener than both aquaculture and hydroponics.
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