Hopeful Farm Part 2: Organic Produce Donated to Local Food Banks

In 2012 when I moved back to Oregon, I lived on a farm and had grown organic produce and donated most of it to local food banks. Then, due to job loss, I had to leave the farm and live in my car. 

Back in December, 2012, when it was 22 degrees outside (and inside my car, since I had no heat), the last thing I was thinking about was farming. But time and circumstances were fortunate to me, and the place I moved to after I secured a job was...on a farm!

My generous Kickstarter backers had given me enough of a boost to make it happen; you can read about the preliminaries here: http://www.carliving.org/2013/01/hopeful-farm-2013-all-produce-to-be.html

People come to look at the vegetable garden and are amazed. It was a lot of work only in the sense of the setup/layout--once you have everything structured and arranged, it's easy to maintain each year thereafter if you keep the same setup. I do not have any agricultural training or any kind of green thumb. You literally mulch and compost, put the plants in the ground and water them, and Nature takes over without your help.

Here are some before and after photos:

From the start, expenses HAD to be kept to a shoestring. I could not afford fertilizer, and refused to use bug spray, so I mulched and composted weekly. I was lucky, because the property owner is a landscaper by trade, so he always brought in an endless supply of leaves and grass clippings. This eliminated the need for weeding, as I would never garden if I had to spend any serious amount of time weeding. I think I maybe pulled one weed a week out of the garden, and that was because I was bored. Usually I just dumped more mulch on top of the very few weeds I did see, and that took care of the problem.

The most fortunate part of all was that the property is not only on a well, but it also has flood irrigation rights. This project would have been IMPOSSIBLE if I had to rely on city water, as the cost would have been prohibitive.

The seed had been saved from the farm the previous year, or had been bought years prior, and stored in my storage unit over the dreadful, homeless winter. A little (such as the corn) was purchased from Territorial Seed Company here in Oregon. A neighbor gave me a lot of year-old seed packets as well, for things such as spinach and cilantro. I also raided his chicken coop over the winter for chicken manure as well. I did have to purchase a couple of sprinklers and nozzles, as the ones on site were broken or slated for other use.

Most of the farm equipment such as hoses and hand tools were already on site, or had been given to the property owner over the season. At one point, he scored an extra wheelbarrow and metal cart for hauling! A new home was built down the street from the farm, so there was lots of fill dirt for compost, plastic sheeting, buckets and cardboard (weed barrier) free for the hauling. New home construction waste is a gardener's best friend!

So far, over 125 pounds of organic produce from the farm has been donated to local food banks such as ACCESS Medford, Talent Food Bank, and Ashland Emergency Food Bank. Donations included cucumbers, corn, beans, hot peppers, swiss chard, parsley, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, celery, basil, green onions and a few bell peppers. The bulk of the winter squash, giant heirloom tomatoes, regular tomatoes, more hot peppers and most of the bell peppers have not ripened yet, so there's plenty more on the way when they do.

Box of produce and bag of lettuce being prepped for delivery to the Ashland Food Bank

Almost 50 pounds of produce donated to AEFB in a single week! That's prolific!

Everything wasn't a total success though. The bok choy and cauliflower bolted from the July 100+ degree weather, and the Brussels sprouts never happened. I still have some January King cabbage waiting for the first frost in about a month and a half.

Right now, the ground is being prepared with tillage/cover crop radishes for next season. A limited amount of lettuce, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and snow peas will be grown for fall/winter donation until the weather kills them. I would like to work on a coldframe or greenouse to grow for the food banks overwinter, when demand for fresh, organic vegetables is highest.

But even though I'm not homeless anymore, any day I could have to leave again due to a volatile employment situation just like last year, and start all over somewhere else. That's the very real risk when you don't own the place you live. You don't want to invest in greenhouses and infrastructure, only to have to abandon it. 

So for now, I'll see what the fall and winter brings, and work with what I have.

Meanwhile, check out the Plant a Row for the Hungry program from the Garden Writers Association. They were the inspiration behind my first-ever garden in 2005--when the program was little-known and barely 3 years old--and still are today. From their website:

"Since 1995, over 16 million pounds of produce providing over 60 million meals have been donated by American gardeners. All this has been achieved without government subsidy or bureaucratic red tape — just people helping people.

Launched in 1995, Plant A Row is a public service program of the Garden Writers Association and the GWA Foundation. Garden writers are asked to encourage their readers/listeners to plant an extra row of produce each year and donate their surplus to local food banks, soup kitchens and service organizations to help feed America’s hungry.

There are over 84 million households with a yard or garden in the U.S. If every gardener plants one extra row of vegetables and donates their surplus to local food agencies and soup kitchens, a significant impact can be made on reducing hunger."

Top 5 Car Living Expenses That Will Rapidly Deplete Your Savings

The fact that you're living in your car means you're already on thin ice and on the brink financially. One major financial blow and you're practically done for. These are the top 5 expenses that can push you over the edge. If you're fortunate enough to be able to plan for them before you begin car living, it's to your considerable advantage.

1. Gas and car insurance. Unfortunately, gas is creeping very close to $4 a gallon in the U.S. for the forseeable future. Car insurance, luckily, can be paid monthly in small amounts, or in advance for a discount. Remember, if your car gets towed because you don't have insurance, you're homeless and on the streets.
2. Laundromats. If you can find a friend or family member who is willing to let you do your laundry for free, you'll save the $5-$10 weekly cost of trying to keep things clean. Try to purchase laundry supplies from dollar stores, or buy them on sale in stores rather than at the laundromat, where the cost is excessive.
3. Medical bills or vet bills. Of course anyone can go to the emergency room for something dire, but if you are diabetic or have another chronic condition, medical expenses can eat you alive. Many cities have free clinics where medical needs can be addressed for free or nearly free. The catch is, you have to wait for the scheduled day they serve the public, or make an appointment, prolonging the time until your medical problem can be addressed. If your state has public health insurance, see if you can enroll prior to becoming homeless. Many of them have very long waiting lists, so the sooner you apply, the better.
4. Equipment. This includes items like heaters in the winter, and solar fans in the summer. Or a decent sleeping bag.
5. Unforeseen expenses. This is a huge category, that can include car repairs, money for a motel room during extreme weather, or police tickets for speeding, parking or vagrancy.

You'll have enough planned expenses to have to pay for (gym membership, storage), let alone have to scrape up the cash to handle emergencies. Thinking ahead helps a lot, but luck, unfortunately, which you can't control, will also play a major role.