Almost two years ago, we bought our house on a half acre of land. We completely fell in love with our tiny home and nice front yard. The backyard was a nightmarishly different story. Almost 15,000 square feet of yard lay tangled in a web of running bamboo. The only time we ventured through the poison ivy filled bamboo grove was to catch one of our dogs who escaped to get a better view of the neighbors chickens.
Now while a bamboo eating panda was out of the question, I was lucky enough to be born to a gracious and loving father with a knack for land clearing. What happened when my father, coupled with his best friend arrived with a giant excavator and ten 40 cubic yard dumpsters was nothing short of a landscape miracle. After 3 days of sweat filled work, all of the bamboo had been removed and cut back. What was left was a blank canvas, a ¼ acre of nothing but rock, soil, and uneven land.
The question everyone was asking, “What are you going to do now” haunted us. Well, “we don’t really know yet,” “we don’t want to rush into things, “ and a “giant Olympic size swimming pool with fountains, water slides, maybe even a mermaid or two,” were all indefinite answers.
After three months of sitting on this land I was struck with an idea, why not use the land we have to make a positive change in the environment, our lives, and most importantly other people’s lives. I didn’t want it to be a field of grass that just sat there and looked nice. I wanted it to serve a purpose. And that day the idea of Uprooted Bamboo Farms was born.
It is a simple idea in theory. Turn our backyard into a sustainable urban farm from just a bare plot of ¼ acre land. This is a whole new experience for me and while I learn the ropes, I’m going to let you in to see my successes, my failures, my embarrassing mistakes and my triumphant first egg or cucumber. Hopefully we will all learn something from each other in the process.
The first year I will be building a chicken coop, a farm shed, and hopefully produce enough vegetables and eggs to feed our family and also feed at least ten families in need with a box of produce and eggs a week for as long as our growing season will allow. In the second year, I hope to expand it by adding more families and start a community supported agriculture program in our neighborhood. Hopefully in the third year and beyond we can inspire others while continuing to grow, learn, and challenge people to eat healthy and learn to grow on their own land. The ideas are endless and I hope to challenge myself by making these ideas a reality.
