Reflections on Growing at the Edge of Two Seasons

Folks who see or hear about our little micro-farm here often say, “Oh I bet you’d love to live on more land out in the country somewhere.”  And while, yes, I’d love to have enough space for a dairy cow or two, I actually have this vision for the role that urban micro-farms can play in improving how we all eat and live, especially as our country’s context continues to grow more and more chaotic.

The quote above from Charles Eisenstein, along with Robin Wall Kimmerer’s elaboration on the quote in the book Serviceberry, recently got me thinking about how working an urban micro-farm is a lot like sitting in the transitional ecotone between two ecosystems.  In this case, one system is our existing, extractive and industrial food system, and the other is a more localized collection of diverse, smaller growers who are able to use regenerative growing practices due to the smaller scale.

A few years ago, I realized that I need not have to choose between a city-based, mortgage-paying, grid-relying existence and an off-grid homestead.  I realized that I could find ways to bring value to my family outside of  the income I earn from my “day job” (yes, I actually have one of those in addition to running this little farm)

By saving money on food costs and decreasing costs to grow food through starting our own seeds and making much of the compost we use, I’ve been able to add value.  This convinced me to shrink my “day job” employment a bit to a .8 situation, opening up one day each week where I can allocate time to care for this micro-farm. 

I’m not yearning to pack up my things and start homesteading out on some rural acreage. Instead, I hope to connect with, learn from, and inspire more local urban growers who want to join this transitional ecotone space between the industrial food system and a local network of urban micro farmers across the Denver and Aurora area.

If you are someone already growing or interested in growing, email me 1stavefarm@gmail.com or message me on Instagram @firstavefarm. I’d love to hear from you!