Lil Urban Farm

Day: April 13, 2025

  • Spring Harvest

    Spring Harvest

    Lil Urban Farm's spring harvest of leeks, cabbage, and carrots.
    Lil Urban Farm's Carrot Harvest

    Yesterday was one of my first big harvests for spring. 

    I’m getting ready to lose a lot of stuff to the bolting happening from our fluctuating weather, so I decided to grab a few items and thin some carrots while I can for a spring pot pie or soup. 

    I was delighted at the amount of stuff I was able to gather:

    – 3 huge leeks
    – A whole handful of baby carrots that look beautiful
    – A bunch of chopping celery 
    – A ton of collard leaves and some stalks (like broccoli raab)
    – 1 head of cabbage (and there’s one more out there I’m keeping my eyes on)
    – A small bunch of wild garlic

    It’s time to get cooking!

  • How to Make Biochar as a Beneficial Amendment for Garden Soil

    How to Make Biochar as a Beneficial Amendment for Garden Soil

    I’ve been researching about biochar for quite some time because it has so many incredible benefits for the garden. This is the basis behind “Terra Preta” (dark, fertile soil) known as Amazonian dark earth. The “charcoal” is stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients.

    I have looked into different ways to do this and finally settled on using my current burn barrels and a small garbage can I used in the chicken area where the bottom was rusting out. I bought a cheap pizza pan that fit right in, used a few Dollar Store garden hooks, and it worked great!

    The coolest part about biochar is that it is a carbon source that breaks down very slowly, so we are essentially holding the carbon for a longer period in the ground, which helps the environment by trapping those gases for longer. Of course, there is some carbon release in this process with the burning of the woody feedstocks, but that carbon would release with decay as well.


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