Never take what you don’t earn and give what you can, said Josh Christian, standing in his garden in the Doling Neighborhood.
That’s the spirit behind the fruits of his labor- an impressive, hand-built sprawl which is practically an urban homestead. Christian is able to grow much of what his family eats and has enough to spare to parcel produce out to the neighbors and donate to the homeless. A lack of livestock prevents him from being a true urban homesteader, but he lives by many of the tenants of homesteading: sustainability.
According to the National Gardening Association, 1 in 3 Americans grows a portion of their food.
Urban homesteading has been a growing trend for years and many feel it’s good for communities. In Kansas City, there’s a Missouri Homesteading Authority that turns blighted properties into neighborhood assets by buying the properties and selling them at discounted prices to homeowners and investors who are committed to improving the community.
For Josh, it’s a labor of love that connects him with his family and with neighbors. His wife Angel works alongside him and his three sons help harvest.
In a small yard—Josh lives in a rented home—he has managed to grow 18-20 varieties of plants from watermelons to blackberries and green beans.
He put in 125 tomato plants which yielded 400 to 500 pounds of fruit. His wife Angel canned and made homemade pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes, and of course gave some away.
The garden itself is an example of pure ingenuity. Josh built the raised beds out of heat treated pallets which is an important distinction because chemically treated pallets can seep chemicals into the soil, he said.
Under his raised beds, he laid down contractor grade carpet with no sealants or stain prevention. You don’t want Stainmaster, for example, because that type of carpet is heavily treated with chemicals which could leach into the soil and your food supply.
The bed of carpet helps keep out moles and weeds.
Then he makes what Josh calls a “hoop house.” He uses PVC pipe to create the arches over the raised beds. Those are covered in chicken wire to act as a trellis for climbing vines like tomatoes and green beans.
Old tires serve as some plant beds. And a dilapidated piano that he got for free at a garage sale now doubles as his outdoor gardening tool bench.
His gardening is a mix of three cubic yards of Spahagnum peat moss to cotton burr compote and a-third mix of top soil.
There’s a homemade compost machine made out of barrels, a post from a chain link fence and homemade handle to turn it. Josh built his for $45 to $50 in materials (compare to $150-$300 to buy one). His compost is highly efficient, too: most piles take six to nine months to compost, his is done in three because it concentrates the heat and stays moist. Josh turns it every other day.
The 32-year-old learned farming basics from his grandfather who had a cattle farm in northern Polk County, and maintained a large garden. The rest Josh picked up from reading urban homestead blogs from people in the United States and Africa which are focused on sustainable practices.
Even though it’s not a community garden, the Christian family has certainly shared their excess with many in the community.
Of his bounty of lettuce this summer, he gave away three-fourths of his yield.
“I gave some to two homeless people and they took it and ate it like it was heaven,” Josh said.
He has a soft spot for homeless people, particularly veterans, as Josh found himself practically homeless after a tour in Iraq. He signed up for the Army Reserves just before Sept. 11, 2001 and has served several tours overseas.
After Iraq, he was living in a trailer on family land with no electricity, unemployed and drinking, when he reached out to an old friend from Hillcrest High School via MySpace.
Angel was her name and in some ways she become his angel. He credits her, now his wife, with helping getting his life together. They married a month before he was shipped off to Afghanistan.
Josh now works for Burrell Behavioral Health and Angel is employed at Walmart. They have one son together, Micah, and Josh has two boys from a previous marriage.
The garden is organic because when the boys come outside or a neighbor comes over to help harvest, Josh wants them to be able to pluck a tomato off the vine and pop it in their mouth without worrying about washing it off.
Jean Ackley is a master garden who has lived in the Doling neighborhood for 18 years. She has seen an increase in the popularity of organic gardening whether it is individual or a community-based garden.
“For one thing they don’t want chemicals on their food. If they grow it organically they know what they are eating is not causing cancer,” Ackley said.
Ackley loves the feel of the neighborhood.
“I like that we have more of a country atmosphere. We don’t have neighborhood associations that govern everything we do, but we still keep our yards nice, people are friendly, and we are close to being in the country without being there,” she said.
Ackley has been gardening her entire life- a skill she learned from her grandmother and aunt. While she’s grown flowers, fruits and vegetables for most her life, for the past five years, she has shifted to pollinator garden.
About six years ago she noticed there were no pollinators in her garden and that is because Roundup and other commonly used chemicals kill milkweed which attracts Monarchs and is a food source for them.
“I want to have butterflies and bees for my grandkids and great grandkids, so I raise a lot of milkweed,” Ackley said. “This year we ended up with 15 varieties of butterflies in our yard. I’m so excited all the work I’ve done is paying off.”
And the Christian family’s hard work has paid off, too.
On an early fall evening, his chicken wire trellises were covered in dangling green beans and tomatoes. Micah, walked under a canopy of hanging green beans, picked some and handed them to his mom.
“I like helping” he said.
Josh says their dream is to one day own a farm.
Want to know more?
Josh Christian is happy to share what he knows about gardening with anyone who is interested. If you have a question or are starting your own garden, look him up on Facebook under Joshua Christian. He will be happy to answer questions and work together.
Jean Ackley, master gardener who lives in Doling Neighborhood, also heads up the Delaware Community Garden where volunteers help work the garden in exchange for some produce. Springfield is home to many community gardens including the Springfield Community Garden organization. Since its inception in 2010, it has grown each year and is making a difference in the community. In 2015, working with Ozarks Food Harvest, they distributed more than 100,000 pounds of produce to families in need, and volunteers logged more than 6,500 hours in SCG gardens. If you’re interested in starting a community garden in the Doling Neighborhood, check out this website for information and resources: springfieldcommunitygardens.org
Interested in Urban Homesteading?
There are many blogs out there, but this one is considered an authority and receives millions of visitors a month: www.UrbanHomestead.org