Starting a Farm in the City: Challenges and Rewards 

We lived in the county and had a nice garden, chickens, turkey and goats. Then, 11+ years ago, we were hit by an EF5 Alabama tornado. The state wanted our property and we had to find a new place. There was so much loss of housing, we had to act quickly to purchase a place to live. We located a log cabin on a one-acre lot that is mostly tree covered hill, but it had a tiny 1/4 acre flat area surrounded by little streams in an older city limit neighborhood. We purchased it and discovered the city allowed every agricultural animal except swine so we moved our chickens and turkey that survived, sold our goats and moved in. It is a small lake community and within a few weeks, a neighbor from the other side of the lake was walking her dog and saw the chickens. She immediately called the city to complain, and they sent out the dog catcher. He admitted he had never had to deal with chickens in the city and looked up the codes before coming to our property. He saw we were in code and they sent a notice to the woman to not harass us that we were within city code. Our next-door neighbor through the woods had grown up on a farm and loved waking up to a rooster again. Another neighbor had boys who loved having the opportunity to come visit the chickens and they also got chickens. I noticed about a year ago, another house in the neighborhood had set up a coop in the back of their house and had begun a garden. Our front yard now has pear, plum and peach trees. Muscadine vines, several blueberry bushes, a tiny garden and a chicken house with a large run and all of this is surrounded by 6 little streams coming out of the hill and down to the community lake. We had a young family move in a couple of years ago, and their now almost 4 year old began eating our eggs and blueberries at age 18 months. He rejects store bought eggs and blueberries. The man is a chiropractor and we give them eggs and blueberries in exchange for chiropractor treatments for my husband. As one person or couple has the guts to bring in change, others will follow. Bravo to this couple for being brave and pushing the limits of what land and home ownership means and pushing the govt to change their laws.

Farming certainly ties you to one spot. It becomes difficult to visit my grandchildren, all of my Saturdays are tied up at the farmers market. My 65 year old body is spent by the end of the day. The rewards are often things like the appreciation of my customers or watching the pleasure on the face of a child eating a fresh ripe blackberry.

This woman is awesome. I dig her "we're going to do this and nothing will stop us" attitude. Right on!

Her hat, his laugh and those clothes line drying made this video GOLD!! I love what they are doing!! I am about crazy enough to do the same!! I really enjoyed the other video you did with them too!

Love the way Brooke can let it rip! Especially about the soil. I think we’re kinfolk somehow! I was the crazy gung-ho soil fanatic around here that was experimenting and striving for this 20something years ago-would literally chase down Asplundh trucks. 😅 Could NEVER make enough compost and always wanted to pick up peoples leaves. Even my hubby thought I was a little overboard. I had no one willing to listen to my excitement. Albeit, it was because they all used the tiller 20 times throughout the garden season, loaded on the sevin and synthetic fertilizers. BAM! 😄 They never covered their soil or prepped for extended season gardening or for winter protection. It took a bit! Their gardens did look better than mine for a time, but I wasn’t about to give up. Lol, never did things the easy way. Although, at 54, I am now seeking the ways. 😅 Keep the energy flowing! Thanks for sharing more of their farm.

I really appreciate their honesty about how the labor of market scale farming can really burn you out year over year. There is a reason that so much of the produce we eat in the USA still relies on plantation style dynamics with large groups of migratory workers, or the mid to large scale farming cooperatives that still produce a lot of Mexico's fruits. At the end of the day farming is always a group activity, and the smaller the number of people you have the more it takes out of the individual members even if it is easier to coordinate fewer people.

I think Brooke does a great job of reflecting on how you evolve as a farmer...really some great insights into how their thinking about what's the right way to do things would change, and they seemed to have constantly adapted and improved in so many areas surrounding the farm..awesome stuff

Wow, this couple is living and working exactly the way I've been thinking about using my 6 acres. Everything is almost the same situation. Very inspiring.

Anything with Brooke and Dan.... Thumbs up!!!! I visited the previous farm in the burbs! That was EPIC!!! We left KCMO before we were able to see this go... They are SO INSPIRING! They really have no idea how empowering they really are, falling forward and keeping going...

These two are amazing people! I love the laughter and honesty they speak about all of it! It’s awesome to know they are a hr from me …. I hope to get to this level someday with our farm.

Study the pattern language of your environment then design into creation what your vision is. Navigating the system takes finesse. This farm is a prime example of using your attributes to bend the “rules” for the betterment the community you reside in. Well done!

Brooke and Dan are doing a great job. They are a very hard-working and smart couple.

What a pair of superheroes What a great city to let this happen. You should all be very proud of your selves. A very inspirational story Don't beat yourself up too much about your son being 10-years-old and he spent most of his childhood helping you in the fields. When he grows up he'll think it was the most wonderful childhood being with mum. And I can say that because I spent many years working for the man to make money to make a better a better childhood for my children but unfortunately I didn't realise that all I had to do was be around them for them to have a great childhood .Not away working all the time😢. Well I'll do better with the grandkids 😊 So lesson learned

I remember, when I was stationed in W. Germany in the late 70s, we lived in the US housing area and our living room window looked out over German farms that abutted the housing area. There were no fences, so it was really quite nice.

Really love their passion and attitude. Great idea and beautiful to see it working. I'm watching this from New Zealand hoping to start my own small farm like this too.

Love your spirit both of you taking care of the soil and feeding people with healthy food that's the way greetings from an organic farmer from Easter Island

That head wrap beanie hat looks like the coolest children's story book prop that I've ever seen in any book I've read to my daughter - I love that!

I used to be a no till purists as well but till or no till I care about the biology in the soil. As long as biology is strong erosion will be eliminated with bare soil due to biology holding soil together. Granulated sugar application to soil can speed up microbes and bypass waiting for cover crops to pump sugar into soil.

I can’t imagine starting a farm they way they did! It’s hard enough with all the equipment and utility access! Hats off to them for determination. Very inspiring. Definitely can relate to the heavy clay soil problem. Clay soil has a lot of nutrients if you can keep it loose enough for the plants to access those nutrients. I’m working about an acre plot that is next to a creek. Half the land is heavy clay and the other half sandy clay loam. There is an almost straight line boundary between the two. I think in the distance past the creek was much more of a small river an that’s why so far back from the existing bank is sandy. Compost, compost, compost! It’s the name of the game.

All this no-till growing is freakin awesome. I wish I could have these guys as my neighbors. I would totally welcome them.

I don't know if I hate her hat or absolutely love it!

These folks are cool in so many ways! Thank you for sharing. "No tools Required, but it sure does help" 😂🤣😂🤣 Love it ❤️

I can't tell you how great this was to hear about. Blew my mind! This is incredible!!!

Oh my gosh sister, I just found my spirit animal, LOL. I am 65 years old and I talked my husband into moving out to the country about 30 years ago. He had lived in town his whole life. We bought an acre and a half with a old run-down old farmhouse. I will say people thought we had lost our minds. But looking back I would not change a thing. We now have two greenhouses , looking to get chickens this summer and have numerous raised beds and Gardens. I cannot even imagine the challenges that you go up against living in an urban setting. But after watching this video I'm quite sure you will find a way. Good Vibes and prayers coming your way

Excellent video, very inspiring and insightful. Specifically dealing with clay soil which we have on our property here in Idaho. I was on the city planning commission where we used to live and know first hand that ordinances can be changed by a small handful of residents that are willing to be the squeaky wheel. It helps if the requested changes are common sense. By ordinance there you could not have chickens, listed as a "farm animal", but you could have up to 10 dogs on the property. Chickens are now allowed, unfortunately by CUP and subject to inspections and a paid annual permit.

These kids are wonderful and they’re a hop skip and jump from The K and Arrowhead. Will make it a priority to visit on our next trip to Branson which takes us through KC. Enjoyed this very much

If she has organic hayfields that have moldy hay she should switch over to that on the bottom. People also overlook cardboard. we are paid to process and take in cardboard. Which is a recent change since china won't take our bad sorts. Amyway we are paid to take it and the hay is always on the bottom. Then we put a layer of shredded cardboard and ground leaf. It works really well. Sometimes if we get it for free which is (RARE) we put straw on top to make it look pretty. (also we make it look pretty during wedding season) Because people take pictures.

Oh my gosh you all your farm is beautiful. Thank you for your vision and for sharing

these two are awesome 😂😂

I identify with her in a lot of what she tells!!! Here in Argentina with 7% inflation monthly is quite complicated to grow

I love this video and couple so much. Livin' their best life? I think so. Have a great day nerds!

Great video, very encouraging, their enthusiasm is great

Per what you're saying there at 27 min. on having started out with no initial tillage at all : While I'm appreciative of the idea to avoid being too idealistic or whatever, & to be aware of the pros of the option, I'm personally not wanting to do that initial tillage for most crops, and on any kind of soil ( I've been on heavy clay and now am on compacted, very dead sand), and in I imagine basically any climate but esp. dry to medium. I'd be definitely interested to doing a side-by-side comparison when we move to our own property again, hopefully by next year. And I would use a broadfork whenever possible. I agree, leaves are "da bomb" . Not a huge fan of straw, love hay, like woodchips ( have had good goin with both).I too have had good success using even very little compost to get started with. Things like squash esp. are very handy to start a new, very sub-par area and yet get a lot of food out of the space, with very little compost. Ideally I'd probably try putting chickens in the area 1st, densly, then cover with a mulch, then black plastic on top of that for a while, to kill off the grasses and any weeds seeds the rest of the way, while growing hills of squash etc. . I bake an extra squash or so for the chickens in the winter, when doing one for us, so It's also a way to grow winter livestock feed.

still amazed what kind of context Americans are willing to call "urban" :D very cool looking farm though

So many people see clay as the devil of soils whereas the reality of it is conditioned well you sit on a gold mine of nutrients and when you go in drought periods clay soil will help you carry you through.

I love them so much. They are so awesome, it's comes through. Kool people ❤❤❤❤

Really cool. I, too, would choose to do as much ( besides micro-greens, salads etc. ) as I could, just to show what regenerative farming practices can do, how much more healthy and pleasant they can be, etc. . On the deer fence, you've got me curious as to what the legal hight limits had been... . I'm sure you'd want to just ensure it's high enough all at once and be done with it, but I'm wondering because I've been successful at 2 different locations with keeping the deer out without the fence being any taller than 7 ft., the one place and which wasn't all fence ( top foot or so was open air with a line of twine at the top, ran to/through T-post extensions my husband created using pvc pipes and screws and slits or holes), and at the other, no taller than 6 ft. at the most. We'd yet to add the extensions to the whole perimeter, when we realized that by the one corner/part of side, there was a knoll right outside the fence, where the deer could easily jump over even our extension. So, we ended up putting up an electric wire a few feet out from the other fence, on 2 sides (and closer /basically on the fence on the other 2, as it was the existing property line fence we couldn't really go beyond. If necessary we could ask the neighbors, but it ended up not being necessary so far, and this is a temp. loc. for us). We'd remembered that one type of fence deer don't like jumping/don't think they can, is a double fence, so, that's the point of that one. I already had the old, used, rebar electric fence posts and wire on hand, and we are borrowing a fencer a brother wasn't using, and hooked it up to a battery my husband got for free and a solar panel from Harbor Freight. I would otherwise have just gotten a solar fencer. They are so handy, I grew up with one on our dairy farm. So, electric fence only 2 to 3 ft. high and about 3 ft. out from the main fence. No more aggressive, nursing doe getting into my garden. Another way, in leu of a double fence maybe, would be for the outter one to be a ditch or row of thorny shrub roses, the same distance out... . Obviously, not great method (unless you have lotta $) for many acres ( or even one) but for large acreages, I would just fence around my new trees/guilds or something. IF that works... . Others have had success with guard dogs. These are just some ideas, I'm sure there's more out there too, for anyone else not yet having tackled this problem and wanting options !

Thanks for sharing! This was inspiring.

Awesome, I want one of those hats !

very good, in CA working with solid clay that even needed green mesh to prevent erosion/slippage of surface grass :D I've learned from my trees that the seeds germinate the best when there is a moist layer of leaves with which the seeds can germinate and stretch out easily, down and up - so, my steps.. when I'm planting: i'll lift my soil - for deep root prep - loose - fingers go in easily, then throw down saved leaves from last fall - about 2"(dried brittle and hand ground into a mulch for ease of distribution/weight), lay out my seeds, then cover with a bit of compost - 1-2"(to help square up the future stem) - and if in a super sunny area - more ground leaves to help the soil stay moist between watering. I've germinated 3 orange/5 lemon/tons of loquat trees this way (many others too, just excited about trees ;) ) - while many other methods i tried failed. I have to direct sow here because I find the amount of sun here makes it very difficult to acclimate plants to the outside if germinated inside - they usually frizzle and burn(dry). The ground up leaf layers also provide room for bulbs to push out with crops like onions. I notice my worms have doubled in size and vigor since doing this and they are drawn around the plants because of the leaves. So, save your tree leaves/forest fall because they know what they're doing. Appreciate all the education you're bringing. |

I thoroughly enjoyed the compost video.

Genius. Loved this. Very informative. Honest. Useful.

I remember crossing Germany by train in the 1960's, through the windows we were seeing market gardening happening right across bombed out industrial complexes not just outside the buildings but within the walls as well. These old factory walls were often four and five stories yet many veg crops growing within. I would like to point out that your city farm would not count as a city farm in Europe it would barely count as a suburban farm.

Congrats on this work..this woman is either passionate or really pyschotic...she talks too much and he jus laughs funny!❤

What defines “no till?” Because the farm looks very tilled. That being said, they are hero’s to me, including her hair/hat. I couldn’t do that. But love them! And by the way, are they drying their laundry or selling those clothes behind them? Because I’m a buyer if they’re selling. Message me!

🙏🏼 Enjoyed it!

What a great vid! Awesome Jesse!

The prime bit of information I take away from this video is that there are *WILDLY* different interpretations of "urban" and "city" depending on your circumstance.

This is the best TedTalk I’ve ever seen 🎉🎉

The hilled beds with wood chips in isles seems like it will do good with drought like conditions

I miss having Urbavore at the Brookside Farmers Market!

Yeah, you gotta have a mulch system that's way bigger in a the city. It should also be free. Also, free compost in the city within city limits for food projects. (don't care about no food base landscaping if it's free or not) Also reclamation restoration projects as well should be free compost.

Absolutely love this thank you

Great video. Am i the only one that thought, "Are they not a couple?" They may not be, but everything she said was "I." If they are a couple, or married, i find this troubling. Great farming story though.

Them still not being able to use a seeder in their clay is validating. I have to have a layer of compost to get mine to work without making a mess.

Thanks

It really shouldn't be so difficult, but you two are careful, you've shown you care about what you do, and to be honest, you have to admit, a lot of folks wouldn't be, they'd exploit the gaps that opening this type of living up would provide, such as not ensuring they're using clean drinking water, keeping pests under control, using unsafe electrical systems, generally reducing the value of neighborhoods, these are all things that can, and lets face it, probably would be major concerns if there weren't significant regulatory limitations in place. I am NEVER a fan of gate keeping, gate keeping only serves to kill off industries by bottle necking growth by disallowing new entries into an industry, but so does rampant disregard for human safety, health, and even just decency, so at the very least someone has to be paying attention and confirming health codes, building codes, food safety regulations are all being followed. The challenges you two faced I think are by in large down to the fact that you are breaking into a new idea, farming in the city, and as we all know governments are stiff, inflexible, slow to adopt change. As time progresses, provided this movement gains momentum governments would hopefully be inclined to purpose build new regulations around both off grid living, and inner city farming, perhaps making it so more people can push into the industry without jeopardizing it by allowing carelessness to run unchecked. As the practices you are following become more normalized and wide spread it will raise a need to streamline the approach, as well as open access to resources, like power generation systems, water pumping and reclamation systems, small scale farming tools and equipment (which I firmly believe is a VERY underrepresented type of tool out there), these systems and resources opening up to the greater public will be a good thing.

You’re awesome:) They’re awesome :)

Using a Cities waste system, how is the, let’s say unwanted waste dealt with? Say legal and illegal drugs, and various chemicals like drano and toilet bowl cleaners etc.

If your rezone your land what does that do to your property taxes?

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Wouldn't want to be them when things go south in the cities.

Sounds like the property chose you

Mary me, I make mountain of compost 🎉

Hi Jessie, saw that last week or 2 week ago, but that’s okay.

That field looks tilled...

Small mention, even though it is slower, you can have select trees from cleared land and you don’t have to spend as much on mulch. Just throw the whole log in and be patient. Continue with adding amendments but as that log breaks down below it will continue adding to the soil for years. The welsh use to make mounds with fallen trees and add a layer of limbs then dirt and plant to create some unique food forests that were easier to harvest from because it raised the soil levels. Creating swales to replenish water with little work as it they worked along. (Sigh 🥲) so beautiful.

Farming in suburbia... my response to city officials is "No." City: But you have to.... No. City: But you need a per- No.

The problem with farming in an urban setting (unless there were sufficient people doing it) is that come a disaster, everything you’ve grown will be devastated by desperate people. What’s good for market garden sellers is bad for people focused on growing for their family - population density. Also, I mean no offense but you will attract more people to this lifestyle if you don’t look totally dirty and homeless. Yes, we get dirty working in the dirty, but clean up for the interview.

Look what they did to farmers last time socialism took, root…