Urban farming for the subtropics

Urban farming for the subtropics. Michael Stillman 2015.

Urban Farming for the Subtropics

Various species of sweet potato growing in the happy, healthy & sustainable Muscovy duck yard. Everyone wants to grow vegetables but no one wants to eat seasonally Many people in urban areas are interested in sustainable small-scale city farming as a legitimate way to produce a portion of our food supply from our own backyards and community farms. Is it feasible, in the greater scheme of things, to produce all of what we eat? The most honest answer is no, however urban farming certainly has the potential to supply us with significant quantities of high quality produce and, in the process, provide other benefits that go beyond simply feeding ourselves. There is no denying the fact that we have food convenience like no previous generation, but at what cost? Due to our supermarket culture we have lost touch with where our food comes from, and have become oblivious to the simple fact that not everything will grow all year round. Our current food system has us convinced that we can have oranges, tomatoes, and potatoes, and just about anything else you care to mention NOW. The reality is that if we are to source our food locally, much of what we eat will be unavailable to us a lot of the time. This doesnt mean we have to limit ourselves to rations of common staples, it means we have to open our eyes to a more diverse choice of foods with a focus upon crops suited to our specific environments, in my case subtropical Queensland.


Not all climates are created equal different horses for different courses So, is it as easy as getting online or buying some gardening books and doing some research on urban farming? From my own research, information available to growers relates primarily to northern hemisphere and/or temperate climates with a reliance upon the tried and tested European ideologies of commercial and domestic growing that focus on culturally specific crops that do well in classic European environments. So what happens if you live in humid Brisbane and want to create a sustainable garden to produce vegetables and meat on a standard house block? If I plant kale and broccoli in spring it will be stripped to the bone by cabbage moths, and my broccoli will run to seed. The humidity, disease and pests of our region will decimate these classic European crops over the warmer months, in the process potentially breaking your gardening spirit. The subtropical gardener has vastly different environmental obstacles to contend with than his temperate climate counterpart. Gardening in a subtropical climate requires the grower to contend with high humidity and torrential downpours, spells of intense heat and drought, and the occasional violent storm. The subtropical gardeners prime growing period is often winter, and our summers can be one of the most difficult seasons for many traditional crops.


Pros and cons of a subtropical climate In many respects, the subtropical garden has its advantages (twelve months of potential growing being the most obvious) however traditional European crops of temperate regions may not do as well or grow at all under such conditions. A key factor, for instance, is average daily sun exposure for sensitive plants. Temperate states such as New South Wales and Victoria have much longer day lengths. Crops that are day sensitive (meaning certain day length needs to occur to trigger different developmental stages) such as onions, maize or some brassicas, may struggle from the insufficient daylight period in our region. We need to work with what we have and look outside our cultural box to see how people in subtropical regions of the planet manage adversity. In my opinion we need to learn from the farming cultures of Polynesia and Asia, the tried and tested indigenous crops and animal husbandry of these regions being the answer to working within our own environmental conditions.

Taro plants provide shade and great foraging for the ducks who will also eat the leaves. The tuber is boiled or baked as a starch in many communities of greater Asia and Polynesia. Over the past ten years I have attempted to create a garden space that would supply my family with some of our food. I have had many failures, and some great successes. From my experience the best crops to grow over our warmer months are tubers, sweet potato, winged and aerial yams. Pumpkins and bananas do incredibly well in our climate over the summer, as do hardy greens like Egyptian spinach and okra. Over cooler months we grew kale and green leafy vegetables, elephant garlic and onion varieties not sensitive to day length.


Animal husbandry for meat supply One thing that I have always believed is largely lacking in the urban farm is a good protein source. I have attempted a meat production element in my little micro-farm on a couple of occasions. Of course for some there is a moral dilemma in meat production - killing and eating something you raise. However, allow me to make this clear, these animals are here on my property for a purpose, not as pets. So for me there is no moral issue. I do not take pleasure in dispatching the animals that we eat, but I can say that their lives have been better than many animals we eat, and for me that is satisfying and justification enough for my actions. I first tried raising chickens with some success a few years ago, but council regulations meant having a rooster was problematic they were also extremely destructive creatures, destroying gardens if given the chance. I also had outbreaks of rodents which took some time to get under control. I then tried Japanese quail, which we bred and ate for a period of time. I found them to be very basic birds, with very little personality, and very nasty to each other. They have been kept and bred in captivity for so long that they have lost the natural instinct to sit on eggs, resulting in us having to collect and incubate sets every few weeks. I found the process very clinical, and never really warmed to the little birds.

Muscovy hen drinking and feeding from Lotus ponds.


Duck duck goose Id pretty much given up on the meat production side of things when I started doing some research on ducks. I was looking for a quiet bird that could produce eggs regularly, was a good meat producer, and would be happy living in subtropical Queensland on a standard house block. In the end there was one obvious choice - the Muscovy duck. More closely related to geese, these birds are quite large for ducks. They generally dont fly or quack, and make excellent mothers. A drake can weigh up to 10kg sometimes heavier, which is what you want in a meat bird, with a female duck weighing about half that. They are prolific egg layers, usually laying clutches of about eighteen eggs at a time. The meat of Muscovy ducks is leaner than normal commercial ducks, and is dark with a similar texture to good quality sirloin beef steak. Less dependent on water than other breeds, they are relentless foragers eating huge quantities of garden pests. In their native Central American habitat they keep fly and mosquito populations in check, but they also love munching snails and caterpillars and are also known for eating mice and rodents. Most importantly, they are nowhere near as destructive to the garden as chickens. You wont find them digging big dust bowls in the middle of your vegetable patch, and they wont kick your mulch all over the place or systematically pull every seedling out of your new bed. Muscovy ducks also require a lot less feed then chickens. Like geese, they eat a lot of grass, but also feed on seeds, weeds and bugs. If you watch them long enough, a big part of their day is spent foraging for food. Drakes tend to be a bit lazier and will hang around the grain bowl. They are also incredible natural fertilisers, generating large volumes of excrement. This may sound like a bad thing but remember while they are cruising around pooing they are improving your soil and gardens. I definitely recommend having a big area sectioned off for them, otherwise they tend to come right up to the house and poo on the concrete.

Some grain is provided for the ducks but most of their food is foraged in the gardens of grassed areas.


They really are quite social animals. They can be smelly, but no worse than chickens. If you allow them to free range and pursue a varied diet and provide them with a fresh clam shell of water to wash in, the smells will be kept to a minimum even in wet rainy weather when it can be at its worse. One piece of advice, do not feed them pelleted food. I equate this to junk food and, trust me, you can smell the difference. A concept is born Armed with this newfound knowledge of ducks, not only for meat and egg supply, but for pest management and fertilisation, I started thinking about a system. Drawing on my basic knowledge of permaculture and Polynesian and Asian subsistence farming, I began researching a Japanese organic system using duck production in symbiosis with commercial rice farming known as the aigamo method. I had a base point. My goal was to incorporate my interest in growing indigenous root crops and other hardy subtropical plants with free-range duck production on a small individual household scale. The aigamo method works on the principle that the ducks feed on the insects and pests that eat the rice as it grows, whilst simultaneously fertilising the rice paddies. The method also sometimes incorporates eels. This organic method was said to increase rice yields significantly while also producing good quality duck meat. For my application, we were growing terrestrial plants, my ducks were not a water dependent species, and I was focusing on native crops of subtropical regions. I was however still relying on the same principle at the basis of the aigamo method - that the ducks would forage and feed on pests, fertilise the garden, and all the while live a healthy and happy existence that would surely result in tasty birds.

Air potato Dioscorea bulbifera. Edible air potatoes can be used as a potato substitute, the climbing vines provide excellent shade and cover from predators.


Could I incorporate an organically principled food system that would maintain itself and yet still allow me to get yields under our harshest conditions? Although I am only in the early stages I believe I am on to a good thing. But how do you manage this on a suburban house block? Get rid of your lawn

Childrens clam shell sandpits make excellent small ponds for Muscovy. They are sun-durable, easy to clean, and dont hold too much water. Although Muscovy are not as dependent on water as other duck species they still need to be able to wash and swim for good health. Ducks always need water to feed properly. Get rid of your lawn, most of it at least. In my view, manicured lawns are about keeping up appearances with your neighbours in a time warp of suburban ideals. Were living in the 21st century - do what you want. Lawns are boring, serving no purpose other than to create the need for you to mow. Sounds like a trap to me. Hold your own, let it grow, dig it up, and plant some sweet potato or taro and get some dirt under your nails. Youll never look back. Youll never have to mow again. If you plant the right crops in your new found garden space you will, in very little time, have the makings of a steady supply of pesticide free organically principled food that you nurtured yourself from the earth. If youre anything like me you will find this to be an incredibly satisfying experience for the whole family. Size - does it matter? Your block doesnt have to be a quarter acre to get your hands dirty. In fact, smaller can be more manageable. Just a little corner will do. Small or big, its amazing what can be achieved if you want it bad enough. Ducks dont need a lot of space, but the more they have the happier they will be. Think two square metres per bird, plus a hutch for them to get out of the weather. We have fenced off an area approximately 13 x 6 metres. This gives the birds plenty of space to roam on a grassed area and throughout the garden. It has shade in the form of a


big hutch area with banana plants and various trellised yams. More space makes for very happy birds. Grow the weeds - dont fight your climate So many gardeners dont do the research. They try and grow stuff they see at the supermarket or they find some plants in the seedling section at the big shed stores and then feel very despondent when nothing does well. Often the problem is growing crops out of season for our climate. Trust me, the chain stores dont care if your garden fails. Do some research. Then do it again, focusing specifically on your climate. Just because you can get it at the supermarket doesnt mean it can be grown here.

Sweet potato is the easiest starch to grow in our climate and is very tasty. An ideal crop in a home garden, grow sweet potato not lawn. For me, autumn and winter are a great time to grow the more traditional food plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and capsicum in Brisbanes subtropical climate. During spring and summer months I grow pumpkins, chillis, kang kong, eggplant, maybe some rosella, but what I concentrate on is my tuber crops.


Winged Yam Dioscorea alata, capable of producing huge tubers. The vine provides shade and cover for ducks. Various Dioscorea yams are ideal for our climate. Winged yams produce massive tubers, are drought and flood tolerant, and produce lush green foliage that provides shade for animals and other more delicate crops that may otherwise suffer in the summer sun. Sweet potato is a fantastic crop that can produce large yields, the tubers are edible, and the leaves can also be used in salads as a wilted green alternative to spinach. Ducks love working a sweet potato patch, feeding on the insects on the leaves and eating the new leaves. If youre worried about eating the leaves with your duck fertiliser going, try trellising the leaves you want to eat so they are up off the ground. Other crops of note that tolerate extreme heat, drought, and flooding are taro, bananas (which I cant say enough positive things about), okra, Egyptian spinach, air potatoes, corn, sugar cane, and dragon fruit. Duck power Many different ducks could be used in a small scale system like this, but the Muscovy is the most suited. They are extremely intelligent and generally good natured, showing very interesting characteristics like wagging their tails and hissing at you like they are trying to have a conversation. They grow quickly, are tough yet silent, make great mothers, are less dependent on water than other species, and are excellent foragers. Voracious insectivores, they devour a huge quantity of flies and mosquitos, and are also quite partial to rodents. This is ideal in an urban setting, as poultry will always draw rats and mice. Muscovys are better suited as an organic pest control in comparison to other poultry, and they will do far less damage to the garden than chickens, and very little at all if your plants are reasonably established.


For meat production you will obviously need a drake. Drakes can be boisterous if over-handled when small, and can develop a condition found in poultry called imprinting. This occurs when a bird is handled too much while young and sees itself as a person. Sounds cute, but these animals can be aggressive and may bite or hiss, particularly with smaller people and children. Ducks need to be kept in pairs at the very least. If you want to keep a drake, I advise having a minimum three females. Drakes will hassle and annoy a duck if there are only two, and if kept in a confined space can result in a duck being injured by the drake. Two ducks is fine, but a breeding pair is not fair.

A drakeling (young drake) foraging in the sweet potato. Do they fly? Yes. Be sure to carefully trim the feathers on one wing and they wont be able to. Its the same process as with chickens. Once the ducks reach adult weight they will probably not fly as they get comfortable with their surrounds, and most often become too heavy to get airborne. The drakes never fly, lumbering around like dinosaurs eating, chasing ducks, and wagging their tails and hissing a conversation at their owners. Muskys come in many different colours. There are show birds, and birds that are bred for eating. You decide what you want for your yard. My birds are a mixed lot. I have some original wild type black and white ducks that are quite small for Muscovy, but my drake is a grey very heavy type ideal for breeding heavy offspring.


NOW As a society we have become consumed by the idea of now. When do we want it? We want it now! Consumer-culture drives fast and hard, the end game being instant gratification. But some things just dont feel right if you dont have to work for them. Some things just dont taste right either. Many foods are produced in questionable circumstances. Many of us have failed to heed the warning bells. Dont grow lawn. Grow sweet potato now! Grow taro and yams and okra and kang kong and Egyptian spinach and all the other wild lush greens you dont see in supermarkets. Indigenous crops of subtropical areas are the food crops of our sustainable future. By incorporating animal husbandry into our backyards we create a near complete example of sustainable small-holding urban farming. We wont feed our families completely or be able to quit our jobs. Importantly though, we will have made a difference, if nothing more than to teach our families, neighbours, and friends that we can grow food instead of lawn, in the process providing ourselves and our children with valuable life skills. We can produce food and raise animals on a suburban house block within our subtropical climate. We can all do this. We just have to decide when.

Date post:	29-Sep-2015
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Urban farming for the subtropics

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