Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Food Donations

If your neighbors and everyone at work have had enough of your generous giving look locally to share your harvest.  The Weld County Food Bank will accept donations of garden surplus and eggs Monday - Friday from 8-5p.m.  1108 H Street / 970-356-2199/www.weldfoodbank.org

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

It is the season of bounty!  Remember to share the harvest and let nothing go to waste!  Email me if you would like me to post something for you!  Urbanfarmgirlz@gmail.com.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Share the Feast

My favorite thing about summer is fresh sweet corn!  Straight from the stalk to the table is the only way!  Steamed in the stalk on the grill has become my favorite way to prepare it.  And, don't forget the butter and salt. Enjoy the bounty of your summer and be sure to share your surplus with friends, neighbors and those in need.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

FREE: Two Pair of Pretty Little Bantam Chickens

2013 spring birds!  Should be laying soon!  One white pair and one black pair.  You'll love watching them strut around your yard!  email: urbanfarmgirlz@gmail.com





Thursday, May 23, 2013

Local Lectures

Mark your calendars! The City of Greeley and the High Plains Library are hosting the following lecture series:

  1. June 26 Xeriscaping: The seven basic principles
  2. July 24 Landscaping and Design: Step by step basics including some sprinkler system info.
  3. August 28 Composting: The how and why of composting
All lectures will be held at the Farr Library from 6:30 to 8:30p.m.  Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Garden in a Box


The City of Greeley is hosting a really cool program called Garden in a Box.  This is a program that offers a predesigned plant bed and plants for one lump sum.  If you are a City of Greeley citizen you can get a discount of $25.00 off the purchase price.  The plant materials in these kits have been chosen for their hardiness and suitability in our area.  I recommend giving it a try!  Hurry and  make your order they are set for delivery May 18th.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Irrigation Installation: Phase II Mainline Installation

The next step in the installation of your irrigation system is to have the mainline installed.  This is the largest line in your irrigation system and carries water to all of the laterals.  For this installation a pipe puller was called in to do the work.  This is the yellow machine you see below.
Installing the main and laterals in this fashion has many advantages.  The number one being that you do not have to spend hours breaking your back digging trenches.  This machine essentially pulls the pipe through the ground with a combination of force and vibration.  A wire mesh that looks much like one of those Chinese finger traps grabs the end of the line and pulls it trough the earth at precisely the right depth.  The second major advantage is that the surface disturbance is minimal so there is no reseeding of trenches in areas of established vegetation.

While the machine is pulling the pipe  through, someone holds the coil on the other end feeding it as needed.  Its important to note that this machine will pull through just about anything.  Including a shallow electric line.
This is the main electric that feeds my house!  Typically they are much deeper than the depth that the mainline would be pulled in at.  This one was marked and accurate, just not very deep.  My house was built in 1919. While I am sure the electrical has been updated since then, who knows what kind of surface grading has occurred making the line shallower than expected.  You can see below where the electricity arched through this quarter inch steel bar on the pipe puller.  It blew the breaker on the pole in the street and no one got hurt.

So even if you have your lines marked, things can still happen.  The procedure here is to call the electrical company out to do the repair.  While on site doing the repair, they will file a report to decide who is as fault. If the contractor is found to be negligent, they will fine the contractor.  I have no idea if the contractor was fined.  I can definitely confirm he was none to happy about the incident.  I'm sure any fines will cancel the profit he made in my yard.  If you did not get your utilities marked and subsequently caused damage to any of the electrical services you will definitely be fined so remember: Call Before You Dig!