At any rate, a guy named Matthew Jose is working to fix these problems in the neighbourhood. He has converted eight vacant lots into vegetable gardens. Last year with the help of some grant money, he employed to high school students to work in the gardens. The produce was donated to a local food pantry. This year, he’s attempting to turn the venture into a business. He plans to sell the produce through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture. His hope, in the next few years, is to eventually create a non-profit where he will train local kids to garden. Jose told me that he thinks it’s a viable skill for these kids to learn. They could become small business owners with their urban gardens, and it would solve two problems, the lack of employment for these kids and the lack of access to quality food in the area.

I think it’s a brilliant idea. Especially because there are so many empty lots in the area. With real estate so cheap right now, and many homes being abandoned, I think this is  the kind of project other communities should adopt. It also makes us less susceptible to food crisis. If the supply lines were disrupted, people would still have access to fresh produce. In this climate, people would also be able to harvest year-round from their gardens using cold frames and cold hardy vegetables like winter greens, leeks, squash etc.

Jose even had a fifth grade class out yesterday. They helped him prepare planting beds for the spring. It’s heartening to see kids get dirty and more in touch with the land. Who cares if it’s an empty lot in the middle of the city? These are kids who might never have the opportunity to set foot on a farm.

Horse people are adopting a new frugality too. I know from experience most horse people are already pretty thrifty. After all, unless you’re independently wealthy, those horse bills can take up a huge chunk of your yearly income. Many horse owners I’ve talked to mention they’re going to fewer shows this year, taking  fewer lessons and even downgrading their boarding situation (instead of keeping their horses at show barns, they’re moving to private barns that might not have amenities like an indoor arena).

Someone I spoke with who runs a horse rescue summed it up nicely when he said that the more people are able to save on their horse bills, the more likely they are to keep their horses. This is especially important as horse prices, much like house prices, are at a record low. At some sales horses are going for as low as $50. Many say the slaughter ban in the United States has driven the price of horses down, as there is no market for the “useless” horses. This is probably true, and like the housing market, the horse market is experiencing a correction. But the situation has become pretty bad in the U.S. and with nowhere for these unwanted horses to go, some states are talking about making provisions to allow the reopening of slaughter houses. Obviously this is a complex issue and there are a number of factors that are contributing to the unwanted horse explosion: a bad economy and overbreeding being the biggest culprits.

My view is that those that support a slaughter ban need to develop an effective plan for caring for these unwanted horses before the slaughterhouses are shuttered. Until the underlying issues are addressed, there will be a glut of poor quality horses that nobody wants. It’s the same with dogs and cats — think about the pet overpopulation problem — the difference with dogs and cats is that they are much cheaper to care for and can find an adoptive home much more easily. It’s tough to find a permanent home for a horse with serious health or behavior issues.

For now, slaughter plants in the U.S. remain closed, but if they’re to stay that way, the horse industry better start thinking about ways to reduce the number of unwanted horses.

The folks at KIB reused plastic storage barrels that in a previous incarnation stored non-toxic consumer products such as soap. At the top they drilled a hole for an overflow spout and near the bottom, another hole for the faucet. The barrels also had lids (an important safety consideration so kids or animals don’t fall in your rain barrel – also helps reduce mosquitoes) and a hole was drilled into the lid, in which you could place the downspout from your house (you have to shorten your downspout to accomodate this rig).

Before going to this workshop I didn’t know too much about rain barrels. I wrote an article on sustainable horse farms a few months ago for Horse Care Magazine and I learned a bit about them then, but didn’t really consider their use in an urban context. After digging a little into the topic, I learned that there are 25 million acres of surface in the United States where rainfall runs off instead of soaking into the ground (think about all the pavement we’re surrounded by). When we have a heavy rainfall, that water rushes into sewers carrying pesticides, sediment and all kinds of nasty stuff that contaminates our drinking water and puts a burden on municipal water purification systems. With a rain barrel, home owners can capture some of that run off and store it to use on their own lawns and gardens.

Not only does this improve the quality of our watershed, it cuts down on the use of city water and reduces your water bill. In fact, on average, 40% of a household’s water consumption goes towards watering lawns and gardens and in arid climates, that rate can rise to as high as 80%.

A lot of water can be collected from a roof. During research for my article on sustainable horse farms, I learned that up to 500 gallons of water can run off a 900 square foot barn roof during a one inch rain storm. That’s water that could be put to better use irrigating lawns and gardens during dry periods. It’s something to think about as spring gets closer and the rainy season begins. For horse owners, the added bonus of a rain barrel is that it reduces mud around the barn. Beyond the environmental problems mud causes there’s also the convenience factor (think – no more slopping through muck, no more treating icky fungus on your horse’s legs).

I am an environmental dabbler at best. I recycle and don’t idle my car, but beyond that I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t made many changes in my personal life to promote more sustainable living. It’s something I have on my list of self-improvement objectives. A rain barrel seems like an easy way to cut down on water consumption and improve soil and waterway quality. It’s something I’m going to incorporate into my home plan when I finally move out of an apartment.

I’ll start off with sharing a link to a news story I wrote for The Horse last week: Wagon Driver Injured, Horses Killed in Crash.