GROW WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Back in 2012, we were originally based in Warsaw, IN on 200 South. We had excellent soil, built up to where you didn't need to till the beds to be able to plant them.  Our first attempt at expansion took us to 350 East which is still an overflow area that gets planted every year, as well as, where the maple trees we tap are located.  After the loss of use of the 200 South garden area, due to death in the family.  We had to figure out what to do.  Our house in Silver Lake had clay soil with a high water table.  Even during a drought you can dig down less than 2 feet and hit water, of course during that drought you'll need a pickaxe to get a few inches into the ground.  But we hadn't spent the last few years building up the public's desire for fresh local produce  to quit now.  As Joel Salatin wrote in his book "You Can Farm,"

If you can't make money from your backyard you have no reason to search for more land.  Urban farming was becoming more of a thing, so we planted our backyard and side yard.  The next year we needed more space so the front yard was our next leap.  The first year we put in a few yards of compost, and after seeing how well that went, the next year we ordered a semi load of compost.  We don't own any heavy equipment so it took awhile to spread each bed with about 4" of compost, but it's worth the effort.