Salad, yo! In all seriousness, there's a lot more that you can do with, like, land than you can with like, window boxes. I had to haul 50 lbs of dirt up here to grow a handful of tomatoes. Totally not worth it. That said, my grandpa was a farmer and I've always dabbled with it. When I can get out of here, I'll be getting the hell out of here and onto some acreage. A recommendation? Two books: - Five Acres and Independence by Maurice Kains. This book was written in like 1924. It's a no bullshit "here's how you turn land into food and fuck the world you're self-sufficient." The thing I like about it is it focuses pretty cleanly on how not to spend a lot of time farming. - Gaia's Garden by Tobe Hemenway. "Permaculture" was created primarily by the Israelis and Australians as a way to reclaim land from the desert through careful planting of perennials. The hipsters got ahold of it and turned it into "lazy man's farming." Somewhere between there lies the truth; either way, Hemenway's book is a great way to plant things that don't require a lot of tending. It's also worth pointing out that the fastest growing print magazine right now is Mother Earth News. I've got a subscription. I should also mention that every pro gardener I've ever known calls the big box stores "buy and die" stores.
Warning: completely irrelevant comment ahead. I failed making a post-list of your inflammatory comments. But I think the following list is much better (not to mention easier to make). I got curious as to what gets you excited enough to use the word "yo." Fuckin' hysterical, yo. :P Salad, yo! roflcopter, yo. You need to calibrate, yo. Straight up, yo. It's all good, yo. Fuckin' X-files is the shit, yo. You're gonna be fine, yo. Because that shit's like four years old, yo. quantum superposition is fuckin' CRAZY SHIT, yo. It hit ninety today, yo. cue that shit up, yo, Or your browser be FUKT YO Humbug all you want, yo. Boom. Muthatfuckin' BOOMS, yo. And I fought that tide, yo. Goth claimed her in 1978, yo. Fuckin' string machines and shit, yo. It's been two hours, yo, and that shit be broken DOWN! Shit's rugged, yo. That shit's magic, yo, Ain't nobody got time for that, yo. because lutefisk is disgusting, yo That shit ain't vintage, yo, it's still clogging up my inbox! Aeron chairs, yo. "your battery is fucked, yo, hurry up and fix it."
I'd say I'm just a dabbler at this point but I'd buy my seeds from someone besides the big box store if I don't have luck this year. Plenty of garden resources in Portland, I'd guess that this city grows more pounds of food in the city limits than any other major city. I knew a guy who got three sheets of LSD at the beginning of the summer and lived purely off stolen fruits and veggies for a multi month trip.
I picked up "Five Acres" from my library. I don't have time for a full read right now, but I skimmed several chapters - interesting stuff, like how to build your own septic system from scratch. He also mentions that extracted honey sells for an average of 6 and 3/4 cents per pound !