Ali is one of my heroes!!! She’s been growing her own food for quite a few decades now…and she’s doing it all organically….and beyond!! No chemicals…..!!!!
Here’s some…of what Ali is growing on a tiny 1/4 acre: 48 fruit trees, 3 of them are nuts. Aside from the fruit trees, there are: 17 grape vines, a boysenberry patch, raspberry patch and triple crown
blackberry patch, ohhh…and 5 Strawberry patches all different varieties.
There’s also a large asparagus patch and a currant patch…and so many veggies you can’t count..! SOOOO INSPIRING!!!! She also keeps bees…so they can tend to the flowers.
The coolest part in my opinion?? She’s sharing HOW…to do this for ourselves!! Ali offers FREE CLASSES!! Check out her website for more info. My gardening hat is off….in deep gratitude for all she shares! Thank you Ali!!!!
Come take a peek at her little patch of paradise. These photos were taken a few days ago…as fall began creeping into our southern Utah valleys. The videos at the bottom of this post, were taken in spring. Thanks for the tour Ali…and thanks for sharing SO much info…and passion…with the world!!
For those interested, Ali offers some of the best gardening goodies in southern Utah. Heirloom seeds, rocks dusts, kelp, mychorrhizal fungi, plant starts, and tools of all types….THE GOODS!!
Looking from the street at Ali’s garden, orchard and greenhouse.
Visiting this place every week…is pure JOY!!!
Ali’s retail store. She sells heirloom seeds, tools, fertilizers like rock dusts, kelp, compost…. and so much more!!
So much life!!! Looking north into the veggie area.
The veggie patch
The most amazing grape arbor I’ve ever seen!!!
Apples galore!!!! I think these may be Liberty cultivar. She has many cultivars growing!!
The greenhouse. Used for year round growing and sprouting. She intelligently built cold frames on the south side of the greenhouse, with automatic window vents! Brilliant!!!
Caught Ali working in the greehouse!!!
Ali surprised me by showing me a few of the residents of the greenhouse. She had to look for them under the growing table.
Salamanders!! They make a great team with Ali!! Keeping slugs and other unwanted guests to a minimum in the greenhouse.
Cool lookin’ dudes!!! There’s two of them…and they seem to love Ali.
Ivy and Fern…Ali’s goat and cow. They also love Ali..immensely!! Every little creature that lives at Ali’s just LOVES her…it’s evident she loves them too!!!
Ivy jumped up on her perch to show me her beauty.
Casper the cat….he’s old…and extremely loving. Yup…going to ali’s place is like going to visit Dr. Doolittle!!!
The chicken house. Squirrel bait….one of her old roosters is out front saying hello to the ladies.
This is brilliant!! It’s a portable quail tractor!!
Poppy and Lily…Ali’s goose and duck duo(security guards). Behind them…the quail tractor. Ali just pulls it around the fruit orchard..letting them scratch and deposit poop!!
Beautiful little quail egg!!!!
They are a tiny little breed of quail.
Poppy…the security guard. She likes to rest her neck on Ali’s shoulders…it’s adorable!!
Here’s a few videos from a couple of days ago…and some pictures from a few weeks before.
The main focus right now, has been spreading TONS of compost and mulching every bed with straw. Everyone is snuggled in for winter. I’ve also been planting a bunch of starts, like cold hardy leafy greens….and a BUNCH of garlic. It’s going to be a great winter!!
The terraced beds, growing mixed veggies and herbs. Peppers, garlic, onion, basil, celery….BIG MIX
Looking down through zone 3 (the terraced beds) into zone 4 (the dome zone and fig guild) Goji Berry growing in foreground.
Entering the Dome Zone
West side of the Growing Dome, mixed herbs and greens.
Goji Berry grown from seed…she’s happy in the DOME!!!
Entering Zone 5, the outer most zone. This zone is the apple and kiwi guild, with mixed veggies and herbs of all types. Oh…and chia seed! That’s pomegranate to the left.
That’s chia seed to the right
Walking down the middle path…through zone 5, calendula and kiwi are growing to the left.
BIG Dino Kale taking over zone 5. Such a hardy plant…I’ll be wiping snow off it’s leaves this winter…no problem!!
Mixed veggies, peppers, carrots, celery, kales of all types.
CHIA HEAVEN!!!!
Here’s the front yard food forest…zone 2. This is the almond and peach guild, surrounded my nitrogen fixing seabuckthorn bushes.
Zone 3 upper most beds, TONS of parsley, my favorite green to munch and juice.
HAVE FUN GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD!!!! Year – ROUND…if you like!
It’s fall…we’re running around mulching, amending beds..and planting cold crops under warm blankets of straw and Agribon! It’s the end of our first year, growing our own food…and the beginning of a new passion and love for this work!! There are so many benefits to …
GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD!!
Here’s a series of photos, followed by few videos, of the same tour…showing the growing dome and gardens…SO much more to come!!
This is our street in Hurricane, Utah…Zion National Park in the distance.
The side yard..used to be just grass..now a burgeoning fruit orchard. The growing dome…peeking over the fence. The ancient dormant volcano behind the house shows and example of the lava beds we’re situated on.
Looking over the fence into the backyard..it’s terraced into ZONES, which are dedicated to different crops.
FIRST ZONE of raised beds in the backyard…these beds are dedicated to root crops. The highest one you can see was just planted with garlic, the second..onions.
SECOND ZONE..with three beds in different stages of growth. Transitioning from vining crops back to leafy greens for winter!
Last few pollinators popping in….what a beautiful bee…it was HUGE!
Check out the pollen on this bee…the bees are in the garden all the time..these are sage blossoms. Wish they were flying back to my hives!!! SOON!
ZONE 3 raised beds…and Jane Grace enjoying the morning sun.
The ZONE 3 raised beds are being used for sprouting green winter crops. Crops like, spinach, kale, chard, collard, mache, claytonia and minutina. In the background is the mixed summer bed of greens, peppers and flowers.
ZONE 3 cont..mixed greens.
Heirloom Chard…from ZONE 3. Chard is such a vigorous crop for us…it seems to love all temps and has repelled pests!
Looking back up across the terraces.. to the left.. the rosemary…which also attracts bees.
ZONE 4 in the distance, the dome zone to the left. The composting operation to the right…three different sections separated by straw bales.
ZONE 4…this zone is will eventually become a high tunnel, or hoop house. On the left, is the leftover crops from summer, lots of basil, tomatoes, flowers, mixed greens. A WORK IN PROGRESS!!
Thai Basil Blossom
Mixed basil blossoms..”sweet basil”, “opal basil” “thai basil”… I love grabbing the blossoms…inhaling them as I walk around working in the garden. Fresh AROMATHERAPY from the garden!!
Looking back west across ZONE 4, melon beds in the foreground. Gala apple to the right..!
Entering the Growing Dome… temps are around 45F. at night now. In the 70′s during the day outside. Inside the dome…we’re staying 10-15 degrees above the outside temp…it’s nice and warm in there!!
Standing on a chair…aerial view! We’re amending the beds by adding fresh compost, rock dust (Azomite), and dilute ocean water (Thalassa mix), then spreading clover seed and mixing in the soil. Dressing with a top coating of straw and let the clover grow up through that…
Close up of the soil..you can see some red wigglers..trying to escape. The white-like hairs are clover sprouts.
Our little buddy…the red wiggler. TONS of em hanging out in here.. enjoying the fresh Azomite and compost!!
Some of the food coming out of the backyard this month…..peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, aloe, melons, basil, GREENS!
This is from our corn harvest a month ago..but wanted to show you the color pigments in the corn. We’re saving many ears of this stuff to use for regrowing more corn next year! We’re also going to experiment growing medicinal mushrooms like shiitake..using the corn as a substrate…the mushrooms will reportedly pick up the antioxidants in the blue pigments of the corn!!
Enjoy the following video tours…they’re already getting outdated..as things are changing rapidly around here. Some of the above photos are newer than these videos..but at least you get the vision!
We hope…. you get inspired to grow your own food too…or maybe just start reading about it…or buying food from someone who grows their own! We all start somewhere…I know I am…we’re all learning TOGETHER!!
