22 May 2011
The Permaculture Vibe
The permie vibe…is truly contagious!! Thanks for sharing this idea with the world brother Anthony!! Most of all…thanks for living it!! Beautiful!!
« Older Entries Posts Tagged ‘greenhouse’
11 Oct 2010
The Minnesota Permaculture Food Forest – Before and Afters!
SO inspiring!!
HUGE gratitude to Anthony Anderson and Blackbird Naturals..for setting the pace!!
Join us..in REPLANTING PARADISE!!
3 Sep 2010
Summer 2010 Food Forest Update and…evolution of an almond tree
This is last Summer 2009. Breaking ground on the front yard FOOD FOREST. The first trees go in: Peach, Almond, Cherry dwarf and semi dwarves will create the backbone to this front yard guild.
Here we are now in Summer 2010..and that's just over a years worth of growth. Can't wait...to watch as this forest thicken up...and produce massive amounts of food!!
***Here’s a few things I’ve done to help the food forest GROW!! As well as a year in pics…as the front yard food forest evolved. I also threw in a few pics from the backyard FOOD FOREST, which has been growing for about a year longer than the front. ***
Every tree..or whatever I'm planting, gets a healthy dose of mixed rock dusts. Pictured here from left to right are: Greensand, Gaia Green Glacial Dust and Azomite
We also use LOCAL ROCK DUST. This is volcanic cinders, from an ancient volcano 20 minutes from our house. This material is amazing...LOVE IT!! So far...we've brought in about...15 truck loads of this stuff. It gets mixed with the garden soil. It's also used as a mulch and path cover.
Close up, of the cinders. It's very pumice like, which aids in drainage. I love the different sized particles...from pebble size...down to dust size.
I also add Mycorrihizal Fungi whenever I plant something. This is Paul Stamet's soluble Mycorrhizae. LOVE this stuff!! Very powerful!
- This is right after last summer’s planting….nice and cozy. Ready for winter. You can see the stakes, and the orange paint on the grass. This was from blue-stakes. In our town, it’s the law, to have the utility lines staked out, before one shovel of dirt is displaced. Glad I did, or I would have planted these guys right on top of a gas line. I was amazed how many utility lines there are..tucked all into one small space. You have to allow a 2 foot setback on each side of the lines. HUGE FINES, if you don’t call and hit a line. I fit them all in juuust fine! Check them out at www.bluestakes.org
- Gave each tree a big ring of compost..and mulched HEAVILY…with straw around every tree. That’s a dormant volcano in the background. This whole neighborhood, sits on a lava bed. In my backyard, about 4 feet down, is PURE LAVA ROCK.
- During the winter months, I worked on digging a nice swale on contour…and then mulched it…with about a 6 inch layer of straw. The raingutter, on this side of the house pours right into…this swale.
- In early spring 2010, came large doses of compost…SPREAD EVERYWHERE. Front yard and back..and in every raised bed. Two full trailer loads. I also spread tons of mixed clover seed.
- Dug one more swale near the sidewalk…to catch and hold extra runoff. Didn’t want ANY water…running down into the street.
- …then came the buds. Here’s almond
..and then... the blossoms!! Almond blossoms have to be one of the most pleasant smells EVER!! This little bee was helping out!!
Here's another one of my garden helpers....they're everywhere around here. In all sizes. Great insect and bad bug control. Who needs sprays??
All in ONE dwarf almond tree
Here come the almonds...this was fun to watch...over the months
When the almonds pop open like this...they're ready to GO!!
Pure JOY...to open and eat your first home grown ALMOND!!!
The creamy white inner flesh.
One of the most interesting events of the season. Hummingbirds hatched and nested on the back porch. You can see the other ones little beak, behind its siblings. I watched them take their first flight too. This is the third year this nest has been occupied by these little guys. I wonder if it's the same birds...returning to nest...their offspring? Very cool either way...they LOVE the honeysuckle!!
My brother Gage, helping install the GROWING DOME. Behind him, you can see the backyard FOOD FOREST, before it got rolling. Just grass, and a few young apple trees.
The backyard FOOD FOREST today, Summer 2010. This is the furthest zone from the front door, in the backyard food forest...called zone 5. We also call it the land of OZ!!!
East side of the house, in Zone 5....that's honey suckle and hardy kiwi to the left...and a volunteer melon on the right, that decided it wanted to climb the support trellis. I have yet to identify the strain. Very cool!
This is in zone 5 (OZ) of the FOOD FOREST, looking back toward zone 4, the DOME ZONE!
Here’s a a video tour of the front and backyard food forest. As well as a tour of the GROWING DOME. Much more to come!! Filmed this a few weeks ago…and it’s already changed quite a bit. I’ll do a FALL UPDATE…in a month or so.
ENJOY the TOUR!
Have FUN…GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD!!
YOU…CAN DO THIS TOO!!
27 Jun 2010
Space of Love – Anthony Anderson
Hope everyone is having fun in their gardens this summer..!
One of my biggest inspirations…Anthony Anderson…is creating three…young food forests. One… in Arizona…. and another project in Minnesota. Both food forests are coming a long nicely. If you tune into Anthony’s website and videos…you’ll learn more than you could in a few years at most brick and mortar.. places of learning. There’s more informational content on that website..and in his videos than most libraries.
I absolutely love the guy..and am so grateful for everything he shares!!
Just in case…here’s the link to Anthony’s site… Raw Model
You… just might find yourself creating your own food forest…from the stuff you learn….that’s what happened to me!!!
His third project…is here in Hurricane, Utah. His ideas and contributions are all over the garden here. We’re working closely on methods…sharing seeds…supplies and creating/being an awareness of sustainable living. Thanks for all the support brother…we wouldn’t be doing this without you!!!
Here’s the food forest in Arizona, that he Alexandra and Andrea from Blackbird Naturals … are creating together…as well as a very very tasty chocolate truffle business….mmmmmm…I can still taste them!! Thanks… Blackbird Naturals…love em!! Huge gratitude.. for the inspiration from Arizona you “three”…and for sharing these “spaces of love” with us!!
I love watching them …GROW!
You can check out the growing web…of Blackbird Natural’s…Food Forests…right here.
Cheers to…FREEDOM!!!
4 May 2010
Garden Updates…and SPREADING WORMS!!!
Here’s a few video updates from the backyard..FOOD FOREST.
Much has changed.. even in the last two weeks…since these were filmed. The BIG..project this week..is building new supports for hardy kiwis…which will be vining up the east and west sides of the house….providing food…and hopefully shading the house a bit…helping with the A.C. bill, this summer!!!
Maybe we won’t even need the A.C…if we can get the house covered in VINES!!!!
Ok…so had to throw this video in here…because these RED WIGGLERS and their other worm buddies, bacteria, and micro-organisms….are the TRUE KEEPERS…of this garden!! BIG PROPS..to them..and my gratitude!!!
“TEND TO YOUR MICRO-HERDS”….this is a wonderful saying…I picked up while reading “Gaia’s Garden.” An extremely insightful chapter titled: CHAPTER 4 – BRINGING THE SOIL TO LIFE!
Makes sense to me..and feels right!!
THANKS…TOBY HEMENWAY…for writing this work of art!!
3 Mar 2010
Snow Day..Green Juice..&..Spreading Compost!
It snowed this week…it’s seldom when this happens (not enough moisture in these parts)…so I took a few pics of the white splashes around the garden…and decided to make a GREEN JUICE…while I was at it. There’s a video at the end…of this post…ENJOY!
It’s also been a week of spreading compost around EVERYTHING! Found a great local source for fresh cow manure and composted cow manure. So I LOADED up on the composted material..and started spreading. Took me two days…to get it all spread, but with the new swales on contour…these nutrients and topsoil will now be staying on the property..instead of running down to the gutter!
- Garlic..no problem with the snow..melted the next day anyway.
- brassicas…kale, chard, broccoli…I think they actually enjoyed the hit of snow!
- Lacinato(Dino) Kale..what a hardy plant.
- Looking down the east side of the lower yard..peas will be planted..and growing up the vertical beds soon.. this week.
- Looking west..down the lower yard..toward the dome and terraced beds. Honeysuckle is the snow covered vine you can see a long the borders.
- Inside the dome…snow melting off. Calendula in the foreground…with Mango and Avocado nearby.
- The BIGGEST load of compost..I’ve ever moved around..cow manure/wood shavings/straw..composted for 1.5 years..great stuff!
- Black GOLD!
- A view from the swale..on the second day of the GREAT-compost spreading…Zion National Park..in the distance. Might turn that into a SONG….
- Post compost spreading..and mulching. I also gave the trees some Azomite with the compost. Mulched the swales and the trees..you can see clover coming up all around.
- ahhh….GREENING UP…clover coming up everywhere…and the swales..(dug one more in the front right corner)… are catching all the runoff…such JOY! More joy can be seen in the driveway..in the form of fresh horse manure, a friend just dumped. Will be adding it to the compost pile..for nitrogen…dose it with some ROCK DUST and compost it for a few more months.
- All in One Almond…starting to bud up…can’t wait…this could be the year…went to buy another one the other day…and they were out…so I scooped a Santa Rosa plum tree instead…planted her nearby…yikes…running out of room here!!
- Here’s a look at the property..before beginning the food forest and dome build..this was about 2 years ago. Glad I caught the satellite before and after…thanks for the idea Anthony Anderson!
- Here’s what it looked like..about.. 6 months later…before fruit trees…. much has changed since this last shot taken from the eye in the sky…it will be fun to watch it continue..to change!!
Been enjoying fresh juice out of the garden lately..mixing it up with green smoothies. LOVE mixing it up with different greens…SO FRESH! You can feel the LIVING LOVE…oh how I love chlorophyll! Doing a few juices a week right now…it goes really well… in combination with SUPERFOOD ELIXIRS!
The end accidentally got cut off to the video..whoops..but the juice was very TASTY…quite a zing with the lemon and ginger in there. Have fun designing and creating your own food forest!
We don’t have our own water source here..we’re reliant on city water..and we aren’t allowed farm animals like chickens or goats…arghhh…I’d love to close the loop on self reliance. We’ll get there..soon..very soon!
For now…I’m importing fresh cow and horse manure, to supplement the nitrogen component of my own compost. Just not creating my own fast enough..for my current needs. If I had a few chickens or a goat…this would be great…but I’ve contacted the city…and there’s LAWS against small farm animals around here…but they’re reviewing it…until then…just doing the BEST with what I have. GREEN MANURES ..will work great too..but mid winter..hard to come by.
Bees are the next step…as they don’t make noise …just quietly go about their beautiful business!
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