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.
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!!
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!
Here’s the Winter update..in photos and video. So many plants to play around with!! Getting ready for Spring..by amending soil in current beds, creating more soil for future beds and selecting, starting and planting more seeds and seedlings!!! We’re also building swales on contour.. and putting in more nitrogen fixers.
oh..and.. I did a lady bug release last night..in the dome..go get em ladies!
Building my first swale in the front yard..FOOD FOREST! The rain..comes out of the gutter to the right..and hits the swale.
Instead of running straight down the hill..to the street..it fills the swale..especially the middle..then sinks in..keeping nutrients on the property and builds up a water “lens” underneath the fruit trees.
One of the many simple techniques of Permaculture. I love SWALES! SO much WATER SAVED. We will be planting fruiting/nitrogen fixing plants on top of the swale very soon..
Early in morning..7AM..still frozen
Later in the morning..10AM..venting the tunnels
Mixed heirloom romaine lettuces..Jericho, Paris Island, Freckles
The brassica bed, still growing..but frozen in the morning.
I love seeing the Kale’s freeze back..then warm up..greeting the sun!
Here’s the update..from our “growing dome” as of the beginning of August. There are so many ways to grow food…but these “growing domes” are SO much fun…and provide a TON of food year round! Instead of just posting a video of our dome this month…I’m posting videos of a few other dome growers showing their projects.
In the two videos above, Anthony Anderson..fromrawmodel.com..shows us his 22ft. growing dome and ”Eco Village” permaculture project in Minnesota. Anthony’s passion for growing foods and being self sustainable has inspired us from the very beginning. Without his amazing website and sharing his research with the world…we wouldn’t have even known anything about ”Growing Domes.”
If for some reason you found your way to this site…and haven’t seen Anthony’s site…check it out!! It will take you weeks to sift through all the content available there! We’d like.. someday soon…to care for bees and a more extensive garden and “Eco Village” on a few acres like Anthony’s..SO inspiring!!
In this video.. grower..Breigh Peterson from http://buckhorngardens.blogspot.com ..shows us a 52ft. Growing Dome in Colorado. Our dome is 18ft. in diameter..so you can see how big these things get in height as well!! Very beautiful! These domes are being used in altitudes/latitudes as far north… as Sweden and Alaska…with amazing results!
Last but not least..here’s the hub and beginning of it all.
Udgar and Puja Parsons from growingspaces.comexplain to us why they started growingspaces and show us a few domes and growers in the Rocky Mountains. They’ve been living this lifestyle and working with this technology most of their lives.
Check out their website for many photos and videos of growing domes around the world. We especially love what their doing with schools….and helping children.
Outside temps will reach almost 80F. today! It actually snowed..or rained a frozen mix a few days ago, temps were down around 33F….so hopefully that’s all behind us now….we’ll find out! Either way, we’re planting tomatoes and melons this week..outside in the grow boxes you’ll see at the end of this video. We’ll cover them with Agribon 19..just in case! The other boxes covered with Agribon in the beginning of the video were just planted with Blue Hopi Corn!
