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!
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.
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!!
