August

It is now past the middle of August and summer has played out beautifully and better than planned. I began August at the Vibes and just got back from the Peach. Lockn not far away and this is possible because of good planning around the idea of meeting people and making new friends where the best music is happening. Part of my gratefullness is in the ground in form of pea seeds and more to sown...

Episode-252- Food Forest Part 4 of 4

The fourth and final video of the series shows what is growing in the front yard. The guild around the magnolia tree is new this year and contains some perennial plants such as comfrey and hairy vetch that is sure to come back next year with its multitudes of striking purple flowers. I chuckle as I just watched this video from June 29 and how glad I was at the time with the way things were...

Episode-250- Food Forest In Full Swing Part 3/4

This third installment of the Food Forest in my bakyard show how the backyard extends to all around the house. Beginning on the south side I show the raspberries which produced about 18 pounds of fruit this season! Going to make wine now that the jam is stored. Of course the raspberries depicted in this video only make up about half of the total raspberry plants. We harvested about 12 pounds...

Episode-249- Food Forest And Permaculture Showcase Part 2/4

Here is part 2 of the food forest videos. This video shows how the swales that I built in the backyard have matured to the point where they now support hundreds of plants. That is no exageration and the goal is to have them eventually fill out with the fruti producing bsushes such as Juneberry, Goji and Goumi. I'll ad to those over time too. The video was taken before the battle with Japanese...

Episode-248- Food Forest And Permaculture Showcase Part 1/4

I finally get a chance to share with you a view of the food forest I have envisioned growing. The backyard is a web of interconnected systems. It is not a forest yet as full production will take several more years. There are apple and peach tress that have to come online yet and the goji, goumi, juneberry, and other berries have some time before they will become productive. In the meantime...

Episode-246- Plant Comfrey And Parsley Part 2

This is part 2 of the parsley and comfrey planting this year. The last video showed what the comfrey looked like out of the fridge where it was stored for a month. The gardens look bare and that's because they are. Soon though things will be growing in all the mounds and swales. They will be hosting apple and peach trees, elderberry and blueberry and much much more. There will be juneberry,...

Episode-245- Plant Comfrey And Parsley In The Backyard

This how the gardens get started this year. I begin with comfrey from Nantahala Farm & Garden in North Carolina  and the parsley were the first plants started from seed in February. The seeds came from SouthernExposre In Mineral, VA. I have had a great experience buying from them over the years. Today's video shows how they have grown in the past two months and I briefly show where they...

June

The dog and I were just outside this evening in the dark and its not just the ole sloping backyard instead it's a sponge full of life. It has rained 6 of the first 12 days in June 2014 and for that we are grateful. Almost a full two inches in a time when it's usually scarce. The dearth might be coming but for tonight it's alright and it will last. The swales and hugel mounds all over the place...