Asking "wouldn't it be wonderful if our city could feed itself?" Joe Leitch ponders everybody in Portland planting a chestnut tree. Pam Leitch relates how they both left the corporate world after reading the book "Your Money or Your Life". As educators on sustainability and … [Read more...]
School Garden Brings Learning to Life (126)
Come along on a tour with team-teachers Glenda Berliner and Jeralyn Wilson, as they show us their elementary school garden bearing many fruits. It's an important part of the curriculum: children make mason bee boxes, grow colonial medicinal plants, learn of other cultures, … [Read more...]
Cultivating a Suburban Foodshed (123)
Landscape architect Owen Dell has a vision: transforming suburban neighborhoods into shared "foodsheds" with food-bearing and native plants, and even chickens. Neighbors can start by finding edible plants already growing in their yards, maybe remove fences, plant what works … [Read more...]
The Bicycling Horticulturalist (117)
Ryan Nassichuk builds food gardens for people. His bicycle and trailer are the sole transport for himself, tools, and materials - including soil and plants! This horticulturist also builds container gardens and composters. Tour a backyard garden in which a 6-week class of … [Read more...]
Suburban Permaculture with Janet Barocco and Richard Heinberg
Tour Janet and Richard's quarter acre for an example of what's possible in suburbia. Their front yard of edible plants also provides habitat for birds and insects. The backyard radiates out from an herb and kitchen garden to vegetable beds and containers; 25 fruit and nut … [Read more...]
How Much Food Can I Grow Around My House?
In summer 2006 Judy Alexander embarked on an experiment to see how much food she could grow, and how many neighbors could benefit, from the garden around her house. Check out her homegrown rainwater collection and irrigation system — watering her 60+ edible crops. Meet the … [Read more...]
Brookside Farm – Growing Food, Growing Energy
Take a whirlwind tour of the one-acre Brookside Energy Farm with Jason Bradford and Christoffer Hansen at planting time. Along with perennials, annuals, a food forest, and dryland crops (grains), they're growing Jerusalem artichoke and dale sorghum to produce both food and … [Read more...]
The Worm Guy
Watch a worm birth from a cocoon. See compost produced from food scraps, horse manure, and lots of worms. See the machine that separates castings (worm poop) from compost. The Worm Guy, Mark Yelken, says that worms are "the intestines of the Earth", fertilizing and … [Read more...]
It’s the Compost! Creating Abundance at K-JO Farm
Karen Biondo and Joe Walling take us on a tour of their incredible backyard farm on Vashon Island, Washington. Pet the goats, see chickens dusting in divots, and crunch a carrot. See how Karen's colorful paintbrush combined with Joe's creativity with salvaged materials and … [Read more...]
Suburban Renewal – One Backyard at a Time
Jan Spencer shows his quarter-acre permaculture project transforming a typical suburban lot. Lawn and driveway were replaced with fruit and nut trees, vegetables, brambles, and native habitat, plus a 3500 gallon rainwater catchment system, a sunroom heating the house, and a … [Read more...]