So it's been a long while since I visited this site.  Much has happened in that time.  Two chickens lost to dog attack, started a full-time job which caused my 2012 veg garden to suffer greatly, got divorced... it's been a busy time.  However, my new best friend lives across the street and can't wait to help me revive my once thriving practice -- growing food in my 10 raised beds, tending my mini fruit orchard, and helping me acclimate the two new pullets I’ll bring into the family this…

  I am so thankful for having time, the resources and health to share my gardening life with others. This past weekend I once again made a trip to the south valley to visit http://www.skarsgardfarms.com/. They once again had a tour of the farm, which we missed and took time to photograph the piglets and barn instead. They had a gentleman who spoke to a group of us about composting. He not only spoke to us but brought along some of the what and…

I got to ask Mel Bartholomew father of the Square Foot Gardening method what he thought about the issues some people see around peat moss. I learned a bit - enjoy http://www.melbartholomew.com/whats-up-with-peat-moss/

Are you a Square Foot Gardener? What's your experience? How many beds do you have and what do you grow?

4000 Gallons + Rainwater Tanks. They are currently full.

These Pictures are from last year. This is our first yard we started cultivating about five years ago.

We now have 65 Fruit Trees and vines.

Grapes, Peach, Apples, Nectarine, Apricot, Fig, Jujube, Plum, Current, Hackberry and ServiceBerry.

Sharon Astyk is one of my favorite thinkers on resilience and sustainability. She brings it down to the ground where it belongs. In this blog she covers what we need to get sustainability working in our neighborhoods. It's going to take more than canning, kale and clotheslines. It's going to take getting involved at the municipal level as an organized group and at a national level. Many of the things that make living in the burbs potentially sustainable - are actually illegal at this time.…

According to the USDA:

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990 with greater…

At a personal and at the community level we are all looking for ways to thrive in tough times. It is surely a struggle our families and our friends. So much change, so much uncertainty even as we hear the economy is improving.... It is not improving for many of us. This is a list of my favorite books to help you get way beyond survival. We can dream bigger dreams while recognizing our interdependence. There is a new vision emerging...join us!…

During the growing season, and then again in the fall, we flail chop wheat straw and apply it to our raised beds. Fall applied…

The gift of a dairy goat represents a lasting, meaningful way for you to help a little boy or girl and his family get empowered out of poverty.

Goats can thrive in extreme climates and on poor, dry land by eating grass and leaves. The gift of a dairy goat can supply a family with up to several quarts of nutritious milk a day - a ton of milk…

Having an empty tank was hard to do but needed to keep it down to the one. Using an empty tank in the same room I half filled it with water from the running fish tank, added a piece of ac filter, sprinkled it with basil seeds and turned on a light. As the forest grew I started reading up on aquaponics, and gardening in general. Having tasted freshly grown herbs and veggies, I have been expanding the garden.

There is now a small koi pond hooked to a growbed( both pretty much made using…

 "The gathering was life changing. Welcome to a revolution!" - Paul Tryba, THE FARM, Long Beach, CA

Slow Money. A new kind of social investing for the 21st century. Join this emerging network of thought leaders, investors, donors, entrepreneurs, farmers, and activists for our Third National Gathering this October in San Francisco. Together, let's fix America's economy from the ground up...starting with food. Go to National Gathering for details and to register

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Well, let's see here... harvested a crop of turnip greens, though I'm not sure anyone will actually eat them. I grabbed turnip greens by mistake - I was aiming for purple globe top. Never had turnips greens. I have issues with any hairy vegetables, which is why I don't usually plant green beans, and turnip greens are spiny-haired! Have, however, decided Swiss chard is edible, as it graced the first garden salad: chard, sugar snap peas, basil, with some French dressing & soy bits…

So, I finally made it back out to the garden. The tomatoes survived the insanity of the unexpected frosts and dropped temperatures, the peas have blossoms, the onions look okay (I think), and I saw bits that I think are corn and know are cucumbers poking out of the ground. The turnips have leaves, but don't seem to have blobs yet.

But, as I was busy trying to make there be fewer weeds (they, naturally, are growing awesomely, as usual, including through the 4" of mulch I laid…

Urban Farm Magazine asked their subscribers to name their favorite tweeple - @hyperlocavore made the list! Made our day! Thanks folks! Follow us at Twitter.com/hyperlocavore and check out this months issue of Urban Farm Magazine - Coolest feature - DIY dehydrator plans!

since i have moved to portland, i have not quite been able to get into the gardening "scene" so to speak. my apartment is begging to be transformed.

i've planted rosemary outside my bathroom window with the theory that rosemary grows monstrously large and smells great when it rains. being one of my favorite smells, i am hoping it can be a natural freshener for the bathroom.

i am looking into doing a worm box, but i want to keep my costs minimum. aside from the…

Scored some wood chips from the city - got them to dump half a dump-truck full in my backyard. That, plus a pickup truck load have begun the anti-mowing around the gardens and the majority of the grapevines. Of course, now it looks like I have raised walks and lowered beds...

...and the beds are doing an excellent job of turning green with the lovely weeds that are growing so happily in the screwy weather I'm getting. But, I checked, and it seems the turnips and radishes are…

I think tonight at 8:30 I will turn everything off for Earthhour and think about the Fukushima 50 who will not likely survive to see their grand kids grow up. It's not the CEOs or the Government Ministers who will be going in to clean up the mess. They are busy covering up the records of years of safety violations. As it ever is it will be working people who die for our energy profligacy and our unwillingness to get serious about renewables. Coal miners, nuclear workers, oil rig people who…