Hey all,  This is a great story and an easy way to create your own garden. Greg

My Instant Garden
By Parri Willie
Phoenix, AZ

When I was a little girl we lived in New Jersey, and my mom always had a garden — growing green beans and tomatoes among other things. I can remember going out in the summer months and picking the beans and eating them right where I picked them. When I was 25 I moved to Phoenix. Living in the “desert” I didn’t think it was possible to recreate that garden. And then, 2 years ago, after a tour of the Urban Farm I realized it is VERY possible.

My home is a typical Phoenix tract home in a development where every house has colored rock for a yard. To remove the rock and dig up the ground underneath seemed like a huge undertaking and then I could only hope that the dirt there would sustain a garden. It would be much more practical and successful, I thought, to build a raised garden and fill it with proper soil and compost.

Planning to build a raised-bed garden that was 5 foot x 10 foot and 12 inches deep, I enlisted the help of a friend and we purchased three nice quality pieces of pine, 10 foot long x 2 inches wide x 12 inches tall and enough brackets and screws to hold all the sides together. We cut one of the boards in half for the 5 foot ends of the garden and then connected the four sides together securely with the brackets. After raking away much of the rock from our selected area, we set this outer “shell” of our garden down, made sure it was level and then filled it with a mixture of organic soil and compost. After planting my chosen vegetables, I wrapped a wall of chicken wire around the outside of the garden to protect my veggies from our little rabbit visitors. This garden project was fairly easy, cost under $100, and took less than a day to put together.

This past summer I successfully grew tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and green beans, and, yes, I picked the beans and ate them right there in the yard. Some sections of the garden didn’t grow as well as others so I spent time fertilizing and moving the soil around a bit before getting the fall garden planted. I expect to harvest, red and yellow onions, broccoli, sweet peas, eggplant, tomatoes, 2 kinds of lettuce, spinach and carrots as my winter crop.

Part of the thrill of having my garden is the sense of accomplishment in seeing the plants grow and produce food, but a bigger part is knowing that I am feeding my family healthy, organic food that is full of nutrients and free of pesticides and chemicals. I can definitely see adding another garden box at a later date and doubling my harvest!

Technorati Tags: edible landscape, gardening, Greg Peterson, Instant Garden, Living Green, Parri Willie, permaculture, Urban Garden

Hey all,

Join me tonight at Changing Hands in Tempe AZ for the release of the Urban Farm’s Simple Sustainability Book Series – Purchase Link. Here is book four of four installments of the unique mini books I am publishing.

• Grow Wherever You Go, Discover the Place Where Your Garden Lives, By Greg Peterson
Where does your garden live? No matter where you live you can grow something to eat. Shift your thinking and you’d be surprised at the places your food can be grown! Windowsill, fire escape and rooftop gardens have the same potential to provide impressive harvests as backyard gardens, greenhouses and community spaces.

Grow Wherever You Go helps you explore and discover just where your garden lives. So whether you choose to grow a few herbs, or work your way toward creating an entire edible landscape, the process is simpler and more deliciously rewarding than you can imagine. Be creative…discover where your garden lives!

Technorati Tags: edible landscape, Environmental footprint, find your garden, Footprint, gardening, Greg Peterson, Living Green, permaculture, The Urban Farm, Urban Farm

Hey all,

Join me Monday Nov 16 at Changing Hands in Tempe AZ for the release – Purchase Link. Here is book three of four installments of the unique mini books I am publishing. It is a very interesting book exploring 14 different aspects of your environmental footprint with lots of education along the way.

• How Green Am I?, Your Personal Environmental Audit, By Don Lotter with Greg Peterson
Living green is simpler than you think. The gamut of green choices is endless, whether it’s paying a bill online, turning he water off while brushing your teeth, planting a garden or recycling. Everyday simple changes add up in a hurry. Awareness is the key!

By reading How Green Am I? you will discover many places where you can paint your life a little greener. Using Greg Peterson’s ‘No Suffering Allowed” attitude, this book covers the 14 areas that make the biggest impact on our environmental footprint.

This is the most comprehensive footprint-measuring tool on the market. Simply by filling it out you will transform the way you live.

Technorati Tags: Don Lotter, Environmental footprint, Footprint, Greg Peterson, Living Green, permaculture, The Urban Farm, Urban Farm

Hey all,

Join me Monday Nov 16 at Changing Hands in Tempe AZ for the release – Purchase Link. Here is book two of four installments of the unique mini books I am publishing. It is a delightfully written and illustrated book by Rachel Bess on keeping chickens in your yard. I even learned some thing when reading it.

• Fowl Play, Your Guide to Keeping Chickens in the City, By Rachel Bess with Greg Peterson
Why should you keep chickens in your back yard? Think fresh eggs, the thrill of the daily hunt, the chickens tilling your soil, eating your food scraps, weeds, seeds and bugs then providing great fertilizer.

“You can learn so much about life from chickens,” explains Michelle M., a busy nurse, wife and mother of seven. “I’ve learned that keeping chickens is good for my soul.”

Anyone can do it…no roosters required. The secrets to your success easily unfold in the pages of Fowl Play. Read and gather your rewards.

Technorati Tags: Chickens, Greg Peterson, Keeping Chickens, Living Green, permaculture, Rachel Bess, The Urban Farm, Urban Farm

Hey all,

Here is the first book of four installments of the unique mini books I am publishing – Purchase Link.   Join me Monday Nov 16 at Changing Hands in Tempe AZ for the release. See below for more info.

• My Ordinary Extraordinary Yard, By Greg Peterson
You can create your own urban farm. Creating your own urban farm is as simple as planting you flowerbeds with edibles. The payoffs can include home grown food and a deeper connection to the earth. In this unique mini-book, Greg Peterson shares how his yard went from grass and hedges to his very own Urban Farm, full of vegetables and fruit trees with plenty to share. His motto ‘food grows abundantly – lets grow it and give it away.’ This insightful book about how Greg’s Urban Farm came to be will inspire you to create your own urban farm.

The Urban Farm’s Simple Sustainability Book Series
Greg Peterson and Rachel Bess Present at:
Changing Hands Book Store
6428 S McClintock Drive
Tempe, Arizona 85283
7pm
Monday November 16th, 2009

Greg Peterson and Urban Farm Press presents a new and unique series of mini books designed for the busy, fast-paced life we live. The series, called The Urban Farm’s Simple Sustainability Series, feature palm-size, single topic, and well-researched mini books that are concise and to the point with each book exploring a different aspect of living a green (sustainable) lifestyle. Topics are addressed in a guilt-free, action-oriented and upbeat manner. Designed as a quick study, the books bridge the gap between facts and action and are written in an inspirational manner for anyone with an interest in green lifestyle changes and sustainably oriented processes.

Technorati Tags: Greg Peterson, Growing Your Own, Living Green, permaculture, Sustainability, Urban Farm

Please join me for my book release and signing of
The Urban Farm’s Simple Sustainability Book Series
Greg Peterson and Rachel Bess Present at:

Changing Hands Book Store
6428 S McClintock Drive
Tempe, Arizona 85283
7pm
Monday November 16th, 2009
Contact: Greg Peterson, The Urban Farm, 602-279-3713

Greg Peterson and Urban Farm Press presents a new and unique series of mini books designed for the busy, fast-paced life we live. The series, called The Urban Farm’s Simple Sustainability Series, feature palm-size, single topic, and well-researched mini books that are concise and to the point with each book exploring a different aspect of living a green (sustainable) lifestyle. Topics are addressed in a guilt-free, action-oriented and upbeat manner. Designed as a quick study, the books bridge the gap between facts and action and are written in an inspirational manner for anyone with an interest in green lifestyle changes and sustainably oriented processes.

The mini-book format features:
• 3.5” by 5” size
• A low price of $7.95
• 8,000 to 15,000 words
• Highly topic specific material
• A quick, engaging, inspirational read, and
• Communicate the point using less paper.

The current series contains the following four books to be followed by an additional six planned for release in 2010:
• My Ordinary Extraordinary Yard, By Greg Peterson
• Fowl Play, Your Guide to Keeping Chickens in Your Yard, By Rachel Bess with Greg Peterson
• How Green Am I?, Your Personal Environmental Audit, By Don Lotter with Greg Peterson
• Grow Wherever You Go, Discover the Place Where Your Garden Lives, By Greg Peterson

Each book contains helpful, factual and interesting information designed to inspire readers into action.

Urban Farm Press and Your Guide To Green are established, reliable sources of information on green living. Therefore the information is educational, fact-based, substantive, and well-researched — based on well-documented sources. Books are written in an upbeat, positive, non-preachy, no guilt voice that is fun and easy-to-read.

It’s simply rewarding.

• My Ordinary Extraordinary Yard, By Greg Peterson
You can create your own urban farm. Creating your own urban farm is as simple as planting you flowerbeds with edibles. The payoffs can include home grown food and a deeper connection to the earth. In this unique mini-book, Greg Peterson shares how his yard went from grass and hedges to his very own Urban Farm, full of vegetables and fruit trees with plenty to share. His motto ‘food grows abundantly – lets grow it and give it away.’ This insightful book about how Greg’s Urban Farm came to be will inspire you to create your own urban farm.

• Fowl Play, Your Guide to Keeping Chickens in Your Yard, By Rachel Bess with Greg Peterson
Why should you keep chickens in your back yard? Think fresh eggs, the thrill of the daily hunt, the chickens tilling your soil, eating your food scraps, weeds, seeds and bugs then providing great fertilizer.

“You can learn so much about live from chickens,” explains Michelle M., a busy nurse, wife and mother of seven. “I’ve learned that keeping chickens is good for my soul.”

Anyone can do it…no roosters required. The secrets to your success easily unfold in the pages of Fowl Play. Read and gather your rewards.

• How Green Am I?, Your Personal Environmental Audit, By Don Lotter with Greg Peterson
Living green is simpler than you think. The gamut of green choices is endless, whether it’s paying a bill online, turning he water off while brushing your teeth, planting a garden or recycling. Everyday simple changes add up in a hurry. Awareness is the key!

By reading How Green Am I? you will discover many palces where you can paint your life a little greener. Using Greg Peterson’s ‘No Suffering Allowed” attitude, this book covers the 14 areas that make the biggest impact on our environmental footprint.

This is the most comprehensive footprint-measuring tool on the market. Simply by filling it out you will transform the way you live.

• Grow Wherever You Go, Discover the Place Where Your Garden Lives, By Greg Peterson
Where does your garden live? No matter where you are you can grow something to eat. Shift your thinking and you’d be surprised at the places your food can be grown! Windowsill, fire escape and rooftop gardens have the same potential to provide impressive harvests as backyard gardens, greenhouses and community spaces.

Grow Wherever You Go helps you explore and discover just where your garden lives. So whether you choose to grow a few herbs, or work your way toward creating an entire edible landscape, the process is simpler and more deliciously rewarding than you can imagine. Be creative…discover your garden!

Technorati Tags: Greg Peterson, Living Green, permaculture, The Urban Farm

This time of the year I get a lot of questions about how to best water our yards. Short of standing with the hose or installing a sprinkler system, what can we do? Two of my favorite solutions are greywater and rain water harvesting. Over the next few weeks we are going to explore these options, starting with greywater.

For the longest time after I went to my first permaculture class in 1991 I understood the notion of water harvesting to be one where I had to collect and store the water in some kind of container. The part that I missed was that a perfect storage container for the water is FREE… it’s the ground around my home. That’s right, don’t build tanks, put gutters in place to put the water in the ground where you need it. Our articles over the next three weeks will share many strategies about just how to do this.

This week’s article, called Greywater Turned Green, explores the many aspects of greywater. But before you go there, here are some quick greywater answers.

• Greywater is the water that goes down your shower, washer and sink (not including the kitchen.)

• Blackwater, which is not usable in our landscape, is the water that goes down the toilet and kitchen sink.

• Don’t ever store greywater, as it begins to smell very quickly.

• Greywater is legal in some states. Check with your local municipality for the regulations in your area.

• To see Arizona’s regulations click here

We also have two fantastic books on the topic. Create an Oasis with Greywater gives you the inside scoop on irrigating with household wash water while relieving septic tank strain and doing it all chemical free! Plus Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands Vol. 1 shows you how to select, place, size, construct, and plant your chosen water-harvesting “earthworks”.Most of all have fun with your greywater. Have a great green day.

Greg

Technorati Tags: blackwater, books, greywater, permaculture, rain water, regulations, resources

OK – So I was fried at the office today and needed a break.  So I came home to the Urban Farm and decided to do a quickie garden. The space I am planting is called the West Wall Trellis.   It goes like this:

1.  I attached a piece of wire fencing to the eves of the house.  This will serve two purposes, one to grow the squash up the wall and two to provide shade in the afternoon for the building.  Which faces west – the hottest part of the yard.  20 minutes.

2.  I dug out the grass that was growing across the bottom of the wall.

3.  With the loose dirt I made a little trough along the wall to fill with water.

4.  I planted Pink Banana, Delicate Honey Boat and Waltham Butternut squash.  Basically I tossed the seeds in the area and pushed them down with my index finger and smoothed them over with my had to fill the holes.

5.  I added some organic fertilizer and a mulch topper.

6.  Watered.

A ultimate quickie garden.  Required 20 minutes of work.  I’ll keep you posted as it grows.  Woohoo.  Greg

Technorati Tags: gardening, Greg Peterson, Instant Garden, permaculture, Urban Farm

I love eating out of my yard, in fact that is one of the biggest reasons that I love growing groceries in my yard. Well that along with that I get to get my hands dirty.  In many ways it is my meditation.

At any rate dinner last night came out of the yard.  Woohoo.  Well mostly out of the yard.  The free range chicken came from the grocery store.  The rest of the dinner was from my hands.  I did a stir fry that included snap peas, zucchini, carrots, onions, fava beans, plus the sauce that I marinated it all in included orange juice, garlic and onions.  It was incredible.

Technorati Tags: Greg Peterson, grow your own, permaculture, Urban Farm