Creatures of Place is an insight into the wonderful world of Artist as Family: Meg Ulman, Patrick Jones, and their youngest son, Woody. Living on an urban 1/4 acre section in a small Australian town, Meg and Patrick have designed their property using permaculture principals. They grow most of their own food, don’t own cars and ride their bikes instead, use very little electricity, and forage food and materials from their local forest. We found their story super inspiring and we think you will too!
urban garden
Growing Roots – This Farmer Is Taking Root on Rooftops
Here’s a very good video showing cutting edge technologies that make rooftop gardening profitable. At 19:54 they show how they’re making compost from food scraps very quickly in a machine.
Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600s
This is an amazing story recommended by Jim, one of our long time readers and supporters. So many things such as fruit walls are being forgotten due to the prevalence of relatively affordable energy.
“We are being told to eat local and seasonal food, either because other crops have been transported over long distances, or because they are grown in energy-intensive greenhouses. But it wasn’t always like that. From the sixteenth to the twentieth century, urban farmers grew Mediterranean fruits and vegetables as far north as England and the Netherlands, using only renewable energy.
Paradise Lot
“Two plant geeks, one-tenth of an acre and the making of an edible garden oasis in the city
Jonathan and Eric and their families manage a 1/10 acre urban backyard garden in Holyoke, Massachusetts. This edible landscape features little-used edible native plants as well as useful species from around the world. Over forty species of fruit and seventy perennials with edible leaves make for a long season of foraging.
Homegrown Revolution (Award winning short-film 2009)- The Urban Homestead
“The Dervaes family grows over 400 species of plants, 4,300 pounds of vegetable food, 900 chicken and 1,000 duck eggs, 25 lbs of honey, plus seasonal fruits throughout the year on their urban lot.
Small Space Permaculture Food Forest Garden on 1/4 Acre Home Lot
“John from Growing Your Greens.com (one of the top YouTube gardening channels with over 248,000 subscribers) goes on a field trip to visit Dr. Bob Randall’s Permaculture Food Forest in suburban Houston, Texas. In this .28 acre lot Bob grows over 150 varieties of fruit trees, a raised bed vegetable garden and more.