LOCAL PHOTOS: Green Acres News, All Good!

My podmate Brie was at the nearby IU Credit Union the other day and ran into another young resident of Green Acres. He told her he didn’t even know he lived in “Green Acres” until the signs went up! And, he exclaimed, “They are so beautiful!”

Here’s the largest one, at the north entrance.

Note the right hand lower corner — woodpecker!

Here at the corner of DeKist and Overhill, we are in the middle of transitioning from Green Acres Neighborhood Garden to Green Acres Urban Farm. Not that we aren’t still a neighborhood garden, but that this garden, more and more, integrates into our plan for living and working in place, becoming a center of production, rather than consumption. I’ve ordered the new sign, and it will be here before the end of the month. Meanwhile, the old sign still stands —

though weatherworn.

The new sign will be metal, and hang on the fence.

Rebecca, Brie, our woofer Ian, and sometimes Leah — have all been working in the garden. Here are a few photos from the last week or two.

Brie made a map for the garden —

And cut out numbered signs for the beds —

using a power tool!

In this photo I took this morning, you can see the number for Bed 6, right of center.

(Oops! There’s the back end of puppy shadow in the right foreground!)

First lotus of 2016 in the pond/wetland . . .

If you recall, the landlord for the house in back of these two, is now working with us. We will be returning the grounds of Laura’s rental house from its current overgrown condition to its original permacultural design — plus adding new features. (Nathan, the permaculturist who used to live there, was the person who told me about “permaculture” in the first place. And he was the one who suggested that I buy the DeKist house because it had a “sunny south-facing lawn, perfect for a garden”! Thank you Nathan! Your advice changed my life.)

During the past two weeks, our woofer Ian also did a lot of heavy lifting on the grounds of Laura’s house, of blocks —

which were underneath now overgrown berry bushes, way down underneath. At some point in the history of that property, somebody must have wanted to make a patio. Here’s the berry patch after we worked on getting it back in shape.

The partially constructed fence will be for the new chickens.

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago podmate Derek and I cleared the worst of the euonymous out of the overgrown front yard, and over this past weekend Brie prepared one of the old beds for planting.

Flowers, of course, are abundant this time of year. (Thanks to Brie for the flower photos!) Here’s some calendula I transplanted over the weekend.

Peony in my front yard.

Amaryllis, just coming into bloom. Note beautiful pink edging.

Now for the piece de resistance. I’ve actually saved the best for last. It turns out that the house across the street from the garden is being purchased by a couple who want that house precisely BECAUSE of what we’re doing here. In fact, they are deeply familiar with the N Street Co-Housing in Davis California (the closest model to what we are doing), since the man’s sister used to live there! Brie found this out while out in the garden and this young family rode up on bikes. They close on the house very soon.

Green Acres Permaculture Village is alive — and growing! YES!