Ever since I was a child, I have had a fondness for watching things grow and getting my hands dirty in the soil. I was fortunate to be raised by a long generation of gardeners, all the way back to my descendants rolling over the prairie on the Oregon Trail in the 1850’s. In addition, I am a modern city girl enjoying a hip life in Portland, Oregon. Living in Portland has allowed me to straddle the simplicity of country life with the vibrancy of a city setting.
We moved into our 1/10 of an acre urban plot back in the Summer of ‘06, which was then a bland field of grass. Using permaculture gardening methods, we have slowly transformed the vapid terrain into a environmentally-sustainable urban oasis. Our garden is now home to over thirty fruiting trees and shrubs, and numerous other perennial fruiting vines, ground covers, and smaller plantings. After months of designing, digging and cultivating, we have a budding edible food forest in our own backyard.
The goal of this blog is to demonstrate what a home-scale food forest looks like in an urban setting. Our garden is now home to birds, beneficial insects and tons of other wildlife. Our urban chickens provide organic eggs, natural pest control, nitrogen-rich manure, and on-going entertainment. Despite all this success, I still fall flat on my face sometimes out here.
If you have questions or comments, email me here: hipchickdigs@gmail.com Hopefully we can learn from my mistakes together, celebrate the triumphs, and share knowledge that will make our little urban homesteads that much more successful.
-Renee
6 responses so far ↓
1 japattison // Jan 16, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Your “newspaper seed pots lik is broken, what happened?
2 admin // Jan 17, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hopefully it’s working now!
3 Susan Hill Newton // Feb 8, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Have you ever written a book? If not, would you ever consider it?
I’m a book editor with Fulcrum Publishing/Speck Press. I came across your site when doing some research on modern approaches to gardening (I actually Googled “Hip Gardening”). I’d welcome the chance to talk with you more, if you’re interested.
Best,
Susan Hill Newton
susan@speckpress.com
http://www.speckpress.com
http://www.fulcrumbooks.com
4 David // May 13, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I really like the urban gardening that you have been doing for the past few years. If more people treated a small section of their yards like you, they would get to experience fresh, local food. Living on a farm I can appreciate fresh food and I applaud you for setting an example to others!!!
5 Tracy // May 9, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I enjoy your blog. In some very unique way I found solace in your discussion on chickens. We just introduced our children to harvesting our broilers and I found it helpful to read a similar viewpoint. We have the luxury of property (65 acres near Spokane) but your blogs have given us some great ideas on how to maximize the results from our work–thanks!
6 Jennifer // Jul 28, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I love your blog. I’m horrible at gardening, but you provide detailed information that could help someone as clueless as myself.
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