FLOWER GARDENS

Upon visiting Grandma’s Farm, one of the very first experiences you will have will be the English Cottage Gardens around the house and yard.  These beautiful flower gardens were established in the spring of 2002, and we are continuing to develop and expand them each year. 

During the summer of 2006, the creation of the Half Moon Garden began.  When
we are done with the Half Moon Garden, it will have winding stone pathways leading to water ponds, fountains, and seating areas inviting all who enter to stop for awhile and experience the wildlife whose habitat is within the flowers, trees, and shrubs. 

Upon the completion of the CLUB HOUSE remodel, we will begin the Zen Garden, which is located directly behind the Club House.  This garden will be a Sacred Sanctuary for quiet contemplation and meditations. Our desire is to find new uses for all the existing buildings at the farm, so we will turn the small shed located there into
an outdoor covered sanctuary.  Within the sanctuary, there will be a fountain and seating areas while just outside will be a Zen Sand Garden.

NATURALLY GROWN PRODUCE GARDEN

While visiting Grandma’s Farm, you may find your way to the produce garden. 
During the 1940’s and continuing through the 1980’s, this 60’ X 80’ area was the farm’s sheep and cow lots.  From the late 1980’s until inheriting the farm in 2001, these animal lots were left empty.  This activity in the past gave rise to the perfect environment for the Naturally Grown Produce Garden of today.

The underground watering system, which was developed in 1955 for the five
animal water troughs located throughout the complex, became the inspiration that
Gary used to devise and construct the fifteen 60’ rows of the produce garden. By reworking the existing windmill and integrating it with the gravity feed drip system
he designed, a completely off line wind energy system that waters the entire
garden. This system is the first of our Earth friendly technologies to
be developed at Grandma’s Farm, and it stands as a working example for all who come to the farm. 

GRANDMA'S FARM PRODUCE

We have been selling produce from the garden for several seasons furthering the heritage of the farm, which has been known for watermelons since the 1940’s.

Unfortunately, we have had to limit the garden produce availability to the public
for the growing season of 2007.  This has allowed our focus to be completely centered upon our current expansion, remodel project.  Click HERE to learn
more about our Club House Remodel.  We will be offering our produce as usual during the growing season of 2008.  At which time we will be posting a complete listing of all the produce available on our CALENDAR.

AN EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN

In the spring of 2004, Balbir Mathur, president of the Trees for Life organization, contacted Grandma’s Farm and invited us to participate in an experiment to
create manure tea. Mr. Mathur told us that, if the experiment was successful, this
easy to create microbial tea would allow areas of the world that have poor and infertile soil to become rich growing grounds.  It would also be a cleaning agent
that would purify and enliven areas of soil that were coated by oil spills.  The experiment was lead by Jim Barlow, an agronomist from Morgan Hill, Calif.
working with Trees for Life.   Under the guidance of Mr. Barlow and with the help
of the Trees for Life volunteers, Gary and I mixed the brew of water, manure, molasses and baker’s yeast and aerated it to a foaming froth.  After days of watching the magical transformation that occurred, we were finally able to begin applying the manure tea to the 1,000 sq. ft. test garden area.  This test garden was created a month after the farms large produce garden, on which we had already applied our natural fertilizers prior to Trees for Life contacting us.  Planting the same seeds in the test garden as we did in the main garden we were able to compare the
two over the summer.  We noticed that the test garden although planted a month later not only met the main garden in growth, but it actually overtook it in size, bug resistance, and length of production.  WOW!  Thanks to Trees for Life for allowing Grandma’s Farm to participate in such a profound experiment.

TWO GREENHOUSES

Since the beginning of the main produce garden at Grandma’s Farm, we have
started our indoor seed trays in the converted root cellar that was built in 1954.  Although this has served its purpose very well providing the farm with years of produce, it will change as we begin the construction of the first greenhouse at Grandma’s Farm.  Utilizing an existing ground silo, we are allowing the concrete and earth sides to be our basic structure for the offline solar greenhouse.  With the completion of this below ground greenhouse, we will not
only have another working example of Earth friendly building, but Grandma’s
Farm will be able to supply our customers with garden fresh salad greens year round.  It is also our plan to offer vegetable and flower starts, houseplants, and
unusual landscape plants.  Please check our EVENTS and CALENDAR pages regularly for updates as to when this project will begin.  We
will need your help with supplies and volunteer work. 

With future plans to remodel a 20’X75’ barn built in 1950 that sits on the north
end of the garden area into an offline solar greenhouse and classroom, the garden complex is destined to be a very important part of the overall life of Grandma’s Farm. This will be a more conventional Earth friendly building utilizing the wind generated water system and incorporating solar panels to run the heating system. 
As part of the remodel, we will create a very special classroom within the greenhouse where we will offer horticultural classes year round.  The various
classes offered will cover such topics as organic gardening, seed saving, food preservation, greenhouse production, and working with the Elemental Kingdom. 

HAY PYRAMID

The 1940 hay pyramid is one of Grandma’s Farms most unique structures. Sit-
ting in the center of the garden complex, it has 4 large poles creating the corners
for the structure where each pole has a huge wheel next to it which is attached to
a pulley system.  With the combined efforts of a person at each wheel, turning the wheels in unison, the 4-sided pyramidal roof raises and lowers according the amount of straw bales being stored underneath it.  Our plan is to set the roof at
10’ high, screen in the sides, and create a versatile outdoor cleaning and sorting area for the main garden as well as a great place for classes and activities.  

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