Backyard Garden Grows More Than Just Food
By: Nate Potter
Updated: November 7, 2011
From Chinese Cabbage to Kale to Swiss Chard, it seems that Chris and Dana have their roots in a little bit of everything.
The couple moved into their home in the Borough of State College six years ago. Since, their land has grown into something extraordinary.
They transformed their yard, and a neighbor's yard into a fully-functioning garden.
Their neighbor, Margaret Felice, was kind enough to allow them to farm and harvest an empty lot that she owned. Six years later, that empty lot is a flourishing garden that produces a lot of food for Chris and Dana.
They've built a chicken coop, and they keep 4 chickens.
Chris said those bird produce about 3 eggs a day.
Chris harvested some clay from the land and built a bee-hive, wood-fired bread oven. They use the oven to bake sourdough and artisan breads.
They keep two bee hives as well.
The two even set up a system that collects rain water from their roof, so they can use it to water their terrace garden that graces their front yard.
"We don't have any special food-growing capacity or stone capacity or chicken-tending or bee-tending or fruit-tending capacity," said Dana. "It's always the idea that we can learn as we go."
That's exactly what they've been doing.
"We're increasingly interested in doing more for ourselves, and learning in the doing and stretching the boundaries of what's possible," said Dana. "Or just our notions, we're kind of locked into a vision of a lawn looks like grass. Oh really? Well, if it's receiving lots of sun and you like to eat, and you have just the tiniest little bit of experimentation urge, plant something and harvest it and eat it and enjoy it, and you'll notice that it's beautiful in the doing as well"
Their garden produces food for 7 months of the year, but if you ask them, it's about more than just producing food.
"Our hope is that in the doing and in the sharing, more and more people will say you know I am willing to... for them it might seem like planting a tomato is a giant step, but that's okay, step by step - learning and doing"
