Special Heirloom Seed Offer

Greetings friends,

I am looking to raise funds to start a new farm-based business in upstate NY (close to Albany). At first, I am going to sell quality open-pollinated heirloom seed and eventually have a farm stand at a market selling locally grown food items such as jams, ferments, honey as well as fresh produce. In order to buy my first bulk order of seeds, I am going to need your help. I was able negotiate a deal with my wholesale supplier that allowed me to sell 100 seed packs for just $100. Those of us who are avid gardeners know how good of a deal that is.

100 SEED PACKS for $100

Heirloom Seeds

• Open-pollinated
• Organic, non-GMO
• Sources include Amish communities and local ORGANIC growers in my area
• Heirloom (you can regrow them year after year!)

If I get enough orders in by Thanksgiving, I can send these out to you before the new year. If you’re local, I can also give you some free produce once the plants start producing in exchange for being one of my first “investors”.

If you are interested in this amazing deal on seeds, please send an email with with “Seed Order” in the subject line along with the address you want these seeds shipped to ediblelandscaper@gmail.com

You may pay by sending a Check or Money Order to:

“Mihail Kossev’s Seeds”

9 Cheese Hill Road

Preston Hollow, NY 12469

You may also use PayPal below…

A SAMPLE LIST OF THE SET INCLUDES:

AMARANTH - Various Varieties ARUGULA - Slow Bolt ARTICHOKE - Green Globe ASPARAGUS - UC72 BASIL - Sweet Italian Genovese BEANS - Blue Lake Bush Henderson’s Bush Lima Top Notch Golden Wax Garbanzo (Chick Peas) BEETS - Detroit Dark Red Cylindra BROCCOLI - Waltham 29 DeCiccio Purple Sprouting Green Calabrese Sprouting BRUSSEL SPROUT - Long Island Improved CAULIFLOWER - Self-Blanche Snowball CABBAGE - Red Acre Late Flat Dutch Danish Ball Head Copenhagen Market Mammoth Red Rock CARROTS - Scarlet Nantes Danver’s Half Long Tendersweet Royal Chantenay CELERY - Tall Utah CHICORY - Sugar Loaf CHIVES - Onion Garlic CILANTRO (CORIANDER) - Slow Bolt COLLARD - Georgia Morris Heading CORN (POPPING) - South American Yellow CORN (SWEET) - Trucker’s White Favorite

CRESS - Wrinkled Crinkled Curled Upland CUCUMBER - SMR 58 National Pickles Straight Eight Armenian Yard Long Boston Pickling DILL - Mammoth Long Island Dukat DUTCH CORN SALAD - Dutch Corn Salad (Mache) EGGPLANT - Black Beauty ENDIVE - Broadleaf Batavian Green Curled Ruffec FENNEL - Fennel KALE - Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Dwarf Siberian KOHLRABI - Early White Vienna LEEK - American Flag LENTILS - Lentils (Various) LETTUCE - Buttercrunch Red Salad Bowl Prizehead Iceberg Parris Island Cos Black Seeded Simpson Oakleaf Mignonette Bronze MUSTARD - Southern Giant Red Giant OKRA - Clemson Spineless ONION - White Sweet Spanish Tokyo Long Bunching ORIENTAL VEGETABLES - Michihilli Pak Choi Komatsuma PARSLEY - Moss Curled Dark Green Italian

PARSNIP - All American PEAS - Dwarf Gray Sugar Pod (Snow Pea) Perfection Dark Seeded Green Arrow PEPPERS - Keystone Bell Yolo Wonder Bell California Wonder Bell Golden California Wonder Bell Large Thick Red Cayenne Early Jalapeno Anaheim Hungarian Yellow Hot Wax Santa Fe Grande Serrano Tampiqueno TAM Jalapeno RADISH - White Icicle Cherry Belle Champion French Breakfast RHUBARB - Victoria RUTABAGA - American Purple Top SPINACH - Bloomsdale Long Standing SQUASH - Yellow Straightneck Yellow Crookneck Black Beauty Zucchini Waltham Butternut SWISS CHARD - Fordhook Giant TOMATO - Golden Jubilee Ace 55 Roma Thessaloniki Pink Oxheart Homestead Large Red Cherry Small Red Cherry Yellow Pear Red Oxheart Marglobe San Marzano Campbell’s 1327 Red Beefsteak Rutger’s TURNIP - Seven Top Purple Top White Globe WATERMELON - Mountain Hoosier Jubilee Crimson Sweet

Preston Hollow Land Collective

Are you looking to live more sustainably? Do your passions include gardening, fermentation, wildcrafting, natural building, reforestation, caring for animals and educating/learning from others? Would you like a cheap and easy way to start your own sustainable business?

The Preston Hollow Land Collective offers participants a way to make all those things possible. We are currently looking for new members who want to be a part of our growing network of cottage industries, teachers and craftspeople. We aim to experiment with new methods of trade that promote locally-based, small-scale products and services. The idea sounds big, but with the right people, it is VERY doable.

BACKGROUND

• The Land: Situated on a beautiful 110-acre south-facing slope 30 miles south of Albany, Preston Hollow has the potential to become a vibrant community of landscape designers, artisans and entrepreneurs whose purpose is to care for and rehabilitate the Earth while building a sustainable economic model around small-scale agriculture and craft. Currently, we have one house, a few barns and an old production apple orchard with mint, oregano and raspberries growing wild underneath. The property is bordered by a creek and there is access to 2 additional natural water sources (a spring and a well). There are 4-5 large fields that have most likely been terra-formed by loggers  and the wooded area is still young (and in need of some tender love and care as well). The house is situated in the center of the town of Preston Hollow (pop: 1,000) and goes back over a mile up the mountain. For pictures of the location, send an email to the address below.

• The Organization: We have signed a long-term lease with the landowner with the rights to develop this land as a permaculture site. In lieu of this, we are looking to build our network of permaculture enthusiasts who can invest their time/energy/resources into a cooperative means of subsistence over the course of the next few years.

CONCEPT

• How it works: Co-op members can be invested in this project in a variety of ways. They can choose to participate with either a full-time or part-time presence on the land by proposing a project based on permaculture principles that could eventually bring them enough income to cover their cost of living. The co-op will offer 110% support for individuals with ambitious plans for their craft or farm-based product by way of fund-raising, marketing and general labor. A full-time presence on the land would require a genuine commitment to communal living and pooling resources. Members can also opt for a part-time presence on the land if their project does not require constant attention or isn’t necessarily meant to bring in revenue. For example, Brooklyn artists could use some of the barns as a studio space (and possibly a show-room), which would bring diversity, creativity and new skills into the community, and/or a member could keep beehives on the property and come to collect the honey/check on the hives once a month. There are many ways to be involved.
• Example of this model: Part of this land will be used to grow organic heirloom vegetables for seed by one member of the co-op for retail, who will then give the flesh of the vegetables to another member invested in canning/preserves/fermentation. Both members will make money off of their product, but essentially share the overhead. Others may choose to invest in livestock, bees, mushrooms, compost and/or edible perennials to produce their own value-added products, though our system will be fully-integrated throughout. Some could even run workshops, host events, retreats and/or work to rehabilitate the 55 forested acres along the creek. All fees are negotiable and the co-op itself exists as a way for people with similar interest to split the operational costs of their passions.

OBJECTIVES

• The overall vision for the organization is to stack as many mutually beneficial functions (social and physical) as possible on one piece of land that could draw small amounts of revenue to the individual invested in them, but add to the abundance of the greater community.
• We aim to build community, food security and experiment with a truly sustainable economic model.
• The parameters of this Collective will all be determined democratically by the members — therefore, before we make up any more rules, we need members!

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

• Contact Mihail Kossev at mihail.kossev@gmail.com / 732-492-6001

The possibilities are endless and the timing is right!

Cleint Feedback

Just checking in on the interwebsphere…

…reading through emails sent to me from clients:

“we have been harvesting like you wouldnt believe. everything has been wonderful….its crazy having so much at your finger tips and noticing the changes from one day until the next…my corn has flowered ?????????? i guess…big white flowers on top…. Thanks again for everything. My family is learning tons from the experience, not to mention eating better….we cant thank u enough…“

- Ivan (Maspeth, Queens, NY)

"Look at these. Beautiful. And so tasty." - Ellen

(Above garden: Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, NY)

Despite the challenges faced by the rain this year, I am glad to hear how happy everyone is with their home harvests! Yet one of the many good reasons to emphasize a diverse polyculture in the home garden: some crop’s failures can be other crop’s successes. The more you diversify your palette, the better the chances of success!

Here is another video Susan posted about her garden (shot a few weeks ago)

$4.50 Per Square Foot Credit for Green Roofs in NYC

This isn’t one of those green luxury things. Green roofs and green walls are more necessary now more than ever in NYC — they dramatically improve the air quality, water quality, and reduce heat island effect while saving energy. Not to mention, you can produce your own fresh organic herbs, fruits and vegetables too!

(story by Ethan posted on Green Brooklyn)

Sustainable Cities Blog — a project of CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities — reports:

Good news for those of us who look out on flat black roof tops and shudder with thoughts of their lost potential. On June 24th, Assembly Bill 11226 was passed allowing building owners in New York City who install green roofs on at least 50 percent of available rooftop space to get tax credit for it. Property owners will be able to apply for a one-year property tax credit of $100,000. The credit is equal to $4.50 per square-foot area that is planted vegetation. This is essentially 25% of the typical cost associated with materials, labor, design, and maintenance. The Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) spear-headed the initiative with the help of Assembly Member Ruben Diaz. The law goes into effect on January 1st 2009 and will expire in 2013.

Get the news straight from the source at S.W.I.M.: Tax Credits for New York City Green Rooftops

There are a few more sources that use the same press release, but here are the key passages:

The benefits of green roofs are measurable, according to Dr. Paul S. Mankiewicz, Gaia Institute executive director and board member of the New York City Soil & Water Conservation District. “Each 10,000-sq-ft green roof can capture between 6,000 and 12,000 gal of water in each storm event. This is rainfall that will never enter the combined sewer. At the same time, the evaporation of this rainfall will produce the equivalent of between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of air conditioning–enough heat removal to noticeably cool 10 acres of the city. This is a management practice that increases biodiversity and can literally add enjoyable landscape to all the boroughs of New York”.

Riverkeeper Chief Investigator Basil Seggos added, “By incentivizing green roof construction, this legislation will enable New York City to become greener, cleaner and more energy efficient. And our waterways will benefit from smaller volumes of raw sewage as a result.”

[...]

Green roofs also address New York’s environmental justice problems, explained Kate Zidar, Senior Environmental Planner of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. “Green roofs reduce costly environmental burdens, such as poor air quality and sewage treatment processing, in communities throughout New York City, especially environmental justice communities that host more than their share of environmental burdens.”This isn’t one of those green luxury things.

FOR A FREE CONSULTATION AND ESTIMATE CALL (732) 492-6001.

Intensive Vegetable Garden in Maspeth, Queens

In places that have been over-developped repeatedly over the past century, it is easy to draw a distinction between dirt and soil.

DIRT [durt] – noun - a loose mixture of various particles from sources that are assumed to be foul and filthy: industrial dust, cement chips, sand, mud — often used pejoratively

SOIL [soil] – noun -  a mixture of mineral and organic constituents that are in solid, gaseous and aqueous states. These pours help retain moisture and aerate so living things can move around, breath and properly distribute nutrients.

Beneath the tiles, we uncovered "dirt"

For this garden, we dug up the pre-existing patio tiles to make the siding for the bed, and filled it with that yummy “black gold” (a.k.a. an organic compost/soil mix for Precision Site Materials). The garden was planted pretty densely, but since  companion planting creates symbiotic relationships amongst crops with varying space and nutrient requirements, we were able to use up every valueable inch of this garden to produce food/herbs. Watch it grow and fill in below…

Beneath the tiles, we uncovered “dirt”

Before the compost delivery

Seedlings transplanted, seeds sown in between

One month later…

From industrial mess…

To organic paradise…

Corn, watermelon and lettuce

Click for list of crops…

This garden took only 2 days to install. It is irrigated by drip irrigation making it extremely low maintenance. Most of the maintenance tasks for this client include cutting back and thinning, which can also be considered a harvest.

Mmm, you can smell the abundance

(c) Edible Landscapes, changing the world – one food garden at a time

100% Customer Satisfaction

A quick message to me from Tatiana:

“Hi, Misha! The garden is growing great. I can eat from it every day now. I am amazed at how much food I get. There is one photo you probably want to post on your web site.

Tatiana's DAILY Harvest

— Tatiana“

Yum.

A Chef’s Garden in Flatbush

Miriam works for the Food Network. Her career has revolved around using fresh, organic produce which makes for the easier cooking simply because of the heightened natural flavors already present in the ingredients. When she saw examples of my work throughout Brooklyn a few months ago, she wanted a garden of herbs and greens that would also improve the overall aesthetic of her property. Below, you will find some before/after examples:

Before/After "Sea of Greens"

Working within the perameters of a mostly-shade garden, we replaced an awkwardly constructed beach-rock wall with a flowing slope covered in Tastsoi, Mustard Greens, Arugula, Lettuce, Endives, Nasturtium and more. As you can see above and below, this little hill is getting planted in succession to provide the client with a constant supply of fresh salad throughout the growing season.

Before/After Extenstion of Garden

In addition to the “Green Slope,” we also built a trellis for tomatoes, cukes and beans and lined the pebble path with an ornamental row of Broccoli.

Before/After Path

All the pebbles and “debris” in the old wall used to construct and herb spiral instead of getting trucked out to a landfill…

Rosemary, Sage, Oregano, Tarragon, Thyme, Parsley, Hyssop, Santonilla, Bee Balm (and a Brussel Sprout, ha!)

Enjoy.