BACKYARD FOOD FOREST

WELCOME TO MY SUBURBAN EDIBLE & HERBAL

FOOD FOREST...Backyard

Give me a shovel, and I’ll give you a fully functioning, biodiverse, edible & herbal backyard food forest! Give me a harvest, and I’ll give you an entire year’s worth of everyday homemade necessities, gourmet meals, and heartwarming gifts!

Welcome to my suburban “Edible & Herbal Backyard Food Forest” where I have turned a half acre lot into a fully functioning gourmet paradise fit for a king.

I have always lived a simple lifestyle filled with passion and a desire to change things. I have dedicated half of my life to creating everyday household products, beauty aids, herbal remedies, and mouth watering gourmet foods and confections mostly from plants and items I grew and crafted myself.

By Michele Friebis Bowers

Growing organically, and working side by side with nature from my own backyard is something I am very proud of. After completing the Penn State Master Gardener Program, I decided to focus the last 15 years researching cultivars, experimenting with our climate, and pushing my zone limitations to the max. In full production, my backyard is capable of producing enough food & homemade necessities to last my family an entire year! I have everything you can imagine planted including hundreds of fruits, herbs, vegetables, nuts, roots, companion plants, perennials, mushrooms, and extremely fragrant flowers, all

compacted together into one self sufficient eco-system. Growing in small spaces is my specialty! If you have always considered your space too small to grow food…stick around because I am going to prove to you that you have PLENTY of room! I grow 20 pound pumpkins 12 feet in the air and utilize vertical techniques throughout my entire food forest!

Some of the plants I grow, most people don’t even know exist or even thought would be possible to grow in our area! My main objective has always been to become more self-sustaining and to focus on plants that grow well in our cold Pennsylvanian climate. The results have been outstanding, far beyond what I ever imagined!!!

This is a lifestyle to me, and a job that I love! It is a day-to-day ritual that I have simplified tremendously. It is a lifestyle that brings stability to our family and benefits everyone involved. It has saved us thousands of dollars every year. In an emergency situation, we never have to worry about rushing to a store.

Now, I merely buy meat and other staple ingredients that I cannot grow myself in bulk from as many local sources as possible. I grow just enough of my own ingredients and supplies that will last us for one entire year, then I start the whole process all over again in January. It is well planned, journaled and broken down monthly.

This lifestyle has given me an understanding of what goes into the foods we eat and the everyday products we use. In my eyes, it’s just me being a mom and supplying my family with healthier options!!

The new gardening season is now upon us and the whole process has just begun again! I have created a brand new resource/website www. thehomemadegardener.com that I will be uploading all my daily and weekly “tips and tricks” including all my recipes and food forest information so there is a permanent place to reference. You can always check out my Facebook page The Homemade Gardener or join me in my backyard for a fun/informative workshop.

Look for my bi monthly piece online at www.LOCAL-pittsburgh.com ...I can’t wait to share some of these tips and tricks, as well as what’s to come - hoping to inspire a new wave of backyard gardening and a “do it yourself” homemade type of lifestyle.