The first time I saw Living with Ed, the Planet Green Channel series starring Ed and Rachelle Begley, I thought “Geez, that’s nothing. She should try living with MY Ed!” I had just survived my husband turning our 1200 square foot fixer-upper into the greenest and coolest (and I don’t mean temperature, although a $25 a month electric bill is nothing to sneer at) house in Scottsdale, Arizona. The only thing that hasn’t been changed at my house is our mailbox. Most of the things that did change were changed in one or another DI Ed and Denise (as compared to DIY–do it yourself).
So, now that our present house is almost finished–okay, he still has a couple cabinet fronts to make and I’m scheduled to paint and scrape them–what does he do? HE DECIDES TO BUY A FARM! That’s when I started singing the theme song from Green Acres (I know; the very fact I know the song really dates me). For some reason, Ed didn’t laugh.
Here’s what you need to know about my Ed He was raised on a farm and he hated it. For the last five years every time I’d mention how nice it would be to add chickens to my garden, he’d tell me how horrible chickens were. In the early years of my backyard garden he made a point of telling me we were eating the most expensive tomatoes on earth, because of all the time I spent on them.
So, I could hardly believe it when Ed started talking about turning 3 of our new 8 acres into a sustainable, Permaculture garden. He’s already planning our new chicken and turkey coops. Oh, and let’s not forget that he’s using our acreage across Page Springs Road for viticulture. He informed me that since we were going to living on the same road as three of Arizona’s wineries, he thought we should grow wine grapes. I reminded him of a joke we heard a winery owner tell: How do you make a small fortune in Napa? Start with a big fortune and buy a winery. He insists we’re not making wine (thank heavens!) we’d just be growing grapes for wine.
Right.
That’s how I knew it was finally time to start the blog. Not only is Ed going to immerse me (almost willingly) into remodel hell all over again on his way to creating the greenest house in Arizona, he’s going to subject me to uncontrollable grape leaf hoppers.
I intend these pages to give me the space to do it all: vent, share what I learn on my path to mastering sustainable gardening, share what Ed learns about green building–he’s even talking waterwheel, folks—and take you along on our journey as he goes back to the farm.