Joslyn Bloodworth

So adding fresh dirt out of my compost pile as well as things like the poo from my neighbors horses and compost tea along with regular tilling between crops should do me?

Wow! What great responses, thanks!

John- Good advice! I do enjoy green onions as well as red and yellows so I may try some of those. We don't always get mild winters but I'm looking into setting up a small green house that I can extend the cool season we do get. My mom has always had good luck with tomatoes up here and I think I'll get some good ones for what I like, which is mainly sauces and pastes more than chopped.

Leila - Thanks! Fortunately Northern Az isn't as bad for hot. The area I'm in stays about 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix and the little dip our house is in stays 5 degrees cooler than that so I'm hoping for good success. One of the ways I'm going to get our water up is using all the grey water I can capture from the sink and laundry. In the warmer months I wash my clothes by hand and I wash dishes and laundry with homemade biodegradable soaps (I'm still double checking that it won't adversely affect a garden) so I think I can use a lot of grey water to cut down on the amount it needs, also we're on a well so other than the electricity to get it out of the ground our water is free of charge. When we get more money water catchments are on our shopping list too. We do like chilies, melons and all kinds of herbs, so I can add those things to the list. That picking celery sounds great! I really only use it in soups and stews anyway so that'd be exactly what I need.

Jennifer - Thank you, that link is perfect. I forgot about beans, radishes, and some of the others you listed, so thanks for the reminder.

By the way, does anyone have a good link or book about crop rotation on a small area and what I might need to consider to help replenish my soil?

This spring, my husband and I diving into our first attempt at growing our own food and I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on what we can grow. We live on a mesa just outside Prescott, Az but our land is in a dip and we stay a bit cooler than the surrounding area but it's still Arizona so it gets hot in the summer. The place we are going to put the garden had a garden on it in previous years so the soil is good and there was a preexisting compost pile that we have been adding to and maintaining. We like carrots, rutabagas, potatoes, onions, celery, parsnips, and tomatoes. What of these will grow in a desert environment and are there other foods that we could grow that we might like given our tastes?

My husband and I just moved into our first rental house in the Prescott area of Northern Arizona and we are really lucky because it comes with an acre of land, a barn and a landlord that doesn't care as long as we don't burn the house down. And because my mom rented my house before me, there is a garden bed already in place and a big ole pile of manure already half composted. We're really lucky to have such a great place.

A year ago we started working at a camp that teaches kids natural science, adventure activities, and environmental responsibility. In learning the classes so we could teach the kids, our eyes were opened to the massive waste and complete lack of responsibility that is rampant in our society today. I have always known, from a lifetime of camping and wilderness experience, just how bad things were on land, but I was exposed to the horrific things going on in our oceans. After really learning about what is happening to the wilderness that I love more intimately, I dug in. I am a researcher and I love getting in there and learning about new passions and ideas. In everything I became really passionate about learning to live without creating any waste. We were already minimalists but now it's grown into something brand new now. We also are really committed to not having any plastic in our kitchen at all and as little as possible in the rest of the house and we've gotten rid of our microwave all for conservation and health reasons. We're also looking at growing, raising and making as much of what we need ourselves. I am such a tomboy and love backpacking, hiking and hunting, though I don't get to do as much of any of it as I'd like. We've moved so much in the last few years that I haven't been able to hunt like normal and I don't have any equipment for the bow hunting that I love to do. I'm learning new skills instead since we don't have much money right now, so I'm getting into woodcarving and trap setting, even a little bow making. We are getting chickens soon and at the end of winter, we're hoping to get some goats.

I'm basically looking to live almost 100% little house on the prairie/off the grid style. I say almost because we are the opposite of technophobes and we really are attached to indoor plumbing. Other than that bring on the rustic life!!