* Welcome Vera Greutink, Author of Edible Paradise!

Hi Vera and welcome to Permies. We're glad you're here!

Hi Vera, I like reading your magazine articles, your YouTube videos are excellent and so it's good to see you here as well. Het ga je goed!

Hi! Good to see someone else from Europe!
I'm now reading a book about organic farming and it says that Europe is a runner-up in percentage of organic agriculture in farming. Maybe with our 14.6 million ha we're far behind Oceania (35.9 million ha) but hey, it's getting better every year (see the FiBL survey 2019).
I watched your videos in the other topic (I'm now crocheting Christmas gifts which makes me view all videos, tv series etc ;) ) and your garden looks like my garden!! In fact, my entire street is designed in a way that every house has a narrow but long garden behind it (and a small front garden for flowers). When I moved in 10 years ago, I heard a story that this street was built for people who were hired to rebuild the city after a war, and these gardens were for them so they can grow their own food, as there wasn't much available. The oldest inhabitants still kept chickens and rabbits for that purpose when I moved in.
Recently, there is a new neighbourhood being constructed next to us, advertised as very modern because of its architectural style (all black & white and very minimalistic), but in fact I think that the concept of our street is much more modern than that! As the recent trends in architecture and urban design move towards sustainability and self sufficiency. My kindly old street has it already done. At least in its design, because the new inhabitants sometimes think that these long backyards are for their multiple cars ;)

Welcome to Permies : )

Your book looks very inspiring

Welcome, Vera! This sounds like a very interesting book to read. I personally feel that encouraging urban food growing will be critical to changing the entire mind-set of our food system. Hopefully there will be plenty of interesting discussion this week!

I totally agree with that, Jay! Not everybody can be self-sufficient, especially when living in the city, but even when people grow just a small portion of what they consume, it helps from an environmental point-of-view and changes their mind-set! My mission is exactly that: to get as many people as possible growing, even if the space they have available is very limited.

Jay Angler wrote:Welcome, Vera! This sounds like a very interesting book to read. I personally feel that encouraging urban food growing will be critical to changing the entire mind-set of our food system. Hopefully there will be plenty of interesting discussion this week!

Thank you, Kate! I see that you're in Tasmania - I would love to hear what you think of my book from the perspective of your climate! Interestingly, many of my followers on IG are from Australia, so I hope my advice and the examples I offer are helpful on the other side of the world too :)

Kate Downham wrote:Welcome to Permies : )

Your book looks very inspiring

Thank s so much! I'm so glad to hear you think my videos are helpful!

J Grouwstra wrote:Hi Vera, I like reading your magazine articles, your YouTube videos are excellent and so it's good to see you here as well. Het ga je goed!

Hi Flora, I'm glad to hear my videos are keeping you company :)
It's funny how things shift - what you describe was very common in the Netherlands after the war as well, but growing food was pretty much abandoned by the following generations. Now, fortunately, more people are taking interest again., but often they lack practical knowledge. It's why I wanted my book to be as practical as possible, with lots ofinspiring examples described in detail :)

Flora Eerschay wrote:Hi! Good to see someone else from Europe!
I'm now reading a book about organic farming and it says that Europe is a runner-up in percentage of organic agriculture in farming. Maybe with our 14.6 million ha we're far behind Oceania (35.9 million ha) but hey, it's getting better every year (see the FiBL survey 2019).
I watched your videos in the other topic (I'm now crocheting Christmas gifts which makes me view all videos, tv series etc ;) ) and your garden looks like my garden!! In fact, my entire street is designed in a way that every house has a narrow but long garden behind it (and a small front garden for flowers). When I moved in 10 years ago, I heard a story that this street was built for people who were hired to rebuild the city after a war, and these gardens were for them so they can grow their own food, as there wasn't much available. The oldest inhabitants still kept chickens and rabbits for that purpose when I moved in.
Recently, there is a new neighbourhood being constructed next to us, advertised as very modern because of its architectural style (all black & white and very minimalistic), but in fact I think that the concept of our street is much more modern than that! As the recent trends in architecture and urban design move towards sustainability and self sufficiency. My kindly old street has it already done. At least in its design, because the new inhabitants sometimes think that these long backyards are for their multiple cars ;)

Good Morning Vera. Any space eh? How about in a small trailer? Maybe a portable garden that can be moved in and out of a trailer when stationary vs traveling. Does the book cover nomadic gardening?

Welcome to Permies, @Vera !  Even though we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, a nice looking cover doesn't hurt, lol.  I really like the look of your cover! I look forward to reading your posts and checking out some of your videos this week.  

Welcome Vera. I love indoor and outdoor gardening, and know quite a bit about it. Never hurts to learn more about it though.

Welcome Vera!

Welcome, Vera,

I love the title of your book.  I look forward to reading it.

Welcome Vera! I am new to permies.com.

Welcome Vera!  I also love your youtube channel.  Your garden is so inspirational!

Thank you, Dianne! That's so lovely to hear!

DIANNE JUSTESEN wrote:Welcome Vera!  I also love your youtube channel.  Your garden is so inspirational!

Welcome to permies, Vera! Sounds like you'll fit in, beautifully!

Thanks, Mick! I hope you'll love it!

Mick Fisch wrote:Welcome, Vera,

I love the title of your book.  I look forward to reading it.

Thanks! I'm very happy with how the cover turned out I hope you'll enjoy my videos, there's lots of info about our garden, both the annual vegetable (no-dig) garden and our little food forest

T.J. Stewart wrote:Welcome to Permies, @Vera !  Even though we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, a nice looking cover doesn't hurt, lol.  I really like the look of your cover! I look forward to reading your posts and checking out some of your videos this week.  

I'm hoping I can apply your suggestions to my residential garden in the southwest US where we don't receive much precip. Congrats on your book!

Hi Vera! I am subscribed to your videos. They are always interesting and nice to watch. I live a little more to the north of the Netherlands, but it's the same climate (and probably the same soil).

Welcome, Vera! Glad to see you here. I'm ducking into the forums sporadically right now because, in Zone 8a, my window of opportunity to deal with all these leaves I've been having delivered is small. But I look forward to the conversations and will go check out your videos and book!

Hello Vera, You books looks very interesting.   It right up my alley, and something that will be added to my library here at my Farm Lab. We run a non profit in Southern WV, where we teach folks farming, gardening, and other homesteading skills. I get request to teach more about gardening in small spaces. Again, thanks for joining the forum, and welcome, loads of great people here. I do have a question. What is your favorite chapter or part of the books?
Cheers  
-Justyn

Welcome to Permies!

Hi Elizabeth,
I think that lots of the advice and examples are applicable in different climates as well. Lots of my followers on YouTube and Instagram are from different climates than my own (California, Arizona, Australia) and I get great feedback from them. Sometimes, things need to be changed slightly, for example, I got a message from someone living in a hot climate who grew one of my polycultures (which I sow in April) during their cool season. If you have more questions, let me know!

Elizabeth Kelly wrote:I'm hoping I can apply your suggestions to my residential garden in the southwest US where we don't receive much precip. Congrats on your book!

Thanks so much, Inge! It always makes me happy to hear people find my videos interesting

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Vera! I am subscribed to your videos. They are always interesting and nice to watch. I live a little more to the north of the Netherlands, but it's the same climate (and probably the same soil).

Thanks so much, Justyn! I hope you'll find my book useful! It covers different ways to maximize yield in small spaces and my favourite part are probably the different polycultuers which I describe down to the varieites I use. I think those might be of particular interest to you too; there are several 'one bed polycultures', such as a very colourful one with Mexican veggies and herbs (see the photo below). There's even a miniature cut flower garden :) If you get the book, please let me know what you think!

Justyn Mavis wrote:Hello Vera, You books looks very interesting.   It right up my alley, and something that will be added to my library here at my Farm Lab. We run a non profit in Southern WV, where we teach folks farming, gardening, and other homesteading skills. I get request to teach more about gardening in small spaces. Again, thanks for joining the forum, and welcome, loads of great people here. I do have a question. What is your favorite chapter or part of the books?
Cheers  
-Justyn

Ha, good question, Gail!
I'm afraid there's nothing specific on nomadic gardening but lots of inspiration for growing in containers which might be aplicable to your situation too. I like your idea of a portable garden!

Gail Jardin wrote:Good Morning Vera. Any space eh? How about in a small trailer? Maybe a portable garden that can be moved in and out of a trailer when stationary vs traveling. Does the book cover nomadic gardening?

Hi, Vera.

I eagerly await your videos and look forward to reading your book.  I have a tiny house on very small sloping urban lot with 17 fruit and nut trees, grape vines, a no dig veg garden, and 4 old lady hens in the back yard, with a 15 x 6 ft wildflower meadow in the front.

Hi Hari,

Thanks - I'm so glad to hear you enjoy my videos and I hope you'll love my book too! It sounds like you have a very productive garden yourself!

Hari Jensen wrote:Hi, Vera.

I eagerly await your videos and look forward to reading your book.  I have a tiny house on very small sloping urban lot with 17 fruit and nut trees, grape vines, a no dig veg garden, and 4 old lady hens in the back yard, with a 15 x 6 ft wildflower meadow in the front.

We have some winners!


Congratulations to:

Kc Simmons
Flora Eerschay
Kena Landry
Inge Leonora-den Ouden Heather Staas

I'll be sending you each a PM ("Purple Moosage"). Please reply by Sunday to claim your prize!

Thank you so much to Vera Greutink for joining us this week. And, of course, if you didn't happen to win and want to give yourself a bit of a Christmas present, you can buy her book here!


Edited because Inge gave her prize to the next person in line. You are so kind, Inge!

Nicole Alderman wrote:We have some winners!
Congratulations to:

Kc Simmons
Flora Eerschay
Kena Landry
Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Yaay, thank you! Can't wait!

Congratulations, y'all! 🎉🎉🎉

So today's the Winter Solstice, and a lucky 4 people just won a book about edible gardening, just in time to read during the holidays so you will be sooo... ready to plant in the spring?  I *really* hope you post pictures of "Vera Greutink Inspired" gardens, when you've absorbed all the good ideas and interpreted them into your ecosystems! Congratulations!

Nicole Alderman wrote:We have some winners!


Congratulations to:

Kc Simmons
Flora Eerschay
Kena Landry
Inge Leonora-den Ouden

I'll be sending you each a PM ("Purple Moosage"). Please reply by Sunday to claim your prize!

Thank you so much to Vera Greutink for joining us this week. And, of course, if you didn't happen to win and want to give yourself a bit of a Christmas present, you can buy her book here!

I don't know ... Maybe it isn't right if I take that prize. Here in the Netherlands I can buy Vera's book in Dutch. That's easier for me to read and it won't cost shipping. But at the other side ... the idea of having a translation in English of a Dutch book feels like fun. I can still buy the Dutch book to support Vera. What will I do? ? ?

Now I decided: I won't take my prize. I asked Nicole to give it to someone else (in the USA). It's better if I buy Vera's book in Dutch here in the Netherlands.

Conratulations to everyone! I hope my book will bring you lots of inspiration!

Nicole Alderman wrote:We have some winners!


Congratulations to:

Kc Simmons
Flora Eerschay
Kena Landry
Inge Leonora-den Ouden

I'll be sending you each a PM ("Purple Moosage"). Please reply by Sunday to claim your prize!

Thank you so much to Vera Greutink for joining us this week. And, of course, if you didn't happen to win and want to give yourself a bit of a Christmas present, you can buy her book here!

Congratulations KC, Flora, Kena, and Inge!  Enjoy the book!