Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Yellow belle sweet peppers Mittleider garden 2009

Introducing the Best Gardening Methods on the Planet

My name is Jim Kennard, and as President of the Food For Everyone Foundation I am excited to help in fulfilling the foundation’s mission of “teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.”

We do this by providing a wealth of free vegetable gardening information, training, tips, and advice on the internet at www.foodforeveryone.org. People from all over the world come here to receive free training and advice, as well as to obtain the great gardening books, CDs and software written by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider.

The Mittleider Gardening Basics Course ebook is free on the website. The book-length FAQ section also has 365 short gardening articles, which answer people's questions and give advice on many vegetable gardening subjects.

In addition we have free greenhouse plans and free plans for automating your garden watering system, as well as a free gardening group where you can share knowledge and experience with thousands of successful vegetable gardeners.

I’ll briefly introduce you to the Foundation’s gardening methods by describing a few things about the Mittleider Method that are important, and which distinguish it from other gardening methods.

Most of the time our gardens are grown right in the native soil, with no amendments. We promise you "a great garden in any soil, in almost any climate". From straight sand to the worst clay, we’ll show you how to have success growing healthy, delicious vegetables the first time and every time.

Grow-Boxes, or containers are sometimes needed for people living in apartments, and for disabled people. Container gardening can be just as effective as growing in the soil, and 2 ½ of Dr. Mittleider’s 10 books are dedicated to the unique features of the container gardening process.

Even though the costs are very low, the Mittleider Method is sometimes called "the poor man's hydroponic system", because it borrows from greenhouse growers, such things as vertical growing, feeding plants accurately with natural mineral nutrients, and extending the growing season in both the spring and fall, all of which greatly increase gardening yields.

The Second major element in the Foundation’s mission is teaching, training, and assisting people directly. One way we do this in America is by conducting free ½-day group gardening seminars. These can be arranged by contacting me by email at jim@growfood.com.

We also conduct humanitarian projects in many countries throughout the world. In 2006 I went to Armenia with my wife Araksya and spent 5 months - from February to mid July. We created a gardening training center in the village of Getk, with housing, classroom, greenhouse, and 3/4 acre garden. We taught students, who became the gardening experts in their own villages, and we assisted them in working with about 200 families in those villages. We left the training center and garden in the able hands of an Armenian couple, and expect the work will continue there, with our occasional visits.

In Armenia, as in other places we've worked, we grew many kinds of vegetables the locals thought couldn't possibly be grown in "their region", and often had many non-participating village families coming to our garden for advice, coaching, and free produce.

Another way in which we extend our reach is to train others who are becoming missionaries for their churches. One example is Howard and Glenice Morgan, from Southern California, who just returned from a 2-year mission to Zimbabwe. They were sent to teach Mittleider gardening to their church members throughout the country, and they did a FABULOUS job.

They prepared by studying the Mittleider gardening books. Then, after some training in my garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, and using only the simple 6 Steps to Successful Gardening, the Morgans created 84 large gardens and taught over 10,500 people to feed themselves by growing their own healthy vegetables.

And Howard and Glenice thanked me for helping them have the time of their lives! Howard was a retired dentist, by the way, with very little previous experience in gardening.

So, whatever level you are currently on, you too can experience this kind of success – whether it’s in your own home garden, a community effort, or as a humanitarian missionary in some distant country.

Join us as a Mittleider Method gardener, for the best gardens of your life.

Jim Kennard

Labels: , , ,