After their house burned down, these clients hired us to design and install a farm built around wise water use and perennial crop integration. Looking to transition their successful annual farming operation into multiple high-value, high-yield crops and value-added goods as they began thinking about their retirement, we overhauled the farm with 12,000-gallons of rainwater harvesting with passive irrigation directed through contoured swales throughout the property. Annual crops grown in high tunnels and between orchard rows are supported both ecologically and economically by fruits, nuts, berries, perennial culinary and medicinal herbs, and perennial flowers.
phoenix gardens
farm & homestead portfolio
EST. 2008
The clients had successfully operated a 2.5-acre CSA (community supported agriculture) program for the previous decade. Faced with the opportunity to rebuild, they transitioned much of their business model to perennial crops. The welcome challenge we faced was making multi-functional landscapes that both supported farming operations and built upon residential landscape conventions.
After the fire, much of the forest edge had been lost, so we redesigned the forest with native nut and over-story trees to produce a yield and rebuild the canopy.
before
site conditions
Phase 1+2 construction complete
