Penn and Cord Parmenter

Hi!  We're Penn and Cord Parmenter,  we garden together in the mountains.   We grow Bio-Intensively which is how we grow more food in less space with less water.  Altogether we are gardening less than 1/5th of an acre while reaping the equivalent of about 4/5ths.  We have about 75 raised beds total which we rotate every year.

We employ a combination of techniques to grow what we want.  The higher you go in elevation - the more techniques you may need to combine.  We have gardens full of growing examples of every kind.  Different kinds of beds, cold frames, covers, hoops and warm start beds are all options to see and consider.  

We have built three totally sustainable greenhouses on our homestead which provide food 365 days a year without supplemental heating, cooling or even plugging in a fan.  We grow food year round and now enjoy the large size of our Mothership Greenhouse - a three part facility for growing foods seeds and processing those seeds. Cord has built or designed over 30 greenhouses for clients.  He and our 3 sons are "The Dream Team" when it comes to building our smart greenhouses - or anything actually.  See our greenhouse pages for more info.

Our sons - Maximilian, Beauregard and Wulfgar are the coolest people we know - hands down.   We have 2 horses, two garden cats, and we hunt, fish, forage, seed save, dry, can, freeze and grow.

Cord grew up in the wilderness and has a lifetime of experience in survival skills, wood skills, and horses.  Cord is a Master Blacksmith since 1985 - he created beautiful custom iron for fine homes and gardens until our sustainable greenhouse business took over our lives!

Penn and Cord are co-owners of Smart Greenhouses LLC.

Penn has a small, high-altitude seed company, Miss Penn's Mountain Seeds. 

Penn writes about seeds and high altitude gardening whenever she can and is currently working on a book about growing food in the mountains.  Penn has a degree in theatre, is a clay artist, and has studied and explored horticulture and the wilderness most of her life.

We are co-instructors at Denver Botanic Gardens and around the state and region.  We also give talks, lectures and consultations on greenhouses and greenhouse growing. 
 
719-783-2917

Read about us in these outstanding publications:

Zone 4 Magazine - Article - 'Put This Where The Sun Shines' by Jodi Torpey
Acres USA -  Article - Sustainable Greenhouses 
The Denver Post  'High-Achieving Vegetable Harvest' by Jodi Torpey
Read Penn's Articles for The Colorado Gardener
Mother Earth News
Grit by Bill Giebler
Seed Money by Bill Giebler

 It's A Family Affair...
(We couldn't do it without those boys...ummm, men)

Beau, Max, Cord, Wulfgar and Penn in the middle.

Cord and the Boys when they were boys.

Moving Rocks for Mom in the early years.

Box Bed in Penn's Garden

Relay Planting of Chinese Cabbage and Broccoli

In Penn's Greenhouse

Bok Choy and Penn

Cord prepping a Bio-Intensive bed for Squash

Working Together

Round Bio-Intensive Beds

Love Grows The Garden