Learn To Grow Food In The Mountains - With or Without a Greenhouse
Classes, Consultations, Events, Lectures...
Ain't it great to be a kid?
Learn how to grow food in the mountains - the benefits are huge!
Red Sangre Potatoes and Wulfgar show a perfect match - kids and food growing!
Get 'em digging, they love it!
Wild Mountain Gardening
Class List Below
Consultations Below That - 719-783-2917
Class Descriptions Below That
Learn how to grow food in the mountains - the benefits are huge!
Red Sangre Potatoes and Wulfgar show a perfect match - kids and food growing!
Get 'em digging, they love it!
Wild Mountain Gardening
Class List Below
Consultations Below That - 719-783-2917
Class Descriptions Below That
Wild Mountain Gardening...
Penn and Cord's 2024 Class/Event List
March 6th - 8th
AgriSummit - Salida, Colorado
Penn will be on a panel speaking about seeds at the Agri-Summit. I do not have details yet. TBA - March 8th is the main event. Penn will be set up to sell and swap seeds that day as well.
March 30, 2024 10am - 5pm
March 31, 2024 10am - 2pm
Joyful Journey Hot Springs
The 14th Annual:
San Luis Valley Seed Exchange
Penn is a Speaker this year at the SLV Seed Exchange. I will be speaking about wild medicinal plants/seeds and all that goes with growing them, harvesting them and responsibly collecting the seeds in the home garden and the wild. I will have seeds there for sale at my booth, and to swap on the big table.
April 20, 2024
2nd Annual Grassroots Garden Party
Nola Natural Farms/Pastures of Liberty
46000 Olson Road Avondale, Co 81022
Penn will be a Speaker at this event as well as selling and swapping seeds. I will be speaking about High-Altitude Gardening. Nick and Joshua are old friends and I am thrilled to be a part of this event. There is a Pig Roast, A Raffle, Vendors and Speakers. This is gonna be fun.
This is their Instagram
This is their website
DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS - HERE WE COME!
COME SEE US IN THE NEW EDUCATION CENTER
Click on the class title to register with DBG:
April 25, 2024
Companion Planting 2 hrs. 5:30-7:30pm Thursday
April 26, 2024
Growing Food at High Altitudes 4 hrs. 9:30am-12:30pm Friday
April 26, 2024
Mountain Tomatoes 2.5 hrs. 2:30-5:00pm Friday
April 27, 2024
Sustainable Greenhouse Design 5 hrs. 9:30 - 2:30pm Saturday
April 27, 2024
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing 2.5 hrs. 3:30 - 6pm Saturday
Speaker, Teacher, Workshop Maker
Penn is available to speak at events, teach classes and hold workshops. Please reach out to me below and we will make a plan.
You can hire Penn and Cord together to speak, teach or workshop as well.
We travel our classes all over the place so if you want to host a class, contact Penn to work out the details.
Check out the class descriptions below!
Class Descriptions Below
*********************************************************************
Penn and Cord Parmenter For Hire
Contact Us
Sustainable Greenhouse Design Consultation:
Cord is available to plan and build your greenhouse and for general greenhouse and garden consultations.
His design and consultation fee is $75 per hour with time paid one way for any necessary travel.
Greenhouse Build:
To hire Cord and his crew to build a greenhouse for you, contact him directly here. Cord's regular construction rates apply.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing: Penn can help you learn your greenhouse and how to plant it. She can help you manage bugs organically and keep the food rotating. Companion planting, high altitude tomatoes, and winter food can all be addressed. Also soil amendments for the greenhouse and organic fertilizers are recommended.
How To Host A Class In Your Community:
A group or individual can host our classes. The hosts' help to find as many students as possible - a minimum of 20 per class for local destinations, 30 per class for distance, hang flyers, send emails, and find a venue. Hosts fees are waived. You can book more than one class per event - in fact, we'd prefer it that way. 2 hr. classes are $25 per student and 4 hr. classes are $50 per student. Our 6 hr. Sustainable Design Class is $150 per student and requires a 15 student minimum. Call or write for more details. Contact Penn 719-783-2917
Consultations: You can hire Penn and Cord for $75 per hour each. You can hire them together or singly. Time paid for one way of travel within the state. Travel and lodging expenses paid for out of state consults and classes.
Penn is available for talks and lectures on a one on one basis. 719-783-2917
Cord is available to plan and build your greenhouse and for general greenhouse and garden consultations.
His design and consultation fee is $75 per hour with time paid one way for any necessary travel.
Greenhouse Build:
To hire Cord and his crew to build a greenhouse for you, contact him directly here. Cord's regular construction rates apply.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing: Penn can help you learn your greenhouse and how to plant it. She can help you manage bugs organically and keep the food rotating. Companion planting, high altitude tomatoes, and winter food can all be addressed. Also soil amendments for the greenhouse and organic fertilizers are recommended.
How To Host A Class In Your Community:
A group or individual can host our classes. The hosts' help to find as many students as possible - a minimum of 20 per class for local destinations, 30 per class for distance, hang flyers, send emails, and find a venue. Hosts fees are waived. You can book more than one class per event - in fact, we'd prefer it that way. 2 hr. classes are $25 per student and 4 hr. classes are $50 per student. Our 6 hr. Sustainable Design Class is $150 per student and requires a 15 student minimum. Call or write for more details. Contact Penn 719-783-2917
Consultations: You can hire Penn and Cord for $75 per hour each. You can hire them together or singly. Time paid for one way of travel within the state. Travel and lodging expenses paid for out of state consults and classes.
Penn is available for talks and lectures on a one on one basis. 719-783-2917
Class Descriptions:
A Simple Guide for Planning a Seed Garden - 2.5 hours
Learn how planning ahead can yield big results from your harvest. Knowing how a seed is saved allows you to let nature take its course and give back even more than you put in. This class breaks down the easy-to-save, intermediate-to-save and advanced-to-save varieties most commonly grown in home gardens. The seed life cycle is already happening in your garden so it’s easy to integrate seed saving into your personal seed bank and keep plants – including vegetables, herbs and flowers – vigorous and adapting to your garden.
The Parmenter’s will cover wet and dry seed saving, plant families, seed terms, resources, harvesting, storage, isolation distances, hand pollinating and more.
Two-Day Seed School with Penn and Cord
Penn and Cord Parmenter and Denver Botanic Gardens team up to offer a two-day Seed School. Delve into the wonderful world of seed saving and all the magic and abundance it provides. Learn how to re-incorporate the ancient practice of seed saving, which is the road to food security and true sustainability. Your garden or farm is already hanging with seed; now let's learn how to bank it. Extreme climates like Colorado's especially benefit from seed adaptation. Seed remembers, seed learns, and by saving it, you adapt it to your environment.
Course includes: Seed collecting, methods of cleaning, storing, processing wet saves, seed resources, companies, books; seed history, the world seed situation, seed banks, seed libraries, seed vaults, seed catalogs; squash sex, hand pollinating, plant families, selfers and crossers. Learn about seed as easy, intermediate and difficult-to-save. Planning a seed garden and harvesting methods are also covered. Students handle seed in both wet and dry saves. Handouts and seed samples come with the course.
Mountain Seed School Workshop - 5 hr.
All things seed! We will learn how to save seed, start seed and clean seed. This class is held at Penn and Cord's Garden near Westcliffe so we use the facilities to learn all about seed. Plan ahead to grow for seed in this year's garden. Plan to steward at least one thing and save the world from loss of seed diversity. Seed adaptation is a great tool for mountain growers.
There will be class time as well as hands on seed processing, wildcrafting - yes, even in spring, and seed starting. This class is a combination of the other seed classes we usually teach in the classroom. We will take a walk on our 43 acres to identify wild seedlings and inspect seed still on last years plants. We will discuss the problems threatening our seed today and what you can do about it in your own backyard! Positive minded, inspirational, proactive.
Seed, Soil, Sun and Water 2.5 hr.
Seed, soil, sun and water are all you need to grow food in the Wild-West! Great news - it still works! In fact, the earth and all its systems already work perfectly and just by combining seed, soil, sun and water you can witness miracles.
If the Rockies can grow a giant Ponderosa out of a rock at 10,000 ft., we can certainly grow food in soil. This class focuses on what already works, how to work with what you have and to inspire you again in nature’s ability to feed you.
We’ve been told for years that we cannot grow food in the Rockies but we know that’s not true! Let’s get back to basics and garden the way our grandparents did – using Earth’s amazing resources to produce clean, vibrant, mountain-grown food!
This class will cover each topic in depth with Colorado’s challenges in mind. Saving seed, building soil, managing intense sun and conserving water all can give you remarkable results here in the west.
Penn and Cord Parmenter bring 21 years of experience to this approach and are passionate about emulating nature and chemical-free growing. Everyone can grow clean food and we intend to inspire you to look again, at what is all of ours to enjoy – the abundance and sustenance of nature!
Mountain Tomatoes 2.5 hr.
We all know the tomato is the gate-way drug to gardening. The Holy Grail of the mountains – oh to get a red tomato! Technically the mountains and tomatoes don’t get along – so together, let’s learn why.
In 1991 Penn Parmenter was told she could not grow tomatoes in the mountains. Today she is working with around 200 varieties of tomatoes at 8,120 ft. in the Wet Mountains and spreading the news. Not only can you – you should!
Learn about tomato varieties from around the world, especially those grown in high, cold places. Learn how to find and adapt seed, create night-time protection, prepare soil, fight disease and enjoy the fruits of your labor. We will explore the international underground world of tomato seed swapping.
Penn will come armed with high-altitude tomato seeds, plants, demos and tips for reaching success with the Love Apple. Join the addiction! No more green tomatoes! (Unless it’s Green Zebra, or Green Doctor’s or Evergreen or…)
Sustainable Greenhouse Design (5 hr.)
Have you ever wondered if it could be done? Can you create a greenhouse that needs NO SUPPLEMENTAL HEATING OR COOLING YEAR ROUND? The answer is yes!!
No more over-heating and freezing as is common in all-glazed greenhouses – this design balances the use of thermal mass, glazing, insulation and sun angles to achieve the stabilization needed in our extreme climate without the use of fossil fuels.
You will learn how to design a sustainable greenhouse from the ground up using salvaged or new materials, or in combination to achieve the look and performance you want. You can also use these techniques to improve an existing greenhouse.
This class is a comprehensive look at how passive solar greenhouses work, it includes how to orient the building, basic principles of passive solar design including the use of stored water as thermal mass, simple math formulas to help guide you with your design, a materials list and drawings and calculations for a 13’X15’ greenhouse.
In 2000, the Parmenter’s built their first greenhouse out of 90% recycled materials on top of an 8,120 ft. decomposed granite mountain. Since then, they have designed and built many more and are ready to share what they’ve learned about state-of-the-art materials and cost-saving strategies.
C’mon, walk through the snow into your warm, inviting greenhouse and lose yourself in a year round garden sanctuary.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing (2.5 hr.)
Ever feel like you don’t know what you are doing in your greenhouse? Or perhaps you have plans to build one and what then? Penn Parmenter has been growing food in her passive solar sustainable greenhouse for 10 years with the help of her husband Cord, who has been documenting the success of his 3 year-old sustainable greenhouse.
This class will help take some of the mystery out of something that should be so easy and yet can seem so hard. Matching appropriate plants to the microclimates within the greenhouse is crucial. Often the plants are the best teachers in the greenhouse and together we will learn how to work within the unique eco-system your greenhouse is.
Favorite foods, herbs and flowers will be discussed as well as forcing plants for seed production, over wintering potted plants and succession planting for a year round harvest.
The Parmenter’s grow organically and will share their organic answers for keeping the greenhouse under control from bugs and disease. Preventative methods as well as what to do when you’ve lost control will be addressed.
Penn and Cord both have busy lives, three kids and a business and yet they still manage to grow food year round in their greenhouses. When life gets in the way and you’re thinking of turning your greenhouse into a shed, don’t despair – there are answers for successful greenhouse growing.
Let’s step up production in your greenhouse - and you enjoy the benefits.
Saving and Adapting Seed for the High Country (2.5 hr.)
Historically amateur gardeners and farmers have been responsible for the vast bio-diversity we’ve enjoyed over the decades by saving and developing their own food seed.
As that bio-diversity is being lost, the time has come for us to learn how to save our own seed again. This is not only economical but since seed has a built in self-replicating program and an ability to adapt to the surrounding environment, saving seed is crucial to the movement toward self-sufficiency and sustainability. Colorado is particularly full of microclimates, so adapting seed to your unique climate is especially helpful for the wild and varied extremes we all endure.
We will cover vegetables, herbs and flowers and take a look at the world seed situation and what you can do about it in your own backyard. This class is intended to inspire you to make full use of the abundance given to you from your own garden.
We will discuss Seed Lending Libraries, Seed Banks, Living Seed Banks, Seed Swaps and how to take care of the seed you save. We will demonstrate seed saving techniques in both wet and dry methods.
Rejoin an ancient ritual that is still in our DNA and our memories – our grandparents saved seeds and theirs before them. Re-connecting to this most important part of gardening is an incredibly rewarding experience – especially when you are helping to develop stronger, more vibrant seed.
This class applies to all elevations.
Combining Food Growing Techniques for High Altitudes - 5 -10,000 ft. (2 hr.)
( AKA Strategies For High Altitude Veggie Growing)
Since 1992 the Parmenter’s have been learning how to combine food-growing techniques to get the results they want at 8,120 feet in semi-arid mountains. No matter where you live in Colorado, altitude plays a role and the higher you go up in elevation, the more techniques you may need to employ to grow the foods you want.
Colorado’s climate is so diverse that customized combinations are ideal for each garden. Learn how to create your own combinations to suit your needs. From simple, practical small-scale methods to large-scale sustainable greenhouses, you can create the environments your favorite plants need to increase yields and step up plant performance. No matter what your elevation, Colorado gardeners face many challenges – wind, hail, wildlife and fluctuating temperatures – just to name a few.
If you’ve ever tried a gardening technique that didn’t quite work for you, this class is about adapting methods to the reality of where you live by combining common gardening techniques and altering others. Bio-intensive beds, covers, thermal mass, compost, natural heat sources and much more will be integrated to provide combination ‘formula’s for many popular vegetables.
This class is designed to provide answers for high elevation growing issues, from the high desert to the mountaintop.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing (2.5 hr.)
Ever feel like you don’t know what you are doing in your greenhouse? Or perhaps you have plans to build one and what then? Penn Parmenter has been growing food in her passive solar sustainable greenhouse for 10 years with the help of her husband Cord, who has been documenting the success of his 3 year-old sustainable greenhouse.
This class will help take some of the mystery out of something that should be so easy and yet can seem so hard. Matching appropriate plants to the microclimates within the greenhouse is crucial. Often the plants are the best teachers in the greenhouse and together we will learn how to work within the unique eco-system your greenhouse is.
Favorite foods, herbs and flowers will be discussed as well as forcing plants for seed production, over wintering potted plants and succession planting for a year round harvest.
The Parmenter’s grow organically and will share their organic answers for keeping the greenhouse under control from bugs and disease. Preventative methods as well as what to do when you’ve lost control will be addressed.
Penn and Cord both have busy lives, three kids and a business and yet they still manage to grow food year round in their greenhouses. When life gets in the way and you’re thinking of turning your greenhouse into a shed, don’t despair – there are answers for successful greenhouse growing.
Let’s step up production in your greenhouse - and you enjoy the benefits.
Mountain Food Growing 101 (4 hr.)
(AKA Growing Food At High Altitudes)
You can grow food in the mountains! Cord and Penn Parmenter are determined to say yes to mountain gardeners instead of no. Wind, hail, deer, bears, extreme temperatures, they’ve heard it all. The Parmenter’s have been growing organic food at 8,120 ft. since 1992 and their techniques and experiences apply to all Colorado’s elevations and hardships. The mountains have a long history of providing a large amount of food for the state.
This class will cover many great foods that thrive in the mountain’s cool weather, wind proof season extenders, hail covers, raised bed preparation, compost options against bears, crop rotation, companion planting, succession planting, vegetables for the shade, mulching, seed saving and more. Altitude doesn’t matter; this class is designed to help all gardeners overcome the wild, wild, west.
The Parmenter’s will also touch on their success with their totally sustainable water-storage solar greenhouses and vegetable seed starting using recycled materials.
Can’t you just taste those fresh, mountain grown succulent greens, beans, squash, Pac choi, and yes, even tomatoes, sweet corn and pumpkins! Come join us for a day of learning and inspiration. You can do it!
Companion Planting (2 hr.)
Have you ever heard of The Three Sisters? Who are they? They are companion plants. Companion Planting has been going on as long as the Earth has been growing plants. Nature knows how to grow - bringing companion plants together and keeping antagonists apart. You can do the same in your garden and greatly increase the health and well being of your plants as well as increasing your yields. Roses do love garlic and tomatoes do love basil and there is usually more than one reason why. Come and learn the science and the lore – make companion planting a natural part of your garden. If you are vegetable gardening especially – companion planting can help you keep your home grown food fully organic. We will also cover crop rotation and soil building as this is a vital part of companion planting.
Come find out who the Three Sisters are and how to grow them. Ancient techniques to recent experiments and our own personal experience of growing food, herbs and flowers together for 31 years, offer a comprehensive class experience. Beautiful, diverse and often stunning combinations of the right kinds of plants are discussed for their health, their beauty and their yield.
Don’t miss this one – it’s never too late to plant companions!
:
Top 10 Veggies for the Mountains (2 hr.)
This class covers my top 10 favorite vegetables for growing success in the mountains. I do cheat a little by listing a few groups – but these really are some of the most successful mountain-appropriate vegetables I’ve found. If you grow the plants on this list, you won’t believe how quickly you will have something to eat – so let’s get started!
We will discuss the plants characteristics and needs and how to deliver it to them. We will cover different ways to grow them as well so there is something for everyone. The list of vegetables that prefer the cool, mountain weather is much longer than the list that likes it super warm making it difficult to choose only 10!
This is a great class for beginners but experts might find a few useful ideas as well. If you are new to the mountains this class will get you started in the right direction.
Bio-Intensive Food Growing (2 hr.)
This class is how to grow more food in less space with less water. It is based on John Jeavon’s work, How To Grow More Vegetables… and our own high-altitude growing experiences using this method. We can take the mystery out of ‘double digging’ and tell you why it is such a great choice for the mountains. We like to combine techniques in the mountains but we always start with a bio-intensive bed when we can – (aka - a ‘double dug’ bed, (systematically prepared to 24”), equidistantly spaced plantings, and compost added into the top 1”).
This is ‘intensive’ growing and great for all kinds of conditions as improving the soil you have is the main idea rather than importing soil, which is not sustainable. Even if you have rock or clay there are options for creating a highly productive garden with what you already have. Small spaces, dry conditions and all kinds of soil are candidates for a bio-intensive bed. The bed becomes a ‘living sponge’ and is very efficient with water. You can fence a small garden area from deer and elk and get a huge return with this method.
We will cover compost as it is the key to replenishing and re-building soil, leaving it more productive than when we found it. The mountain way requires we talk about ‘bearless’ compost as well.
In 31 years of growing, Cord and I have seen amazing results with bio-intensive beds – what I call - the Cadillac of the raised bed.
Growing Tomatoes In The Mountains: (2.5 hr.)
“Why won’t my tomatoes turn red!!?” One of the first things the Parmenters were told when they arrived on their 8,120 ft. mountain was that they would not be able to grow tomatoes and if they could, they would be green. 31 years later, this energetic gardening team has gone on to grow over 100 varieties in one year – proving the naysayers wrong. Penn specializes in growing tomatoes from all over the world – especially Siberian tomatoes that set fruit early and can take some cold.
Cord is a master at creating the environment the tomatoes need. Learn many techniques to make strong, organically grown, healthy, early tomatoes no matter what your altitude or whether you have a greenhouse or not. You will handle tomato seedlings, plant tomato seeds, and learn how to protect them and keep them warm.
The Parmenters use many recycled materials and common household items to grow with so you can go home and get started. When your first mountain grown sun warmed tomato explodes in your mouth – you will know you have arrived.
Seed Starting Mountain Vegetables (2 hr.)
You’d be surprised how easy it is to seed start vegetables – using things you already have around the house. Penn and Cord Parmenter – a high altitude gardening team – grow organic food year round at 8,120 ft in the Wet Mountains and can show you many vegetables especially suited for mountain growing.
Penn and Cord use many techniques to grow food in the mountains including starting their vegetables from seed. It is easy and economical – especially when you recycle and reuse with some of the endless household items that would otherwise be trash. See the multitudes of ways to use a recycled plastic jug in your mountain garden as well as many other helpful tricks.
You will learn about which vegetables prefer direct seeding and which ones prefer being started early indoors, as well as learning to read a seed packet. Seeds that are born at high altitude – thrive at high altitude. From companion planting to crop rotation or if you just want to learn about starting seeds with everyday materials – this class is for you.
Penn and Cord's Mountain IPM (Integrated Pest Management) (2 hr.)
Whiteflies, Aphids, Bears, Elk – what pest plagues you in the mountain garden?
Integrated Pest Management is all about how to manage pests and diseases through the integration of many methods. We outgrow the problem by focusing on the health of our plants, using preventative methods like a clean environment or simply soap and water.
Learn how to manage pests while working with nature, using common sense and organic methods. If you learn the pests’ cycles and habits, you can integrate the most appropriate strategy(s) for it.
The mountains offer unique situations for the gardener/farmer to deal with along with the obvious pests, like abundant wildlife and Open Range.
Penn and Cord have been growing food organically at 8,120 ft. in the Wet Mountains since 1992 - this class is for all Colorado elevations.
All things seed! We will learn how to save seed, start seed and clean seed. This class is held at Penn and Cord's Garden near Westcliffe so we use the facilities to learn all about seed. Plan ahead to grow for seed in this year's garden. Plan to steward at least one thing and save the world from loss of seed diversity. Seed adaptation is a great tool for mountain growers.
There will be class time as well as hands on seed processing, wildcrafting - yes, even in spring, and seed starting. This class is a combination of the other seed classes we usually teach in the classroom. We will take a walk on our 43 acres to identify wild seedlings and inspect seed still on last years plants. We will discuss the problems threatening our seed today and what you can do about it in your own backyard! Positive minded, inspirational, proactive.
Seed, Soil, Sun and Water 2.5 hr.
Seed, soil, sun and water are all you need to grow food in the Wild-West! Great news - it still works! In fact, the earth and all its systems already work perfectly and just by combining seed, soil, sun and water you can witness miracles.
If the Rockies can grow a giant Ponderosa out of a rock at 10,000 ft., we can certainly grow food in soil. This class focuses on what already works, how to work with what you have and to inspire you again in nature’s ability to feed you.
We’ve been told for years that we cannot grow food in the Rockies but we know that’s not true! Let’s get back to basics and garden the way our grandparents did – using Earth’s amazing resources to produce clean, vibrant, mountain-grown food!
This class will cover each topic in depth with Colorado’s challenges in mind. Saving seed, building soil, managing intense sun and conserving water all can give you remarkable results here in the west.
Penn and Cord Parmenter bring 21 years of experience to this approach and are passionate about emulating nature and chemical-free growing. Everyone can grow clean food and we intend to inspire you to look again, at what is all of ours to enjoy – the abundance and sustenance of nature!
Mountain Tomatoes 2.5 hr.
We all know the tomato is the gate-way drug to gardening. The Holy Grail of the mountains – oh to get a red tomato! Technically the mountains and tomatoes don’t get along – so together, let’s learn why.
In 1991 Penn Parmenter was told she could not grow tomatoes in the mountains. Today she is working with around 200 varieties of tomatoes at 8,120 ft. in the Wet Mountains and spreading the news. Not only can you – you should!
Learn about tomato varieties from around the world, especially those grown in high, cold places. Learn how to find and adapt seed, create night-time protection, prepare soil, fight disease and enjoy the fruits of your labor. We will explore the international underground world of tomato seed swapping.
Penn will come armed with high-altitude tomato seeds, plants, demos and tips for reaching success with the Love Apple. Join the addiction! No more green tomatoes! (Unless it’s Green Zebra, or Green Doctor’s or Evergreen or…)
Sustainable Greenhouse Design (5 hr.)
Have you ever wondered if it could be done? Can you create a greenhouse that needs NO SUPPLEMENTAL HEATING OR COOLING YEAR ROUND? The answer is yes!!
No more over-heating and freezing as is common in all-glazed greenhouses – this design balances the use of thermal mass, glazing, insulation and sun angles to achieve the stabilization needed in our extreme climate without the use of fossil fuels.
You will learn how to design a sustainable greenhouse from the ground up using salvaged or new materials, or in combination to achieve the look and performance you want. You can also use these techniques to improve an existing greenhouse.
This class is a comprehensive look at how passive solar greenhouses work, it includes how to orient the building, basic principles of passive solar design including the use of stored water as thermal mass, simple math formulas to help guide you with your design, a materials list and drawings and calculations for a 13’X15’ greenhouse.
In 2000, the Parmenter’s built their first greenhouse out of 90% recycled materials on top of an 8,120 ft. decomposed granite mountain. Since then, they have designed and built many more and are ready to share what they’ve learned about state-of-the-art materials and cost-saving strategies.
C’mon, walk through the snow into your warm, inviting greenhouse and lose yourself in a year round garden sanctuary.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing (2.5 hr.)
Ever feel like you don’t know what you are doing in your greenhouse? Or perhaps you have plans to build one and what then? Penn Parmenter has been growing food in her passive solar sustainable greenhouse for 10 years with the help of her husband Cord, who has been documenting the success of his 3 year-old sustainable greenhouse.
This class will help take some of the mystery out of something that should be so easy and yet can seem so hard. Matching appropriate plants to the microclimates within the greenhouse is crucial. Often the plants are the best teachers in the greenhouse and together we will learn how to work within the unique eco-system your greenhouse is.
Favorite foods, herbs and flowers will be discussed as well as forcing plants for seed production, over wintering potted plants and succession planting for a year round harvest.
The Parmenter’s grow organically and will share their organic answers for keeping the greenhouse under control from bugs and disease. Preventative methods as well as what to do when you’ve lost control will be addressed.
Penn and Cord both have busy lives, three kids and a business and yet they still manage to grow food year round in their greenhouses. When life gets in the way and you’re thinking of turning your greenhouse into a shed, don’t despair – there are answers for successful greenhouse growing.
Let’s step up production in your greenhouse - and you enjoy the benefits.
Saving and Adapting Seed for the High Country (2.5 hr.)
Historically amateur gardeners and farmers have been responsible for the vast bio-diversity we’ve enjoyed over the decades by saving and developing their own food seed.
As that bio-diversity is being lost, the time has come for us to learn how to save our own seed again. This is not only economical but since seed has a built in self-replicating program and an ability to adapt to the surrounding environment, saving seed is crucial to the movement toward self-sufficiency and sustainability. Colorado is particularly full of microclimates, so adapting seed to your unique climate is especially helpful for the wild and varied extremes we all endure.
We will cover vegetables, herbs and flowers and take a look at the world seed situation and what you can do about it in your own backyard. This class is intended to inspire you to make full use of the abundance given to you from your own garden.
We will discuss Seed Lending Libraries, Seed Banks, Living Seed Banks, Seed Swaps and how to take care of the seed you save. We will demonstrate seed saving techniques in both wet and dry methods.
Rejoin an ancient ritual that is still in our DNA and our memories – our grandparents saved seeds and theirs before them. Re-connecting to this most important part of gardening is an incredibly rewarding experience – especially when you are helping to develop stronger, more vibrant seed.
This class applies to all elevations.
Combining Food Growing Techniques for High Altitudes - 5 -10,000 ft. (2 hr.)
( AKA Strategies For High Altitude Veggie Growing)
Since 1992 the Parmenter’s have been learning how to combine food-growing techniques to get the results they want at 8,120 feet in semi-arid mountains. No matter where you live in Colorado, altitude plays a role and the higher you go up in elevation, the more techniques you may need to employ to grow the foods you want.
Colorado’s climate is so diverse that customized combinations are ideal for each garden. Learn how to create your own combinations to suit your needs. From simple, practical small-scale methods to large-scale sustainable greenhouses, you can create the environments your favorite plants need to increase yields and step up plant performance. No matter what your elevation, Colorado gardeners face many challenges – wind, hail, wildlife and fluctuating temperatures – just to name a few.
If you’ve ever tried a gardening technique that didn’t quite work for you, this class is about adapting methods to the reality of where you live by combining common gardening techniques and altering others. Bio-intensive beds, covers, thermal mass, compost, natural heat sources and much more will be integrated to provide combination ‘formula’s for many popular vegetables.
This class is designed to provide answers for high elevation growing issues, from the high desert to the mountaintop.
Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing (2.5 hr.)
Ever feel like you don’t know what you are doing in your greenhouse? Or perhaps you have plans to build one and what then? Penn Parmenter has been growing food in her passive solar sustainable greenhouse for 10 years with the help of her husband Cord, who has been documenting the success of his 3 year-old sustainable greenhouse.
This class will help take some of the mystery out of something that should be so easy and yet can seem so hard. Matching appropriate plants to the microclimates within the greenhouse is crucial. Often the plants are the best teachers in the greenhouse and together we will learn how to work within the unique eco-system your greenhouse is.
Favorite foods, herbs and flowers will be discussed as well as forcing plants for seed production, over wintering potted plants and succession planting for a year round harvest.
The Parmenter’s grow organically and will share their organic answers for keeping the greenhouse under control from bugs and disease. Preventative methods as well as what to do when you’ve lost control will be addressed.
Penn and Cord both have busy lives, three kids and a business and yet they still manage to grow food year round in their greenhouses. When life gets in the way and you’re thinking of turning your greenhouse into a shed, don’t despair – there are answers for successful greenhouse growing.
Let’s step up production in your greenhouse - and you enjoy the benefits.
Mountain Food Growing 101 (4 hr.)
(AKA Growing Food At High Altitudes)
You can grow food in the mountains! Cord and Penn Parmenter are determined to say yes to mountain gardeners instead of no. Wind, hail, deer, bears, extreme temperatures, they’ve heard it all. The Parmenter’s have been growing organic food at 8,120 ft. since 1992 and their techniques and experiences apply to all Colorado’s elevations and hardships. The mountains have a long history of providing a large amount of food for the state.
This class will cover many great foods that thrive in the mountain’s cool weather, wind proof season extenders, hail covers, raised bed preparation, compost options against bears, crop rotation, companion planting, succession planting, vegetables for the shade, mulching, seed saving and more. Altitude doesn’t matter; this class is designed to help all gardeners overcome the wild, wild, west.
The Parmenter’s will also touch on their success with their totally sustainable water-storage solar greenhouses and vegetable seed starting using recycled materials.
Can’t you just taste those fresh, mountain grown succulent greens, beans, squash, Pac choi, and yes, even tomatoes, sweet corn and pumpkins! Come join us for a day of learning and inspiration. You can do it!
Companion Planting (2 hr.)
Have you ever heard of The Three Sisters? Who are they? They are companion plants. Companion Planting has been going on as long as the Earth has been growing plants. Nature knows how to grow - bringing companion plants together and keeping antagonists apart. You can do the same in your garden and greatly increase the health and well being of your plants as well as increasing your yields. Roses do love garlic and tomatoes do love basil and there is usually more than one reason why. Come and learn the science and the lore – make companion planting a natural part of your garden. If you are vegetable gardening especially – companion planting can help you keep your home grown food fully organic. We will also cover crop rotation and soil building as this is a vital part of companion planting.
Come find out who the Three Sisters are and how to grow them. Ancient techniques to recent experiments and our own personal experience of growing food, herbs and flowers together for 31 years, offer a comprehensive class experience. Beautiful, diverse and often stunning combinations of the right kinds of plants are discussed for their health, their beauty and their yield.
Don’t miss this one – it’s never too late to plant companions!
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Top 10 Veggies for the Mountains (2 hr.)
This class covers my top 10 favorite vegetables for growing success in the mountains. I do cheat a little by listing a few groups – but these really are some of the most successful mountain-appropriate vegetables I’ve found. If you grow the plants on this list, you won’t believe how quickly you will have something to eat – so let’s get started!
We will discuss the plants characteristics and needs and how to deliver it to them. We will cover different ways to grow them as well so there is something for everyone. The list of vegetables that prefer the cool, mountain weather is much longer than the list that likes it super warm making it difficult to choose only 10!
This is a great class for beginners but experts might find a few useful ideas as well. If you are new to the mountains this class will get you started in the right direction.
Bio-Intensive Food Growing (2 hr.)
This class is how to grow more food in less space with less water. It is based on John Jeavon’s work, How To Grow More Vegetables… and our own high-altitude growing experiences using this method. We can take the mystery out of ‘double digging’ and tell you why it is such a great choice for the mountains. We like to combine techniques in the mountains but we always start with a bio-intensive bed when we can – (aka - a ‘double dug’ bed, (systematically prepared to 24”), equidistantly spaced plantings, and compost added into the top 1”).
This is ‘intensive’ growing and great for all kinds of conditions as improving the soil you have is the main idea rather than importing soil, which is not sustainable. Even if you have rock or clay there are options for creating a highly productive garden with what you already have. Small spaces, dry conditions and all kinds of soil are candidates for a bio-intensive bed. The bed becomes a ‘living sponge’ and is very efficient with water. You can fence a small garden area from deer and elk and get a huge return with this method.
We will cover compost as it is the key to replenishing and re-building soil, leaving it more productive than when we found it. The mountain way requires we talk about ‘bearless’ compost as well.
In 31 years of growing, Cord and I have seen amazing results with bio-intensive beds – what I call - the Cadillac of the raised bed.
Growing Tomatoes In The Mountains: (2.5 hr.)
“Why won’t my tomatoes turn red!!?” One of the first things the Parmenters were told when they arrived on their 8,120 ft. mountain was that they would not be able to grow tomatoes and if they could, they would be green. 31 years later, this energetic gardening team has gone on to grow over 100 varieties in one year – proving the naysayers wrong. Penn specializes in growing tomatoes from all over the world – especially Siberian tomatoes that set fruit early and can take some cold.
Cord is a master at creating the environment the tomatoes need. Learn many techniques to make strong, organically grown, healthy, early tomatoes no matter what your altitude or whether you have a greenhouse or not. You will handle tomato seedlings, plant tomato seeds, and learn how to protect them and keep them warm.
The Parmenters use many recycled materials and common household items to grow with so you can go home and get started. When your first mountain grown sun warmed tomato explodes in your mouth – you will know you have arrived.
Seed Starting Mountain Vegetables (2 hr.)
You’d be surprised how easy it is to seed start vegetables – using things you already have around the house. Penn and Cord Parmenter – a high altitude gardening team – grow organic food year round at 8,120 ft in the Wet Mountains and can show you many vegetables especially suited for mountain growing.
Penn and Cord use many techniques to grow food in the mountains including starting their vegetables from seed. It is easy and economical – especially when you recycle and reuse with some of the endless household items that would otherwise be trash. See the multitudes of ways to use a recycled plastic jug in your mountain garden as well as many other helpful tricks.
You will learn about which vegetables prefer direct seeding and which ones prefer being started early indoors, as well as learning to read a seed packet. Seeds that are born at high altitude – thrive at high altitude. From companion planting to crop rotation or if you just want to learn about starting seeds with everyday materials – this class is for you.
Penn and Cord's Mountain IPM (Integrated Pest Management) (2 hr.)
Whiteflies, Aphids, Bears, Elk – what pest plagues you in the mountain garden?
Integrated Pest Management is all about how to manage pests and diseases through the integration of many methods. We outgrow the problem by focusing on the health of our plants, using preventative methods like a clean environment or simply soap and water.
Learn how to manage pests while working with nature, using common sense and organic methods. If you learn the pests’ cycles and habits, you can integrate the most appropriate strategy(s) for it.
The mountains offer unique situations for the gardener/farmer to deal with along with the obvious pests, like abundant wildlife and Open Range.
Penn and Cord have been growing food organically at 8,120 ft. in the Wet Mountains since 1992 - this class is for all Colorado elevations.
The Holy Grail of the Mountains.