Summer was off to a bad start. June was cold with an average temperature of around 7C accompanied by a lot of cloud cover and drizzle. I have realized over the past 10 years that outdoor living spaces in Newfoundland are really limited. Our summers are short and you really don't have a whole lot of time to use it. For this reason, I planned on using the outdoor space quite differently than my previous property. I also wanted to make sure that my time in the garden had some payback. Given the state of our food security issues I decided that a good place to invest my time and effor would be creating a landscape that has some food security. As well, I wanted a low maintenance landscape that grows well in our environment, and is resilient to drought and pests. My plan for landscaping was quite simple really: Go back 50 years and do what most Newfoundland families did. They grew root vegetables. Good cold climate varieties that are tuned to our short growing season are easily
This is a blog about building a more sustainable lifestyle in Newfoundland. We built the Flatrock Passive House in Flatrock, Newfoundland. As it stands, this is first performance house built to the PHIUS standard in Newfoundland. Construction is complete but the project is still moving forward. We are currently exploring and devising options that deal with food security. We recently completed a vegetable garden and root cellar and are currently working on a winter greenhouse!