We grow vegetable seed for the fabulous Snake River Seed Cooperative, based in Boise, Idaho. There are now about four dozen of us growers across Idaho and the neighboring states saving seed from heirloom, locally adapted strains of vegetables, flowers, and native plants, all without chemicals! Here are some of the seed crops that we grow: Grand Rapids Lettuce, Sunflower, Blue Prairie Camas, Asparagus, Oregano and Burgess Buttercup Squash.
We are now the drop coordinators for the monthly Azure Standard food delivery in Orofino, ID. No matter where you live (and Azure has many delivery points throughout the US), when you use the above link to place an order as a new customer, Bluebird Forest Garden will receive a $25 bonus credit from Azure. Azure is a wholesale priced distributor of all kinds of food, health and household items, including bulk organic produce and grains. They have more selection than a natural food store or coop at a much lower price. No membership necessary. It is very rewarding to us to give back in this way to the people who for many years have made the Orofino delivery possible, and to keep affordable, organic food coming to Orofino.
We sell fresh, local produce that’s grown in pristine soil without petro-chemicals of any kind. Last year we sold veggies, fruit and seeds at the weekly Orofino Farmer’s Market. We will probably do so again this year, in addition to developing other local sales, including delivery of fresh produce to the Orofino area of Clearwater County.
Free learning opportunities for guests at Bluebird Forest Garden! We occasional host work parties where we work a few hours per day in the garden, kitchen and homesteading activities in exchange for hands on learning, great food and free lodging. Music making and deep conversations are also common features of our work parties.
Active carbon sequestration. Here at Bluebird Forest Garden, we believe in ‘small’ solutions for big problems. Excess carbon in the air from the burning of 1 trillion barrels of oil, not to mention coal and natural gas is causing ocean acidification that threatens all sea life, plus global climate catastrophe. The good news is that this same carbon is excellent in the soil, and is a vital part of healthy land. One way we sequester carbon is by saving the coals from our wood stove every morning before we light a new fire. Those coals get buried in the garden soil, where they will last for up to 1,000 years, acting as a reservoir for water and nutrients, allowing more root growth and thus more organic carbon sequestration!
Trash cleanup and forest land restoration. Whether it’s cleaning up trash while foraging in the forest, sequestering carbon or planting trees we believe in practicing reciprocity. The land takes care of us and we take care of it. Our forests here are beautiful and lush, but they are being over-logged and sadly littered with trash as well.
