June 2009 – Nancee Bershof

Grow Food Together !

Nancee Bershof has been thinking about the best way to use her yard, a 
little less than an acre, behind her house out in the Greenfield meadows. “I took the Permaculture classes offered by David Jakke last year, and I was really excited about the possibilities.”

Nancee’s  house is situated on some prime agricultural land and she wanted to  invite other people to share in the benefits of the large 
garden space she planned to create.  “Folks in Greenfield often don’t 
have access to good garden space” said Nancee who is a big advocate of community gardening. “I just broke ground a couple months ago, and the farmer across the 
street, provided compost for enriching the soil.” Nancee 
wrote an article in Green Field's Market newsletter, “The New Beet”, 
inviting people to consider joining her in this project; now there 
are seven gardeners ready to cultivate and plant and harvest together. Nancee’s back yard will have berry bushes, a children's garden with 
strawberries, a compost system, a perennial garden with perennial kale, 
watercress, etc., and a pond for water lilies (their tubers are raised 
for food).

Nancee selected her current house a few years ago because she was 
seeking a smaller home after her family had grown. She has had the 
house walls insulated this spring, and will be adding a third layer of 
window inserts to “triple glaze” her larger windows.  She has also added 
a photovoltaic array to her back yard, which generates 400-600 kilowatts of electricity
each month.  Nancee is curious about the many ways she can reduce her household’s energy use and is consciously aware of wanting to make a difference in her impact on Greenfield’s total energy use.  Each household can make a difference.