One of the things I love about having a blog is sharing amazing things that impact my life and the life of my family. When I first heard about Agriscaping (The idea of landscaping and growing your own food) I was curious. I love the idea of having a beautiful yard. And I’ve always dreamed of having a lovely garden. And if you know me personally you also know I’m really good a killing plants.
I’ve always wanted to pick gorgeous flowers from my backyard and bring them in my house. Or to be outside in a glorious green backyard. We had started gardening in California but then our family moved to Arizona, where friends told me it was possible to grow things here.
Fast forward to a year ago when I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Justin and Brittney Rhoner. Justin has a passion and so much knowledge on growing sustainable food. It totally got me excited about working on our backyard.
Days later my husband was like you have to see these You Tube videos. I was blown away by the creativity and brilliance of the idea of Agriscaping. I didn’t realize this is what Justin did for a living. Or maybe my brain wasn’t able to wrap around this kind of idea. I immediately started subscribing to his email list. I have found so much value that I wanted to share this idea with my readers as I am sure it will bless your life.
I’m so excited to share this interview with you! Justin was kind enough to answer some questions so you can learn more about how he is changing the way families can grow their own food. Be prepared to be inspired.
When did you first get interested in landscaping?
According to my mom, when I was two years old. I started working professionally in landscaping at a golf course when I turned 9 years old.
Tell me how your parents helped instill this love for growing?
My grandparents on both sides had great gardens full of flowers and foods. We had a family dairy farm growing up, in Tempe, AZ. And my mother loved having us outside helping her in the garden, where I often got “lost” studying how plants and creatures worked… seemingly deaf to her beckoning back inside 🙂
Where did this idea of Agriscaping come from?
The concept of Agriscaping was really born out of necessity, after signing on our first house with my wife on 9/11/2001. When that fateful event happened, there were so many unknowns and our entire economy did not feel safe, secure or sustainable. Food seemed like the best place to start. So I was determined to grow our own food and our own sustainability. The home was in a strict HOA with barely any landscape to grow on, most of which was in the front yard, prone to the eyes of neighbors and HOA police, so whatever I grew I knew it had to look good and provide for my family without attracting any unwanted attention. To do that, I had to innovate and create a different way to grow outside the traditional norms – re-invent the process wherein food could be grown in atypical growing conditions (soil, light etc). Along the way, we discovered patterns in 6 distinctly different micro-climates present in any landscape that help anyone expand their growing options and define what varieties of food work best in their yard, wherever they live, on whatever size property.
Tell us more about Agriscaping Technologies?
Agriscaping Technologies “combines the best of productive agriculture with the best of ornamental landscaping… so you can have your beautiful garden, and eat it too! Our mission is to improve local food access and sustainability by transforming landscapes into elegant edible food gardens, easily managed with the help of online tools, education and professional support. We work with a variety of clients, with a variety of needs and wants… from ‘DIY’ to ‘done for you’, from individuals and families to commercial landscapes and subdivisions all that supply local produce to restaurants and farmers markets. We also train and certify other professional landscape designers, installers and maintenance crews to design, install and maintain edibles within a landscape, both residential and commercial.
Do you just help people in Arizona?
Nope, we educate and train people and professionals all over the country through our online tools and education platforms.
What is your favorite part of your profession?
I’ve never really thought about that… there are so many parts I love! I love taking raw land and space and turning it into a living masterpiece full of food, fun and fabulous vistas for our clients. I love helping people establish a healthy sustainable lifestyle with healthy, fresh food available at any time, within feet of their own door! From design, installation, to maintenance, I love all sides of it!
How much does your family participate with Agriscaping?
We are ALL involved every day with Agriscaping 🙂 whether it be eating, planting, feeding or caring for our Agriscape, it is a huge part of our lives. Each of our kids have their own zone in our yard, with their own productive pet(s) and produce to care for each day. We make meals from what’s growing in our yard every day, too.
What benefits do you see from involving your children in growing your own food?
Even the pickiest of eaters, will always at least taste what they’ve helped to grow themselves. They appreciate their food and they know where it comes from, and the work involved to get it on the table 😉
What is your favorite thing to grow?
Food 🙂
Do you only grow food in your backyard?
Kale no! 😉 We have hundreds of students around the country and dozens of clients here in the valley in our growing network that grow and sell their produce to restaurants and farmers markets through our sister company, Utopian Harvest.
Do I need a large plot of land to use these methods?
Nope! We have clients producing tons of food each year on less than 1/20 of an acre using container gardening, vertical wall gardening, and even indoor aquaponics and hydroponics gardening methods.
What kind of options does your business help provide?
We offer training, support, education and tools for anyone looking to learn how to do Agriscaping for themselves/by themselves. We also offer full-service Agriscaping services from design, install and maintenance, to those who want it done for them. For those who want to go PRO with Agriscaping, we offer training, certification and support tools to help people earn an income with Agriscaping (whether it be by teaching/coordinating Agriscaping DIY classes, designing, installing or maintaining Agriscapes for residential and/or commercial clients).
What kind of activities does your family love besides agriculture?
We love participating in music (my wife and kids all sing and play piano and/or other instruments like drums, guitar and cello) and sports (I love playing soccer and basketball, our kids enjoy gymnastics, soccer, track). We love playing (and creating!) board games and watching movies, and hiking and going on trips together as a family.
What is your favorite recipe, using food from your backyard?
Hmm, is there a recipe for eating something fresh? That’s my favorite – just straight from the yard to my mouth 😉 My wife loves using the fresh herbs from the garden in her cooking, and the kids love going out and eating fresh mulberries, strawberries, peaches, peas, grapes, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, figs etc… right off the plant/tree when they’re playing outside.
Where can I go to learn more?
You can visit our Agriscaping Website or check out our Facebook page .
Guys! I hope you are excited as I am! Be sure to subscribe to their emails! I love their gardening tips and options for more education. If you are following me on Instagram you might have noticed how are family is loving gardening. Lots of great lesson tied to gardening. And my kids love it.
I would love to hear what you enjoyed most from this blog post. Share them in the comment below! And be sure to head over to Agriscaping to learn more.
