“Garden2Blog 2012” Event – Day 2 Part 2 – P. Allen Smith’s Home Garden is Green and Sustainable

This year’s #G2B12 Event with P. Allen Smith and 20 of my closest blogger friends was outstanding. Since I had experienced Garden 2 Blog once before, I had different goals related to photographing Allen’s property – things I wanted to show my readers that I felt was very important to me.

For instance, above you see a photo of the side garden entrance into the home. The elevated door on the left leads into his kitchen. It is the road less walked. No one is high-tailing it to come in the side door, yet I found it beautiful and important. It meant something to me.

Below is a photo of his living room as you enter the front door. It is a gorgeous room filled with design and books and his own paintings. Below that photo is a second photo of the room facing a different angle and it is filled with people. Bloggers, in fact. We are laughing and listening to his stories. You can see Amanda Thomsen and Jean Ann Van Krevelan reporting on the event live via their smart phones, there is a video camera team filming the experience. It is a scene alive with people who want to learn.

When you visit P. Allen Smith’s home that is certainly the one thing you will do; learn. Allen is filled with amazing stories of American history and has a virtually encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture. His choices are not always practical or less expensive, but he has chosen to utilize sustainable eco-ideas. His home is filled with green paints and organic practices, with the goal of living as eco-sensitive as he possibly can. It is the road less traveled, but that road is beautiful and important. It means something to him and it means something to me that he makes those greener, more sustainable choices.

Allen has planned the views from his home so that at any window you see a bit of nature. Above you see the view from an upstairs window; the 300 year old oak tree that lives out the front door and watches over Allen and his farm. Below I am having a little fun lying on one of his outdoor sleeping beds which reside on a large screened-in porch on his second floor. It enables the sleeper to feel as if he is right out touching nature for the evening.

In the photo above you see the sunlight dancing on his bedroom desk. Books and letters spread across the desk, but my favorite bit was when the sunlight just happened to make a show on the sky blue vase – it was as if it lighted up just for this photograph.

Below left you see roses next to the fence on the farm. Below right you see one of my best friends and fellow garden bloggers, Kylee Baumle, taking photos. In all the years I have known her, I do not think I have ever seen her without a camera in hand. Her passion is to connect people with nature so they can feel that same amazing connection she feels.

As I walk around Allen’s home and property, I realize that his goal is the same as Kylee’s and mine and many of the bloggers who are a part of this event – to live with nature and to inspire others to live with nature too.

Above are photos of Allen’s garden. I especially like the espaliered fruit trees which grow in a uniquely ornamental fashion along supports which leave them flat instead of rounded. This seems to allow for more fruit to be grown in a small garden space and look very beautiful. These fruit trees are mixed in with his perennial beds while the vegetable gardens are planted in rows closer to the barns.

Lots of great bloggers are talking about this blogger event and showing photos and ideas on their pages. Try going to Cowlick Cottage Farm’s awesome coverage of the Garden2Blog 2012 Blogger Event and learn a little more.

*Note – Because the FTC requires it, I am noting that attendees at Garden2Blog 2012 including myself received transportation, accommodations and meals during the event. Event sponsors provided samples and product giveaways at no cost or obligation. All opinions are my own.