THE RECIPE FOR PARADISE
From Chef Jim

Start with a large wooden mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Metal will work … but woodsy is the preferred way to go with this. Put in about four cups of botanical garden and section it in healthy chunks. Then get three cups of food forest which is mostly fruit trees with a liberal sprinkling of exotic fruit. Then get two cups of vibrant small vegetable gardens selected to taste. Fold these together gently until all but the view planes are covered.

Set the flame so that the sun will give them all the light they each need. Now weave several long serpentine pathways into the mix just big enough to drive thru if you need to. All should have story-book qualities and interesting stops at sacred spots. Select to size three grandfather trees and a mother mulberry and place them in the sacred spots if they are not there already. Add a liberal dose of water features so each can share duties to have catchment and reflection pools. Some firewood can be placed near the open grills for crunch.

Drissle some flowers and sculpture about so everywhere you wander there is color and interest. For aroma create one walkway that is loaded with the pungent species you best enjoy.

Lay this all on a bed of grass that doesn’t need mowing except for small glades to picnic in. Cook for ten years in the sun and rain and finally before serving top with a million dollar view from where you most like to sit everyday for the most dramatic evidence of natures love available in your viewscape.

Before serving insure the waitstaff understands how to tell the story that brought this recipe into being and why its so precious to you.

PS. If nature introduces other ingredients along the way be sure you feel creative enough to include the ones you like.

Chef Jim also coaches land owners on the sustainable designs needed to bring the full value out on their landscapes. He can show you how to make paradise and not just another cookie cutter western homestead.