Welcome to GreenDreamsFL.com

  We have decided to choose the path of ecology & evolve with nature, by assuming the responsibility of this new enterprise. GreenDreams bases itself entirely on sustainable options to insure that the future generations get to inherit this garden of a planet. We are proud to be joining nature’s revolution in bringing our food back to the way it was always intended to be grown: without chemicals & without a hefty price tag. There’s peace-of-mind in knowing how your food is grown.

We are ready to apply our 11 years of experience in the landscape business to take all the sweat producing, backbreaking work out of your weekends. We’ll co-design & create your garden with you. We’ll provide you with as little or as much assistance as you need, supply you with a chemical-free approach to nutrients, insects & weeds, then in the end, it’s yours to harvest.

Once we are established, we have further goals of bringing these same concepts to public & private schools, as well as under-privileged communities. We feel that everyone should have access to healthy, chemical-free food. We’ll bring these smart gardens into schools, where the kids can learn about the importance of fresh food. This rewarding learning experience can also be used for fundraiser use. Nobody needs a chocolate bar or another magazine subscription? We ALL need fruits & vegetables, and the schools could definitely use the money. Not to mention, the sense of pride the kids get while helping a plant to grow.

 

Think you don’t have the time or the space to grow a garden? Think again.

LIVING AS NATURE INTENDED
By: Melissa Kanaris, GreenDreams

For the last ten thousand years (at least), humans had an amazing bond with the land where they lived; a relationship that provided them with every nutrient they needed, not only for energy to live, but the energy to thrive. These great native ancestors formed festivals around their growing seasons and they were able to “feel” their connection to this planet, to their people & to the celestial sky with all of it’s cycles used for cultivation, cleansing & healing. Their senses were strong & bodies were agile. Debilitating, degenerative disease was not a common thing.

Somewhere during the turn of the last century, society became distracted with consumerism. As a whole, we lost our appreciation for our balance with nature & forfeited our ability to grow our own food. Industrialized agriculture made it’s way into the lives of the hard working American culture. The convenience of boxed dinners & drive-through restaurants was born. Americans turned to their televisions, in order to distract their anxious minds from the exhausting process of doing it all over again tomorrow. We became drones, completely unconnected from the magnificent reality that awaited us outside. Growing food became more of a leisure hobby for a small few. Many people admired gardening, but had a list of excuses on why they weren’t able.

The farm, just outside town, could no longer compete with the corporate monoculture farmers (who didn’t seem to have any trouble at all with weeds & pests, or profits for that matter.) It appeared, at the time, that these chemical farmers had outsmarted the wisdom of the earth, with their pesticides & petroleum. This planet has delivered millions of years of vegetation perfection & now these biological science labs think that they can do it better? It’s a good thing God has mercy. But unfortunately, our human bodies do not. We are now flooded with illness. There are new diseases showing up at every turn. Cancer rates have just gone up another 20% JUST IN THE LAST YEAR!

There is something positive to be said about it, though. Some of the damage in our bodies can be reversed & the remedy is holistic in nature. Drug companies don’t fit in to this healthcare plan. The earth still has the same abundant healing capabilities for itself & for us. It’s divine vegetation can treat a range of ailments with it’s herbs, weeds, bark, flower essences & fungi.  Only 2% of the plant life in the Rain Forrest has been clinically tested on human health. According to a few great documentaries, such as “Forks Over Knives”, people can also choose a plant-based diet to turn around their heart disease, diabetes, cancer or autoimmune disease. By replacing meat, dairy & sugar with lots of (chemical free) fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, seeds & fungi. We can fell better, drop our expensive prescription medications & extend our lives: All while saving the planet for future generations. We have forgotten that humans are a lot like plants: We are all much more productive with proper mineral balance & nutrition, proper hydration, proper sunlight & adequate affection.

Could you imagine what life could have been like if the previous eras had the research that we have today on holistic nutritional science?
A little bit of sunshine, otherwise known as Vitamin D, could have helped with the Bubonic Plague, as well as many other plagues.
Vitamin C could’ve saved all those sailors who died from scurvy before they discovered that it also was a nutritional deficiency issue.
Mycelium Fungi has proven 100% effectiveness against all viruses, especially the Pox Viruses!

What most people fail to realize is that living organically is about a lot more than staying pesticide & herbicide free. Organic living is the entire process of living as nature intended. Stay far away from synthetics in ANY way, shape or form. Synthetics are the anti-organics. Don’t eat them, don’t drink them & don’t put them on your skin. Your naturally organic body & the body of this planet just don’t respond well. No matter how you feel your body looks, it is still a divine work-of-art that you’ve been given as your vessel. Take care of it. Promise yourself today that you will get you’re your BPA-Free bottle of H2O, head outside, get some nutrition on your skin (yes, without your SPF50), connect with the earth & it’s positive people. Maybe go hug a tree, or sit with your back against one & give your worries away: She will listen.

Perhaps we need this alarming view of our current world picture for humanity to realize what we lost, where we went wrong & how this “physical” reality is really connected. Perhaps it’s a good thing the Institutions are attempting their tight grip on the nutritional, natural world. It has caused us to focus on the biggest truth there is. We are sovereign. Growing food is our God-Given/Natural right. We can be self-sufficient & independent from control over us. The more they push us, the more we bind together. We are in this evolution revolution together. What the earth experiences, we experience in our bodies & vice versa. Bob Marley knew it. Lennon knew it. Bono told you too. We are all one. One Love.

So I invite you to go love on your garden & I promise you: It will love you back.

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We offer retail, wholesale, consultation & installation of various types of gardening systems that fit every possible scenario:

Consultation

Not sure where to start or what to do next at your property? Perhaps you are having issues keeping your garden going or maybe you are having trouble with damage from pests? You can schedule a visit with one of our experts, who will provide you a complete evaluation with solutions to every dilemma you encounter. Whether your property will be used as an edible landscape or one that is a bit more “traditional”, we will provide you soil testing, sunlight & drainage assessment, pruning instructions, mulching & composting advice, fertilization, non-toxic pest control methods, disease signs/symptoms, proper watering techniques, plus advice on the placement of any extras, like vegetable gardens, perennial vegetables, fruit/medicinal trees, edible bushes & vines, native & pollinator plants and the incorporation of livestock such as chickens, ducks, rabbits or goats. We will also discuss drought tolerance/rain harvesting. The cost of this consultation is a value at $40 per hour.  We invite you to have a pen & a pad of paper handy, for you will want to take lots of notes.  For an extra charge, we can provide you with drawings & a list of the suggested plants, materials & placement, along with suggested hardscapes, such as walking stones, fencing & trellises, along with a summary of the entire evaluation.  Please call (727)462-5326 to schedule an appointment.

 

Tower Container Gardening

  • Grow just about anything (& a lot of it) in minimal space, minimal effort required.
  • You can even place them on your balcony, deck or patio space.
  • Faster Growing, Better Quality Produce
  • Minimal weeding
  • No soil-borne diseases
  • No water runoff or pollution
  • Use less water
  • No bending over (perfect for those with the “bad back” excuse to gardening)

 

Raised Beds – Wood or Recycled Composite Border

For an old-fashioned approach, raised beds have some of the same benefits as the towers:

  • They also provide longer growing seasons
  • Keep soil from water-logging
  • Reduced soil compaction (better oxygenation)
  • Studies have shown that raised-garden beds produce ¼ to 2 times as much yield per square foot as ordinary beds
  • Again, the extra elevation will take some of the work off your back

 

Greenhouses

For the grower that is ready to garden year-round, we will custom-build your very own greenhouse for you.  Completely protect your plants from bugs, weeds, chemical dispersants & cross-pollination all together with one of these beautiful, wood-frame structures.

This is not your ordinary “Plastic over PVC” tunnel.

 

Aquaponics

  • Most “environmentally friendly” way of feeding our communities
  • Grow organic vegetables & raise fish, in one perfect ecosystem. It’s been called the farming of the future.
  • Uses 2 % of the water used in conventional farming (or even less if you choose to collect rainwater).
  • Produces up to 8x more product than when grown conventionally in the ground
  • Veggies grow 2x faster & 3-4x the density, than conventional means
  • Requires no fertilizer

 

Drip Irrigation

  • Save water, since only the areas around the plant’s root zone are irrigated
  • Weed growth is reduced because areas between plants is not irrigated
  • Having constant moisture improves growth
  • Less stress from variation in soil moisture
  • Chemical-Free treatment can be fed through irrigation for fertilization, pest & fungus control.

 

Rain Barrel Installation

  • Screw-on, perforated lid with a mesh screen to keep mosquitoes, bugs, pets & children out
  • Save $$$ on your utilities bill
  • Feel Good about reducing your municipal water intake
  • Back-up source of water during times of drought
  • On an average-sized home, 1″ of rain = 623 Gallons of Water

**We are also in the process of adding other “off-the-grid” services to our list: Solar & Wind-Turbine energy is coming soon.  You’ll be able to power your rain-barrel fed irrigation system using only the sun’s rays, or you can cut your carbon footprint even more and power your home.  Another plus to wind-turbines is that they keep the critters out of your garden.

Education Center Opening Soon

What is the big deal about “organic”?
There are too many answers for that question to list here, so we’ll be brief.  For one, there have been very few clinical trials on the effects of pesticides, herbicides and radiation from conventional supermarket produce on human health.  We don’t feel comfortable with knowing that WE are the Guinea Pigs.  We see that something is happening to our fellow citizens.  The USA has the highest cancer rates, the highest degenerative disease rates and the highest food allergy rates in the world.  We question if these statistics correlate with the fact that we are the largest producer of “chemically treated” and “genetically modified” food in the world.  Most foreign countries WILL NOT take our food as import.  (Does it make you wonder?)
Also, from an ecological perspective, industrialized farming does not nurture the land it is grown on.  “Round Up” herbicide is sprayed (by planes) onto the crops and because of run-off, it ends up contaminating our rivers as well.  Also, most farmland has been so overused, that the soil is now stripped of the nutrients needed for growing.  So instead of using the methods of biodiversity, these large corporations use fossil fuels to grow their food in.  There are so many serious consequences to this issue.  We have only seen the tip of the iceberg. 

What is the difference between “store organic” & “my organic”?
Organic labeling at the supermarket can be a bit tricky.  Farms that produce USDA-certified organic food are not personally inspected by anyone from the USDA National Organic Program (NOP).  The program is extremely under funded (it has fewer than a dozen employees), so they rely on Accredited Certifying Agencies (ACA’s) to ensure the requirements are being met.   Simply stated, not everyone is honest in this industry & if the cost of organic is greater than conventional, the unscrupulous producers will take the risk of providing fraudulent paperwork to ensure that their pockets are full.
When you grow your own, you know it’s good & safe.

How much can the average household really save?  What is the average cost to start?  How much time and $$ to maintain?
You are not going to see the savings from your garden immediately. Like the growth of a tree, it’s takes time to reap the rewards.  Your savings truly depends on how much you were spending on produce at the store.
Your initial set-up cost can be minimal, if you are wishing to experiment before making any big plans.  If you’d like to start small, we suggest that you try the GrowTowers (vertical container gardening).  We will install a stack of 5 containers (4 separate growing areas each – making 20 separate spaces), with soil, in your backyard for $200.00.  Or, our custom-built raised beds can also be economic: starting at $290.00 for a good-sized plot (installed with soil).
The maintenance time involved is dependent on how large your growing space is. Your time in your garden can be minimal or you can spend hours tending to your plants, if you choose the larger scale option.  It doesn’t have to be tedious, though, which is another good reason to use the vertical growing methods:  Easy to pull weeds (rare) & no bending over.  If you set your system up on a drip irrigation timer, then you are able to reduce even more work.  The cost of maintenance is also variable, depending on the amount of space and the number of plants you have.

What other benefits are there to growing a garden?
The benefits of go way beyond monetary savings!

  • The flavor surpasses anything you’ve bought recently from the store
  • The vitamin & nutritional content is far superior. Everyday that a vegetable is off the vine, it loses a significant portion of it’s nutritional value.
  • There is a sense of satisfaction in watching this natural wonder that you’ve helped to create, grow. Everyday you see changes in the garden: plants grow, flowers bloom, fruit forms on the vine and vegetables seem to grow right there before your eyes.
  • It is a wonderful learning experience for kids. It teaches them self-sufficiency, responsibility and work ethic. Donating surplus veggies to neighbors or your local food pantry helps them understand the importance of tithing & community.
  • You reduce your carbon footprint. The average salad travels 1400 miles to wind up on your table.
  • It lifts your spirits. It is really hard to be in a melancholy mood while you are touching & smelling the gifts of Mother Earth.

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   Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil “morale booster” — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. This made victory gardens become a part of daily life on the home front.

In March 1917, Charles Lathrop Pack organized the National War Garden Commission and launched the war garden campaign. During World War I, food production had fallen dramatically, especially in Europe, where agricultural labor had been recruited into military service and remaining farms devastated by the conflict. Pack conceived the idea that the supply of food could be greatly increased without the use of land and manpower already engaged in agriculture, and without the significant use of transportation facilities needed for the war effort. The campaign promoted the cultivation of available private and public lands, resulting in over five million gardens and foodstuff production exceeding $1.2 billion by the end of the war.

Amid regular rationing of canned food in Britain, a poster campaign (“Plant more in ’44!”) encouraged the planting of victory gardens by nearly 20 million Americans. These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all the vegetable produce being consumed nationally.

It was emphasized to home front urbanites and suburbanites that the produce from their gardens would help to lower the price of vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops, thus saving money that could be spent elsewhere on the military: “Our food is fighting,” one US poster read. In Britain the slogan “Dig for Victory” was ubiquitous.

Although at first the Department of Agriculture objected to Eleanor Roosevelt’s institution of a victory garden on the White House grounds, fearing that such a movement would hurt the food industry, basic information about gardening appeared in public services booklets distributed by the Department of Agriculture, as well as by agribusiness corporations such as International Harvester and Beech-Nut. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 20 million victory gardens were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home and community plots was estimated to be 9-10 million tons, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh vegetables.

Victory gardens were planted in backyards and on apartment-building rooftops, with the occasional vacant lot “commandeered for the war effort!” and put to use as a cornfield or a squash patch. During World War II, sections of lawn were publicly plowed for plots in Hyde Park, London to publicize the movement. In New York City, the lawns around vacant “Riverside” were devoted to victory gardens, as were portions of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

In 1946, with the war over, many residents did not plant victory gardens in expectation of greater produce availability. However, shortages remained in the United Kingdom.

The Fenway Victory Gardens in the Back Bay Fens of Boston, Massachusetts and the Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis, Minnesota, remain active as the last surviving public examples from World War II. Most plots in the Fenway Victory Gardens now feature flowers instead of vegetables while the Dowling Community Garden retains its focus on vegetables.

Since the turn of the century there has existed a growing interest in victory gardens. A grassroots campaign promoting such gardens has recently sprung up in the form of new victory gardens in public spaces, victory garden websites and blogs, as well as petitions to both renew a national campaign for the victory garden and to encourage the re-establishment of a victory garden on the White House lawn. In March 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama, planted an 1,100-square-foot (100 m2) “Kitchen Garden” on the White House lawn, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s, to raise awareness about healthy food.

The United States Department of Agriculture issued a 20 minute film to promote and train people how to plant victory gardens titled Victory Garden.

The successful WGBH public television series The Victory Garden, given wide distribution in the U.S. over the Public Broadcasting Service, took the familiar expression to promote composting and intensive cropping for homeowners who wanted to raise some vegetables (and some flowers). It has continued for over three decades.<