Living in Harmony with Nature and teaching others to garden the natural (organic) way, with emphasis on practices that lead to NUTRIENT DENSE produce!

Harmony Gardens

Harmony Gardens
Bey Home designed by Stitt Energy Systems, Inc. 2002

Welcome To Our Site

Our intent is simple: to provide useful information on gardening, health and sustainability issues. We will include class and meeting announcements, gardening information, and book reviews. The articles that Calvin writes for Garden Thyme, the Master Gardener Newsletter will be included. We will try to make this site easy to use and relevant.

About Me

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Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States
Harmony Gardens is the home of Calvin and Doris Bey. As the name implies our goal is to live in harmony with the Laws of Nature. We are concerned about the environment, energy efficiency, organic gardening, alternative health, and sustainability issues. We love our Stitt Energy Systems Inc. energy efficient home, which received a First Place NAHB National Award for 2003. Calvin is a retired USDA Forest Service scientist. Each year he teaches classes in Organic Gardening in February and March and again in September. Doris is a retired RN. Calvin and Doris have put their energy efficient house up for sale (by owner). See first post for description, pictures, and house design.

February 15, 2015

The Intelligent Gardener -- by Solomon and Reinheimer


Fellow Gardeners,

Some of you know that I have been doing organic gardening and teaching a long time, and that I considered slowing down and doing less this year. 

Well, it didn’t happen.  For several reasons, I am energized to push on, even harder.   First, the world needs folks trained to grow their own food, and the desires to do so are expanding.  Community gardens are popping up everywhere.  Many who want to garden organically have little knowledge.  I want to help where I can. 

Second, in December I lost a mentor, an international consultant/expert in gardening/farming/livestock/etc. Jerry was a servant to all, and I want to help.... as Jerry did to his very end, despite his illness.

Third, I am excited about having learned new things in 2014, that will make improvements on soil fertilization recommendations, and they will make the computations easier for me to do.  My goal continues to be to give the best advice I know on soil fertilization, and lead you to growing nutrient-dense vegetables. 

Last year, I read a book, The Intelligent Gardener  by Steve Solomon and Erica Reinheimer, that has very helpful information for making precise soil fertilization recommendations for your specific soil.  Erica has developed an app that works with the Mehlich 3 soil test that AR uses.  This is really neat for making recommendations, and it is based on years of research and experience.   

I have assess to the app and will do a soil fertilization recommendation for all of those in my class this year.  You will need a recent soil test report, including the N test.   

I am very confident that by applying the recommended fertilizers, the nutrient-density of  your vegetables will increase.  Hopefully a number of gardeners will follow the fertilization recommendations 100%, do it for a few years, and bring some vegetables to me for checking the Brix (Nutrient-Density level).  Let me know if you are interested.  

For others who want specific fertilizer recommendations, I will have an “OrganiCalc app service,” for a small fee.  You can get the app yourself, but you will see it requires some input data adjustments (conversions before punching in the data). Its not higher math, but not for everyone.

There is still time to register for the Feb 28 or Mar 14 class.  Feel share this with others. 


Blessings,   Calvin Bey

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Garden 2007

Garden 2007
Heirloom "Country Gentleman" Corn