Eco-Warrior

America’s Founding Farmers Planted a Nation

| February 27, 2014 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Mt. Vernon Gardens, George Washington
When Presidents Day rolls around, I always think about what it must have been like to have lived in the late 1700s. Seeing painted portraits of Washington and Jefferson with their long hair and ruffled shirts makes me believe they were way ahead of their time. We learned what we needed to know in sixth grade so that we could write a report on Jefferson. There was the bad rumor about Washington’s dental issues. But what else do we know about these brilliant men? This we DO know: our Founding Fathers were dedicated cultivators of the earth. They planted gardens, had animated discussions on the correct recipe for compost and thought about the future of the earth they would leave behind.… Read More

See Jim Mumford and Good Earth Plant Company tonight on KPBS-TV

| February 6, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
Jim Mumford and Nan Sterman, KPBS TV
See Jim Mumford of Good Earth Plants on “A Growing Passion” tonight on KPBS  Thursday, February 6, 8:30 p.m. KPBS Channel 15 Cox Cable 1011 HD Time Warner Cable 711 HD Green roofs were once a novelty.  No more! Today, they are gaining popularity thanks to their ability to capture runoff and keep it from polluting beaches and bays, to moderate temperatures inside the buildings they top, reduce atmospheric heating, and offer a beautiful, interesting, even healing alternative to an expanse of glaring, bare rooftop. Nan Sterman, host of “A Growing Passion” on KPBS-TV, visits green roofs large and small across San Diego County including a few of Jim Mumford’s favorites created by Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings for our clients.… Read More

Recharging and Growing in Florida to Start 2014 Fresh

| January 23, 2014 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
January means it’s time to recharge. Holiday decorations need to be put away, tax forms start arriving and invariably a resolution or two gets made and then broken. With all the stuff going on that a new year brings, I will count on recharging during a trip down to Florida for the TPIE event in Ft. Lauderdale. Sun, fun and endless displays of orchids and ginger plants greet me at TPIE, which stands for the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. It is a wonderful gathering of tropical (and other) plant professionals from 33 countries and 44 states, all geared up to show off the latest things growing and the things that help make them grow.… Read More

Bioinspiration: Letting Nature Inspire Your Work

| November 12, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
This week wasn’t about the usual business of green roofs and living walls. I jumped outside the box, exited my silo and spent time at events that remind me of what else is out there. I attended a Downtown San Diego Partnership workshop featuring Fred Kent of Project for Public Spaces. I first heard Fred speak at the Greening the City symposium in March 2006 at Liberty Station. It was there that I was exposed to the idea of green roofs. My passion was ignited. I went on to take a course in New York and studied Fred’s concepts about energizing, engaging and programming public places to build communities.… Read More

San Diego: Living in a Sustainable Paradise

| August 27, 2013 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Sustainable Paradise
We are so lucky to live in San Diego! Aside from the beautiful beaches, parks, local mountains and particularly the people, San Diego is chock full of brilliant individuals and groups who think ahead when it comes to city and neighborhood planning. For the past four years, I have been fortunate to be a member of such a great group called C-3 (Citizens Coordinate for Century 3.) As our name suggests, we are a group of forward-thinkers from politicians to architects to artist and just about everyone in between (including green roof and living wall contractors). C-3 is dedicated to helping improve the livability of San Diego in many ways.… Read More

IGNITE! PIA Expo, Las Vegas

| August 13, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Awards & Achievements, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Plantscape Industry Alliance
  Is it really August already? It seems like only yesterday school was letting out and I had an entire summer to look forward to. Work goes on and this week, I am in Las Vegas for the 2013 Plantscape Industry Alliance Expo (PIA). What a great group of people. I have been fortunate enough to have been a board member for 10 years and an executive director for two years. People with PIA are the decision makers and movers and shakers in the plant industry today and tomorrow. After two years of no responsibilities when attending the PIA Expo, leisurely viewing exhibits and catching up with colleagues I was once again asked to be a speaker.… Read More

Imagination and The Possible

| June 7, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Sustainable Living
Arthur C. Clarke, futurist
One of my daily joys is reading our local newspaper, UT San Diego. On May 13, 2013, there was an intriguing front page article by Gary Robbins about science fiction and imagination, as seen by four authors. Robbins wrote about the late Arthur C. Clarke who authored  “2001: A Space Odyssey” in 1968. And while we might look at some of the ideas in the book and movie as shocking, it sure shook up readers to think that someday we’ll be communicating with extra-terrestrials. Who could imagine? How do these super-smart guys come up with these ideas? And how do we use our imagination to see what is POSSIBLE, rather than IMPOSSIBLE?… Read More

Sustainability

| May 15, 2013 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Sustainable Living
Aquaponics
There’s so much talk today about the becoming sustainable. If you aren’t in the “green groove” or an Eco-Warrior (like me!)  that term can mean a whole bunch of stuff, mostly confusing. In Eco-speak, “sustainable” means that the process being used can be repeated without using too many (if any) resources. And that it is a self-perpetuating process. Keep that carbon footprint as small as possible while building it and use as few resources as you can utilizing the system. Keep everything possible out of the waste stream. We can’t continue to use up our natural resources without replenishing them somehow.… Read More

Our New Aquaponics System

| March 7, 2013 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Gardening
When I saw the display of yellow daffodils at the grocery store the other day, I knew that winter was almost over and it was time for daylight savings and warmer days. That tells me that Spring is right around the corner. This spring, we are on an exciting journey to introduce new products to the Good Earth Plant and GreenScaped Buildings family.  Our new aquaponics project is starting small but we are hoping to be up to full-scale production soon. I met with Bill Toone, who runs a non-profit called ECOLIFE and was blown away by what he’s doing. Bill started his non-profit making rural stoves for those in Central Mexico whose health was suffering because of indoor cooking fires.… Read More

Innovator seeks to educate about green roof movement – San Diego Daily Transcript

| February 24, 2012 | Categories: Green Roofs, Media Coverage
If you visit Good Earth Plant Company Inc. and GreenScaped Buildings president and owner Jim Mumford’s office, you will notice two things: plants hanging from and growing on walls, and plants growing from the roof. Mumford has built a reputation for renting, installing and maintaining of plants, green roofs and green walls and has been doing so in San Diego and across Southern California for more than 20 years. Chances are you have seen or heard about his work, as he is one of the few who does these types of installations in the county. Mumford’s work has been published and broadcast in several newspapers and television stations over the years, and his companies have completed more than 16 green roof projects and numerous green walls and plant fixtures for corporate clients and private residents.… Read More