Category: Elemental

  • The Flowers of Late Summer

    Late summer is so important for the plants, for the pollinators, and for our harvest. These flowers provide food for pollinators that are getting prepared to hibernate; food packed as tiny pellets placed in pollinator nests with their eggs in hollow stems and underground to feed newly hatched babies after spring thaw… food to prepare

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  • Radical and Root Have the Same Origin

    Most folks who follow me have no ‘edge’, no passion for the radical approach. Their gardening comes more from the institutionalized Master Gardener dogma perspective. I engage with them believing that there will be a moment when the light will go on and they will realize how strong they can be from seeing their place

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  • Oh the water…

    I haven’t done a video in so long. Please LIKE it if you really do. Helps me keep my Channel. But this spring has been good to us. So I thought maybe my simple water management system might be a good subject. Thank you so much! Part One. https://youtu.be/OHSqE4VSOug

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  • Response to the Question: Does planting by the moon really work?

    “Each plant in each specific location under each specific moment of conditions responds specifically. You can work to create the best set of circumstances to support and encourage the best ecology for that plant even to its best death. Study in-depth or take a seed and stick it in the ground and water it. Then

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  • Winter Tales From The Refuge

    Winter Tales From The Refuge

    Resilience does not mean Super Woman…

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  • Permaculture Strategies: Recycle,Reuse & Restore and Technology Transfer

    Permaculture Strategies: Recycle,Reuse & Restore and Technology Transfer

    Rural folks know that everything will eventually have a use. Parts and pieces pile up in sheds, barns, fields ~ frustrating the more organized members of each family. In this very short presentation the permaculture strategies of Recycle,Reuse, Restore and Technology Transfer might just clean some of that up and put it to good use.

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  • Permaculture Strategies: Restore, Conserve Resources & Observe Processes ~ Home Vineyard Cover Crop

    Permaculture Strategies: Restore, Conserve Resources & Observe Processes ~ Home Vineyard Cover Crop

    Wedge shaped tap roots, rhizobium bacteria in alkaline clay soil, rotational grazing by African Geese, restoring the compacted space of The Refuge’s small experimental vineyard. This short video describes the use of appropriate – custom blended – cover crop. There is genius hiding in the warehouse of the local feed and seed store; just have

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  • Transition: Leaving the Ball and Chain for the Tight Rope

         Finally. The open door. The one that never shows what is on the other side. Smoke or mist or darkness. Shortly after 1 January 2019 my entire focus will go to the design and nursery practice, a risk that is exciting and anxious…a strange balance. The sense of freedom that comes and goes is

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  • Spirit, Science, Craft, Bumblebees

    Spirit, Science, Craft, Bumblebees

    Last year on one of those very early spring days of cold shade and clear sunlight, the open space near the front steps to the cabin was filled with a low rumble. It was so loud that I checked the approach to the nearby airport for the gigantic FedEx freight plane preparing to land. I

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  • Permaculture: No Guts

    Permaculture: No Guts

    Researching the final assignment for the online course and finally had to make this observation: The permaculture community has no guts. Talk about how important failure is to development, but never risk their own personal failure by critically reviewing the work of the pantheon of mythical heros. Talk about how the science of botany, horticulture, agriculture,

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