The Refuge Permaculture Center
At Tara Farm and Nursery
Category: Uncategorized
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Native Bee Houses: Give Them Shelter; They Give You Food
Many moons ago I purchased an organic-looking, sweet little native pollinator house. I will not go into the price I overlooked to have what I thought would be a natural, rustic addition to my garden. I found what I thought was a good spot and mounted it near some shrubs. Nothing that year, but maybe…
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Everbearing: Time and Space
A humid, wet spring ends your hope for Red Currants, but a few warm, clear days gives you baskets of Black Currants. A monsoonal down pour destroys the Native Plum blossoms, but the tiny, hidden green flowers of the Valiant Grape give you pounds of grapes in August. Honoring diversity of plants and temporal and…
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Observe Nature: Currant Patch and Bumble Bees
Observe Nature… that’s the class title for a class I’ll be offering later this year. But for now here is such a great example. That heavy spring snow bent the lower branches of the black currant down to the ground. With the thaw, and melt, the snow got heavier and pushed them into the mud……
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Special Order Plant 2023: Hardy Grape Vines
Homemade Wines, Cordials, Juice, Jam, Jellies. Canning is not necessary as long as you have a freezer. North American, native-based grape vines producing up to 20 pounds on a mature vine. Deep purple richness, full of immune support and home-grown flavor. Read on… I have stopped buying commercially made fruit juice. Every week I make…
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Special Order Plant for 2023: Elderberry
Special Order Plant for 2023: Its That Time of Year!! Finally… and just as a ginormous snow storm blows through…ugh….Elderberry *** The flavors and healing properties, the form and texture of the leaves and the fragile umbrellas of white to creamy flowers – I have several plants in my gardens: native North American, Samdal and…
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Pressed Between the Pages: The Reading List
I’m one of those folks who just has to have a real book in my hands to get “in the flow”. I have always had a library, and still love used book stores. I miss them terribly. There’s nothing like sitting on the hard wood floor with a large mug of deep black coffee, shelves…
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The Best Obsession
Right now, there is a stuffed squash and some beets warming in the oven (stuffed with wild rice, herbs, pintos and wild game, covered in tomato sauce and mozzarella) . And I am cozy on the couch in front of the woodstove with the absolute best seed catalog on the planet. I don’t often “highly”…
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Who Patrols Your Garden?
This video link is so cool. This is exactly what my ducks do (besides providing the best eggs on the planet!) from April to late October. I will have a few established duck pairs available this spring. No, I do not butcher my ducks. Their relatively contented little lives (the males do play a bit…
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Something Special for my New Visitors…Here and Only Here
If you have taken any of my classes you know how much I love talking about soil and all the living organisms that live there and help us in the garden. Well, here is a special video just for my website visitors…but especially for the more science nerd folks. I cover mycorrhizae in depth in…
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Welcome to a whole new look…
It’s been a long time coming… a new look, much more personal POV… In the coming months you will find information on upcoming classes and tours, specials on plants and services, more photos and stories to help you get back into your gardens and landscape, suggested reading and resources right here. Past posts and blogs…
The Refuge Permaculture Center 