Tag: permaculture

  • 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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  • Que Tan Verde! Anaheim Peppers

    Two tiny Anaheim pepper plants…. I planted them in an empty mineral lick tub with a mix of native soil and potting soil. The soil I kept just damp, not wet. The pollinators had no problem finding the small white flowers inside the potting shed. The shed allowed me to control how much rain, and

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  • 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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  • Spring Into Action 2

    Tasks for April 18:Pasture Management – move cows into Hayfield #2 to graze cheat grass and foxtail coming up. Duck Mulch – continue cleaning out duck pen and shelters and move to storage to compost. Also reduces mice, which reduces snakes close to the cabin. Rain Capture – install new parts for 250 gallon poly

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  • Spring Into Action 1

    Spring Task Series:Welcome to Spring at the Refuge!! A lot of the things you see here will be things you might also be doing around your landscape and gardens. Activities for April 16, 2023Plant herb seeds in window pots – #basil and #cilantro (how I miss homemade #pesto!!) Hook up all rain barrels- NOAA has

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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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  • 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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  • 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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