At Tara Farm and Nursery
Food Forest Floor: Groundcovers ~ Nitrogen Fixers & ‘Weeds’. What goes on the ground under a ‘food forest’? The truth is that the lowest tier of plants should be providing shade just inches above the surface. But when you are just starting a food forest the ground can be fairly bare. Here are some groundcover

All Together Now: Free Remote Consults Beginning March 30 Text, Email or Messenger & Get Discounts Every spring I get texts (got one today!!), emails and phone calls with questions on plants, gardens, water, soil and design projects. Starting March 30, 2020 I will be taking questions and brainstorming by text, email, Facebook Messenger or

Duck egg / asparagus / mushroom / mozzarella scramble last night. It was the last of the 2019 frozen asparagus; the duck eggs were fresh. (I’m getting a dozen every couple days and sharing them with my neighbor.) The ducks are presently cultivating the Meditation Garden, the little vineyard and the the Ribes Patch

Between heavy, wet spring snow, monsoonal downpours and temperatures changing 40 degrees in a matter of hours, there are many things to be done outside. This is your Un-COVID source of calming, productive, earthy exercise and information. This was an easy project, although there is a little more securing to be done before the

In the Great High and Dry of Central Wyoming (USA) one of the first plants to wake up will be the asparagus. Usually in April. it is so difficult to wait until a dozen or so spears poke up through the soil. I only harvest a few of the new spears, and then daily

Temperatures below 32 degrees F are the hint that it’s time for planning…

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.

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
Science and pseudo-science (#horticulture, #agriculture, soils, #geomorphology, #permaculture ) is a subject I love to rant about, but let’s bring it down to the practical applications. All science begins with observation; all observation is colored by physical ability, physical setting, layer upon layer of variables, perception, interpretation and above all else the pending question.