The Refuge Permaculture Center
At Tara Farm and Nursery
Tag: soil restoration
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A Cozy Read:The Refuge Permaculture Newsletter
Did you receive your email copy of The Refuge Permaculture Newsletter yesterday? No? I would be very pleased to add you to my secure email list and send you a copy. “Enlightening” may be a bit hopeful on my part, but “informative”, “supportive”, “interesting” work just fine. Send an email to tarafarmandnursery@gmail.com with “Newsletter” in…
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Simplify Spring Activity: Mulch
Our part in garden life is to bring together the conditions necessary to maintain or improve the living beings there – plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, microbes, and us. When the plants are big enough, they provide their own winter blanket…falling leaves. Mulch: maintains soil moisture; insulates the earth above the roots from weather extremes;…
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Closer and Closer: Seeds for Spring 2025 -Sainfoin
The raspberry patch is so packed full of plants that it is difficult to open the soil for restoration. And the grape vines have been producing so heavily the last few years it clearly is time to do something other than lay compost or mulch on top of the soil. Some research and some conversation…
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NEW SHORT COURSE for Fall 2024 Finding a Refuge in the Wind: What Is Permaculture & Dirt to Earth Natural Soil Improvement
The best start for your Spring garden is your Autumn work. Please join me on Saturday, October 19, 2024 from 10:00am to 2:00pm at Fort Caspar Museum Meeting Room Casper Wyoming, for two brief introductions to the nature-based garden practice of Permaculture. Drawing on my training and research, but more from my experience applying that…
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Bean Harvest Sutra Two: Drying
Bean Harvest Sutra Two: Drying Winter Food1. A light, gentle squeeze of the dry, pale yellow pods in the garden will create a quiet crackling sound. Not too hard..2. Cut shrub leaving roots in the soil. (See Bean Harvest Sutra One)3. Loop cotton or hemp string around the bottom of a bundle of cut shrubs.4.…
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Bean Harvest Sutra One: Feed One, Feed All
Bean Harvest Sutra – One: Feeding One, Feed All1. Cut the stem of the pinto bean bush just above the soil. Leave the roots to rot. They will release nitrogen as they decay and leave organic matter to feed the soil. Their death and decay will leave space in the soil for water, air, microbes,…
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Native Chokecherry… All Seasons, All Pleasures…and a Warning
Pounded – seeds and all – and thoroughly dried it kept the First Nation’s people healthy through severe winters. Simmered low and slow on the stove until the fragrance of cherry fills the kitchen, with just a little sugar the juice becomes a perfect summer drink. Or add a little more sugar (not a lot!)and…
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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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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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Tiny Dragon Faces To Feed Us
…hard-working hands fed by tiny dragon faced flowers…a new legume grown on its terms…
The Refuge Permaculture Center 