Carbon “Fixing” Plants
Most gardeners are aware of “nitrogen fixing” plants; those plants, typically legumes, that have formed symbiotic relationships with soil bacteria to take airborne nitrogen and fix it into...
View ArticleBrush Composting – 5 wks to Humus
So this summer I went Compost Crazy. First with the Midden and its ongoing Epic Insanity, and then once I saw the power of shredded brush composting, I starting going ape shit with my chipper. Over...
View ArticleMethane Midden – Learnings
The Methane Midden was my first attempt to recreate, on a significantly smaller scale, Jean Pain’s Epic Compost piles that he used to heat everything from his house, to greenhouses, to sheds, and he...
View ArticleMidden L’eau Chaude: The Big Build
Last summer I built the Methane Midden which was inspired by Jean Pain’s epic work in 1970 France. It was big, it was a little insane, and ultimately it didn’t work. Don’t get me wrong – it made a...
View ArticlePit and Mound Gardening
Hang out in sustainability circles for any length of time and you will notice a distinct antipathy towards traditional vegetable gardening. It ruins the soil; it is dependent on inputs; it eschews...
View ArticleEvolving Suburbia
Fall and winter are times of reflection and as I look into the 2011 year I am continually drawn to the question of how to best spend my time, resources, and energy. It is very likely that 2011 will...
View ArticleKunstler on Suburbia- Dang Sucka.
As part of my commitment to doubling down and getting real about rebuilding Suburbia into something that is livable I stumbled across this talk by James Kunstler of Long Emergency fame, which I am...
View ArticleYardening and Yarditarianism
I’m an eclectic guy, and my gardening techniques reflect that. I have permaculture inspired guilds in the orchard, I have bio-intensive organic vegetable gardens that are managed using Coleman’s 4...
View ArticleLatitudinal Thinking for 4 Season Harvesting
-8 (-22 C) air temp, but crystal clear early morning sunshine streaming through the windows. Steel cut oats simmering on the stove and the kids, animals, and I snuggled up reading on the couch in this...
View ArticleBackyard Chickens : Ramial Woodchip Composting
So in our new home (well, we’ve been here almost three years, but still) we are keeping 9 laying hens and, as usual, I am working to upgrade the soils to what I had in the old home where I could take a...
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