In the garden, a baby snake taught me a powerful lesson. If I want to live in a vibrant, healed planet, I need to be brave enough to love all the creatures who make it so. Even the ones who make me a little uncomfortable.
The first year I took my land out of industrial corn/soy production, Butterweed, Daisy Fleabane, and Giant Ragweed took over. I tried to grow cover crops that year, and the Giant Ragweed was particularly difficult to work around. I was still trying to figure out what to do about these “problems” when they just…vanished. Now I have a lot of grasses and goldenrod, dandelion and violet, and lesser amounts of vine and tree volunteers. Even these plants are temporary, and eventually they’ll make way for the next stage of growth. It’s just another stage of succession in the land’s march back to its highest self.
Raccoons might be my favorite animals. I identify with them on a deep soul level, and I truly admire their adaptability, ingenuity, and curiousity. Their impressive cleverness is precisely what puts them into frequent conflict with the human world, a society that ironically prizes intelligence above all else. Raccoons find a way to survive and thrive no matter the circumstances, but tensions ease when there’s plenty for all. This article is about raccoons, mulberry trees, and cultivating greater abundance in our shared world.
Poison Ivy might be the most hated plant around. Although it is a difficult plant to love, this plant has some surprising virtues, and plays an important role in native landscapes. The thing is, this plant is not really here for human beings. It’s here for everybody else. Read the full article to learn more about native plant species Toxicodendron radicans, and its beneficial role for wildlife, insects, and soil.
“The plants have enough spirit to transform our limited vision.” Rosemary Gladstar Included in our many diverse habitats, Strawberry Moon Farm treasures 3.5 acres of
Teeny tiny baby toads have emerged on our farm this week. I’m not sure how many there are (dozens, hundreds?) but there are more than
I recently read the book “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life” by Edward O. Wilson. It’s a very thought-provoking book about the rapidly declining biodiversity
Cool band name, right? Brood X is indeed musical, and their infrequent performances are loud and memorable. They are 17 year periodic cicadas. They are due to emerge any day now. These fascinating creatures won’t damage your garden and they don’t bite, but they do pose a threat to young trees like mine. I’ve been spending my spring days preparing for their emergence.
Intuitively, it feels like hand washing is more eco-friendly than using a dishwasher. And while I’ve often received advice to skip the dishwasher as a way to lighten my burden on the planet, there are also numerous claims touting the opposite conclusion. Convictions run high on both sides of this argument, but scientific evidence backing up either viewpoint is elusive. Is it possible to use less hot water when hand washing dishes than an efficient dishwasher uses? Which methods of hand dishwashing are most efficient? And which methods of hand dishwashing are most wasteful? I headed into my own kitchen to find out.
One of the iconic paradigms of permaculture is a food forest. The idea is as follows: “By understanding how forests grow and sustain themselves without
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