After losing our entire first tomato patch to deer last summer, we are focusing our energies on preparing some ground for a future fenced-in garden with cover crops. Last fall we rototilled a bit of land and planted the area in winter rye. This spring at the Midwest Organic Farming […]
Yesterday I was listening to Erle Ellis of the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, speaking about “The Ancient Anthropogenic Landscapes and the Emergence of the Anthropocene” as part of the Weston Roundtable Series at UW-Madison. Check out a you tube on his research here. […]
Doug and I each attended different lectures on mycorrhizae by Jeff Lowenfels at the MOSES Midwest Organic Farming Conference a few weeks ago, and we both felt Lowenfels’ talks on mycrorrhizal fungi were some of the best info we got at the conference. It’s sent me on a quest to […]
My street is only two short blocks with 8 houses. There are many more trees than houses on these blocks. Mighty oaks, a big black walnut and a massive maple. All but one of the houses are two stories tall with attics, and they are dwarfed by the trees. The […]
Everyone who takes care of land from square foot gardeners to those of us trying to manage multiple acres has their most wanted list of invasives plants. The lists are getting longer. According to James Reinartz of the Southeastern Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium , the cost to the U.S. economy […]
When Doug was a freshman in college, one of his roommates brought home a puppy, then quickly lost interest. Doug found himself in a human/canine partnership with an amazing mongrel. Raised in a household of male college students in the 70s, Yama was given free rein to explore his inner […]
“The world made with wood and the world made with coal and oil. One lasted twelve to fifteen Millennia; the other has lasted about 250 years so far.” The first tree I remember hanging out in was a maple. My dad built us a platform at the place where […]
Composting is a rich and fertile topic, and there is always something more to learn. I got my most recent lesson at a presentation on Sheet Mulching by Kate Heiber-Cobb, a Permaculture Designer and founder of the Madison Area Permaculture Guild. The beauty of compost! Heiber-Cobb says that sheet mulching […]
It seems I live in a bad neighborhood, roamed by a destructive gang. The authorities are helpless. The gang has become too big and too powerful. When I see the wreck they are making of so many promising young lives, I am strongly tempted to buy a gun. I’m talking, […]
I attended a panel discussion by four Master Gardeners this week and listened to their take on the fall tuck in. It’s so primal – the urge to tuck in one’s garden beds under a leafy blanket as winter looms. I see a lot of similarity between the down comforter […]
Digging in the Driftless 