If we want to grow food, heal ecosystems, get healthy, or interact in pretty much any biological system (which includes human communities) probably the single most useful thing we can understand is the 80/20 principle, or the Pareto curve. Simply … Continue reading How to Learn What to Learn: The Pareto Principle
As a teacher, trainer, speaker and author on homesteading, sustainable living, activism, art, and farming there is one key “complaint” I have heard from people literally hundreds of times: They get stuck. They can’t figure out what they want, or … Continue reading How to ACTUALLY Transform our Lives and Achieve our Dreams
Whenever there’s a completely failed, overgrown weedy tangle of an abandoned garden, I know I’ve discovered a gifted high value gardener with true natural intelligence, just waiting to flower. It’s the surest sign there is. As I am a natural gardening teacher and Permaculture designer, these poor discouraged gardeners frequently seek me out at social gatherings for a sort of gardening confession and penance. If you listen carefully, you can hear keen insights and clever observations through their exasperated sighs, gnashing of teeth, wails of garden guilt: “It’s been two seasons since my last confession…” “I just couldn’t keep up … Continue reading Why Completely Failing at Gardening is a Sure Sign of a Great Gardener – Transformative Gardening, Part 1
“You can solve all the world’s problems in a garden.” – Geoff Lawton, The Permaculture Research Institute RELATED VIDEO: Permaculture ideas for positive direct action! Hot enough for ya? If not, just wait: According to NASA 2014, 2015, and 2016 were each consecutively the hottest years on record globally, and 2017 was the hottest year on record without an El Nino, coming in second after 2016. Already, 2018 is looking like it will be a contender. This next couple of paragraphs are the bummer part, so first: LOOK! A BUNNY! Of course, it would be nice if heat was the … Continue reading Gardening Against Climate Change – 10 Tips and Techniques
Over the last year, I’ve had a lot of questions from native plant lovers who want to know if they can create native forest gardens, or even adapt their current native flower gardens into food forests. Of course! In fact, many researchers now believe that the whole of the Eastern Woodland was one big “anthropogenic” food forest, meaning, humans were one of the keystone species controlling the plant varieties, spacings, etc. So, when we create native food forests, or at least food forests with lots of natives, we’re re-creating our true lost “pre-Colombian” habitat. In fact, our back-yard is a … Continue reading Forest Gardening with Native Plants
Why is it that nobody ever walks into a healthy forest and says, “boy, does somebody ever need to do some mulching in here! Somebody needs to weed, water and fertilize this forest, too!” For the most part, healthy forests … Continue reading Forest Gardening Articles and Resources