Moonshine

...preferably from a source that will lend itself to a pretty picture on the label — bottle it, and you’re in the vodka business.” As it turns out there is an art to good homemade moonshine — a far cry from the soulless mouthwash Archer-Daniels-Midlands turns out. Here’s some excerpts from an interview of ex-moonshiner John Bowman conducted by the Coal River Folklife Project from “Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia...

Read…

Trees Susceptible to the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

...ungus complex. Wood should be chipped to pieces smaller than 1″. Misguided water conservation efforts have, in my opinion, contributed to the problem by stressing our landscape trees. You should keep your trees appropriately watered. And it appears that with many of these trees, including avocados, prophylactic spraying with a pyrethroid-based pesticide every three to four months will be necessary. Dr. Turney is doing three more tree identificatio...

Read…

Soil Positive or just Soil Curious? Join Nancy Klehm For a Workshop on Soils

...te change, healthy soils key to resilience, carbon sequestration and water conservation, so come and learn! Soil Truthing – A Hands-On Workshop When: Saturday, February 6th Hours: 10am – 4pm Where: Silver Lake, address provided upon registration Cost: $75 Class size: 6 – 15 people Facilitator: Nance Klehm, Director of Social Ecologies , www.socialecologies.net (See bio below) Class Plan: 1. introductions and bio-remediation presentation 2. landsca...

Read…

Yet More Reasons to Mulch

Image: Wikimedia. From a water conservation perspective alone, our trees need a good layer of mulch. But there are many more reasons to mulch, according to research by James Downer, Farm Advisor with the Cooperative Extension in Ventura County, California: Mulch provides nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. A serendipitous accident in one of Downer’s studies revealed that mulch changes soil structure so that mulched soils are able to absorb more w...

Read…

A happy tangle

...ubbing alcohol, which I keep in a spray bottle to sterilize my pruning shears. It’s just handy. If I didn’t have that, I’d use vinegar. Clean out your birdbaths, too. You don’t have to bleach them, but change the water regularly and don’t let them get all gunky. And if you keep hummingbird feeders, you probably know those need to be cleaned out with hot water every few days, so mold doesn’t form in the sugar....

Read…