Tolkien and Trees

September 8, 2016

Nature Awareness, Thoughtstylings, Trees

...lege, Oxford Dear Sir, With reference to the Daily Telegraph of June 29th, page 18, I feel that it is unfair to use my name as an adjective qualifying ‘gloom’, especially in a context dealing with trees. In all my works I take the part of trees as against all their enemies. Lothlórien is beautiful because there the trees were loved; elsewhere forests are represented as awakening to consciousness of themselves. The Old Forest was hostile to two leg...

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Fruit Tree Maintenance Calendars

Mr. Homegrown

December 19, 2013

Fruit Trees, Gardening

1 Comment

...est issues on fruit trees. The University of California has a very helpful page of fruit tree maintenance calendars for us backyard orchard enthusiasts. The calendars cover everything from when to water, fertilize, paint the trunks and many other tasks. You can also find them in one big handy set of charts in UC’s book The Home Orchard. The permaculturalist in me likes our low-maintenance pomegranate and prickly pear cactus. But I also like my app...

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Breadbaking (Level 1) Class at the Ecology Center

Mr. Homegrown

January 29, 2014

Bread, Events, Food

5 Comments

...uan Capistrano on Saturday February 8th. To sign up head over to the event page. Here’s the 411: Ditch the preservatives and plastic wrap. Join us and learn how to make homemade, all-natural bread from scratch. Take home fresh and ready-to-bake dough! There was a time in the not-so distant past that the smell of freshly baked bread permeated households everywhere. Let’s revert to those wholesome days and make a difference. In this hands-on worksho...

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How to Search for Science-Based Gardening Advice

Mr. Homegrown

February 24, 2014

Gardening

13 Comments

...health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more.” All of these databases overlap to some extent and you’ll probably need to check more than one to be thorough. They will also deliver results from trade and popular sources (not a bad thing, of course, but these sources are not as authoritative as peer reviewed information). Another handy ti...

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Bees will love your Coyote Brush Hedge

Mrs. Homegrown

March 27, 2014

Bees, Garden Design, Urban Farming

1 Comment

...st at the Curbstone Valley Farm blog with lots of pictures. And here’s its page at Theodore Payne Foundation.) What I didn’t realize until our recent garden tour at the Natural History Museum, though, is that coyote brush makes a perfectly lovely hedge if it’s pruned up right. I’d never even thought about it. Most of the talk one hears about coyote brush is that it is sort of ho-hum in appearance but can be used to provide a background to the more...

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