We heal together

...lieved what’s important is the work — not the whys behind the work. It all leads to the same good end, after all. But at this point I’m seeing our various crises–this three headed hydra of doom, this ménage à trois of misery–as a spiritual crisis more than anything else–a crisis rooted in our culture’s deep alienation from nature. We are taught to see nature as something “out there”. Perhaps as a collection of useful natural resources. Or somethin...

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The Biochar Solution

...robial life Bind heavy metals (this is a big selling point for me with our lead and zinc contaminated soil) U of W suggests purchasing biochar rather than trying to make it yourself. According to the authors its not easy to achieve proper pyrolysis at home. And they caution that biochar can cause problems for acid loving plants and worms. I’m interviewing a biochar expert for our podcast today. Look for that episode in two weeks. Have you used bio...

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2013 in Review Part I

...iment of the year, a straw bale garden. It was the perfect solution to our lead soil problem–grow in bales temporarily and generate a lot of compost with which to use in permanent raised beds that I’ll build this winter. I’m still harvesting squash from those bales! May We attend the Age of Limits conference along with our friend John Zapf. Kelly and I blogged about our initial reaction to this doomy event but we never told the whole story–decidin...

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Analysis Paralysis

...kespeare describes this condition in Hamlet. The re-design of our backyard lead to the worst analysis paralysis I’ve ever experienced. Weeks went by with no progress. Ideas came and went. The internet made it worse by providing way too many possibilities. A quote in a book finally broke my analysis paralysis spell. The gist of that quote was that we are all called by a higher power to build. I realized that I needed to set a deadline, get off my a...

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Fantastical Garden Images

...Sudama bows at the glimpse of Krishna’s golden palace in Dwarka,. ca 1775-1790 Not to contribute to the dreaded analysis paralysis, but this Pintrest collection images of fantastical gardens– from medieval sources to contemporary artists–may inspire your own garden, or at least give you a good dose of winter inspiration. Well worth a peek. Thanks to BoingBoing for the lead....

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