Bird’s Nest

...trange and gorgeous. I assumed Erik had found it. And since the table sits under our grape arbor, and a few grape skins were in the nest, I figured the nest had been up in the grape vines, and Erik had discovered it whilst up on the ladder, trying to defend our grapes from sundry critters. Nope. Erik knew nothing of the nest. Logic tells me it must have jiggled out of the vines on the arbor — perhaps a rat dislodged it?– and it happened to land fa...

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That Sugar Film

...h Gameau’s health decline precipitously. A disclaimer: personally, when it comes to documentaries, I prefer a vérité approach and am not a fan of Spurlock-type hijinks or hyperactive animation, both of which this film has in abundance. Show me don’t tell me is a film making mantra seared into my brain during the brief period I took classes and edited with Jean-Pierre Gorin (Full disclosure: my inner Gorin drives Kelly crazy and makes me a grumpy,...

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Strapping Bee Hives

...aring open a beehive, but I’ve read where the strapping has helped save hives. Read the rest of his post here. John Zapf, our digital design podcast guest, came over to help me re-stabilize my own hives and they seem to have recovered (thank you John!). I need to make more substantial and termite proof stands in addition to strapping them. And in the comparison between Langstroth vs. top-bar hives, you can add tipsiness to the list of problems wit...

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Peat Moss is Gardening Crack

...tum, Germany near where she grew up: Leave it to us humans to make a desert in Germany! We’ve experimented with mixes of coir and compost but still use peat moss occasionally. These images and citations have convinced me to go cold turkey. What are your feelings about peat? Have you found good alternatives?...

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