074 Beyond the War on Invasive Species with Tao Orion

...omething wrong with the “war” on invasive plants? What are these resilient plants trying to tell us? Is there such a thing as a “natural” landscape? What’s wrong with Glyphosate? These are some of the topics we discuss in our conversation with Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration. Tao is a permaculture designer, teacher, homesteader, and mother living in the southern Willamette V...

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Farm in a Box

...h circulates into the planter box via a pump to provide fertilizer for the plants as well as removing nitrogen and ammonia from the water. From the Earth Solutions website: “By integrating fish with vegetables, naturally balanced aquatic ecosystems are established making it unnecessary to add fertilizer, chemicals or remove nitrogen rich water. As in nature, plants, fish and oxygen loving bacteria create a symbiotic relationship; Fish waste is con...

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Least Favorite Plant: Asparagus Fern (Asparagus setaceus)

Today, a new feature on the blog: least favorite plants. I’ve always thought that it’s more fun to read a bad review than a glowing one, so why not extend the concept to the plant world? But we’re not going to rant about “weeds”, which Ralph Waldo Emerson defined as, “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” As active foragers we’ve found virtues in what most people think of as weeds, plants like broadleaf plantain and stinging nettle...

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Trees Susceptible to the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

...ta)* 28. Weeping willow (Salix babylonica) 29. Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) 30. Camelia (Camellia semiserrata) 31. Acacia (Acacia spp.) 32. Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua) 33. Red Flowering Gum (Eucalyptus ficifolia) 34. Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) 35. Goodding’s black willow (Salix gooddingii)* 36. Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) 37. Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus) 38. Black mission fig (Ficus carica) 39. Japanese beech...

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Saturday Linkages: Gourds, Cats and Cider Bread

...ienceshot-chameleon-vine-discovered-chile … A warning about “bee-friendly” plants http://www.honeybeesuite.com/a-warning-about-bee-friendly-plants/ … L.A.’s First Public Transit Used Actual Horse Power http://southland.gizmodo.com/l-a-s-first-public-transit-used-actual-horse-power-1566350171/+nathanmasters … Neuroscience of junk-food cravings, researched in a Chili’s dumpster – Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2009/04/27/neuroscience-of-junk.html...

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