In Defense of the Paper Wasp

Paper wasp building a nest. Image: Wikimedia. I really don’t like gardening advice that divides the natural world into lists of good and bad bugs. From nature’s perspective all creatures have a role, even the much despised paper wasp. Paper Wasp Biology 101 Wasps perform important duties: some wasps eat other insects, other wasps are scavengers, acting as nature’s garbage disposers. That’s not to say that wasps don’t earn some of their bad reputa...

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Weekend Linkages: Goblincore, Casino Bombs and Hoes

...Goblincore: the fashion trend that embraces ‘chaos, dirt and mud’ Drivers for Elon Musk’s Loop get a script about their ‘great leader’ Enter the Dragnet FBI Artifact of the Month: Harvey’s Casino Bomb (Via Mark Frauenfelder) How many years until we must act on climate? Zero, say these climate thinkers Facebook cracks down on discussing ‘hoes’ in gardening group...

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Saturday Linkages: Rocket Stoves, Big Cargo Bikes and Shopping for the Apocalypse

...orn ferns in your garden http://bit.ly/1nosn5W #diy Getting to the root of gardening’s role in mental wellness | Victory Gardens Blog | http://buff.ly/1o3lIkd Darrel Morrison’s Addition to the Brooklyn Botanic… http://landscapeofmeaning.blogspot.com/2014/04/darrel-morrisons-addition-to-brooklyn.html?spref=tw … Giethoorn: This small town in the Netherlands has no roads but instead, miles of canals and over 100 bridges http://www.atlasobscura.com/pl...

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The Other Kind of Fencing

...rima’s simplicity. All you need are two sticks and lessons are typically conducted informally in backyards. Then there’s Haitian machete fencing which I had never heard of until I ran across this trailer for a upcoming documentary on the subject. Could machete fencing be the perfect synthesis of gardening and martial arts? What did I leave out? I know many Root Simple readers are passionate about martial arts. Which one have you tried and what ben...

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