If you are new to gardening in the PNW then I suggest picking up a copy of the book “Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, 35th Anniversary Edition: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening”. This version is the 7th edition of the book.
We buy bulk ingredients and mix our own fertilizer using the recipe in this book. Except a soil test showed our garden soil has plenty of phosphorus so we leave out that ingredient. #PNW#Gardens#Gardening#GrowYourOwn
Reconnecting with Nature: How Permaculture Helps Earth to Thrive 🌍
In today’s fast-paced world, where concrete jungles dominate landscapes and industrial agriculture strains ecosystems, the concept of permaculture stands as a beacon of hope. Permaculture, derived from "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture," offers a holistic approach to sustainable living by…
Sign of #Spring in the Southern Willamette Valley of #Oregon
Just put out my Ladybug Hotel and released 1,500 live bugs into the wild. Inside is pine needles, straw and some raisins to give them something to munch on. Also placed it near our main #flower#gardens and fountain so they can drink.
"Big or small, pot or plot - interconnected #gardens have a significant impact on #biodiversity. Even small #urbangardens offer high levels of nectar production, with 85% of the total #nectar produced across a city provided by them."
🧵 1/ #SharonAstyk wrote:
"A bit of good news today, even as "H5N1 is found in Ohio cows, & cats exposed have died - the strain transmitted to an agricultural worker seems only to have one of the mutations required for easy human to human spread. The BAD news is that this mutation was found ONLY in the human case, which means that it may have occurred IN the human case, which is very bad.
Let's put that in context - I doubt that even all the agricultural workers in contact with infected herds have been tested. Moreover, given the heavy reliance on undocumented workers in most agricultural businesses, I'd be shocked if someone showing symptoms of viral illness weren't either afraid to come in for testing or fired by the bosses who don't want the hassle. But that one sequence is cool.🤨
But let's assume that we get lucky, & it is a few years before the virus starts transmitting human to human. What I want to talk about today is the food supply in a larger context."
3/ "...Last year a paper in Nature estimated there was a much larger chance of 2 major regional droughts causing a global food supply disruption than previously understood. Lloyds of London estimates the chance of a serious global famine at about 2% / year, with a 50-50 shot of it happening by 2050, & a even more severe famine has about a 1% / year chance, & a 30% chance of happening by 2050.
Heavy odds!.
It is worth remembering the 2008 global food crisis happened WITH RECORD HARVESTS - that is, there were no food shortages, & yet millions went hungry. Small shortages in complex systems can have much larger reverberations than you'd expect. E.g., the way a 7% decline in US oil imports caused 1970's oil shocks.
All of which is a really long way of saying that this year, if you are able, is a good year to start growing food. Because the impact of #gardens on the food system can be enormous. Aaron Newton & I spent a lot of time on this in our #book A Nation of Farmers, but it is pretty simple...."
“In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical 'therapy' to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.”
On the blog: a look around my unusually tidy garden - success in the veg garden, a few failures elsewhere and more spring flowers. Read about it here https://bit.ly/43C2fz9
I’ve just finished this very enjoyable, pan-historical garden fantasy (is garden fantasy a genre? It is now!), ‘Threading the Labyrinth’ by Tiffani Angus.