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Monthly Archives: August 2024
Diversity Found: American Black Currant
When the ponds were built on my family’s farm, large ditches were needed to drain the water to finish the excavation. It was roughly a 30 acre pond surrounded by a wetland. The ditches near the highway were massive as … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration
Tagged black currant, ecology, healthy fruit, nature
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Diversity Found: Dandelion
I had this collection of dandelion varieties for a while. These were selections bred for human consumption for the foliage as a super nutritious perennial green. I kept the collection secret. My employees noticed when they started to flower and … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration
Tagged agriculture, dandelion, dense nutrition, ecology, healthy greens, perennial green, salad green, vegetables
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Diversity Found: Blackhaw and Medlar
Almost immediately after I closed the door shut on my nursery in 2021, several great opportunities existed where I could foster new crops in unexpected ways. These would be crops that few people have experience with under the banner of … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration
Tagged agroforestry, blackhaw viburnum, ecology, fruit farm, fruit sauce, medlar, minor fruits, wild fruits, woody plants
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The Pecan is the Pie in the Sky
I live in one of the cloudiest counties in North America. When sun appears, people comment on it in the stores. “Oh, it’s a sunny day!” As if to say time is short and you better enjoy it now! The … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged agriculture, northern pecan, pecan, pecan pie, short season, ultra northern, wild pecans
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Chufa-The Savior of Sedges
One of the tuber crop plants I had the pleasure of working with was chufa or tiger nut. I first read about this plant from a food website describing the use of the crop and how it is cultvated. You … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration
Tagged chufa, crop-diversity, Cyperus, edible oil, horchata, nutsedge, sedge, tuber-crop
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Bean Flowers
Yesterday while trying to capture insects working my bean flowers via photography , I remembered the college professor that I took an Entomology class from Western Michigan University in 1975. The whole class went out one night to a nearby … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged bean flowers, Beans, flowers, lima beans, perennial beans, pollination, pollinators
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One Plant-One Human-One Idea
If you have ever planted a cover crop of rye, you soon realize how much this powerhouse of a plant can do in such a short period of time. It is such a simple thing yet has immense environmental benefits. … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged ecology, farming, green manure, health, nature, rye, soil, wildlife value
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The Deer Solution
For many years on my way into town, I would drive by a farm that raised sheep. The pasture was very neat looking and was often cropped to the ground. Like a neatly mowed lawn with isolated thistle plants popping … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged agriculture, beneficial-plants, deer, nature, whitetail deer, wildlife
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Michigan Oranges
Not too long ago, the USDA sent me a newsletter that contained a snippet of nursery catalogs from the early 1900’s. It is interesting to see the drawings and written descriptions of plants used in gardens at this time. This … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged fruit-trees, garden, hardy-orange, hedge, homesteading, michigan-oranges, nature, poncirus-trifoliata
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Pawpaw
I always felt the pawpaw was the Sasquatch of fruit. I read about it in college. Later several people told me they had seen it. My botany teacher told me of a huge colony. I think someone showed me a … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged asimina-triloba, biodiversity, enrichment-ecology, Michigan-banana, pawpaw, seedling-trees
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