Category Archives: Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration

A healthy environment starts with a healthy human making the best of what is available and adding to what is possible.

Plants That Saw the Light of Day (Part 3)

If you love plants, it is only natural to want to try to grow something that is entirely based on a feeling. There is no objective knowledge or science involved. It is a form of appreciation of the natural world … Continue reading →

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Plants That Saw The Light of Day (Part 2)

Every plant that I grew whether it was in great profusion or just a few for experimental purposes had possibilities. If it died unexpectedly or had some horticultural issues of some sort, then I want to know what happened and … Continue reading →

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Plants That Saw The Light of Day

(Part 1) I do not have much of a selection process for plants. Every plant looks interesting to me. I really liked the flavor of that wild Rocket I found in the cracks of a sidewalk in Grand Haven, Michigan. … Continue reading →

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Two Story Agriculture

Ground Floor and Going Up I first found the concept of Two Story Agriculture in the best selling book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell Smith. He was an economic geographer for Columbia University and had written extensively … Continue reading →

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Exploring Diversity In An Edible Forest: Unique Flavors With the Species Apples

From the time I was a child, I loved to grow plants. I threw a pit of a prune near the back door of my home. A tree emerged and I quickly put it in a pot. How could this … Continue reading →

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Thoughts From the Bean Warriors

Thoughts from the Bean Warriors Archaeologists                                                                               Bean Warriors Archaeologists: The jungle was inhospitable.                                                       Bean Warriors: We made it hospitable. Archaeologists: They grew lima beans.                                                            Bean Warriors: It was the protein that didn’t run away. Archaeologists: Small bushy annual … Continue reading →

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The Plum From the Beach Comes to Visit and Plans to Stay

Beach Plums I always wondered about the range maps of plants found on the USDA Plants Database.  Is the line of demarcation a real and genuinely smooth line or was it purchased directly from the Sears and Roebuck botanical books … Continue reading →

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Making Your Way Through the Storm

When I first purchased my land in the early 1980’s, there was plenty of information in the books on conservation and ecology. I kept some of my texts from college like Fundamentals of Ecology by Eugene Odum and Shrubs and … Continue reading →

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The Young and Evolving Oak Tree

I was surprised to read this descriptive terminology of the oak genus and related families by a taxonomist many years ago. It really stuck and I have used it many times in writing about oaks in my catalogs. Usually cold … Continue reading →

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A-Salading We Shall Go with Viola

Crop Diversity: Perennial Greens-Violets Growing edible perennial greens is part of the edible landscape movement. It was born with the idea that an ornamental plant can provide food. The edible greens created by a violet can be harvested as a … Continue reading →

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