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The Human Scale and Our Recent Past
At Riding Mountain in Manitoba, there is a bridge and low-tech dam built by conscientious objectors in the early 1940s at Whirlpool Lake (more archival photos here). What is striking to me about these sorts of things is everything absent from modern life. This bridge was built by hand. There was no trip to the Continue reading
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What Ghost Pipes Can Teach Us About “Nutrients”
Recently I was lucky enough to see some Ghost Plants aka Ghost Pipe on a hike. These creatures are fascinating enough but when I got back to farming, I noticed some in my own back yard. One of the things I hear most when talking about farming is the topic of “nutrients.” The Ghost Pipe Continue reading
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Dealing With Crop Failure
Anyone who has ever grown something or cared for a living thing (of the plant or animal variety) has inevitably had some demoralizing times. On one end of the spectrum, there’s the “nothing you can do about it” category which includes things like weather or the completely unexpected. On the other end of the spectrum, Continue reading
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“Too Much Nature”
Was able to get to Riding Mountain for a couple days of camping, choosing Whirlpool Lake as the destination. On the way out a local told me there was “too much nature” out there at that there Whirlpool Lake. I’m pretty sure he was joking, but it’s also kind of true. There were fish half-submerged Continue reading
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Let’s Talk About Something Fascinating: Red Algae
You know how those conversations go: someone says what’s up, someone else says all they can think about is red algae! Since it came up in a presentation yesterday, let’s talk a bit about it. We humans might be grossed out by the appearance of what appears to be slimy red stuff and think something Continue reading
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Integrating Agriculture Back Into Communities
What does integrating agriculture with communities look like? For many, agriculture is something that happens “over there,” on a big scale, incompatible with suburban living. Perhaps there are illusions of what agriculture means: an industrial scale, huge machines, chemicals and processing facilities, waste that has to be managed, odours that have to be contained and Continue reading
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Combining Crops: Mushrooms and Carrots
Last year I decided to try stacking crops, and inoculated a wood chip path in-between two beds of kale with Wine Cap mushrooms, or Stropharia rugosoannulata. Mostly the trial was to see if/how they would overwinter, and overwinter they did. This week we’ve decided to dig out a carrot bed we seeded in last year’s Continue reading
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Speaking Tonight at Pecha Kucha Winnipeg
Just a little update today, I am speaking at Pecha Kucha Night Winnipeg, June 28th, 2023. The event is at The Park Theatre and starts at 730PM. There’s more information here about Pecha Kucha, and about all the great speakers that will be presenting. This will be my first time speaking about agriculture and ecology, Continue reading
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No-Mow for Monarch Butterflies
Last week was orchids, this week is Milkweed. We’ve been leaving a little stand of Milkweed on the edge of one of our fields and it is a hotspot. We aren’t going to mow this section and let the insects do insect things. The Milkweed emerging from bushy flowering clovers makes for quite a hub Continue reading
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Nature Comes Developed
We’ve spotted a Yellow Lady Slipper orchid Cypripedium parviflorum in a ditch near the farm. This beautiful flower lies a mere six inches (or 15 centimetres) from where the grass in the ditch is dutifully mowed by the neighbours. I have always found the term “development” as it relates to urban planning or suburban expansion Continue reading
About Graham
Graham is an ecologist-farmer from Canada working on educating about the wonders and beauty of the natural world, and how we can design biodiverse food production systems.
Complimentary Blueberry Juice 