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What Do We Know About Water?
Overnight we received a decent amount of rain – about 24mm – which was a relief to all of us at the farm. We’ve been waiting for rain for a couple of our crops in particular and it had been weighing on us, with stress issues coming up that were difficult to keep on top Continue reading
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Staying Curious
When we are curious we begin to see things differently. One of the most important things about working with nature is simply staying curious about it. The last two weeks during rather extreme weather for our region I have been outside a lot, watching nature change from “just getting out of bed” to “sprinting at Continue reading
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Leaf Mulch and the Water Cycle
This past week we planted 800 Peppers (bell and hot) into leaf mulch. Continue reading
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The Coyote and the Farmer
Recently I have taken up the hobby of wildlife photography. I was out practicing and crawling around to try and get a photo of some ducks when I got treated to an incredibly lucky moment….with a coyote. He looked right at me. I looked right back. We stared at each other. The experience of tranquility Continue reading
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Calculating Future Cost
How much will it cost? We often see things in reductive monetary terms. Either it costs too much and we can’t make a profit, or its a very cheap no-brainer. Where I’m from, one of the easiest places to see this dynamic is with things like road infrastructure. The project will cost $1 billion, the Continue reading
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How Do We Make Decisions?
Is it that we consider a profit, a loss, how easy it is to get from A to B, how we can drive there, park there or what there is for us to consume and entertain us there? Or is it that we consider a whole and all its pieces, a community, the non-linear, the Continue reading
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The Word “Atmosphere”
While lying in bed I found myself wondering about the word “atmosphere.” Of course these sorts of things are likely to have a Greek origin…But was the first part of the word”atmo” or “atmos?” Of course the second part of the word, “sphere,” has been added to the English language. What did that first part Continue reading
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Soil Temperature Measurements I
It occurred to me that I had never taken a soil temperature reading, so I’m going to start and see what we find. We use these row covers quite extensively, but I’ve never measured just how much they increase the temperature – and specifically soil temperature – underneath. We have also never applied mulch in Continue reading
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Mulch for Soil Protection
This season we have really doubled down for mulch, which all of our long-season crops will have. Our goal is to keep as much soil covered as possible for as long as possible. We want to have a soil rich in life, provide a food source for decomposers and keep everything from drying out. Additionally Continue reading
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Major Shifts
Our farm received at least 10cm of snow over the last 24 hours, and in 5 days the temperature is projected to swing up to 16-18C. Winter will soon feel like it is finally over. Spring is always an exciting time! After a long period of snowy frozen days it is novel (at least in 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 