botany
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Farming Requires Empathy
An errand for some supplies. The product we usually get was sold out, or awaiting delivery. We were offered a similar product as a replacement. Upon closer inspection, this “similar product” included some odd trademarked “additives,” which were of mysterious patented origins. The package also included this very helpful note: WEAR GLOVES WHILE HANDLING THIS Continue reading
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Brilliant Green
One of the more fascinating parts of science and science history (at least to me) is that the true nature of something can be ascertained by asking the right questions. There are many many many examples of science (or society) rejecting a correct assertion dozens or hundreds of years before it is accepted. And since Continue reading
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Lots of Ground to Cover
This season will be our first year implementing and experimenting with the use of cover crops. We aren’t really sure what to expect or how they will work with our system, but there’s only one way to find out. The idea behind cover crops is simple enough: farmers go to great lengths to maintain empty Continue reading
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All That Plants Know
Let’s consider all the things a plant knows how to do. A seed knows when to germinate…if the conditions are right, if it is too dry, too wet, too hot, too cold. A seed knows if it is close enough to the surface of the soil, or if it is too deep. Some seeds even Continue reading
agriculture, botany, chlorophyll, climate change, earth, Ecology, evolution, food, garden, gardening, intelligence, life, nature, photosynthesis, plants, seeds, soil, solar, trees -
Nature’s Economic Paradox
Several times this summer I have come across comments or opinions relating to fertilizers (specifically Nitrogen) on various social media platforms. Usually these comments are in the realm of needing to feed the world, the high cost of the fertilizer to the farmer, or how emissions from producing nitrogen are necessary and therefore shouldn’t be 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.
