Doesn't look like much, but this is gold: Did a plant swap with someone new in a nearby town. Got perennial Korean celery roots, lovage, comfrey, perennial leeks, and garden dock. The food forest is going to be FLOURISHING this year.

A sharing version of my garden planning spreadsheet. Been using it for a few years now. It'll spit out planting dates based on your last frost date but you have to input your plants & relative planting times. If it's not on the seed packet, check permapeople.org. 🌱 docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Talk to me about sunchokes/jerusalem artichokes. Do you actually eat them? How? Do they make *everyone* fart a lot?

Lots of talk about biochar, but importing/buying it in feels like a stretch. If you’re doing it for carbon sequestration and climate, please consider the externalities! How is that product made? Where is it shipped from? Making biochar is not inherently zero-impact.

Talk to me about soil blockers. Worth it? I’ve been starting seeds in deep nursery trays, and the roots tend to grow fairly robust, but I’m thinking about a soil blocker this year. What do we say? 🌱

Just brushed my sheepskin slippers. AMA.

Always nice to see my book resonating with folks. Such a juicy topic 😉🌿

This, except ticks.

Just a reminder since it's garden-planning season for those in the northern hemisphere, that Permapeople has a free and non-commercial garden planner. More elaborate than a grid-based planner, and more suited for food foresters and homesteaders, but it's awesome! permapeople.org/plans/new

It still looks messy but it’s sorted enough. I’ve a great collection of saved seed going—many are 5th generation and meant for this spot. Pest-proof squash is a goal for this year. What’s your favourite moschata?

Winter project: making a green wood ash bow. Following a few YouTube videos for technique as I’m new to this.

A pollarded tree is a low maintenance, long-lived source of free wood, fodder, fencing, basketry material, and new trees (from cuttings). You don’t even have to bend over to harvest We already have all the know-how & technology we need for truly sustainable abundance

Elderberry grows prolifically for me. I am hereby an elderberry maximalist—especially for small spaces. We easily fit 6 plants into the existing landscaping along edges. ~8L of watered down elderberry juice in the freezer for cold/flu season (only 5 left). 🌱 open.substack.com/pub/poorprol...

Anyway, AI has already stolen friends’ work, and is going to put other people out of work. I do not think a political party that claims to be the party of workers in this country should be using it. Even for just a silly joke.

Amid the doom, don't forget you have power. Power to create things for yourself, for your family, for your community. Build cool shit. Grow things. Build community. Make friends. Spite the doom.

We need a 90% tax over ~3 million. Bring back real philanthropy* in exchange for tax breaks. * = democratically-approved efforts to improve living situations for locals in the same region of tax break. Large donations to public programs, healthcare, etc

Yes.

Looking forward to a full harvest from our patch this year. Started from seed 3 years ago, this next summer will be the 4th, and first big harvest. What's your favourite thing to do with asparagus? Mine's tossed in olive oil and salt/pepper and thrown on the bbq.

Soundtrack to the decline youtu.be/qnFVMkTWaBw?...

On a trip to Thailand yrs ago, I was un/fortunate enough to experience their 2 level medical system. All minor ailments that can be, are treated on the 1st lvl w/ traditional medicine. Any major ailments that need it are moved to lvl 2; modern medicine. A real Dr. on both levels.

The era of enshittification. Politics are crass. We’re all getting dumber. Automating our jobs away, while the wealth gap gapes. Online social dysfunction, intensified. But the economy is doing fine (for those at the top).

Wanna see how scared the oligarchs are for us to realize The Culture War was just a distraction from the Class Warfare they've been waging against us for years behind our backs and under our noses? This is what oligarchs trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube looks like:

Ben Falk (whose book The Resilient Farm and Homestead radicalized me) on the metacrisis. 🌱 #permaculture www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUND...

Are people working on ChatCEO? Replacing executives with a simple LLM-based chat bot? It shouldn’t be hard. Just plug in a bunch of shitty opinions, and dial down on the empathy. We can move their salaries towards updating the business structures into worker-led co-ops.

One of the greatest lies the devil ever told is that industrial agriculture is more efficient. There is no dispute that it has a higher gross yield, which yes, is an important variable. But it also requires exponentially more inputs, while externalizing many costs.

I. e., room for improvement.

Incredibly important this day and age, as with most permaculture principles. Things seem to be changing at a faster pace. Weather patterns are more chaotic. Rain inconsistent. Winters wonky. Adapt and respond. Become resilient.

Frosty! Last of the 1st-year Stinging Nettle patch. Next year they’ll grow tall and won’t be good this late into the season. This patch will get wilted into to 5 quarts of red lentil stew and tucked into the chest freezer for later this winter. #stingingnettle #eattheweeds #plantonceeatforever

Better late than never! Italy Hill Giant Ivory Hardnecks are all tucked in and ready for a winter nap. This year I learned that the worn, rounded end of an ol’ broken shovel handle pokes the perfect holes for planting garlic. My back is grateful for the discovery. #garlic #hardneckgarlic #farmstead

guys it's all good it's only a vibesession not a real recession the constant and obscene rise to cost of living is all just in your head it's justified because ✨economics✨ the gdp is actually really really great and Freedom™️ and Democracy™️ are at an all time high.

It’s been frosty / freezing here for about a week now, but there’s one lupine plant that keeps pushing out more leaves, and they seem hardy to the frost. A poor haskap is quite confused about last weeks warmer day too, pushing out some now-frozen leaves… It’s a weird start to autumn here so far.

Right now we are grabbing #persimmons for seed saving, harvesting #Americangroundnuts, taking #fig cuttings, and digging up #gladiolus corms for storage #gardening #fall #foodforest #permaculture #flowergarden

Don't hate the immigrants, hate the legislation that opened the borders to allow 1M+ in without bolstering the support systems needed for Canadians (new and existing) to live a satisfactory life.

~2 year old chestnut with ~200 year old hickory for scale.

Bare root #pawpaw and american #persimmon trees for sale $10 each, will ship. 1 yr old, 12”+. Really healthy roots, grown chemical free in an air prune bed.

Loved the artwork of naturalist Ernst Haeckel ever since I was introduced to his illustration Trochilidae by a friend some years ago. Only just discovered that he appears to have been the first person to use the word 'ecology' (ökologie) in 1866. #ecology

It's time

Growing trees from seed is so rewarding.

Truly successful people don’t need to commodify their advice. Be wary of folks selling you pieces of advice for a price.

So grateful for all of the new subs and dramatically increased viewership of the Parkrose Permaculture YT channel the last few days. I think I'm going to hit 50k this weekend and I can't tell you how much I appreciate y'all. Thank you💙💙💙.

Doing a bit of post-growing-season seed sorting and saving. It’s messy but I can just zone out and break pods with a podcast playing. I owe a few of you some of these — I haven’t forgotten. Will get to you before next growing season!

Today is a kitchen day for the harvest from the 3 Sisters field. Nixtamalized the green dent corn for hominy; the flavor is fantastic, very “deep” & sweet. The squash is rich & smooth, classic pumpkin. The rattlesnake beans are a pleasant surprise: super flavorful & quick to cook

How to make the world a better place

First snow of the year in Upstate NY is helping the drought/wildfire situation, but it has knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes Resilient infrastructure doesn’t fail when you need it most. As natural disasters intensify, more people will come to appreciate that

@santequebec.bsky.social — curious, is the corp actually focused on delivering health services to QC or about hiring nepotistic board positions from private health industry & ensuring raises & higher salaries? Looming cuts & SQ is negotiating salaries… no conflict of interest there tho, right?

Big W

We've got some great news to share but want to do it in proper format, until then here's a fun fungi meme

Love to see it! Montreal has been putting in a lot of swales and curbside plantings since a drastic flood a few years ago. Each time I visit I see significant progress. Overflow ponds, trees, grasses, swales… there’s good work happening in cities.

#bioswales o'clock This is a "swale cell", which is like a bioswale but designed to catch excess stormwater from a gutter and direct it into a green and lush catchment area. Don't know about you but I'd be happy to be locked in a swale cell! Photo taken in Seattle by MIG