In one of the nature-oriented Facebook groups I’m in, a land-management newbie was talking about how they were frightened to do a controlled burn of their property (for weed reduction). They were afraid the fire would get away from them, and were thinking, rethinking, and (I think) over-thinking the difficulty of doing the burn. As…
At Spirit Tree Farms, we’re learning a lot about wildflower seed harvesting as we go along. Why do we do wildflower seed harvesting? Simple: To grow more wildflowers, to aid Mother Nature, and to attract more butterflies and other pollinators. Wildflower Seed Harvesting Lessons This year (Dec., 2021), as I was harvesting goldenrod and crownbeard…
Invasive privet (aka Chinese privet) is a non-native species throughout the Southeast USA. Privet crowds out native wildflowers, bushes and trees, and is difficult to remove. For example, when I moved to my property in Catoosa County, Northwest Georgia, nearly the entire edge of my woods was a solid mass of privet. Since removing it,…
Gardening when you’re going to be traveling can be a real pain … weeding and watering can both be a problem. Here’s how we solved our weed control challenge. Thankfully, Mother Nature provided the rain. My goal this year has been to find a way to produce a great garden and keep it weeded. I…
I don’t know about you, but the conditions of society and the world can stress me out. Since I run an online business, social media is part of my every day life and it can suck me down a rabbit hole and become a huge time-waster. I stumbled on a free method for getting my…
Weeding out the bad/ that shouldn’t be there makes room for the good that should. Backstory: My wife wrote Earth + Us about pulling privet. This is an update. I was motivated to pull out a massive clump of several very old and large privet on my NW Georgia property (privet is an invasive, non-native…
This is my all-natural recipe for chigger bites. It soothes and eliminate itching and pain from chigger bites and mosquito bites. If you’ve ever been bit by chiggers, you know what torment feels like. Even though my husband and I wear long socks and long pants, every summer we still end up with literally dozens…
Old satellite dish,/ turned skyward, filled with water:/ Fine redneck birdbath.
I posted this piece on Wildflowers and Pollinators in the “Pollinator Friendly Yards” Facebook page. After only 4 days, I had dozens of comments and over 1500 likes! Obviously I hit a nerve; many people said that my post and what I was doing gave them hope. Most importantly, it shows that changing your lawn…
Natural yards for the birds, bees and butterflies — and for the pleasure they brings human senses — are nothing new. I personally have created my own natural yard for decades, as has my brother. Where did that inspiration come from? Our forest ranger father, who taught all my siblings that lawns were silly, foolish,…