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, […]
Tag Archives: land management
Earth + Us Part 2: Weeding Uncovers Treasures Haiku
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 […]
Earth Day At 50 With Me: Haiku – Haibun Memory
Earth Day’s 50! Then:/ I’m in Milwaukee’s River./ Now: I’ll plant Earth’s fields. Earth Day is 50! A half century ago I stood in the Milwaukee River in Estabrook Park near my home in Glendale, Wisconsin, loudly singing with other youth and cleaning out the old tires, mattress springs, tin cans and other junk that […]
Make A Redneck Birdbath: Haiku
Old satellite dish,/ turned skyward, filled with water:/ Fine redneck birdbath.
Why Make And Maintain A Natural Yard: For The Birds, Bees and Butterflies
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, […]
Finding Wonderful Hidden Wildflowers: Haiku
It is often so/ that when we clear dross and junk,/ we find wonderful. Using a loping shears to clear underbrush and non-native privet from around the hardwood trees in my back yard reveals an undergrowth of black-eyed susans and other hidden wildflowers. Sometimes you have to burn the grasses and weeds from large fields, […]
Missing Wildflowers: Nature Haiku
Folks look at my yard/ and see lots of grass to mow./ They miss wildflowers.
Wildflowers and Butterfly Beauty: Three For The Price Of One
Wildflowers and butterfly beauty is one of the best parts of rural life. As people go back to the woods or the fields, focusing on being self-sustaining and off-the-grid, one of the first questions they ask is: “What should I DO?” One of the most vital things I tell them is what they should NOT […]
Trouble In Paradise — Dealing With Pests And Problems
Every place has pests and problems to deal with, its own Trouble In Paradise. Wisconsin mosquitos and cold, Arizona’s oppressive heat and poisonous bugs and snakes, Washington state’s rain and mold and rain and dampness, Georgia’s bugs and heat and humidity and CHIGGERS! As part of the #LightTheWorldNow #BuildHisKingdom project, I was thinking about the […]
Get ‘Er Done: Vashon Island Treehouses Starts Growing
A New Project: Vashon Island Treehouses My brother Gene Kuhns Jr. has always been a “doer”. With his wife Jan by his side (and often, slightly in front of him), they get more done in a week than many folks get done in a year. That’s why I’m excited and anxious to watch the progress […]