Water

The planet is 2/3 water
97% is salt water
3% of water is fresh

of the fresh water 75% is ice (for now)
11% is rechargeable ground water
14% is deep ground water
.03% lakes surface water
.06% is held in soil and trees
.03% in rivers
.035% is in the atmosphere

Water regulates the entire planet, it stabilizes the climate. Every living thing depends on it.

Once I filled a glass jug with pond water, the amount of visible creatures in that one gallon jug was amazing. It would be impossible to fill the jug with water from the pond which did not have life teaming in it. There is so much life in water, it supports the life that supports larger life.  Living water spawns life with ease and generates increasing amounts of biology.

 There is enormous amounts of energy in water. Chemical bonds, phase change, temperature differentials, gravity flow, tidal ebbs, stored solar and geothermal energy.

What we should be doing with water-
Reducing run off
Decreasing evaporation
Increase surface storage
Keeping it clean with biological filters

Installing a bat box

 

we dug a pretty deep hole. Three feet or so.

 But then we had a pretty big pole.

 How do you mix concrete again?

 Oh, just add water.

 Gotta screw this puppy on. Can hold 125 bats!

 They crawl up in there and sleep, instead of in your attic. 

BANG, and it's up. Easy instal my friends.

Enjoy bats, enjoy.

Understanding Deer - 9 strategies to keep them out of your garden

It is often asked; people feel helpless to stop them from decimating their crops, "How exactly do you deal with deer?". If you want to stop the deer dead in their tracks put up a ten foot fence, twelve feet is even better. Barring that it is best to know your adversary, a giant fence isn't usually a good option anyhow. A multi-tier approach is the only way to have a chance against the roving hoards.

Strategy #1 - Control their pathways
Deer paths occur in the woods because deer take "the path of least resistance". Eventually they carve out a thoroughfare which traffics them between obstacles. If you know where the deer enter your yard you can channel them from that point outwards, or direct them away from your yard all together. This will not stop all the deer all the time. Although they have paths they are not required to stay with them. This system is not so much a deer fence as it is a deer obstacle, whatever you can use to bock their way in. I have a few that work like a one way gate, a check valve if you will. A deer may enter my yard from one point, then have the option to leave from this other direction but never enter. It is near impossible for the deer to get in this way, or at least it is undesirable. The ground is much lower on the outside of the obstacle. They exit my yard easily when chased, a little motivation for leaping the check gate. Don't underestimate deer they are very powerful animals.

Speaking of deer paths, I would never go back to this gate if it weren't for the deer making the path for me. I can't be expected to do the up keep on the entire infrastructure. Let the deer work for you.

Strategy #2 - Take advantage of their fears
Deer do not like to be enclosed in a space where they feel trapped. You probably won't see a deer in the alleyway between houses, or even between long high rows of strung up tomatoes. They usually eat the corn on the edges of the field, not in the center. In some circles this is called a deer moat. Just for example, a strong hedge row can create one "wall" and a shed or outbuilding can create the other.

Strategy #3 - Divert their attention
The deer are in your yard looking for food, why not give them some - elsewhere.  You may have some success keeping deer at the edges of your yard with plantings planned specifically for their appetites. This is called a trap crop. A plant that the deer love to eat, and usually don't kill by doing so, makes a great trap crop. Beloved by most gardeners and perfectly shade tolerant, the hosta makes a good boarder planting that you might be willing to sacrifice to save another. Deer always eat our day lillies but never kill them. You can also find some deer food plot seeds for sale online. Feeding them might just make their numbers stronger, keep that in mind.

Strategy #4 - Leave a bad taste in their mouth
We love to eat garlic and onions, but deer - who eat almost anything - will not. Until the deer change their eating habits garlic and onions will not be on the menu. Intersperse plants they don't like into your garden, and as they are munching along they might just get a mouth full. You can mix up a special cocktail of hot peppers and vinegar, or just dried crushed pepper to spray on your lettuce. If in the end you don't want to eat it, whats the point? Some people advise you add soap to your mixture to help it stick, I don't see the need for it nor do I want that in my garden beds. I was fond of spreading wood ash on my plants this summer, no one enjoys ash in the mouth. This is a sure fire tactic that could change their attitude towards your garden. Its main drawback is the need for reapplication after rains.

Strategy #5 - Scare them off
Deer spook easily and will run as soon as their buddies do. Startle just one of them and you might move the whole gang out of your yard. Unfortunately they probably won't run that far. I have heard of people using wind chimes, mobiles (AOL c.d.s, used pie tins), motion detectors that trigger a spray of water, or talk radio note: deer are liberal; Rush Limbaugh scares the shit out of them. Eventually deer can become accustomed to these deceptions and their effectiveness is lost.

Strategy # 6 Assault their senses
A deer relies heavily on their sense of smell, they can catch your scent on a passing breeze. To leave the sent of a human in your yard is to fool a deer into thinking you are actually there. One strategy for this is to spread hair around from your last cut, or hang it from a mesh bag - like a stocking. The barber throws clippings away and is usually happy to give them to you. Make sure you explain its for a deer deterrent you weirdo. The second is to mark your territory, take a leak in your yard. I am advocating for you to use animalistic behavior that's all.  Besides human urine you can purchase predator animal urine, like bear or coyote. Don't ask me how they get it. Thirdly aromatic herbs which do not seem to be of preference to the deer can disguise the scent of plants they would like to eat. Try planting sage, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.

Strategy #7 - Buy a dog and keep it outside
The dogs marked territory might be enough to keep them at bay, but a hungry animal does what it needs to. On the other hand a barking dog in toe can startle even the hungry deer. Ya like dags? Well they are better than a 12 ft. fence IMO.

Putting Solo out of busness (goin solo)

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your plastic straw comes individualy wrapped in more plastic? I want to provide my ideas for products that can replace the standard plastic fare out there. Yes, I give them to you free of charge, take them, there is no value in an idea only in the implementation. I could be the mogul of a company doling out disposable biodegradable dining utensils but that would get in the way of my loafing around. Perhaps there is more here than profitability.


I go to the grocery with my canvas tote bags, like any sane person. If I don't have them with me I still ask for no bag, but I don't tend to buy more than I can carry. One way to accomplish this is to enter the store without the cart or the basket. You look foolish balancing a six pack of energy drink on your head. See I have already designed plastic out of your life.

I think we should have the convenience of single use products, but plastic is not designed for single use. It is rigid and does not break down. It could be used over and over again, but it is not. I can't imagine this practice can continue on with the dwindling supply of petroleum out there. Of course there is the soy based plastic that does degrade but takes far too long to compost at home, so it too is shipped off to recycling plants which can't handle it. Oops. Who wants to continually be jabbed with someones saliva covered fork every time they dig in the compost pile. Soy plastic is still plastic it has to be manufactured. A step in the right direction, but I want to go further.

Have you seen these lilly pads that have a perfect little rim on them? What is that a dinner plate for frogs?

There has to be a reed out there in this vast world that would double as a straw. You want to explain to me how plastic straws are cheaper than a reed. Grow it and slice it, pure profit. As I understand it some of these grasses are nearly impossible to kill. Phragmites perhaps. Let me go blow on my saxophone while you ponder this one over.

Chop sticks would seem like an obvious choice for forks, but what I've heard about the devastation caused to forests because of the manufacturing of so many million little sticks. One tree per set? Hmmm, what to use as a fork that is more convenient than two little sticks...  Iv'e got it! Your hands. Much of the world eats this way, and so can you.

This one I have on lock. Cups. Did you know there are forms of bamboo out there that are as thick as your neck. You've got an addiction and you need the gut busting 64oz of cola, no problem. Regulations require that they all be the identical in size so that the consumer knows how much poison is entering his veins. Okay, I've got a work around. How about we dispense the correct amount, not make it the cups responsibility. If you go to a party that doesn't have beer pong or flip cup going on, then you might as well set an oil rig on fire because we are past it, victory for the discontinued use of plastic cups. If you didn't catch it, I am advocating for 100% bamboo cups. Bamboo is a natural cup each section is already water tight.

So now you have to clean up after your all night rager. Besides all the things that lie in the yard, there are the spills, and the scrubbing. The most absorbent thing out there, off the top of my head is dry moss. Added benefit, dry moss is not necessarily dead, after it soaks up your cheap domestic beer when you throw it outside the moss might just live on it. While natural sea sponges are biodegradable they do not live on after adding water, even salt water, the coral reef ecosystem is too delicate to be extracting single use items anyhow. Scrubbing with moss might not hold up to the job, but I know what will. I sprig of pine. This one I have even tried myself, and it leaves a fresh scent in the pan. No one ever tried to sell you actual pine bows for cleaning because the manufacturer is in your backyard, and they are giving away free samples for the rest of your life.

I could go on because there are an endless number of solutions in nature. Write me for a consult on your next project.

Sod Off

Imagine it is one of the very first beautiful and warm days of Spring. The air is crisp the sun is shining, a light jacket is slug over your shoulders. What to do with this little gift?

Lets break out our gas powered two stroke unfiltered unregulated air and sound pollution generator! (your lawn mower)

The notion that we are obligated to manicure a perfect lawn and that we shall sacrifice our free time, our health and the peaceful day is madness. Why can't we breathe deep and enjoy what little time we have.  Forget about this antiquated show of wealth to impress the feudal surfs, they aren't.

There are over 10,000 species of grass on the planet; 12 are grown most as lawns in the US. This trap is easy to fall into, the store only sells that many. Lawns are an agricultural practice after all; sprawling mono-crops tended and fertilized. The difference is there is hardly a yield. Grass as a crop is very wasteful and ultimately useless. More resources are poured into and on grass than any other crop, some 10,000 gallons of water each summer for a lawn the size of a small motel room. Grass is a $28.9 billion dollar business. With 32 million acres across America covered with turf grass, companies like Jon Deere, Scott's, Husqvarna, Bayer, amoung many others rake in the green and drive the demand for more grass related products. They, or their subsidiaries manufacture massive amounts of herbicide, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and what they call outdoor homeowner power products.  Agricultural educational institutions are endorsed by "big grass" and farmers are trained by them. You see there is no interest in the effects of these products and a complete lack of third party oversight to do anything. Do you think the EPA or any government agency has the power or resources to test, regulate, or control the production or sales of all lawn chemicals? Your lawn added together with the millions of other quarter acres plots amounts to nothing less than a chemical disaster. How many of us even understand the first thing about these chemicals? While you consume these products there are people profiting and that is all they intend to do.

Chemicals are cheap and necessary to keep a lawn looking so unnaturally green.  Many chemical fertilizers are derived from petroleum!  To keep your lawn green you add nitrogen (N), because nitrogen is an element found in the chloroplasts of plants. Your body expels nitrogen as a waste product in urine. Along with nitrogen, urine is a good source of phosphorus (P) which is vital for root growth and flowering. Inorganic fertilizer that contains phosphorous is mined out of the ground. What I am saying is - piss on your lawn; save the planet, or at least a few bucks. Does it seem like I'm joking?

Every self respecting town has a municipal landscaping crew that goes around to parks or roadsides to mow the lawns, if pouring poison on it is inconvenient. Again this is a losing battle, plants will always fill an empty niche. That's our tax dollars at work. A monthly dousing of poison only effects us in the end. I hope that lawn care companies won't be upset with this message. I believe there will still be plenty of work for them to do without grass lawns. I envision a future with grass alternatives, which still need care. The difference is they will require less resources because these alternatives will be adapted to the environments in which they are planted. Really all we need is for people to start changing their preconceptions of grass and the lawn.

Signs of Spring

Snowdrops

Crocus

If you build it they will come

Seriously they will, it is in the frog's nature to migrate from one waterhole to the next as populations grow. They search for fresh hunting and mating grounds by hoping away from their spawning pool when it begins to rain. Frogs are not the only species that will be attracted to your pond. If you abstain from chemical treatments you can wonder at the lives of larval insects, snails, dragonflies, even waterfowl. There should be little concern of the mosquito population becoming a blight if there are frogs, dragonflies, fish and birds to keep them in check.

You will notice a fair amount of aquatic plants, of which I intend to add more. They are an essential part of the ecosystem that will make the pond itself a living organism. Lilly pads shade the water keeping it cool in summer. Algae loves warm water. The water hyacinth floats on top of the water and has long hair like roots which sift out nutrients. It should be said that water hyacinth is illegal in many southern states because it clogs up waterways. Up north it dies with the frost. I can't say it is 100% safe to keep it up here either. There is the faintest bit of duckweed which I didn't try and introduce, some times even plants just show up.