Category: Gardening

Title: The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil UpAuthor: Matt Rees-Warren

Cover Price: $24.95

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Chelsea Green

For home gardeners interested in making their growing practices more regenerative, The Ecological Gardener promises to be an indispensable resource. Although there are now numerous books on the market about regenerative practices for small-scale farmers, most of them describe machinery or techniques that can’t be scaled down to fit a home garden. 

The Ecological Gardener fills this void.  

Gardens & the Natural World

Unlike most gardening books I’ve read, The Ecological Gardner doesn’t deal much with planting dates, seeding strategies or pest mitigation. Rather, the essence of the book is about integrating gardens into the natural world that surrounds them. 

Throughout the book Rees-Warren argues that making your garden part of the local landscape is a kind of win-win. Improving habitat within your garden helps local mammals, birds and pollinators. And in turn, your garden becomes more diverse, resilient and healthy. 

Rees-Warren provides numerous examples of what this integration can look like, including inviting wildlife into the garden, turning lawns into wildflower gardens and planting as many native species as possible. 

(A quick note to U.S. readers: Rees-Warren is British, so many of the species he mentions are particular to the U.K. The same principles obviously apply anywhere, though).

Read more: You can use ecosystem design principles to improve your garden.

A New Kind of Garden

In many ways, Rees-Warren is advocating for a kind of new understanding of what a garden is. As he observes at one point, many public gardens and parks contain few (if any) native species. 

With the average home gardener drawing inspiration from these places, it’s no wonder that so many gardens contain no native species.  

According to Rees-Warren, however, a garden should be more than a collection of plants with no connection to the natural world that surrounds it. Rather, by blending the garden with the local landscape, both can be strengthened. 

To this end, Rees-Warren advocates for a redefinition of what weeds are. Invasive plants should be treated as weeds, and native plants should be seen as wildflowers.

A Practical Guide

Although The Ecological Gardener does spend time considering philosophical questions about things like the nature of gardening, it is also deeply practical. Throughout the book there are numerous one- or two-page instructionals on how to perform various practical tasks like taking a soil test or laying a hedgerow. These instructions are simple and concise, providing new gardeners with a valuable blueprint to follow. 

The “Soil” chapter of the book is especially laden with helpful advice, including instructions on how to set up a bokashi bin, brew compost tea and make biochar.

In short, The Ecological Gardener is equal parts philosophical treatise and how-to manual. And these two elements work well together to…

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When thinking about “Family Survival” it is important to have your spouse on board with the emergency plan and emergency preparedness. Here are some ideas to get you started talking with your spouse about emergency preparedness. 

Common Themes Among Non-Preppers

Over the years I have discovered several things about the non-survivalist by talking with friends, relatives as well as my wife her and network of friends.  Male or Female, there are a few common themes among people who do not prepare.

• Ignorance
• Selfishness
• Despair
• Fear
• Arrogance

Ignorance

This is a trait that is hard to believe in this day and age post 9/11 and Katrina but it does still happen.  It usually takes the form of “They” will take care of us.  “They” are usually the government (Federal, State, Local) but it could also be international groups or charities.

I know a gentleman who never thought about preparedness until FEMA said to have a 3 day supply of food and water on hand for emergencies.

Now he has started doing this but won’t hear of having more than a 7 day supply of preparedness products.  Unfortunately Hurricane Katrina was not enough to prove to him that the government cannot always be there to help you and everyone should take emergency preparedness a little more seriously.

Selfishness

This trait is perhaps the most difficult to overcome. Grasshopper and the Ant tale; The Ant works all spring, summer, and fall to prepare for the winter while the grasshopper spends his time in the sun enjoying every minute of it thinking the good weather will last forever.  “I won’t sacrifice today’s pleasure for the possibility of future return.” This often results in denial of the coming shortage or disaster.

Despair

This trait takes a unique form, I saw it in adults when I was just a kid. The world would be so horrible after a “Nuclear War” that I wouldn’t want to survive, therefore I won’t. This is a tough nut to crack since despair often doesn’t respond to reason.

Fear

Fear often looks like despair but is much easier to deal with because all hope has not been lost. People are often afraid to put together a plan or talk things out with their family or spouse because they afraid to think of the possibilities and don’t have answers to the issues they will be facing in a “Family Survival” situation.

The truth is…none of us have all the answers.  We can only prepare so much and the rest will be left up to being able to improvise during a disaster or TEOTWAWKI.

Arrogance

This can often takes the form of “It can’t happen here because this is the United States (or Canada)”  or “Things like that only happen in 3rd world countries.”

But it could happen here and because of our society’s reliance on electricity & oil….things could be much…

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Crafting herbal salves is an easy and rewarding way to use the herbs that are already growing in your gardens. You can make health, wellness and beauty products for yourself, your family and your community. 

Identify & Gather

The first step to crafting an herbal salve is to identify and gather the ingredients. Depending upon your recipe you may be gathering leaves, bark, roots or flowers. Properly identifying plants gathered from the wild is very important. But herbs from your garden or even your spice rack are all useful for crafting topical salves.

You will also need beeswax and oil to make your salve. Beeswax is available online or at your local co-op or health food store, but I recommend seeking out your local beekeeper and asking to purchase beeswax directly from them.

Read more: You can blend your own flavorful herbal teas, too! Here’s how.

Oil Infusion

Once you have gathered your ingredients, fill a jar or other container with your chosen herbs. Use dried herbs whenever possible, as this will extend the shelf life of your final product.

Next, cover the herbs with the oil of your choice, until the plant material is completely submerged. This is important to avoid any spoilage that might occur otherwise. Using a chopstick (or similar item), poke and gently stir the herbs to release any air that may have been trapped under the oil.

Tightly cap the container and label the jar with the types of herbs and oil being used as well as the date. Place the jar into a cool, dark location such as a cupboard or pantry and let infuse anywhere from four to six weeks. 

Alternatively, herbal oils can be infused utilizing a crockpot or slow cooker. Simply fill the crockpot with your ingredients, cover and set on the lowest temperature. Allow the herbs to infuse for three to five days.

Read more: Grow your own herbs to use in handcrafted products!

Make the Salve

Once your oils are infused, strain out the plant material using a funnel, screen, coffee filter or similar tool. Be sure to squeeze all of the oil out of the herbs to avoid wasting any! Now your herbal oil is ready.

It’s time to make the salve.

Simply add the oil and a proper amount of beeswax into a double boiler and place on the stove to warm up. A good starting ratio is 1 1/4 ounce of beeswax by weight for every 16 ounces of oil by volume.

Feel free to adjust this formula to fit your preference. More wax will lead to a stiffer product while less wax will make softer herbal salves. 

Once the beeswax has completely melted into the oil, stir the mixture. Ensure it is well blended, then carefully pour the warm oil into your container.

Any container will work: specialty tins from a supplier, reused baby food jars, or…

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