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​‘The hypocrisy is staggering’; will swift bricks fall prey to government fears of Reform

​‘The hypocrisy is staggering’; will swift bricks fall prey to government fears of Reform

Campaigner Hannah Bourne-Taylor fears goal of requiring all new homes to include a hollow brick to help endangered cavity-nesting birds, may be dropped

On more than 50 occasions over the past three years, Hannah Bourne-Taylor has lugged an oversized brick through the parliament’s security screening.

Security staff know her fondly as “the swift brick lady”. But now Bourne-Taylor is having to ruffle political feathers over what appears the simplest of nature-friendly measures – a small legal clause requiring all new dwellings to include a £35 hollow brick, providing homes for endangered cavity-nesting birds including swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings.

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Anyone doing timelapse videos of your garden? With what kind of gear?

Anyone doing timelapse videos of your garden? With what kind of gear?

I’d really like to make a timelapse video of my garden to show how it’s developing. The amount of stuff that has happened in the last couple of years is amazing. Is anyone here already doing that? And what kind of technical solutions do you use for it?

I was thinking something that I can mount on a pole in a corner of the garden, that works outside all year long, with a small solar panel for power and takes a couple of photos every day. Maybe like a Raspberry Pi with a camera module or a wildlife camera, if there’s a model that supports what I want.

submitted by /u/abagofcells
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Plant a food forest in the northeast

Plant a food forest in the northeast

I am planning to plant a food forest in the northeast United States zone 7B. I have an area in my yard where we recently tore down a stand of 10 jersey pine trees that were completely overgrown with Japanese honeysuckle, Asian bittersweet, garlic mustard, poison ivy, non-native wineberry and no native raspberry bushes.

I’m trying to plant natives as much as possible, and the space previously was home to a flower garden and child’s place it about 30 years ago. There is a very large 47+ year old. Deutzia scabara and a similarly aged but very poor condition weigelia. We also rescued a native dogwood and plan to leave it alone.

Currently in my plans are a row of blueberry bushes, various varieties. I want to establish A row of pawpaw trees, which I’m trying to reintroduce to my area. Orchards are very common around me, mainly apple cherry peaches and pear. We have a large problem with spotted lantern flies.

I don’t believe I have space for more than four paw paws. I also want to add almond trees, at minimum two apple trees, current and elderberry bushes. The space is approximately 100 feet long by 30 feet deep. Am I being too ambitious and what would you recommend planting in that space?

I am also curious about your thoughts on planting in rows versus planting intermittently more natural forest style . This year is all about reclamation. We are covering everything in a thick layer of cardboard and pine chips from the trees we took down to try and smother all of the non native weeds.

This space backs up to 40 acres of undeveloped forest which is heavily infested with a litany of non-native invasive so it’s going to be a constant battle establishing natives in the space and avoiding deer damage.

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Taking over care of an orchard, what would you do first?

Taking over care of an orchard, what would you do first?

I have been given the opportunity to partner with a farm and take over an established orchard of mostly apples, with some pears and plums. They are in standard rows, multiple varieties interplanted, but no mulch and just grass under them. Theres the occasional garlic chive. He reports them producing pretty well. Not a lot of disease/fungal pressure, and he reports good pollination. I presented the idea of planting black raspberries between the trees to improve biodiversity, and the response was a little hesitant, because he wants to make sure we can still get around the trees and tractor chickens through. Which is great consideration, but I’m a little worried about having good options to improve the overall ecosystem. They also dont mulch, or compost, they just rely on chickens to feed the ground. I am hoping to do some composting and utilize a wood chipper to start better feeding the soil. I just dont want to start friggin’ terra-forming the place on this old farmer. I want to focus on one positive step in the right direction at a time. And in general, it will be good practice to only change one thing at a time anyways.

The farmer is pretty on board with most of what I have to say, and is willing to let me do just about anything within reason.

What would your words of wisdom be for me? I have loads of book smarts on this subject, but this will be my first hands on orchard and permaculture adventure in this sort of setting.

Much thanks!

submitted by /u/LyraTheHarpArt
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Lasagna method on a budget with no time

Lasagna method on a budget with no time

Hello! I’ve just moved and I’ve also JUST had a baby, so I have little time and few resources to get my garden started in the way I’d really like. I also live in the Canadian prairies so gardening time here is precious because you get so little of it. That said, we are starting a garden from scratch at the new house. I’ve bought raised beds and a poly tunnel. I spent a LOT of money on making beds at the last house and the results weren’t amazing (the soil I bought ended up being garbage). This time, I’m hoping to do lasagna method beds and plant right into them and just hope for the best. My idea was cardboard or wood chip mulch/hay at the bottom, then layer hay and aged manure, leaving a thick mulch layer at the top. Is this a terrible idea? Is there a cost-effective solution or amendment you’d make to avoid issues. I’m mostly worried about the stability of this substrate mixture and also disease that could come from only using hay and manure. Thanks in advance.

submitted by /u/GlitteringPositive77
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Permavillage – a digital space where you can create and share your own “permaculture” and get discovered

Permavillage – a digital space where you can create and share your own "permaculture" and get discovered

Hi everyone 👋

We’re a small software house based in Italy, and we’ve just started working on PermaVillage – an app project inspired by a shared question: Is it still possible to live better with less? Less noise, less stress, more nature, more community, and more meaning?

But instead of being just another group chat or forum, Permavillage lets you create your own digital “permaculture”:

  • You can build your own space, define your values, practices, and goals;
  • Others can discover your village, follow it, and connect;
  • You can share knowledge, invite others, or simply grow your corner of intentional living.

The platform is still at a very early stage. We’re developing it because we truly believe in it. But this phase is crucial:👉 We need to understand if there are others out there who feel the same.

That’s why we’ve opened a Telegram group and launched a very first version of the site: https://permavillage.app

If this resonates with you—even just a little—we’d love for you to join the group, share your perspective, and help us shape the future of the platform.

Every person who joins gives us more motivation to move faster and invest even more into it.

Thanks for reading 🌍

submitted by /u/Delicious-Spinach705
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