guildfordcycads

Bromeliad table V2.0, now with more metal!

You all were so positive and encouraging when I shared photos of my bromeliad table project, I really appreciated it and enjoyed your comments. When writing that post I knew changes were coming, but I hadn’t figured out exactly what they’d be. Then one of you—commenting as Anonymous but someone who’d definitely been following the blog for years—mentioned using another sheet of expanded metal (I’d used a small one on the brown container in front of the bromeliad table). Yes! That idea clicked and I was quickly scheming. 

Here’s a flash-back photo, what I’d originally put together. I loved the moss (I always love the moss) but it was quick to dry out and not the best for this application.

And here’s where things stand currently. 

As luck would have it I had a few pieces of expanded metal on hand to play with. I decided curves were needed. On the left-hand side the metal curves up and frames a tillandsia.

On the right-hand side it swoops down.

Earlier in the month I picked up this sweet blooming bromeliad at the Friends of Manito Plant Sale when we were up in Spokane. I was pretty sure I’d be able to work part of it into the refreshed table but no.

Oh well. It’s nice in the bright chartreuse container and no doubt I’ll eventually divide it for use in some future project.

Back to the table. I loved how the Deuterocohnia brevifolia looked tucked into the piece of wood (in the first version), but they kept falling out when I misted the table so obviously it wasn’t a good solution. For the update I planted them in metal tubes, but left the moss in the wood piece.

The Racinaea crispa seems to have settled right into the wood however, so it stayed.

I also added a tall metal tube to the side of the table, and on it a Tillandsia xerographica.

The existing planters/plants got a slight reshuffle too.

Things are simplified in this version.

I like it, although as Gerhard commented on the first post, “…since nothing is permanently attached, you can update it as often as you like. In other words, you don’t ever need to find an “ultimate” version.” Thanks again Anon for the metal suggestion!

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‘Even if we stop drinking we will be exposed’: A French region has banned tap water. Is it a warning for the rest of Europe?

Forever chemicals have polluted the water supply of 60,000 people, threatening human health, wildlife and the wider ecosystem. But activists say this is just the tip of the Pfas iceberg

One quiet Saturday night, Sandra Wiedemann was curled up on the sofa when a story broke on TV news: the water coming from her tap could be poisoning her. The 36-year-old, who is breastfeeding her six-month-old son Côme, lives in the quiet French commune of Buschwiller in Saint-Louis, near the Swiss city of Basel. Perched on a hill not far from the Swiss and German borders, it feels like a safe place to raise a child – spacious houses are surrounded by manicured gardens, framed by the wild Jura mountains.

But as she watched the news, this safety felt threatened: Wiedemann and her family use tap water every day, for drinking, brushing her teeth, showering, cooking and washing vegetables. Now, she learned that chemicals she had never heard of were lurking in her body, on her skin, potentially harming her son. “I find it scary,” she says. “Even if we stop drinking it we will be exposed to it and we can’t really do anything.”

Continue reading…

‘Even if we stop drinking we will be exposed’: A French region has banned tap water. Is it a warning for the rest of Europe? Read More »

Swale guidance


Background: Just purchased a new home in February. The garage floor was constantly damp and you could smell moisture. The previous owner had the grade going all the way up to the 3rd row of brick, which is not good esp since the grade of the yard goes towards the garage. I decided to dig a swale where I was going to put perforated pipe at the bottom and cover with stone, but how do I keep the sides (or slope) from eroding my swale? Or am I even doing this correctly?

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How do you keep your water sourcing as regenerative as your soil practices?


I’ve been thinking about how much focus we put into soil health, crop rotations, and natural inputs, but water sometimes gets treated like an afterthought.

Curious what others here do to keep their water sourcing aligned with their regenerative or permaculture principles.

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