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I wonder if there is one tool – manual (axe, weed puller, shovel…) or engine-driven (shredder, utv, saw…) – you couldn’t live without?

Hey all! I’ve had this blueberry bush for about 5 years (came with the house) and it has never produced canes.. Always produces fruits, regularly pruned, but now that I’ve learned how it should look from growing a new one (to the left of it) should I be concerned? Thank you!

What do you consider the single best and most complete permaculture book you’ve ever read. Feel free to explain why and what are some of the most important concepts you learned from it

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Hi everyone,

Would a south facing rock terrace area (where the heat and thermal mass may prevent blossoms from freezing altogether) be better for delicate fruit blossoms or would a north facing slope (that stays cooler for longer resulting in blossoms showing up later in the year) be better for ensuring fruit in an area with late spring frosts?

I’m getting started on a food forest in zone 5 high desert and wondering about placement of fruit trees within microclimates and the impact on blooming and fruiting. In my area, fruit trees like peaches are inconsistent producers because of the erratic spring weather where you get warm spells triggering blooming before a hard frost that kills all the blossoms. It’s common knowledge here that you should get late blooming varieties but how can microclimates play a role here?

Also, when it comes to selecting trees between these 2 microclimates, it seems counterintuitive but would you put the cold hardier trees in the southern microclimate so that if there is a late frost while in bloom the blooms are tougher?

Thanks!

One of our volunteers bought a GoPro, allowing us to capture a snapshot of our garden in late May. We have had almost no rain in April and May and have been hand watering, but otherwise, progress has been good. We are creating opportunities for horticulture therapy for volunteers, whilst developing the garden as a teaching resource and an ongoing experiment into the use of biochar and animal manure compost on an otherwise heavy clay soil. It has been a steep learning curve for all of us. We started from scratch back in 2021 and decided to put more energy into the project in 2024, realising that one day a week was not enough, we are now there twice a week for regular volunteer sessions.

This question is inspired by the entertaining subreddit r/whowouldwin.

I have been reading an interesting book called The Rise and Fall of American Growth and there is a section that discusses food productivity in the late 19th century. At this time roughly 75% of Americans lived outside of the city… mostly on farms. These farmers were very good at growing/raising food. Its estimated that Americans consumed almost 500 more calories per day than people in the UK in 1870. Also consider that in the late 19th century poverty was pretty much limited to urban areas. Very few people living off their land were considered poor or malnourished. Synthetic fertilizers were not invented until the early 20th century so these people were really good at creating abundance and surviving off a single plot of land without too many inputs.

Now for the ground rules… Each person gets 5 acres of bare, fertile land in the US midwest in 2025. Both get a $5,000 gift card to Home Depot and $5000 for Tractor Supply/Local animal breeding outfits. And both get $1000 to spend on seeds/plants from any existing US nursery/seed catalogue. After this they are on their own. They can grow anything they want, invasives, natives, etc…

Also, lets set aside modern permaculture goals like wildlife habitat restoration, community sharing, ecosystem remediation, etc… As the 19th century farmer would probably not understand why that would be necessary in the first place. The goal is simply to create the most abundant, resilient & fulfilling homestead for a family to live on. Who do you think would win?

IMHO, I think the farmer might ensure survival of the family because they know how to grow staples, store food over winter, build whats necessary to stay warm, etc…. And these people were tough as nails so working dawn to dusk is not going to be a problem. They also likely had great instincts around weather, timing of when to sow seeds, etc…

But, the PDC instructor has a shot at building a true paradise with a wider variety of food that might be more resilient to crop failures, disease, weather events, etc… The food would also likely be more diverse in the nutrient content, flavors, etc…