This is a picture of a cat on a leash. It’s ridiculous to take a cat out on a leash, but it does slow them down because they’re very confused.

Including my scintillating commentary on such things as why this is a good year to establish sunflowers and a possible slug deterrent.

People used to come in to Natureworks and complain about woodchucks saying “why do they have to eat all my vegetables? I’d be fine if they just ate some and left some for me!”

We don’t have to go somewhere to find nature—it’s already here.

Is there a poem about heralding spring with the arrival of mushrooms? If not, there should be.

Last May, we posted about how to set up outdoor mushroom beds using fresh woodchips and mushroom spawn. Taking the time to do this was super rewarding, and gave us about 2 straight months of oyster mushrooms -  enough to eat a few nights a week, enough to give away or barter with, enough to dehydrate or freeze. The post had pictures of our steps in setting up pink and Grey dove oyster beds. Due to some shipping issues, and the fact that a lot of people were suddenly interested in pursuing mushroom cultivation on account of the pandemic, we ended up having a delay in receiving our Winecap mushroom spawn. See below for some photos of the oysters fruiting:
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Everything is good out here. It’s only a year since planting our first trees and seed, and two years since letting the lawn and existing plants go a little feral, and already everything is abundant. Insect and plant diversity has increased, and I’m sure larger animals will follow. It is unexpected how quickly something like this will yield rewards.

Spoiler alert: it’s not actually sad.

A friend asked me this so I figured I’d answer it here.

Growing from crowns vs. growing from seed

If you are thinking about growing fruit trees or edible shrubs, here’s a list of where to get them in the Northeast.