Study showing how Australian Aboriginal people shaped the distribution of useful plants across their lands, dispersing them in more preferable areas, etc:

"The findings call into question our whole notions of what agriculture is," said Douglas Bird, study co-author and professor of anthropology at Penn State. "Rather than thinking about the difference between agricultural societies and hunter-gatherer societies as a matter of kind, we'd be better off thinking about it as a matter of degree—that people influence plants long before they engage in what we think of as farming."" - https://phys.org/news/2024-10-landscape-effects-hunter-reshape-idea.amp

Peoples who are used to living with the environment (instead of "against" it) understand that often the best interventions are the ones that are extremely subtle. In this case, the interventions were so subtle that they didn't fit into traditional western understandings of cultivation and agriculture.

So it's good to see this kind of subtle cultivation getting more recognized by science. There are many ways to live with the environment and to place the resources you need into places that are convenient for you and your people. The more that westerners can learn that, the more possibilities open up for how to live with the land.

#indigenous #australia #cultivation #agriculture #science #gardening #gardeningau #plants #nature #environment #ecology #anthropology

Tiny world: a single unit of azolla with one tiny water root. So cute!

Pic 3 shows how azolla grows & spreads in its tiny plastic-bowl pond. 💚

Azolla is an aquatic plant that grows on the surface of fresh water. Many pond-keepers are not fond of azolla because of how rapidly it grows & how quickly it can cover a whole pond. But azolla also makes an excellent (& fast-growing) green mulch & can be used as a supplement to farm animal diets.

#azolla #plants #gardening #TinyWorld #ecology #ecosystems #nature #photography

View from the kalo 💚

#kalo #taro #hawaii #TropicalAg #offgrid #plants #gardening #garden #farm #farming

A new tool for the #marketgarden made mostly from workshop scraps: A wide #rake to mark drills for #sowing and #planting.
Originally, I wanted to use the metal rake in the first picture for this, but the angle of the pins was just not right.

So I made one from two pieces of batten, a handle bought (as a hoe) from a discounter for 7€, some wood dowels and a bit of hose.

My beds are 80cm wide so the distance between the outer pins is 70cm. This way, I have 5cm to the edges on each side.
There is a total of nine pins. Depending on the number of pieces of hose I put on, I can mark up to nine rows on the bed in one go.
The bed has to be flat though, but here the metal rake comes handy.

7€ and 1 1/4h work - I'm pretty chuffed.

#gardening #GardeningTools #GardenDIY #DIY

This is what #IndustrialAgriculture does to the land.
First picture taken 21 Feb 2024 and the second one today. We had a lot of rain and the water hasn't drained for month.
In the 20 years we've lived here, the field was planted with maize for anaerobic digesters for more than 10 years - 8 or 9 years in a row!
The farmer who did most of the damage told me about the horrors of maize production (i.e. compaction and erosion) - a couple of years before he sold up his dairy business and went into maize for digesters...
#agriculture

edit:
On the plus side: Today two shelducks landed in the pool and were pretty to watch.

Over the last few months, I've tried to focus on finding more presence and being more grounded while outdoors (and in life in general). I've all but stopped taking my phone with me when I walk around the property, and finally feel free of the obligation to take pictures exclusively with the intention of finding something interesting to share online about life and the farm. I spent a whole year trying to build up consistent habits with social media, create a following for the farm, and practically drove myself to burnout trying to keep up a blog on top of everything. And you know what? Letting all that shit go just feels so amazing.

I'm more present with my kids - who are growing up quickly. I'm more present with myself amd my partner. I never realized how much posting on social media about my life interferred with actually living it.

I've not given up on social media, though. Here I am, after all. I still love checking in with the different people whose stories I love following.

If you've been following mine - and wondering what we've been up to - here's an update:

The cacao that we started planting in the nursery about a year ago is nearly all planted out across the property. The coffee is growing spectactularly, and 2024 will be mostly dedicated to getting the 20,000+ plants of approximately 26 varieties in the ground. This is requiring a massive effort from Michael and the farm crew.

There are serious challenges though, primarily the intense dry season we are in the middle of. I'd hesitate to call it a drought because it's still on the normal side of dry, but we are all anxiously awaiting the rains. In the meantime, there's a constant scramble to keep things watered.

A massive new chicken coop has been built, both to contain the roving dinosaurs and to start clearing the area we plan on planting out with short cycle crops in the not so distant future. This newest area is just step 1 in a plan to eventually have them free ranging in the food forest we are planting out.

Planning. We are at a phase right now that's all about looking ahead at the big picture and then working our way backward to figure out how to get where we want to be - then doing the work. There is constant action. We have come SO far in the last year, and this year will be a big push to get the final key species in our productive #FoodForest planted out.

Thanks for following our story. I'll try and get some more pictures posted. Looking through my gallery, I realized that I've been slacking on taking pictures of our progress. But for now, enjoy.