Designing an Apple Tree Guild: Dynamic Nutrient Accumulators
In my previous article, I talked about a problem with sick soil on my property. After decades of monocrop farming with its attendant pesticide, herbicide and chemical fertilizer use, the land I now own needs some rehabilitating. Some of my diseased trees are apple trees, so today we will look at plant species that could form one part of an apple tree guild, building up the health of the soil and ultimately the health of the tree.
Depleted topsoil is a typical problem. Since fruit trees receive most of their nutrients from roots at this surface level it is important to revitalize the topsoil. Perennial plants with long tap roots can mine deep into the ground and bring up minerals that have been stripped away or depleted at the top. These plants are called dynamic nutrient accumulators. When these plants die back at the end of the season or are cut back during the season their leaves degrade into rich, topsoil-nourishing compost.
Some examples of nutrient accumulators are dandelions (Yes, stop killing them. They are telling you your soil is deficient and they are trying to fix it. When it is fixed, they tend to go away), chicory and yarrow. One of special note is comfrey. Comfrey will mine nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and copper from as much as ten feet down. It grows tall with lush, thick leaves that can be slashed back several times a summer, providing a quick-degrading super-nutrient fertilizer to the struggling apple tree. Use the sterile varieties to prevent it from becoming invasive.
Dandelions are great nutrient accumulators and also edible.
There are many other dynamic nutrient accumulators. There are even tree species of nutrient accumulators like dogwood and shagbark hickory. The accumulators can be chosen by height to match the height of your main tree. So a dwarf tree would benefit from smaller plants and a standard could handle bigger ones. The size of the guild tree will also determine how many of the accumulator species to plant beneath it. I have a semi-dwarf apple and will plant 8-10 plants of comfrey around it.
Dynamic nutrient accumulators are probably one of the most important additions to an apple tree guild. Many also serve secondary purposes in mulching and attracting pollinators. We’ll examine more guild functions next time.
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Julie Helms lives on eight acres with her family, sheep, goats and chickens. She blogs about life on the farm at WoolyAcres.
Good Practise Guide for Your Heating System
A heating system can provide a comfortable climate inside a home year-round. While most heating and cooling systems require little maintenance, there are several important steps to remember to keep one’s system running safely and efficiently. The following guide provides simple tips for maintaining electric heating systems.
It’s essential to change the air intake filter on a regular schedule. Air conditioning system filters provide several functions inside a home: they prevent the build-up of dust on an air circulating unit, they reduce allergens in the air, and they improve airflow through a home. Air filters are usually made of fiberglass, cotton, paper, or linen. Some electrostatic air filters can remove bacteria and smoke from the air. It’s important to change the air filter inside a home at least every 3 months. Read more…
Grief and Writing
Writing can help you cope with grief.
Writing throughout a period of grief can be very helpful. Grief is a profound sadness that is caused by a loved one dying. Grief is a loss that provokes feelings of heartache, numbness, isolation, and many more troublesome emotions. Grief can be a tender process. Writing is a healthy coping mechanism and can assist a person to move forward in their grief process. Writing while grieving can help the mind adjust, process, and think about emotional trauma.
Write about the bad times. My dad passed away from ALS, or Lou-Gehrig’s disease in 2006. He had been diagnosed with the disease for a few years before he died. Our family had a complicated crisis to handle, and I suffered from trauma. Currently, I am writing a memoir and I find that writing about past trauma is healing and empowering. Crying is a part of the grieving process, and it should be for the writing process as well. Writing about traumatic experiences let’s us think critically, grow, and grieve.
Write about the good times. Grief and loss are dark parts of life, but there are so many positive parts of life, too. I was close to my dad before he passed away and I remember a lot of happy experiences. Sometimes I like to write about the simpler moments in life before the trauma happened. Losing my dad was a terrible life event; however, I do not always need to feel sad. Acceptance is a challenging part of the grieving process. Writing about positive experiences can ease our minds for a while.
Write letters. I do not often write letters to my dad, but when I do- I write to seek comfort or closure. After losing a prominent person, life still goes on. But how do we adjust to an absence of a human being? When I am in stressful situations, I wonder what my dad would’ve have done or advised me to do. I ask for support and good luck. Sometimes, I ask questions. Even though my questions are left unanswered, I do not neglect ideas about the afterlife. Maybe our deceased loved ones continue to listen to us… we don’t know. We do have a lot to say, and writing is a healthy way to express our grief.
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Megan Murphy has talked, read, thought, and written about grief for the past six years. She copes with the grief process in many different ways including listening to music, taking walks, and journal writing.
Buying Bulk Buffers Against Just-in-Time Supply
“Shopping at Costco is ridiculous—I don’t need to buy a case of [name any consumer product] at a time!” This often-heard opinion may get a laugh in comedy clubs and cocktail parties, but it indicates to me that the speaker has done very little critical thinking about the state of our world. Modern society has become a hostage to the concept of just-in-time supply. Bulk suppliers such as Costco offer a buffer against that potentially catastrophic practice.
Before I explain myself, allow me to admit that storage can be an issue for those who buy necessaries in bulk, particularly for urban apartment dwellers. Many families simply don’t have room to store goods until they’re needed. I’ll suggest solutions for this later.
Michelle prepares to haul bulk goods over the trail (Photo: Mark Zeiger).
Emergency Supplies – Rule of Three
The Rule of Three can help guide us with respect to acquiring emergency supplies.
The Rule of Three for emergency supplies is rather straight forward, it means you establish three ways to provide for yourself and your family; a primary means and two backups for the resources you need.
It’s one way to make certain that you have your bases covered, when they absolutely need to be covered. The idea is if you have three sources, then in an emergency, you most assuredly will have at least one. This method can also lead to unnecessary expense and accumulation of unwarranted resources in cases where there isn’t such a crucial need to have those bases triple covered.
Let’s look at two “vertical slices” through an emergency plan to see how the Rule of Three might be implemented. One slice shows the strength of the concept, while the other shows a potential drawback. I’ve picked food and shelter as the examples because I think most everyone will agree that these two resources are essential. Read more…
Solving Problems – Articles Revisited
Problem solving sometimes requires a range of techniques.
Here we are enjoying another Friday at “the works” and taking another dip into our archives to see what goodies we can share with our readers. Today our theme is problem solving. We all have problems, and learning how others solve theirs can sometimes be a key to helping us solve our own.
If nothing else, learning about how to solve problems can provide us with encouragement, and sometimes encouragement is just what we need.
Our tour guide will be Clair Schwan, a guy who seems to have a boat load of problem solving articles, perhaps because he’s had his share of problems to deal with.
First out of the chute is an example of how getting a second opinion can save you money. It’s common that we throw money at a problem, and those wishing to help us solve our problems would like nothing more than more money thrown their way. Nevertheless, asking around and getting additional expertise can save you plenty. This is especially useful when you have more time than money.
Next we have an example of how we can use time and the “back burner” to help us solve problems that we face. In our example, rushing ahead would likely have wasted thousands of dollars, whereas “sitting on it” for a while helped “hatch” long-lasting solutions.
Here’s another example of how getting an unsolicited second opinion helped solve a problem and saved many hundreds of dollars. In addition to another opinion, thinking through the implementation of the solution was also key to deciding which of several technically correct solutions was the best to choose.
Last on our list today is an example of how using multiple clues can help us solve problems that otherwise seem daunting. In this example, we need to figure out where several fan belts go after we’ve taken all of them off of our engine, and a couple of pulleys as well, and they all seem to be just about the same size.
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Next week, let’s look at vegetable gardening. It’s about time to get tuned up for growing vegetables. It’s one of the easiest things we can do in terms of self-reliance, and it’s one of the most important – feeding ourselves.
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