by Chris Johnson This is a common question from friends and family who wonder why I enjoy manual labor when they see me favoring an injury or the sound of the creaks and cracks that my body makes when I get up. There isn’t a simple answer, I have a bachelors degree, I could have...
The key to pruning, with the wellbeing of plant and people in mind, is both perceptive and insightful observation. Identifying the orientation of a crabapple, for instance, and understanding the importance of a north facing leader; as the plants typical behavior would be to have the most prolific growth reaching for the south or south...
by Matthew Segatti “Perhaps the most radical thing we can do is to stay at home, so we can learn the names of the plants and animals around us; so that we can begin to know what tradition we’re part of.” -Terry Tempest Williams I enjoy my own yard as much as I enjoy a...
I have always been fascinated by the seemingly endless lengths of stone walls in the woods around the Berkshires. A silent reminder that the woods were not always so, and that up until around a hundred years ago, most of the wooded areas that we are so used too, were open fields. This was due...
by Chris Johnson My interest in looking at plants when I traveled started in my early teens. I remember visiting my grandparents at their winter home in Coronado California. I was walking past this stately conifer in front of the library when I realized it was a Norfolk Island Pine. It was easily 80 feet...
Krishna on Work To action alone thou hast a right, never to all its fruits, let not the fruits of action be thy motive neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction. Standing firm in yoga, do thy work O Winner of wealth, (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and...
Most would agree that a great lawn is thick, green and easy to care for. The controversy starts when you add the words “weed free”. What is a weed? Generally defined as “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted”. Makes sense and certainly applicable to many plants found in the cultivated landscape with...
As we begin our twelfth season offering Organic Lawn Care to our clients, I’m reminded of the importance of avoiding using toxic chemical lawn fertilizers and pesticides in our homes’ landscapes. “Of the 36 most commonly used lawn pesticides: 14 are probable or possible carcinogens, 15 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects,...
