Plants | The Greenman Project

Wild Cucumber Season is Here

Mar

2013

You might remember me talking about wild cucumbers before. Well, it’s that time of the year when the Marah Macrocarpus plant begins fruiting. Don’t let this pass you by as these are quite the multi use plants. Related posts: Wild cucumbers, who knew? What do plants, robots, and pizza have in common? Hate Aphids? Here ...

About SRI and how it could better feed the world

Mar

2013

SRI, originally a rice farming technique developed in Madagascar by French Jesuit Henri de Laulanie, stands for System of Rice Intensification. This system spawns from over twenty years of observation of “deviant” farmers in the area. Instead of espousing the rice paddy‘s traditional approach, this technique: Transplants the seedlings at a very early stage in the ...

Wild cucumbers, who knew? 1

Oct

2011

If you have ever looked around the, even semi, wild part of your city then you will most likely have ran into the versatile wild cucumber. This amazing vining plant is found all over western North America. These are the species that are found in California. I literally see these at least ten times a ...

Good Weeds # 2

Mar

2011

Lamb’s Quaters or Goosefoot (Chenopodium Berlandieri): This little known “weed” (to me at least) is of the same genus (closely related to) as Quinoa. It is part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, a group of plants the Eastern Woodland Native Americans were foraging for as far back as 6,000 BCE. By 1,800 BCE they were ...

Good Weeds # 1 3

Mar

2011

So I’ve realised that there is way to much info to put on just one post. Here is the first instalment of Good Weeds…. On February 27, I went to an awesome Urban Forage Event ran by Nance Khelm. It took me a long time to post this because of issues I had that day, ...

Urban Forage Event

Feb

2011

What a great weird day… Last night I went to a friend’s new home. He, with his wife and newborn, just moved much closer to me. It was a “we got the key” party, so Erin and I went. We had a couple of drinks and a whole lot of laughs. Today I woke up ...

Delicious Harvest! 2

Jan

2011

After not going to my back yard garden for about two weeks, I was greeted by a small jungle. I’ve been having lower back pain, so have not been taking care of our supplemental food supply. Luckily, it’s been raining and my soil retains moisture well. So after beating back the intruding grasses I ...

Organic or Conventional?

Jan

2011

The Environmental Working Group‘s Food News page has a list we should all follow. The list contains 49 fruits and vegetables arranged to show the quantity of pesticides in them. When Organic is not available this list can help you make a decision. Related posts: Simple Composting Guideline About SRI and how it could better ...

Raised Field Agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin 3

Jan

2011

While reading my new Permaculture Magazine I was struck by an article that spoke of an ancient Incan way of agriculture. This is called Raised Field Agriculture. People would dig up canals and pile the soil to create raised beds. These canals help the plants by providing water most, if not all, of the year. This ...

green slug

Dec

2010

Elysia chlorotica. This little gem is indigenous to the salt marshes of New England and Canada. What makes this slug so special is that it is member of both the flora and fauna kingdoms. It claims this hybrid state by producing it’s own chlorophyll, thereby gaining energy from the sun’s rays. All the baby ...