Living with Fire – Part 4 Integrating Fire Into Daily Life (Again)
Living with Fire is a 4-part series presenting a new paradigm regarding fire – one in which we celebrate fire’s necessary ecological role, and design for a healthy relationship with it. The earlier parts of this series are: What if we chose to view nature’s gift of annually-replenishing fixed carbon sources (i.e. chaparral brush) in…
Living with Fire – Part 3: Home Construction And Retrofitting For Fire Survivability
Living with Fire – Part 3: Home Construction and Retrofitting for Survivability. How to design or a retrofit a home for survival in a wildfire ecology.
Living with Fire – Part 2 Regenerative Firescaping – Protecting Your Home With Good Design
Regenerative Firescaping principles and methods for creating a fire-safe oasis around your home.
Living with Fire – Part 1: Basic Fire Science, Personal Responsibility And Home Site Selection
Basic wildfire science, risk prioritization and management, and home site selection for enhanced fire survivability.
Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads – Part 6: Charcoal And Biochar
Learn what biochar is, how it is different from charcoal, how to make biochar yourself and apply it in your garden, farm or livestock operation.
Productive Fodder Trees For Mediterranean And Dryland Climates
Jump to a specific tree More Write-Ups On The Way: Catalpa (Bignoniaceae family), Mesquite (Prosopis spp), Atriplex nummularia, casuarinas, cassias, brachychitons, Tree Of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)? What are fodder trees? Fodder trees produce vegetation that is highly palatable and nutritious for livestock. Many of these trees produce additional yields in the form of fruit, seeds,…
Vetiver Grass 101: The Regenerative Super Plant
Vetiver grass is an amazing ecological ally for repairing and healing erosion-damaged landscapes. Vetiver can grow almost anywhere, produces tons of useful biomass, and initiates healing of degraded landscapes. Learn the basics about this amazing plant and its many potential applications in this post.
Moving Heat
In the Introduction to Appropriate Energy, energy is defined as the ability to do work. There are three jobs that energy typically performs: moving heat, moving things, and moving electricity. This article delves into the moving heat function that energy serves. Examples of various techniques and specific elements are provided to illustrate different ways to…
What Is A Whole Site Design, and Why Do One?
What is a Whole Site Design? A whole site design is a visually illustrated, comprehensive plan that integrates all of the elements required to realize the vision for a particular landscape, whether that be held by an individual or a group of people, into a cohesive, self-supporting whole that exists in harmony with the innate…
Introduction to Appropriate Energy
Three step process for designing appropriate energy systems for a regenerative future.