I really like this combination for an acidic planting area. Blueberries are the crop, but sweetfern and lead plant help build a more complete system around them. Sweetfern stays relatively low, handles poor acidic soils, fixes nitrogen through its relationship with Frankia, and adds aromatic foliage and biomass without becoming a huge plant. Lead plant brings another layer. It is a native legume with a deep root system, excellent pollinator value, and the ability to contribute nitrogen while reaching into a different part of the soil profile than the blueberries. Together, the idea is not just “companion planting.” It is about stacking functions: - Blueberry = fruit - Sweetfern = low native nitrogen-fixer + biomass - Lead plant = deeper-rooted nitrogen-fixer +pollinator support - Echinacea - deep- rooted + pollinator Different plants, different jobs, one system. That is the kind of guild I am interested in building. Things on my wish list to add would be an anchor tree that doesn’t compete directly with blueberries.

Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) is a native plant with bright red fruit clusters that can be used to prepare flavorful beverages. Its fruit has a naturally tart, lemon-like taste. 1. Cold Infusion: “Sumac-Ade” Soaking staghorn sumac fruit clusters in cool water creates a refreshing, tart drink often called “sumac-ade.” - Place clean red fruit clusters in cool water. - Allow them to steep until the water develops a tart, lemonade-like flavor. - Strain before serving. - Chill and serve as desired. A cold infusion may help limit the extraction of bitter tannins. 2. Hot Infusion: Tea high tannins for Kombucha A stronger hot infusion can be used as a tea component or flavoring for kombucha. - Prepare an infusion using the fruit clusters and hot water. - Allow it to steep until the desired flavor develops. - Strain and cool completely before adding it to kombucha. - Follow safe kombucha-brewing practices. Identification and Safety I’ve successfully used a strong staghorn sumac infusion as the tea base for kombucha. Sumac is naturally high in tannins/polyphenols, contains no caffeine, and in my batches it has produced a smooth ferment.”

I had recently heard mixed reviews about having horses on my land. While there are lovely animals... at least the ones I'm with.... they eat lots of vegetation where I'm trying to get my ground covers up and running. There are 2 concerns that I have .... - Stomping the ground and compacting it - Eating ground covers/grass till ground is bare They do fertilize with their dung and hydrant pee which is great. 👉🏻 So, what's your opinion? The area that the horses are in is about 1 acre. 👉🏻 If you do have animals on your land, how do you know when enough is enough?

Last week we looked for the places where an ordinary household practice tends to break down. This week, instead of redesigning the whole system, we are going to change one thing. Suppose clean laundry regularly sits in a basket instead of being put away. The problem may not be the entire laundry routine. The friction might be that storage is inconvenient, there are too many sorting steps, or the load is larger than the time available. Choose one recurring point of friction and make the smallest useful change you can. You might move something closer to where it is used, remove an unnecessary step, handle a smaller amount at one time, change when the task happens, or make an often-used item easier to reach. Then observe what happens. Did the task happen more consistently? Did it take less time? Did it create a new problem somewhere else? Did the change help one person but make things harder for another? If it helped, keep it and build from there. If it did not, you have still learned something about how your household actually works. We are basically looking for the weakest link in the chain to strengthen. When we strengthen a weak link, another weak link is created. The more weak links we solve, the stronger or more resilient a system becomes. This does not require owning a home, buying new equipment, or creating an elaborate family system. A renter, a busy family, or someone working with limited space or money can all improve a household practice by changing one workable point at a time. Household systems improve through small changes followed by observation, not through rebuilding everything at once. What ordinary household task has one small point of friction you could test this week? When you notice a household practice repeatedly breaking down, what small change are you most likely to test first?

Pulled the potato crop today and got a solid harvest out of the bed. What I like most about this stage is that the harvest is not really the end of the cycle. Once the potatoes come out, the bed immediately becomes an opportunity to start building the next layer. The plan now is to get a cover crop established so I can keep living roots in the soil, protect the surface, feed biology, and keep carbon cycling instead of leaving the ground bare. That is one of the ideas I keep coming back to with soil building: Harvest something, then immediately ask, “What is the soil doing next?” The potatoes gave me food. The cover crop will help prepare the ground for whatever comes after them.