Tag Archives: native plants

Does a Bear Plant in the Woods?

Apparently so.  A visiting bear was apparently gorging on some sort of prunus – likely a wild (native or escaped) plum – and deposited a pile of seed-laded droppings in the fall, east of the garden, right outside the trail … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Fruit, Native Plants, Propagation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeding Nettles and Others

Finally got around to seeding (a little late, I realize) stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), alum root (Heuchera richardsonii), creeping Oregon grape (Mahonia repens) and salal (Gaultheria shallon). The nettles I planted for pesto, the alum root because I’m intrigued by … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Native Plants, Propagation | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Native Plot, Planted

Spent the day in the garden proper, and finally fixed the fencing that the bear wrecked back in 2012, after which I planted out the natives in the new native food forest plot. I had originally planned to erect a … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Fruit, Native Plants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Planting Native – A New Forest Plot

It being spring, I’ve been itching to establish a new food forest plot down on the property.  After reflecting on the drought, and the general state of the weather of late, I’ve decided to base the new plot on native … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Fruit, Native Plants | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Groundnut!

I started gardening seriously out of a desire to try new fruits and vegetables, especially those that are not readily available in the produce section or at the farmers market.  One plant I’ve been eager to try is the American … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Native Plants, Vegetables | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Wild Food

Last weekend, I attended a class taught by Alicia Funk, co-author of Living Wild:  Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of California and founder of the Living Wild Project.  I was impressed with the book and the speaker, and … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Native Plants | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Update – Elderberries on Acid

Not much going on in the garden, and no precip for months.  Strange weather… A couple of months ago, I wrote about scarifying elderberry seeds with strong acid.  I checked the seeds this morning – they’ve been sequestered in the … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Fruit, Native Plants | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Volunteer Bay

Umbellularia californica, to be exact.  There isn’t a whole lot of it at my elevation (~3k), but it’s fairly common elsewhere in these parts, usually at lower elevations, in stream and river canyons, closer to water.  That being said, at … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Native Plants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Misery?

Mountain misery (Chamaebatia foliolosa), also know as bear clover and kit-ke-dizze, is one of the native ground cover plants throughout this part of the Sierra, and I have it in abundance on my property, including throughout the very sunny parts … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest, Native Plants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Feed Your Soil, Not Your Plants: Cover Croppin’

Cover cropping is, in my view, one of the best things you can do for your soil, and one of the easiest. Here’s how it works: You plant some seeds – I usually use a mix of legumes (vetch, bell … Continue reading

Posted in Food Forest | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments