Join me in exploring the everyday spaces of our city to see, appreciate and value the complex beauty of our urban ecology. Last post was about the interaction between natural processes and a homeowner’s aesthetic values. This week we keep in the theme of ordinary spaces to take a look at how repetition can change a…

Join me in exploring the ordinary streets of our city to see, appreciate and value the complex beauty of our urban ecology.  Your City is an Ecosystem Take a moment to imagine the city you live in as a living breathing unique ecosystem. At first glance you might see concrete and people but look a…

Climate Math: 3 Critical Numbers You Should Know For a brief but terrifying overview of basic climate math start here. What you need to know is over 150 countries have signed on to the Copenhagen Accord, agreeing that the maximum warming we can tolerate is 2 degrees. After that, things start to look like a…

Homegrown National Park You may have heard of the Homegrown National Park initiative started by the David Suzuki Foundation. As a park ranger I get to help out with some really cool projects that were started last year. PS 397 The PS 397: Proposed Depaving Project is a thin strip of land bounded on either…

This post is a step by step guide to enabling stewardship for the residential homeowner. We will explore what to look for in the garden, why its important, what to do about it and why we should tell people about it. Top Four Reasons For A new Gardener Ethic 1)      A knowledge based…

I am really excited about our latest design/build project. The most striking thing about the garden is the sheer number of trees in various stages of life/death that have swallowed large chunks of chain link fence (see photos). Also the garden is used by Knuckle Down Farms as a distribution point for a CSA. To…

I am a city kid born and raised. There is a sort of pride in it. Even though I had a wonderful connection with nature growing up, I always felt like I was overstepping my bounds and that nature wasn’t meant for me.   As I grew older I realized that nature is everywhere, the…

  This tree died last year and fell over during the icestorm, but what you can’t see are the 5-6 other saplings of the same species growing around the perimeter of the garden. The key is to observe changes on the property and know what to look for. Walk the property every season. Acer negundo…

10 Reasons We need to rethink Gardening I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a gardener today. Over the years I have observed many changes in the community where I work: Restrictions on pesticide use in cities. The increased awareness of the public regarding health. Fear among the public regarding new…