I never really knew the amazing world of topical fruit with all its lively colors and healthy flavors until I moved to Florida. For most of us, our introduction to tropical fruits comes from our travels to tropical regions, and their fresh flavors linger long after we return home. Unfortunately, our access to all these [...]
“No creature, not even swine, befouls its nest with such abandon as does homo sapiens, poisoning his habitat with fiendishly concocted chemicals and their deadly waste.” From the Introduction in Secrets Of The Soil Healthy soil is essential for the production of healthy food, and healthy food is critical for a healthy body. We cannot [...]
Permaculture is an ecological system that incorporates 12 permaculture principles to use on the farm and in the garden. The beauty of these principles is that they align with the laws we find at work in nature, and thereby creates a harmonious system by which both people and the planet benefit. The goal of permaculture [...]
On my trip to Cuba in 2017, we had a tour of a tobacco and coffee farm to which we hiked in for our visit. The tobacco was harvested and hung to dry in a big old barn that resembled a lath house. I fell in love with the lath design that provided good shade [...]
When I bought the farm in 2018, the sale came with four Rhode Island Red hens. They were all older girls and I had no idea as to how my life with chickens was about to unfold. While we had chickens our our Virginia farm when I was a girl, I did not know the [...]
Every region of the world is blessed with its own native plants that have effortlessly adapted to the local growing conditions. Long before mankind began developing the land, native plants were flourishing amidst fields, deep in the forests and along the riverbanks. Here in the tropics, the trend to “go native” is growing as more [...]
When I bought my 4.8 acre property last year, I spent many mornings and evenings walking the land just feeling and observing, which happens to be the first of the permaculture principles. I would have been lost as to where to begin without my new understanding of permaculture zones. I was so grateful to have [...]
I recently encountered a young couple selling Florida native plants at the local farmer’s market. I was not necessarily on a mission to buy any, but I came home with nine of them. I already had an Elderberry and a Milkweed, and since the price was right for many I had researched, I decided to [...]
