The indigenous Mesolithic societies of Europe never disappeared: they adapted, and survived in new ways. Their cultures, values, spiritual beliefs, and relationships with the land are encoded in the folk traditions and regional agroecological systems that persist throughout Europe. The elegance of these systems is shown in how they have thrived for millennia on some of the most contested land in Europe, surviving climate change, war, pestilence, drought, and economic upheaval. They are part of a 30,000-year-old unbroken tradition and relationship with the land, but they are rapidly disappearing. What’s at stake in their survival is not the preservation of a bygone relic, but the protection and expansion of relationships with the land that can feed our communities, preserve biodiversity through climate change, and create productive ecosystems that last for millennia.

Dawn Redwood: In the Forest of Living Gods

When botanist Wang Zhan, dodging civil war and foreign invasion, discovered living Metasequoia trees in a remote valley of China in 1943, it was like someone had found a living dinosaur. The villagers who lived near the trees had long revered them as gods, having built shrines beneath them where they left offerings. This ancient tree has existed almost unchanged for 150 million years. Unlike redwood species native to the West Coast, dawn redwood grows so well on the East Coast that there are specimens less than 70 years old that are already over 130 feet tall here. Given another 70 years, these trees may very well become the largest living organisms on this side of the continent.

The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Cuba’s Most Historic Tobacco

All modern Cuban tobacco varieties are descended from a single ancestor: an ancient heirloom known as ‘Criollo.’ This variety was one of their most prized sacred plants of the Taíno people, and after colonization was preserved by small farmers in remote mountain communities, along with many other parts of Taíno culture and tradition. It went from the edge of extinction to become one of the most well-known tobacco varieties in the world.

The Fastest Growing Trees in the Northeast

Select poplars, willows, and empress trees can grow 10 to 20 feet in a single year - even in cold climates. These trees are the best tools we have for cleaning up pollution, sequestering carbon, cooling the planet, increasing biodiversity, decreasing fossil fuel use, and limiting unsustainable timber imports from across the globe - oftentimes all at once. Strategically planted and carefully managed, they can be powerful tools for any small grower.

Christmas Tree Farms & Climate Change: A Permaculture Perspective

Our Christmas tree agroforestry system is designed to mimic natural forest succession, with shade tolerant fir and spruce growing up to replace a deciduous overstory - except here, that succession will be kept in check through coppicing. In this system, three tiers of income streams are achievable on a single piece of land, with much higher potential for supporting native biodiversity in the process.

Cold Hardy Almonds for the Northeast

Farmers as far north as southern Maine can grow almonds! “Javid’s Iranian Almond” is a cold-hardy variety originally brought from the high mountains of northern Iran. It is not just disease resistant, self-fertile, and fully hardy as far north as zone 5 (parts of New York state, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts), it is also an incredibly flavorful almond. Out of all the other cold hardy almonds that nurseryman Cliff England has grown, none has come close to the flavor and ease-of-growing of this variety.

Could Ants Revolutionize Organic Pest Management?

For organic gardeners, farmers, and foresters in North America, utilizing predatory ants to control insect outbreaks is one of the most promising strategies that has been almost completely untested. Finding the right predatory ants for each bioregion could revolutionize pest control, and offer a far more sustainable and inexpensive way to manage crops and timber products.

The Incredible Potential of Non-Invasive English Ivy

English ivy can be a powerful new tool for organic orchardists, a vital nectar source in autumn for native pollinators, a natural means of lowering mosquito populations, and a useful medicine for herbalists. Wild-harvested is always best, but if you must plant it, the only responsible choice is the non-invasive sterile variety ‘Woerneri’.

A Visit to the Fabled Adelgid-Resistant Hemlock Grove

Within a few minutes we entered something I never thought I would see in my life: a healthy grove of eastern hemlock trees. Their dark, glossy boughs cast a deep shade over native ferns, mosses, and orchids - a far cry from the dead and dying hemlocks we are accustomed to seeing throughout the rest of Appalachia. This was a truly sacred place - a natural repository of the genetics that could save this entire species from extinction.

The Future of American Wine is Native

For three centuries North American native grapes and their hybrids have proven to be some of the best that can be grown here. In a time when farming practices can make or break an ecosystem, using varieties that don’t require harsh chemicals is more important than ever. As for quality, modern American vintners across the country are proving that award-winning wines can be produced from our own grapes.

Native Ecology, AgroforestryMax PaschallJanuary 22, 2019grapes, wine, climate change, native, munson, wild, hybrid, vitis, insects, Bartram, Jefferson Comments

Exploring North America's Oldest Food Forest

Anyone who cares about our ability to grow food in the next 100 years should know about this place. The oldest food forest in North America shows us both where we have come from, and where we need to go if we want to thrive in an uncertain future.

If we want to create an abundant perennial agricultural system for our region that requires almost no maintenance and can withstand the worst projections for climate change in the next century, these trees are the answer.

Peaches Were America's First Invasive Species

Agroforestry, Assisted Migration, Native EcologyMax PaschallSeptember 5, 2018peaches, indigenous, invasive, native, Hernando de Soto, orchard, peach Comments

Street Trees for Climate Resiliency in the Northeast

Standards for Selecting Climate Resilient Trees in the Northeast

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJuly 23, 2018persimmon, sugar maple, honey locust, apples, bald cypress, street trees, catalpa Comment

Saving the Sugar Maple

A classic cold-climate species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is threatened by climate change, and with it the half-billion dollar maple syrup industry. Its best chance at survival could be establishing and evaluating southern-type sugar maples now in the Northeast - particularly in cities.

Assisted Migration: Facing Climate Change in Our Own Backyards

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJuly 10, 2018franklinia, bald cypress, magnolia, pecan, sugar maple, Doug Tallamy, native, indigenous, invasiveComment

Blog