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Permaculture in Giving Ground Seed’s Mission: Permaculture is a system of design that provides all the needs for humanity in a way that benefits the environment. Permaculture is a way of thinking, designing, and organizing that revolves around three main tenets- Care for Earth, Care for People, and Fair Share. As a set of ecologically inspired ethics, permaculture has the potential for wide-scale application in almost any setting- from sustainable farm planning to organizational change in a business or community setting. Permaculture draws its wisdom from many sources, including both traditional ecological knowledge and folkways and scientific understanding of how...

Imagine, right outside your door, a lovely little perennial herb garden for you, your family, and your neighbors to enjoy.  Low-maintenance Once established, many herbs grow and spread easily and don't require much in the way of water and fertility.  They also tend to grow densely and out-compete weeds more easily than annual plantings. Tea For many medicinal herbs, the only way to easily access them is by growing them yourself.  Unavailable at the grocery store, and completely unavailable fresh, you simply can't replace herbs grown right outside your door.  Many medicinal teas are best made from fresh leaves. Pollinators...

If you are like me and farm in an area where ear wigs are a big problem, hand pollinating just does not work. Ear wigs feed on tender corn silks and heavy infestations can reduce pollination of corn. Though the corn silks continue to grow and remain receptive to pollen for around a week, heavy, constant feeding damages them enough that pollination is not achieved. Ear wigs are nocturnal and if you have an infestation you can go out with a headlamp to find you precious developing ears to be covered in ear wigs. During the day they hide in...

Had trouble getting your tomatoes to ripen?  Do loads of plump green fruit hang on your tomato vines at the end of the season?  We've had this problem the last couple of summers too. The common misconception is that tomatoes love hot weather, and the hotter the better.  According to Purdue University though, when daytime temperatures stay consistently over 85 degrees, most tomato varieties have a hard time producing lycopene and carotene, the pigments responsible for the oranges and reds of fully ripe tomatoes.  Though there can be other causes of perpetually-green tomato crops, such as nutrient imbalances, here are some ideas for coping...