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Categories
- Mulch
- Arborists
- Plant and tree sellers
- Seed sellers
- Books
- Locally adapted plants and trees
- Biochar videos
- Biochar reading
- Soil Health videos
- Greening / regenerating desert videos
- Passive solar heating
- Articles
- Youtube videos
- Container ship travel
- Websites
- Local weather
- Non-permaculture teachers
- Permaculture teachers
Mulch
- Wood chips: All of my wood chips are directly from arborists. Just call them one by one until finding one that wants to deliver free wood chips. Chipdrop was a waste of time in my experience - 3 years without a single delivery.
- Hay: allhay.com: "Buy and sell hay nationwide."
I've used allhay.com to get lots of small square bales of hay starting in 2020. Happy with whole process. Also have gotten lots of free hay from craigslist.
Arborists
Here is a list of licensed arborists in Fort Collins. Of these I've had work done by the following companies:
- Mountview Tree Experts took down a large honeylocust with a sketchy y-crotch shape for me, providing firewood and more importantly, opening up space for more productive plants and trees. Jason did the site visit and work. He did a fantastic, quick and skillful job and we had a couple great conversations. Extremely competitive pricing. Really glad I picked him to do the job and enthusiastically recommend him to anyone.
- Norman's Expert Tree Care took down a large wild apricot tree that was shading solar panels and taking up space without producing fruit. They got it down safely even without damaging some small tender trees I was sure would be damaged or killed, which was impressive. Extremely competitive bid. It's obvious that Norman genuinely cares about trees. Give them a call!
- Diamond Tree Company, which pruned a front yard silver maple tree. Reggie did the work as well as the site visit, and it was also great talking to him about my trees. The maple looks stunning now and grew to monstrous size the year after, casting the house in afternoon shade!
- Fine Tree Service, which took down a backyard green ash tree and grinded the stump, and removed a large branch of a neighbor's Siberian elm overhanging my garage. Very happy with the work, and Josh (the owner) was great to talk to when he did the site visit. Update: they pruned 2 neighbor trees and quickly and skillfully removed 2 neighbor trees, including a colossal Cottonwood. Very impressed.
- Lumber Jack and Jill, which pruned a large mature apricot tree, cut down a spruce and a dead honeylocust, cut and removed a dead and diseased honeylocust, and grinded some stumps. This work was over two visits in different years. The apricot looks beautiful after pruning.
- Honorable mention: Wisdom Tree Care has delivered a bunch of wood chips to me and I've always been happy talking to them over the phone and in person.
- Honorable mention: Foothills Tree Experts did some work at a neighbor's house (pruning and removal) and I talked to them. They were friendly and professional and gave me some logs. Based on what I saw I'd definitely be comfortable with them doing tree work for me.
I'm happy with the work done by these companies and would gladly do business with them again.
Plant and tree sellers
- Colorado Hardy Plants: Cedaredge, Western Colorado. Ordered September 2022, received plants quickly. Best packaging I've ever seen. Also ordered for April 2023 shipping. Excellent, healthy, locally-appropriate plants. Hart, the owner, is great to talk to. Awesome nursery!
- Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery: Fort Collins, Colorado. I haven't bought directly from them but I bought a couple nice Crandall Clove currants that were apparently sourced from them. They don't appear to sell to the public.
- Colorado State Forest Service Seedling Tree Nursery: Fort Collins, Colorado. First order of trees in 2020, very happy! This is an awesome resource!!
- Edible Acres: Finger Lakes, New York. Ordered for the first time in September 2020, for spring 2021 shipping. Very happy with them and full of admiration for what they do and how they do it. Be sure to check out their great Youtube videos!
- Edgewood Nursery: Falmouth, Maine. Ordered for 2023, love their shipping and offerings. Excellent Youtube videos, wish they would make more.
- Raintree Nursery: Morton, Washington. Excellent trees and top-quality product packaging. Had an overall bad experience with them in 2019, but a positive one in 2020. It's good to forgive and move forward.
- Planting Justice: Oakland, California. Enormous selection with an admirable labor strategy. Will order in 2022/2023. UPDATE: ordered and had a bad experience. Ordered 2023-01-19, was refunded $28.80 on 2023-02-03 for an out of stock item, then was notified in April that due to a clerical error other items were unavailable, just decided to cancel the whole order. Not reliable. Order again as a last resort.
- High Plains Environmental Center: Loveland, Colorado. Just found them, saving this for later.
- One Green World: Portland, Oregon. I ordered 6 trees and 5 bushes from them in 2019 and am happy with everything. Good prices, good trees/bushes, good shipping, good customer service. Ordered again in 2020 and was happy with everything.
- Fedco Trees: Clinton, Maine. I haven't yet ordered trees from them, but I've ordered seeds and bulbs and like Fedco a lot. Looking forward to buying trees from them.
- A local nursery: bought 6 trees (in containers) in August 2018. Very expensive. Badly root bound, like a solid block of roots. But all survived winter in the ground. Got a handful of fruit in 2019. In 2020 they aren't showing the growth I'd expect of 3rd year trees. Rookie mistake lesson learned: get bare-root trees whenever possible (or grow your own native tree from cuttings).
- Orange Pippin Fruit Trees: Ithaca, NY. Received 2 apple trees from them in April 2020, well packaged and appearing healthy. Good customer service communication. 100% chance I will buy from them again!
Seed sellers
- Native Seeds: I ordered from them in 2020 for planting in 2021. Seems to be a great organization. They specialize in plants native or better adapted to the desert Southwest of the US. I'm trying their seeds because I want to reduce water usage and work with nature, planting things that like local conditions (like hot dry summers).
- Fedco Seeds: I ordered from them in 2019 and will definitely order from them again!
- Refining Fire Chiles seems like a fantastic chili pepper resource. They sell some dryland-adapted plants too!
- High Mowing Seeds is liked by some people, haven't tried them yet.
- Baker Creek Rare Seeds has rare varities, looks nice.
Books: Non-fiction
- The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins. In addition to being the top resource on humanure, it's easily the best source of information on composting.
- The Water-Wise Home by Laura Allen. This is an outstanding book on water conservation.
- Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster. An essential book on water, a teacher to many.
- Balance Point by Joseph Jenkins. A one of a kind story.
- Food Freedom by Robin Greenfield. I haven't read this yet but will, hopefully soon!
- The Compost Toilet Handbook by Joseph Jenkins. An excellent companion to The Humanure Handbook by the same author.
- Being the Change by Peter Kalmus.
- Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown. Full of wisdom.
- Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken. The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.
- More books here.
Books: Fiction
- Dune by Frank Herbert.
- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi.
- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Locally appropriate trees and plants
Here are some pointers to plants with minimal water needs, appropriate for the local environment.
- City of Fort Collins Recommended Plant List
- Water Wise Plants (Colorado Springs Utilities)
- Fort Collins: The Gardens on Spring Creek (for ideas and inspiration)
- Front Range Tree Recommendation List
- Low Water Native Plants for CO Gardens
- Find the Right Tree
- Colorado Native Plant Society
- 18 Cold Hardy Succulents For Cool Climates
Zone 2 plants and trees
Saving for future reference!
- 30 USDA Zone 2 Trees (Nut, Fruit, Flowering & Fast Growing) by Eliza Gail Tiongson
Biochar videos
- Winter 2018 Webinar Series; Biochar Production and Marketing
- Biochar Workshop Part 1, How to Make Biochar
- Biochar Workshop Part 2, Why to Make Biochar
- Biochar Workshop Part 3, The Carbon Cycle
- Biochar Workshop Part 4, The Biochar Facility
- Biochar Workshop Part 5, Biochar & the Greenhouse
- Backyard Biochar with Abraham Cluxton
- Biochar Inoculation with Dan Hettinger
- Biochar Inoculation Part 2
- Biochar - Making it in the wood stove AND heating our home
- FREE FUEL for the wood stove (plus biochar!)
- MAKING BIOCHAR: with Peter Hirst of New England Biochar
Biochar reading
- A Perspective on Terra Preta and Biochar by Austin Liu
- Biochar and the Mechanisms of Nutrient Retention and Exchange in the Soil by Austin Liu
- CSU Extension: CO-BURN
- All Power Labs: v3.0 Biomass Gasification System (CharPallet 25)
Soil Health videos
- Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem with Gabe Brown Part 1, The 5 Tenets of Soil Health
- Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem Part 2 with Russell Hedrick
- Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem Part 3 with Gabe Brown
- Building Soil Health for Healthy Plants by soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham
- 2020 Soil Health Conference Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christine Jones, P.H.D. Soil Biochemistry
- Effortless Soil Consumption
- Compost on a large scale: Regenerating 1000 acres: With Cory Miller and Kevin Lackey
- Canadian Permaculture Legacy: A complete guide to soil microbiology
Greening / regenerating desert videos
- The Story of Al Baydha: A Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert. قصة مشروع البيضاء
- Greening the Desert II
- Greening The Desert - MAA International Permaculture
- Episode 002 - Neal Spackman: How to Make it Rain in the Desert
- Planetary Regeneration Podcast | Episode 9: Neal Spackman
- 10 Keys to Greening the Desert with Neal Spackman
- GREENING THE DESERT w/ RAINWATER? Off-Grid Family Builds Permaculture Berm & Swale, Plants Trees
- Neal A. Spackman: Terraforming the Desert series
Passive solar heating
- How To Heat Your House with a Greenhouse, This Is So Cool!!!
- desertsun02: DIY Solar Air Heater! - The Steel Slat "Drip-Edge" Solar Heater! - New Design! 160F 74C in January!
- carverswoodshop: MY SOLAR FURNACE self standing solar AIR HEATER
- Off Grid Window Box Solar Heater Doubles As a Sun Oven! AWESOME!!
- PeterQBrownDesign: Home built passive solar air heater
Articles
Very new section!
- I disconnected from the electric grid for 8 months—in Manhattan by JOSHUA SPODEK.
- See his website: Joshua Spodek: This Sustainable Life
Youtube videos
- Israel's solution for a water-starved world | Seth M. Siegel | TEDxTelAvivSalon
- Dryland harvesting home hacks sun, rain, food & surroundings: Brad Lancaster gives a tour of his permaculture home in Tuscon, Arizona.
- FOOD SECURITY: Full Tour of Our Basement Grocery Store (plus tips!)
- Bealtaine Cottage: This is What 13 Years of Permaculture in Ireland Looks Like!
- Carl Sagan on climate change spending, from his Feb. 9, 1990 Keynote Speech at Emerging Issues Forum
- Water harvesting principles & the story of an African rain farmer
- How This Woman Transformed Desert Into Lush Forest!
- To Squash Or Not To Squash - Musings On Invasive Species by Adam Haritan of Learn Your Land. This is an important and special commentary that goes way beyond so-called invasive species. Just sublime.
Container ship travel
- The unique experience of Travelling by a Cargo Vessel | How to travel by cargo ship | Freighter
- Cargo Ship Travel | Everything You Need To Know
- HOW TO TRAVEL BY CARGO/CONTAINER SHIP!?! (annoying music)
- My Cabin on a Maersk Container Ship
- Transatlantic travel on container ship Germany-USA
- Ship rolling in the Pacific, life at sea in cabin
- USA to JAPAN on a cargo ship | 10 days timelapse | Life inside, bad weather, thunderstorm
- 30 Days Timelapse at Sea | 4K | Through Thunderstorms, Torrential Rain & Busy Traffic
- The Gunhilde Maersk - 4K Time Lapse by Toby Smith
- 14 Days Timelapse of U.S. East Coast in 10 Minutes, across New York, Charleston, Savannah
Websites
- Otherpower: Make Your Electricity From Scratch!
- Geoff Lawton Offical Page
- Low-tech Magazine
- Build It Solar
- Zero Input Agriculture is very interesting. Some favs:
- Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2023
- PV Tech
- PV Magazine
- energy.gov: Wind News
- Heatmap News
- Falling Fruit
- Electricity Maps
- Platte River Power Authority energy
Local weather
- climate.colostate.edu
- Colorado city rain totals by water year
- CSU Fort Collins Weather Station
- CSU Fort Collins Weather Station Graphs
- forecast.weather.gov
- Also: World Daily 2-meter Air Temperature
- USA Fire and Smoke Map
- Colorado Smoke Blog
- InciWeb: Colorado
- firesmoke.ca
Some favorite non-permaculture people
Some of these people may practice permaculture but I don't want to put a label on someone that they don't use themselves.
- Adam Haritan Pennsylvania
- Haphazard Homestead Eugene, Oregon
- @4x4electric
- Wendi Phan Southern California
- desertsun02 Phoenix, Arizona
- Self Sufficient Me Australia
- Kirsten Dirksen USA
- Rob Greenfield USA
- TheKiwiGrower New Zealand
- Liziqi China
- More Than Farmers Urbana, Ohio
Some favorite permaculture people
This section is mostly for permaculture people who regularly create new content. There are lots of people like Sepp Holzer who don't, so they aren't listed here. It doesn't mean I don't love 'em.
- Edible Acres Finger Lakes, New York
- Erin from Goldifarms Central Coast of California
- Canadian Permaculture Legacy Ontario, Canada
- The Weedy Garden Northern N.S.W, Australia
- Bealtaine Cottage Ireland
- Brad Lancaster Tucson, Arizona
- Geoff Lawton Australia, Middle East, beyond