Voice of the Land
Help with Compost Start-up
I’d like to introduce my friend’s daughter, Liz Rutledge and her company Sustainable Three. Her concept is that if each of us can make just three changes we can make a positive difference on our environment—and she is here to help. Here is a blog from Liz and a link to her website: I don’t know about you, but I […]
Timely Annual Planting for Colorado
If you are not from Colorado and don’t already know, May 15th or Mother’s Day (depending on whose mother you listen to) is the absolute day you must wait before planting annuals along the front range—or you may lose them to frost. But with 70º February temperatures bringing perennials from their slumber, it’s hard to wait to plant. And […]
Are we about to see “Ugly” produce at our grocery stores? Will it be 30% cheaper?
It may be coming. Over the last few months many articles have been written about it. It seems we are being made aware of the “problem of perfection” that our farmers and grocers suffer from. Whether you call them “imperfect”, “inglorious” or just plain “Ugly Foods”; they are just misshapen vegetables and bruised fruits. Farmers […]
Time for the Backyard Bird Count
Just when I’m ready to really embrace my winter hibernation, the sun comes out, the birds start chirping and I discover that the ground is ready to be worked. So once again, it must be time to re-embrace our desire to be physical and make great plans for our out-of-doors domain. The 2017 Great Backyard Bird […]
Innovation Protects Birds
I’m forwarding a letter sent to Dwell magazine from my friend, Lucinda. This is marvelous and as she says for anyone who “cares about sustainability on all levels.” Dear Amanda, As a lifelong birdwatcher with a forty year career in the building and design trade, I enthusiastically read Dwell each month. I love so many of […]
Is Focus on Esthetics Destroying Local Biodiversity?
In reading a recent issue of Colorado Gardener, I was directed to Doug Tallamy’s Plant Natives 2015 presentation on YouTube, and I agree with Jane Shellenberger, of Gardener Editor, it is stunning. The question Jane was addressing is pressing on our minds, too; How do we work with nature, instead of against her? What does […]
Living on the (H)edge
By: David Coulter Just after four o’clock on the fourth of July, mid-afternoon, a time of day along Mundhank Road when my roadside birds were generally pretty quiet. The cars that normally zoomed by were absent, and other than the pops of distant firecrackers, the bird monitoring along these old hedgerows was a tranquil pursuit. Counting […]
Life in the Margins: The Role of the Post-Modern Hedgerow
By Dave Coulter One of my favorite memories from my childhood was finding a box turtle living under a line of gnarly Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) trees in my suburban Chicago neighborhood. It was not until many years later that I realized that this row of rough trees, threading through backyards and along roadsides, was […]
Using Common Sense to Get Through a Drought. It’s Your Best Weapon!
The West has been under attack the last several years…by a lack of water. Few days go by without seeing images of dry soil, dry lake beds and dry crops. Farming, drinking water, summer and winter recreation have all been affected.
So, perhaps, has your garden and your yard.
Eat, Prey, Fly…Raptors in our Backyards!
We know we are lucky living in the Rocky Mountains and nearby plains for many reasons. So are the fine Birds of Prey that live with us.
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