I hate ticks

Ticks hate lavender. What more could I ask for?

The article, Some Plants Repel Ticks, contains a list of plants that repel ticks including lavender, sage, and garlic.

Here's another article that list six plants that repel insects: 6 Insect Repellent Plants.

Locating Lavender

Here is a place that has many varieties of Lavender.

White Flower Farm ~ Lavender page 1

More than 20 items to choose from.

Rooting Roses Link

Rooting Roses on Hartwood Roses blog.

Paul Wheaton -- TED talks

Includes rocket heaters among other things:

How to really save energy by Paul Wheaton

Self-Watering Green Wall

Plans for a:

Self-Watering Green Wall.

More Lavender

Here is another post on growing lavender:
Growing Lavender

Bonus feature:
Oatmeal Smoothie

Potatoes and Roses

Life Hacks for the garden? Maybe.

First potatoes:
Grow 100 lbs of Potatoes in 4 square feet.

Next Roses:
Taking Rose Cuttings

Pallet Picnic Table

Pallet Picnic Table: How to

Bonus Link:
Building a Shed from Wood Pallets

Bonus Link #2:
The Art of Pallet Wood Flooring

Indoor Herbs

THIS!

This is pretty much what I've always been looking for.

Eight aromatic herbs that purify air naturally.

Concrete for the Garden

Making bowls and planters:
Easy to make concrete bowls and planters

And Cinder block:
Mosaic Cinder Block Planter

Bonus Link #1:
How To Make The Perfect Humming Bird Food.

Bonus Link #2:
50 Canning Recipes

Bonus Link #3:
DIY Container Water Garden

Espalier

I keep thinking about this. Perhaps sometime I'll do it.

How to Espalier

And as a bonus:

50 uses for Baking Soda

(okay, it's 60 uses. my bad.)

Still Love Lavender

I had some in a pot. It survived two years. I need to plant some in the ground somewhere. But I also need to learn more about it.

How to take lavender cuttings.

Shed made from Pallets

This actually looks like something I could do.

Wood Pallet Shed Project 2009

Another Veggie list for the shade

This time from the Empress of Dirt.

Vegetables You Can Grow in the Shade

Tiny Houses to Fight Homelessness

Very interesting read:

Tiny Houses: A Big Idea to End Homelessness

And here's a blog only about tiny houses:

Tiny House Design

Of Acorns and Oaks

As far as foraging for food in the wild, I've just recently heard that 'starch' is a forager's dilemma. It's hard to find. But, acorns appear to be the solution to that dilemma.

Anyway here is an interesting article:

Acorn Pasta and the mechanics of Eating Acorns

Empress of Dirt & Foraging

That would be foraging in your garden.

Unexpected Food Sources in Your Garden

Paw Paws and Blueberries Love Acidic Soil.

But my soil is Alkaline.
What to do, what to do?
It looks like I'm going to have to amend with oak leaves and pine needles.
Maybe even make an oak leaf compost bin. Hhmm.

How to make an acidic soil

Raise Acid Level in Soil

Making Soil Acid for Blueberries

A Guild for the Gaps

The Balkan Ecology Project has a plan for a small tea/medicinal guild. They call it:

The Chai Guild

Wild Ginger

I still don't know much about it.

But I found a place I can buy it.

Wild Ginger at Trees and Plants

But I don't think I will buy them as they don't recommend eating it.

Dwarfing Hackberries

Toby Hemenway wrote Gaia's Garden, a book on permaculture. In it, he suggests hackberry as a guild companion to black walnut.

Since I have a young black walnut, I thought I'd look up the hackberry. First I found that hackberries grow up to be huge trees up to 60' high, way to big for where I want to put it. Then I discovered the desert hackberry shrub. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any growing info or buying info on it.

My study continues.

But, in the meantime, I found information on how to dwarf hackberries, keeping them around 6'. This may be the answer to my problem and what I resort to.

Keeping Hackberry Trees Dwarfish

Here is a possible place to get hackberries

Cold Stream Farm

Bamboo, Bamboo, Bamboo

Here is a place to get Bamboo cold hardy to zone 5.

Bamboo Garden Nursery

Burnt Ridge has a few varieties as well.

Burnt Ridge Bamboo

Goumi Berry (and other) sources

Here are a few places.
Jung Nursery which has
Scarlet Goumi (4-6 foot tall, hardy to zone 4)  and Currents and Goose Berries and Hardy Kiwis

Sandusky Nursery has:
Goumi Shrub (10 foot tall, hardy to zone 4b)


Burnt Ridge Nursery has:
Goumi Berry and Silver Berry and Goose Berry and Current and Kiwi and Nut Trees

This list may increase as I find more sources

Hazelnuts

Hazelnut trees seems to be the place to start for someone wanting to grow nuts on their land. Nuts are a great way to have perennial staples growing along side your happy fruit trees since hazelnuts can be used for so many things.

How to Grow Hazelnuts (Backyard Gardening Blog)

Growing Hazelnuts in the Garden (Mother Earth News)

Growing Hazelnuts or Filberts (Food Skills)


A couple places to get Hazelnuts

Arbor Day's Hazelnut Research Project (It's a hazelnut hybrid)

Twisted Tree Farm (American Hazelnut) (can get other things, like Comfrey, there)

Fruit and Nut Trees

I found this nursery when I was researching hazel nuts and whether or not they will grow in my zone.

I found Stark Brother's Nurseries which is actually a little further north that I am. They have what I'm looking for.