Abundant Design, LLC provides Des Moines and Central Iowa with Edible & Sustainable Landscaping, Regenerative Land Use Consulting, Permaculture Design and Installation services.
Our Mission:
Our Mission: To enable individuals and communities to take an active part in the cultivation of systems that provide the highest quality fruits, vegetables, herbs and other yields, in a way that benefits themselves, cares for the land and environment, and provides a surplus to use, share and reinvest into the system.
We design and install edible landscapes, we are NOT edible landscapers...
...someone needs to inform the ticks and mosquitoes!
A recent article I read mentioned that some invasive species of plants can increase populations of ticks! It turns out, the dense, thorny Japanese Barberry shrub is actually great habitat for ticks.
“Barberry thickets actually make a pretty good habitat, not just for ticks but for some of their host species,” said Susan Elias, a research associate at the Lyme and Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough. “You’re creating a perfect storm, when you have these non-native species coming into the landscape.”
One of our last job sites had a TON of ticks (quite a few have this year), and we removed several barberry shrubs in addition to the retaining walls and prairie bed install. I don't know that the ticks were living here with the abundance of other habitat nearby, but it will keep these bushes from reseeding (with help from birds) throughout their acreage and other natural spaces.
Invasive Barberry, ouch!
Invasive species can cause lots of issues in our natural areas.
Before planting anything new, check to see if it is invasive (not to be confused with an aggressive native) and if you need assistance with invasive species removal we can help!
In this third installment of the Water Water Everywhere Series, I originally wanted to share some Simple Solutions, but before I do I think it is fitting to contrast it first with What NOT To Do!
Before you continue, you might want to check out the first two articles-
Over the last couple years, I've tried to bring awareness to the problems of increasing runoff -
Flooding, Pollution, Desertification and more...
Today I share the thoughts of a friend of mine, that he shared on social media awhile back during another Natural Disaster. I forget which one now, likely Hurricane Katrina, but his words stuck with me. It is scary how it seems we have actually taken steps to make ourselves and communities Less Resilient and More Fragile.
"Design for brittleness rather than resiliency - ahhh "natural" disasters - they always make it so starkly clear. If humanity wants to multiply - rather than reduce - the affects of disasters, we couldn't be doing a better job:
Step 1: Concentrate population densities in the lowest-lying coastal areas after draining them of their storm surge-absorbing wetlands and estuaries. Make sure it's also the most active hurricane path on the planet. Bonus points for making sure other ...fast-growing regions have the opposite problem - NO water.
Step 2: Pump as much carbon and other climate destabilizing gasses from the geosphere into the atmosphere as possible.
Step 3: Turn as much permeable, cooling, green landscape into black, impervious pavement and rooftops as possible. Concentrate all stormwater runoff. Bonus points for mixing it with sewage when it rains really hard. Double bonus points for lawn. Triple bonus round for golf courses and shopping malls. Quadruple bonus points for destroying town centers in favor of strip development.
Trash in Yeader Creek (and "yes it looks like this every time it rains") Photo courtesy of Julie Perreault – Polk Soil & Water Conservation District
Step 4: Ensure all new development is built with total dependence upon active air conditioning. Bonus points for glass high rises with non operable windows - vertical greenhouses without, you know, the plants. Double bonus points for failing to put passive air cooling in nursing homes, hospitals and emergency shelters.
Step 5: Don't harvest or store any drinking water locally. Ensure total dependence on government emergency shipments of tiny bottles of water when none is available. Bonus points for polluting all surface waters so they can't be drank. Double bonus points for contaminating ground water aquifers.
Step 6: Rebuild and do it all over again. Bonus points for getting government grants. Double bonus points for growing the economy to attract more people to "hard hit" regions so that it will be even worse the next time around."
So, how do you think are we doing?
Watch for the next post in the Water Water Everywhere series as we look at real solutions for homeowners, farmers and anyone concerned about clean water.
Water Water Everywhere #4 - Real Solutions
Until then, Ben has a revision of his book The Resilient Farm and Homestead. You can hear him talk about it on Episode #3427 of the Survival Podcast and order it HERE or at Chelsea Green Publishing.
If you would like to help the people in NW Iowa you can donate and/or volunteer with-
A Zebra Swallowtail butterfly visited our job site last week. We have seen a few butterflies fluttering around this year, but not a lot. No Monarchs yet... There has been a good variety and a lot more bees though. Bees and wasps have been visiting our flowers at home for a while now, too. They are beautiful to watch, but also very important parts of our ecosystem!
Did you know that pollinators, like bees, butterflies, bats, birds, and more, are estimated to play a key role in one of every three bites of food we eat? Everything from berries to melons, apples and tomatoes, pumpkins, alfalfa that dairy and beef cows eat, even coffee rely on pollinators for pollination.
Nine Square Feet is once again partnering with Abundant Design to bring you a fruit tree grafting workshop. During the workshop you will learn how to graft trees with hands-on experience and valuable in-person coaching.
Jeff Reiland will demonstrate grafting techniques and show you how to care for your newly grafted trees. Participants will select from popular and historic varieties or may bring scion from a favorite apple or pear tree to preserve a tree that has personal significance.
Each participant will graft 3 trees (either) Three Apples OR Two Apples + One Pear
Fee- $35 (with waiver to use a provided knife) $50 (includes a grafting knife to keep) *additional trees may be purchased if there are extra supplies
Make plans to attend this workshop if you've always wanted to learn a new skill or expand your gardening adventures.
