The Penguin

 Well, it's been a rough couple of months, environment-wise; here in Michigan, we were in a drought* for most of the Spring season and into early Summer. My yard was mostly spared, with the exception of a small patch along the driveway; the flowers and saplings survived the heat and dry with a little help from my rain-barrels. One of the nice things about the drought (Lord forgive me) was the distinct lack of mosquitoes; typically my backyard is a no-go area from May to August. Part of me was hoping the sporadic rain, which seemed adequate to keep my plants from shriveling up, would continue to thwart the tiny bloodsuckers... Then the deluge came. I've described it to family members as "apocalyptic" - these mosquitoes came out en masse, and they don't go for the legs, they go for the eyes.  I think it was about the time I breathed in a mosquito that I admitted defeat and ran inside, where the errant Culex pipiens  is a regular occurrence. I'm combatting them w...

 So! As you may know, I'm a sucker for trees and plants in general. What you may not know is, I'm also a bit of a mad scientist. While most of my "experiments" involve trying to grow plants as cheaply as possible (I.e. through seeds, clippings, and just finding things growing in ditches), I'm also dabbling in the "training" of trees...to be my minions. An "Espaliered" tree - from Deep Green Permaculture Y'see, horticulture isn't just about the anal-retentive pruning of roses and trimming hedges into bunny rabbits; it's essentially the world's first bioengineering. Things like grafting , coppicing , forcing, and Bonsai have been used for thousands of years to exploit the natural growth patterns of plants for human purposes. Coppicing, for instance, turns one valuable timber tree into a whole "grove", as shoots grow out of the stump and eventually become new trees themselves. Bonsai involves limiting tree growth through ...