Jadene Mayla DIY: do-it-yourself projects for urban, suburban, and rural life, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, The Lives of Plants

Tree Removal Service For A Canary Island Pine

A former client of ours recently took advantage of our complimentary email Q&A following completion of her permaculture master plan. Her neighbors felt a little afraid that the tree might fall on them in high winds. The previous week had presented us all with several days and nights of windy weather, and one of the Pine’s limbs had broken in the storm. The tree removal service for trimming hadn’t shown up for the appointment she had made prior to contacting me. As with most things, the unintended pause allowed her intuition an opportunity to breathe. She was able to voice her suspicions that the missed appointment had happened for a reason, maybe that the tree should not be taken down.
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Jadene Mayla Buried Treasure: money and other fruits, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root

How To Attract Beneficial Wildlife to Do Your Yard Work For You

Did you know that wild creatures perform what are called ‘ecosystem services’ and that if you provide habitat for beneficial wildlife they can help you reduce your maintenance and utility costs while increasing your property value?

Take a look at this short video to learn more and get a FREE strategy specific to your property by signing up HERE.

It’s easy to lower your landscape maintenance bills by attracting beneficial wildlife. You can use permaculture to create a low-cost, food-producing oasis in your yard.

December 1, 2019 0 Comments

Jadene Mayla Creature Comforts, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, Secret Garden: the esoteric landscape revealed

About Hummingbird Communication: A Cooperative Hummingbird Rescue

Before a Transition Pasadena steering meeting this past Fall, I came outside looking for one of my cats just in time to see him playing with something he seemed very interested in. Unfortunately, it was a hummingbird.

October 9, 2019 0 Comments

Jadene Mayla Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, Water and Drought

How to Use Rainfall to Your Advantage

How to Keep What Rainfall Your Yard Gets

Rain. Some of us get more of it than others. In some cities it pours most of the year, while in others total annual rainfall is measured in a tuna can. You might not need to conserve as much water if you get a lot of rain. But even in high-precipitation areas of the country (and world), it’s more about infiltration than how much rain falls.

Infiltration is king when it comes to making the most use of rainfall. In areas where soil is exposed and compacted, water can’t make its way in. Instead, it sheets over the top of the soil. This means it ends up in the ill-conceived street drainage system. I say ill-conceived because the storm water engineering we’re all living with was designed to carry water away, not into, the landscape.

Jadene Mayla DIY: do-it-yourself projects for urban, suburban, and rural life, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, Zombie Permaculture

Factors of Climate Change Humans Can Manipulate

Factors of Climate Change We Can Use to Restore Balance

Some factors of climate change are malleable. Whether or not Earth Changes are natural or man-made, it is a fact that human beings can directly impact local temperature, moisture, soil health, wildlife habitat, and food availability. This article discusses Trump Forest, planted in 2017 in response to the U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and our president’s executive order forcing the EPA to rewrite the Clean Power Plan to prioritize energy production. I’ll also discuss the success of the forest and make recommendations for other things we can all do to restore the functioning of the landscape as a climate-stabilizing powerhouse.

The goal of Trump Forest was to plant 10 million trees around the world. This would, according to researchers behind the project, offset a significant amount of carbon emitted by a step backward to industry-focused energy production. The actual number of trees planted ended up being 1,409,857, so the project was cut short. But that’s still a good number of trees. Now let’s take a look at replanting survival and how to keep new trees alive.

Jadene Mayla Creature Comforts, DIY: do-it-yourself projects for urban, suburban, and rural life, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, Secret Garden: the esoteric landscape revealed

Humane Pest Control: Gophers and Squirrels

Humane Pest Control or Compassionate Conversation?

I was at a client’s home recently in Sherman Oaks, California. They told me about the gopher who had been eating the roots of their plants and creating little sink holes all over their yard. During our site visit, I noted the telltale signs of a landscape out of balance. I knew it would be my job to teach them how to fix their gopher problem by re-balancing their landscape. While we talked, the gopher responsible came out of a hole at the base of an umbrella plant. He looked directly at us while proceeding to remove three umbrella plant stalks and carry them backwards into his hole. I pointed this out to my client, and we laughed at his audacity.

Being that I’m a student of inter-species communication and believe that animals are sentient, I spoke to the wide-eyed little performance artist. I said, “I know you need to survive here just as much as the people who live in that house there, and so don’t worry, I’m going to include you in a solution that works for everyone here.”

Jadene Mayla DIY: do-it-yourself projects for urban, suburban, and rural life, Landscape Activism: effect change at the root, Landscape Basics: gain knowledge

What Is The Best Mulch To Use In Los Angeles?

In L.A. What is the Best Mulch to Use?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve noticed the barren, compacted parkways all around L.A. Most of them have at least some plant life, some have trash, others nothing at all. Just sun-baked, bleached dirt. My guess is that most of you reading this are not quite as nerdy as I am about the health of our parkways. Like, you may never have asked what is the best mulch to use in your yard or the planting strip out front of your house or apartment, known as a parkway. Technically, the city owns parkways, but citizens must maintain them. Perhaps where we can come together is that parkways could stand a makeover. I’m here to share my techniques for revitalizing the parkways of L.A., cheaply and with little work on your part.

The methods I use with my clients are super simple, yet they, like most Permaculture techniques, pack a massive punch. In the field, ecological designers like me call this sort of approach, where minimal effort produces maximum results, a fulcrum move. The idea is that a fulcrum moves only a little at the joint, but at its end it swings wide. In other words, you put in little work to effect a change, but the landscape jumps into action and sweeping change is the result. Another great benefit of using fulcrum moves like the ones I’m going to share with you here, is that your costs are reduced. That’s right, your water bill will go down, and if you pay a “mow, blow, and go” landscaper, you won’t need them to maintain your parkway as much, if at all.

If this sounds good to you, read on.

Los Angeles/Portland/San Francisco/Las Vegas

Category: Landscape Activism: effect change at the root