The week-long STIHL Tour des Trees is an international cycling tour combining natural beauty, camaraderie and fundraising for the benefit of urban trees.
Save money by planting smaller trees and shrubs from mail-order sources.
Enjoy viewing these unique treehouses in this colorful 16-month calendar, based on Peter Nelson's book, Treehouses of the World.
Mother Nature has a way of filling in the blank spots....
Ever wonder where the name "treehugger" came from? Well I've got the answer and a few other fun facts about the subject.
I was so excited to get this email from Ted Owens, president of Syncronos Design, as he’s a VIP in my world
My favorite graft for these tree makeovers is known as a bark graft and the time to do it is just as leaves are beginning to poke out of recently dormant stems and the bark easily separates from the wood. Which is now, early May, here in New York’s Hudson Valley. Ideally, foot-long scions of one-year-old wood (last years growth) have been gathered a few weeks previous and have been kept dormant with refrigeration.
Studies show air pollution in China can reduce a life span by up to 5.5 years.
Take a photographic tour of Finca Bella Vista, a sustainable treehouse community in Costa Rica.
Odwalla's Plant A Tree program enters its third year with a donation of twice as many trees to be planted in all 50 states as well as participating state park programs.
Driving patterns now closely resemble those from 1995, as young drivers are finding alternative forms of transportation.
Craving fresh food during the long winter months? Here are nine vegetables that you can find fresh in February--and great ways to prepare and serve them.
If you want a live Christmas tree, plan ahead and take steps to help it prosper after the holiday season.
A reader asks about when to plant potatoes in Zone 9.
We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather by planting potatoes, peas and beets in the garden outside our office.
Kids enjoy scoops of fresh-made ice cream in the Treehouse Club at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR
Quick report from the Treehouse club at the 2010 MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR.
Finca Bella Vista in Costa Rica, a community of sustainable treehouses in the jungle canopy, connected by zip lines and suspension bridges, is an Ewok Village come to life.
Contributing editor Terry Krautwurst explains how you can learn basic tree identification skills, including recommendations for where to find classes and how to select a field guide.
Painting tree trunks white can help you reduce the effect of erratic temperatures on the trees’ bark.
Cycle Oregon in support of tree research and education.
How we expect the unexpected and turn blow down trees into lumber.
I enjoy the sweet, simple memories of Christmas that the comforting smell of a cedar tree brings to my mind.
A Life Cycle Assessment from Ellipsos, a sustainable development strategy firm, suggests that natural Christmas trees generate fewer greenhouse gases per year than artificial trees.
The innovative garden seeder from Simple Seeder increases speed and ease of planting.
"Local" is always the best answer, even when it comes to fruit trees.
Trees are beautiful and they are useful as sources of food and shelter, and for building and using as fuel.
The Solar Nite Eyes Predator Protection System helps ward predators away from your poultry, bees, trees and more. The Solar Nite Eyes are inexpensive, effective and easy to use. Try this method of predator protection around your homestead.
April 26, 2013 is National Arbor Day! Celebrate by planting a tree at home or enjoying trees where you live and learn about the many benefits they provide.
For almost two decades, the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive group has done what the experts said was impossible. Namely, they have taken DNA from over 70 of the most magnificent trees on the planet; have cloned thousands of individuals from this original DNA and are actively re-planting/re-foresting these champion trees.
How a hopelessly damaged apple tree has delivered lessons of hope since 2007.
Minimize your post-Christmas impact. Earth911 offers great tips for keeping your Christmas tree out of the landfill.
Tips on how to choose the best Christmas tree and what to do with it after the holiday season.
Even as far north as Maine I can harvest produce from March to December with parsnips to dig from under the frost in February without the use of row covers or a greenhouse. In some beds I do two or more succession plantings that together with the root cellar keeps me with fresh produce all year.
Companion planting can be a great strategy for organic gardeners. Take our nationwide companion planting survey to help us gather useful information about this gardening technique.
Pasteurizing your own compost can protect your new seedlings from damping-off and harmful bacteria.
Onions are daylight sensitive and need to have plenty of time to put on top growth before the days start to get shorter and the plant pulls its energy into the bulb. If you like to start onions from seed, don’t wait! The best time is already closing in.
A Precision Garden Seeder can make planting seed crops quick and easy!
A neglected, overgrown, old apple tree does have charm, its gnarled, elbowed branches seemingly ready to reach out for a hug. The fruits, unfortunately, more often than not are too small, too pest-ridden, and too high in the tree. My fear of heights makes the last deficiency most important to me. Large, clean fruits are for nought if I can’t bring myself to climb a ladder or the branches for harvest.
Self-pollinating apple trees allow homeowners with little space to reap the benefits of this fresh, nutritious fruit. While typical apple breeds require planting at least two trees in the same space so they can pollinate each other, self-fertile trees can produce fruit without another tree around.
Maddy Harland describes the canopy layer of a temperate forest garden and shares some useful tips on designing and planting useful and edible tree crops.
A look at the wonderful mulberry tree.
Growing fruit trees in a home orchard requires some study as well as some prep.
National Arbor Day is April 25. Celebrate by learning about trees, volunteering or planting a tree at home!
Grow organic fruit trees and harvest bug-free, chemical-free fruit by covering your fruit with homemade bags made from row cover. Use row cover bags as an alternative to plastic bags. Row cover bags are more effective and have fewer issues than plastic bags.
Eco-Libris offers people the opportunity to off-set the books they read by planting trees in developing countries.
Neem (Azadirachta indica) is used in so many ways in herbal medicine, which is why it has been tagged the "village pharmacy." Neem is used to combat tiredness, cough, fever, loss of appetite, worm infestations and so much more.
A sapling Centennial crabapple tree survives a series of mishaps and teaches new orchardists a thing or two.
Emma Jane James of Appalachia, Virginia, inquires about her Kansan family tree and reminisces about better days in her coal-mining town, before mountaintop removal and pollution took their toll.
Plan to plant garlic this fall, and enjoy unique varieties and their incredible health benefits.
I cure my spring fever by planting in a hoop house.
This blog post discusses growing enough produce for canning.
Growing the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) in the same plot of land actually helps yield healthier crops of each.
Espalier allows a gardener to grow a dwarf fruit tree along a wall or fence, binding it for support, and sculpting the branches to follow certain lines, as Japanese artists do with bonsai trees.
Sam Benowitz and Tara Bittler are joining the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Blog Squad, and they break down the types of gardening and fruit-growing information they will share with you each week.
The beginnings of the orchard project, and an early spring surprise.
Expert advice on best organic fertilizer options for new apple trees and grape vines.
A profile of Japanese and American persimmons, excellent trees for the deep south.
Protect your home and yourself by making your property Firewise! Here are explanations on how to think of your property in zones and additional tips for protecting your home property.
Cam describes the challenges of winter driving and cutting down trees.
Michelle and Cam continue to debate whether a real tree or a fake tree is the better choice from an environmental perspective.....
Avoid frost damage to your fruit crops by following these tips for planting fruit trees and protecting them from frost.
Pruning apple trees to a three by three central leader shape for strength against high winds and to prevent fungal infection.
How to measure tomato seedlings for success before planting into your garden.
Want lettuce and carrots all year round? Ira Wallace tells us her simple simple method for keeping track of succession plantings.
Find garlic seed stock for growing garlic.
Here are two helpful tips that will help you have a successful tomato plant.
What a nice surprise it can be to notice new spring babies emerging from where their parent plants grew the year before. Volunteer plants are a wonderful gift!
How to Schedule your Planting by the Moon
The staff at MOTHER EARTH NEWS plants tomatoes and peppers during a seed-planting project at the office.
Make a shelf or table into a growing space for starting seedlings.
Garlic is one of the easiest plants you can grow, and fall is the time for planting. Here are a few resources to help you get started.
This blog post tells about Barbara Lee's memories of her grandpa who built a two-holer outhouse for his family and surrounded it with peonies so that there would not be an unpleasant odor.
Barbara Pleasant offers a step-by-step plan to starting seeds.
It pays to spend time preparing your garden for winter. You can improve your soil, increase your harvest, decrease garden pests and make next spring's planting much easier.
To ensure we have a full productive garden, each spring I start a habit of carrying a packet of seeds in my pocket every time I head to the garden!
It's easy to make your own air freshener spray. You'll avoid chemicals and delight in the fresh smell.
The beekeeping presentation in the kids' booth at the Tree House Club was filled with enthusiastic kids. Check out what one kid had to say about his time spent with the bees.
Clearly the NACE considers “useless” degrees to be ones in which pay is low and availability of jobs is scarce. However, shouldn’t measuring the usefulness of an education take into account the actual benefits bestowed upon the person doing the study
Food preservationist Tammy Kimbler teaches you how to make apple pie fruit leather from urban-foraged apples.
Growing pine trees from seed will allow you to produce lots of trees very economically. Follow these instructions to propagate pine trees from seed.
You can get twigs to graft onto your rootstock for the price of shipping a padded envelope, allowing you to grow rare fruit-tree varieties for nearly nothing.
4 or 40, growing up isnt always straight up. Branches, bumpy outcroppings and the occasional low hanging fruit serve as speed bumps on the road of life.
Gardeners don't have to live in a semi-tropical zone to grow organic lemons, limes, oranges, and other citrus fruits. Proper technique with potted plants can yield a bounty of delicately flavored, vitamin-rich citrus.
Figs, grapes, hazels, rabbiteye blueberries, and gooseberries are among the easiest plants to propagate using cuttings, layering, or just by digging up suckers.
Growing peach pits doesn't get much easier than this.
A profile of the wonderfully tough loquat tree.
The next installment of Maddy Harland's blog series on forest gardening. This week how to choose the lower canopy.
The future of the Pavlovsk Station in Russia is in jeopardy due to a pending housing development project. Find out what you can do to help save the world’s largest holding of rare berries and trees.
Tips for limiting your exposure to pollen to help manage allergy symptoms.
Daby Napthine shares her grandfather's 5 tips to growing healthy apple trees.
Clearing your land to ready it for farming can be quite a challenge!
Pruning perennials is essential for plant health and vigorous production.
Fall sheet mulching of perennial plantings assists in fertility and weed suppression.
Introducing the serviceberry, a beautiful landscape tree or shrub suitable in much of North America, to the edible landscape. Serviceberry -- or sarvis -- comes in many regional forms and produces edible berries.
You can get your whole house fresh and shiny clean with just five ingredients: lemons, vinegar, baking soda, tea tree oil and salt.
Ira shows how you can keep sowing and planting through late summer and into fall. Learn how to keep your garden producing abundantly through the cold months ahead.
There are many logical reasons for adding flowers to your vegetable garden: attracting beneficials, crop diversity, companion-planting, barriers and healthy soil. But perhaps their beauty does not need to be rationalized at all!
Basil is a versatile herb that can be used for companion planting, bee forage, year-round herb as well as delicious pesto.
Description of garlic planting on a two-year cycle: from tiny topset bulblets, to large single bulbs, to large heads.
Grow calcium in your garden with collards, kale, and parsley. Suggestions are given for including these crops in your meals. Learn about companions to plant among your collards and kale to deter harmful insects.
The Garlic Gurus at Seeds from Italy give you the scoop on growing your own garlic. This post answers questions of when and where to grow garlic, what varieties to grow, how much to grow, where to buy garlic, and how much to plant.
Ira helps you get started using nature's signs to plan your garden. Don't just rely on planting dates — easy observations of what's blooming, buzzing, and singing in your garden will help you see changing patterns from year to year.
Maddy Harland explains how to make light work of establishing the ground layer in a forest garden, create a wildlife habitat and control pests all at the same time.
Hints for harvests all summer long - don't just sow once! Ira helps you plan summer successions for your garden. Plus, discover culinary secrets of okra you never suspected - okra coffee and okra oil - and a recipe for a simple okra lunch.
Giving your ornamental and vegetable garden a thorough cleaning in midsummer not only leaves the landscape looking better, but can help prevent damage from diseases and pests by removing the conditions in which they thrive.
How-To Build a Hoop House; a collection of resources for growers.
The Washington State Conservation Commission gave away trees at the Mother Earth News Fair as part of their conservation efforts.
The author figures out a way to outsmart tree-damaging rodents.
We wade through deep snow to trim limbs and cut dead trees and nothing goes to waste.
A story of one of our camping trips to Torreya State Park, Florida.
It's mid-February, time to start thinking about spring! Ira Wallace helps us make our garden plan, remember our perennials, and Plant a Row for the Hungry this year.
It's winter time. Take a break from the holiday madness to enjoy a little of what nature has to offer this season.
This is a fun story about planting seeds for future generations and not recognizing a gift when it is blooming right in your face.
Take a visual tour of the events at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Fair in Puyallup, Washington.
It may be sweltering hot outside, but we're still busily sowing seeds at the Southern Exposure farms! Learn how to plant your bountiful fall and winter garden, with abundant harvests through Thanksgiving and beyond.
Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Bill McKibbon, Terry Tempest Williams. Do you have a favorite nature or environmental writer? A book or story you can get lost in, that inspires you to action, or simply reminds you of how incredible nature is? Post a comment to share the titles that invite you into the wonder of the natural world — or have maybe even changed your life.
How a born and bred city boy came to leave Detroit, start a Tennessee homestead with his wife, and blog about it here.
Let's quash, once and for all, the notion that only harmful chemicals can kill germs and bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil and grapefruit seed extract are natural antibacterials that keep your home clean--and safeguard your family's health.
In Oak Park, Michigan, a mother of six faces 93 days in jail for planting vegetables in her front yard. People across the country are rallying to her defense.
My first blog for MOTHER EARTH NEWS takes me back to a time when I didn't know I had a love of gardening. One of my first gardening experiences came during an unlikely encounter with my curmudgeon grandfather.
You don't have to depend on nature to feed your bees. Take matters into your own hands and plant enough good food for your bees, so they have good, safe food all year long.
Using newspaper, learn how to craft easy, biodegradable pots to start seeds.
Discover the Ozarks region's natural beauty and adventure hot spots as told by Mike McArthy of Photozarks.
A little background on how Ric and Vicki moved from Detroit to a Tennessee homestead, and starting to get up to date on what they've done since.
One of our most common grasses is limiting the bobwhite quail population, killing broodmares and their foals, rotting cow hooves, and cutting milk production.