The indigenous Mesolithic societies of Europe never disappeared: they adapted, and survived in new ways. Their cultures, values, spiritual beliefs, and relationships with the land are encoded in the folk traditions and regional agroecological systems that persist throughout Europe. The elegance of these systems is shown in how they have thrived for millennia on some of the most contested land in Europe, surviving climate change, war, pestilence, drought, and economic upheaval. They are part of a 30,000-year-old unbroken tradition and relationship with the land, but they are rapidly disappearing. What’s at stake in their survival is not the preservation of a bygone relic, but the protection and expansion of relationships with the land that can feed our communities, preserve biodiversity through climate change, and create productive ecosystems that last for millennia.

Agroforestry, Assisted Migration, Crop Preservation, Native EcologyMax PaschallJuly 22, 2020agroforestry, agroecology, permaculture, nature, Europe, indigenous, native, hazel, hazelnut, filbert, apple, crabapple, hawthorn, sloe, grain, cereal, hemp, flax, poppy, papaver, opium, orchard, climate change, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Natufians, agriculture, farming, hunter-gatherer, diversity, hybrid, creole, decolonize, decolonization, colonization, imperialism, resistance, forest garden, controlled burn, swidden, culture, society, war, peace, maple, grape, vine, Roman, Etruscan, British, European, shaman, stone age, natural architecture, reeds, willow, wicker, basket, basketry, salix, vitis, corylus, morus, mulberry, malus, global warming, nuts, oak, dehesa, coltura promiscua, coltura mista, arbustum gallicum, vite maritata, alberata, hautain, nettle, knotweed, duck, hunting, ivy, forest, forests, environment, fire, wheat, emmer, einkorn, spelt, barley, rye, reindeer, deer, coppice, pollard, ice age, Ice Age, Sweden, hoe, ploughing, night soil, maslin, ancient, prehistoric, pigs, boar, aurochs, cork, cork oak, Quercus, colonized, endangered species, endangered, biodiversity, medicine, tools, fodder, livestock, fields, crops, corn, maize, beans, legumes, peas, lentils, hedgerow, hedgerows, violence, Italy, milpa, Native American, Iron Age, chestnut, olive, elm, vegetables, herbs, polyculture, monoculture, diverse, resistant, resilient, climate resilient, citrus, Sicily, Italian, Rome, Gaul, Celt, Celtic, Tuscan, Tuscany, Toscana, Permaculture, climate, grains, cereals, Bere, mashlum, domesticated, wild Comments

Dawn Redwood: In the Forest of Living Gods

When botanist Wang Zhan, dodging civil war and foreign invasion, discovered living Metasequoia trees in a remote valley of China in 1943, it was like someone had found a living dinosaur. The villagers who lived near the trees had long revered them as gods, having built shrines beneath them where they left offerings. This ancient tree has existed almost unchanged for 150 million years. Unlike redwood species native to the West Coast, dawn redwood grows so well on the East Coast that there are specimens less than 70 years old that are already over 130 feet tall here. Given another 70 years, these trees may very well become the largest living organisms on this side of the continent.

Christmas Tree Farms & Climate Change: A Permaculture Perspective

Our Christmas tree agroforestry system is designed to mimic natural forest succession, with shade tolerant fir and spruce growing up to replace a deciduous overstory - except here, that succession will be kept in check through coppicing. In this system, three tiers of income streams are achievable on a single piece of land, with much higher potential for supporting native biodiversity in the process.

Cold Hardy Almonds for the Northeast

Farmers as far north as southern Maine can grow almonds! “Javid’s Iranian Almond” is a cold-hardy variety originally brought from the high mountains of northern Iran. It is not just disease resistant, self-fertile, and fully hardy as far north as zone 5 (parts of New York state, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts), it is also an incredibly flavorful almond. Out of all the other cold hardy almonds that nurseryman Cliff England has grown, none has come close to the flavor and ease-of-growing of this variety.

Agroforestry, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallApril 6, 2019almonds, almond, prunus, dulcis, nuts, tree crops, bees, honey bees, beehives, CCD, pollinator, pollination, no spray, fruit, sustainable, farming, organic, agroforestry Comments

Could Ants Revolutionize Organic Pest Management?

For organic gardeners, farmers, and foresters in North America, utilizing predatory ants to control insect outbreaks is one of the most promising strategies that has been almost completely untested. Finding the right predatory ants for each bioregion could revolutionize pest control, and offer a far more sustainable and inexpensive way to manage crops and timber products.

A Visit to the Fabled Adelgid-Resistant Hemlock Grove

Within a few minutes we entered something I never thought I would see in my life: a healthy grove of eastern hemlock trees. Their dark, glossy boughs cast a deep shade over native ferns, mosses, and orchids - a far cry from the dead and dying hemlocks we are accustomed to seeing throughout the rest of Appalachia. This was a truly sacred place - a natural repository of the genetics that could save this entire species from extinction.

Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJanuary 28, 2019resistance, hemlock, tsuga, adelgid, elaphomyces, truffle, cordyceps, appalachia Comments

Exploring North America's Oldest Food Forest

Anyone who cares about our ability to grow food in the next 100 years should know about this place. The oldest food forest in North America shows us both where we have come from, and where we need to go if we want to thrive in an uncertain future.

If we want to create an abundant perennial agricultural system for our region that requires almost no maintenance and can withstand the worst projections for climate change in the next century, these trees are the answer.

Assisted Migration, Agroforestry, Urban EcologyMax PaschallOctober 27, 2018permaculture, persimmon, chestnut, walnut, apples, honey locust, pawpaw, nursery, Philadelphia, pecan, hickory, hican Comments

Peaches Were America's First Invasive Species

Agroforestry, Assisted Migration, Native EcologyMax PaschallSeptember 5, 2018peaches, indigenous, invasive, native, Hernando de Soto, orchard, peach Comments

Street Trees for Climate Resiliency in the Northeast

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJuly 24, 2018street trees, sugar maple, maple, birch, hackberry, yellowwood, honey locust, cedar, sweetgum, magnolia, black gum, sycamore, oak, bald cypress, elm Comment

Standards for Selecting Climate Resilient Trees in the Northeast

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJuly 23, 2018persimmon, sugar maple, honey locust, apples, bald cypress, street trees, catalpa Comment

Saving the Sugar Maple

A classic cold-climate species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is threatened by climate change, and with it the half-billion dollar maple syrup industry. Its best chance at survival could be establishing and evaluating southern-type sugar maples now in the Northeast - particularly in cities.

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted Migration, AgroforestryMax PaschallJuly 18, 2018sugar maple, indigenous, native, birch, walnut, hickory, maple Comment

Assisted Migration: Facing Climate Change in Our Own Backyards

Urban Ecology, Native Ecology, Assisted MigrationMax PaschallJuly 10, 2018franklinia, bald cypress, magnolia, pecan, sugar maple, Doug Tallamy, native, indigenous, invasiveComment

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