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

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

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