Ecosphere Permaculture

09/07/2026

Come to my little community next Saturday to learn how to braid sweet grass!

Join us on Saturday September 12th in our Indigenous Healing Garden at the Wellandport Branch for Braiding Sweetgrass. Six Nations member Louis Harris will be teaching the Indigenous braiding technique.

09/06/2026

Now that the grapes and elderberries have been harvested, It was finally time to tackle the gazebo roof project! 🔨🛖
Using leftover ® shingles from the house and a whole lot of creativity and elbow grease , it actually turned out great. Now Mike is suggesting we top it off with a custom weather vane… of himself. 🤣 What do you think?? 🤔 Up next in the garden: looking forward to harvesting pawpaws, medlars, persimmons, and figs over the coming months! 🍂🌳 I potted 12 Pawpaws seedlings today. If someone is interested in planting Pawpaw in the yard, let me know and I will put one aside for you!

09/05/2026

Last week was our traditional family canning day for tomato sauce and salsa. We also made sun-dried tomatoes in oil, froze bags of chopped tomatoes, and prepared roasted peppers in oil as well as baba ghanoush! We love this family tradition 💚 it is such a fun way to harvest from the garden (supplemented with a few store buys) and spend time together doing something that feeds us all year long.

07/16/2026

A gorgeous mix of purple coneflower and Culver’s root in the garden this year! 🌸✨ Beautiful as they are, they’ve officially staged a hostile takeover of the strawberry bed. Win some, lose some!

06/24/2026

I guess when you're turning your backyard into a permaculture ecosystem, you have to expect the unexpected! 🐢🌱

A mother snapping turtle decided my pile of mulch was the ultimate nursery and laid about 30 eggs! I accidentally uncovered them while working, but I made sure to carefully rebury them in a safe location. If all goes well, we’ll be welcoming some tiny, prehistoric-looking neighbors this fall!

06/21/2026

Although it’s hard to tell from the photo, this gazebo is surrounded by elderberries, an apple tree, and a grape vine. I love sitting inside to reflect and watch the birds. It’s getting a brand-new roof this summer!

06/20/2026

8 am . June 20th - standing on the top of our gazebo, listening to the birds and enjoying the view on our permaculture garden and food forest! permaculturenisgara

06/13/2026

Another Bruce trail section done! We officially finished the Toronto section and started Calendon section. We walked through Silver Creek Conservation Area, Terra Cotta Conservation Area, and past the Cheltenham Badlands, interesting areas to discover ! 27 km today! 👍🎉

06/05/2026

Listen to the garden. 🌱✨

Right by our roadside edge, nothing seemed to want to thrive, except for a massive, highly energetic patch of Canadian thistles.

While many might see a "w**d" problem, we chose to see a message from the soil.

Thistles are incredible indicators. They thrive in tough, compacted spaces where other plants struggle, opening up the ground and acting as absolute magnets for local pollinators.

Instead of fighting the landscape, we decided to take the hint. Since this plant family clearly loves the area, we are leaning into those natural patterns by introducing near this area its striking, big cousins, Globe Artichokes and Cardoons!

My cardon survived last winter under mulch so it is worth a try.

Permaculture isn’t about forcing a rigid plan onto a piece of land; it’s a continuous dialogue. It's about looking at what wants to thrive, understanding the lesson, and collaborating with those natural tendencies.
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05/31/2026

I am happy to share with you today the new edition of Seeding Stories where I am offering you a story of resilience, sorrel recipes and advice for adding sorrel to your garden.

Enjoy!

https://buttondown.com/ecospherepermaculture/archive/celebrating-spring-with-sorrel/

Connecting human culture and ecological design: why common sorrel is the ultimate powerhouse for your food forest.