Real World Permaculture

02/23/2026

Is this you too? Share your story here ..
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12/16/2025

Know our invasives! They're worse than relatives overstaying their welcome during the holidaze 😁🫢

10/25/2025

Once we learn that we don't need to combat nature, but nourish it, sustain it, work within its wisdom...humans might also evolve.

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Why We Should Let Moss Be

We often dismiss moss as dirt. We scrape it off walls, sidewalks, and tree trunks, seeing only disorder.

But moss is far more than decoration, it’s a living climate ally. It grows without soil, feeding directly from rain and air. On stone, brick, bark, even rooftops, it thrives.

Tiny though it is, moss packs a punch. It cools cities by releasing moisture, filters pollutants from the air, and shelters entire micro-ecosystems beneath its soft layers.

In some species, it can even capture carbon as efficiently per square meter as young forests.

Yet we remove it, simply because it doesn’t fit our manicured idea of beauty.

Moss is not a w**d. It’s protection, quietly working for our planet. Let it grow. Let it breathe. Let it live.

Text: Earth Unreal

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09/19/2025

Welcome to my latest obsession, the Tallow Plum, which I kept seeing on my dog walks through local parks recently. Took me awhile to nail down the species, but of course, Green Deane had the answer:

Ximenia americana: The Fruit with an Identity Crisis
If you tried to find this fruit by its botanical name, Ximenia americana, you'd likely come up empty-handed—unless you're a botanist or a trivia champion. But toss out one of its three dozen common names, and suddenly everyone’s got an opinion. The most accurate in English? Tallow Plum—named for its waxy skin, not because it’s related to actual plums. Spoiler: it’s not.

A Plum by Any Other Name... Is Still Not a Plum
This fruit has more aliases than a spy in a Cold War thriller. It’s been called:

Plum-adjacent: American plum, monkey plum, mountain plum, seaside plum, wild plum, hog plum, yellow plum
Apricot-ish: Brazilian apricot, wild apricot, little apricot
Cherry-esque: Ocean cherry, wild cherry
Citrus-y sounding: Sea lemon, wild lime
Apple-ish: Devil’s apple, fiddle apple
Olive-ish: Wild olive (close, but no cigar—it’s in the Olax family, which sounds like a detergent brand)
And then there’s the darker side: purge-nut, cagalera (Spanish for “diarrhea”), and fransman moppe (“Frenchman’s complaint”)—a nod to what happens if you overindulge in the seeds. Let’s just say moderation is key.

Botanical Backstory
Named after Spanish monk Francisco Ximenez, Ximenia americana is native to the Americas and a dietary staple in places like Ethiopia and Brazil. In Florida, it thrives in dry scrublands and hardwood hammocks, ranging from scraggly shrubs to trees up to 35 feet tall.

Looks, Smells, and Tastes
Appearance: Gangly, thorny, with yellow to orange-red fruit
Flavor: Bitter almond to sweet, sticky and astringent
Aroma: Flowers smell like lilacs; young leaves smell like almonds (but don’t eat them raw—they contain hydrocyanide)
Edible Parts & Uses
Fruit: Eaten raw or cooked, used in jams, jellies, and thirst-quenching drinks
Leaves: Boiled and eaten sparingly (think famine food)
Seed oil: Edible, packed with unsaturated fatty acids, and used for cooking, skin care, and even soap-making
Kernel: Roasted in small amounts; raw pulp is purgative
Nutrition Nerd Alert
Vitamin C: 160.26 mg/100g
Flavonoids: 43.12 mg/100g
Polyphenols: 3066.48 mg/100g
Antioxidant activity: Off the charts
Medicinal Marvel
Used traditionally to treat everything from fevers and headaches to skin ulcers and sleeping sickness. Extracts from the bark and stem show antibacterial activity against several pathogens. Not bad for a fruit that can also double as a laxative.

Cautionary Tale
One brave soul reportedly ate 10 Tallow Plums and 20 Gopher Apples in one sitting. Result? Temporary heart arrhythmia. Moral of the story: this fruit may be wild, but it’s not to be trifled with.
**ds

All credit for the original, on "Eat the Weeds":

The Pacific Crabapple, Malus fusca, was put in a separate entry because it’s the only crab apple on the west coast of North America from about San Francisco north. It’s a wild apple that manages to survive in Alaska and deserves to be mentioned. (See a separate entry for Wild Apples.)

06/14/2025

✨ Not all who wander are lost… some are just dodging lawn conformity in this backyard. 🌱

This path didn’t just happen—it meandered into existence. Featuring rebellious bricks, organically chaotic concrete, and mulch with the confidence of a lazy genius. It’s a barefoot-friendly invitation to wander, wonder, and maybe pull a w**d or two (optional).

06/14/2025

This is permaculture: https://www.facebook.com/share/18C6ZK9nHz/

06/14/2025

The Great Backyard Expedition: A Battle for Paradise

Once upon a very humid afternoon, Loretta took one fateful step into the backyard—a land where grass had surrendered, vines had conquered the fence, and nature had declared itself the supreme ruler. What was once a yard had become a merciless jungle, where garden tools mysteriously vanished and even the lawnmower had refused to enter.

Loretta, armed with a machete, thick gloves, and the sheer willpower of someone who had watched exactly three “extreme backyard makeover” videos, set forth on an expedition. The plan? Tame the chaos. The reality? The chaos fought back.

The first foe appeared immediately: the barbed bougainvillea. No ordinary flowering shrub, this beast had grown unchecked, snaking across the fence and launching thorny assaults on any passerby. It devoured trellises whole and sharpened its branches like medieval weapons. Loretta squared her shoulders, raised her shears, and muttered, “You will not win.”

The bougainvillea responded by grabbing her sleeve.

The second challenger: a rogue squirrel, likely the jungle’s reigning dictator. He had watched previous failed battles and now regarded Loretta with the disdain of someone who knew he would outlive her efforts. Perched on the bougainvillea (his throne of pain), he chattered warnings and flung twigs with alarming accuracy. Loretta did not flinch, though she did make a mental note to research ‘squirrel diplomacy’ later.

After hours of battle—sweat, dirt, and what could only be described as emotional turmoil—Loretta stood victorious. The jungle had been subdued. The squirrel had retreated to plot his next war. The bougainvillea, while not entirely defeated, had been pruned into submission.

And in its place? A backyard paradise. Lounge chairs, string lights, and a fire pit worthy of s’mores consumption. It was a triumph. Loretta leaned back in her hammock, surveying the conquered land, sipping a well-earned lemonade.

Then, from the shadows, a single bougainvillea tendril reached out—mocking her.

She sighed. The war was never truly over.

05/11/2025

Now is a great time to consider some drought-tolerant landscape choices!
Let me know if I can help 😁🌻
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/hillsboroughco/2025/05/05/drought-tolerant-native-plants-for-central-florida/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKNlgRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHrPJwGc92Fx3BILFavffchBoigjmr8Nt3dSXSTD3rAXIfXgoTLMNDWNeoZLT_aem_n20wd7z1z8RYNUjFgcLPRA

In the late spring when it starts to get hot and dry in Central Florida you may notice some plants wilting and others thriving. This is a good time to consider remove plants that are not well suited for your landscape and replace with drought tolerant Florida native plants. Here are some profiles of...