Villa Terra

09/05/2026

Foraging might be the most eco-friendly way there is to put food on the table. No tilling, no watering, no packaging, no truck hauling it across three states. Just paying attention to what’s already growing.

Picked up another one for the shelf. Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide by Kelly Kindscher, published by the University Press of Kansas. It came highly recommended and it’s out of print, so I found a copy on eBay.

That’s a tip worth passing along. Some of the best foraging books ever written aren’t being printed anymore. eBay and Etsy are full of them, often for a few dollars. The regional guides especially, the ones written by people who spent decades walking a particular prairie, tend to be more useful than anything newer and glossier. This one is about our prairie. Not somebody else’s woods a thousand miles east.

My foraging library keeps growing. I’m nowhere near an expert. But I’m enjoying the learning, and I’ll keep sharing what I find along the way.

The people who lived on this land long before us knew how to read a landscape and eat from it. That knowledge didn’t disappear. It’s still out there in books like this one, and in the plants themselves, waiting for anyone willing to go look.

What’s the best foraging book on your shelf? I’m always taking recommendations.

08/26/2026

07/12/2026

Solar panels for pennies on the dollar? ☀️⚡️🔌🔋 Yes, that is a real thing on Facebook Marketplace right now, and today is a perfect example why it’s worth checking.

Luna Verde is officially standing, and now the real work begins. We are turning it into the new headquarters for Benson Community Garden and my own art studio. Today I found 280 watt commercial grade solar panels on Marketplace, barely used and mostly kept in storage, for just 55 dollars each. Three panels should be plenty to keep Luna Verde powered year round. Total cost: 165 dollars. That is an unbelievable deal for equipment this solid.

I liked the deal so much I grabbed two more for myself.

Solar just makes sense here. It is clean, efficient, and Omaha actually ranks quite high for solar potential. And part of the appeal for me is just the science of it. Watching sunlight turn into usable power never stops feeling a little bit magical. I love learning how things work, and solar gives me that nerdy kind of happiness every time.

If you have been thinking about solar, keep an eye on Marketplace. Deals like this show up more than you would think.

06/03/2026

This level of waste is not sustainable. We can do better. We must.
🚯♻️💚🌎

A system that creates an unmanageable amount of waste is NOT an efficient system. We need to reward companies for sustainability, not short-term greed that hurts us all in the long run.

06/01/2026

Another resource for native plants!
🌱🌾💚

For a plant that grows naturally on the Midwest prairies, significant effort goes into starting native grasses and flowers in a greenhouse.

05/29/2026

We have a reservation for the upcoming Slate Auto pickup, sharing use with the Benson Community Garden. What a beautiful, simple design for an affordable EV. This will be a BIG difference maker for the organization.

Take a look at my Slate!

05/28/2026

Few things beat free food growing right in your own backyard.
Today I headed over to my daughter’s house after she called to say her mulberry tree was ready. We grabbed a tarp, spread it under the branches, and gave them a good shake. That is really all there is to it. The ripe berries let go and drop right onto the tarp. The ones that are not ready yet stay on the branch and wait for next time. We walked away with about a gallon in no time.
This time of year the birds are your main competition, but honestly the tree had plenty for everyone. There were thousands of berries still on the ground after we were done.
A quick tip before you eat them: I always freeze mine first. A night in the freezer takes care of any bugs that might be hitching a ride. After that, rinse them well and they are ready to go. My wife is planning to turn this batch into mulberry preserves and jam, which will be delicious.
Foraging does not always mean hiking into the wilderness. Sometimes it means driving to your daughter’s house with a tarp in your trunk. Urban trees produce more than most people realize, and most of it goes to waste every single season.

Have you ever eaten mulberries? Drop a comment below. And if you have a mulberry tree you are not harvesting, call me.

Sustainability

05/27/2026

Best practice is to simply bring your own bags with you - always.

You may have heard that recycling plastic grocery bags can jam up machinery, but what might not be as well known is that there are other ways to get rid of the stuff.

05/23/2026

Walked into the Benson Community Garden this morning and found pineapple w**d growing right in the grass. Crush a flower between your fingers and it smells sweet like pineapple.
It’s in the same family as chamomile, and the flowers brew into a tea that calms your stomach and helps you sleep. Native to North America and used as medicine for centuries. Just never pick it from a lawn that’s been sprayed. Have you ever spotted this one in your yard?

**d **ds

05/17/2026

The first berry of the season has arrived.
Kurt picked the first strawberry from Villa Terra’s new strawberry patch this week, and while it was small enough to disappear in one bite, it represented something worth pausing over. Every harvest starts somewhere. This one started here.
This is the first berry fruit Villa Terra has produced, and if the patch has anything to say about it, it will not be the last. The growing season is just getting started, and between the strawberries, the currant cuttings, the honeyberries, the elderberries, and everything else taking root right now, this is shaping up to be a year worth documenting closely.
Small wins. Real food. Honest work.
Follow along as the Villa Terra harvest unfolds this season.