As promised, an update on the older, more diverse part of the farm, that we did not show in part 1. I meant to talk more about the importance of biodiversity in this video, but sometimes I become so immersed in the now that I forget what I had planned to say. I’ll just say a little now. Nature is extremely diverse and everything is interconnected, which is how life is nurtured. There are no monocultures (vast areas of one species only, as in American commercial farming) in the natural world. That’s why monoculture has to be supported with chemical supplements (usually toxic) and why it works against life (including causing cancer), because it is the opposite of natural life. On a practical level, if we grow a wide variety of crops, not only do they increase each other’s health, but if one of them has a hard season, disease, or setback of any kind, you still have many other crops that are doing fine. You will not starve or “go broke.”

Extra bonus: beginning at 16:54 of the video you can see some unexpected bear/dog interaction that broke out during the filming!

Sorry about my memory lapse when I was talking about the many beneficial aspects of the wild plant in our garden called purslane. Here are a few online articles about the many health benefits of purslane that should make up for the lapse.

http://shareably.co/weed-to-harvest-not-kill/?utm_source=ltbl&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=ltbl

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/power-packed-purslane-zmaz05amzsel
http://wimastergardener.org/article/common-purslane-portulaca-oleracea/