I have developed three different ecologies that can be added to a converted pool separately from the filter modules.
The plant component can be made up of:
1) Only California natives.
2) A majority of California natives with some edibles.
or 3) All edible plants such as Watercress, taro, Cattail, and others.
Wouldn’t it be cool to grow your own food in your swimming pool.
I have been adding a few of these plants to some of my pool conversions.
I have also been mind boggled at the biology in my 2 newest conversions. It maybe the time of year but the damselfly larvae population has just exploded! I probably have 100s of larva in 3 square feet of surface. They’re going to hatch out and decimate the mosquitoes that fly in from the neighborhood. No chemical pesticides and neurotoxins to control mosquitoes around these pool conversions :-)
Bob
The long and daring career of Harriet Tubman, explained briefly
Source: You have no idea how hardcore Harriet Tubman really was
Fighting for what is beneficial for the human race is what permaculture is about. Read the story! Harriet Tubman did not take the easy way out. I will not say that she fought for what is right because everybody believes their own version of right, but she fought for justice, and equality, and morality. Also words that are just words. But I fully believe that she fought for what she believed in, and things that benefited Humanity of her time.
I believe it is important for permaculturists to fight for things that benefit all of Humanity. I believe that it’s important to not take the easy way out of simply agreeing with people that want to pollute and destroy the environment, try to kill everything that’s in their way, and believe that ignorance is bliss. Harriet Tubman didn’t know what we know today about molecular biology but that’s absolutely fine with me because it was honest lack of information rather than deliberate ignorance.
You….
Go…
Gurl…
A study finds the world’s most widely used herbicide turning up in a bunch of morning favorites.
Source: What’s for Breakfast? How About Some Monsanto Weed Killer?
Yeah but organic free-range eggs? Wow
Most of the diversity outlined on the new tree has been hiding in plain sight.
Source: Scientists Unveil New ‘Tree of Life’
Humans, plants, gorillas, chimpanzees, dinosaurs, lizards, birds, shrimp, fish, all are in the amoebozoa. :-)
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday that there is now enough evidence to definitively say that the Zika virus can cause unusually small heads, brain damage and other neurological problems in infants born to infected mothers
Source: Zika Causes Birth Defects, C.D.C. Officials Confirm
Well there you go. The New York Times and the CDC have proven it. Case closed.
Just a leisurely stroll around the orchard produced….
Bunches of ladybug larvae
Bunches of ladybug pupa
6 little California toad juveniles
I was walking along and noticed something move thought it was a big bug and it was a little toad these guys are not the spadefoot that I am so fond of but they’re still great!
And 6 of them! It is like shaking a haystack and having six needles fall out. There certainly are a lot more of them running (hopping) around. :-)
I repeatedly tell all my clients that a pool conversion is going to take some time. Pesticides, chlorine, and other chemical toxins are instant gratification, and natural systems are not.
In just a couple of months I can transition a pool from a chemical moonscape to a beautiful green woodland meadow.
There are thousands of different species of algae.
These different species exhibit different colors, different growth habits, different nutrient requirements, different temperature and lighting requirements.
The algae and microorganisms I put in at the start, are the grass and small plants of a woodland meadow.
I will then introduce “rabbits and deer”, “snails and insects”, encourage “Oaks and elderberries” and, turn it into a beautiful old growth forest.
I believe that we seriously need to reevaluate what we think is clean in our environment. Clear, odorless, toxic, chemical carcinogens, or pesticides are not clean. While none of the dozen pond systems that I maintain have remained murky for over a year, I would ask that we all start to think about the truth that green is clean. If the pool is now able to support algal life then it is no longer toxic to you, your pets, and the wildlife.
The little Pacific chorus frogs are no longer “drowning” in the pool above. Native aquatic organisms such as Pacific chorus frogs and slender salamanders do _not_ drown in a swimming pool. They are aquatic! They are poisoned by chlorine. A little Pacific chorus frog can float all day in a natural pond but “drowns” in a swimming pool ? ? ? _It’s the chlorine_
As the pools become green and clean I will turn it into a beautiful old growth forest. But this does not generally happen until after all modules are installed and running.
I install about a module a month but how frequently is also somewhat up to the client. In _some_ cases when a client pays me for the modules early, I can start the next module before I normally would. This provides all my clients flexibility in their payment schedule.
We will put in plants for all of the modules and we will guarantee both the modules and plants while we are doing the maintenance, period. I will not install plants in new modules until the plants will benefit the system. I believe that I am being paid for what I know and what I can do, not for some pieces of wood, metal, and tubing.
Thank you to all the early adapters for converting their backyard into a non-toxic aquatic Wonderland :-)
This morning I poured a bucket of gooo down a gopher hole that was heading for my Asian pear and had already gotten a bit too close for my comfort. A little while ago I went out, and stopped to see if there had been any repair work done. There had been, it had been worked on and there was a little mound of dirt. I cleared the dirt away and found a new tunnel so I gathered up some more gooo and poured it down the hole.
And up pops a big bubble followed by a small gopher.
Wish I had my phone on me to take pictures.
So I dip it out of the stuff. Poor wet, slimy, scared gopher was not happy. So I rinsed it off and just then I heard my name called.
The woman from across the street wants to talk ponds. Here I am all muddy myself with a gopher in a tray. And it keeps trying to crawl out or bite my fingers I don’t know which. If I was in its place I would definitely be trying to bite those fingers. I couldn’t pay attention to that many things at one time especially when one of the things had teeth, was wet, and really, really pissed off. So I let the gopher go in a bush way on the other side of my trees, and tried to find out what kind of pond she wants.
Well she’s already looking at me like I’m crazy and it turns out that she only wanted me to agree with her decision to put a little plastic Home Depot pond in her backyard for her red ear slider. She was not at all interested in the advantages of rain catchment and a larger pond :-)
She’s probably wondering about that lunatic neighbor she’s got.
The gopher is probably thinking that Asian pear trees are not to be trifled with.
:-)
Best to all.
Bob
A dragonfly larvae Maybe a month or two away from a dragonfly this summer.
But Grandma what big teeth you have.
The whitish triangle underneath its head is a hinged arm that can shoot forward and grab pray. This little guy alone represents probably thousands of mosquito larvae.
Best
