earthfix:

A songbird called the streaked horned lark has a curious propensity for risky neighborhoods such as airports, Army training fields, and dredge spoil dumping sites. The bird is being considered for listing as an endangered species. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

earth-song:

Geiranger Fjord by *GravityLens

ovulum:

Top 50 Websites For Learning Self-Canning

via Culinary Arts Colleges

mothernaturenetwork:

The following 10 survival stories show how risky it can be on the outskirts of civilization — from outer space to Antarctica to mile-deep mines — as well as how bad luck can strike out of nowhere. But they also illustrate something even more important: how far people will go not only to escape the jaws of death, but to rescue other people from them, too.

10 great escapes

The world needs to know….homemade vegan spring rolls. Best thing ever!

startwithaseed:

Container Culture: What is Sunlight, Anyway?

“Direct sunlight is sun shining right on the plant at least 6 hours a day, not through a window,” Renee Shepherd of Renee’s Garden graciously explained. This means if you put your hand over the plant and sunlight hits your hand, that’s direct sunlight. “Shade is literally shady, like under an umbrella, but partial or dappled shade depends on the plant,” she says. “Partial shade can mean morning sun and afternoon shade, or morning shade and afternoon sun, which means sunshine in the afternoon will be hotter.” As a good rule of thumb, dappled shade is when the sun gets filtered through a trellis or through leaves.

“When considering which crops to grow in shady areas,” Mother Earth News puts succinctly, “Think of them in terms of leaves and roots. Crops we grow for their leaves (kale, lettuce, spinach) and those we grow for their roots (beets, carrots, turnips) will do fairly well in partially shady conditions. The crops we grow for their fruits — such as eggplants, peppers and tomatoes — really do need at least six hours of full sun per day.”

A good quick way to see if your plants aren’t getting enough sun is if you see them bending toward a light source, if they’re growth is especially slow, or if the plants look “leggy,” meaning they look kind of spindly or elongated.

There’s lots of good information here, especially when it comes to heat vs. sunlight. Living in Los Angeles, plants that a person in Minnesota would grow in the open, I have to put in light shade just because the heat of summer can damage the plant. So, please pay attention to your climate zones. If you’re in the US, you can use the USDA’s Zone Map. Other countries have similar maps and your state’s extension office can help you with more detail.

Happy planting!