iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

The heat of a high tunnel is blistering in summer… until you put shade cloth on! What an incredible difference on a sunny day. I can’t wait to work in there!! This is revolutionary 😁🌿💧🦫 Ready to grow more future beaver food 🌰#hightunnel #shadecloth #nativeplants

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

The Western Toad is thriving at Bonaparte Meadows! Julianna Hallza found them during her recent amphibian survey, and we got to meet one this week. 🌿💧 Go to okanoganlandtrust.org to learn more and find ways to help #protectbonapartemeadows #westerntoad

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

What a gift to see a group of 9th and 10th grade students turn willow and red osier dogwood cuttings into a structure that will benefit water quality and wildlife! 🌿 🌰 #floatingwetlands #naturebased #plasticfree

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Willows are notoriously tricky to identify, but with this trick, we can ID willows even on a site that we can’t get to often! 🌿 🌰#protectbonapartemeadows #bonapartemeadows #willow

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

These are the plants that Beaver Food Forest is named after! Today I got to visit a project that I managed in its early years, and was thrilled to see these plant babies towering above me, thriving in what used to be a monoculture of invasive reed canarygrass #ltpbr #processbasedrestoration #beavers

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

At last, we can work in the beds under a low tunnel without fighting the row cover and without using clips that cut holes into the fabric. Simple but effective! #lowtunnel #raisedbeds #farmtotable 🌿

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

A dream come true, when someone has a pile of rotting cottonwood to share AND a machine to bring it over to the farm and drive it right into the high tunnel! Cherry on top if they live across the street from you!! I am feeling rich and grateful. The plants are going to LOVE this stuff 🌿 #hugelkultur

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Wood chips keeping nitrogen from plants seems to be a rural myth! 🌿💧

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I dreamed of direct sowing cucumbers in the high tunnel earlier this year but I had no idea that early March would be the time. These started growing during the coldest period we’ve had lately (nighttime lows), which is even more baffling. 🌿 #peatfree #raisedbeds #seeds

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

It’s easy to feel like I’m behind with so many things I would have liked to have started already this year, but when I realize that the green bunching onions are well on their way, with no transplanting needed, I feel content and grateful. #peatfree #raisedbeds #directsow 🌿

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I was reminded at a Farmer’s Forum that some folks may not be aware of where peat comes from, or why we might want to use alternatives. So if you are new to this idea or new to our nursery, we are peat-free in order to support healthy wetlands! 🌿🌰 #peatfree #pottingmix #wetlands

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Progress update… building raised beds in the big high tunnel to grow clean veggies over contaminated soil — and keep the gophers out!! 🌿🌰#raisedbed #hugelkultur #farming

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

There is nothing like a hardy veggie that persists into the winter to bring hope on cold, short days. If I had mulched over these, they would like be in pretty decent shape. Still, a lot of them are salvageable. Yum! 🌿#daikon #winter #farmtotable

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I make content because I like sharing what I learn when I do things a little differently… 🌿🌰#nativeplants #farming #restoration

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Winter is a time of hope for spring and all that it brings. What are you hoping to grow this year? #seeds #planning #spring

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Resilience to drought, flooding, and wildfire centers on one thing: water storage. Investing in our wetlands is an investment in having water when we need it. 🌿🌰 #wetlands #waterstorage #peat

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

We’re getting closer to growing in raised beds! It’s a key part of our strategy for growing clean veggies on a former orchard where lead arsenate was sprayed as a pesticide in the past. Follow for other methods of responsible growing that support human and watershed health 🌿 #growing #tips #farming

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

After a month of filling and testing the cistern and troubleshooting possibilities, here is my latest cistern update — and the clearest conclusion I can come to till spring. What a saga! Has anyone else got experience with repairing old concrete to hold water?? 🌿#cistern #rehabilitation #farmlife

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

It may seem like it goes without saying, but make sure you know where the sun will shine — and not shine — at various points in the year, before you pick a spot for your greenhouse! (*siting not citing in the closed captions!) 🌿 #greenhouse #planning #passivesolar #tips

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

When we think of farming and ecological restoration, we don’t necessarily think of hours spent at a computer. However, behind the scenes of my (and so many others’) outdoor work is a boatload of screen time. 🌿 🌰 #farmlife #behindthescenes

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Some things in life continue even when you lose someone you love and nothing feels real. And surprisingly, I found that celebrating the new year with friends can still feel good and even fun, the fire still feels warm… and maybe life really does go on. #newyears #newexperience #griefjourney

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

The fact that anything is alive, ever, is incredible. Despite the pain of loss, seeds are sprouting, things are growing, and someday spring will even come 🌿 🌰 #seeds #wonder #life

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

I used to think I was imagining it when the willow and red osier dogwood bark colours would seem to pop in winter. It turns out it’s a natural phenomenon of increased pigmentation in the bark due to increased access to sunshine when the leaves fall off the plant. 🌿🌰 #winter #colour #bark

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Our farm has old apricot trees growing that go pretty far back in time. While they produced abundant fruit last summer, the apricots were tiny, which poses issues with being able to sell them, and efficiency of picking and processing. To prune or not? Tough decisions! 🌿 #farmlife #apricot #pruning

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

If you want to grow native plants from seeds, this is your reminder to get those seeds planted and set out in the winter weather (if you’re in the Northern hemisphere). Continued in comments 🌿🌰 #nativeplants #seed #stratification

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

I’m a big fan of reusing my old growing media, and it’s safe to use once it’s heat treated, but often needs some oomph added. Sheep wool pellets are an easy, effective way to add that oomph! They hold water while allowing drainage, and release nutrients slowly 🌿 #woolpellets #peatfree #pottingmix

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

This sled has done SO many different jobs over the past year, many with no snow underneath it! It felt like a lot of money to spend, but it was worth every penny. When you’re problem solving in your garden or on your farm, consider whether a utility sled might help! #farmlife #gardeningtips #sled

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

On the shortest day of the year, I put some questionable seeds in moist paper towel to find out if they were viable. By not using potting mix, you can save yourself an enormous amount of space and labor, and you only need to plant the seeds that do sprout. 🌿#gardeningtips #germination #seeds

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

One of our strategies for growing clean veggies on a farm with contaminated soil is to build raised beds. Most land that used to be orchard has lead and arsenic in the soil, from lead arsenate, a once-common pesticide… (see comments) 🌿🌰 #soil #contamination #strategies #peatfree

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

I don’t have the drive to decorate like my Mom did, which earned her the title, “Mrs. Christmas” in our family. I know she would have loved these rosehips though, and most likely would have picked them to put in the festive centerpieces that she would make from evergreen boughs. #grief #beauty

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Beaver-based restoration brings hope. Hope that we can hold back some of the rain that should have been snow, hope that we can slow down some of the water before it races down our rivers and out to the ocean, and hope that we can moderate some of the flooding and drought and wildfire 🌿🌰

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Aquifer recharge happens when beavers slow the flow of water, connect streams with floodplains, and when the weight of the water in beaver ponds presses water down into the ground, filling the spaces between soil particles with water instead of air. 🌿🌰 #beaver #groundwater #recharge

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Since we’re talking about beavers, here you have Pond Maker — which Nancy Warner and I wrote together with our partners, adapting a song you may find familiar… Thanks Jonah and Caitlin for recording it! #beaver #pond #music 🌿🌰

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Excellent question — there are solid reasons why we sometimes need to mimic beavers. One reason is that some sites are too degraded to support beavers. Or, in some locations, the land managers or landowners aren’t open to having beavers onsite. 🌿💧🦫 #beaver #biomimicry #restoration

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Beavers slow the flow — and the wetlands they create can hold water when there’s plenty, and then release it slowly, when it’s needed. When beavers are active in smaller streams that feed into rivers, this can help decrease peak flows and reduce flooding downstream. 🦫🌿💧 #beaver #wetlands #flood

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

What’s happening in Washington State and BC right now tells the story of why we need our streams to be stuffed with beaver dams. The more rain we get at once, the more natural infrastructure we need to help hold water back during floods and to recharge the groundwater #beaver #stream #restoration 🦫🌿

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

As the short days and long nights deepen, I’m thinking about next summer and how great it will feel to bring more plants out to our floating wetlands — let’s go! #floatingwetlands #plants #summer 🌿

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Why do we keep taking peat out of the ground when it stores more carbon than all other ecosystem types combined? What if we decided to protect peat wetlands instead of tearing them up? #peat #wetlands #carbon

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

It’s been a nail-biter filling this cistern over the past five days, waiting to find out if the repair would hold. Grateful for the high quality help with this monster and can’t wait to see how we’re looking in five more days! 🌿#cistern #repair #farmlife

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

I never would have guessed that our biolog (a coir-free vegetated log) would be a target for wildlife. Definitely need to invest in a wildlife camera to see who is doing this! Never a dull moment 🌿🌰 #biolog #coirfree #livingwithwildlife

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Recently I shared how overwhelming things have been since my Mom died, and some things that have been helping me move forward. My latest tip: ask for some help. You might be amazed how good it feels to create space for community to be community — and to have some weight lifted #farmlife #askforhelp

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

End of season reveal on the pontoon style floating wetland that local practitioners innovated at a workshop last spring… These structures spent the season in our temporary ponds so that we could monitor them closely — and they turned out to be one of our top performing designs! 🌿🌰 #floatingwetlands

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Setbacks are part of life, no matter who you are. Farming is no exception! It was pretty shocking to see the water disappear from this newly refurbished old cistern — and it’s very satisfying to know where the leak is and that it should be fixable. Here’s hoping! 🌿 #cistern #fixerupper #farmlife

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I was today years old when I realized how well a sled will move over wood chips, even when fully loaded with wet, rotting hay. Lower to the ground, it’s much easier than getting materials in and out of a wagon! 🌿 #gardeningtips #farmlife #worksmarternotharder

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

An unexpected twist in the saga of rehabilitating an old concrete cistern… I can’t wait to figure out what is causing this!! 🌿 #cistern #smallfarm #farmlife youtube.com/shorts/hwqvs...

youtube.com

Cistern surprise

YouTube video by Beaver Food Forest

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Reflecting on the fall crops as big fluffy snowflakes continue to fall… the changing seasons are poignant on so many levels 🌿 #fourseasons #covercrops

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Time to see what was happening under the row cover while my life was in chaos. Turns out things were continuing to grow! Next year I need to find a different way to hold the row cover down — shoveling soil to hold it down isn’t a sustainable practice for me! 🌿 #rowcover #seasonextension

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

BCS Livestock makes the best compost I’ve ever used — by combining organic straw with sheep manure from their clean operation. I once had to have my BCS Livestock compost tested for herbicide due to a drift issue, and no surprise, but nice confirmation, it came out clean! 🌿 #compost #farmlife

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Beaver Food Forest @beaverfoodforest.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

If you don’t feel like mixing your own potting media, I get it! I’m starting a push to try different peat-free, coir-free mixes that are available in stores, so that I can (hopefully) make recommendations. I’ll let you know how this one works! 🌿 🌰 #peatfree #coirfree #pottingmix #potting

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