February 14, 2021

Tooth cleaning did not begin with plastic toothbrushes or medieval concoctions. We’ve been cleaning our teeth since probably before we walked upright on two legs. Here’s how it was done (and in many parts of the world, still is).

Nature’s Original Toothbrush
June 12, 2023

Science is when someone asks nature a specific question and receives a specific answer. Science is ALSO when a bunch of fallible human beings all interact with each other in complicated ways to finally agree on what scientific theories they will then present to the rest of the world.

What if the Science Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story?
June 4, 2023

Choices are like coins – they always have two sides, and both sides stack up in terms of the direction we’re going.

Where Are Our Choices Taking Us?
November 15, 2020

A vegetable from the tropical highlands of Papua New Guinea, rungi (Rungia klossii) is an attractive, edible, nutritious year-round ground cover for the tropics and semi-tropics.

Rungi – Rainforest Floor Vegetable
March 7, 2018

You don’t have to be a passive recipient of the programming that surrounds you. You can BE the programmer.

Thinking for yourself
November 30, 2020

Regenerative gardening and farming has an intention to both feed people AND to leave the surrounding web of life stronger, richer, more complex and more resilient, rather than less so.

Regenerative Farming and Gardening
December 31, 2017

What we eat illuminates the relationship—or lack of it—between us and our natural world. It also directly influences the way our living planet is used.

Real Food
January 29, 2020

(1st in a Series) Everything we need to create a more just, alive, abundant and beautiful world exists today. Why aren’t we using it?

There is Only One Place to Begin
June 13, 2020

“Normal” is what we see around us all the time. “Natural” remembers the connection and belonging within which we emerged as a species. An absence of the connections that were natural for us leaves us uneasy, disorientated, and prone to suspicion and hostility.

How “Normal” Keeps Us from Being Fully Human
June 15, 2021

Long, flexible mulberry branches + pieces of old veggie net = caterpillar-proofed veggies.

How to Make a Frame for a Veggie Net using Mulberry Branches
December 16, 2021

An index of all the “Empowered Thinking” posts written on ARealGreenLife in 2021.

All “Empowered Thinking” Posts for 2021
March 22, 2021

The ease and comfort of a modern life aren’t all they were cracked up to be in terms of deep satisfaction and a sense of meaning and purpose.

Seeing Through the Seductions of Science and Technology
April 17, 2020

Queensland arrowroot ​(Cana edulis) provides food for us, food for chickens, pigs, cattle and goats, mulch and/or compost material, and shelter for other plants. It’s super easy to grow and to harvest and it self-propagates to a certain extent but is not weedy or invasive. And I think it looks beautiful. What more could a polyculture food grower ask?

How to Harvest and Use Queensland Arrowroot
May 1, 2020

About ​how the ginger ​growing in ​our garden has inspired successful homemade sauerkraut in ​our kitchen, which in turn has inspired better maintenance of the ginger plants in ​the garden. Sauerkraut recipe included.

Homemade Ginger Sauerkraut
November 5, 2018

How I got from “I don’t think I could grow brassicas,” to “Ooh look – a cauliflower!”

Real Food does not come from Supermarkets: 6 Steps from Bare Ground to Homegrown Veggies
July 11, 2021

How to build a pond for tadpoles and frogs that will ​also grow food-producing water plants and edge plants. Includes diagrams, pictures, plant list, and frog resources.

7 Steps to a Frog Pond that Also Grows Food
November 1, 2020

The logical mind wants to muscle its way to the results we want; when muscle is inadequate to the task, we think we’ve failed and we’re out of options.
The heart, on the other hand, is not afraid to invoke the results we want by the quality of our attention and the power of our desire to give what we don’t physically have to give.

When “Do Something” Fails, There is Another Way
October 7, 2020

Why We Doubt Our Intrinsic Worth This is a super-short post; just a few seconds to readOur culture measures the worth of children in “good behavior” that reflects well on parents, caregivers, and teachers. We measure the worth of adults in terms of visible wealth, status, followers, beauty (defined by very narrow criteria), youth, and power. No

Why We Doubt Our Intrinsic Worth