sean mahoney

So I have 80 acres in the upper peninsula of Michigan that I can do a project on. My question is for anyone in that area or in a similar area. What methods do you use for mosquito and blackfly mitigation in those areas.
Anyone familiar with the u.p. knows this can be a quite brutal situation in the wilderness to deal with. Like biblical even lol.
Are there any permies in upper Michigan that have found ways to deal with this problem in the rural areas?

hello my name is sean i am a permacutlurist from michigan and i am putting out an idea that i just had to which i think may be extremely helpful in soil building.

I am watching an episode of nova called making stuff cleaner. on this episode of nova part of the show is about a way they are trying to make hydrogen cars require less pressure to store the hydrogen. the method they are finding works well is adding a material to act essentially as a sponge. the material they are using..... chicken feathers... by heating feathers to 750 degrees they break down into a char fluff material with nano pockets through out it creating a super surface increase... my idea obviously why couldn’t we do this and use it as a soil amendment creating massive surface areas for soil life to grow. you have to take the quill off the feather and heat up the feather material.

i do not have chickens so i thought i would post my idea and see if we cant get some trials on this and see how much improvement we get.

thnx it does appear to be dead nettle. i have quite a bit coming in any suggestions on usage?

this is growing along my fence line pretty prolifically i thought it may be a mint from the way it is spreading and the leaves??.... maybe
Any ideas?

now im not sure if i should be here with this question or ponds etc.. please bear with me. i am in southeast michigan and i have a 3/4 acre urban lot in the shape of an upside down L. long side to the west short side to the east property runs north to south. neighbor to the west is about 2 feet higher so i collect all his run off which is great my soils are usually nice and wet all year. however due to run off and spring melt of the winter snows and excess rain in spring the short side or north east 1/4 acre floods including similar size in my neighbors yard both to the north the north east and the west of my lot. once flooded it usually will sit for a month to two months long. i have been contemplating putting in a pond in the area where it floods to hold the water.

My questions are:
1 is this a good idea lol?
2 if so where do i run the spillway the street is to the south of the lot and the flooding at the north.
3 isnt this going to flood even worse next year if i put a pond in?

i basically am looking for a bit of advice on what some of you may do in this situation and even other ideas to manage the water other than a pond.

So upon further investigation it does in fact appear to be bettle flea. and the bumps from previous year appear to have been an aphid problem. The beetle flea problem is a bit out of control on the grapes so i guess i have to onitor the rest of the plants to make sure it doesnt spread. thank you all for the help.

I can see it and managing it by hand would be a possibility there are many of these bugs on a plant that isnt really part of my managed area more of my zone 5 border on a 3/4 acre urban lot. While they are eating the hell out of the grape leaves i was more worried about them becoming invasive with any other plants. Last year the leaves on the grapes did not look very healthy at all they had white bumps all over they and didnt look healthy at all. So not sure as to if that may be the reason for the presence of the bugs this year cause they werent there last year. as of right now there is no signs of them migrating to anything else. I recently planted siberian kiwi so that is a primary concern when it comes to this problem. they are some distance away from the grapes but still a concern.

First id like to say this site is great i am a new comer to permacuture and very passionate about it. I have found this site very helpful and am happy to be a member. That said on one of my daily walks observing the property i came across this little guy on the native grape vines in the yard. I took a pic and attached it.

My questions are
1. Does anyone know what it is.

2. Is it a threat to anything else i may be growing.

3. if it is a threat what would be a good way to minimize the damage done.


I am in south eastern michigan by the way.