kayla garelick

i have a huge live oak out the back and i've been looking into what i can plant under or near it. it currently has some grass from the previous owner that's the sort someone might use for a lawn. but no one is going to mow a steep hill like that. so i was hoping to plant berries to both hold the hill and feed the birds. i found that berries native to my area love to grow near the tree's drip line and wood strawberry, ponysfoot (sp?) torry's melic, will grow as ground cover in the deep shade. the live oaks by me need their leaf litter to break down slowly to encourage the mycelium that grows on it's leaves as they decompose and benefit the oak. my tree had over 5 inches of leaves and i think it only needs about 3. so i took away a couple of inches and used it as mulch in other areas. it's important to leave the leaves and only sparsely plant under the kind of live oak i have. i get alot of info from this site, it has a whole page on what to plant under live oaks http://www.laspilitas.com/groups/oaks/Planting_under_oak_tree.html. the site has alot of ideas consistent with permaculture. he urges people to examine where they live and determine what particular nitch ecosystem they are part of and to learn about the plants that are supposed to grow there, that want to grow together. http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/ecology http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/ecology  even if you are not in calif. there's alot of info on this site.

thanks Neil for sharing the correct information about tempeh not reliably providing b12. fortunately i've been receiving shots for the deficiency. which i probably got into because i thought my diet was complete. or at least pretty good. i think it's important to find out as much as we can. sorry i really didn't mean to spread bad info!

i've had b12 issues as well. i've experienced cognitive problems, weird physical sensations, and depression. i think tempeh is a cultured or fermented product that provides b12. i started making my own tempeh because it's so expensive but the ingredients are super cheap. basically you cook the beans, ad the culture and keep it nice & warm for a couple of days. it makes me thing of blue cheese the way the mycelium () grow. traditionally made with soybeans (which loose their issues when fermented) but many cheaper beans can be used. let me know if you're interested and i'll post linkes to info.

the native plant society in the east bay has a very local regional approach to how they organize their plants. plants for mt diablo are different than the same plant grown in berkeley for several generations. s they can help choose plants that are more likely to survive. http://www.nativeherenursery.org/ (they have 2 plant lists, one is organized by regon, one by species.) i have lotsa wildlife and i planted berries etc with them in mind. but they're chopping them down to the roots. especially the deer. except for very thorny plants like gooseberry & blackberry. they've also left along the barberry, which has very spiky leaves. i have a wild prune tree with huge thorns but they've killed all the lower branches. so i can't reach them. more for the birds!