michael pilarski (skeeter)

I first met michael pilarski when I signed up for a permaculture course in 2005. Before arriving, I had read every permaculture book printed, hundreds of web pages about permaculture and had been active on the permaculture mailing list for years. I felt I was there just to go through the formalities of taking a permaculture design course.

I mercilessly pounded skeeter with questions. Every day. And he had a well qualified, gentle answer for every one. His level of knowledge is spectacular. His manner is something that buddhist monk's would envy. Always smiling, always happy. Attending that PDC was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I know it is thanks to skeeter.

In 2009 skeeter was the master of ceremonies for the washington state permaculture convergence. One morning he offered to lead a group of early birds a little ways up a nearby trail and share some wildcrafting knowledge. I'm glad I remembered to bring my camera!

best wood for a wooden spoon

I asked the question because we had been talking about the best wood for a wooden spoon on the forums.

serviceberry wood is the best wood for a tipi fire

Serviceberry is also known as juneberry and saskatoon. Serviceberry has a freaky deep taproot and is an excellent permaculture plant!

lightning brings nitrogen to your soil

When I first posted this video, I let the folks in the forums know and it created a lot of discussion in the thread called soil nitrogen from lightning

eating stinging nettles

My favorite part is where he says that if he had two acres of nettle, he could make his entire living from nettles alone. There is a huge discussion on harvesting and eating nettle on the forums.

cottonwood trees

This video has a little bit of overlap with the spoon wood video for the first 50 seconds. Lots more information about cottonwood trees in the forums.

maple trees

Discussion about this in the forums: maple tree

epiphytes: plants that grow on trees symbiotically

In the fall of 2010 I visited Michael Pilarski and took some more video on his home turf.

dandelions as a plant that you harvest and sell

organic farmed/wildcrafted herb storage

Fin

For more information about skeeter and how to contact him, go to his website: friends of the trees

Thanks!

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Many thanks!