A garden guide for you
Some new Brunette Gardens perks, for both paid and free members.
When I began to combine native-plant gardening, permaculture, and backyard homesteading in 2018, I couldn’t find any companion-planting guides that addressed all three.
If you’re new to the idea, companion-planting is the practice of situating plants together that seem to benefit each other in proximity. For example, the traditional “three sisters” of squash, corn, and beans are often grown together so that the beans can fix nitrogen for the other two, and corn can provide structure for the rambling squash vines while those shade the others’ roots.
In the absence of a companion-planting guide that included native plants, I created my own.
It’s an impressive monster of a spreadsheet… because I’m nerdy that way. It contains 130+ edible and medicinal plants cross-referenced for companionability.
And now I’m going to share it with all of you.
Yes, all of you.
Whether free, paid, or founding, you get the guide just for being a member of Brunette Gardens. Here you go.
My companion-planting guide—including North American native plants
It’s pretty extensive, and as you can see, I’ve listed both handy notes and sources in the subsequent tabs. But if I’ve missed anything, feel free to give me a shout-out at brunettegardens[at]gmail[dot]com (sub in the symbols for the bracketed text).
Let’s crowd-source this baby and make it even nerdier!
Why this? Because I put a lot of time and energy into it and wanted my work to help you design the best garden possible. I love to see readers become more self-sufficient, boost their own bodily health, and engage in the joy of growing plants.
Why now? Because this Substack is evolving more in line with my need to serve the cause of greater human health and happiness. The short answer is, I just wanted you to have it.
More perks for paid members, too
On that note, let me alert you to some other changes to the membership tiers.
As a free member, besides the companion-planting guide, you receive 1-2 posts per month.
Here’s what else you’d get for upgrading to paid:
✅ Right-to-the-marrow essays and videos every week
✅ Two-plus years’ archive content (200+ posts) on backyard homesteading in the city
✅ Easy, ancestral recipes as printable PDFs individually and as a 33-page booklet
Founding members receive this special gift:
✅ A PRINT copy of any of my books (US) or an ebook boxed set (international)
About the recipes: You can Google just about any recipe and get it online for free, but my focus has been on only methods and ingredients that you can’t easily find.
For example, none of my jam or oxymel (an elixir commonly used as a medium for medicinal herbs) recipes call for sugar. My archive also includes a practiced method for catching wild sourdough that’s a lot easier than those commonly suggested. Readers have followed my advice and reported back success.
About the books: I’m the author of four published books: 1) a poetry collection about nature as a source to heal from trauma and 2-4) a mystery series in which I’ve said yes to sexy scenes but no to violence, as my amateur sleuths don’t carry guns. (Not that there’s anything wrong with firearms, especially in the pursuit of criminals; I respect and value the US Constitution’s second amendment). They solve crime using their ability to “pick up” other people’s dreams.
Looking for your feedback
As you’ve no doubt seen, I recently added video podcasts to the offerings. What do you think of these so far?
Feel free to tell me in the comments section. I know most of you open new posts in your email inboxes—Substack shows me as much in the analytics as aggregate data, no specifics, and I’m definitely not stalking any of you! 😉 You can always click or tap on the comment link, which will take you to the web-page version, where you can comment on any post. Here’s also a handy-dandy button.
You’ve received this email or post as a current member of Brunette Gardens, but it’s not going out to the general public. So feel free to forward it to a friend, though I’d like to keep the companion-planting guide reserved only for those who actually sign up for this newsletter.
Forwarding my posts to others is an easy way to earn a paid membership. As you can see from the leaderboard, I’m generous with the complimentary tiers.
I also know first hand that it’s tough to afford all the paid memberships your heart desires. If you’d love one to Brunette Gardens but can’t afford it right now, please email me at the address above, and I’ll give you a complimentary trial, no strings attached.
You’re always welcome to email me just to say hello, ask questions, or share any feedback you have about my work in general.
Gratitude and hope for healing
Twenty twenty-five seems to be a year of tremendous upheaval, with old paradigms being replaced by new, hopefully healthier structures and connections. I know it’s already been that way for me, continuing a now yearlong journey to recover from an autoimmune condition through brain-retraining and other interventions.
I have suffered from a range of conditions all my life that were finally lumped under the umbrella of mast-cell activation syndrome, a diagnosis I received just before the pandemic. There’s so much I’ve discovered and learned over a lifetime of seeking relief, and I’m looking forward to telling you more. Thanks for sticking with me as I hone the focus of this Substack publication:
A garden of healing 🌱 from autoimmune conditions and the trauma at their root ❤️🩹.
Apologies for my mistake: I missed the fact that if I sent this out to only subscribers, the comment function would be disabled. Thank you for your email thank you's and for all of the likes!
I am loving your reboot so much!