I  had two people ask me why I was morally opposed to peat moss, so I figured I'd do a little exposé here for those of you who aren't in the know.  Peat moss comes from peat bogs where the moss layers on top of its parents, forming a soggy, acidic environment which prevents decay.  As a result, the accumulated layers of moss may end up several feet thick after a thousand years or so, creating a unique environment full of rare plants and animals (like wild cranberries, but not including the plant shown here which is just a pretty hepatica I found in the woods yesterday.)

Harvesting peat moss to use in gardening is a lot like cutting down old growth forests to make raised beds --- in a matter of hours, we can wipe out an ecosystem which will take centuries to regrow.  For those who don't mind transporting materials over distances, coir (coconut husk fibers) is a good replacement for peat moss in the garden.  Personally, I prefer to build up my soil with compost, manure, and leaf mold.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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