I'm searching for a relationship with a barber.

A long term one. One that I can spend twenty years working with. One who's eye I will trust to shape me as I grow and age - always being able to make the representation.

To me, this seems a complicated way to live; developing ones eye as a barber, always looking at people, judging what you feel is appropriate, a good move, a good combination - learning from what is at hand around you, so you can flow that interpretive and reading skill into your work - into someones hair.

I wonder.

What does this activate? Looking at people all the time and not landscapes. Or, am I best to say, looking at a different landcapes?

- I am experimenting with Tall Fescue for the first time. I have a site that gets 3 to 4 hours of sunlight that I sodded with Bluegrass a couple years ago that isn't standing up real well to the light foot traffic and dog play. I believe the Bluegrass doesn't have the vigor in lower light levels to recover from the wear. My hope is that Tall Fescue is the answer. Tall Fescue will tolerate lower light levels but still has a tough and course leaf blade to stand up to the friction of light wear. 


- Most grass seed one would buy is a mix of several types of grass (the "typical label" below is not). Example, you may come across a 1/3 Bluegrass, 1/3 Ryegrass, 1/3 Fescue mix. But seed ratios are measured by weight and not seed count. Ryegrass and Fescue each have approximately 100,000 seeds per pound, where Bluegrass has over 1,000,000. So, the seemingly balanced 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mix is actually more that 80% Bluegrass.

There is an expectation that soil is loose, free of sticks and stones, and without large clumps of clay. But, topsoil, as it is harvested, of course is going to have organic materials in it.

Topsoil may fall in a range from sandy to clay, neither of which do I believe to be universally superior. Since trucked in topsoil often will not match your site soil's texture it is best to amend your existing soil with organic matter.

I believe the image many of us have of "good soil" comes not from a well structured and organic laden top layer of soil that has spent years building itself as an ecosystem but is the result of dirt being dumped into processors, screeners and shredders, which take out all the bulk material and fluff the medium up into a powder.

Anytime Buffalo Horticulture deals in concrete that is demo'd or torn out, it's taken to one of two close by recycling plants. In return, the truck always returns with a full capacity load of gravel - never the waste of an empty truck. We almost never use newly mined limestone from quarries much further outside the neighborhood.

Tight logistical operations and operating in a tight geographic area keep fuel consumption minimal. As of August 1st, Buffalo Horticulture's two trucks had not yet combined for 2500 total miles driven.

Sustainability. Efficiency. Value.