{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "title": "The Noon Source", "home_page_url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/", "feed_url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/feed.json", "description": "Resource Intelligence · Water, Land & Culture — a working library on what San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country provide.", "icon": "https://www.noon.bio/assets/noon-mark.png", "favicon": "https://www.noon.bio/assets/noon-mark.svg", "language": "en-US", "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/", "avatar": "https://www.noon.bio/assets/noon-mark.png" } ], "publisher": { "name": "Noon Systems Corporation", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" }, "items": [ { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/reading-the-land.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/reading-the-land.html", "title": "Reading the Land — Before a Line Gets Drawn", "content_text": "Slope, drainage, soil, sun, and existing canopy. The five readings Noon does on every property before any design decision — and what each one tells us about what will hold up in San Antonio and the Hill Country.", "summary": "Slope, drainage, soil, sun, and existing canopy. The five readings Noon does on every property before any design decision — and what each one tells us about what will hold up in San Antonio and the Hill Country.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-06-02T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Methodology" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/acequia-water-as-culture.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/acequia-water-as-culture.html", "title": "Acequia — Water as Culture in San Antonio", "content_text": "The San Antonio acequia system: 300 years of gravity-fed irrigation, communal governance, and indigenous water knowledge that turned the upper San Antonio River into one of the most productive agricultural systems in North America. What it was, how it worked, and what it still teaches.", "summary": "The San Antonio acequia system: 300 years of gravity-fed irrigation, communal governance, and indigenous water knowledge that turned the upper San Antonio River into one of the most productive agricultural systems in North America. What it was, how it worked, and what it still teaches.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Local Culture & Indigenous Knowledge" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/aphids-scale-mealybugs-organic.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/aphids-scale-mealybugs-organic.html", "title": "Aphids, Scale, and Mealybugs — The Organic Escalation Ladder", "content_text": "Howard Garrett's organic protocol for sucking insects — water blast, garlic-pepper tea, neem oil, and beneficial release. Exact recipes. Why neonicotinoids are a disaster for pollinators and do not solve the underlying problem.", "summary": "Howard Garrett's organic protocol for sucking insects — water blast, garlic-pepper tea, neem oil, and beneficial release. Exact recipes. Why neonicotinoids are a disaster for pollinators and do not solve the underlying problem.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Organic Pest Management" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/beneficial-insects-encourage-them.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/beneficial-insects-encourage-them.html", "title": "Beneficial Insects, and How to Bring Them In", "content_text": "A property that hosts predators needs less management. The Texas beneficial insects that matter — ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, ground beetles, hover flies, native bees, spiders — and the plants and habitat features that bring them.", "summary": "A property that hosts predators needs less management. The Texas beneficial insects that matter — ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, ground beetles, hover flies, native bees, spiders — and the plants and habitat features that bring them.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Organic Pest Management" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/bioswales-explained.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/bioswales-explained.html", "title": "Bioswales Explained — Drainage That Doubles As Habitat", "content_text": "What a bioswale actually is, how it beats a French drain on a Hill Country lot, and how Noon builds them in San Antonio — cross-section, native planting palette, and what it costs to hold storm runoff on your own property.", "summary": "What a bioswale actually is, how it beats a French drain on a Hill Country lot, and how Noon builds them in San Antonio — cross-section, native planting palette, and what it costs to hold storm runoff on your own property.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Water Systems" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/built-from-the-ground-up.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/built-from-the-ground-up.html", "title": "Built From the Ground Up — The Subsurface Column Under a Hill Country Property", "content_text": "Topsoil, clay, caliche, karst limestone. The four layers under every Hill Country parcel — and why landscape, foundations, food, and architecture all start with reading them right.", "summary": "Topsoil, clay, caliche, karst limestone. The four layers under every Hill Country parcel — and why landscape, foundations, food, and architecture all start with reading them right.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/caliche-and-how-to-plant-in-it.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/caliche-and-how-to-plant-in-it.html", "title": "Caliche and How to Plant in It — Hill Country Soil, Worked Honestly", "content_text": "Caliche is calcium carbonate hardpan, not soil. It's why so many Hill Country plantings die in their second summer. How Noon breaks it, amends it, and chooses plants that actually root in alkaline ground.", "summary": "Caliche is calcium carbonate hardpan, not soil. It's why so many Hill Country plantings die in their second summer. How Noon breaks it, amends it, and chooses plants that actually root in alkaline ground.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Soil & Materials" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/compost-feeds-the-soil.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/compost-feeds-the-soil.html", "title": "Compost Feeds the Soil", "content_text": "A physical guide to compost — what it is, what it does to caliche-derived Texas soil, what it costs, and why feeding the soil out-performs feeding the plant. San Antonio and the Hill Country.", "summary": "A physical guide to compost — what it is, what it does to caliche-derived Texas soil, what it costs, and why feeding the soil out-performs feeding the plant. San Antonio and the Hill Country.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/compost-from-scratch-texas.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/compost-from-scratch-texas.html", "title": "Compost from Scratch in Texas — A Three-Pile System for Hill Country Properties", "content_text": "Finished compost is worth more to a Hill Country landscape than any synthetic fertilizer. How Noon builds the three-pile system on Texas properties — browns to greens, moisture, turning, what never goes in.", "summary": "Finished compost is worth more to a Hill Country landscape than any synthetic fertilizer. How Noon builds the three-pile system on Texas properties — browns to greens, moisture, turning, what never goes in.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Soil & Materials" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/diversity-creates-resilience.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/diversity-creates-resilience.html", "title": "Diversity Creates Resilience", "content_text": "A turf lawn = 1 species. A native Hill Country meadow = 30 to 80. An Edwards Plateau remnant prairie = 200+ per hectare. Species count is a property metric. The number matters.", "summary": "A turf lawn = 1 species. A native Hill Country meadow = 30 to 80. An Edwards Plateau remnant prairie = 200+ per hectare. Species count is a property metric. The number matters.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/drip-vs-sprinkler-what-to-use-where.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/drip-vs-sprinkler-what-to-use-where.html", "title": "Drip vs Sprinkler — What to Use Where in San Antonio", "content_text": "Irrigation system selection for Hill Country properties. Why spray loses 30%+ to summer evaporation, why drip drives deeper roots, when rotor heads make sense, and the watering windows that actually keep plants alive in central Texas.", "summary": "Irrigation system selection for Hill Country properties. Why spray loses 30%+ to summer evaporation, why drip drives deeper roots, when rotor heads make sense, and the watering windows that actually keep plants alive in central Texas.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Water Systems" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/drought-tolerant-perennials-by-exposure.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/drought-tolerant-perennials-by-exposure.html", "title": "Drought-Tolerant Perennials by Exposure — San Antonio & Hill Country", "content_text": "Right plant, right slot. A perennial palette for San Antonio organized by sun exposure — full sun south/west, full sun north/east, dappled shade, and deep shade — with bloom times, pollinator value, and cut-back timing.", "summary": "Right plant, right slot. A perennial palette for San Antonio organized by sun exposure — full sun south/west, full sun north/east, dappled shade, and deep shade — with bloom times, pollinator value, and cut-back timing.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Palette & Planting" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/edible-landscape-hill-country.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/edible-landscape-hill-country.html", "title": "Edible Landscape for the Hill Country — A Designed Food Layer", "content_text": "Integrating food into a Hill Country landscape that still looks like a landscape. Persimmon, pomegranate, fig, prickly pear, perennial herbs, and the two-season vegetable calendar for San Antonio.", "summary": "Integrating food into a Hill Country landscape that still looks like a landscape. Persimmon, pomegranate, fig, prickly pear, perennial herbs, and the two-season vegetable calendar for San Antonio.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Palette & Planting" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/every-property-is-a-watershed.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/every-property-is-a-watershed.html", "title": "Every Property Is a Watershed", "content_text": "A 2,500 sq ft roof in Bexar County catches 46,000 gallons a year. A half-acre lot intercepts 410,000. The question is not whether your property is a watershed. The question is whether it is stewarded or wasted.", "summary": "A 2,500 sq ft roof in Bexar County catches 46,000 gallons a year. A half-acre lot intercepts 410,000. The question is not whether your property is a watershed. The question is whether it is stewarded or wasted.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/fire-ants-without-poison.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/fire-ants-without-poison.html", "title": "Fire Ants Without Poison — The Orange Oil Drench That Actually Works", "content_text": "Howard Garrett's organic fire ant protocol — orange oil, molasses, and compost tea drench, plus beneficial nematodes and predator habitat. Why synthetic ant killer fails long-term and what to use instead.", "summary": "Howard Garrett's organic fire ant protocol — orange oil, molasses, and compost tea drench, plus beneficial nematodes and predator habitat. Why synthetic ant killer fails long-term and what to use instead.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Organic Pest Management" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/local-resources-create-local-culture.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/local-resources-create-local-culture.html", "title": "Local Resources Create Local Culture — Edwards Limestone and the Hill Country Vernacular", "content_text": "The Cretaceous limestone that built the Alamo, the missions, the River Walk, every Hill Country fence and Sunday house. One stone, one ecoregion, one continuous culture — and why local identity only holds when the materials are local too.", "summary": "The Cretaceous limestone that built the Alamo, the missions, the River Walk, every Hill Country fence and Sunday house. One stone, one ecoregion, one continuous culture — and why local identity only holds when the materials are local too.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mesquite-food-fuel-medicine-music.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mesquite-food-fuel-medicine-music.html", "title": "Mesquite — Food, Fuel, Medicine, Music", "content_text": "Honey mesquite is the most useful single tree in South Texas. Pods to flour, wood to charcoal and instruments, sap to medicine. The tree most contractors clear was, for thousands of years, a food crop.", "summary": "Honey mesquite is the most useful single tree in South Texas. Pods to flour, wood to charcoal and instruments, sap to medicine. The tree most contractors clear was, for thousands of years, a food crop.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Local Culture & Indigenous Knowledge" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mission-garden-palette.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mission-garden-palette.html", "title": "The Mission Garden Palette — Three Centuries of Proven Plants for San Antonio", "content_text": "Pomegranate, fig, olive, peach, grape, corn, beans, squash, prickly pear. The plant palette that fed San Antonio's missions from 1731 onward — and what a Hill Country property owner can plant from that same palette today.", "summary": "Pomegranate, fig, olive, peach, grape, corn, beans, squash, prickly pear. The plant palette that fed San Antonio's missions from 1731 onward — and what a Hill Country property owner can plant from that same palette today.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Local Culture & Indigenous Knowledge" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mulch-choices-hill-country.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/mulch-choices-hill-country.html", "title": "Mulch Choices for the Hill Country — What We Use, What We Don't", "content_text": "Native hardwood, cedar, leaf mulch, straw, rock, decomposed granite. What works in San Antonio and the Hill Country, what doesn't, and the honest case against cedar mulch in planting beds.", "summary": "Native hardwood, cedar, leaf mulch, straw, rock, decomposed granite. What works in San Antonio and the Hill Country, what doesn't, and the honest case against cedar mulch in planting beds.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Soil & Materials" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/native-palette-san-antonio.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/native-palette-san-antonio.html", "title": "Native Palette for San Antonio & the Hill Country — The Plants That Hold Up", "content_text": "The native palette Noon plants in San Antonio and the Hill Country, organized by layer. Anchor trees, small flowering trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers — with what each one does and what we don't plant and why.", "summary": "The native palette Noon plants in San Antonio and the Hill Country, organized by layer. Anchor trees, small flowering trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers — with what each one does and what we don't plant and why.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Palette & Planting" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/rainwater-harvesting-residential.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/rainwater-harvesting-residential.html", "title": "Rainwater Harvesting for San Antonio Homes — The Math, The System, The Payback", "content_text": "Residential roof catchment in San Antonio. The real math (623 gallons per inch of rain per 1,000 sqft of roof), cistern sizing for a half-acre Hill Country lot, what the system costs, and when it actually pays for itself.", "summary": "Residential roof catchment in San Antonio. The real math (623 gallons per inch of rain per 1,000 sqft of roof), cistern sizing for a half-acre Hill Country lot, what the system costs, and when it actually pays for itself.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Water Systems" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/shade-is-infrastructure.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/shade-is-infrastructure.html", "title": "Shade Is Infrastructure", "content_text": "A mature live oak moves 40,000 gallons a year and drops ground temperature 10–15°F. Canopy is not decoration. It is built mass — the original passive cooling system of the Hill Country.", "summary": "A mature live oak moves 40,000 gallons a year and drops ground temperature 10–15°F. Canopy is not decoration. It is built mass — the original passive cooling system of the Hill Country.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/waste-is-a-resource-in-the-wrong-place.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/waste-is-a-resource-in-the-wrong-place.html", "title": "Waste Is a Resource in the Wrong Place", "content_text": "The two to four cubic yards of leaves, clippings, scraps, manure, and prunings a typical Hill Country half-acre produces every year — and what closing the loop looks like in San Antonio.", "summary": "The two to four cubic yards of leaves, clippings, scraps, manure, and prunings a typical Hill Country half-acre produces every year — and what closing the loop looks like in San Antonio.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/water-is-a-traveler.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/water-is-a-traveler.html", "title": "Water Is a Traveler", "content_text": "The roughly 30 inches of rain that lands on Bexar County each year, tracked from cloud to leaf to aquifer. Hydrology, economics, craft, food, architecture, and the acequia lineage of San Antonio water.", "summary": "The roughly 30 inches of rain that lands on Bexar County each year, tracked from cloud to leaf to aquifer. Hydrology, economics, craft, food, architecture, and the acequia lineage of San Antonio water.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Resource Culture" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/what-is-the-noon-source.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/what-is-the-noon-source.html", "title": "What the Noon Source Is For — A Working Library, Not a Blog", "content_text": "Why Noon publishes — the difference between writing about ecology and writing from a job site, and what a Public Benefit landscape practice is for.", "summary": "Why Noon publishes — the difference between writing about ecology and writing from a job site, and what a Public Benefit landscape practice is for.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Manifesto" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" }, { "id": "https://www.noon.bio/source/yucca-one-plant-ten-uses.html", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/source/yucca-one-plant-ten-uses.html", "title": "Yucca — One Plant, Ten Uses", "content_text": "Soap, fiber, food, medicine, fire, ceremony, and ornamental anchor — all from a single genus already growing in the Hill Country. A field guide to yucca as resource, not decoration.", "summary": "Soap, fiber, food, medicine, fire, ceremony, and ornamental anchor — all from a single genus already growing in the Hill Country. A field guide to yucca as resource, not decoration.", "date_published": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z", "tags": [ "Local Culture & Indigenous Knowledge" ], "authors": [ { "name": "Dorian Dégagé", "url": "https://www.noon.bio/" } ], "language": "en-US" } ] }