Val and Eli take us on a tour of their magical permagarden in Jacksonville FL. They have created a wonderful, natural space filled with self-sustaining fruits, vegetables, herbs, medicines, colors, water, fragrances, and wildlife. This is the very best fast food!
View more permaculture videos here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA302F7D0CEA4F65A
Val can be reached at 904-476-6388, www.meetup.com/Permaculturejax.com, and at www.thefoodparkproject.com.
In and out #myproject #solar #timepass #break #joy #love #people #happy #water #well #solarpump
In and out #myproject #solar #timepass #break #joy #love #people #happy #water #well #solarpump
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BboCN-TB6DT
#myproject, #solar, #timepass, #break, #joy, #love, #people, #happy, #water, #well, #solarpump, and, out, myproject
Cauliflower is a cool-season crop and a offspring of the frequent cabbage. If you plant to effort rising cauliflower in the home garden, it require time after time cool temperatures with temperatures in the 60 s. The soil pH ought to be between 6.5 and 6.8.
It is best to create cauliflower from transplants quite than seeds. Transplant 2 to 4 weeks before the regular frost date in the spring, no earlier and not a great deal later.
Liberty the transplants 18 to 24 inches apart with 30 inches between rows. Use first course manure when transplanting.
Plant fall cauliflower concerning the same time as go down cabbage. These are typically 6 to 8 weeks previous to the first fall rime and also require being later than the temperature is below 75 degrees F. If you actually want to try preliminary cauliflower from seeds, start the seeds 4 to 5 weeks before the plants are enviable. Plant the seeds in rows 3 to 6 inches separately and ¼ to ½ of an inch deep. They need 1 to 1.5 inches of water each week; with usual rainfall, this usually requires complement watering.
For most outstanding growth, side-dress the plants with a nitrogen manure. Note that the cauliflower will start out as a loose skull and it takes time for the head to form. Many variety take at least 75 to 85 days from transplant. If the cauliflower has a coarse look, it is too mature and be supposed to be tossed.
Cauliflower is a good cause of chorine, a B vitamin known for its role in brain growth. Choline intake through pregnancy “super-charged” the brain activity of animals in utero, representing that it may increase cognitive function, and get better learning and memory. It might even reduce age-related memory refuse and your brain’s susceptibility to toxin through childhood, as well as confer defense later in life.
Cauliflower helps your body’s aptitude to detoxify in various ways. It contain antioxidants that grasp up period 1 detoxification the length of with sulfur-containing nutrients vital for Phase 2 detox behavior. The glucosinolates in cauliflower also make active detoxification enzymes. Digestive Benefits
Cauliflower is a very important basis of food fiber for digestive health. But that’s not all. According to the World’s Healthiest Foods:
“Researchers have determined that the sulforaphane made from a glucosinolates in cauliflower (glucoraphanin) can help defend the lining of your stomach. Sulforaphane provide you with this fitness benefit by prevent bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori in your stomach or too much cling by this bacterium to your stomach wall.”
consumption cauliflower is like charming the antioxidant and phytonutrient draw. It’s crowded with vitamin C, beta-carotene, Kaempferol, Quercetin, Rutin, cinnamon acid, and much more. Antioxidants are nature way of as long as your cells with sufficient protection alongside assault by hasty oxygen species (ROS).
As long as you have these vital micronutrients, your corpse will be able to oppose aging cause by your daily contact to pollutants, chronic stress, and more. If you don’t have an adequate provider of antioxidants to help hush up free radical. Then you can be at risk of oxidative stress, which lead to accelerated tissue and organ damage.
Cauliflower Is Only One Type of Cruciferous Veggie
If cauliflowers isn’t your favorite vegetable, don’t be anxious. You can get many of these same benefits by eating other members of the cruciferous vegetable family. Broccoli is one of them, but there are others too, including.
The more vegetables you eat from this list the improved, as each offers sole and superb benefits to your health. For example, just one cup of kale contains over 10,000 IUs of vitamin A, the equal of over 200% of the daily value. Cabbage, in the meantime, is rich in vitamin K1 and B vitamins, which many are, absent in, and has been shown to help heal stomach ulcers and offers benefits to digestion. Additionally:
• Cabbageworm: Nectar from dwarf zinnias lures ladybugs and other predators that help to protect cauliflower from cabbageworms.
• Cabbage root maggots
• Aphids
• Harlequin bugs
• Clubroot
• Black rot
http://rdspweb.com/cauliflower/
On – 30 Apr, 2017 By Ravi Dutt Sharma
It’s important to look after our homestead animals as temperatures soar during the summer months. Animals are just as susceptible to the effects of exposure as their human counterparts, and this can impact their overall health and productivity. Let’s take a look at a few simple things that we can all do to help our animals to beat the heat.
Focus on the Basics
Animals need plenty of cool water for drinking and bathing in order to stave off dehydration and help to regulate body temperatures. Not only does water consumption increase as temperatures rise, but water can evaporate at a faster rate as well. Make sure that you periodically check water levels in bowls and dispensers, and refill baths as necessary. It’s also important to frequently change bathing water in order to prevent it from turning into a breeding ground for disease.
Make sure that your animals also have access to shady and well-ventilated areas where they can rest during the hottest parts of the day. Just as hot, sticky air or the intensity of direct sunlight can zap us of our energy and make us miserable, animals are no different. A little bit of shade and cool air can go a long way with respect to keeping your animals happy and healthy.
Tips for Chickens
Backyard chickens don’t need a lot of attention to keep them happy in the summer heat. Aside from providing sources of shade, water is the next-best way to keep chickens cool. Little things like filling a wading pool so they can trot around in cool water or providing a fan in the coop can make all of the difference in the world. Think about installing a mister that chickens can get under for a quick and refreshing cool-down.
Watering grass before they walk around or peck for food can also be very helpful. Finally, try to make sure that their bedding is well-ventilated, and provide them with access to a patch of dry dirt that they can wallow in in order to cool down.
Suggestions for Rabbits
You can follow some of the same suggestions to help keep rabbits cool, such as using a mister or providing them with some shade in a well-ventilated area. Another great idea is put a chunk of ice in their cage that can radiate cool air and give them something to lick or touch from time to time. Placing ice cubes in their water bottle can also be incredibly-refreshing. Consider placing a moist towel or cool pad that they can lay on. Also, don’t forget to brush them frequently to remove excess fur and dander that would otherwise cover the skin and trap heat. Finally, make sure that you replace their food and give them fresh, cool and crisp vegetables throughout the day.
Keep in mind that most homestead animals succumb to disease and death from exposure to extreme temperatures. Follow these tips and learn more about what you can do to protect all of your animals this summer. A little bit of common sense and attentiveness can go a long way with respect to keeping our animals as cool and comfortable as possible.
http://101waystosurvive.com/survail_tips/how-to-keep-your-homestead-animals-cool-in-the-summer/
On – 01 Aug, 2017 By Callon
It’s important to look after our homestead animals as temperatures soar during the summer months. Animals are just as susceptible to the effects of exposure as their human counterparts, and this can impact their overall health and productivity. Let’s take a look at a few simple things that we can all do to help our animals to beat the heat.
Focus on the Basics
Animals need plenty of cool water for drinking and bathing in order to stave off dehydration and help to regulate body temperatures. Not only does water consumption increase as temperatures rise, but water can evaporate at a faster rate as well. Make sure that you periodically check water levels in bowls and dispensers, and refill baths as necessary. It’s also important to frequently change bathing water in order to prevent it from turning into a breeding ground for disease.
Make sure that your animals also have access to shady and well-ventilated areas where they can rest during the hottest parts of the day. Just as hot, sticky air or the intensity of direct sunlight can zap us of our energy and make us miserable, animals are no different. A little bit of shade and cool air can go a long way with respect to keeping your animals happy and healthy.
Tips for Chickens
Backyard chickens don’t need a lot of attention to keep them happy in the summer heat. Aside from providing sources of shade, water is the next-best way to keep chickens cool. Little things like filling a wading pool so they can trot around in cool water or providing a fan in the coop can make all of the difference in the world. Think about installing a mister that chickens can get under for a quick and refreshing cool-down.
Watering grass before they walk around or peck for food can also be very helpful. Finally, try to make sure that their bedding is well-ventilated, and provide them with access to a patch of dry dirt that they can wallow in in order to cool down.
Suggestions for Rabbits
You can follow some of the same suggestions to help keep rabbits cool, such as using a mister or providing them with some shade in a well-ventilated area. Another great idea is put a chunk of ice in their cage that can radiate cool air and give them something to lick or touch from time to time. Placing ice cubes in their water bottle can also be incredibly-refreshing. Consider placing a moist towel or cool pad that they can lay on. Also, don’t forget to brush them frequently to remove excess fur and dander that would otherwise cover the skin and trap heat. Finally, make sure that you replace their food and give them fresh, cool and crisp vegetables throughout the day.
Keep in mind that most homestead animals succumb to disease and death from exposure to extreme temperatures. Follow these tips and learn more about what you can do to protect all of your animals this summer. A little bit of common sense and attentiveness can go a long way with respect to keeping our animals as cool and comfortable as possible.
http://101waystosurvive.com/survail_tips/how-to-keep-your-homestead-animals-cool-in-the-summer/
On – 01 Aug, 2017 By Callon
https://thehomesteadsurvival.com/passive-water-storage-tank-heating-system/
On – 01 Feb, 2017 By
Origins of no dig cultivation methods are not completely clear, but the benefits of having healthy soil, bountiful crops with minimal work is clear! Managing your allotment/home vegetable garden using techniques such as double digging are time consuming, labour intensive and damage the delicate balance which exists in soil between beneficial bacteria, insects and microbial content. All of which are vital to the health of your soil and by extension the health of your delicious crops.
Incorporating organic material into soil is not a new concept, worms, insects, fungi and microbes have been enhancing soils organic content whilst aerating and binding soil together without having to dig in composted green waste or similar materials by hand for millions of years. By studying nature we can find ways to create efficient systems which work and enhance the natural world.
Pioneers in the UK like Charles Dowding, have been growing crops such as salad leaves for years with the no dig method, ranging from small back garden operations to acres of crops, even mainstream shows such as Gardener’s World have started to see the benefits of permaculture and no dig, as shown by Monty Don. The main concept of the no dig garden incorporates the ideals and principles of permaculture by mulching your growing area with composted green waste, straw, leaf mould, composed bark chippings and similar material. These mulches help to suppress weeds whilst the worms, insects and microbes continue to break down all this lovely organic material, incorporating it into your soil.
For best results you can add other design elements alongside your no dig site to enhance biodiversity, attract beneficial insects such as predator beetles and pollinators and make the most of the water fall your site receives.
Some of the methods which you could use alongside your no dig patch are …
Why not give the no dig style of cultivation a go and see what this wonderfully simple method can do for your garden/allotment this year. Wildlife & Eco Gardens can help you get started with your new gardening system or help with composting advice to get the best quality compost for your no dig beds.
On – 25 Apr, 2017 By
Across the U.S. local zoning officials are making it increasingly difficult for people to go off-grid and live self-sustainable lives. Building tiny homes, harvesting rainwater, using solar or wind energy, and even building community gardens are being targeted and in some cases, the people involved are even threatened with jail time and fines.
Tiny Homes are structures 500 square feet or less and are one way for people to break free of mortgages, taxes, utility bills, and the general entrapment of having more than is necessary. They’re especially attractive to Millennials and retirees, or those seeking to live off-grid. In Maryland, tiny-house legality will likely be handled at the local level as a zoning or building code issue where placement on a property is determined by local zoning and land use regulations.
The issue of developers and homeowner associations banning homeowners from installing solar panels is widespread across the nation, but is especially relating directly and significantly to Texas, California and Florida, since homeowners in those states are overwhelmingly governed by property owners’ associations. Homeowners have lost lawsuits and have been forced to remove solar units they installed because they conflicted with an HOA’s binding legal obligations written into the deed of a property by the seller. These covenants can penalize buyers by fining those who fail to obey them. In January, Nevada practically killed its solar industry, causing solar providers to leave the state by increasing their tax on solar customers by 40 percent!
Harvested rainwater is storm water that is conveyed from a building roof, stored in a cistern, and disinfected and filtered before being used for toilet flushing. It can also be used for landscape irrigation. In some places it is illegal to even collect rainwater, threatening those who do with jail time and fines, but often you have to jump through a bunch of hoops, such as registering with the division of water rights or some states that put a limit on how much water you are allowed to collect on your property at time.
Community gardens are also labeled a threat of the food industry because of the freedom it provides for low income and impoverished people. One example of a garden being shut down is the South Central Farm that was a community garden located at East 41st and South Alameda Streets and the garden was the largest community garden in the United States. The city allowed the farm the be created but sold the property to Ralph Horowitz in a secret deal out from under the citizens, and the new owner attempted to evict the farmers even though the farmers were able to raise the money to buy the land themselves.The selling of the land was corrupted, as it involved many backroom deals but it still ultimately lead to the demise of the peaceful garden. There were many protests and acts of civil disobedience for several years before the farm was finally bulldozed in 2006. There have also been many cases from around the country where the city or HOA’s shut down peaceful community gardens and even regular front yard gardens.
Many landowners are also being targeted just for building structures on their own land without having adequate permits. Even people who are building their homes well within codes are being forced to tear down the structures they have spent so much time and money creating. Activist Adam Kokesh, outright bought a piece of land in Arizona, started building and making improvements to it and not soon after he was harassed by David Williams, an employee of the county government. David Williams believed a written document from 1910 obligated Adam to comply with David. After Adam had his lawyer contact David and David was unable to provide any evidence that the code applied to Adam, David only escalated the situation by offering Adam a false choice, either an admin hearing or a criminal prosecution. This is still an ongoing issue for Kokesh as he has elected to not make the regular updates he was making about progress on the land. Which not only affects him as a paid content creator, but also those he was inspiring and helping learn from his venture.
Though people continue to struggle for the freedom to use their land and structures as they see fit, this self-sustainable movements only continue to grow. More people are choosing to live a more environmentally friendly life and will continue to build a life free from corporate choke-holds. Time will only tell if the state will continue to attempt inhibit the growth or encourage self-sustainable lifestyles but for now their choice is clear.
https://thehomestead.guru/self-sustainable-lifestyles-illegal/
On – 06 Apr, 2017 By Hailey
The land undulates upwards into gentle hills, cradling nooks of fertile terraces growing sweetcorn, sunflowers and tomatoes, before rolling down into tranquil lakes. It looks like a natural Edenic paradise on earth. But 20 years ago this land was arid and barren, and farming was a struggle.
The land is called Tamera, the name given to these 330 acres in southern Portugal by a community of 30 people who moved here from Germany in 1995. Today, 200 people from all over the world live here. Through simple practices of digging swales (ditches) and creating water retention spaces, Tamera’s ecology experts have transformed an area on the brink of desertification – and say they can do the same anywhere in the world.
The community wanted to be more sustainable and grow more of their own food, rather than importing it, and it was clear that water would be central to being able to live autonomously on the land.
“When I came to Tamera in 2006, trees were dying and wells were drying out,” says Bernd Mueller, director of Tamera’s Global Ecology Institute and one of the engineers behind the transformation.
At that time, in the summer months, Tamera looked like a desert with hardly any vegetation. In the winter months, however, there was heavy rainfall and flooding. Mueller and his co-engineer Thomas Lüdert realised that most of the water was running off the soil and causing damage to infrastructure, rather than soaking into the earth.
They started from the top of the hills, hit hardest by erosion and overgrazing. “The wind and the water eroded all the fine earth that should serve as a sponge for the rainwater,” says Mueller. “We started to manipulate the situation so these places retain the rainwater falling on them. Then you start to build structures like swales, which fill with rainwater and slowly filter into the earth.”
The lakes were dug out and formed without any concrete seal at the bottom so water can seep into the earth. “There’s a principle in permaculture called the triple S – slow, spread and sink,” says Mueller. “When you have flowing rainwater, something in your ecosystem is wrong. You have to slow it down, spread it over the land and let it sink.”
Transformation of the landscape began in August 2007, and by February 2008 a new spring had appeared at the edge of Tamera’s boundary. “I was surprised. I didn’t expect that to happen so fast,” says Mueller. “We suddenly had a creek going through the valley, and that brought more lush vegetation and animals; wildlife responds immediately to constant access to water.”
The Tamera case study has been presented to the EU and at the UN’s Cop22 in Marrakech by the Global Ecovillage Network. “For us it was important from the beginning to change the situation in Tamera, but do it in a way that it will be a model for the rest of the world,” says Mueller, who has travelled most continents to consult on water projects. “When you scale the ecological problems down to principles, it’s all due to the same mistakes. In all the cases I have seen all over the world, the key to ecosystem restoration is rainwater and vegetation management.”
Mueller has consulted on water management in Israel and Palestine, Turkey, Jordan, Kenya, Togo, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and has shown how the Tamera model can be used in development and humanitarian settings.
After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Mueller worked with NGO Cafod on a project at the Carradeux camp for internally displaced people (pdf), providing sanitation, drinking water and waste management. Recommendations for the camp included harvesting rainwater from roofs, providing alternative fuels to wood to prevent deforestation, and installing composting toilets.
“I’m happy to support [Tamera] because they’ve got a different way of doing things,” says Geoff O’Donoghue, Cafod’s operations director who worked with Mueller on the Haiti project. He says that the Tamera approach helps in humanitarian settings because they have an awareness of the bigger picture. “There’s so much you can do which isn’t more expensive, but requires a front-loading of knowledge and design.”
After the consultation in Haiti, the Blueprint Alliance was set up for organisations to share sustainable solutions in humanitarian emergencies.
Mueller also worked with a local government in Kitui, Kenya (pdf). “I witnessed how in a short time a supportive local government could make a programme prompting swale building on a large scale,” he says. “In three months, I couldn’t recognise the land. It was a relatively small amount of money that was invested there. After three years every farmer could see the effectiveness of it.”
So could this approach be used somewhere experiencing extreme drought or even famine, such as South Sudan? The country has similar ecological conditions to Kenya, says Mueller, where he has seen how effective it can be. Mueller is now focusing on showing Tamera’s new water paradigm (pdf) to governments, the UN and NGOs, and supporting community-based projects.
“The ecological knowledge is there and its effectiveness can be proved in so many cases,” he says. “The problem lies in political strategies and social habits.”
On – 01 Jul, 2017 By Anna Leach
