Onion for Fevers and Cornstarch for Rashes
Posted By auke On March 15, 2009 @ 12:02 am In Folklore | No Comments
My mother’s grandmother used to use an onion, sliced in half, for fevers. She would tie it on the foot of whoever had a fever and have them sleep with it there. My grandmother used to use cornstarch for rashes. You all may know these remedies already, but I thought maybe the tips would help someone. ; ) -April
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Herbal Medicines: Urinary Tract Infections
Posted By auke On March 15, 2009 @ 12:03 am In Folklore |
Here’s a collection of herbal home cures for urinary tract infections beyond the drinking of cranberry juice that most of us are aware of.
1. D. C. wrote: Urinary tract infection cure: corn silk tea & calcium tablets.
Get some corn silks ( I take them right off an ear of corn). Dry in low oven
or in sun and make a cup of tea with a handful of the dried silks. Drink a
glass every half hour to hour and take warm baths with baking soda. If you
can’t find corn silk, ask the pharmacist for a remedy. They have over the
counter remedies for that “gotta go” feeling. I used the corn silk and it
does work well. Cured a bad infection that antibiotics would not. Also take
a bunch of calcium tablets every hour and don’t drink anything acidic. You want
to keep your urine alkaline as an acidic urine will make the pain terrible.
(Learned this from a urologist)
2. 2. C. S. wrote: Urinary tract infection cure: lemon juice. I have had great
success with lemon juice. Just pour about 2 tablespoons into a large glass
of warm (not hot) water. Drink it down and keep drinking more every half
hour or so. It doesn’t take long to work. After the symptoms go away,
continue to drink this at least once or twice a day for a few days. Let me
know if it works for you.
3. 3. D. wrote: Urinary tract infection cure: Caprillic acid. We contacted, through
a friend, a nutritional/herbalist in Texas and she recommended Caprillic Acid.
Boy, does it work. You can’t run and get this at WalMart, I think you have
to get it from health and nutrition stores or catalogs etc., but it is the
one thing I keep in my house along with cranberry and distilled water (which
helps draw out infection).
4. 4. M. wrote: Urinary tract infection cure: Apple cider vinegar/Marshmallow
& Cornsilk tea/Golden Seal Root. I have had some experience with urinary tract
infection. I found that by drinking copious amounts of apple cider vinegar
in distilled water during the day helped tremendously. (I drink 8 glasses a
day…1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to 8 oz water) Marshmallow tea or
cornsilk tea are good. Golden Seal Root is good except it should not be
taken if pregnant or nursing. If you have frequent infections, avoid tampons
and nylon underwear. Avoid coffee, sodas and alcohol and try a low-protein
diet for a few days. Also avoid dairy products except those that are soured.
You probably already knew all of this, but if not…I hope it helps.
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Onion Tea/Soup: Good Medicine!
Posted By auke On March 15, 2009 @ 12:03 am In Folklore | No Comments
asked in the Self Reliance Q&A Forum
Make a tea of fresh or dried sage for sore throat or laryngitis. Sage is also an anti microbial. Find onions high in sulpher- you know the kind that make you cry if you even think about cutting them. No weenie Walla Wallas or Vidalias. Chop, barely cover with water equal parts sugar and cook, slow heat until a syrup. Strain out onions and put in jar. You’ve created a primitive sulpher drug and of course, sugar is also anti microbial.
– ML (mls@yahoo.com), August 08, 1998
Answers
Your tea sounds interesting. You put equal parts of sugar and water? Isn’t this awful sweet? How much of this do you drink? What about the sage - how do you make it into a tea? Sorry so many questions, I’ve done anything like this before.
– dw (sdenisew@hotmail.com), January 03, 1999.
Yes, it’s about as sweet as say, cough syrup. Teas: you can make tea out of any herb…you can either use an old fashion “tea ball” and put the herb (powdered) inside and steep in hot water, or, you can add a tsp to boiling water, steep and drain through a strainer.
– ML (mls@yahoo.com), January 04, 1999.
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http://safs.ucdavis.edu/newsletter/v06n1/page1.htm
Managing the soil food web in legume-vegetable rotations
by Howard Ferris, Louise E. Jackson, Hideomi Minoshima, Jeffrey P. Mitchell, Sara Sanchez Moreno, Kate M. Scow, Steven R. Temple
These SAFS project researchers study the changes in soil biology that occur as a result of farming practices. Achieving a functioning soil community following a history of conventional agricultural practices may require a prolonged transition. Here researchers describe the importance of soil food webs in alternative farming systems and explore some approaches to enhancing their activity.
Introduction – Structure, Functions and Importance of Soil Food Webs
The ecological functions of soil food
* webs include: Decomposition of organic matter
* Cycling of minerals and nutrients
* Reservoirs of minerals and nutrients
* Redistribution of minerals and nutrients
* Sequestration of carbon
* Degradation of pollutants, pesticides
* Modification of soil structure
* Biological regulation of pest species
The soil food web is that community of organisms that utilize one another, either by predation or consumption of dead bodies, as sources of carbon and energy. The activities of soil organisms result in ecological functions essential to crop production and soil fertility (see box). By consuming, digesting, assimilating, and metabolizing the bodies of their food sources, organisms convert complex organic molecules into forms suitable for their own structural and metabolic needs. Materials indigestible to the consumer are eliminated in simpler forms that are more accessible to other organisms. Some of the molecules that are digested may be in excess of the consumer’s needs and are excreted in mineral forms that are readily available to plants and to other soil organisms. Molecules taken up by bacteria and passed on to their consumers are considered to be in the “bacterial decomposition channel” (Fig. 1). Many of the organisms in this channel are metabolically very active and molecules pass through the bacterial channel rapidly. Materials decomposed and digested by fungi are often more complex and their flow through the “fungal decomposition channel (Fig. 2)” may be slower.
continues.
{A snippet, from an almost a book article on growing Organic Corn...granny}
Won’t copy, see page 7 for corn earworm ...
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/ccrop/
* • Funded Projects
o Funding Opportunities / Requests For Proposals
o Projects Database
o SAREP Competitive Grants Announcements
o Project Reports
o Publications Resulting from SAREP Grants
* • Funding Opportunities
*
Resources
* • Cover Crops
* • PestCast
* • Soil Quality
*
UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
Home Calendar Search Contact Us
UC SAREP Cover Crop Resource Page
* List all crops in the Cover Crops Database
* Search the Cover Crop Database
Cover Crop Slide Shows (requires Acrobat Reader)
* Cover Cropping in Orchards and Vineyards (2.7 Mb)
photo credits for orchard/vineyard slides
* Cover Cropping in Row and Field Crop Systems (2.0 Mb)
photo credits for row/field crop slides
Image: Cover Crops
The UC SAREP Cover Crop Database
The UC SAREP Cover Crop Database includes over 5,000 items gleaned from more than 600 separate sources, including journal articles, conference proceedings, standard textbooks, unpublished data, and personal communications from researchers and farmers. The information in the database concerns the management and effects of more than 32 species of plants usable as cover crops. More than 400 different cover crop images are also available for viewing online. The database was developed with funding from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE), the State of California’s Water Resources Control Board, and the California Energy Commission.
The information presented here comes from diverse sources, which may vary in reliability. Some data are based on greenhouse studies, which may give different results than the field. Others are based on limited field observations, sometimes only one year and one location. Still others are based on personal observations, and are noted as such. For details, see the original articles (cited in the data base) that discuss the cover crop in which you are interested. We will update the database as more data become available from ongoing research.
A lot of info on this page and in its links on cover cropping...
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1845
March 20, 2009
Contacts: David Ottalini, 301 405 4076 or dottalin@umd.edu
Maryland’s Grow It - Eat It Campaign Kicks Off
Grow It Eat It Campaign - University of Maryland
WHAT:
University of Maryland Cooperative Extension’s “Grow It Eat it” Campaign Kick-Off
WHEN:
Friday, March 27, 2005, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Master Peace Community Garden, a half-acre urban farm, youth garden, and community garden operated by the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Engaged University program at 2600 Sheridan Street, Riverdale, MD
BACKGROUND:
The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension (MCE) invites you to the kick-off of a new campaign designed to help Marylanders improve their health and save money by growing fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs using sustainable practices.
Called Grow It Eat It, this initiative was developed - and will be implemented - by MCE’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Maryland Master Gardener program. Trained Master Gardeners will teach basic food gardening classes to the public, and HGIC horticulture consultants will answer food gardening questions via a toll-free hotline (1-800-342-2507) and e-mail Q&A service. A dynamic, interactive new Grow It Eat It website (and blog will provide a wealth of information and resources for residents across the state and around the globe.
The program’s vision is to see 1 million Maryland food gardeners producing their own affordable, healthy food - much like previous generations did in their wartime and Depression-era Victory Gardens.
Please join Dr. Cheng-I Wei, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland faculty, and Master Gardener volunteers for the kick-off of this exciting program!
There will be hands-on demonstrations of vegetable gardening tools and techniques, including the University of Maryland salad table. You’ll also tour the Master Peace Community Garden, receive free seeds, and learn how to convert a part of your lawn into a food garden (like Michelle Obama is doing at the White House).
If you plan to attend - please contact Ria Malloy at 410.531.5556; mmalloy@umd.edu
Jon Traunfeld, Director of MCE’s Home and Garden Information Center, will be featured on the Martha Stewart Show on Thursday, March 26 on WBAL TV(Baltimore area) and WJLA (Washington D.C. area), demonstrating how to build and use the University of Maryland Salad Table. Check local TV listings.
MEDIA:
Media coverage is welcome.
CONTACT:
For more information, please contact Ria Malloy (above) for more information.
http://www.sare.org/publications/dairyresource.htm
The Small Dairy Resource Book
Published 2000, 56 pages | Available Online Only
Format: Out of Print | Online PDF (991 k)
Intended for family farmers who want to produce value-added dairy products, The Small Dairy Resource Book evaluates books, periodicals, videos and other materials on farmstead dairy processing in a thorough, annotated bibliography. Extension agents and other agricultural educators also will find this cohesive guide a valuable source of information about farmstead dairy production and processing.
Topics include:
• Cheesemaking
• Ice cream
• Dairy processing
• Dairy animals
• Business and marketing
• Butter
• Other dairy foods
• Food safety
• Feeds & grazing
“This book will save you hours of searching and direct you to books you may have never found otherwise. It is an investment you will turn to time and time again.” — Paul Hamby Dairy equipment dealer/Alpine dairy goat producer Weatherby, Mo.
See All Publications
http://www.sare.org/publications/bulletins.htm
Publications
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SARE 20/20 cover
SARE 20/20
Clean Energy Farming cover
Clean Energy
Farming
Marketing Strategies cover
Marketing Strategies
for Farmers and
Ranchers
Bulletins from SARE
The content of SARE bulletins (8-32 pp) are informed by SARE research. They expand on the latest agricultural trends and link to other, more detailed information sources. Bulletins and SARE Highlights are available in quantity for educators at no cost.
energy bulletin cover
Clean Energy Farming: Cutting Costs, Improving Efficiencies, Harnessing Renewables
20 pp; published in 2008; free
Format: Print
Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (2192 k)
Diversifying Cropping Systems cover image
Diversifying Cropping Systems
20 pp; published in 2004; free
Format: Print
Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (341 k)
Estrategias Economico-Ambientales en la Crianza de Cerdos imagen de la tapa
Estrategias Economico-Ambientales en la Crianza de Cerdos
20pp; publicado en 2003; gratis
Formato: Impreso
Descripción | Como ordenar | Online HTML | Online PDF (437 k)
Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture cover image
Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture
16 pp; published in 2003; free
Format: Print
Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (711 k)
How to Conduct Research on Your Farm or Ranch cover image
How to Conduct Research on Your Farm or Ranch
12 pp; published in 2004; free
Format: Print
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Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers
20 pp; published in 2004; free
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Meeting the Diverse Needs of Limited-Resource Producers: An Educator’s Guide cover image
Meeting the Diverse Needs of Limited-Resource Producers: An Educator’s Guide
16 pp; published in 2004; free
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Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (459 k)
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Profitable Pork: Strategies for Hog Producers
16 pp; published in 2003; free
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Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture
16 pp; published in 2006; free
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Rangeland Management Strategies
16 pp; published in 2007; free
Format: Print
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SARE 20/20: Celebrating Our First 20 Years, Envisioning the Next
12-20 pp; published annually; free
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Smart Water Use on Your Farm or Ranch
16 pp; published in 2006; free
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Transitioning to Organic Production
32 pp; published in 2003; free
Format: Print
Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (1252 k)
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A Whole-Farm Approach to Managing Pests
20 pp; published in 2003; free
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Description | How to Order | Online HTML | Online PDF (1238 k)
SARE Logo Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org/?p=783
Homegrown Incense From the Garden
Enjoy your own white sage and sweetgrass. -
By Brook Elliott
Incense. Right now it’s riding a crest of popularity. Numerous plant materials have been used as incense because of their fragrances, but two native plants stand out: sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata) and white sage (Salvia apiana).
Richo Cech of Horizon Herbs in Williams, Ore., describes the smell of sweetgrass as “vanillalike or new-mown haylike,” and attributes the scent to the plant’s coumarin content. White sage, he says, is penetrating, spicy, camphoraceous — and slightly skunky.
As an incense, white sage is burned to purify people and places, and its use sometimes is accompanied by prayer. Loose leaves often are burned, and a traditional ritual method for smudging the body calls for spreading the smoke by “brushing” it with a feather or bird wing. An alternative is to bind several stems together into a smudge stick. Either way, the leaves smolder, rather than burn with an open flame.
Due to growing demand, commercial development in both plants’ native habitats and improper management of remaining wild stands, white sage and sweetgrass are both in trouble.
“The biggest stands of wild sweetgrass are in Canada where most of the commercial dried braids come from, but wildcrafting is hurting them,” says Craig Dremann, owner of Redwood City Seeds in Redwood City, Calif. “Dried sweetgrass leaves contain very important soil nutrients. The phosphorus and other minerals removed with the harvested leaves are not being replenished, and, I believe, the subsequent diminished soil fertility is causing stands to decline.”
The situation for white sage is bad, too. The plant is native to just a small strip of coastal Southern California, where development is intense. The sustainability of wild populations of white sage may be adversely affected by development, overharvesting and unfavorable weather, although the plant is a tough contender in drylands and in rough, unsettled country.
Fortunately, both sweetgrass and white sage can be easily grown at home, and Cech says, in the garden each contributes a beautiful and cleansing presence. By growing them, you can provide for your own incense needs and perhaps have enough to sell. A thriving market exists for sweetgrass braids and white sage smudge sticks and dried leaves. Local farmer’s markets and the Internet are primary outlets; they also sell well in bookstores, galleries, jewelry stores and souvenir shops.
Growing Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass grows wild in the northern regions of North America and Europe. Because most sweetgrass seed is infertile, stands are started from root plugs, available from various suppliers.
Cech, who also is the author of Making Plant Medicine and Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs, says, “Actually, fertile seed is sometimes available, but empty seedcoats are common and, even when germplasm is present, it is loaded with germination inhibiting compounds.” So the plant is more easily grown using other methods.
Plugs should be planted in potting soil using shallow, wide plastic pots, and kept in the shade for a couple of weeks to develop new roots, according to both Dremann and Cech. Young plants can be grown in the pots until they fill out; then they should be transplanted into the garden, spaced about a foot apart. Do not use clay or peat pots; in both containers, the roots can dry out too quickly.
Sweetgrass prefers rich, moist, slightly sandy soil and full sun. It’s important to keep it constantly moist, but not soggy. Dremann says the plant is a heavy feeder, so fertilize it at least twice during the growing season with blood meal and bone meal for best results.
There are two types of stems: stout ones, which flower from June to August, and lanky, non-flowering stems. Traditionally, both are harvested for braids by pulling them out of the base sheath: Support the base of the plant with one hand while pulling the longer blades out of the basal sheath. This way the roots are undisturbed, which allows the plant to regrow, and leaves the blades at maximum length for braiding.
Lay out the cut stems in the sun to dry in batches no more than an inch thick. Periodically, turn the stems so they dry evenly, and when they’re almost dry, braid them. The braids add a rich vanilla aroma to their surroundings, and generally are kept as is, rather than being burned.
Growing White Sage
Also known as Grandfather sage and bee sage, white sage is considered a sacred plant by many Native American tribes. It burns with a penetrating, slightly skunky pungency, Cech says.
A perennial that grows 2 to 5 feet high, white sage has gray-green young leaves that turn a dramatic white as they mature. The flowers, which bloom during the summer, are silvery white with a lavender tinge. The seed has a natural low germination rate — about 15 percent — so if you decide to try seed, sow it in very sandy soil or a commercial cactus mix, and water daily; average germination time is 14 days.
White sage is cold-hardy only as far north as Zone 8b (15 degrees); outside of Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, it should be cultivated as an annual or brought indoors for the winter. Repot seedlings into ceramic pots, using the same cactus/soil mix, and move them to the garden, or transplant them, about 2 feet apart, to a dry, sunny area. Good drainage is essential; most sages do not like wet feet and white sage won’t tolerate it at all.
Plant Sources
Horizon Herbs
P.O. Box 69
Williams, OR 97544
(541) 846-6704
www.horizonherbs.com
Redwood City Seed Co.
(sweetgrass only)
P.O. Box 361
Redwood City, CA 94064
(650) 325-7333
www.ecoseeds.com/sweetgrass.html
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1257.html
Intensive Organic Gardening
HYG-1257-02
Travis Beck, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State University
Martin F. Quigley, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State University
Intensive organic gardening offers a means to produce large quantities of fresh vegetables in a small area without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. It is an excellent gardening method for city dwellers who have limited yard space and who do not wish to expose themselves, their children, or their pets to potentially dangerous chemicals. It is also well-suited to small market garden operations.
Why garden organically?
Many people choose to garden organically because of concerns about the use of synthetic chemicals on their food. In addition to having possible health effects, these chemicals can affect the environment on farms and in neighboring areas through disruption of beneficial insect populations and through groundwater contamination. Fresh food grown locally may also have higher nutritional value than food shipped long distances.
History
Intensive organic gardening has its roots in the French market gardens of the 19th century. Parisian gardeners at this time were able to grow over 100 pounds of produce annually for every person in the city. They achieved this remarkable productivity through the use of raised beds (up to 18 inches in height) built with horse manure, which was abundant at the time, close plant spacing, and the use of glass cloches to allow for growth even in the winter. These techniques were brought to the United States by Alan Chadwick in the 1930s, and have continued to be refined and promoted by John Jeavons. Simultaneously, J. I. Rodale began demonstrating organic practices on his Pennsylvania farm. Rodale emphasized the creation of healthy soil through the use of organic amendments. The Rodale Institute now promotes the same philosophy of soil management for small gardens as well as farms, and Rodale Press has published much literature on organic gardening.
continues, a nice article...
http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org/?p=682
55 Unique Sewing And Craft Secrets
Posted By auke On March 22, 2009 @ 1:59 pm In Miscellaneous | No Comments
1. To Open that Stuck Zipper: Rub the teeth with a bar of soap or
spray with shaving cream.
2. An Ideal Pin Cushion: Use a bar of soap. Makes sewing easier
and needle just slides through hard material.
3. To unwrinkle Plastic Materials: Heat ironing board with iron,
lay material on board, then smooth with hands.
4. Neat and Easy Needle Threading: Dip tip of needle in clear
nail polish and let dry.
5. How to Remove Scorches: Wet scorched area and cover with
cornstarch, then brush off when dry.
6. Lengthen Life of Wooden Clothes Pins: Boil them in a salt
solution.
7. A Neat String Dispenser: Nail a funnel to the wall and pull
string out of bottom of funnel.
8. Tips on Storing Plastic Curtains: Sprinkle talcum powder
between the layers as you go.
9. Basting Made Easy: Just tape then sew around the pieces of
tape.
10. How to Revive Old Clothing: Shave those fluffs off with a
safety razor.
11. Make an Emergency Clothes Brush: Wrap a piece of tape around
the hand, sticky side out.
12. Stop Clothes Catching on Wooden Hangers: Put a coat of clear
nail polish over splinters and rough edges.
13. A Needle Sharpening Pin Cushion: Use steel wool to fill your
cushion.
14. Quick Needle Sharpening Trick: Rub needle against an emery
board.
15. Make a Good Yarn Preserver: Wrap yarn around a moth ball for
storage.
16. Handy Tip for Cutting Fur: Use a razor blade on back of fur
when cutting and you will not cut any hair.
17. Tips on Sewing Slippery Material: Stick a piece of waxed paper
in seam, pull away when finished.
18. Easy Pickup of Needle Spills: Use a small magnet.
19. Excellent Knitting Tip: Keep ball of yarn in nylon stocking -
will flow out free of tangles.
20. How to Get Rid of Shiny Pants: Make a solution of one part
vinegar to four parts water. Soak a cloth in solution, wring
out, place over pants and press lightly.
21. When You Need Heavy Duty Thread: Use dental floss.
22. Make a Handy Tape Measure Holder: Wind tape around an old
adhesive tape spool.
23. Prevent Nylon from Yellowing: Add baking soda to your wash
and rinse water.
24. Make a Perfect Sock Darner: Pull socks over a light bulb -
makes it easier.
25. Restore Velvet Like New: Brush good, then hang in a steamy
bathroom.
26. How to Get Rid of Knots on Sweaters: Rub lightly with a piece
of sandpaper.
27. How to Remove Lint from Wool: Use a damp sponge and touch
lightly.
28. Caring for Leather: Brush with skim milk every three months.
29. Repair Scuffed Patent Leather: Cover with same color polish,
let dry; then cover with clear nail polish.
30. Repair Cracking Patent Leather: Before each wearing, rub
briskly with your hand, then a soft cloth.
31. How to Soften Leather Shoes: Sponge with black coffee.
32. Create Rainbow Colors for Bottles and Vases: Use floating art
colors available from most paint stores. Take a pail and fill
it with water, then put a few drops of several different art
colors on top of water. You can now take any article you wish
and dip down through the colors slowly back and forth. Great
for decorating above items, tye-dye shirts, etc.
33. To Protect Your Sewing Bag: Stick the point of your closed
scissors into a cork.
34. Neat Pin and Needle Container: Save those stick deodorant
containers. They work great!
35. Renew those Worn Out Blankets: Sew cloth on both sides and
you have a new quilt.
36. To Ensure the Sections of Material Cut from a Pattern are
Accurate: First press the sections before laying them to be cut.
37. Breath Life into Those Worn Lingerie Items: Machine stitch
over small breaks.
38. Keep Needles Rust Free: Stick them straight into a bar of soap.
39. Money Making Craft Business You Can Start Today with Low
Overhead: Try making seat cushions. In many cases you will be
able to beat the high prices charged in stores. Try selling for
50% less.
40. Eliminate the Old Hemline in Your Wool Clothes: When lowering,
sponge with vinegar, then press.
41. Save Repair Bills on Your Sewing Machine: Try oiling and
delinting first before sending out for costly repairs.
42. Handy Substitute for Hemline Chalk: A bar of soap works fine.
43. Prevent Your Thread from Knotting when Basting: Tie a knot in
the thread before snipping off.
44. Remove Stains from Suede: First rub with a emery board, then
leave in a steamy shower or apply light steam from your iron.
45. Remove Grease From Valuable Silks: Rub in baby powder and let
stand several days, then brush out. Powder should absorb the
grease.
46. Tip on Ironing Ruffles: Always iron these on the wrong side
and from the edge in.
47. Handy Tip for Ironing Skirt Hems: Always make sure hems are
fully dry. Iron from bottom to top, not side to side. Iron
with the grain of the fabric.
48. To Iron Embroidered Items: Lay right side down on a terry
cloth and press out.
49. Don’t Pop Your Button: Cover them with a spoon while ironing.
50. Ironing Seer Sucker: If you ever have to do so, on the wrong
side only.
51. Fast Easy Way to Remove Lint: Put your garment on the fluff
cycle in dryer for a few moments.
52. Handy Tip for Filling Steam Irons: Your old squeeze bottles
work great!
53. Quickie Iron Tip: Place Reynolds Wrap under the ironing board
cover. Heats up faster and cuts your time in half.
54. Patchwork Tip: Before your sew a patch on any washable
garment, be sure to wash the patch once to avoid shrinkage.
55. Cool Folding Tip: After ironing, be sure to let the garments
cool completely before storing.
Article printed from Sharing Sustainable Solutions: http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org
URL to article: http://www.sharingsustainablesolutions.org/?p=682
[Fantastic Organic Greenhouse Growing guide, all methods]
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/ghveg.html
[a tiny snippet]
Soilless Culture
Soilless culture methods usually have higher yields than ground culture systems. Another advantage of a soilless system is easier control of disease problems. In the soilless techniques described below, the media can be disposed of after one crop has been grown, or it can be pasteurized relatively easily.
Bag Culture
In bag culture, plants are grown in a soilless medium contained in lay-flat or upright polyethylene bags (2-5 gallons in size) and fed with liquid fertilizers through drip irrigation lines. Media can be peat/vermiculite, sawdust, rockwool, rice hulls, pine bark, peanut hulls, or mixes of any of those. Bag culture is adaptable to both aggregate hydroponics fed with liquid fertilizers as well as standard soilless culture, in which the bulk of fertility is supplied via compost-based potting mixes.
Bag culture has become the preferred method of greenhouse vegetable production in many parts of the U.S. because it is easy to establish and manage successfully.
Upright bags should be purchased at greenhouse supply houses, since household garbage bags are usually not strong enough. Upright bags usually contain one plant per bag. Lay-flat bags are closed and are made of 4-mil, UV-protected polyethylene. Lay-flat bags often have two or three plants per bag. Bags are most often placed in double rows in the greenhouse.
Bag culture is well suited to the production of upright and vining crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Bag culture has become the preferred method of greenhouse vegetable production in many parts of the U.S. because it is easy to establish and manage successfully. One problem with bag culture is the potential for excess fertilizer solution to leach out of the drainage holes in the bags and into the greenhouse soil.
Adapting bag culture to standard soilless production in a certified organic greenhouse operation requires specially formulated organic potting mixes. An organic potting mix should not include any synthetic fertilizers or wetting agents. Growers can purchase certified organic potting mixes from a commercial supplier, or mix their own. Organic bag cultured vegetables may include a combination of incorporated, topdressed, liquid-fed, and foliar-fed fertilization systems. See ATTRA’s Potting Mixes for Certified Organic Production publication for a summary of media and fertilizers that can be used in organic production systems; this publication includes recipes for organic potting mixes collected from the alternative agriculture literature and interviews with organic farmers.
Adapting bag culture to soluble hydroponics or bioponics requires special hydroponic formulas and ingredients.
Vertical Towers
A form of bag culture is the vertical tower. Long bags full of media are hung from support wires or beams, and plants are placed in slits or holes made on the sides of the bag. The appeal of this system is the very efficient use of greenhouse space; since the plants are using vertical space, very little floor space is needed.
The most popular vertical tower is a patented system called Verti-Gro. Verti-Gro uses square, styrofoam pots, which are stacked 8-10 pots high and can be re-used for 5-10 years. Tim Carpenter, who owns the company, recommends using perlite and coir (coconut fiber) for media. Fertilizer is supplied by a drip irrigation system, in which solution flows from the topmost to the bottom box and into a gravel support base, where it can be captured and re-used. Crops that have been grown with this system include lettuces, strawberries, herbs, tomatoes, greens, spinach, nasturtium, and cut flowers. For more information on this system, contact:
Verti-Gro, Inc.
720 Griffin Rd.
Lady Lake, FL 32159
800-955-6757
352-750-4202
Straw Bale Culture
Straw bale culture was an important method of greenhouse cucumber production in Europe and Canada prior to the development of rockwool and NFT hydroponics. Bale culture can be especially useful as a method to avoid soils contaminated with diseases or in greenhouses with concrete or gravel floors. Based on limited experience in Canada in adapting straw bale culture to organics, this method appears to have merit where one of the aforementioned conditions exists.
In bale culture, the greenhouse floor can be concrete or lined with plastic or fabric mulch, and bales are laid out in rows. Bales are pre-wetted with manure tea, which initiates decomposition and causes the bales to heat up. On the average, about 7 gallons of water are required for a normal 50 lb. bale. When the temperature of the bales cools down to below 110° F, they are capped with six inches of a compost-based potting mix to accommodate the root balls of the transplants. Normally, planting would take place on about the eleventh day.
Fertilizers topdressed to the bales include dry bone meal, sul-po-mag, and an organic nitrogen source. Manure tea, seaweed, and fish-seaweed blends are used as liquid fertilizers. As the bales continue to ferment and decompose, heat and carbon dioxide are generated and these byproducts promote plant growth by warming the roots and enriching the greenhouse atmosphere.
In considering straw bale culture, the cost of the bales and topcapping compared with costs of a comparable production system such as bag culture, will need to be weighed. Also, in organic culture, a major factor would be the availability of certified organic straw. Herbicide residues in straw can cause serious injury to greenhouse crops.
Canadian studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that:
* Spring-grown cucumbers grown on straw bales yielded an average of 21% more fruit than soil-grown plants, although fall-sown plants did not have a yield increase.
* Wheat straw bales provided the best results, followed by clover straw. Timothy/alfalfa hay bales gave poor results.
* Using half a bale per plant caused no significant loss in yield.
* Using a plastic sheet under the bales caused a 9% reduction in yield.
* There is little or no difference in yield between bales placed on the soil surface and those buried or half-buried in a trench.
* Growing in straw bales was economically feasible for spring-sown plants. (16)
Missouri farmer Eric Hemple raises organic arugula, squash, green beans, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, and cucumbers using the straw bale method. A neighbor provides organic straw bales at a price of $3 each. Hemple places the bales between two sheets of corrugated tin braced with stakes to create a more uniform growing surface. He uses a sterile potting mix as his capping medium and bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion, and rock phosphate as his fertilizers. Hemple uses a drip irrigation system and warns that careful attention to watering is essential, as are proper nutrient levels. He sells all his products at retail and estimates that he is receiving a gross return of 50 cents per square foot of bale space per week. (17)
Shallow Bed Culture
Shallow bed culture, also known as thin layer culture, is the production of sprouts or herbaceous herbs and vegetables in a thin layer–1 to 3 inches in depth–of potting mix or compost laid on top of plastic mulch or woven weed barrier. Herbaceous crops adapted to shallow bed culture include specialty lettuces, greens, cresses, and selected culinary herbs.
At least one commercial sprout grower in California uses this method in the production of organic wheat grass, sunflower, and buckwheat sprouts. Root-zone heating tubes are laid underneath the plastic to provide bottom heat. In turn, they rest on top of polystyrene panels laid directly over the greenhouse soil. Gas-fired water heaters are used to heat the water, but such a system could easily be retrofitted to solar collectors located outside the greenhouse. Narrow boards are laid out every three feet to walk up and down between the beds to seed, water, and harvest.
Jay Fulbright, a commercial lettuce and specialty greens grower in Arkansas, has three growing systems. In the first, he amends his soil with compost and pelletized chicken litter and plants directly into the ground. In the second system, he uses tables made of 2x8 lumber and places 3½” of compost onto 2x4 welded wire mesh, covered with perforated plastic to allow for drainage. All the greens are hand-harvested using this system. The third method involves placing 4” of compost and chicken litter directly onto polypropylene sheets laid on the ground. Jay devised the third method in order to cut down on labor; he hopes to be able to use a salad harvester. He is now harvesting an average of 300 pounds of lettuce per week, which he sells to restaurants and specialty groceries.
Education Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), a nonprofit organization that works in agriculture development, is promoting the shallow bed method as a technique for rooftop gardening in urban settings. The beds they describe are deeper-3 to 6 inches in depth-and are more typical of standard trough culture using a soilless mix. They’ve achieved good success raising a variety of vegetable crops using locally available materials such as leaf mold and compost.
ECHO has published several reports on shallow bed culture and low-tech hydroponics. For more information, contact them at:
Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO)
17391 Durrance Rd.
North Ft. Myers, FL 33917
941-543-3246
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Hydroponics
In hydroponics, plants are grown in a soilless medium and fed with fertilizer nutrients dissolved in solution. There are two broad categories of hydroponics: liquid hydroponics and aggregate hydroponics.
Liquid systems feature the nutrient film technique (NFT), aeroponics, floating raft, and noncirculating water culture. Aggregate systems include inert, organic, and mixed media contained in bag, trough, trench, and bench setups.
Liquid systems like NFT are often managed as closed, or recirculating systems. Aggregate systems are commonly managed as open, or flood and drain fertigation systems.
There are three basic approaches to organic hydroponic vegetable production: a) soluble organics, also known as hydro-organics, b) integration of hydroponics with aquaculture, also known as aquaponics, and c) bioponics.
Hydro-organics is based on hydroponic solutions derived from organic fertilizers like fish meal, spray-dried blood, and guano. Aquaponics is based on recirculating aquaculture in which irrigation effluent from fish tanks is used to fertigate sand or gravel cultured hydroponic vegetables. For more information, see the ATTRA publication Aquaponics. Bioponics, or “living hydroponics,” is based on inoculating the hydroponic medium with microorganisms.
The greenhouse vegetable business is competitive.
The key difference between organic and chemical hydroponics is the source of fertility and presence of microorganisms. Microbes are essential to organic systems because they help regulate pH and availability of nutrients. In addition, bioponic researchers claim that enzymes produced by the microbes interact with plant roots and stimulate biochemical processes in the plants which enhance the flavor of bioponic produce.
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Variety Selection
Variety or cultivar selection plays an important role in greenhouse vegetable production. Cultivars often originate in greenhouse breeding programs where selection is based on disease resistance and ability to perform under greenhouse climatic conditions. Greenhouse seed vendors and the Cooperative Extension Service can recommend appropriate cultivars. Seed suppliers are listed in the Seed Sources section below. See the ATTRA series of publications on specific greenhouse crops for other recommendations.
Economics of Greenhouse Vegetable Production:
[A fantastic source of information, a must read for every greenhouse owner or one planning to build...granny]
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/solar-gh.html
[A small snippet of the report]
Solar Greenhouse Resources
Horticulture Resource List
By Barbara Bellows, updated by K. Adam
NCAT Agriculture Specialists
Published 2008
ATTRA Publication #IP142
Abstract
greenhouse
Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture.
Photo: NCAT
This resource list discusses basic principles of solar greenhouse design, as well as different construction material options. Books, articles and Web sites, and computer software relevant to solar greenhouse design are all provided in a resource list.
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Basic Principles of Solar Greenhouse Design
* Solar Greenhouse Designs
* Solar Heat Absorption
* Solar Heat Storage
* Insulation
* Ventilation
* Putting It All Together
* References
* Resources
o Books
o Articles, Fact Sheets, and Web Sites
o Computer Software
Introduction
Since 2000, U.S. greenhouse growers have increasingly adopted high tunnels as the preferred solar greenhouse technology. Rigid frames and glazing are still common in parts of Europe, and in the climate-controlled operations in Mexico and the Caribbean that produce acres of winter crops for North American markets. (For more on climate-controlled technology, see Linda Calvin and Roberta Cook. 2005. “Greenhouse tomatoes change the dynamics of the North American fresh tomato industry.” AmberWaves. April. Vol. 3, No. 2.).
All greenhouses collect solar energy. Solar greenhouses are designed not only to collect solar energy during sunny days but also to store heat for use at night or during periods when it is cloudy. They can either stand alone or be attached to houses or barns. A solar greenhouse may be an underground pit, a shed-type structure, or a hoophouse. Large-scale producers use free-standing solar greenhouses, while attached structures are primarily used by home-scale growers.
Passive solar greenhouses are often good choices for small growers because they are a cost-efficient way for farmers to extend the growing season. In colder climates or in areas with long periods of cloudy weather, solar heating may need to be supplemented with a gas or electric heating system to protect plants against extreme cold. Active solar greenhouses use supplemental energy to move solar heated air or water from storage or collection areas to other regions of the greenhouse. Use of solar electric (photovoltaic) heating systems for greenhouses is not cost-effective unless you are producing high-value crops.
Hazards due to increased weather turbulence:
* Hail
* Tornados
* High straight-line winds
* Build-up of snow, ice
The majority of the books and articles about old-style solar greenhouses were published in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, much of this material has gone out of print, and some of the publishers are no longer in business. While contact information for companies and organizations listed in these publications is probably out of date, some of the technical information contained in them is still relevant.
The newest form of solar greenhouse, widely adopted by U.S. producers, is high tunnels. The term glazing, as used in this publication, includes reference to polyethylene coverings for hoop houses.
Out-of-print publications often can be found in used bookstores, libraries, and through the inter-library loan program. Some publications are also available on the Internet. Bibliofind is an excellent, searchable Web site where many used and out-of-print books can be located.
As you plan to construct or remodel a solar greenhouse, do not limit your research to books and articles that specifically discuss “solar greenhouses.” Since all greenhouses collect solar energy and need to moderate temperature fluctuations for optimal plant growth, much of the information on “standard” greenhouse management is just as relevant to solar greenhouses. Likewise, much information on passive solar heating for homes is also pertinent to passive solar heating for greenhouses. As you look through books and articles on general greenhouse design and construction, you will find information relevant to solar greenhouses in chapters or under topic headings that discuss:
* energy conservation
* glazing materials
* floor heating systems
* insulation materials
* ventilation methods
In books or articles on passive solar heating in homes or other buildings, you can find useful information on solar greenhouses by looking for chapters or topic headings that examine:
* solar orientation
* heat absorption materials
* heat exchange through “phase-change” or “latent heat storage materials”
This updated resource list includes listings of books, articles, and Web sites that focus specifically on solar greenhouses, as well as on the topics listed above.
Related ATTRA Publications
* Season Extension Techniques for Market Gardeners
* Organic Greenhouse Vegetable Production
* Greenhouse and Hydroponic Vegetable Production Resources on the Internet
* Potting Mixes for Certified Organic Production
* Integrated Pest Management for Greenhouse Crops
* Herbs: Organic Greenhouse Production
* Plug and Transplant Production for Organic Systems
* Compost Heated Greenhouses
* Root Zone Heating for Greenhouse Crops
continued, or rather this is just the beginning.....
Solar Greenhouse videos and links for information:
http://www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs_greenhouses.htm
Solar greenhouse information:
http://www.greenhousegarden.com/energy.htm
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/manures.html
Manures for Organic Crop Production
By George Kuepper
NCAT Agriculture Specialist
©2003 NCAT
ATTRA Publication #IP127
The printable PDF version of the entire document is available at:
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/manures.pdf
12 pages — 385K
Download Acrobat Reader
Manure
Abstract
Livestock manures are an important resource in sustainable and organic crop production. This publication addresses the problems and challenges of using both raw and composted manures and discusses some of the solutions. It also deals with guano, a similar material.
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Raw Manure Use: Problems and Solutions
* Composted Manures
* About Guano
* Field-applying Manures and Composts
* Summary
* References
* Recommended Resources
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/complant.html
Companion Planting: Basic Concept and Resources
By George Kuepper & Mardi Dodson
NCAT Agriculture Specialist and Project Intern
July 2001
ATTRA Publication #IP125/71
The printable PDF version of the entire document is available at:
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/complant.pdf
10 pages — 669 kb
Download Acrobat Reader
Abstract
Companion planting is based on the idea that certain plants can benefit others when planted in near proximity. The scientific and traditional bases for these plant associations are discussed. A companion planting chart for common herbs, vegetables, and flowers is provided, as is a listing of literature resources for traditional companion planting. An appendix provides history, plant varieties, and planting designs for the Three Sisters, a traditional Native American companion planting practice.
Table of Contents
* Traditional Companion Planting
* Companion Planting Chart
* The Scientific Foundations for Companion Planting
* Options for System Design
* References
* Appendix: Ancient Companions
Traditional Companion Planting
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html#top
Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation
[snipped]
Liquid Manures and Herbal Teas
Herbal teas, also called liquid manures or garden teas, are an old practice in organic farming and gardening—especially in biodynamic farming—yet little is published on this topic outside of the practitioner literature. A complementary practice is the use of compost teas.
In reality, herbal teas usually consist of one fermented plant extract, while liquid manures are made by fermenting a mixture of herb plants in combination with fish or seaweed extracts. The purpose of herbal teas and liquid manures are manyfold; here again, they perform dual roles by supporting biological as well as dynamic processes on the farm; i.e., source of soluble plant nutrients; stimulation of plant growth; disease-suppression; carrier of cosmic and earthly forces. To reflect their multi-purpose use, they are sometimes referred to as immune-building plant extracts, plant tonics, biotic substances, and biostimulants.
Further insight into foliar-applied plant extracts, liquid manures, and compost teas can be understood by viewing biological farming practices in the way they influence the rhizosphere or phyllosphere. (Those microbially-rich regions surrounding the root and leaf surfaces). Herbal teas and liquid manures aim to influence the phyllosphere; composts, tillage, and green manures influence the rhizosphere.
In addition to physical modification of the leaf surface to inhibit pathogen spore germination or the promotion of antagonistic (beneficial) microbes to compete against disease-causing organisms (pathogens), foliar-applied biotic extracts can sometimes initiate a systemic whole plant response known as induced resistance.
Horsetail tea is extracted from the common horsetail (Equisetum arvense), a plant especially rich in silica. Horsetail is best seen as a prophylactic (disease-preventing, not disease-curing) spray with a mild fungus-suppressing effect. During the months when green plants are not readily available, you can prepare an extract by covering dry plants with water and allowing them to ferment in a sunny place for about ten days. Dried equisetum, available through the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics (5) in Woolwine, Virginia, can also be used to make horsetail tea.
Stinging nettle tea is extracted from whole nettle plants (Urtica dioica) at any stage of growth up to seed-set. To make nettle tea, use about three pounds of fresh plants for every gallon of water, allow the mixture to ferment for about ten days, then filter it and spray a diluted tea. Dilution rates of 1:10 to 1:20 are suggested in the biodynamic literature. A biodynamic nettle tea is prepared by adding BD preparations 502, 503, 505, 506, and 507 prior to the soaking period.
Chamomile tea is derived from the flowers of true chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) which have been picked and dried in the sun. Fresh flowers may be used too, but they are only available during a short part of the growing season. To prepare the tea, steep about one cup of tightly packed flowers per gallon of hot water. Stir well, and spray the filtered tea when cool. Chamomile is high in calcium, potash, and sulfur; it is good for leafy crops and flowers and promotes health of vegetables in general.
Comfrey tea is another tea commonly used in organic farming and gardening. Comfrey is a rich source of nutrients; it is especially good for fruiting and seed filling crops. It can be made by packing a barrel three-quarters full with fresh cut leaves, followed by topping the barrel full of water. It is allowed to steep for 7-14 days, then filtered and diluted in half with water prior to use.
The Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association (4) can supply literature on herbal teas. Two pamphlets you may be interested to know about are:
Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1984. Using the Bio-Dynamic Compost Preparations & Sprays in Garden, Orchard, & Farm. Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc., Kimberton, PA. 64 p.
Koepf, H.H. 1971. Bio-Dynamic Sprays. Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc., Kimberton, PA. 16 p.
Compost teas are gaining wider recognition in biodynamic and organic farming for their disease suppressive benefits as well as for their ability to serve as a growth-promoting microbial inoculant. See the ATTRA publication Notes on Compost Teas for more detailed information.
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Planetary Influences
Lunar and astrological cycles play a key role in the timing of biodynamic practices, such as the making of BD preparations and when to plant and cultivate. Recognition of celestial influences on plant growth are part of the biodynamic awareness that subtle energy forces affect biological systems. A selection of resources are listed below. On examination of the variations in agricultural calendars that have sprung from the biodynamic experience, it is apparent that differing viewpoints exist on which lunar, planetary, and stellar influences should be followed.
Stella Natura – The Kimberton Hills Biodynamic Agricultural Calendar, available through BDFGA for $11.95, is the biodynamic calendar edited by Sherry Wildfeur and the most prominently known calendar of this type in the United States. It contains informative articles interspersed with daily and monthly astrological details, and lists suggested times for planting root, leaf, flowering, and fruiting crops.
Working with the Stars: A Bio-Dynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar, available through JPI for $12.95, is the biodynamic calendar based on Maria Thun’s research and is more prominently used in Europe. Of the three calendars mentioned here, Thun’s calendar relies more heavily on planetary and stellar influences. It contains research briefs as well as daily and monthly astrological details, again with suggested planting times.
Astronomical Gardening Guide, available through Agri-Synthesis in Napa, California (11) for a self-addressed stamped envelope, is the biodynamic gardening guide compiled by Greg Willis of Agri-Synthesis. This calendar, which is a simple 2-sheet information leaflet, focuses on lunar phases.
continues...
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/organicmatters/conservationtillage.html
Pursuing Conservation Tillage Systems
for Organic Crop Production
by George Kuepper
NCAT/ATTRA Technical Specialist
June 2001
Contents
* Introduction
* Organic Farming & the Tillage Dilemma
* Mulch Tillage
* Ridge Tillage
* Killed Mulch Systems
Mowing
Undercutting
Rolling & Roll-Chopping
Weather-Kill
Cover Crops for Killed Mulch Systems
The Challenges of Killed Mulches
Resources & Research on Killed Mulch Systems
* Living Mulches
Cover Crop Selection for Living Mulches
Living Mulch Suppression
Resources & Research on Living Mulches
* Zone Tillage
* Cover Crop Technologies
* Selected Abstracts: No-Till/Low-Till Research and Writings Relevant to Organic Systems
Living Mulches for Vegetable Production
Spring-Sown Cover Crops and Undercutting
A Living Mulch System for the South
Snap Beans in Killed Mulch Culture
More Research from Maryland: Cover Crop Mixtures vs. Monocultures
Vetch Mulch Repels Colorado Potato Beetle
Living Mulch as Beneficial Insect Habitat
Combining Killed-Mulch and Living Mulch Technologies
Allelopathic Effects on Crops
Bell Peppers in Cowpea Mulch
Tomatoes in Killed Rye/Vetch in Massachusetts
No-till Pumpkins in NY State
Optimum Timing for Rolling
No-till Organic Broccoli
Desert Production of Transplanted Lettuce
Farm Production of No-Till Garlic
An On-Farm Living Mulch System in Montana
California Research Underway
A Guide to Zone Tillage
* Summary
* References
* Further ATTRA Resources
* Acknowledgements
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/intercrop.html
Intercropping Principles and Production Practices
By Preston Sullivan
NCAT Agriculture Specialist
©2003 NCAT
ATTRA Publication #IP135
The printable PDF version of the entire document is available at:
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/intercrop.pdf
12 pages — 648K
Download Acrobat Reader
Abstract
Alternating strips of alfalfa
Alternating strips of alfalfa with corn in northeast Iowa.
Photo by: Tim McCabe, USDA-NRCS
Intercropping offers farmers the opportunity to engage nature’s principle of diversity on their farms. Spatial arrangements of plants, planting rates, and maturity dates must be considered when planning intercrops. Intercrops can be more productive than growing pure stands. Many different intercrop systems are discussed, including mixed intercropping, strip cropping, and traditional intercropping arrangements. Pest management benefits can also be realized from intercropping due to increased diversity. Harvesting options for intercrops include hand harvest, machine harvest for on-farm feed, and animal harvest of the standing crop.
Table of Contents
* Principles
* Pursuing Diversity on the Farm
* Intercropping Concepts
* Intercrop Productivity
* Managing Intercrops
* Examples of Intercrop Systems
* Escalating Diversity and Stability to a Higher Level
* Escalating Diversity and Stability to an Even Higher Level
* Intercropping for Disease Control
* Adapting Intercropping to Your Farm
* References
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/farmscape.html
Farmscaping to Enhance Biological Control
Pest Management Systems Guide
By Rex Dufour
NCAT Agriculture Specialist
Published 2000
ATTRA Publication #CT065
The printable PDF version of the entire document is available at:
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/farmscaping.pdf
40 pages — 1.4M
Download Acrobat Reader
Abstract
Fong Farms
Hedgerow of Insectary Plants at Fong Farms Ltd. in Woodland, CA
This publication contains information about increasing and managing biodiversity on a farm to favor beneficial organisms, with emphasis on beneficial insects. The types of information farmscapers need to consider is outlined and emphasized. Appendices have information about various types and examples of successful “farmscaping” (manipulations of the agricultural ecosystem), plants that attract beneficials, pests and their predators, seed blends to attract beneficial insects, examples of farmscaping, hedgerow establishment and maintenance budgets, and a sample flowering period table.
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Farmscape Planning
* Other Considerations
* Farmscaping for Birds and Bats
* A Recap: Steps to Farmscaping
* Federal Cost Share Programs
* Summary
* References
* Useful Contacts
* Useful Web sites
* Additional Reading
* Appendix A
* Appendix B
* Appendix C
* Appendix D
* Appendix E
* Appendix F
* Appendix G
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/perma.html
Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources
By Steve Diver
NCAT Agriculture Specialist
Published 2002
ATTRA Publication #CT083
Abstract
Photo of hands cradling seedling.
Photo: clipart.com
This publication offers definitions and descriptions of permaculture and its central principles. It offers listings of resources and publications on permaculture in the United States, Australia, and worldwide.
Table of Contents
* Introduction to Permaculture
* Permaculture Defined
* Characteristics of Permaculture
* The Practical Application of Permaculture
* The Ethics of Permaculture
* The Principles of Permaculture Design
* Permaculture Resources
o United States
o Australia
o Around the world
* Books on Permaculture
* A Few Good Books for the Permaculturist’s Bookshelf
* Agroforestry Resources
* E-Mail Discussion Lists, Web Forums, & e-mail Web Archives
* Permaculture Web Links and Resources
o Manuals, Primers, and Syllabi on Permaculture
o On-Line Articles, Fact Sheets & Proceedings
o Permaculture in North America
o Permaculture in Australia
o Permaculture in Europe
o Permaculture Around the World
o Plants for Permaculture
o Permaculture Technologies
o Bioregional & Eco-Village Links
o Virtual Libraries on Permaculture & Sustainability
o Agroforestry Web Sites
o Holistic Management
* About this Publication (formerly The Permaculture FAQ)
Introduction to Permaculture
The word “permaculture” was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist, and one of his students, David Holmgren. It is a contraction of “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture.”
Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature.
A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that produce food. Emphasis is placed on multi-use plants, cultural practices such as sheet mulching and trellising, and the integration of animals to recycle nutrients and graze weeds.
However, permaculture entails much more than just food production. Energy-efficient buildings, waste water treatment, recycling, and land stewardship in general are other important components of permaculture. More recently, permaculture has expanded its purview to include economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. As such, permaculture design concepts are applicable to urban as well as rural settings, and are appropriate for single households as well as whole farms and villages.
“Integrated farming” and “ecological engineering” are terms sometimes used to describe perma-culture, with “cultivated ecology” perhaps coming the closest. Though helpful, these terms alone do not capture the holistic nature of permaculture; thus, the following definitions are included here to provide additional insight.
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Permaculture Defined
1. From Bill Mollison:
Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments.
http://www.journeytoforever.org/garden.html
Organic gardening
— “Organic gardening is not just a middle-class hobby. It’s part of the wider environmental movement, it’s part of a sustainable future. I believe that you could feed the whole world using organic methods.” — Jackie Gear, Executive Director of the HDRA, Britain’s Organic Association, 1991.
— “The truth, so effectively suppressed that it is now almost impossible to believe, is that organic farming is the key to feeding the world.” — “Biotech has bamboozled us all — Studies suggest that traditional farming methods are still the best”, The Guardian, August 24, 2000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/
2000/aug/24/foodanddrink.ethicalfood
— “Organic farming could produce enough food to feed large populations, according to British scientists at the Festival of Science in Sheffield.” — “Organic farming can ‘feed the world’”, BBC Science, September 14, 1999
http://www.purefood.org/Organic/orgfeedworld.cfm
— “Feeding the world?” Quietly, slowly and very significantly, sustainable agriculture is sweeping the farming systems of the world — Jules Pretty, Director of the Centre for Environment and Society at the University of Essex, examines the myths and realities of sustainable farming’s quiet revolution.
http://members.tripod.com/~ngin/article2.htm
“It sounds like an environmentalist’s dream. Low-tech ‘sustainable agriculture’, shunning chemicals in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more. But it’s no dream. That’s the claim being made in the biggest ever survey of green-minded farming. The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only genetically modified crops can feed the planet’s hungry in the 21st century. The gains are greatest among poor farmers...” — “The greener revolution”, New Scientist, 3 February 2001
Journey to Forever organic garden
Part of the Journey to Forever garden
We built an experimental garden at our base at the Beach House in Hong Kong, an interesting mix of Square Foot Gardening and Container Gardening, advanced yet simple and flexible organic growing systems. Though initially developed mainly for city-dwellers (parts of our garden came from a scaled-down version used in a 450-sq-ft 19th-floor city flat with no balcony), we’ll be using these methods very far from cities.
Brimming with healthy vegetables
These systems need less space and less work, they’re cheap, and they produce high yields of top-quality food.
One square foot garden unit measuring only 16 sq ft holds an average of 130 plants and produces enough high-quality vegetables for one person. It doesn’t have to be a single unit, two half-sized units will do just fine — or whatever fits.
— “The square foot garden is divided into a size and shape that gardeners of all ages, sizes, and levels of experience can understand and cope with easily. The system is simple but versatile. It can be adapted to fit all kinds of gardening situations” — Mel Bartholomew, author of “Square Foot Gardening” (1981)
There was no garden at the Beach House before, just a big cement patio overlooking the sea, and under the cement, three metres of beach sand.
Keith digging through the cement patio to build the growing beds
A stunted umbrella tree (Elephant’s Ear) was trying to grow in a hole in the cement, with some old bathtubs and tyres standing here and there where a previous tenant tried raising some vegetables. But most of the soil in them washed away in the rains.
Soon we had tons of fertile soil in deep raised no-dig growing beds and hundreds of happy looking plants growing in them, with scores of varieties in square feet in the beds and in the containers. Our tomatoes grew more than 12 feet tall!
Squashes growing in a bathtub
Bananas and papayas grew in big baskets and Chinese dragon pots, a mulberry cutting grew to a three-metre tree in a sunken bathtub, squashes and gourds in baskets and another bathtub grew up old bamboo ladders onto the kitchen roof. Sweet potato vines sprawled over the patio from a bed made of old logs on top of the cement. A variety of greens, bush beans, dwarf peppers and cherry tomatoes thrived in special one-square-foot baskets — a novel way to start your own portable garden.
The garden attracted lots of hardworking bees, many sorts of butterflies, toads to eat the bugs, and a lot of different birds — a rich, balanced ecology.
Handmade soil
The Beach House garden demonstrates that you can build a beautiful organic food garden even on cement without any soil — you make your own high-quality soil by composting food scraps with crop wastes and other waste-products. This waste recycling system is clean, hygienic and nuisance-free, and proven to be safe for children and in the home.
Turning a compost pile at the Beach House
If you have garden space, so much the better — this is how to get a LOT of good, healthy food out of a very small area with a minimum of fuss.
If you only have a balcony or a roof, you can build a container garden. If you don’t even have that you can make a window garden, and extend it by using grow-lights in the odd spare corner, and still grow a lot of your own food.
Whatever your situation, you can still make your own organic soil out of food scraps, grow your own healthy food, and do your bit to reduce waste.
— “You can raise a surprising amount of food on your roof, deck, patio or windowsill. The rewards can be large, even if your space is small” — Chuck Crandall and Barbara Crandall, “Movable Harvests” (1995)
Other settings
This growing system is ideal for schools gardens and as a resource for school biology and environment projects.
In the US the Square Foot Foundation is working to get a garden in every school, with Internet resource links promoting inter-school collaboration and providing expert support.
Midori transplants seedlings, using yoghurt pots, paper cups and milk cartons.
In Britain the HDRA’s newly launched Schools Organic Network is helping schools to start and manage organic gardens for education. “Today’s children could be forgiven for thinking that bananas come from boxes, peas come frozen in packets, and tomatoes from tins. The real origin of these foods — that they come from living plants which grow in the soil — is not apparent.”
http://www.hdra.org.uk/schools_organic_network/index.htm
Our food-growing and waste-recycling system can also be easily adapted to the community gardens we plan to start in towns along our route.
And the garden served as a test-bed for some of the techniques and approaches we’ll use in village rural development projects.
Village development
Why do small farmers need kitchen gardens? Because they help to ensure the family’s food security.
There have been cases where development efforts have succeeded in increasing farm yields and productivity but this has led to a decrease in the family’s nutritional status. In many societies weeding is “women’s work”, and more crops meant more weeding, and less time to tend the
Close spacing creates a living green mulch to protect the soil.
family vegetable patch (also women’s work), and therefore less food for the children.
Square foot gardening is an engineer’s solution to the problem of how to grow enough food for your family with the minimum waste of space, time, work and resources while getting the best results.
One square foot garden unit measuring 4ft x 4ft — only 16 sq ft — will produce enough high-quality vegetables to feed one person every day.
We’ll try to build at least two of them everywhere we go, in addition to whatever other work the local communities want us to do for them.
UPDATE
Since we wrote this we’ve found that other groups are using this approach, and it’s very effective:
“In Kenya, the Association for Better Land Husbandry found that the farmers who constructed double-dug beds in their gardens could produce enough vegetables to see them through the hungry dry season. According to a review of 26 communities, 75% of the households are now free from hunger during the year, and the proportion of households buying food fell from 85% to 11%.” — Alternative Models (or Approaches) to Food Production, by Jules Pretty and Rachel Hime, University of Essex, UK, Jean Marc von der Weid, AS-PTA, Brazil, October 2001
http://www.forumfoodsovereignty.org/ingleseweb/
documenti_forum/documenti_base/alternative.htm
Technology
Like most Journey to Forever projects, the emphasis is on a mix of technologies. Gardening is an ancient art with a great heritage, and gardeners haven’t mechanized like farmers have — they still tend each plant one by one, the same old tried-and-trusted way. The square foot system just makes it easier.
All the local villagers liked our garden
We also use some sophisticated bio-control, waste recycling and soil bio-activation techniques, but they’re easy to grasp and simple to use.
Many of the local villagers in Lantau still grow their vegetables the old way, and at first they were sceptical of our garden, with all that sand underneath. But when they saw the results they thought it was great, they kept saying so.
Rows are for tractors — it’s hard to see how they benefit gardeners. We planted a deep growing bed in circles. Circle-planting optimizes companion planting, successions and plant spacings for different plants. It’s highly productive but needs a very fertile soil, and it’s much more complex than square foot gardening
The circle bed in full production — high yields of top-quality vegetables and herbs
Different crops grow well together — high fertility allows for close spacing
The square-foot idea is easy to grasp. Any farm women only has to see a square foot garden to understand how the system works, and can easily adapt it to local crops and conditions: deep, no-dig, raised beds; a different crop in each one-foot square; small plants in the front (facing the sun), bigger ones in the middle, climbers up a trellis at the back.
Apart from a companion planting chart (some plants love each other, others hate each other), a plant-spacing chart showing how many of each species to plant in one square foot, and a cropping calendar, that’s really all you need to know.
Soil fertility
The key is to make the soil fertile enough to keep pushing up that many healthy plants — square foot gardens need rich soil, at least 12 inches deep (these beds “grow” themselves deeper), or 16 cubic feet per unit.
So we’ll also build two compost heaps (at least!). There’s always enough waste material around to make compost.
One heap will be a quick-acting one — we’ll put a cubic metre (half a ton) of wastes through a power shredder, greatly increasing the surface area of the material and speeding up the rate of decay. Rapid bacterial breakdown will drive the temperature inside the heap well above 60 deg C within a day.
After a week we’ll shred it again, and a week after that it will be ready — rich, black, crumbly stuff that looks nothing like its origins and has a clean, earthy smell, the ideal soil, enough to build our two demonstration square foot units and plant them. No need for expensive chemical fertilizers!
But few villagers have power shredders, so at the same time we’ll make another heap the low-tech way, in layers, which works just as well but takes longer to cure. This heap will get just as hot after a couple of days, and after two weeks we’ll turn it, using ordinary hand tools, mixing it in thoroughly. A few weeks later it will be ready for use.
City farms
Organic gardening
Why organic?
Building a square foot garden
Plant spacing guides
No ground? Use containers
When to sow what
Seeds
Garden pond
Gardening resources
Composting
Making compost
Composting resources
Composting indoors
Vermicomposting
Humanure
Composting for small farms
Small farms
Small farm resources
Community-supported farms
Farming with trees
Farming with animals
Pasture
Pigs for small farms
Poultry for small farms
Aquaculture for small farms
Composting for small farms
Controlling weeds and pests
Small farms library