Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition [Survival Today

Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years.

To us, Suelo probably sounds a little extreme. Actually, he probably sounds very extreme. After all, I suspect most of you reading this are doing so under the protection of some sort of man-made shelter, and with some amount of money on your person, and probably a few needs for money, too. And who doesn’t need money unless they have completely unplugged from the grid? Still, it’s an amusing story about a guy who rejects all forms of consumerism as we know it.

How to Brew Your Own Beer and Maybe Save Some Money. A fantastic introduction to home brewing, something I’ve never done myself, but always been interested in trying. (@Generation X Finance)

Contentment: A Great Financial Principle. If I had to name one required emotion for living a frugal lifestyle it would be contentment. Once you are content with your belongings and your lot in life you can ignore forces attempting to separate you from your money. (@Personal Finance by the Book)

Use Energy Star Appliances to Save On Utility Costs. I enjoyed this post because it included actual numbers, and actual total savings, from someone who upgraded to new, energy star appliances. (@The Digerati Life)

Over-Saving for Retirement? Is it possible to “over-save” for retirement? Yes, I think so. At some point I like the idea of putting some money aside in taxable investments outside of retirement funds, to be accessed prior to traditional retirement age. (@The Simple Dollar)

40 Things to Teach My Kids Before They Leave Home. A great list of both practical and philosophical lessons to teach your kids before they reach the age where they know everything. I think that now happens around 13 years-old. (@My Supercharged Life)

Index Fund Investing Overview. If you are looking for a place to invest with high diversification and relatively low fees (for broader index funds with low turnover), index funds are a great place to start. (@Money Smart Life)

5 Reasons To Line Dry Your Laundry. My wife and I may soon be installing a clothesline in our backyard. In many neighborhoods they are frowned upon - one of the reasons I don’t like living in a neighborhood. I digress. One of our neighbors recently put up a clothesline, and we might just follow his lead. (@Simple Mom)

* 4 Quick Tips for Getting Out of a Rut * Young and Cash Rich * Embracing Simple Style * First Trading Experience With OptionsHouse * The Exponential Power of Delayed Consumption * How Much Emergency Fund is Enough? * 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind * Save Money On Car Insurance

Associated Press - Motor City may provide model for urban agriculture

Detroit, which revolutionized manufacturing with its auto assembly lines, could
once again be a model for the world as residents transform vacant, often-blighted
land into a source of fresh food. No city seems to have as much potential for urban
farming as Detroit, where land is cheap, empty lots are plentiful, and residents
are desperate for jobs.

Novella Carpenter talks about her urban farm

Novella Carpenter started small, with some plants in an empty lot next to her house
in Oakland. A couple of years later, she was tending to a full-blown farm, with
goats, turkeys, ducks, pigs, and a robust garden. Her book, Farm City, details her
experiences. As does this video, which tackles questions of neighborliness (which
is more offensive: police sirens or roosters crowing?), environmental poisons (raised
beds are key), and the all-important slaughter question. The answer: Yes, she does
(and yes, there is some bloody footage).

A sense of community, a sense of security

George Pinch has been hoeing and weeding his plot in the East Boulevard community
garden for 25 years, and you could say he learned his craft at the feet of the master.

Pinch took as his mentor University of B. C.-trained botanist Donald Flather, who
founded the garden in 1942 to support the war effort.

Flather was well-known during
his lifetime as an artist and a high school teacher, receiving his doctorate in
education and raising three sons who all became medical doctors.

Broken Spirit on Earth Day

During the summer of 2009, at the peak of harvesting, when tomatoes were ripe and
ready to be picked, a female neighbor, along with three of her friends or relatives,
stole vegetables out of my father’s garden. My father, Henry Green, caught them
in the act and asked them to leave his property and when he turned his back, they
were about to go back into the garden again. So again, he told them to leave off
of his property. I was very upset about what they did and wanted to speak to them
directly; however, my father asked me not to and out of respect I did nothing.

Urban agriculture moves into the mainstream

While urban agriculture may appear to be a relatively new trend in Vancouver, everybody
knows that people have been growing their own food for centuries. One crucial development,
however, is that the City of Vancouver is now providing more municipal-level infrastructure
for people to grow their own food, dispose of food waste, and learn about food-security
issues. The City marks this year’s Earth Day (Apr. 22) by making it the launch date
for a new curbside compost pick-up program, which is initially restricted to homeowners
but will expand in the future to include apartments and businesses.

The plot thickens: Seattle takes to urban farming and then some

Seattle is so smitten with city farming that it even has its own online garden dating
service.

“Seeking vegetable love,” says the post of an unrequited green thumb.

“Cinderella: Huge sloping corner lot longs to meet Prince Gardening,” pines another.

“Large, sunny backyard north of Green Lake NEEDS a garden to feel complete,” posts
a third.

Urban Farming: Mars, Antarctica Provide Inspiration for Brooklyn Rooftop Gardens

Jennifer Nelkin believes that the future of high-end, boutique-quality farming is
not in California, sunny Florida, or even the fertile soils of the Hudson Valley.
It’s right under our noses. Or more accurately, right above our noses.

As co-founder of Gotham Greens, New York’s first commercial rooftop hydroponics
operation, Jenn’s got a lot riding on that future. “I really hope that rooftop gardening
is a successful venture, because we’ve borrowed $1.4 million to try and find out.”
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Stories here:
City Farmer News [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103337524002&s=1304&e=001LAUkEmwY-IX-utg_S6cqWA6z9UHm8DWvQsp_J6kr8ExfMChzFfWI15SSSTV0GNHM0PAlLhkxT0MYaKKt3nu31mUjb_jo7dBIFy1ZIf-SHBFO5wIr_vQaeg==]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Levenston
City Farmer - Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture

US-CERT Current Activity

Microsoft Revokes Security Update

Original release date: April 23, 2010 at 9:25 am
Last revised: April 23, 2010 at 9:25 am

The Microsoft Security Response Center has posted a blog entry
indicating that it has revoked the update related to Microsoft
security bulletin MS10-025 because it does not effectively correct the
underlying vulnerability. This vulnerability affects Windows Media
Services running on Windows 2000 Server. The blog entry indicates that
Microsoft has targeted a re-release of the update for next week.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the Microsoft
Security Response Center blog entry and implement the suggested
guidance to help mitigate the risks.

US-CERT will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Relevant Url(s):
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/default.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS10-025.mspx

This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#microsoft_revokes_security_bulletin_ms10

http://www.survivalistboards.com/downloads.php

Downloads files:

Category Description Files

AK-47, AK-74 & SKS Family of Firearms Information on the AK-47, AK-74, Saiga & SKS family. 27

AR-15 Files Information on the AR-15 family of rifles 11

Atomic and Nuclear War Survival Survival after a Nuclear War 39

Books This section is for books that no longer have a copyright 144

Chemical and Biological War Survival Survival after a bioilogical attack 21

Farming and Gardening Farm management 119

Health, Fitness & First Aid Health, fitness and first aid 114

Hunting Files Hunting different types of prey. 24

Military Manuals Manuals from different branches of the military 170

Pistols Pistol files 84

PodCast Files 1

Random Files Files that do not fit in any other section 230

Reloading Files Information on reloading your own ammo 21

Rifles Rifle Information 71

Shotguns Shotgun Files 26

Survival Videos Videos made for this site 24

Urban Survival Help your family prepare for a disaster. 102

Wilderness Survival Wilderness survival information 70

Threads in Forum : Urban Survival
[Interesting and complete list of subjects/threads]

http://www.survivalistboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=5b987cde5d80e973ff95f2632d5cf2a6&f=12

[Link not checked by granny]

New Solar Powered Backup Generator Provides Instant Electrical Power In Any Outage Or Disaster.
http://images.ultracart.com/aff/E1DE...800/index.html

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=107212

[True, McAfee update has a problem]

Anti-virus update causes hospitals to close
Interesting article about an anti-virus update that caused computers to start rebooting. Whats more interesting, is that some hospitals had to stop elective surgeries. Unless you were in a car wreck, gun shot victim, or something that might be fatal - you were turned away from the hospital.

What kind of world do we live in where a simple software update forces hospitals to stop treating people? Is our society “really” that fragile?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100421/...antivirus_flaw

Law Enforcement Guide to Texas Street Gangs

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=106967

INDEX

http://www.survivalistboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10

[Reading this, reminds me of a widow lady in Ramona, California, about 50 years ago.

She had 5 kids and almost no money.

For meat, she shot Jackrabbits, canned them and then said she hid them under the rich Mexican sauces and that is how she got by.

I was in her home after a canning day, the table was full of jars, all canned jackrabbit.

In California, in the summer the rabbits are not edible, it is true here, disease and lumps of worms grow on them, so it is not an all year food, unless canned.
granny

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=95802

This is a great survival forum

Rat & Mice Recipes For Hard Times?
By Anita Sands Hernandez

Rat And Mouse Recipe

Mice aren’t that bad. Especially not with chiles and tortillas! It’s all how you look at them. When the big crash0 hits, you’re going to drool for any extra mice running around your house.

RECIPE FOR “Enchiladas El Mouse-o EN EL HOUSE-O”

6 corn tortillas 6 mice parboiled, stripped, boned, chopped, seasoned. 2-3 large red dried chiles soaked in water 5 min. l choped green onion, cilantro for decorating. oil/onions. salt pepper to taste,

Make regular enchilada sauce by grinding the soaked chiles in the pot liquor, and straining well to separate the chile skin from the chile’s red meat. Then, fry onions, throw sauce in for l minute. Set aside.

Heat tortillas on a greased skillet, drop into sauce until covered, pull out, then fill the sopping wet tortilla with about 2 tbsps. mouseburger, roll. Set rolls in a dish, line all six up. Pour remaining sauce on top. Decorate with any old cheese, l chopped green onion. Bake l5 min at 350.

SHEPHERD’s PIE

Not every shepherd can dice a lamb every time his belly rumbles. So many have learned to make do with DICED FIELD MICE.

Take 4 potatoes, boil, mash, season, add cream, mash some more, line 8” pieshell with them.

Boil six medium sized mice. Rats are ok if you know what they’ve been eating. No Buick upholstery or graveyards.

If the rodents are the right size, you should have a cup of rat meat (depending if you’ve cleaned the carcasses well enough.) Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, add l cup blanched, chopped almonds, l cup cracker crumbs, l egg, (reserve l tsp for topping) making a burger. OPTIONAL: bell pepper, onions, cilantro, parsley, thyme, oregano, l can creamed corn, l can of those crunchy chinese things, water chestnuts, chopped olives, a dash of catsup or tomato sauce.

Fill the pie. Cover with more potatoes. Use egg/cream to wipe down pie so it toasts brownish in oven.

Remember, a rabbit is just a big rodent. The taste of the flesh is identical. Ask any concentration camp visitor.

TIP: when cooking rodents, pre-soaking up to 5 hours helps take away that pesky rodent flavor. AND the longer you cook it, with the other ingredients, the better the meat tastes.
~~~~~

Sure, but parboiling ain’t the only way.........like froglegs and gator, you can soak them in salt water for a few days and pour it off and batter fry them , too.

Interesting variety of ‘do - it - yourself’:

http://www.survivalistboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=120

Poor Man’s Recipes:

[Several unusual and interesting recipes]

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=33951

All types of Recipes and food subjects:

Index

http://www.survivalistboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106

Sub-Forums : Survival & Preparedness Forum

http://www.survivalistboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=106712

Ryan’s Campfire Recipes (Feel Free to add).
So here are some recipes that I’ve tried and used out on the trails. In the bush and out on the prairies.

Let’s say you’ve hunted/gathered your food for the day and have some food you brought with you. It’s all generally light weight stuff and won’t go bad quickly.

So imagine you are out on the prairies, your small fire made, your sleeping bag out and your horse tied up. Your stomach rumbles and you are hungry. You had a full day of tracking/hunting your meal and preparing/cleaning it so it’s good to cook. Now it’s time to cook it. So here are some recipes for a good meal.

Rabbit/Squirrel/Beef Stew with Bannock:

Bannock:

-4 c Flour
-1 tsp Salt
-4 tsp Baking Powder
-4 tbsp Oil (I use Olive)
-1 1/2 c water.

Mix all ingredients,
Pat down into 1/2” cakes,
Fry in pan with oil,
Cook until brown on both sides.

Rabbit/Squirrel/Beef Stew:

1 lb meat (Cubed, or pieces)
1 Large Potato (Diced, skin on)
1 Large Carrot (Chopped)
1 Medium Onion (Diced)
1-2 Celery Stalks (Chopped)
Salt
Pepper
Water
1 pkg Beef Gravy (Optional)

Preheat pan, brown beef in oil,
While cooking, boil water,
Add veggies, beef gravy and spices,
Add meat when browned,
Simmer for an hour or two (Until veggies are tender).

Just add or minus what you want in there for you or people you may be traveling with.

A good trail snack would have to be Pemmican, the Indians (Natives) and the European Fur Traders, etc ate Pemmican because it would stay good for a few months to a year if properly made and stored. Here’s a recipe for some Pemmican.

-1 c Dried Beef (Deer, Moose, Elk, Bison can be used),
-1 c Dried Fruit (Blueberries, Blackberries, Cranberries, etc),
-1 c Unsalted Roasted Nuts (Peanuts, Walnuts, etc) or 1 c sunflower seeds (shelled),
-1 tbsp Honey,
-2 to 3 cups melted beef fat.

Mash meat to mealy type substance.
Mash fruits/nuts to smaller pieces/powder,
Add honey and melted beef fat,
Form into little cakes,
Pour melted beef fat over them completely,
Let them “dry”,
Wrap in wax paper, store in ziplocs until use.

Now what are some simple recipes that you use while out and about on the plains or in the bush? Preferably stuff you would find in nature or lightweight food stuffs that are relatively simple. Stuff you can imagine trail blazers, cowboys or Indian trackers using/eating.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=33951&page=4

Poor Man’s Cabbage

1 large Head of cabbage
3 cups of instant mashed potatoes
1 egg
11/2 cup of self rising flower
1 stick butter or marg(the difference in marg and plastic is 1 molecule )
1 sweet onion

chop up cabbage and onion fry with the butter allow the cabage and onion to Brown alittle
mix instant mashed potatoes with flower and egg add water until you get a dumpling dough boil water and spoon dumpling mix in when done combine with cabbage and onions,fry for a while.

Very filling

heres what i do
poke some holes in the top of a potatoe
micerwave for ten min
and you got a baked potatoe

Poor Man’s Lunch

Mayonnaise sandwich.

Salad dressing sandwich, especially bleu cheese.

Tomato sandwich with mayo, salt & pepper, lettuce optional.

Lettuce and mayo sandwich.

PB&J and sardine sandwich.

Ketchup soup—traditional favorite of broke actors. Add available free spices.

Chili sandwich—it just takes a spoonful. Optional: Add mayo & lettuce.

Spaghetti con burro (with butter), sprinkled with parmesan. Add any veggies that might be available.

Cinnamon toast—with butter and sugar.

And there’s nothing better than that frito pie and dr. pepper mentioned above.

Remember fresh vegetables are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.. here’s two meals and the overall price..
Total cost: A little less than $2, and should give you three meals for one individual
One tomato: $.22
One green pepper: $.57
One small onion: $.18
Chicken livers: $.89
Handful of Rice or pasta: Should be in your kitchen, I prefer pasta
Spices: Pepper, Salt, Dried basil and rosemary, dash of worcestershire, about half a can of beer(I like heinekin for this but you can use anything that isn’t crazily flavoured I imagine).

Cook pasta, drain very well, pour into pot.. enjoy half of your beer while cooking this!
Dice vegetables finely, saute in saucepan with a pat of butter or oil, add half of the spices- set over pasta when finished.
Don’t clean saute pan, throw in chicken livers and worcestershire sauce, and the rest of your spices. Pour in the other half of the beer and pull out the chicken livers, set them in the pasta pot and stir it up. Add a pinch of flour to the liquid to thicken it a bit. You can set aside some of your diced tomatoes which you can crush and dice very very finely(Almost to pasta sauce consistancy) and throw them in if you like. When the sauce reduces and becomes a little thicker, pour it in the pot.

Alternatively, you can do chunked baked potatoes, served with a can of peas, chopped carrots, celery and beef stew meat(Or another cheap cut) in a similar gravy and call it cheap-ass shepard’s pie It’s a little pricier than the pasta variant, maybe $3.50, but it’s super tasty.

Make some cornmeal mush and place it in a small bread pan that has been greased or floured. Then chill and let set. Extract and slice into desired thickness and fry in a lightly greased griddle until golden brown on both sides serve with maple syrup.

What is nice you can make a large quantity and save for later use.

Ate a lot of that growing up.

One medium potato, i medium red onion, 1 jalapeno per person, chopped up and browned in bacon grease (or cooking oil) until done.
If available, add 1 egg and some thin sliced sharp cheddar cheese per person.
Makes a quick hot filling meal, cheap.

What we kids ate when we couldn’t get candy:

One third of a mug of sugar
A little more than one third of a mug of quick oats (with no added stuff)
A couple of teaspoons of cocoa
Mixed in the mug.
Melted butter added enough to stir and everything to soak a little but not be runny
Eaten warm. Sounds really unhealthy. Would never eat it now.

Friday, April 23, 2010
US Food Inflation Spiraling Out of Control
by Eric deCarbonnel

PRnewswire reports that US Food Inflation Spiraling Out of Control.

U.S. Food Inflation Spiraling Out of Control

FORT LEE, N.J., April 22 /PRNewswire/ — The National Inflation Association today issued the following food inflation alert to its http://inflation.us members:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today released their Producer Price Index (PPI) report for March 2010 and the latest numbers are shocking. Food prices for the month rose by 2.4%, its sixth consecutive monthly increase and the largest jump in over 26 years. NIA believes that a major breakout in food inflation could be imminent, similar to what is currently being experienced in India.

Some of the startling food price increases on a year-over-year basis include, fresh and dry vegetables up 56.1%, fresh fruits and melons up 28.8%, eggs for fresh use up 33.6%, pork up 19.1%, beef and veal up 10.7% and dairy products up 9.7%. On October 30th, 2009, NIA predicted that inflation would appear next in food and agriculture, but we never anticipated that it would spiral so far out of control this quickly.

The PPI foreshadows price increases that will later occur in the retail sector. With U-6 unemployment rising last month to 16.9%, many retailers are currently reluctant to pass along rising prices to consumers, but they will soon be forced to do so if they want to avoid reporting huge losses to shareholders.

Food stamp usage in the U.S. has now increased for 14 consecutive months. There are now 39.4 million Americans on food stamps, up 22.4% from one year ago. The U.S. government is now paying out more to Americans in benefits than it collects in taxes. As food inflation continues to surge, our country will soon have no choice but to cut back on food stamps and other entitlement programs.

Most financial experts in the mainstream media are proclaiming that the recession is over and inflation is not a problem in the U.S. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that rising food and gasoline prices accounted for 58% of February’s year-over-year 3.85% rise in retail sales. NIA believes price inflation is beginning to accelerate in many areas of the economy besides food and energy, and all increases in U.S. retail sales this year will be entirely due to inflation.

My reaction: US food inflation is spiraling out of control.

1) Food prices for the month rose by 2.4% in March, the largest jump in over 26 years.

2) Some of the startling year-over-year food price increases include:

fresh and dry vegetables up 56.1%
fresh fruits and melons up 28.8%
eggs for fresh use up 33.6%
pork up 19.1%
beef and veal up 10.7%
dairy products up 9.7%

A major breakout in food inflation could be imminent

1) The PPI foreshadows price increases that will later occur in the retail sector.

2) Many retailers are currently reluctant to pass along rising prices to consumers, but they will soon be forced to do so to avoid going out of business.

3) Food stamp usage in the U.S. has now increased for 14 consecutive months.

4) The US government is now paying out more to Americans in benefits than it collects in taxes.

No Economic Recovery

1) Rising food and gasoline prices accounted for 58% of February’s year-over-year 3.85% rise in retail sales.

2) As inflation accelerates, all increases in U.S. retail sales this year will be entirely due to inflation.

Conclusion: Things are going to get ugly in the US this summer. See *****2010 Food Crisis for Dummies***** http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html for details.

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2010/04/us-food-inflation-spiraling-out-of.html

REUSABLE CANNING LIDS are still being made!

Back in the late ‘70s there was an acute shortage of the standard Mason jar canning lids. A new company began making a reusable non-metallic lid and seals that I tried (saw them in Mother Earth News). Worked extremely well! I used them over and over without any problems, only parting with them when we moved back to Delaware from Texas when we gave our canned goods to friends and family there (along with the lids). I have been looking for the source for them ever since. (note: I checked with those I had given them to and there was no name on them and they were still re-using them)

I was totally surprised when I opened the latest issue of Backwoods Home and Jackie Clay had written a review on them. She had just become aware of them and recently started testing and using them. (She gave them her seal of approval)

As I have mentioned before, I try to keep at least one year ahead with buying canning lids, and last year they went up over 25%. This year, I will bite the bullet and stock up on these even though they are about .58 a lid, they are an investment that lasts and lasts. (am doing it in two or three purchases to lessen the immediate cost impact :-) That way even if TSHTF, that’s one vulnerability gap will have been closed.

If anyone is interested, they are called TATTLER Reusable Canning Lids and they have a website http://reusablecanninglids.com/

If you have ever had trouble finding lids, ever had rust form on your lids, or if you can high acid foods for long term storage, I would highly recommend these. (They are available in wide-mouth too)

Oh, yes, they pop down just like the mason lids do too (but without the metalic ping - more like a pong - LOL), so you know you have a vacuum seal. They also sell replacement reusable seals - I bought some back in the 70’s and never had to use them - 5 years use and there was not a bit of deterioration showing on them. The only difference in using them is that when you tighten them before processing, turn them tight and back it off 1/4 turn (they seal so tight that unless you do that, they will not vent to be able to pull a vacuum. Then when you take them out, tighten them back up before you let them cool. Everything else is exactly like the other lids - without the problems.

With everything going on, I was getting a bit down - this has done a whole lot to boost my spirits as even in the worst of economic situations, I could use a rocket (16 brick homemade wood burning stove) with either hot water or pressure canner, the Tattler lids and my supply of mason jars for many many years without having to worry about the preservation. Now I can concentrate on growing it... No worries about propane, kerosene or lids ever again! Yea!

Hope this helps you all too. I know it beats trying to reuse the old metal ones (which I had done up to 3 times with some degree of failures along the way)

HAPPY CANNING!

If the inflation keeps up, we may all need it!

Manga farming

Tokyo-based artist Koshi Kawachi recently demonstrated his “Manga Farming” technique
- which uses old manga as a growing medium for vegetables - by cultivating a crop
of radish sprouts in an installation at the Matsuzakaya department store in Nagoya.

New Book - Manual of Low/No-Space Agriculture - Family Business Gardens

It is predicted that the world population will rise to ten billion by 2050. At present,
some 15 million square kilometres or around one-tenth of total land area of the
earth is used for farming. In October, 2009, scientists at the Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany along with their colleagues from Sweden
noted that global agricultural production could increase by around one-fifth by
adopting better management practices, especially water management.

Village community fruit & vegetable-growing co-operative in England named Grace
and Flavour

Well, our first major activity in the Community Garden on 26th and 27th March saw
some sadness and some success.

Our success? Well 51 people, age range teens to seventies, spent 292.5 hours over
the two days and we planted 175 International Kidney seed potatoes (25 sq m) by
5:30 pm on 27th. (They are really Jersey Royals but we can’t call them that unless
they have been grown on Jersey ). That doesn’t sound a lot does it? Well let me
tell you what we had to do to achieve this modest planting.

Former President Bill Clinton highlights a network of sustainable urban gardens
in earthquake-ravaged Haiti

Clinton used the Commitment to Action to honour two students to inspire the audience.
Urban Roots Give Life, a project of Camille Kremer and Ann Marie Warmenhoven, will
establish sustainable urban gardens in Shada, Cap-Hatien, providing a source of
local, homegrown food for a nation that imports half of the food it consumes despite
having fertile soil.

Their project is especially important to Cap-Hatien, Clinton said, because the region
has experienced a massive influx of internal refugees who fled Port-au-Prince in
search of better living conditions after the quake destroyed much of the capital’s
infrastructure.

Celebrity ‘urban farm’ photo-shoot in Korea for May issue of Nylon

A host of Korean celebrities including Jang Geun Suk, Bani, Bae Doo Na, Clazziquai,
Park Shi Hoo, Park Shi Yeon, Park Jung Ah, Secret and Lee Si Young recently took
part in a eco-campaign photoshoot for NYLON.

This photo-shoot was jointly organized by casual wear brand, J & J (JACK & JILL)
together with NYLON to promote the idea of having your own urban farm.
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Stories here:
City Farmer News [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103340828504&s=1304&e=0017RbkQaTWjNBA2fHcIGhZKo2ytVSaWTBut_TMTFthx2EJyVI-X-UOIGTzbUfBUY_nu_1Y64PPCXbGsEKnoVjl9wnFuSSTjYQli7Coi9hrGMJTABp_q0sUtg==]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Levenston
City Farmer - Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture

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