- The vast majority of the food produced in the United States comes from factory farms or CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) that put profits above all else
- Massive rivers of waste that pollute surrounding waterways with toxic bacteria and release noxious gasses into the air commonly stem from CAFOs’ “waste lagoons”
- CAFOs serve as ideal breeding grounds for diseases ranging from influenza viruses to antibiotic-resistant superbugs, which can infect the animals, farm workers and the general public
- Like many other industries, agribusiness uses intensive lobbying, strong-arm tactics and other abuses of power to keep regulations well in their favor
- The "bigger is better" food system has reached a point where its fundamental weaknesses are becoming apparent, and it’s time for each of us to make a decision about what type of food system we’re willing to support
- read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/06/river-of-waste-documentary.aspx?e_cid=20130406_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130406
Showing posts with label permaculture farming gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label permaculture farming gardening. Show all posts
Friday, April 5, 2013
A River Of Waste: The Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Organic rice farmer in India yields over 22 tons of crop on only two acres, proving the fraud of GMOs and Big Ag
(NaturalNews) Despite all the claims made by industry-funded hacks that
genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and other industrial agricultural
methods are necessary for the future of humanity, it is the traditional
growing methods that continue to shine through as the real sustainers of
life. As reported by Gaia Health, Indian rice farmers using
traditional, organic growing methods are achieving yields far higher
than farmers using more modern methods.
In the case of Sumant Kumar, rice yields have surpassed the national average per hectare (about 2.5 acres) nearly ten-fold. According to reports, Kumar is currently yielding about 22.4 tons of rice per hectare, greatly surpassing that of other rice farms currently outputting roughly 2.3 tons per hectare. His secret? A traditional crop management protocol known as System of Root Intensification, or SRI.
Farmers adhering to SRI techniques will typically plant about half the number of seeds as farmers using more modern methods, and will space them out at intervals of about 10 inches. They also plant their seeds much younger, and keep the soil dryer, while paying much closer attention to weed growth. By hand-removing weeds, SRI farmers are able to allow more water and nutrients to feed their rice plants, which results in significantly higher yields.
"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less chemicals but they get more without having to invest more," says Dr. Surendra Chaurassa, agriculture minister to the region where Kumar's farm is located, as quoted by The Observer. "This is revolutionary. I did not believe it to start with, but now I think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want every state to promote it. If we get 30 to 40 percent increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."
In the case of Sumant Kumar, rice yields have surpassed the national average per hectare (about 2.5 acres) nearly ten-fold. According to reports, Kumar is currently yielding about 22.4 tons of rice per hectare, greatly surpassing that of other rice farms currently outputting roughly 2.3 tons per hectare. His secret? A traditional crop management protocol known as System of Root Intensification, or SRI.
Farmers adhering to SRI techniques will typically plant about half the number of seeds as farmers using more modern methods, and will space them out at intervals of about 10 inches. They also plant their seeds much younger, and keep the soil dryer, while paying much closer attention to weed growth. By hand-removing weeds, SRI farmers are able to allow more water and nutrients to feed their rice plants, which results in significantly higher yields.
"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less chemicals but they get more without having to invest more," says Dr. Surendra Chaurassa, agriculture minister to the region where Kumar's farm is located, as quoted by The Observer. "This is revolutionary. I did not believe it to start with, but now I think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want every state to promote it. If we get 30 to 40 percent increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."
Thursday, March 28, 2013
‘Vertical forest’ skyscrapers coming to Milan
An artist rendering of the finished skyscrapers. (Photo: Courtesy of Boeri Studio)
A plan for one of the apartments. (Courtesy of Boeri Studio)Yahoo!
News spoke with Boeri Studio, the architectural firm behind the
buildings' design. Construction on the residential skyscrapers began in
2008 and is set to be complete sometime this year when people can move
in. But people aren't the only residents. Also moving in: a heckuva lot
of trees, plants, and shrubs.
The two buildings (26 stories and
18 stories) will be quite literally covered in green: 480 big and
medium-size trees, 250 small trees, and roughly 11,000 groundcover
plants, according to the firm. It's the equivalent of a hectare (almost
2.5 acres) of forest on the sides of the buildings, the firm says.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Lasagna gardening: A sustainable and no-till method of gardening
(NaturalNews) Lasagna gardening is a method of gardening that requires
no tilling or weeding from the gardener, yet produces rich and fluffy
soil. Also called 'sheet composting,' lasagna gardening involves
building layers and layers of organic matter in a designated area of the
garden, waiting until they compost, and then utilizing the fertile soil
that is produced to grow plants. Aside from being convenient and
physically undemanding, this type of gardening is beloved by gardeners
because it is environmentally-friendly; rather than throwing your
biodegradable waste into the trash, you're using it to enrich your
garden's soil.
Once your first layer is composted, you can start to add layers of real compost. This could include leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit scraps, grass clippings, manure, teabags, seaweed, shredded newspaper or junk mail (most paper is biodegradable), peat moss, and garden matter. However, it is best not to just dump everything atop your first layer. Doing this will probably make your lasagna garden indistinguishable from an ordinary compost heap. Instead, alternate between the browns (e.g. peat, shredded newspaper, fall leaves) and greens (e.g. grass and garden cuttings, vegetable peels). Ideally, the brown layers should be twice as deep as the green layers, since brown layers are usually comprised of material that is 'thinner' than the green layers, and thus biodegrade more quickly. However, it is not important if this rule is broken; as long as you organize your lasagna garden into layers of some kind, you'll get good results.
You can stop adding new layers to your lasagna garden once the compost heal reaches a height of around two feet. After you've achieved this height, you can wait until the compost heap shrinks in size - this will probably happen much quicker than you expect. Once the compost heap has shrunk to a nice layer of fertile earth, you are able to start planting.
Now that your lasagna garden is established, you can care for it using the traditional methods of weeding and watering. Some gardeners like to continue adding unobtrusive layers of compost (ideally straw, grass cuttings, or leaves) to their garden to ensure the living conditions for its plants and insects remain rich and moist for a long time, thereby creating the ideal conditions for growing nutritious, organic produce.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.motherearthnews.com
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/lasagna-gardening.html
http://www.canada.com
About the author:
Michael Ravensthorpe is an independent writer from the United Kingdom whose research interests include nutrition, alternative medicine, and bushcraft. He is the creator of the website Spiritfoods, through which he helps to promote the world's healthiest foods, whether they be established superfruits such as mangosteen or lesser-known health supplements like brewer's yeast.
Michael is also the creator of the companion site Spiritcures, which details his research into the best home remedies for common medical conditions such as poison ivy rashes.
Creating the first and subsequent layers
To begin your lasagna garden, you need to create your first layer. Acquire some brown corrugated cardboard, or several newspaper layers, and place them wherever you want your garden to be (this could be on a weed patch, on a patch of grass, etc.). Then, once the cardboard or newspaper is in place, water it. This will start the process of decomposition, since the wet layer will gradually sink into the earth, both suffocating the grass and weeds below it and attracting earthworms that loosen the soil by tunneling through it.Once your first layer is composted, you can start to add layers of real compost. This could include leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit scraps, grass clippings, manure, teabags, seaweed, shredded newspaper or junk mail (most paper is biodegradable), peat moss, and garden matter. However, it is best not to just dump everything atop your first layer. Doing this will probably make your lasagna garden indistinguishable from an ordinary compost heap. Instead, alternate between the browns (e.g. peat, shredded newspaper, fall leaves) and greens (e.g. grass and garden cuttings, vegetable peels). Ideally, the brown layers should be twice as deep as the green layers, since brown layers are usually comprised of material that is 'thinner' than the green layers, and thus biodegrade more quickly. However, it is not important if this rule is broken; as long as you organize your lasagna garden into layers of some kind, you'll get good results.
You can stop adding new layers to your lasagna garden once the compost heal reaches a height of around two feet. After you've achieved this height, you can wait until the compost heap shrinks in size - this will probably happen much quicker than you expect. Once the compost heap has shrunk to a nice layer of fertile earth, you are able to start planting.
Planting
If your garden's first layer consisted of cardboard, your hands (or, if you prefer, shovel) will pierce through the decomposed card and expose a layer of rich, fluffy soil underneath. This is where you should plant your plants or sow your seeds. If you need to cut a hole out of the cardboard to make way for the plants or saplings, that is fine.Now that your lasagna garden is established, you can care for it using the traditional methods of weeding and watering. Some gardeners like to continue adding unobtrusive layers of compost (ideally straw, grass cuttings, or leaves) to their garden to ensure the living conditions for its plants and insects remain rich and moist for a long time, thereby creating the ideal conditions for growing nutritious, organic produce.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.motherearthnews.com
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/lasagna-gardening.html
http://www.canada.com
About the author:
Michael Ravensthorpe is an independent writer from the United Kingdom whose research interests include nutrition, alternative medicine, and bushcraft. He is the creator of the website Spiritfoods, through which he helps to promote the world's healthiest foods, whether they be established superfruits such as mangosteen or lesser-known health supplements like brewer's yeast.
Michael is also the creator of the companion site Spiritcures, which details his research into the best home remedies for common medical conditions such as poison ivy rashes.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Health Ranger's guide to raising healthy, happy chickens without antibiotics
(NaturalNews) Raising chickens is smart. It provides you a healthy
supply of food in the form of chicken eggs, and you'll even have a
source of emergency meat if times get really bad.
Chickens largely take care of themselves. They're friendly, curious and smart enough to come running when you call them. They'll devour scorpions, ticks, crickets, and even the occasional small lizard, removing all sorts of insect pests from your property.
I've been raising chickens for several years now, both in South America and in Central Texas, and I'd like to pass along what I've learned so that you can raise healthy chickens, too!
I feed my chickens an organic feed recipe made with things like sea kelp, ground-up crab shells, whole grains and supplemental vitamins and minerals. It's very nutrient dense.
On top of that, I put a dropper full of oregano oil extract into their water each day. My experience is that chickens who are raised on oregano are far more resistant to disease than chickens without oregano. Oregano replaces antibiotics in chickens, it seems, at least in my experience. I've never had to resort to using antibiotics.
I lost several chickens along the way while trying to figure this out. I discovered that colloidal silver in their water didn't do much, at least not for the Avian Pox disease that some of my chickens caught. (Yeah, chicken pox, literally!)
If you keep chickens in an artificial indoor environment, you will only encourage the spread of disease, the growth of fungus, and will end up raising weaker chickens with weak immune systems. Sunlight makes chickens stronger, so the more your chickens can get outdoors and run around in the real world, the healthier, happier and more productive they will be.
Chickens largely take care of themselves. They're friendly, curious and smart enough to come running when you call them. They'll devour scorpions, ticks, crickets, and even the occasional small lizard, removing all sorts of insect pests from your property.
I've been raising chickens for several years now, both in South America and in Central Texas, and I'd like to pass along what I've learned so that you can raise healthy chickens, too!
The secret to avoiding disease: Nutrition and oregano
To keep your chickens healthy, you've got to feed them trace minerals. They need strong nutrition to fight off infectious disease. Because they're literally cooped up during the night, chickens are especially susceptible to diseases that spread easily from one chicken to the next, so you've got to keep their immune systems in high gear.I feed my chickens an organic feed recipe made with things like sea kelp, ground-up crab shells, whole grains and supplemental vitamins and minerals. It's very nutrient dense.
On top of that, I put a dropper full of oregano oil extract into their water each day. My experience is that chickens who are raised on oregano are far more resistant to disease than chickens without oregano. Oregano replaces antibiotics in chickens, it seems, at least in my experience. I've never had to resort to using antibiotics.
I lost several chickens along the way while trying to figure this out. I discovered that colloidal silver in their water didn't do much, at least not for the Avian Pox disease that some of my chickens caught. (Yeah, chicken pox, literally!)
Sunshine
I am absolutely convinced that chickens need sunlight to stay healthy. My chickens will often lie down on one side and extend one wing in order to allow sunlight to penetrate all the way into (and underneath) that wing. This seems to be a king of "sunning therapy" that chickens pursue by instinct.If you keep chickens in an artificial indoor environment, you will only encourage the spread of disease, the growth of fungus, and will end up raising weaker chickens with weak immune systems. Sunlight makes chickens stronger, so the more your chickens can get outdoors and run around in the real world, the healthier, happier and more productive they will be.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Farmers
By Dr. Mercola
We’re living in an era where the largest food producers in the United States operate more like factories than farms, complete with industrial farming practices that produce obscene amounts of waste and threaten to completely deplete what was once rich and fertile soil.
With each harvest, the land is stripped of vital nutrients plants need to grow, and so synthetic fertilizers and other chemicals are added back into the land out of necessity.
The Problem with Synthetic and Other Toxic Fertilizers
There are problems with trying to synthetically fertilize the land, as restoring soil to its original grandeur – a complex ecosystem teeming with microbes and nutrients – is not as simple as adding back in various concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK, a common synthetic fertilizer).Read more: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/01/17/vermicompost-improves-plant-growth.aspx?e_cid=20130117_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130117
Aside from often leading to imbalances in the soil that can harm plant growth, synthetic fertilizers contribute to environmental contamination, and there is even concern that the natural deposits of phosphorus and potassium – two elements necessary for plants to grow – are being rapidly depleted.1
Sewage sludge, or “biosolids” – as they’re referred to with a PR spin – is another type of fertilizer that began being “recycled” into food crops when, ironically, it was realized that dumping them into rivers, lakes and bays was an environmental disaster. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that about 50 percent of all biosolids are recycled to land.2 This sludge is what’s leftover after sewage is treated and processed.
Your first thought may be the “yuck factor” of human waste being used to fertilize your food, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Every time a paintbrush gets rinsed, an old bottle of medications flushed, or solvents are hosed off a factory floor, it ends up in the sewage system. So it’s not surprising that a past analysis of sewage sludge by the Environmental Working Group found:3
- Over 100 synthetic organic compounds including phthalates, toluene, and chlorobenzene
- Dioxins in sludge from 179 out of 208 systems (80%)
- 42 different pesticides – at least one in almost every sample, with an average of almost 2 pesticides per survey sample
- Nine heavy metals, often at high concentrations
Monday, May 14, 2012
10 tips for companion planting for natural pest control and organic sustainability - Increase vegetable yields and improve flavor
Companion planting for pest control and to encourage plants to grow with
more vigor has fascinated men for centuries; however, few backyard
gardeners know how to use these natural methods for organic
sustainability and how to improve your garden. Plants that work together
to help one another grow; plants that repel insects for organic pest
management; and plants that repel other plants for natural herbicide
control are of great value to both small backyard gardeners and
commercial growers.
Certain protective botanicals don't always act instantaneously, and must be planted several years or seasons in advance to be of utmost cumulative effect. For example, companion planting pest control using marigolds to prevent nematode growth should be done at least one season ahead before expecting to see great results.
It's important to remember that both secretions and odors from various plants are valuable traits for organic pest control and companion planting where repelling or attracting certain aspects and effects is attempted.
1. Protect carrots by planting them with leeks to repel both carrot and onion flies. They won't even lay their eggs and your yield will increase tremendously.
2. Growing radishes or kohlrabi? Plant them with lettuce to repel earth flies that hate the smell of lettuce and make them take flight.
3. Aphids will injure almost all plants, causing headaches for gardeners everywhere. To repel aphids, plant nasturiums around broccoli and bunches of chives among sunflowers and tomatoes to discourage infestations.
4. Ladybugs are natural enemies to aphids and are excellent for use in organic pest management. Order ladybugs in bulk online or buy them from gardening centers. If you're wondering how to improve your garden and reduce the aphid population, this is one of the most effective methods of doing so.
5. Asparagus and tomatoes complement one another and improve the vigor of both plants. Place a row of asparagus between two rows of tomato plants.
6. Beans and potatoes work in concert for organic pest control. Planting bush beans with potatoes in alternating rows protects the spuds from the Colorado potato beetle and the beans from the Mexican bean beetle.
7. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables belonging to the cabbage family do well when companion planted with celery, dill, peppermint, sage and rosemary; as well as potatoes, onions and beets.
8. Repel moles around a vegetable garden with a border of castor beans; mice with a border of daffodils; and yarrow makes a wonderful boarder for an herb garden as it encourages the growth of essential oils in the herbs.
9. Remember that companion planting for pest control includes keeping those cute little rabbits out of the garden. Onions repel rabbits and can be inter-planted with peas, beans, lettuce and cabbage.
10. If your garden attracts raccoons, plant corn and pumpkins together so that the large pumpkin leaves grow around the base of the corn stalks. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the corn silk will also act as a deterrent.
Because some plants are poisonous, it's important to keep unattended young children away from the garden. Natural organic pest control may be a complex subject; however, there are many simple things you can do in to improve your garden for increased vegetable yield and organic sustainability.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting
http://www.seedsofchange.com
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/companion-planting.html
Riotte, Louise. Carrots Love Tomatoes. Charlotte: Garden Way Publishing, 1975
Mayer, Dale. The Complete Guide to Companion Planting: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Garden Successful (Back-To-Basics Gardening). OcalaL: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 2010
About the author:
JB Bardot is trained in herbal medicine and homeopathy, and has a post graduate degree in holistic nutrition. Bardot cares for both people and animals, using alternative approaches to health care and lifestyle. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001364941208&ref=tn_tnmn or on Twitter at jbbardot23
Certain protective botanicals don't always act instantaneously, and must be planted several years or seasons in advance to be of utmost cumulative effect. For example, companion planting pest control using marigolds to prevent nematode growth should be done at least one season ahead before expecting to see great results.
It's important to remember that both secretions and odors from various plants are valuable traits for organic pest control and companion planting where repelling or attracting certain aspects and effects is attempted.
Ten easy companion planting tips for you to use now
Companion planting for chemical free pesticides and organic sustainability is a huge subject that can take years to master; however, there are a few easy things you can do in your own garden right now to make use of this intriguing method of gardening.1. Protect carrots by planting them with leeks to repel both carrot and onion flies. They won't even lay their eggs and your yield will increase tremendously.
2. Growing radishes or kohlrabi? Plant them with lettuce to repel earth flies that hate the smell of lettuce and make them take flight.
3. Aphids will injure almost all plants, causing headaches for gardeners everywhere. To repel aphids, plant nasturiums around broccoli and bunches of chives among sunflowers and tomatoes to discourage infestations.
4. Ladybugs are natural enemies to aphids and are excellent for use in organic pest management. Order ladybugs in bulk online or buy them from gardening centers. If you're wondering how to improve your garden and reduce the aphid population, this is one of the most effective methods of doing so.
5. Asparagus and tomatoes complement one another and improve the vigor of both plants. Place a row of asparagus between two rows of tomato plants.
6. Beans and potatoes work in concert for organic pest control. Planting bush beans with potatoes in alternating rows protects the spuds from the Colorado potato beetle and the beans from the Mexican bean beetle.
7. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables belonging to the cabbage family do well when companion planted with celery, dill, peppermint, sage and rosemary; as well as potatoes, onions and beets.
8. Repel moles around a vegetable garden with a border of castor beans; mice with a border of daffodils; and yarrow makes a wonderful boarder for an herb garden as it encourages the growth of essential oils in the herbs.
9. Remember that companion planting for pest control includes keeping those cute little rabbits out of the garden. Onions repel rabbits and can be inter-planted with peas, beans, lettuce and cabbage.
10. If your garden attracts raccoons, plant corn and pumpkins together so that the large pumpkin leaves grow around the base of the corn stalks. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the corn silk will also act as a deterrent.
Because some plants are poisonous, it's important to keep unattended young children away from the garden. Natural organic pest control may be a complex subject; however, there are many simple things you can do in to improve your garden for increased vegetable yield and organic sustainability.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting
http://www.seedsofchange.com
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/companion-planting.html
Riotte, Louise. Carrots Love Tomatoes. Charlotte: Garden Way Publishing, 1975
Mayer, Dale. The Complete Guide to Companion Planting: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Garden Successful (Back-To-Basics Gardening). OcalaL: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 2010
About the author:
JB Bardot is trained in herbal medicine and homeopathy, and has a post graduate degree in holistic nutrition. Bardot cares for both people and animals, using alternative approaches to health care and lifestyle. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001364941208&ref=tn_tnmn or on Twitter at jbbardot23
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