farming & gardening

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Reliable scientific information concerning public health and environmental risks associated with land-applying recycled waste products, including processed sewage sludges (biosolids) containing potentially hazardous chemical and biological wastes. Serious illnesses, including deaths, and adverse environmental impacts have been linked to land application of treated municipal sewage sludge. EPA and the wastewater treatment industry have worked with Congress to fund wastewater trade associations to promote land application, supporting industry-friendly scientists and discouraging independent research, to prevent local governments from restricting land application and to thwart litigation against municipalities and the industry.

Homepage to Reform Sewage Sludge Regulations

Companion planting is based around the idea that certain plants can benefit others when planted next to, or close to one another. Companion planting exists to benefit certain plants by giving them pest control, naturally without the need to use chemicals, and in some cases they can give a higher crop yield . Generally, companion planting is thought of as a small-scale gardening practice, but it can be applied on larger-scale operations. It has been proven that by having a beneficial crop in a nearby field that attracts certain insects away from a neighbouring field that has the main crop can prove very beneficial. This action is called trap cropping. While companion planting has a long history, the benefits of companion planting have not always been understood.

Companion Planting - Secrets of Organic Gardening

http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia

Solar hot water describes active and passive solar technologies that utilize the sun’s freely abundant solar thermal energy in order to heat water for a desired application. It is one of the most efficient ways to heat water (in terms of energy/waste), as it requires no energy conversion, unlike electric-resistance heating or fuel burning. It is a simple transfer and concentration of heat energy from one place to another.

Welcome to Appropedia - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=farmers-in-sahel-beat-back-drought-and-climate-change-with-trees

SAHEL SOLUTION: Allowing trees to grow and shade fields has helped boost yields for farmers across the Sahel--outlined in blue on this map--a possible adaptation to climate change. Image: Map by Robert Simmon, based on GIMMS vegetation data and World Wildlife Fund ecoregions data. Courtesy of NASA Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Mark Hertsgaard 's book , Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth . Yacouba Sawadogo was not sure how old he was.

The Great Green Wall: African Farmers Beat Back Drought and Climate Change with Trees: Scientific American

Natural selection - Hawaii News - Staradvertiser.com

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110118_Natural_selection.html?id=114074644

Farmer Samson Delos Reyes walks through rows of kalo at David Wong's Waianae farm. Wong is using a system called natural farming developed in South Korea that has his kalo towering overhead and producing huge basil bushes. Farmer Samson Delos Reyes walks among kalo patches at S&J Farms of Waianae, which uses a natural farming method developed by South Korean farmer Han Kyu Cho. The caller wanted to triple her order of his pungent Thai basil, to 60 from 20 cases a week, but S&J Farms of Waianae is already booked solid. Since trying "natural farming" last year under the guidance of a folksy South Korean master farmer known as Han Kyu Cho, Delos Reyes said production on his 10-acre plot has doubled — and demand is growing even faster. "This is my first time having earthworms on my farm," he said, scooping up a handful of earth and nutrient-rich worm castings in his fingers.

Close the Loop - Recycled Garden Glass Mulch

Close the Loop offers a wide selection of eye-catching colors and sizes of tumbled glass mulch to spruce up the landscaping around your home or business. The proprietary production process produces glass that has virtually no sharp edges. These mulch mixes work especially well for garden pathways.

http://www.closetheloop.com/products/gardenglassmulch.html

WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

What is WWOOF? WWOOF is an exchange - In return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. News from the world of WWOOF There is a new website where you will find a lot of authors and experts in sustainability and Permaculture. Based in Seattle (USA), this site is full of forums where you can ask questions and debate the topic of your choice.

'The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race' by Jared Diamond. On Evolution, Diet & Agriculture. 'Recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism,that curse our existence. Crops and Nutrition

History of Agriculture: Human Evolution & Diet, Nutrition, Crops, Sustainable Farming

http://www.spaceandmotion.com/health/agriculture-history.htm

http://saywhatmichaelpollan.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/sir-albert-howard-and-the-scientific-method/

Sir Albert Howard and the scientific method « Say what, Michael Pollan?

In describing the origins of organic agriculture, Pollan leans heavily on Sir Albert Howard’s An Agricultural Testament , which he calls “the movement’s bible” (145). Pollan explains that Howard’s work is the story of “a Fall” in which the “serpent” is Baron Justus von Liebig, who showed that plants need only nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to grow. Howard called this the “NPK mentality” after the chemical symbols for those three elements. After explaining that humus-rich soil does much more for plants than provide those three nutrients, Pollan writes, To reduce such a vast biological complexity to NPK represented the scientific method at its reductionist worst. Complex qualities are reduced to simple quantities; biology gives way to chemistry.

gardens

GuerrillaGardening

Granny Woman Ozark Herbs

I recently saw a statistic that said, in the United States, only 16% of the population lived in rural areas! The sparsely populated mountainous region of Newton County, Arkansas, is said to be the poorest county in the state. We don’t even have one traffic light here! Forget cell phone reception. And our county seat, Jasper, only has a population of about 500.

Go for the succulents! They cure skin cancers. by pauljacobson Jan 28

Gardening

shrink your URLs and get paid!

Permaculture

Permaculture Research Institute of Australia » Fruit Flies in a Bottle

Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings. – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Place a few fruit flies in a bottle with a layer of honey at the bottom, and they will quickly multiply to an enormous number, and then, just as quickly, die off to the very last, poisoned by their wastes.

Essence_of_PC_eBook

Organic Architecture, Sustainable Lifestyle, Permaculture

Fertilizing/fertilizers

permaculture

Collaborative Research Project Permaculture...