Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Saving the Past for the Future Fork & Bottle: Seed Sources - Organic, Biodynamic, Heirloom & Heritage Seed Sources Native Seeds/SEARCH The NS/S Seedbank houses (for future generations) the seeds of crops and wild plants traditionally used as food, fiber and dyes by prehistoric and more recent cultures inhabiting the arid southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. More than 2,000 different seeds are offered, representing traditional crops grown by Apache, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Gila River Pima, Guarijio, Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, Mojave, Mountain Pima, Navajo, Paiute, Puebloan, Tarahumara, Tohono O'odham and Yaqui farmers. More than a half of the offerings are corn, bean, and squash (aka the three sisters). Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds The first Demeter-certified biodynamic seed source I've found. Territorial Seed Company I'm a fan of theirs. High Mowing Seeds (100% Organic) I think that their selection is interesting and I love that their seeds are organic. Kitazawa Seed Company They offer a tremendous selection of Asian Vegetable seeds and are the oldest seed company in America.
Seeds of Change Horizon Herbs-Organic growers of medicinal herb seeds, medicinal herb plants, organic vegetable seeds and organic garden seeds. Forest Bathing Welcome! If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels or just generally look and feel healthier you've come to the right place. Here's where to start: Visit the Start Here and Primal Blueprint 101 pages to learn more about the Primal Lifestyle. Thanks for visiting! No claw-footed tub in the woods here. Forests, like other wild settings, engage our senses in more subtle but evolutionarily familiar ways than our typical modern environments. Yet, the research behind forest bathing takes all this a dramatic step further. As a result of these studies, government entities in Japan are partnering with the medical industry to hold free health checkups at park areas and to create designations for “official” forest therapy sites. What I love about this research is the big picture implication. On that note, everybody, have a great weekend. Join Mark Sisson and Friends at the Mohonk Mountain House this June 5-8!
Why Trees Matter TREES are on the front lines of our changing climate. And when the oldest trees in the world suddenly start dying, it’s time to pay attention. North America’s ancient alpine bristlecone forests are falling victim to a voracious beetle and an Asian fungus. In Texas, a prolonged drought killed more than five million urban shade trees last year and an additional half-billion trees in parks and forests. In the Amazon, two severe droughts have killed billions more. The common factor has been hotter, drier weather. We have underestimated the importance of trees. For all of that, the unbroken forest that once covered much of the continent is now shot through with holes. Humans have cut down the biggest and best trees and left the runts behind. What we do know, however, suggests that what trees do is essential though often not obvious. In Japan, researchers have long studied what they call “forest bathing.” Trees also release vast clouds of beneficial chemicals.
Forest bathing enhances... [Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2007 Apr-Jun Live architecture: Grow your own home - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience Tolkien's hobbits would feel right at home in new dwellings made out of living tree roots and designed to protect inhabitants from earthquakes. The homegrown architecture is just one of many eco-structures a new company hopes to roll out worldwide. The concept of coaxing living trees into useful objects, sometimes called tree shaping, arborsculpture, living art or eco-architecture, isn’t new. But now engineers and plant scientists from Tel Aviv University have taken their leafy designs to the next, and more practical and playful, level. Pilot projects under way in the United States, Australia and Israel include streetlamps, gates and playground structures made entirely from trees, as well as hospital park benches that grow their own foliage for shade. "Instead of using plant branches, this patented approach takes malleable roots and shapes them into useful objects for indoors and out," said Amram Eshel of Tel Aviv University in Israel. © 2012 LiveScience.com.
Issue 15: November 2011 | World Agroforestry Centre In sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one-third of the population is undernourished, growing both indigenous and exotic fruit for local markets has great potential to improve the diets of smallholder farmers and increase incomes, according to a new review by the World Agroforestry Centre. The study – recently published in the journal International Forestry Review – argues that the cultivation of indigenous fruit tree species in the region could make a much more significant contribution to the nutrition and livelihoods of local people if certain bottlenecks were removed. “In East Africa, the average daily intake of fruit is 35 grams per person, way below the World Health Organization’s recommendation,” says Ramni Jamnadass, head of the Centre’s Quality Trees research programme. “Agroforestry with trees that produce good quality fruit shows great promise for improving people’s physical and financial health”. Story by Geoff Thompson
Meet Purity Gachanga a farmer from Embu, Kenya | World Agroforestry Centre Writer: Peter Gachie and Yvonne Otieno Do trees on farms work? Well ask Purity Gachanga. Purity hails from Manyatta division of Embu North district,Kenya, where her family inherited 4 acres of land. The Gachagas have 11 children, 6 boys and 5 girls and the whole family relies on the farm for food and other needs. Purity joined a women’s Chama (An informal savings and microcredit system) and attended farming study tours and events organized by the World Agroforestry Centre and Kenya Agricultural Research Insitute (KARI) extension agents where she learnt and practised livestock rearing and growing of fodder trees. And yes, to Purity, all trees in the farm are useful. Purity participated in a study in early 90s that concluded that 3 kgs of fresh Calliandra fodder has the same effect in milk production as 1kg of commercial dairy meal. In the study, Purity and other farmers learnt that fodder trees should be mixed with basal feeds such as nappier grass of the ratio in 1:3.
How Agroforestry Works" The green movement is becoming more and more popular, gaining momentum daily. And there are many popular systems and programs that can help restore some of Earth's depleted resources. Agroforestry is one practice that does just that. A more formal explanation is that it is an ecologically based natural resources management system that was devised to promote sustainability within economic, environmental and social sectors. Although it is practiced worldwide in both tropical and temperate regions, agroforestry has been most extensively practiced in developing nations. First, citizens were starting to consider what negative impacts they were having on the environment. There's a lot of positive information available on agroforestry. Read on to discover just how agroforestry works.
Hidden Valley Hibiscus - Are Hibiscus Edible? If your pet or your toddler just munched down part of your hibiscus, don't panic! Hibiscus are definitely edible by creatures both great and small. Hibiscus flowers are traditionally used for tea in Asia and the Nile Valley area of Africa. Many hibiscus teas are made from a different species of hibiscus, called Hibiscus sabdiriffa, but Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, the ancestor of the modern, exotic hibiscus, is also frequently used for tea. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is used as a food and food flavoring too. Even more promising, a 2008 study from the US Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association found that hibiscus tea lowers blood pressure in adults with mildly high blood pressure! At HVH we get frequent requests for hibiscus leaves and flowers as food for reptiles - iguanas and turtles mostly. There is one member of the HVH clan who eats hibiscus on a regular basis - a canine named Jamba. © 2013 Hidden Valley Hibiscus.
What is the difference between cinnamon and cassia? Although related, cinnamon and cassia are not obtained the same plant. They should be treated as separate foods, both from a nutritional and a health standpoint. Scientifically speaking, there is only one true cinnamon, which is most commonly called "Ceylon cinnamon," and comes from the plant Cinnamomum zeylanicum. An alternative scientific name for Ceylon cinnamon is Cinnamomum verum, which simply translates as "true cinnamon." The term "cassia" never refers to Ceylon cinnamon but rather to other species of cinnamon, including Cinnamomum cassia (alternatively called Cinnamomum aromaticaum) and Cinnamomum burmannii. Ceylon cinnamon is typically more expensive than any of the cassia versions, and it is also the cinnamon more closely associated with potential health benefits involving blood sugar regulation. What true cinnamon and cassia do not have in common is their coumarin content. References Anderson RA.