Upskilling for Post Growth Futures, Together When I was seven, I was given an Apple Macintosh in the hope that Mavis Beacon would teach me how to touch type. It was an unreasonable expectation, for I was actually more interested in escaping to the fantasy lands of computer games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Lode Runner. Yet, these games had a lasting, unexpected impact on my thirst for learning. I still feel that childlike thrill each time I learn something new. As my work has expanded to explore how humans can flourish within the planet’s biophysical limits, I’ve also become painfully aware that in some aspects of my life, I’m not very well-equipped to flourish in futures beyond economic growth. But the rising value of the generalist does not mean we each need to know how to do everything ourselves. Thus, I recently found myself wondering, what range of skills might we collectively need in order to thrive in post growth futures? Means of Learning and the Self Community, Family and Leadership Health Food and Nature Bushcraft
How to Make a Liquor Bottle Lamp Suzi's Crafts I would like to share one of my favorite craft projects how to make a bottle lamp. You do have to invest about $15 for a diamond bit, but the bottle lamps can be made for less than $10 and they make amazing gifts or sold for a profit at craft shows and Etsy shops. You don’t have to be a drinker to get nice looking bottles. Most bars throw out there wine and liquor bottles on a regular basis. I simply asked around a couple bars to save me a few bottles and it wasn’t a problem at all. How To Drill Glass For Your Bottle Lamp When your drilling glass you need to take the proper precautions. The key to drilling glass is letting the bit do all the work. To start your hole, put the drill bit at an angle and start drilling out a groove (This prevents the bit from slipping and traveling on the face of the bottle). Installing a Light Kit For Your Bottle Lamp The particular light kits I’m using have a switch that is perfect for these lamps. Connect the wires and place them back into the housing.
Simple Aquaponics System for Growing Your Own Food & Fish At Home This aquaponics system is different than most. It’s a scaled down version of the system Will Allen over at Growing Power Inc uses to grow 1 Million pounds of food on his 3 acre farm in Milwaukee, WI. The whole system uses just a single pump and uses very little energy to pump nutrient rich water up to the gravel bed on top for filtration. The upper bed is slightly angled so the water can slowly drain down to the second bed below. And then finally back into the main tank where the fish are kept. This system is scalable and will produce a large amount of food in a very small space when compared with traditional row cropping. This system has almost unlimited potential yield, and scalability. Also, this system can be housed in a greenhouse for year-round growing. So, what are you waiting for? Image: Comments comments
Wikihouse Download and Print Your Own House Imagine downloading your house online, and “printing” it out on a machine. You don’t have to imagine it. It is a reality. Wikihouse makes it possible to download the blueprint designs for the house, which can then be fed into a CNC machine and the parts (and tools) needed to assemble the shelter simply cut out from sheets of plywood. The practical applications are far reaching. Not only can your design and download your own home, but the Wikihouse could be used in disaster relief scenarios where natural disasters, war, or political turmoil causes destruction of home and property and displaces many people. SCALABLE: This is scalable and modifiable. Wikihouse is designed using Sketchup. This is a truly revolutionary idea, and the concept is proven. “The purpose of the WikiHouse construction set is that the end structure is ready to be made weathertight using cladding, insulation, damp-proof membranes and windows. Source Links: Please visit us @ Comments comments
The 16 Best Healthy, Edible Plants to Grow Indoors From farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture, to urban farms and rooftop gardens, to produce delivery services, more and more people across the U.S. are embracing farm-fresh food. And for good reason: Locally grown produce tends to be better for the environment and for local communities than its store-bought counterparts. Growing food at home also ensures that growers know exactly where their food comes from and how it was grown (no need to worry about deceptive food labeling). If you’re not whipping out the pruning shears yet, consider this: Learning new skills is good for our brains. Luckily, you don’t need to be a farmer (or even live near a farm) in order to reap the benefits of home-grown produce. General Growing Tips Before you get started, here are a few tips that will be handy to keep in mind no matter which of the plants from this list you choose to grow. Fruits and Veggies Photo: Alpha 1. 2. 3. 4. How to Harvest: Most lemons will ripen in six to nine months. 5. 6. 7.
Awesome Things To Make From Wire Calling all creatives out there, today’s 50+ roundup is going to feed your inspiration banks. We gathered over 50 super awesome things to make from wire. You can get craft wire for pretty cheap, and as you will see, you can even use wire hangers! From Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day projects, to jewelry to home decor and gifts, you can find a wire project for about any occasion. If you have a wire project we didn’t find, send it to us.
10-Minute DIY Holiday Gift Idea: Peppermint Soap It’s time for another round of Craft Lightning – quick and easy DIY projects that take less than 20 minutes to make (like my shabby flower headband and stenciled wood bangle bracelet tutorials!). Craft Lightning + Holiday Season = twice the fun! These lightning quick peppermint soaps are a fun DIY holiday gift idea for friends, neighbors and teachers and can be whipped up in about ten minutes! What You’ll Need: The large block of shea butter soap base is smooth and silky, and it cuts easily with a kitchen knife. Slice the soap base into cubes, place them inside the measuring cup, and melt in the microwave in 30 second increments. Pour the melted soap into the mold and top with a few drops of red soap colorant. Wrap a band of paper or ribbon around the stack of soap, and it’s ready for gifting!
DIY Survival Candles Candles are an easy-to-use source of emergency lighting and a little bit of heat. I'm shocked to see some of the prices that are charged for long burning candles sold for survival or emergency preparedness - if you want to buy a dozen or so candles, the cost really starts to add up. Never fear! You can make your own survival candles at home for cheap, using high-quality, long burning soy wax. It's an easy project - the materials are easy to buy and you won't need any specialized tools. The materials you will need are:Soy wax flakes. First, you'll want to get your wicks ready. Put your wicks in the jars. This is my "double boiler." Here are the flakes beginning to melt. And now fully melted. Carefully transfer the melted wax into your pouring container. Don't fill the jar up the whole way - leave some room between the wax and the top of the container. Last step. Including the purchase of new jars, my cost per candle is around $1.62. Anyways, give it a shot and let us know how it goes!
Amazing Tiny House on Wheels: Truck Converted Into Gorgeous Solar Powered Off Grid Home The off grid home is truly a self-sufficient design providing energy via roof mounted solar panels. Built by Joseph Tayyar, this wonderful example of ingenuity and sustainability is a tiny house worthy of the name. How would you like to live in this? It doesn’t come cheap at $225k, but that cost is spread out over several years. Though this home is not quite affordable for many folks looking to move off grid right away, it does show what is possible with designing and building with recycled/repurposed vehicles, and high-technology. This tiny home is self-sufficient, and mobile. via: via: Images: Comments comments
DIY fire making ART IS BEAUTY: How to build your own FarmHouse Table for under $100 Good morning my Beauties! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. My labor day weekend was FULL of labor. As for the table.........It has been on our bucket list for 2 summers... and both summers came and went...and by golly...by labor day weekend I looked at hubby and said..NO MORE..... We had planned on using one of the Ana White Plans..she does amazing work and sets the plans up so perfect...but you see ...we had one problem.. You see this GORGEOUS antique primitive bench??? My beautiful Friend Erin, gave me this bench.. and said "do whatever with it". Well my whatever was KEEP IT!!! I loved it and couldn't let it go.. There was so much history in this bench.. So we had to BUILD the table around it.. It was a very long old bench and the numbers just were not working for us with the Ana White plans and since the hubby and I have both built farm tables before we decided to FREE STYLE!!! You can see the outdoor patio farm table the Hubby built HERE you can see the box frame built here.