5 Secrets to a ‘No-work’ Garden It took over 20 years of gardening to realize that I didn’t have to work so hard to achieve a fruitful harvest. As the limitless energy of my youth gradually gave way to the physical realities of mid-life, the slow accretion of experience eventually led to an awareness that less work can result in greater crop yields. Inspired in part by Masanobu Fukuoka’s book, One Straw Revolution, my family experimented with gardening methods which could increase yields with less effort. Fukuoka spent over three decades perfecting his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort. Here are the strategies we used which enabled us to greatly increase our garden yield, while requiring less time and less work. 1. With ‘no-till’ gardening, weeding is largely eliminated. 2. Gardeners are always on the lookout for free sources of clean organic mulch to add to their garden.
Constantly Tired? Here Are 10 Herbs To Increase Energy, Vitality, And Adaptability by JOHN SUMMERLY How difficult is it for us to achieve a work-life balance? How much more difficult is it to achieve a life-energy balance? Adaptogenic herbs demonstrate a nonspecific enhancement of the body’s ability to resist a stressor. Herbal formulas found in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic medicine restore a healthy stress response typically using traditionally prepared as formulas. Rhodiola rosea (Golden Root, Roseroot, Aaron’s Rod) is effective for improving mood and alleviating depression. Used for centuries in Asia and Scandinavia, Rhodiola is still relatively new to the Western market, but its popularity is growing, in large part because of what an incredibly versatile — and relatively inexpensive. Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is an annual plant native to the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Darker colored maca roots (red, purple, black) contain significant amounts of natural iodine, a 10-gram serving of dried maca generally containing 52 micrograms of iodine.
Top Ten Most Nutritious Vegetables and How to Grow Them in Your Garden A perfectly ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the sun. Sweet carrots, pulled from the garden minutes (or even seconds!) before they're eaten. Growing your own vegetables is one of those activities that balances practicality and indulgence. In addition to the convenience of having the fixings for a salad or light supper right outside your door (or on your windowsill), when you grow your own vegetables, you're getting the most nutritional bang for your buck as well. Vegetables start losing nutrients as soon as they're harvested, and quality diminishes as sugars are turned into starches. Broccoli is high in calcium, iron, and magnesium, as well as vitamins A, B6, and C. How to grow broccoliGrow broccoli in containers: One broccoli plant per pot, pots should be 12 to 16 inches deep.What to watch out for: Cabbage worm. 2. There is nothing like peas grown right in your own garden — the tender sweetness of a snap pea just plucked from the vine is unlike anything you can buy in at a store.
4 Simple Steps to Grow a Hundred Pounds of Potatoes in a Barrel Container gardening isn't only for savvy urban gardeners and folks with limited space to grow, it can also be for folks who want to maximize their yields in a controlled environment. Not only does growing potatoes in a barrel reduce the amount of weeding and exposure to pests and fungi, you don't even have to risk shovel-damage to the tender potatoes by digging them out of the ground when they're done, just tip the container over! After extensive research to plan my own potatoes-in-a-barrel, I've boiled all of the recommendations down to 4 simple steps to a winning potato harvest. 1. You'll need to pick out a container such as a 50-gallon trash barrel or one of those half whiskey barrel planters. Good drainage is critical for the cultivation of healthy potatoes so you'll want to cut or drill a series of large drainage holes in the bottom and bottom sides of your container. 2. Fill in the bottom of your container with about 6 inches of loose planting mix and compost. 3. 4.
DIY: How To Store & Make Your Own Herbal Remedies by AMY JIRSA Back in the olden days (and even in the not-so-olden past and present homesteading days), a stillroom was a necessity in every rural home. This was a designated space (think a modern-day pantry of sorts) which housed herbs, jars, recipe books, tinctures, teas, and preserving agents (like alcohol, honey, and vinegar). This room was where the woman of the house (yes, most often it was the woman) created cosmetics, home brews, preserves, and a year’s worth (at least) of herby medicinals. I would love to travel back and just step foot into one of these medieval distilling rooms — think of the medicinals, recipes, and lore passed down from generation to generation, all housed in one well-organized room? Intrigued yet? Begin with a bit of research and observation; what herbs do you use or buy on a regular basis? Next, I stocked my menstruums (or the fluid in which herbs are preserved, then strained from, necessary in tincture making). DIYnatural relief Related Posts
BonsaiSite.com - Bonsai as an art and horticultural practice. Vegetable Gardening Plans & Designs for an Indoor or Outdoor Garden How To Make A Herbal "Sleep Like A Rock" Tincture Please Share This Page: Google + stumbleupon tumblr reddit If you are a first-time visitor, please be sure to like us on Facebook and receive our exciting and innovative tutorials on herbs and natural health topics! Image – FrugallySustainable.com We’ve just found a great recipe for a herbal tincture for sleep. The main ingredient is valerian – which has been used as a sleep remedy since ancient times and is a well known natural sedative. The recipe also includes vegetable glycerin, which is an interesting alternative to alcohol that is typically used for making tinctures. The article also includes a huge list of other other tips on the subject of helping you sleep without use of pharmaceutical drugs. There are several other herbs which people have found beneficial for sleep. Ok, here is the link to the full tutorial for the herbal “sleep like a rock” tincture (web archive):