Eco Design + Living

As industrial agriculture is under attack from Michael Pollan and his followers, the debate over how we transition to sustainable agriculture AND feed the world’s population rages on. One ‘agri-intellectual’ addresses the criticisms and misleading arguments of one farmer, who defends the combined use of GM seed and herbicides as a solution to reducing soil erosion. Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is at [...]

Check out Florida’s first Earthship under construction in Manatee County!
The Earthship which is a structure typically seen in the West is made of re-used tires, glass bottles, various other recycled/reused materials and earth based plasters. These structures are made to mimic the systems found in nature; rainwater catchment, greywater use, thermal mass for heating and cooling, [...]

Looks like Coloradans will legally be able to harvest rain water. Good for them. They are one state that knows the true value of access to water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html?_r=1&hp

 
Building a permaculture spiral herb garden from Walton Outdoors on Vimeo.
Is this cool or what? My dear friends, the Horns - owners of Artisan Builders - have outdone themselves with a double herb spiral, in this unforgiving heat, even. Check out the full story at Walton Outdoors.

Having just returned from Prescott College with a degree in Sustainable Community Development in hand, I have been reflecting on what all this means. By “all this” I mean my career path, my community, and the word, sustainability. For simplicities sake, when previously asked what I was getting my degree in, I would blurt out [...]

1. Plant something: transplanted Old Virginia tomatoes, basil, and peppers, French Marigolds, Scarlet Salvia. Started sunflowers & sprouts. Oh, and planted a Malabar spinach plant that a friend started from seed.
2. Harvest something: My dear friend Kat took me for a walk in the woods behind her home and we picked the very first blackberries of [...]

1. Plant something: transplanted Old Virginia tomatoes, French Marigolds, Scarlet Salvia, Sunflowers for shoots, and mini red peppers
2. Harvest something: sprouts, basil, chard
3. Preserve something: Nothing here
4. Reduce waste: composted cardboard boxes and food scraps from the Hibiscus Coffee and Guesthouse. This happens every week. The compost is filled with worms and looking righteous!
5. Preparation & [...]

 Great advice from a well respected permaculturist and earth activist.
I find the key to success in containers is renewing them with actively
aerated compost tea or at least worm castings and/or worm tea - soemthing to
keep the biological life in the soil, as they tend to be rather dead soils
that dry out fast. I use an [...]

1. Plant something: transplanted Genovese basil, French Marigolds, and mini red peppers
2. Harvest something: sprouts, Marconi red peppers, Mammoth melting snow peas
3. Preserve something: finally put my dried Marconi red pepper seeds in paper envelopes. For the past 3 months they have sat on the counter - I hope they germinate.
4. Reduce waste: composted cardboard [...]

For all my aging punk rock friends…
Punk Rock Permaculture E-zine 
An inspiring link and great information on sustainability and food forests.