Tag: Permaculture - Page 7
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Using Nitrogen-Fixing Plants to Restore Abused Garden Soil
By now it's fairly well documented that I am a committed Lazivore. I like home-grown food, but the act of eating it has more appeal to me than laboring to grow it. That's why I am putting my garden to rest for a year, and planning to return with a much
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Build An Easy-Watering Vertical Herb Garden (Video)
This guy clearly hates watering. And shirts. Having shown us how to build a self-watering container garden, Mike (aka the Urban Organic Gardener) reveals his latest creation—an easy-watering vertical herb
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Could Subsurface Pressurized Irrigation Slash Water Use & Runoff? (Video)
From raving about a private permaculture garden complete with public bus shelter, to describing a $0.25 ruler as the "most important gardening tool you can buy", John of Growing Your Greens is known to get a little
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Private Permaculture Garden Includes a Public Bus Shelter (Video)
From an awesome tour of a permaculture allotment to a 20-year-old forest garden there are, of course, many fabulous video tours of permaculture projects and gardens available online. Many of these plots have incredible
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Why Planting Trees on Farms Saves Lives
We already know that the world's farms have more tree cover than believed, but a little more couldn't hurt. The fact is that incorporating trees and perennial crops into food growing can be crucial way to fight drought and improve soil stability.
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Unnatural Selection: Why Encouraging Weeds May Be Good Farming (Video)
I've noted before that if there is a war on weeds, it's important to identify what victory looks like. While many old-school gardeners and farmers talk in terms of a never-ending battle with invading hoards, a more
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Training Chickens to Eat Your Slugs (Video)
Since moving to North Carolina, I have escaped the ever-depressing war with slugs that every UK gardener is familiar with. While using old beer to trap slugs worked to a degree, my lazivore gardening ways meant that the trap
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$50,000 From a Backyard Farm? The Enticing Promise of SPIN Farming
In these days of recession-ready frugal green living and personal green stimulus plans, many folks are looking for new sources of primary or secondary income. While farming may sound like it needs major capital investment,
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Rocket Mass Stove Slashes Fuel Use, Compared to Conventional Wood Stove (Video)
Earlier today, I posted a video from Paul Wheaton on a wood-based design for a wood-burning rocket mass stove. As I was looking for follow ups on the project, I came across this related interview, in which Paul talks to wood
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Building a Wood-Burning Rocket Mass Heater. From Wood. (Video)
From rocket stoves aiding relief in Haiti, to building your own cookstove, ultra-efficient rocket stove designs have been around for some time. But this one is a little different. When Paul Wheaton decided to build a
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Composting Toilets: Whose Is the Fairest of Them All?
Despite prejudices, many of us know that composting toilets are often a remarkably pleasant place to do your business. From portable composting toilets for festivals, complete with potted plants and reading materials, to the affordable Lovable Loo that
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Artist Builds Awesome "Magical" Timber Homes (Video)
Whether it's a tiny, off-grid home for $2500 or DIY Appalachian Gothic architecture from recycled pallet wood, unconventional, natural homes are often as much about personal expression as they are sustainable building. And
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How to Build a Tiny, Off-Grid House for $2500 (Video)
From life inside a tiny, 7'x12' portable house to touring an infamous roundhouse, we've been pretty fascinated by the DIY tiny house movement. Here's a great video on how to build your own tiny, cordwood, off-grid
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How to Grow More Food: Grow Fewer Plants, Do Less Stuff
The garden above looks pitiful, doesn't it? I'm a little embarrassed to confess that it is mine. When I wrote about the single most important tool in a square foot gardeners' potting shed, I noted that I was planning on taking
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How Nature Makes Soil, And You Can Too (Video)
From helping to convert arid, salty desert into a productive permaculture garden, to reminding us of the astounding fact that there are 40 tons of life in just one acre of soil, Geoff Lawton knows a thing or two about
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Free the Jailed Hikers in Iran, Permaculture Community Pleads (Video)
From child labor in the cocoa industry to human rights issues in the oil industry, we've often reported on the intersect between environmentalism and social justice—but all too often environmentalism and human rights
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Square Foot Gardening Tool Comes from Office Supply Stores (Video)
Yesterday I posted a video from John of Growing Your Greens about a San Francisco permaculture garden that grows thousands of pounds of food. In the process I came across another neat clip in which he discusses the
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How to Build Hugelkultur Irrigation-Free Raised Bed Gardens (Video)
Some time ago I posted on hugelkultur raised bed gardening—an initially labor intensive method of growing that involves burying massive amounts of woody biomass underneath your growing bed, providing a long-term release
