HETE BLIKSEM

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Source: Radio Piece (Hong Kong) by David Claerbout

Context doet er toe.

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“Ik vroeg me af of het iets zou uitmaken als 67P in geschiedenislessen werd opgenomen. Als elk mens verplicht een kwartiertje naar die kosmische stofwolk moest staren, in het besef dat we meer zijn dan mens. En dat leven al begint waar het zelf afwezig is... ...De onwaarschijnlijkheid van de verwantschap tussen mens en komeet. Verwaarloosbaar, omdat hij zo ver teruggaat in de lijn van leegte naar leven, en tegelijkertijd zo fundamenteel. Want zonder die bouwstenen geen mensen.”

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In the category ‘awe-inspiring’: it appears the entire Alphabet can be found on the wing patterns of butterflies

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Inspiring biomass belt design by the Balkan Ecology Project!

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Aardappelboer Arnold herinnert ons aan de juiste doelstelling: meer voedingswaarde, in plaats van meer kilo’s. Zie ook zijn verhaal in de Groene Amsterdammer.

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All meat is not created equal...

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Spotted over @ Diana’s Mooie Moestuin: staked zucchini plants as photographed @ Villa Augustus.

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I wonder if this would be a functional way to save tons of water in the process of washing greens? Should be available for a few bucks at Ikea soon!

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Consider nukadoko, a fermented rice bran from Japan. Stir together salt, water, and bran—with optional ginger, dried fruit, and spices. Then ‘plant’ some vegetables like radish, beets, or carrots, burying them deep in the ‘soil’. Stir up to three times a day, preferably with your hands: get those skin microorganisms in there. After a week, you’ll have an active fermentation. Pretty soon it’ll be so strong that you can plant any vegetable in it and it’ll be pickled within one hour—these are then called nukazuke.

Aaron Vansintjan @ No Tech Magazine on the magic of fermentation...

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Cool. Cool cool cool cool! Let’s build one of these and host the most fuel-efficient neighborhood pizza parties out there.

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Awe-inspiring

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“Sarah planted this area (Above) near the drive more than a decade ago, greatly reducing labor while keeping the bed full over a long period. Perennial artichokes mix with bulbs and tubers in three layers: dahlias in trenches at the lowest level; Allium hollandicum‘Purple Sensation’  plus earlier and later allium varieties in the middle level; artichokes at the top level. The artichokes shown here are a mixture of ‘Green Globe’, ‘Violet de Provence’, and ‘Gros Vert de Laon’.”

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This is great. I’d love to build one of these myself. Perhaps even smaller, to accommodate direct composting on the bed.

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Tobias Roberts @ Permaculture News:

“While kale is usually grown as an annual, we have found that in our cool climate with relatively mild, frost-free winters, we can easily grow kale as a perennial. Since kale is much healthier and nutrient-dense than most lettuces and other leafy greens, we have no problem letting go of our lettuce crop. By simply harvesting the leaves as they grow towards the outside of the plant (and a couple occasional tender leaves for salads), our kale plants have been thriving for several years now.”

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A little help in learning to love the idea of winter... Apparently, at least 35 different vegetables will grow just fine in our climate. What’s not to love?

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Tamar Haspel on ‘Why small, local organic farms aren’t the key to fixing our food system.’

She makes some very valid points, although they don’t transfer universally. For example, an upside of living in a tiny country like the Netherlands is that basically none of our cropland is real far away from a consumer hub.

Also, I consider these a reminder that ‘mainstream’ local and organic could use a serous upgrade, rather than reasons to back away from those ideals. There’s still so much room for further development or even just dissemination of agro-ecological solutions, so why settle for chemicals and capital-intensive high tech at this point?

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Simple Approaches to Making and Using Foliar Fertilizers - The Permaculture Research Institute

One of our main goals in the permaculture garden is to foster soil life, and there are many methods we use for accomplishing this goal. We apply thick mulches and add plenty of organic matter. We practice no-dig methods so as not to harm existing soil life, and we enhance richness by adding things like worm compost, manure, and leaf mold. We increase fertility with nitrogen-fixing plants. We cultivate perennial …

“To rely solely on foliar sprays for plant nutrients would require regular application, which isn’t ideal, as well as leave our soils anemic, which is the antithesis of what we want. They are a great way for starting young or transplanted crops off with a bang, for helping when our soils are lacking, and for extending a productive plants output a little further, but the soil is what will provide the consistent nutrients needed...”