#eco-farm

[botanicaladventures]

2021 07 16, krisna valley in somogyvámos (nem, nem tértem meg, illetve frangipani-t (9. kép) sem vettem, mert hova a francba rakjam. bezzeg tulasi nem volt eladó...)

[linda462009]

The Art and Science of Cheesemaking

The Art and Science of Cheesemaking

After a very busy weekend at Trinity Church’s Girlfriends Conference 2017, I got on an airplane and flew out to Walla Walla, Washington with my friends, professional chefs, Donna Caudill and Grace Low to visit Monteillet Fromagerie.  Founded by Pierre-Louis and Joan Monteillet 20 years ago, Monteillet Fromagerie was the first farmstead artisanal cheese facility in the Walla Walla Valley of…

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[linda462009]

Taking Bold Steps

  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what Gas has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV

I never imagined that making a bar of soap could represent taking a bold step of faith.  When the idea to make goat milk soap first materialized in my head, I was thinking that it would be a cool STEM projects to teach kids about chemistry. The more I researched the…

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[linda462009]

Sustainable Compassion

“So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.” ~ Florence Nightingale, English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing.

Over the last 16 years, I have been involved in developing and implementing social service programs – often known as…

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[yeyshonan]

Smart modular greenhouses turn urban rooftops into gardens

Cityblooms’ tiny modular greenhouses bring commercial agricultural technology to urban farms

The world’s population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and farms will need to produce 70 percent more food than they do today in order to feed that number. It is no surprise then, that numerous companies are developing alternatives to the traditional rural farming infrastructure — creating small “farms” which can flourish in urban spaces.

We have already seen SEALEAF — which enables coastal cities to create local farms on their seafronts. Elsewhere, the Japanese Agri-Cube fits into a standard parking space and can produce 10,000 vegetables a year. Now, California based Citybloomshas created a modular lightweight greenhouse especially designed for urban rooftops.

The smart mini-farms weigh only 15-17 pounds per square foot — minimizing potential problems with roof support — and each unit are designed to fit around any other infrastructure already in place on the roof. Nick Halmos, CEO of Cityblooms says it’s this flexibility which gives the design its advantage: “The modularity gives us the ability to scale very easily. So we can size a farming installation appropriately to the demands and consumption patterns and profiles of the community that the farm is built to serve.”

Would-be urban farmers can purchase any combination of microfarms, connect the hydroponic units to the cloud and track the growth of their crops remotely. They can control irrigation, humidity and plant nutrition allowing for more efficient food growth than the typical community garden. Since Cityblooms’ microfarms have a variety of environmental control options, users can grow effectively in a range of climates. They use a closed-loop hydroponic technology which improves water use efficiency and protects the produce from pollution and unsafe levels of lead.

Cityblooms are bringing commercial agricultural technology to urban farming and in doing so could help reduce food waste and food miles. Are there other agricultural practices that could be adapted to urban spaces?

Website: www.cityblooms.com Contact: [email protected]

[slmcp]

Lyn Howe & Geoff Rauch /// A Miracle Is Happening

Permaculture experts Lyn Howe and Geoff Rauch take time to reflect at their outdoor sanctuary nestled within their 2.5 acre diversified eco-farm in coastal Puna.

Shot during Green Leadership Adventure, a Maharishi University of Management rotating university program on Big Island, Hawaii /// December 28, 2013—January 17, 2014

[sophiecater]

WISDOM FOREST; AN ECO-VEGAN-YOGA-CHOCOLATE HAVEN

In the east of the Ecuadorian jungle is Wisdom Forest (aka Saraswate Ahimsa Vana).

We found out about this eco haven while in Ayampe (see previous blogs), on a yoga center's pin board. The crumpled piece of paper claimed that it would provide us with a bed, vegan food, home-made chocolate, yoga and Vedic principles in exchange for a morning's worth of work on the eco-farm and $10. We were fully on board and had our hippy trousers floating from our hips as we toppled off a packed 5 hour bus from Banos to Tena.

After quickly eating a piece of chicken (which actually ended up being pork) off a street vendor, as a final piece of meat before our to-be vegan  diet, we were coersed into paying $7 for a comfy cab ride to "Wisdom Forest".

We arrived at the entrance where a clothed monkey welcomed us from a pole (see above) and we slipped up the muddy path, deciding that we had made a large misjudgement wearing sandals in the jungle. As we got to the end of the path the wooden house stood, decorated with painted images and mosaics. We were greeted by two of our fellow voluteers - a crazy Norweigan guy cooking in the open aired kitchen and a middle-aged Canadian-German reading in a hammock - and walked upstairs to a bookshelf come dormatory door to plonk our stuff down.

As the others arrived, dinner was cooked up and our prep was given as follows:

mind the tarantula family of three that live all over the house

eat as much chocolate as you want/can

wake up early for yoga

work in the morning, relax in the afternoon

As mats were laid out on the floor, the 'table' was set and everyone sat cross legged. 

Before we were allowed to tuck into the vegan array of vegetables, thanks was given by one person to anything they wanted. Then the gannets descended and feasted on the fresh delights.

Bed was quickly settled into after dinner, as the jungle began to hum through the darkness. The dorms were gender seperated with six beds in each; Sophie and I hopped into the empty bottom ones, along side an Australian lady who had also arrived that day. Silk sacks on, we felt protected from the creepy crawlies and fell into a deep jungle sleep.

  DAY ONE

As the sun rose above the canopy, a harpsichord harmonised with a deep voice and my mind woke up alongside my eyes. Bhaga, the owner of Wisdom Forest had crept into the house and was sitting outside our rooms singing a Hare Krishna mantra. As everyone stirred, Sophie and I made our way to the music and sat with others next to Bhaga.

When the meditative melody ended, Bhaga held a kind of story-moral half hour, which was followed on by an hour and a half of yoga during which I found one of the infamous tarantulas sitting watching me happily from 30cm away on the roof.

Meanwhile, breakfast had been cooked up and we all headed downstairs to the mats, food and more thanks. Although similar to the previous night's dinner, breakfast saw extra visitors; swarms of wasps, which had created nests along the edge of the roof and had not been goaded away for respect's sake. I awkwardly accepted them and tried to be just as 'respectful' and patient as others. Inside all I wanted was a spray can and a lighter. 

Breakfast over and chores were divvied out; Sophie, the Australian lady and I were on compost duty. COMPOST DUTY. It was just as horrendous as it sounds.

We headed off with Juan (a Colombian rasta/hippy guy who had been on the farm for a while) to collect shovels, wellies and gloves and then to our project, the compost boiler. This ingenous and collosal contraption uses the heat that the decomposing compost emits to heat water that runs through pipes that the compost surrounds. Although cleverer than clogs, it's a royal pain as the compost has to be replaces twice a week. 

As Juan opened the mesh net that contains the stinking mass, the three of us had to shovel it into wheel barrows, which we then wheeled 50m up hill through jungle to plants that needed fresh nutrients. 10 wheel barrows of the smelly stuff and 4 hours down, we were dripping in sweat, bitten all over by sand flies and covered in dirt. 

The ordeal was in no way over. We then had to reassemble the boiler; shovel just decomposing pea pods and saw dust, which had to be put between mesh and pipes in layers WITH OUR HANDS. 

T   O   U   G   H      S   T   U   F   F

Needless to say we showered with glee before sitting down to yet more food and enjoying our afternoon spent in Tena and back at the farm in hammocks. The evening was spent as the previous one was; yet more food was consumed and bed was eagerly slipped into.

  DAY TWO

**copy Day One morning, including harpsichord, yoga and breakfast**

As duties were distributed, Sophie and I stood confident that we would be given the nicest, least smelly and easiest job. WRONG. That'll teach us for being cocky. We were back on compost duty. This time we were to empty all the bags on compost that the farm buys into a giant stinking heap, layered with saw dust. This wouldn't have been too bad if the compost bags hadn't been laced with plastic bags that we had to rummage for and throw away. The smell was so awful that gas masks were given to us...

3 hours of more compost work and a lot of gagging down, we were entitled to a well deserved short rest and a change of duty, which led me to walking around the farm with Juan and two machetes, chopping cocoa pods off trees until yet MORE food.

Our last afternoon at Wisdom Forest was spent hoola-hooping, drumming, making bracelets and enjoying the company of our fellow volunteers. 

Two days in Wisdom Forest and we were fully fledged pretend hippies who had acquired a vast knowledge of compost. We left full of food, knakered but very happy hippies.

[uneco]

It’s a utopian fantasy discover a ghost town and rebuild it in line with your ideals-, but in Spain where there are nearly 3000 abandoned villages (most dating back to the Middle Ages), some big dreamers have spent the past 3 decades doing just that.

There are now a few dozen “ecoaldeas” – ecovillages – in Spain, most build from the ashes of former Medieval towns. One of the first towns to be rediscovered was a tiny hamlet in the mountains of northern Navarra.

Lakabe was rediscovered in 1980 by a group of people living nearby who had lost their goats and “when they found their goats, they found Lakabe”, explains Mauge Cañada, one of the early pioneers in the repopulation of the town.