If you’re still using plain old compost, you’re living in the past. These days gardeners are raving about the wonders of compost tea. Compost tea is liquid gold for plants; it fertilizes and suppresses diseases. This liquid fertilizer is relatively cheap and easy to make, and it provides your plants with instant nutrients to support their growth, improve their nutritional value, and even improve the flavor of your crops.

What You Need

Making your own compost tea requires a few key ingredients to get started. You shouldn’t try to make compost tea without some kind of aeration equipment; the organisms in the tea will quickly deplete the oxygen and your tea will start to stink.

• A 5-gallon bucket or larger, depending on how much compost tea you need; 5 gallons is the smallest amount I recommend makingAn aquarium pump
• Several feet of tubing
• Something to stir the mixture with
• Something to strain the tea with, like a nylon stocking or old pillowcase

How to Make Homemade Compost Tea

Once you have everything you need, it’s time to set up your equipment and get brewing.

You can formulate your tea specifically for whatever project you’re currently doing. For instance, molasses boosts bacteria which is beneficial to grasses, but protein like fish oil boosts fungal activity which is more beneficial to large shrubbery or trees. If you’ve never made compost tea before, you’re about to have some very happy plants.

1. Set up your pump: Attach the tubing to the aquarium pump. Make sure the tube is securely attached and no air is escaping. Fix tubing to the side of your container with clamps, or bury the end of the tubing under your compost to keep it in place. Find a location for your bucket that is warm but not directly in the sun. Direct sunlight can promote algae growth and throw off the balance of nutrients in your compost.
2. Mix together your ingredients: Put your compost in the container; you want to have a good balance of carbon-based and nitrogen-based compost. High carbon materials are things like: wood, ashes, bark, shredded newspaper and sawdust. High nitrogen materials are: coffee grounds, grass clippings, manure and seaweed. Loosely fill your bucket with compost about three-quarters of the way, making sure the mixture isn’t packed too tightly to stir. Now you want to add water to your mix. Rainwater is preferable since it lacks the chemicals that tap water may contain. Fill the bucket with water, leaving enough room at the top so you can stir without spilling or splashing.
3. Start your pump: Turn your pump on and wait to see if you need to adjust it. After a few minutes you should see bubbles in your mixture; it should look like it’s boiling. If your pump isn’t producing enough air, adjust the pump up or down as needed.
4. Add some food for the microorganisms: Once your pump is running smoothly and aerating as it should, add in one ounce of organic unsulfured molasses and stir your mixture.
5. Let the tea steep: Vigorously stir your mixture a few times a day to release more organisms and increase aeration. Let your tea brew for about three days, turn the pump off and remove the equipment. Unclamp your tubing from the side of the bucket, disconnect tubing from the pump and unplug the pump.
6. Strain your tea: Allow the tea to settle for a few moments so the largest pieces of matter fall to the bottom, making the mixture easier to strain. Strain your liquid into another bucket or directly into your sprayer. The strained material can go back into your compost pile, but should not be used to make tea again since brewing has removed a lot of nutrients from the organic material. If you want to make a new batch, start with fresh compost.
7. Use your tea: Now that your tea is ready you’ll want to use it as soon as possible. Your tea needs to be diluted with water to protect your plants. The final liquid mixture is extremely concentrated and may burn your plants, especially if your compost was nitrogen-rich. Dilute your mixture about one part compost tea to 10 parts water.Once again, for best results try to use rainwater or water that has been dechlorinated. In early morning or evening when there’s less chance of leaf burn, apply the liquid to the leaves and roots of your plants in the garden. Safer Brand, an organic gardening company, suggests using compost tea on your lawn as well. “When establishing a new lawn or restoring a sparse area, use compost tea to inoculate the soil with microbes that break down nutrients for grass roots.”

If normal compost just isn’t cutting it for your plants, this nutrient-rich liquid may be exactly what they need. Not only are you putting that compost to good use, you’re growing healthy and nutritious plants – while also enriching the soil in your garden.

Further Reading:

• Planning Your Organic Garden
• DIY Solutions for the Garden
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden – How to Grow Vegetables
• 5 Natural Pest Remedies for Your Garden
• Medicinal Herb Garden – What To Grow and How To Keep It Growing All Winter
• Ten Great Gardening Tips

Sources:

• When to Apply Compost Tea – The Nest
• Thicker, Greener, Healthier Simple Steps to Your Lushest Lawn Ever – Safer Brand

Marigolds are beautiful, strong smelling herbaceous flowers that are widely grown throughout the world. Most people grow marigolds for their season-long blooms, their beautiful scent, and because they are easy to grow. There are other great reasons to grow marigolds. The flowers are all edible though some taste better than others, and if you grow them from seed, they’re beneficial for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. However, the best characteristic of marigolds is that they repel mosquitoes. This makes for an affordable and environmentally friendly alternative to chemical insecticides. Insecticides are horrible for the environment, and they cause more harm to frogs and birds, mosquitoes’ main predators than they do to the mosquitoes. In the long run, this makes the mosquito problem much worse.

Marigolds Are Kryptonite to Mosquitoes

Unfortunately, mosquitoes are more than a nuisance; they are vectors for numerous diseases. For instance, malaria kills over a million people a year, and though the disease is currently not endemic to the U.S., many argue that it is only a matter of time before it becomes common in the U.S. again. Mosquitoes also spread encephalitis, West Nile virus, dengue fever and more. Instead of spending your hard earned money on chemical treatments that add to the mosquito population, in the long run, plant marigolds and other mosquito repelling plants in your yard for an immediate and cost effective solution.

More About These Remarkable Flowers

Marigolds are plants of the genus Tagetes, belonging to the family Asteraceae or Aster family. Though they are now found all over the world, botanists believe South America to be their most likely place of origin. This belief is rooted in evidence from fossils found in Argentina that date back 50 million years. Paleobotanists have discovered Asteraceae fossils that date to the Eocene Epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago). The plant family is from South America, and the marigold is believed to be a native of Mexico.

The name marigold is possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon term for the flower: merso-meargealla. There are other competing claims that the name comes from the Virgin Mary, with the gold referring to the most common color of marigolds. Old English authors referred to the flower simply as golde.

Long-lasting blooms

Marigolds are beautiful flowers that bloom all season until first frost. They will bloom more profusely if you remove the dead flowers from the plant. Marigolds rarely have problems with pests. They have only a few natural enemies; of these, the most common are frost, slugs, and snails.

You can grow big marigolds, small marigolds, marigolds of many colors, even edible marigolds. The varieties of marigolds are endless.

A Wealth of Options

There are two types of marigolds that are well known and widely cultivated. These are French marigolds and African marigolds.

African marigolds are the larger of the two. African marigolds, Tagetes erecta, typically have large yellow to orange flowers that can measure as large as 5 inches across, with plant height varying an average of 10 to 36 inches tall. African marigolds are sometimes referred to as American marigolds. (There are quite a few names for these flowers).

French marigolds are bushier and display smaller blooms. Typically, French marigolds will grow up to 2 inches across and come in a wider variety of colors: yellow, reds, orange, or multi-colored such as the harlequin French marigold with its yellow and red striped flowers.

There are other varieties of marigolds less commonly known. Such as triploid hybrids, signet marigolds, or the flavorful calendula marigolds (only the flowers are edible). Your options with marigolds are legion. Plant what you want; marigolds basically grow themselves, with almost no work on your part. Even if you believe yourself to be botanically inept, when it comes to marigolds, I believe anyone can grow them successfully.

You could buy these flowers from a store to transplant, but this is not the best way to go. Store bought flowers often have neonicotinoids applied to them at levels high enough to prove fatal to bees. You and the bees are better off if you’re growing your own.

Marigolds are easy to grow; so easy in fact, that anyone can do it. You don’t need great soil, just your run of the mill dirt, which is easy to come by. And you don’t need to fertilize them or fuss over them. All they need is some soft ground, direct sunshine, and some water.

A One-Time Seed Purchase

Once you have decided on what variety of marigold you want to grow, you’ll only need to purchase seed once. The seeds are easy to save. After you cut the dead blooms off of your flowers a few times, you’ll have all the seed you’ll ever need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKDgyM-w7u4

Getting Dirty

The next step is less work than it sounds. You’ll need to loosen up the ground where you plan on planting your flowers. (Don’t forget about your underground utility lines, if you don’t already have your utilities marked, call 811 and get them flagged before you start digging). You can use any kind of hand tool for this, a hand tiller, shovel, etc. Once you have chosen the sites where you would like to grow your flowers (spread them out in multiple places across the yard), space the seeds apart according to your seed packet instructions. Alternately, you could grow the flowers in planters first, but this isn’t a necessary step. In the case of marigolds, I think it just creates more work in the long run. Your seed packet will tell you how deep to plant the seeds, but basically, you just barely cover them with dirt. Don’t let them dry out. While the plants are young, water them often, whenever the ground is dry. Don’t smack the plants with water from on high; be gentle with your watering and aim for the base of your plants. Blooms should appear within a few weeks, and they will stay in bloom all season.

They Don’t Ask For Much

Don’t fertilize marigolds. They bloom better and more profusely in poor soil. If you fertilize them, they will bloom less, and grow excess greenery. If you don’t fertilize your marigolds and they still turn out bushy with few blooms, then congratulations! These bushy marigolds should still repel mosquitoes, but this means you’ve got great soil in your yard; black gold if you will. This is a sign that you should grow something that is more of a challenge to grow than marigolds, like food, or more exotic decorative plants that still repel pests.

An optional extra step is to mulch the flowerbed once your flowers begin to pop out of the ground. Mulching a flowerbed makes it look more attractive and it conserves water. But you can get by without the mulch, especially when you’re dealing with marigolds.

By growing these flowers in your yard, you can be assured that the mosquitos will leave you alone and you’ll be helping out your local bees, too. They need all the help they can get. Sadly, it’s not easy being a bee these days. Bees are relatively fragile when it comes to pesticide exposure. If you’re helping out bees, you should feel good about it. They play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They are so important that biologists often refer to them as a keystone species. So by helping them out, you can feel like you’re doing the planet a favor.

Other Mosquito Repelling Options

Marigolds are probably the easiest to grow, but if you want to plant a variety of plants that repel mosquitoes, consider some of the following:

• Ageratum
• Asters
• Basil
• Bee balm
• Beauty Berry
• Cadaga tree
• Catmint
• Catnip
• Cedars

• 

  Citronella Grass

• Chrysanthemums
• Clove
• Eucalyptus
• Garlic
• Geranium (repels ticks)
• Horsemint
• Lavender (also repels ticks, moths, mice, black flies and fleas)
• Lemon Balm
• Lemon Grass (repels ticks)
• Lemon Thyme
• Lemon Verbena
• Mint
• Nodding Onion
• Peppermint
• Penny Royal
• Pineapple weed
• Pitcher Plant
• Pyrethrum daisies
• Rosemary
• Stone root
• Snowbrush
• Sweet Fern
• Tansy
• Tea Tree
• Vanilla Leaf
• Vetiver Grass
• Wild Bergamot
• Wormwood

When purchasing seeds, you’ll probably get a much better deal ordering from a catalog or an online seed company than you would from your local retail store. In our garden we’ve come to rely on Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have over a dozen varieties of marigolds to choose from.

Conclusion

Even if you struggle to grow plants and have had limited prior success, you can grow marigolds, no matter how many plants have perished under your care. Please let us know how your marigold cultivation turns out!

Recommended Reading:

• Invasive Weeds You Can, and Should, Be Eating – Easy Foraging
• How to Regrow Your Favorite Herbs and Save Lots of Money
• Healing Allergy Inflammation With Stinging Nettle

Sources:

• 11 Plants That repel Mosquitoes – Natural Living Ideas
• Marigolds – Iowa State University Horticulture Home & Pest News
• Marigolds – The Old Farmer’s Almanac
• Asteraceae Plant Family – Encyclopedia Britannica
• 31 Plants That Repel Mosquitoes – Best Plants

Much of the work we do as gardeners involves pulling weeds, and many of us can attest that this is not our favorite part. The good news is that there are many common garden weeds you can leave right where they are.

Edible weeds have been a common food source throughout history and a regular part of the American diet up until the rise of the supermarket and the shift towards large-scale agriculture. More recently, people have been re-discovering these nutrient-rich plants as part of a healthy, organic diet, and, as a result, educational opportunities abound. There is a variety of books, websites, classes and entire schools dedicated to teaching how to harvest and prepare these foods. If you read up on the subject, you will also find many wild, edible weeds offer the added benefit of medicinal properties.

Getting Started

The best way to get started is to learn how to identify your garden weeds. There are some very useful book resources out there with colored guides to positively identify the plants you are looking for and “weed” out poisonous look-alikes. Petersen Field Guide: Edible Wild Plants, by Lee Allen Peterson is a handy all-around reference that includes more than 370 edible plants, colored illustrations, photographs, and directions on preparation. If you want to get a little more in-depth on some of the more common wild edibles, Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate by John Kallas, Ph.D. includes thorough identification and recipes. There are also many local wild food groups popping up in towns everywhere, and an internet search should turn up local organizations.

There are also many local wild food groups popping up in towns everywhere, and an Internet search should turn up local organizations, workshops, and plant walks. Social media sites like Facebook offer another resource for national and local plant identification groups. On-line communities are a great place to ask questions, post-plant pictures, and benefit from the collective knowledge of others. Once you feel comfortable with identification, you can go out and start shopping for free in your own backyard.

Dandelion

The first and most common of these weeds is the dandelion. This plant is tenacious, managing to grow everywhere from cracks in sidewalks to all over your lawn. There is a huge agrichemical industry geared towards the American homeowner and the idea that a well-kept lawn is a weed-free lawn, with the dandelion depicted as the number one enemy. People are convinced they should spend their time and money eradicating the dandelion with harmful herbicides. The truth is, dandelions are very useful and are easily managed by hand-pulling and regular harvesting. The greens that emerge in the early spring are rich in antioxidants, Beta-carotene, vitamin C, Vitamin D, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous, sodium, and a variety of trace minerals. They are also fairly high in protein. Not only can you eat the leaves, but the cheery yellow flowers make an excellent addition to colorful salads and can be added to stir-fries. My favorite thing to make with them are dandelion fritters for a festive springtime meal. In addition, the root makes a delicious coffee-like beverage when roasted, ground and brewed.

The value of dandelions doesn’t stop there. They are used as an herbal remedy for anemia, blood disorders, promoting digestion, improving liver and kidney function, regulating diabetes, lowering blood pressure and high cholesterol, and slowing the growth of cancerous cells.

Plantain

Not to be confused with the banana-like plant of more tropical regions, this common garden weed has a similar nutritional profile to dandelions and grows in equal abundance. Often this weed can be found growing everywhere from garden beds to lawns and roadsides. The green oval-shaped leaves sprout from the center of a rosette with a stalk covered in seeds rising from the center. Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked in sautés, soups, and stews. They are often blanched before they are added to salads or frozen for later use. The shoots when young and green are excellent sautéed in olive oil, and still edible once older, but the fibers present a bit more work for eating. The seeds can be stripped off the stalk and eaten as well, although this is a somewhat tedious process.

Plantain leaves can also be mashed between your fingers and applied as a topical poultice for relief of cuts, scrapes, bruises, and especially insect bites. Plantain is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory. Dried leaves can be steeped for an herbal tea for general enjoyment and to treat liver and kidney disorders, urinary tract infections, gallstones, ulcers and bronchitis.

Chickweed

This plant gets its common name from the affinity chickens have for it, and those chickens are definitely on to something. Chickweed grows in a network of long, succulent stems with pointed leaves and tiny, white star-shaped flowers. It grows in gardens, lawns, and even in the shade under the canopy of trees. These tender greens are best harvested in May through July and if transplanted or sown by seed, it can be cultivated in a cold frame throughout the winter when fresh greens are hard to come by. It’s also a good plant to keep around in the garden because it decreases insect damage to other garden plants where it grows. The stems and leaves make an excellent salad green and sandwich fixing and they can be added to soups and stews, chopped stems and all. Chickweed is highly nutritious, providing vitamins A, B complex, C, iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, sodium,

Chickweed is highly nutritious, providing vitamins A, B complex, C, iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, sodium, copper, and silica. Due to the high content of saponins, it helps increase the body’s absorption of nutrients. It is so highly nutritious, in fact, that it was commonly recommended for convalescents and people recovering from illness to help build strength.

Externally, finely chopped chickweed will soothe and heal cuts, scrapes, burns, eczema, and rashes. Steeped as a tea, it has diuretic properties that promote kidney and urinary tract health. It is also considered an old wives’ remedy for obesity, due to its ability to break up and flush out excess fat cells.

Lamb’s-Quarters

This common weed is also known as “wild spinach”, and while it is quite similar, it is much easier to grow. This plant has tall stems with diamond shaped leaves that are green on top and whitish underneath, and appear dusty at a distance. Tiny green clusters of flowers grow from the top in spikes. Anywhere where soil has been disturbed, lamb’s quarters loves to fill in the spaces, which conveniently happens in our garden beds in the spring. It is best harvested before it goes to seed, as it spreads quickly through the garden. It is also important not to harvest it in areas contaminated by chemicals or synthetic fertilizers, as it readily absorbs and stores them.

Lamb’s-quarters is much higher in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, B Vitamins, calcium, phosphorous, niacin, iron, and protein than spinach and most of the other domesticated greens. You can use lamb’s quarters the same way you would use spinach in any dish. Like spinach, it is high in oxalic acid, which inhibits absorption of iron and calcium. Small amounts of raw lamb’s quarters are fine to eat, in things like salads and smoothies, but larger amounts should be cooked to break down the oxalic acid. It is rumoured to taste better than spinach when steamed, so be prepared for a treat.

Medicinally, lamb’s quarters are used as a tea or simply eaten to treat stomach upset and diarrhea. A simple external poultice can also be made by crushing up the leaves to soothe swelling and burns.

Nettles

And finally, my favorite superfood, stinging nettle. If you live on acreage or near a park, you may find them nettles in patches at the edge of wooded areas or find them in the shady parts of yards, often next to buildings. You may have had unpleasant run-ins with this plant, making it difficult to imagine any warm, fuzzy feelings towards it, but learn to handle it right and you’ll have a great ally in the plant kingdom.

In the spring, if you put on your garden gloves and pinch off the top few inches of the stalk and leaves, you can steam, stir-fry, puree or brew away the troublesome spines for a culinary delight.

Nettles are so high in so many nutrients, that you can’t help but feel like a superhero after eating them. Not only are they chock-full of Vitamins A,C, E, F, K, P and B Vitamins, they are also high in zinc, iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, boron, bromine, calcium, chlorine, chlorophyll, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, iodine, chromium, silicon, sulfur, thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin. Top that off with 16 free amino acids, beta carotene, antioxidants, protein and fiber, and its no wonder they are referred to as nature’s multi-vitamin!

Nettles are delicious in soups and broths. They make a vitamin rich tea, pair nicely with eggs in scrambles and quiches, and even make a lovely pesto when substituted for basil.

Medicinally, nettles are used as a spring cleansing tonic, a blood builder, a PMS treatment, and as a diuretic. Nettles have also gained notoriety as a natural remedy for allergies, asthma, hay fever, hives, and respiratory issues. Topically, the nettle’s sting has been successfully for treating arthritis and tendinitis.

The Benefits of Edible Weeds

When it comes down to it, it is much more efficient to cultivate plants that are already thriving where they’re growing. They will require less watering and overall care. If they are a spreading weed, you will just need to make sure you keep harvesting enough to keep it contained. By working with, rather than fighting some of these plants, you will also benefit from freeing up extra time and energy to devote to other areas of your garden. You can’t get much more local than food harvested right out of your back yard, and you will know it was organically grown and chemical-free. When it comes down to it, what better way to get revenge on your garden weeds than to eat them!

Recipes:

Mountain Hearth Dandelion Fritters

Ingredients:

• a few handfuls of freshly picked dandelion flower heads
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• cooking oil of choice for frying
• sesame oil, cider vinegar and tamari for dipping sauce

 In a bowl, mix dry ingredients, then whisk in water and egg with a fork. Heat enough oil in the bottom of a skillet to create a layer for frying. This can be to your preference, but I try to aim for 1/2 inch depth. Dip each flower head in the batter until thoroughly coated and fry until crispy. In a smaller bowl, mix sesame oil, cider vinegar and tamari to a consistency of your liking for the dipping sauce. Serve hot as a delicious spring appetizer.

Other Recipies: 

• Baked Plantain
• Chickweed Salad
• Lamb’s Quarters Soup
• Stinging Nettle Recipes

Further Reading:

• Purslane and Recipes
• Mulberries and Mulberry Recipes
• Elderberries and Recipes

Resources:

• Wild Food Adventures
• Edible Wild Food
• Wild Edible
• Nettles: a traditional medicinal plant – Nettles for Health

A lot of people are growing vegetables to beat the credit crunch. Growing vegetables is the best way to turn your gardening expertise into a means to save significant money. There are numbers of inexpensive vegetables that can easily reduce your food expense. Here is the list of the specialty crops worth planting.

Cilantro

You either love it or hate it, but if you pay for it, you undoubtedly want to consider growing it. Cilantro is worth more than $20 per sq ft. Also, keep in mind that you always grow cilantro close to some other taller vegetables to shade it in the warmer weather.

Arugula-Roquette

Arugula or Roquette, is a family member of the mustard family. This spicy bite compliments the particular sweeter lettuces and it is also best for your salads. This plant could completely be farmed, or individual exterior leaves could possibly be cut from the plant. It is advisable to grow it just like you grow cilantro, in between the taller plants.

Green Salad Mix

Mesclun and lettuces are standard salad ingredients. Once you start eating the green lettuces, you will save iceberg lettuce for baloney sandwiches. Green salad mix can definitely help you save some serious income.

Chives

Mix chives into scrambled eggs or cottage cheese, or add to a baked potato. You must have this in your garden. It’s easy to grow in the ground or in a container. Did you know it grows in winter?

Dill

Dill is worth more than $16 per square foot. You can use it in salads, quick breads, and also you can have it with fish. You should try tuna pasta salad with a bit of chopped garlic, green pepper and dill Trust me; it’s simply awesome.

Lettuce

Any lettuce, from the salad bowl to Romaine could save you more than $18 per a square foot in your garden. With lettuce, many varieties can be grown from its seeds.

Cherry Tomato, Modest & Method

You should definitely try Red Cherry, Sweet Million or Sweet 100. You can consume it directly into salads without slicing it. With these tomatoes you can save over $15.00 per square foot.

Herbs

Herbs have become much more popular in the last two decades. You can make use of them in cooking, for herbal products, and for medicine herbs. They are a value-added item to grow in your garden.

Lavender

Growing lavender is a great way to turn your love for herbs into a solid income.  Once planted, lavender will continue to produce hundreds of blooms for 15 years.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are easy to grow in a small space and expensive to buy in the supermarket.

You can also grow the 10 veggies to save a huge amount of income. They are worth $6 to $10 dollars for each square foot.

• Turnip
• Squash
• Basil
• Celery
• Tomato, large
• Pumpkin
• Tomatillo
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Chard

Recommended Reading:

• Things You Should Know About Garlic – DIY, Recipes, Other Tips
• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Permaculture Agriculture: The Transition to a Sustainable Future
• Companion Plants for Organic Gardening
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

Many people believe the word “superfood” is a term used for click bait and nothing more, but superfoods not only exist, they are the superheroes of the food world. Spirulina is one such food.

In the Central African Republic, Catholic nuns are using the blue-green algae to fight malnutrition at the St. Joseph Health Center. Bangui, where the nuns are located, has been dealing with the effects of a conflict that has made resources scarce. The lack of food has had an especially pronounced effect on children in the region.

After a meeting with a French pharmacist who advised them on how to grow spirulina, the nuns at St Joseph Health Center were able to successfully harvest the algae to combat malnutrition.

Spirulina is a remarkable source of nutrients, containing the highest natural source of complete proteins, omega fatty acids, iron, and antioxidants. The health applications of a superfood like spirulina can translate across countless circumstances, from saving lives in the Central African Republic to providing everyday nutrients to anyone around the world.

Working Smarter – and Making a Difference

The number of children who suffer from severe malnutrition in the Central African Republic is on the rise. Compared to last year, reported cases of acute malnutrition have tripled as conflicts in the region leave families unable to plant crops, to earn a living, or to access sanitation, clean water, and health care. Provisions from aid organizations are an inconsistent food source, as security issues often keep the protein supplements from reaching their intended targets. These are the struggles facing the nuns at St Joseph as they care for vulnerable children and mothers.

Spirulina has given them an inexpensive, effective, and reliable way to feed the people who come to the health center. Once a solution to the malnutrition problem presented itself, the nuns obtained the materials to build the algae tanks from the community through begging and borrowing. People are paying attention to St Joseph Health Center because of how effective the spirulina has been and the inspiring initiative shown by the nuns who work there.

The sisters at St. Joseph are proud of how many children they are able to help. After such great results, others in the Central African Republic and areas beyond who suffer from malnutrition see the sisters as both an inspiration and a source of practical knowledge.

Why Spirulina is Awesome

Most people are familiar with algae. It’s the murky, clingy, dingy green stuff in ponds and dirty aquariums. Unappetizing as it sounds, spirulina is among the most nutritious foods on the planet with 18 vitamins and minerals, 8 amino acids, chlorophyll, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids. The stuff is loaded. In addition to that goodness, its soft cell walls make it easy to digest. It also absorbs heavy metals and toxins. Eating algae plain might not be for the squeamish, but a quality green nutrition powder can give you the benefits of spirulina without the slime.

Spirulina is incredibly eco-friendly; it yields 25% more nutrition per square foot than any other plant. If you find yourself inspired by the nuns at St Joseph and want to try some DIY spirulina at home, the Internet is here to help. Great DIY tutorials like the one here can get you started on a window aquarium filled with spirulina. It may take more than one try to get it to work, but, in time, you’ll be able to guarantee a quality supply of homegrown spirulina, perfect for survival and prepping, too! The use of spirulina in the Central African Republic has shown the great impact it can have on health. This Total Nutrition Formula is the perfect recipe for your spirulina, and it’s the best multi-vitamin/mineral/protein supplement I know of. Even if building an algae farm isn’t a viable option, finding a quality source of it can give you access to even better health.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins

Sources: 

• Algae-growing nuns in Central African Republic fight malnutrition with ingenuity – PBS.org
• To Fight Malnutrition, These African Nuns Grow Protein-Rich Spirulina Behind Their Health Clinic – True Activist
• Press release Three times more children treated for severe acute malnutrition in Bangui hospital than this time last year – UNICEF
• Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina Superfood – Instructables

Polytunnels seem to be popping up all over the place – and with good reason! They’re a fantastic gardening tool that can increase crop size, extend the growing season, and protect your plants from the elements. And, you get all of these benefits without the hassle that comes with erecting a permanent structure such as a greenhouse. Around 90% of people who purchase pre-made polytunnels choose to erect them themselves, because it’s incredibly simple to do, and can save a significant chunk of cash compared to hiring a handyman or builder to do it for you. So here’s an easy guide to walk you through the process of building your very own polytunnel.

What Is a Polytunnel?

Basically speaking a polytunnel is constructed from a metal-framed semi-circular tunnel covered in hardwearing polythene with UV inhibitors to maximize its lifetime. A large amount of air is enclosed by a polytunnel, so it stays warm much longer than a greenhouse – and also does not suffer from such dramatic temperature fluctuations in summer. During the winter you can regulate temperature and maintain heat very simply by lining the inside of the tunnel with bubble wrap and then removing it in spring. The polythene film has a lifespan of between five and ten years, but the cost to replace it will be only 15%-20% of the cost of the original tunnel.

Lay the Foundations

As with building any structure, you need to start by laying the foundations. Correctly placed foundation tubes are absolutely vital to the safety and longevity of your tunnel, so it’s crucial to get this step right. Start by marking the base positions around the site of the polytunnel – these will form the outline of the tunnel and will provide the base structure for you to build your aluminum frame. You should make sure the positions are evenly spaced and that the corners are at right angles, otherwise your tunnel might not be stable. You should then simply drive the foundation tubes into the ground at those marked positions. You can do this with a large hammer – but make sure to place a wooden block between the hammer and the tops of the tubes to avoid damaging or distorting them. You can either use tubes provided in a pre-fabricated polytunnel kit, or if building your own tunnel from scratch, offcuts of scaffolding poles or mains water pipe provide the perfect inexpensive substitute.  These should be cut to about six feet in length and driven into the ground to a depth of about three feet, depending on your desired polytunnel size. The bigger the tunnel the deeper the poles should go. Once they’re securely in the ground, check to be sure the tubes are level with a spirit level.

Build the Frame

Whether you’re constructing a pre-fabricated polytunnel or building one from scratch, you’ll need a series of aluminum hoops to make up the frame of your tunnel. To build the frame, simply connect the hoops together (they generally come in multiple sections) and simply slide them over the foundation tubes, bolting each in place. Finally, fit the ridge pole down the centre top of the tunnel, corner bracing and doorframes. Check that the hoops are all straight and in line, then tighten all the joints carefully.

Add the Cover

Now your framework is securely in place, it’s time to attach the cover and add the ‘poly’ to your tunnel. Most pre-fabricated polytunnels will come with some sort of cushioning to put over the hoops, to ensure the polythene sheet doesn’t snag or tear – but if you’re building one from scratch you can use foam coverings or anti hot-spot tape (which can be sourced from larger garden stores). This isn’t absolutely vital, but will increase the lifespan of the sheet by around a year – so it’s a good investment. Clear any stones from the ground around your frame and unroll the cover, sliding it over the hoops so it sits evenly over the frame. To secure it you can either attach it to the base rail if you have one (as most pre-made kits will), or  simply bury a skirt of polythene in a trench approximately 30cm deep. If your model is supplied without a base rail, but you don’t have space to dig a trench, you can make one using lengths of 70 x 45mm timber, cut to length, then bolted on to the foundation tubes. Whichever you choose it’s important to keep the plastic sheet as taut as possible during fitting. Now simply either cut a V shape in the sheet where you’d like the entrance to be, or use whichever door system is provided in your kit. There you have it, your very own polytunnel!

Be sure to check out our website, premierpolytunnels.co.uk

“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein.

Permaculture stands for permanent culture. It is an ecological method of design that shapes many practices, including farming.

The term permaculture was first coined by two Australians, David Holmgren and Bill Mollison. However, many of their design ideas were inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s sustainable farming methods. The founders of permaculture recognize that a change in farming is needed. A change in culture is needed as well – a change in the way we view the world.

American culture, and indeed Western culture, often sees human beings as somehow separate from nature, that nature is out there and we are in here. Anthropologists don’t necessarily see such a demarcation from us and nature and neither do permaculturists. Not only are human beings a part of nature, it is optimistically believed that we can do more than mitigate our harm to the environment. Through the active implementation of permaculture principles, we can actually improve the environment around us.

A Grassroots Movement

We don’t need negativity to promote change. Negative emotions interfere with creativity. Bill Mollison believes that positive change is more effective from bottom to top, than it is from top to bottom. If we wait for change to come from the politicians, we could be waiting a long time. Change yourself. Change the way you garden. Change could come from one neighborhood at a time, rather quickly. Permaculturists believe that we must be the change we seek to find in the world.

Permaculture methods are similar in some ways to organic methods of farming, but the differences lie in matters of degree, sustainability, and working within an improved upon ecosystem, instead of trying to work against it. Permaculture doesn’t allow the use of any chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides, while organic farmers can use a short list of approved chemicals. Permaculture also doesn’t allow the use of motorized machines or plastics as their use is not sustainable in the long term. Despite these prohibitions, permaculture techniques are designed to be less labor intensive than industrial farming.

Working Smart and Not Hard

Permaculture espouses thoughtful planning in place of protracted labor. To this end, Bill Mollison’s book suggests planning from the home dwelling out, with zone zero starting in at the center.

Zone zero would apply permaculture principles in an effort to reduce energy use, efficiently use water, and utilize natural resources such as sunlight. From outside the home, the most labor intensive crops are placed as close to the main dwelling as possible, and a compost pile/bin for kitchen waste and a greenhouse would be nearby. From there in concentric circles, crops and livestock are placed out from the main dwelling. The last two zones are the wild and semi-wild areas used for firewood and as a habitat for wild plants and animals. The placement and contents of zones 2 and 3 are primarily determined by the amount of labor needed to maintain the zones and their relationships to one another. The relationships between different plants, crops, and livestock are carefully considered in the planning stage of a permaculture farm. It is these relationships of one element to another and their maintenance requirements that determine the design of a permaculture farm.

How Plants Can Benefit Each Other

One such relationship is the symbiotic relationship between leguminous plants and nitrogen fixing bacteria. Leguminous plants are among the best known nitrogen fixing plants, but literally thousands of plants are known to help fix nitrogen into the soil. Many of these nitrogen fixers are not in the legume family. A useful permaculture technique is planting nitrogen fixing plants alongside food producing plants. This is done both with indigenous plants and pioneering plants that are well suited to the area. (With so many thousands of plants that fix nitrogen into the soil, it is a wonder why anyone uses nitrogen fertilizer).

Nitrogen deficiency is one of the most common limiting factors for the growth of crops. Nitrogen fixing trees are the most commonly used nitrogen fixing plants in permaculture designs. Permaculture stresses the need for bio-diversity, so when given the option, using a wide variety of nitrogen-fixing plants is ideal. A large variety of food producing plants also helps to prevent pest infestations.

Natural Pest Control

Pest control in permaculture is achieved without the use of synthetic chemicals due to their destruction of the soil and the destruction of the natural balance. For example, encouraging ladybugs to proliferate in your garden is usually a more successful method of controlling smaller pests such as aphids than spraying pesticides. After all, a ladybug can eat up to fifty aphids in a day.

When insecticides are used to control aphids, two things invariably happen. By a process of selection, the aphids with some inherent resistance against pesticides will survive and go on to breed the next generation of pesticide resistant aphids. Meanwhile, the ladybugs are killed off due to their far greater rate of exposure.

The ladybugs that do survive the initial pesticide exposure will succumb to the poison after eating a number of the surviving aphids. Their exposure increases with each aphid they eat until the amount in their tissues becomes too high for survival. All that remains are pesticide resistant aphids in greater numbers than before because the pesticide application killed off most of the aphids’ natural predators.

The goal is to use and encourage beneficial organisms – to have them do the work for you, to work in harmony with the natural order instead of working against it. You can put in ladybug habitats and spray ladybug lure to attract them. When you make conditions favorable for beneficial organisms, you can watch them make themselves right at home in your garden or on your farm. If you need a jumpstart, you can purchase many beneficial organisms online and have them delivered to your door.

Fighting Biology With Biology

In some parts of Australia, grasshoppers are such a problem that the guinea fowl is an absolute necessity. Before choosing a permaculture site, many Australian permaculturists will look for areas where the guinea fowl have chosen to live before buying land. In the outback, they also utilize small ponds dug out by the fruit trees to provide a habitat for tree frogs or rock piles to attract lizards. Both frogs and lizards help eat the remaining pests that the birds miss.

Slugs, grubs and aphids are not necessarily the most challenging pests to most home gardeners and farmers. Ants are often a more difficult challenge. Not only are they known to bite, they have also been known to cultivate aphids. That’s right, Homo sapiens are not the only farmers in the animal kingdom. Ants have been known to spread aphids to your plants so the aphids can feed on your plants and the ants can then feed on the aphids’ sugary secretions. Ants also occasionally prey on the aphids as well, making it a complex relationship, not really a symbiotic one. Ants secrete a toxin that inebriates aphids and makes the aphids easier to control.

Obviously, two pests in one can be double the trouble. Pouring boric acid over ant hills has been known to slow down ants, but it will not stop them. As soon as boric acid gets wet, it is no longer an effective control against insects. The answer is to fight biology with biology. Beneficial nematodes are one solution a permaculturist might utilize.

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora nematodes are parasitoids that prey on ants and dozens of other garden pests. They are harmless to mammals and other vertebrates. They patrol the soil to a depth of seven inches eating anything they find savory like fleas, weevils, ants, beetles, etc. Again, they can be purchased online.

With careful planning, pest control can also be a task delegated to your livestock. But pest control is only one goal of many. Chickens and ducks are known to eat pests while they fertilize the soil with their waste.

Why placement in a farm or garden matters

In Bill Mollison’s chicken model, he describes four separate elements to a farm that can be used to benefit one another or they can be placed to stand alone without any relationship. His example includes a chicken coop, a pond, a greenhouse, and a forest. By placing all four of these elements next to each other, a beneficial relationship can be realized.

The forest provides shade and forage to feed the chickens. When the temperature rises with the midday sun, the chickens leave their coop due to the high heat. They find shade and food within the forest. In the forest area, if pests were left unchecked, they could harm the trees and other plants. The chickens’ manure also helps to fertilize the forest.

When the chickens are in their chicken coop, their body heat helps to keep the greenhouse warm. The pond placed next to the greenhouse reflects additional sunlight and warmth back to the greenhouse and to the chicken coop.

Placed separately, these aspects of a farm do next to nothing to benefit one another. When placed together, a more harmonious relationship is realized.

How Our Efforts Can Improve the Environment Around Us

Permaculture seeks to reproduce what hundreds or thousands of years of natural processes can do to the soil in a fraction of the time, in a more controlled and productive design than what would be rendered by natural processes alone. Conserving water in a permaculture design is a top priority. All known forms of life need water; life on the farm is no exception. This is typically accomplished by three methods, and when used together, the results are amazing.

The first and most difficult step is to alter how water flows over the land. This is done by altering the contour of the land so that it will retain water. After a rainfall, water will typically flow off of the land and into the nearest stream or river. By altering the contours of the land, water can be retained. This helps provide sufficient water for the plants and the microorganisms in the soil.

Another common technique is to bury wood and/or charcoal beneath the plants. This practice helps to retain water in the soil, and it retains nutrients for plants that they can utilize as needed.

Finally permaculture uses mulch as a final step in retaining water. When water would otherwise evaporate due to the heat, it is trapped beneath a layer of leaves, pine needles, or other mulch such as wood chips. As the mulch breaks down, it also serves as fertilizer for the plants.

Take a good look at the next wooded area you walk by. I’m willing to bet that things are growing like crazy. The main reason for this growth is the layers of leaves and natural mulch that serve the area by retaining water.

As biological beings we will always impact the environment around us, but a permaculture principle is the notion that instead of having a detrimental impact on the environment, we humans can have a beneficial impact on our environment.

Beyond Organic

Organic agriculture is often described in terms of what it isn’t rather than what it is. There is a good reason for this. For far too many organic farmers, the only difference between their farm and a conventional farm is the list of chemicals they are not allowed to use on their crops or the restrictions place on the feeding and care of their animals. To many permaculturists, the strides made by organic farmers, though commendable, are far from adequate. Permaculture can be better described by what it is, rather than by what it isn’t.

Permaculture was invented to address the shortfalls of agriculture, to take several steps beyond all-natural, organic farming. The overall idea is to drastically change the methods of production, to promote logical, interactive, natural processes, and to create a healthy, sustainable, permanent culture of productive, truly organic farming.

Our Survival Depends On It

Despite what sci-fi movies often suggest, if we destroy the Earth there really is nowhere left to go. Our survival as a species depends on our ability to live on Earth and not exhaust our resources. A permanent culture is a culture that can survive indefinitely. Changing culture, changing the way in which we view the world, is phenomenally difficult, but our survival as a species is certainly worth the effort.

 Further Reading:

• Can Progressive, Cutting-edge Organic Agriculture Feed Everyone?
• How Vertical Gardening Could Help Save the World
• DIY Solutions for the Garden