Collin Dunn writes on Treehugger.com,
Sure, agriculture provides us with the food we all eat every day. But do you know how those agricultural practices impact global warming? Turns out there’s some pretty big impacts, on both the sustainable and industrial sides of the equation; employing sustainable practices, like organic agriculture, has huge potential to help in the fight against global warming, and maintaining the status quo with widespread industrial agricultural practices will continue to be terribly detrimental for the climate. Dig deeper to learn more about the ways agriculture impacts global warming.
Click HERE to read the rest of the story.
Photo credit: benketaro’s Flickr photostream
I stumbled upon this blog dedicated to composting with black soldier fly (bsf) grubs while I was searching for something else. I have never heard of composting this way before. The blog says it is like composting with earthworms (verimiculture). But this blog covers all aspects of bsf composting. They also sell plug and play bsf composter called “The BioPod” and have directions on how to build your own. Check it out.
Photo credit: Blacksoldierflyblog.com
This grower explains why he hasn’t certified his organic farm under government sanctioned standards even though he has been growing using organic methods since the farm was started. He calls his farm’s produce solarganic. Read about Healthy Home Harvest farm in New Hampshire.
Transitioning to organic farming from conventional methods may seem a very large challenge to the farmer who has relied on chemical herbicides in the past.
A study published in Weed Science showed planting rye and timothy as cover crops in the first year of transition affected the seedling densities of three common annual weeds: lambsquarters, velvetleaf and foxtail. The study also showed that individual crop rotation exerted strong influences on weed seedling densities. The most effective weed management method in the study was the full-tillage strategy with timothy as a cover crop.
Click HERE for a pdf file of the study.
Makenna Goodman writes in Grist.com,
Do you dream of an organic garden, but don’t have a yard? A flock of chicks, perhaps, but don’t have a yard? Home-grown food, and lower grocery bills (but, alas, no yard!)? Dream no more, because you can have it, and without quitting your job, trading your bus pass for a pickup, or moving to the rural north.
A new wave of farming is happening in a city near you. While true, Old MacDonald had a farm (ee-i-ee-i-o), his offspring have some urban fish to fry. They’re working off loans, and can’t necessarily afford a parcel of land. They’re young parents who want to save money on cherry tomatoes. They’re newlyweds paying off healthcare debt, and growing taters in their trashcan. They’re students avoiding crappy dining plans. They’re urban farmers. Plain and simple.
Read Goodman’s interview with R. J. Ruppenthal, author of Fresh Food From Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting HERE.
Susan Carpenter writes in the Los Angeles Times’ blog The Realist Idealist,
In September I wrote about an unsettling incident in which I’d found high levels of lead in the chard I’d grown in a backyard planter box filled with store-bought soil. According to the head of the lab that did the testing, I shouldn’t have eaten more than one-quarter pound of the leaves a day or I’d risk lead poisoning.
Read the whole story HERE. View the video below. Photo credit: The Los Angeles Times
by Tom Alexander on November 13, 2009 · 0 comments
Tagged as Compost, Farming & Agriculture, food safety, Locavore, Mycorrhizal Fungi, Nutritents, organic gardening, organic produce, Soil-food-web, sustainable agriculture, Sustainable garden, urban gardening, vegetables
One of the job duties I miss so much from my now defunct job of publishing The Growing Edge on paper is attending the various agricultural and horticultural conferences that are held throughout the world. One that is coming up is the Acres U.S.A. conference in St. Paul, MN., Dec. 3rd through the 5th. There also is a trade show exhibit with the latest products available for organic and biodynamic farming and gardening.
It is one of the top annual conferences for discovering and learning the latest information on organic and biodynamic farming and gardening. Go to the conference program schedule and see the list of speakers. Register for the conference HERE. Save $25 by registering before Dec. 1st.
My good friend, Jeff Lowenfels, will be one of the presenters, giving his trademark presentation on the soil food web.
Dr. Robert Gross, owner of Cooper Mountain Vineyards, explains how and why he converted his vineyard from conventional chemical cultivation methods to organic biodynamic methods. It all started with the birds.
Hydroponics Dictionary
