Permaculture Magazine - Inspiration for Sustainable Living

Keyhole Gardens Keyhole Gardens First made popular in Africa, keyhole gardens are catching on in Texas and other hot, dry places. Keyhole gardens hold moisture and nutrients due to an active compost pile placed in the center of a round bed. Although most helpful in hot and dry locations a keyhole garden will improve growing conditions in just about any climate. From a bird's eye view the garden is shaped as a keyhole. A notch is cut into a round garden bed, the notch makes for easy access to the center compost well.

raised garden beds: hugelkultur instead of irrigation raised garden bed hugelkultur after one month raised garden bed hugelkultur after one year raised garden bed hugelkultur after two years raised garden bed hugelkultur after twenty years It's a german word and some people can say it all german-ish. I'm an american doofus, so I say "hoogle culture". Section 1 – Overview This is an attempt to describe in detail everything we have done and everything we continue to do in setting up and running our vegetable growing business. We really hope it’s useful to anyone else thinking of starting a similar project, but… we have to point out some limitations! Much of what’s written is specific to our 21 acre site – a small-holding growing field-scale vegetables – and might not be completely relevant to other sites.It describes just one way of approaching things when, in reality, there are lots of ways to go about growing.And it’s written by inexperienced people!

Saying no to planned obsolescence There is a growing global realisation that we’ve been duped by a market that’s become dependent on planned obsolescence for continuing growth. If we don’t buy/chuck/buy/chuck we drown in “stuff” that no longer works but is too expensive to fix. In his book “Made by Hand – Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World”, Mark Frauenfelder (founder of Boing Boing and Editor in Chief of Make) chronicles the rise of an emerging maker movement as an economic force. He talks about a dedicated “maker” and “fixer”, Mr Jalopy, who originally articulated a Maker’s Bill of Rights in Make:Magazine In this Nightline episode Mr Jalopy and Mark Frauenfelder discuss the importance of making, building and hacking. Rather than companies restricting access, corporations that manufacture hackable, durable and repairable products will reap the rewards of a creating a dedicated customer base and building legendary brands.

Permaculture Articles This section of the online library contains an expanding offering of permaculture articles on concepts, techniques, practices and related skills. The word “permaculture” was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and describes a system of design that integrates all aspects of sustainable living, including polycultural systems of perennial and self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to humankind. Permaculture is understood as an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecological systems. It is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature. Using What You’ve Got: Permaculture And Rain Barrels Photo: Annie Corrigan/WFIU These are two of Steven Janowiecki's six rain barrels. In total, he can collect 300 gallons of rain water at one time.

Grow Your Own Mushrooms Related Content Beef Stew Recipe For slow-cooking dishes like this Beef Stew Recipe, add a bouquet garni for enhanced flavor. Two of the best reasons to garden are to grow things you would otherwise have to pay too dearly for at the supermarket and to grow great-tasting things you cannot buy at any price. Consumer Society Is Made To Break Ours is a consumer society that profits from disposability under the logic that the sooner things break the sooner they can be replaced. Production is artificially inflated through intentionally shoddy products while consumption is stimulated through commercial bombardment. Since the 1930s, manufacturers have been designing their products to be replaced frequently just as fashion designers keep us buying by making last year’s fashions look outdated. This is called planned obsolescence. I first heard about planned obsolescence from the excellent short film, The Story of Stuff.

Forest Farming vs. Forest Gardening: What’s the Difference? Steve Gabriel In our pursuit of discovering forest farmers for the writing of our book, we’ve received a lot of responses from folks around developing forest gardens. This post describes the difference between the two practices. The Diverse Faces of Permaculture: 3 Awesome Films of Orlando Permaculturists (Video) Kinesis Films/Video screen capture From my friend Mike's chaotic urban permaculture allotment in England via a carefully planned campus-lawn-turned-forest-garden to the blossoming of a permaculture garden in the Jordanian desert, one of the things I love most about permaculture design is how there is no "permaculture standard". Every practitioner makes her or his own mark on the discipline. From the unique environmental factors of each specific location through cultural influences to the personal tastes and personality of the practitioner, each garden is the result of a myriad of different factors—all processed and applied through the lens of permaculture design principles and ethics.

Introduction What is degrowth actually about? Degrowth is a perspective and an emerging social movement, which in the last few years brought together a multitude of projects and ongoing debates around alternative economies. The main idea of degrowth is an economy and society which aims for the well-being of all and for ecological sustainability.

Kyrgyz cuisine Preparation for cooking lamb's head Kyrgyz cuisine refers to the cuisine of the Kyrgyz, who comprise a majority of the population of Kyrgyzstan. The cuisine is similar in many respects to that of their neighbors, particularly Kazakh cuisine. Traditional Kyrgyz food revolves around mutton, beef and horse meat, as well as various dairy products. The preparation techniques and major ingredients have been strongly influenced by the nation's historically nomadic way of life. 33 Tips: Lawn To Permaculture Food Forest: Booklet Waking Times Does the idea of getting fresh, nutritious food right out in front of you kitchen door sound like a good idea in these turbulent times? A growing movement to reclaim, restore, and re-localize our relationship to food is happening all around us, and you can participate by re-thinking what you do with the under-utilized space outside of your home. The manicured, grassed, perennially green American lawn is a symbol of a passing era when people had little understanding of how the developing industrialized food system could do them harm by overuse of pesticides, anti-biotics and herbicides, by depletion the soil, and by genetic modification of food crops. Rather than acquiescing to the health tyranny of modern food production, today’s forward-thinking citizens and rebels are re-developing the model for the American lawn, and bringing forth a new kind of revolution… an edible one. This article is offered under Creative Commons license.

Stelle Winter PDC: Snow, Rocket Stoves, Biochar, Guilds, Permaculture, Mexico, Etc, Et al…Snow Posted on | February 7, 2011 | 1 Comment We are here at Stelle, Illinois (the home of Midwest Permaculture) for our winter farming course. After only two days we are full already.