April 2013
2 posts
“Shocking” Difference of GM from non-GM Corn
A comparison of US Midwest non-GM with GM corn shows shockingly high levels of glyphosate as well as formaldehyde, and severely depleted of mineral nutrients in the GM corn.
The results of a comparison
of GM and non-GM corn from adjacent Midwest fields in the US that first appeared on the Moms Across America March website [1] are reproduced in Table 1.
*The GM corn was grown in a field that...
November 2011
2 posts
The Well-Rounded Permaculturist
So what is permaculture? What makes it different from: organic gardening? organic farming? sustainable agriculture? ecological agriculture? bio-dynamic farming? regeneration farming? forest gardening? Holistic Resource Management HRM? ecosystem restoration? sustainability? or natural building?
Permaculture is unique, yet at the same time includes all of the above. Permaculture is the design of...
Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, wonder where...
Mother nature has taken control of my schedule as I rush to get all the spring planting and work in before the summer. More posts to follow :)
August 2011
6 posts
Farmer to Farmer: The Truth About GM Crops and...
Michael Hart, a conventional livestock family farmer, has been farming in Cornwall for nearly thirty years and has actively campaigned on behalf of family farmers for over fifteen years, travelling extensively in Europe, India, Canada and the USA.
In this short documentary he investigates the reality of farming genetically modified crops in the USA ten years after their introduction. He travels...
Ruth Stout’s Garden - I like this lady!
Part I
Part II
Find out more about Ruth and her mulched gardens here.
Improving Food Security by Strategically Reducing...
After several decades of rapid rise in world grain yields, it is now becoming more difficult to raise land productivity fast enough to keep up with the demands of a growing, increasingly affluent, population. From 1950 to 1990, world grainland productivity increased by 2.2 percent per year, but from 1990 until 2009 it went up by only 1.3 percent annually. Despite some impressive local advances,...
Interview: Bill Mollison on Permaculture and...
An interview conducted by Richard Alan Miller in 1986, submitted by Judith Goldsmith
About two months ago, Charles Walters, editor forAcres, USA, asked if I might not get interviews with Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka for future use in his paper. Both were to be speakers at The 2nd International Permaculture Conference, August 8-10 at the Evergreen State College, in Olympia.
This turned out...
Early Retirement Extreme
by Thomas Fischbacher
Two issues keep on puzzling me about economics. On the one hand, it undoubtedly is an incredibly important subject. At present, my life pretty much depends on being able to buy certain things from a functioning economy and the same holds for just about everybody else. On the other hand, there seem to be a number of serious problems with deeply rooted beliefs about economics...
Surviving in the Cash Economy Once Your Food...
by Judith Goldsmith
Richard Alan Miller likes to tell the classic story of one of the first farmers who came to him for help.
He had 400 acres in Iowa in corn, which was infested with burdock. He had tried everything — spraying, everything — and he couldn’t get rid of the stuff. The bank was threatening him with foreclosure.
He came to a workshop I’d given at Charlie Walter’s Acres U.S.A....
July 2011
6 posts
Takes a woman to do a man's job - Women destroy GM...
This morning women activists - including one mum - put a stop to the controversial genetically modified (GM) wheat trial outside Canberra. They felt they had no choice. The government is failing to protect Australia’s most important food crop and our health, environment and economy are under threat. Greenpeace’s recent report revealed that Australians will be in the world’s first GM human...
Australia’s wheat scandal - Take action on-line!
Today Greenpeace released their report outlining the controversy surrounding the GM wheat trials across Australia. Their investigations reveal the biotech takeover of our daily bread.
Australia’s national science body, CSIRO, has approved the world’s first human feeding trials of GM wheat. This is despite serious health, economic and environmental risks. We’ve detailed our findings in a new...
God on Lawns
Someone sent the following conversation through to me. It’s a must read. I love how comedy can cut through nonsense.
God: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand...
The Wonderful Multi-Purpose Comfrey Plant
by Melissa Miles
Comfrey (Symphytum spp.) has been cultivated and valued by many cultures for almost 2500 years. A native to Europe and Asia, the comfrey plant with which most are familiar, Symphytum officinale, has been used as a blood coagulant, a treatment for maladies of the lung, and as a poultice to aid in the healing of wounds and broken bones. Consumed as a tea, comfrey is said to treat...
Revisiting China's Loess Plateu - Major Land...
Straight out of China, an extremely encouraging look into one of the world’s largest and most successful earth healing implementations I have ever seen. You can take a look and also learn about similar projects happening in Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Keyline Renaissance - Australia's Regenerative Ag...
Australia’s P.A Yeomans developed Keyline in the 1950s. At first interest in this system of farming was intense, with thousands visiting his farm to learn Keyline methods, however the green revolution and associated chemical fertiliser subsidies sidelined Keyline until now. Rising fertiliser costs and land degradation have set the stage for Keyline’s return to prominence as a regenerative...
June 2011
27 posts
Blame Drug Resistance in Humans on Cheap Chicken...
By Maryn McKenna, wired.com | Published June 29, 2011 10:57 AM
There’s a new paper out in the CDC’s journal Emerging Infectious Diseases that makes a provocative claim: There is enough similarity between drug-resistance genes in E. coli carried by chickens and E. coli infecting humans that the chickens may be the source of it.
If it is correct—and it seems plausible and is backed by past...
British waste money on GM potatoes that are...
1.The spuds don’t work. GM potato trial, Norwich 2.Jones backs down over Monsanto connection NOTE: Item 2 is about the Monsanto connection of the head of the Sainsbury Laboratory who oversees the GM potato trial. —- —- 1.The spuds don’t work. GM potato trial, Norwich, 23 July http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/06/480991.html *Norwich, noon, 23rd July 2011* British trials of...
WA Government caught withholding facts from WA...
No-one is buying GM canola in WA Media release: GM canola unsellable Office of Lynn MacLaren MLC, 29th June 2011 The WA Agriculture Minister has admitted in Parliament that none of the genetically modified (GM) canola grown in Western Australia last year had been sold, sparking renewed calls for an inquiry into the lifting of the moratorium on GM canola from Greens spokesperson on GMOs Hon Lynn...
A New Permatecture Toolbox! (From Nikos A....
by Øyvind Holmstad
The goal of permaculture is to reunite man with nature and man with man through design systems, and here patterns play an important role. Still, patterns can only reunite humans with natural systems and with each other, not with the geometry of the universe. Surely in what I like to call permatecture, better known as biophilic architecture,biotecture or neurotecture, patterns...
From the Bottom Up – A DIY Guide to Wicking Beds
by Rob Avis
Wicking beds are a unique and increasingly popular way to grow vegetables. They are self-contained raised beds with built-in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up – changing how, and how much, you water your beds. In this article, we’ll talk about how wicking beds work and why we love them. We’ll also show you some great examples and leave you with ideas and instructions for...
Westminster realising GM doesn't deliver?
New Coalition Government GM Policy – Westminster realising GM doesn’t deliver?
GM Freeze, 21 Jun 2011 http://www.gmfreeze.org/news-releases/157/ *Meanwhile Rothamsted Apply for UK GM wheat trials in 2012 The Coalition Government posted its first GM policy statement on the Defra website Friday, 17 June. [1] Commenting Pete Riley of GM Freeze said: “This is a tepid response from the...
The inside story on Monsanto and the glyphosate...
The inside story on Monsanto and the glyphosate birth defect data Claire Robinson The Ecologist 13th June 2011 http://bit.ly/k6om2P The pesticide industry and regulators have repeatedly misled the public with claims that glyphosate is safe, says Claire Robinson. As a result, Monsanto’s Roundup is used by gardeners and local authorities, in school grounds, and in farmers’ fields...
AgResearch stalls 'damaging' report
EXTRACT: Prof Heinemann said he had tried to engage with AgResearch over his study throughout the entire process. He was not surprised to read of the lengths it went to find scientists to refute his research. “That’s where they go for the shoot the messenger smear campaign.”—- —- AgResearch stalls ‘damaging’ report KIRAN CHUG The Dominion Post, 23 June...
Roundup: Birth defects caused by world's...
Report available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/57277946/RoundupandBirthDefectsv5 EXCERPT from the HuffPo article: As recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BLV), a government agency conducting a review of glyphosate, told the European Commission that there was no evidence the compound causes birth defects, according to the report. The agency...
New plant disease linked to GM crops and...
1.New plant disease linked to GM crops and pesticides Flint Duxfield ABC, 16 June 2011 http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3245624.htm US scientists claim to have discovered a dangerous new plant disease linked to genetically modified crops and the pesticides used on them. The research, which is yet to be completed, suggests the pathogen could be the cause of recent widespread crop failure...
GM wheat planted in Australia, on shelves in food...
This year’s GM wheat trials have begun, with plantings in the ACT, NSW and WA and claims by the Federal Government that Australians will be eating GM bread by 2015.
GM wheat will be planted in field trials across Australia this year, and our government science body, the CSIRO, plans to have GM bread on supermarket shelves by 2015. This year’s field trials are scientific scale trials,...
How to Establish a Small Space Intensive Food...
by Geoff Lawton
Case Study – Noela’s Garden, as installed by Geoff and Nadia Lawton
This is a story about a garden that Nadia and I were asked to establish in 2006. It’s a very small space – the area is 95m2. A friend of a friend asked if we could get involved to help to design and implement a garden. Nadia had only recently arrived in Australia and I wanted her and I to put a garden in...
Planning Our Organic Market Garden
by Milkwood Permaculture
I never thought we would get excited about, let along plan to do, the whole market garden thing. But while I’m all for no-dig polycultures like our domestic-scale kitchen garden, I’m also a pragmatist.
These days, we need more vegetables than we currently produce, especially from Spring through till Autumn. Way, way more. So I figure we’d better get ourselves into...
Get to know your Monsanto - the company feeding...
Monsanto was created in 1901. The company’s first product was the artificial sweetener saccharin. In the 1920s Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals. During the Second World War Monsanto contributed to research on uranium for the Manhattan Project, which lead to the atomic bomb. Monsanto continued to operate a nuclear facility for the U.S. government until the late 1980s. During...
Public kept in the dark on Roundup link with birth...
Public kept in the dark on Roundup link with birth defects *Industry knew since 1980s, regulators since 1990s* Earth Open Source Press release for immediate release, 7 June 2011 Contact: claire.robinson@earthopensource.org Industry and EU regulators knew as long ago as the 1980s-1990s that Roundup, the world’s best selling herbicide, causes birth defects – but they failed to inform the...
Peru approves 10 year ban on GM crops
PLENARY SESSION OF THE CONGRESS APPROVED MORATORIUM OF TEN YEARS FOR THE ENTRANCE OF TRANSGENIC via GENET-news SOURCE: Andian, Peru AUTHOR: Machine translation of the Spanish text URL: http://www.andina.com.pe/Espanol/Noticia.aspx?id=RT87MrHPjyo= DATE: 07.06.2011 SUMMARY: “The Plenary Session of the Congress, approved the opinion of the law project that declares a moratorium of...
Norway's regulators say no to BASF's GM potato
1.Regulator says no to GM potato 2.Summary of the impact assessment —- —- 1.The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management Press release The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management [DN] considers that the cultivation and use of the genetically modified potato Amflora in feed and food should be prohibited in Norway. The EEA Agreement obliges Norway to make a national decision on...
Pakistan' s chief GM regulator quits over attempt...
EXCERPT: Events related to a high-profile committee, established by the Ministry of Environment for commercialisation of the genetically modified corn in Pakistan took an ugly turn when it was discovered that large-scale trials of genetically modified corn/maize have been conducted. Not only this, an attempt was also made to adopt the so-called findings of these trials, which was allegedly...
How to Build a Permaculture Vegetable Garden
by Tiny Eglington
– Tiny Eglington’s method, educator Geoff Lawton
This is a photo report of a vegetable garden built for Ann Foster in Condobolin, NSW Australia, which shows basic steps that allow you to build your own permaculture veggie patch.
Needs:
You don’t need much, but you do need:
compost
any ruminant manure
lime
cardboard (or hessian bags)
Lucerne hay (or any acacia leaves)
...
Unglazed Clay Pots for Garden Irrigation
A Sri Lankan villager fills his olla Photo copyright © Craig Mackintosh
I first encountered the concept of using unglazed clay vessels for sub-surface irrigation in Bill Mollison’s “The Global Gardener” film series. Mollison comments that the technique might be, to paraphrase, “the most efficient irrigation system in the world.” More recently I noted with interest that the fine folks...
Why Learn Permaculture – for the Children and...
Permaculture is one of the only ways home for humanity. If one believes in modernism, industrial agriculture and better living through chemistry read no further. However, if you feel something is not right about the way we live, read on.
I have come to realize that it is because we have been taught from birth to be dependent on the systemor civilization that we have lost our connection to our...
The Power of Enterprise Budgets: Permaculture,...
Resource alert: At bottom of this blog post is a download option for more than a thousand enterprise budgets.
Permaculture designers: It’s time to get serious about profitability.
Farmers & Greenhorns: You already know what I’m talking about. I’ve been working on an integrated ecological farm design for the Ashokan Center in the Hudson River Valley bioregion. The design calls for a...
Permaculture Reforestation With and For the...
by Christian Shearer
Project Background
The Malungon area of the Sarangani province, located in the southern region of The Philippines, was once one of the richest forests in the world. Today the remaining old growth exists in small, fragmented stands which remain vulnerable to illegal deforestation and degradation. Frequently ignored, these last remaining areas are a vital core habitat for...
Yummy American GMO Foods - Grown and Eaten since...
When U.S. regulators approved Monsanto’s genetically modified “Bt” corn, they knew it would add a deadly poison into our food supply. That’s what it was designed to do. The corn’s DNA is equipped with a gene from soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that produces the Bt-toxin. It’s a pesticide; it breaks open the stomach of certain insects and kills them.
But Monsanto and the...
May 2011
40 posts
Bacteria – an Endangered Species!
3 types of lactic ferment
The world is full of bacteria but there are certain bacteria that are fast becoming an endangered species. The bacteria that live in the gut of homo sapiens, particularly those of Caucasian origin, are fast disappearing. These particular bacteria comprise of the good bowel flora that is needed to create vitamins, break down undigested food particles and generally be a...
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in Virginia returns...
We were rather impressed with Joel Salatin when he came to Australia last year. So were one or two other people. Aside from being the most entertaining farmer that we’ve ever met, he’s really onto something. Multiple somethings, even.
To call the Salatin’s farming practices at Polyface Farms in Virginia USA ‘innovative’ is a bit of a massive understatement. Joel’s unique approach to...
Unnatural Selection - Industry Manipulation,...
This explosive exposé reveals what the biotech industry doesn’t want you to know – how industry manipulation and political collusion, not sound science, allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied. Chapters read like adventure stories and are hard to put down:...
Alexandar Pope
Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In...
Genetically Modified Salmon: Everything You Need...
Paul Greenberg
Taking inspiration from the dozens of faux Q&As sent to me throughout the year by the PR departments of the corporate food world, I thought I would produce my own Q&A about corporate food’s most recent contribution - the AquaBounty AquAdvantage salmon.
Q: AquaBounty calls the AquAdvantage an “advanced hybrid” fish and the company’s president Ronald...
Court of Appeals Dismisses Monsanto's Appeal of...
* Upholds Lower Court’s Rulings Requiring New USDA Approval Decision And Rigorous Review of the Crop’s Impacts
* Litigation Over USDA’s Interim Approval of Planting Continues
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a summary order concluding a long-standing lawsuit over the impacts of genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup...
Whole GM Bt Toxins Found in Human and Foetal Blood...
New research from Canada has found a Bt toxin produced by GM insect resistant crops in the blood of women and clear evidence that it was passed to foetuses. [1]
Pesticides used on GM herbicide tolerant (HT) crops were also detected.
GM Freeze is calling for an immediate halt to GM Bt crop cultivation and imports of Bt GM food and feed until the findings are properly evaluated and further study...
UN Commission Poised to Adopt New Labeling...
By the close of its 39th session, the United Nations’ Codex Alimentarius Commission was poised to adopt Labeling Guidelines for GMO foods that will provide some protection from the World Trade Organization for national-scale GMO-labeling programs around the world. The Non-GMO Project sponsored activist Phil Bereano’s participation in this session, and in so doing helped to ensure that...
Karma in Nature
Most of us will be familiar with the Hindu and Buddhist concept of Karma as a factor in our personal lives. In nature, as a general rule, we can experience Karma, as a direct reaction by, for example, animals – as a response to our behaviour and attitude towardsthem.
Action and reaction. Cause and effect. It is my contention that this concept is also operative in the plant world, as a response to...
So You Want to be a Permaculture Designer! What’s...
by Nick Huggins
Final colour master plan
Experience? Well yes, but that’s something that you can learn along the way. You don’t need to be the World’s best Graphic artist or AutoCAD genius, but you do need to be creative, have an eye for landscape patterning and a PDC in hand.
I just finished my first Permaculture design commission and I was hoping to share some of the process with you. Within...
