How Does Your Garden Grow?

I'm often told by people that they can't eat organic because it's too expensive. In the short term, this is indeed true to some extent. My answer to them is "How much are you spending on over-the-counter remedies, doctor's bills, and prescription drugs? How many health issues can be traced back to an unhealthy diet?" Also, bear in mind that USDA organic certification is a costly process. Many small farms are using sustainable practices, and growing organic, but can't afford the certification.

The law of supply and demand is generally defined as: the amount of a commodity, product, or service available and the desire of buyers for it, considered as factors regulating its price. Historically, the more demand there is for a product, the more production of the product occurs, leading to lower prices for that product. My thought is that maybe we aren't demanding that more healthy food be available. That being said, people who want affordable organic food, do have options. Grow your own. Support a local farmer who uses sustainable/organic practices in the production of food. Local Harvest can help you locate one in your area.

Let's talk about the first option. Many people believe you have to live on a farm to grow your own food. This simply isn't true. Gardens are springing up in abandoned urban lots, on rooftops, in suburban backyards, and even apartment balconies. There's even a website called Shared Earth. This website, which Sustainable America acquired last year, is designed to connect people who want to garden or farm with people who have land or tools to share.  

Most popular vegetables can be grown in containers, making this an attractive option for people with a shortage of space, physical limitations, or short-sighted homeowner's associations and city governments. Mother Earth News has a nice article on container gardening. Rodale's Organic Life also has a good article on the subject.

One of the most important aspects of gardening is healthy soil. Most food produced by large agricultural conglomerates is nutritionally deficient due to use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. In addition to poisoning the food, these chemicals have rendered the soil dead. According to research conducted by Dr. August Dunning, chief science officer and co-owner of Eco Organics, in order to receive the same amount of iron you used to get from one apple in 1950, by 1998 you had to eat 26 apples! Also, the reason food doesn't taste as good as it used to is also related to the deterioration of mineral content. The minerals actually form the compounds that give the fruit or vegetable its flavor.

Consider using organic/non-GMO heirloom seeds. Seed Savers Exchange, Johnny's Seeds, and Annie's Heirloom Seeds, all have these types of seeds available. These companies have signed the Safe Seed Pledge — a written commitment to sell only non-GM seed — or made public declarations that they will not knowingly sell GM seeds. Don't forget to check which growing zone you are in so you grow the appropriate plants for your area.

When choosing pots, you need to consider size, style, material, and weight, as well as what will be planted in them. Here's a guide to choosing the right size based on what you are growing.

OrganicGuide is a place where you can search for organic - and related - businesses and resources in your local area as well as helpful articles. Another good resource for how-to articles is Mother Earth News and Grow It Organically. There's even Organic Gardening for Dummies.  There's plenty of information and support out there to help you get started, and be successful. 

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

Returning to the Path

It's been quite some time since I posted.  Somehow life intruded on my best intentions to post often.  Look for renewed posting in June!

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

Agroforestry and the Future of Farming

What is agroforestry, you ask?  Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.  It combines the technologies of agriculture and forestry to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. It offers increased productivity, economic benefits, and more diversity in the ecological goods and services provided.

Depending upon the application, potential impacts of agroforestry can include:

• Reducing poverty through increased production of wood and other tree products for home consumption and sale
• Contributing to food security by restoring the soil fertility for food crops
• Cleaner water through reduced nutrient and soil runoff
• Countering global warming and the risk of hunger by increasing the number of drought-resistant trees and the subsequent production of fruits, nuts and edible oils
• Reducing deforestation and pressure on woodlands by providing farm-grown fuelwood
• Reducing or eliminating the need for toxic chemicals (insecticides, herbicides, etc.)
• Through more diverse farm outputs, improved human nutrition
• In situations where people have limited access to mainstream medicines, providing growing space for medicinal plants

Agroforestry practices may also realize a number of other associated environmental goals, such as:

• Carbon sequestration
• Odor, dust, and noise reduction
• Green space and visual aesthetics
• Enhancement or maintenance of wildlife habitat

Sustainable America has more information about agroforestry here.

Until next time...become the change you imagine.

Algoil? Little green plants and the future of fuel.

From my friends at Sustainable America: 

Algae Whiz Kid: Seventeen-year-old scientist Sara Volz has been making some algae news of her own lately, as she explained to ABC News. The high school senior beat out 1,700 other science stars nationwide to win the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search, and her winning project was on, you guessed it, algae bio-fuel. Algae produces a natural oil that can be used as diesel bio-fuel, but doesn’t traditionally produce enough of the oil to make the process financially viable. For her research, Volz grows algae under her bed and works to make it increase its oil production by artificial selection. Simply put, she eliminates the algae populations with low oil production and develops the algae populations with high oil production. The great thing about the oil produced is that it can be used as a drop-in fuel that can be used directly in diesel engines with no modification. The U.S. Navy has already done demonstration flights using similar fuel. Volz won $100,000 from Intel and will be using it for her education at MIT.

Amazingly enough, half of algae's composition, by weight, is lipid oil and scientists have been studying this oil for decades.  They want to convert it into algae biodiesel -- a fuel that burns cleaner and more efficiently than petroleum. What's not to love about that?

The Marine Research station in Ketch Harbor, Nova Scotia, has been involved in growing algae for 50 years. The National Research Council (NRC) and National Byproducts Program have provided $5 million to fund this project. The aim of the program has been to build a 50,000 liter cultivation pilot plant at the Ketch harbor facility. The station has been involved in assessing how best to grow algae for bio-fuel and is involved in investigating the utilization of numerous algae species in regions of North America. NRC has joined forces with the United States Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.



From The National Renewable Energy Laboratory:

Why is algal research important?

Algae have the potential to produce the feedstock for transportation fuels. In the near term, algae may also mitigate the effects of carbon dioxide from sources such as power plants. In the future, they may be used to capture and reuse fossil fuel-generated carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Microalgae (microscopic algae) include a variety of photosynthetic microorganisms that use solar energy and carbon dioxide to create biomass more efficiently and rapidly than terrestrial plants.

RICHLAND, Wash., May 21 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued the following news release:

A new analysis shows that the nation's land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country's yearly needs.

The findings come from an in-depth look at the water resources that would be needed to grow significant amounts of algae in large, specially built shallow ponds. The results were published in the May 7 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, published by the American Chemical Society.

"While there are many details still to be worked out, we don't see water issues as a deal breaker for the development of an algae biofuels industry in many areas of the country," said first author Erik Venteris of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

For the best places to produce algae for fuel, think hot, humid and wet. Especially promising are the Gulf Coast and the Southeastern seaboard.

"The Gulf Coast offers a good combination of warm temperatures, low evaporation, access to an abundance of water, and plenty of fuel-processing facilities," said hydrologist Mark Wigmosta, the leader of the team that did the analysis.

 

My hope is that further research and development will find a way to produce sustainable energy from plants that will not compete with food sources, or damage the environment through processing. Maybe Sara Volz is already working on that.

Until next time...become the change you imagine. 

Earth Day - Earth Age

April 22nd is Earth Day and all over the world there will be celebrations, campaigns, and activities. For many, environmental awareness is solely an annual event. For others, Earth Day is an every day affair. Fortunately, there is a growing concern (on the part of individuals, businesses, and governments) on the state of the planet's health.

Climate change, loss of indigenous habitats, extinction of plant and animal species, and pollution are all creating increasing stress on our planet's ability to heal itself. Even the smallest actions, when carried out by millions of people, can have enormously beneficial, or destructive, consequences. Policy changes, campaigns, movements are all catalysts for positive changes in the way we treat our environment.  

What is really needed, though, is a change in our attitude as a species. Humans are mammals, and as such are members of the animal community. We have to start respecting our environment and understanding our place in it. Specifically that we are part of a complex organism whose health is dependent on a delicate balance of natural processes.

It is time to leave the Industrial Age behind. Let's begin a new age - an Earth Age. An age where our technology doesn't have to compete with our environment. We have the intelligence, the skills, and the science to create a world that coexists in balance with nature. Let's get started!

Until the next time...become the change you imagine.