Who thinks we should grow our own foods?
Answer:
GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD
Many businesses lie about organically grown food because it gets a much better price ,but is more expensive to produce
PERMACULTURE
The only sure way is to grow vegetables your self
Permaculture is a very good philosiphy to work with .
The Permaculture designers manual by Bill Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.
and is the best all round book you can get,on Environmental design,.(tagiari publishing, tagariadmin@southcom.com.au)
Some of the concepts are;
Utilizing all space (resulting in compact gardening)
there are many ideas for design and structures
further enhancing the concept of compactness
thing about your space in a cubic way instead of horizontal using trees to grow vines or the walls of buildings for tomatoes or cucumbers etc,
Utilizing all available resource (resulting into being practical and economic),and
Sustainbility meaning your soil improves with time and only using Organic methods ensuring health
ORGANIC VEGETABLES
At home you can grow vegetables intensively and quite cheaply using your own wastes and planting for mulch
MULCH
The best in the world is the manure that comes from earth worms,if you mulch your garden you will get worms automatically
All manure is good to add ,cow,rabbit, and horse is the mildest and you can put it on directly.
Chicken is more acidy and is best to mix with saw dust or earth ,
You cannot put too much manure in your garden,it will just get richer and richer,
But to prevent smell mix it well with the ground or with something else before you put it on, like sand or earth or sawdust
Uric acid or nitrogen is good ,this is animal urine,
Farmers now put gutters in their stables to collect it and put it on the land especially for the grassy type species.
Cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,
You can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way,for the quality of you soil.
To prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).
What you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
The top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.
Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil
The humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.
The mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land
Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.
do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink
COMPOST
make a compost heap to accomodate al the organic rubbish that you end up with ,both from the garden and the house,all organic material is good for compost,eggshells,wood,
paper,bones,leaves,pine needles
sawdust,old clothes ,the dead cat,toilet paper
etc.
70 %of contamination comes from organic wastes that are mixed with the plastics etc.
HOW
Dig a shallow hole ,bowel shaped about 2 or 3 square meters ,have it in a shady place,like under a tree or built a little roof.
Keep the compost moist,have it near a sprinkler or regularly wet it with a garden hose ,dont saturate with water because the worms will leave
or die.
You can add a little lime at times,cover it with leaves or plastic to keep the moisture in.
We add red earth worms(californiana)which are surface eaters,the more worms, the quicker the decomposition and the richer the compost.
ORGANIC PESTCONTROL
IN AFRICA we had camelions in the kitchen to keep down the flies
In Mexico we got a sort of small lizard that lives on the wall ,and sit near the lamps ,and eat mosquitos all night,
In the mango orchards we release laboratory bred wasps to attack and kill the caterpillars that go for the mangos
There are small chickens, called a silky or bantom or chaparito which are all small chickens that do not scratch ,but run after ,jumping and walking insects,they take care of about 70 percent of all garden pests.
Feasants,guinyfowel,partridge will do the same work
Iguanas kill grashoppers and all kinds of flying insects
Birds we also dont kill
when the passion fruit is ripe ,a little black caterpiller comes and wants to destroy them,luckely a little finch type bird turns up and eats the black caterpillars.
In Mexico we have let mazacoas,which are, python type snakes in to the garden to take care of the rats.
In Africa we released mole snakes into the garden and field to combat the plagues of Norwegian rats that were destroying the fields
Ant eaters and armadillos take care of leafcutting ants that can destroy a large tree in a week.and eat beatles and such
Potbelly pigs and deer and normal pigs are good in an orchard because they eat fallen rotting fruit which breeds a lot of small flies.
In our water reservoirs we put fish to eat the mosquito larvas.
Ihave bred tree frogs from eggs and released them in the garden to eat mosquitos and horse flies.
You can keep a barrel of water and throw in everybodies sigarette buts
this can be used for getting rid of ants
A mixture of green liquid soap with garlic and terpentine also gets rid of a lot of leaf eating pests
Lavendal is good for moulds
and there is a great variety of weeds that acts as pest repellents when ground up (such as Khki boss in South africa )
Marigolds and similar looking flowers around vegetable keep bugs a way
So does garlic ,mint ,spring onions ,oregano ,thyme
when planted near Tomatoes
WATERHARVESTING
In Permaculture the rule is to harvest rain water to the point of Zero runoff.
This means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.
By building dams,ponds or swales, with interconecting ditches,
If there are enough of these ;the places ,where before the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,(in a matter of hours or days),
It now runs into absorbant dams or swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subteranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.
Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.
And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbant one and turning the area in to a sponge.
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Some other writers that are on the internet are
david Holmgren
Larry Santoyo
Kirk Hanson
Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,
One-Straw Revolution
The Road Back to Nature
The Natural Way of Farming
http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...
Simon Henderson
and Bill Molisson.
a representitive of the concept in USA is
Dan Hemenway at YankeePerm@aol.com
barkingfrogspc@aol.com
http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames.
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalo...
And I thought I was paranoid..
I do..just to lazy so I fully support the local farming community.
every one needs to know these skills,,if nothing else grow fruit trees so kids can enjoy their own type of gardening when the tree is ready.
We should also teach younger generations how to jar and can fruits and garden vegtables.
I began growing a small garden every year for my family and kids to enjoy.I have pecan trees,plum,apple,pear,and a peach tree on my land,its wonderful to watch the different blooms during spring and watching the kids eat fresh fruits.
I think we should be growing our own food if we choose to grow organic. And if we have the space and time also. God intended us to use the land in a safe gentle way without all the chemicals. To know and understand we have enough, then maybe out stores would not be filled with the wrong foods, and we could be selecting more clean organic foods, then we could become healthier, which we then would love better, ourselves and others, then we could have world peace, all because we choose to eat better! :)
Yes I think that would be a great and fun idea, you can also save money growing your own food.
But you won't be able to grow everything, some things you will have to get at a grocery store.
I think it is a wonderful idea! My parents taught me to fish more a recreational thing than food source. As far as growing things go that is another great idea and more people should start. Not everyone has enough space to grow everything they would need, but even a few basic staples would help. My family of three lives in an apt. and we are able to grow tomato's, peppers herbs, and lettuce greens. What we cant grow we buy from local farmers. As far as introducing it to my family i just one day told my husband we will by local except for bananas and certain things my 15m old loves that i cant see taking away. Thats how it started and it works.
More people should try this at least.
I grow what I can, and also pick wild berries and other naturally-growing food plants and products...used to pick a lot of wild asparagus in the spring. Elderberries are a bit of a pain to process, but make a delicious jelly, and grow wild many places.
I grow a lot of plants not in the markets, and interesting varieties, like blue potatoes (delicious!!) and striped tomatoes. Also grow a lot of kale and chard for salads, as they are very rich in vitamins. Also bear heavily and are fairly free of pests.
Likewise, I plant fruit trees, nut trees, and vines and bushes, where I am allowed. White currants are an unusual variety that makes wonderful eating from the bush, and scrumptious jellies. Gooseberries are prolific and make great jellies and pies. I eat them off the vine too, as a pleasant snack, in season.
Took my children fishing when and where we could.
I believe very much in gardens and making use of what Nature provides, when it can be done. Where I live now, irrigation is almost a necessity, and the cost of electricity precludes much irrigation, unfortunately.
It helps to be able to live off the fresher stuff, and you know it is not polluted one way or another. I also use natural pesticides, such as BT, and make compost if I can, but seldom have room, and it is contrary to many ordinances!
There is something nice about getting your fingers in the dirt, and slaying the evil weeds!! Kids like it too, all but the real work!!
I recommend if you're in the growing mood, try the Golden Raspberries...harder to grow, but delicious!
I think it is actually better to buy from your local farmer's market. They are able to farm more cost effectively because they can grow more at a time, and many of them are actually organic growers. It is going to be hard to keep hunting and fishing all the time, too, because most states have laws that specify certain seasons you can hunt. Fishing should be fine, but I don't think you get as good of a return on your time invested, because if you happen to not catch anything, I guess you won't be eating meat! The other better alternative is to get your neighborhood/ community together to grow a collective garden where everyone contributes and reaps the veggies!
I think we should grow our own. However, instead of growing everything your family needs, grow a few staples and specialties, then barter the extra of those for other staples and specialties.
While big agriculture is more cost-efficient than small horticulture, small horticulture would use less fossil fuels.
Also, when you grow your own, you realize how wasteful it is to grow livestock: Grow a bunch of food, feed it to an animal, have it defecate and urinate 90% of what you feed it, kill it, and realize how much harder and more wasteful that was than just to grow grains and vegetables directly for your own consumption.
Anybody with time, energy and room to plant should try to grow at least 10% of the food they consume. I'm a vegetarian, so wouldn't need to know how to hunt or fish. I'd rather leave the varmits for other varmits.
you should grow your own food, it's much more efficient, but it's somewhat unrealistic for those of us who have black thumbs. also, buying locally is good.
I do. You control what's going into your body.
I also am aware of the chemicals used in everyday products, All of my products are eco-friendly, I got them from
http://www.stayinhomeandlovinit.com/cgi-...
My son's asthma even cleared up!
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