How Much Land to Feed Your Family

 

This is a wonderful chart from 1bog.org (One block Off the Grid)

 

Really have you ever thought about how much land you would need to meet all your family’s calorie needs for a year. This is a great chart.

 

1bog.org is an inventive group that can help you find the most cost-effective way to have solar power. One Block Off the Grid makes it easier and more affordable for homeowners to go solar by organizing group discounts, vetting solar installers, and providing you with objective information and advice along the way. Our solar advisors don’t work on commission. Their salary is the same whether you end up going solar or not, so the information you receive from One Block Off the Grid is always 100 percent unbiased.

Hat Tip: William Spear

 

 

 

 

 

Freezing Snow Peas

It’s the first week of August and I thought the season was over but it turns out that all my snow peas really needed was more water. There have been some huge rainstorms in the past 10 days and there are many new pea shoots, flowers and more snow peas. Yahoo. Here is how I am preserving some for the winter.

Wash and string (peel down the stringy seams on both sides by snapping the top and gently pulling down)

Place in boiling water for 2 minutes

 

Cool in iced water 2 minutes

Pat dry and freeze in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers.

Flash Mob? Crop Mob!

Farming is traditionally a physical and labor intensive endeavor. In the past, community efforts were often necessary for planting, harvesting, processing, including barn-raising and house-raising. Modern day farming has become mechanized enabling  farmers to “do it alone”. A lonely career. Through resurgence of smaller farming initiatives a wonderful community spirit has emerged. People are participating in CSA’s and organic and local farmers are recognized in their communities and are well-received at local farmer’s markets.

Enter the Crop Mob movement. A group of 19 farmers, apprentices and friends in the Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) began to work together to harvest sweet potatoes at the Piedmont Biofarm. They have made it a tradition and out of that tradition has grown to over 50 groups throughout the US. Find your local group on the map.

From the Crop Mob website:

“Many crop mobbers are apprentices or interns on these sustainable farms. The need for community participation matches a desire for community among young people interested in getting into farming. The crop mob was conceived as a way of building the community necessary to practice this kind of agriculture and to put the power to muster this group in the hands of our future food producers.

Any crop mobber can call a crop mob to do the kind of work it takes a community to do. We work together, share a meal, play, talk, and make music. No money is exchanged. This is the stuff that communities are made of.”

For more information, please send an email to info@cropmob.org. And check them out on facebook.

 

VIA: Kay Carroll, Market Master, Litchfield Farmer’s Market

Freezing Blueberries Made Easy

I have just learned the easiest way to freeze blueberries. In the past I washed the berries, drained them, laid them out on cookie sheets in the freezer to freeze individually, then put the frozen berries into freezer bags. LONG PROCESS.

Recently, T and I picked berries at Evergreen Berry Farm in Watertown, CT. We picked on the bushes that were NOT sprayed- as there are areas of the field that never seem to need protection from insects and some that do. Interesting permaculture conundrum there….

As we were leaving T noticed a sign with freezing instructions as follows (so easy):

Put your fresh-picked berries into freezer bags and put in freezer. When you want to use the berries remove from freezer and rinse.  

Transition Town Movement

 OR

There are communities all over the world who are coming together with optimistic and infectious energy to create vital and lasting change for the good of all under the umbrella of The Transition movement. Transition Towns is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun. You can find out if there is a town in action near you from the US-based website or the global website. Or, you can start your own group!

These slides are from the film: Transition 1o1. Check it out.

 

Yummy Baked Root Vegetables

Here’s a yummy, fast and easy recipe for roasted root vegetables. The key is cutting uniform thickness so everything cooks at the same time.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Wash fingerling sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and parsnips by gently scrubbing with vegetable brush and water. The carrots, parsnips and onions came from my garden! Farmers Joanie and Mark from Wild Carrot Farm grew the sweet potatoes.

Cut into long, thin slices.

Line baking sheet with unbleached, chlorine free parchment baking paper. (Remember you can compost this paper!)

In separate bowl, toss vegetables with mixture of 2-3 tablespoons grapeseed oil, 1/2 t salt, any spices you love. Then spread on baking sheet. Put in oven for 15-25 minutes, turning and tossing occasionally.

Vegetables are done when easily pierced by a fork.

My friend Nance likes to shake some curry powder on her roasted vegetables.  Jane likes her spicy rub sprinkled on. Here’s my dinner plate with toast and smoked salmon, broccoli and collards,  roasted root vegetables, millet croquette, some grated daikon, arame and sauerkraut:

Home Sweet Home

Check out this wonderful Hobbit home built a few years ago for $5,000. It is sustainable and cozy!

According to Simon it took about 1500 hours to build over 4 months:

Sustainable design and construction:

1. Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
2. Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
3. Frame constructed of fallen trees from surrounding woodland
4. Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally very easy to do
5. Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
6. Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
7. Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture compared to cement
8. Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
9. Other items were reclaimed from “a rubbish pile somewhere”: windows, wiring, plumbing

Notice the “goodnight, moon” in the sky.

Via: Julie Tara

Rent a Goat

I think this is one of my best ideas all year but I cannot seem to bring it into reality, yet. The cure for eradicating poison ivy: let a goat eat it. Goats LOVE poison ivy! I have heard that drinking goat milk from a goat feasting on poison ivy can help your allergic reaction to it. I have found several local goat owners but they have not been ready to “rent” their goat to me. I think I’m doing them a favor by providing yummy treats for their goat. They think it’s too much responsibility for me to tether their goat in my field for the day. One goat owner worried, “What if a stray dog should come and eat the goat?”  Well I am not about to sit out in the field all day guarding a goat, either. My favorite garden blogger, Hatsy, also suggested getting a goat in her most recent blog. Here is Hatsy’s “Weeds of Wisdom”. I think it would be a very viable business for someone to start a rent-a-goat. Weekly, daily, drop-off and pick-up, small fee for the transport. Fantastic!

Time For Firefly Watch

It’s that time of year. You can participate in the firefly watch, too, through the Museum of Science, Boston, website. Basically they want to know if you have fireflies in your back yard this summer. It is easy to join and document your findings. You sign up, pick a location, like your yard, and observe and report weekly. Your findings can help local scientists with their research. Who doesn’t love that beautiful light show in the trees and fields.

Monsanto Sues Healthy Dairy Over Label

Monsanto sues Oakhurst Dairy for label stating that their milk is free from artificial growth hormones and is demanding that the dairy stop labeling as such.

They demand that the dairy remove: “Our Farmers’ Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones.”

Healthfreedoms.org posted this article submitted by Drew Kaplan. The article states: “Monsanto officials said Oakhurst’s ads and labels are deceptive and disparage Monsanto’s products with the inference that milk from untreated cows is better than milk from hormone-treated cows.”

“We believe Oakhurst labels deceive consumers; they’re marketing a perception that one milk product is safer or of higher quality than other milk,” said Jennifer Garrett, director of technical services for Monsanto’s dairy business. “Numerous scientific and regulatory reviews throughout the world demonstrate that that’s unfounded. The milk is the same, and the amount of protein, fats, nutrients, etc. are all the same.”

I don’t believe they are the same milk. Do you? One is tampered with and one isn’t. One is the way nature created it and the other isn’t. One is genetically modified and owned by a huge corporation and one by a small local dairy in Maine.

Think about it. Do they feel threatened? What?!?