Now that you have grown beautiful vegetables, lovely flowers or have gorgeous chicken eggs, how do you go about selling them at a farmer’s market? What are some of the tricks of the trade and the lessons learned from veterans? Homework It is very important to find the right farmer’s market for you. You don’t want […]
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Big Vegetables in Small Spaces – How to Start a Container Garden
If you have a deck, porch or even a window sill, you can have a garden. Container gardening can be a great way to start gardening, try something new, out wit predators, or bring kids into gardening. Having a garden, even a modest one, will bring beautiful food to your table and a sense of satisfaction. […]
A Surprising Reason We Don’t Farm As Sustainably As We Could
I recently posted a description of a highly sustainable form of row crop farming that combines high productivity with low environmental impact. This is not just a theoretical vision but something which is actually being practiced on a significant commercial scale (e.g. non-tillage, cover cropping, controlled wheel traffic, variable rate fertilization…). It is difficult to […]
Tuna Truths: The Pros and Cons of Canned Tuna
Growing up in South Dakota, I thought there were two kinds of fish. Trout and tuna. Trout were flappy and fun to catch, with beautiful rainbow-colored skin that my mom always complained about removing. They were in bountiful supply in the lake by my uncle’s mountain cabin. Conversely, tuna were small and round, with steel […]
Emergency Kits for Families
The recent tragedy in Japan and the vast number of weather-related power outages across the US this winter have many people concerned about what to do in case something like this happens to them. If you and yours were caught in a disaster and had to shelter inside your home for three or more days, […]
Preparing for Evacuation with Pets
The Red Cross and the SPCA recommend that in addition to an Emergency Kit for you and your family, you create one for your pets. This is important step can help to save your pets live and your peace of mind. Many animal related groups have chimed in to build on the Red Cross list […]
Five Key Limitations of Organic Farming
(updated 8/22/11) Yesterday I posted about what I believe to be the five best things about Organic farming. These are attributes that I seriously believe are good ideas for how we should farm, and ideas that make sense to increasingly bring into mainstream agriculture (more cover cropping, more diverse rotations, more focus on building the […]
The Five Best Things About Organic Farming
I have posted a number of blogs and documents over the past two years that address some of the common myths about Organic farming. From that, one might conclude that I am “anti-Organic,” which I am not. There are many things about Organic that I have appreciated ever since my grandfather first taught me about […]
Community Supported Agriculture
The Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, movement is an important step in locally sourcing your food. With more and more food recalls being issued by the government and food producers on non-meat items and food prices rising along with oil prices, having locally sourced food can be a key component of a family’s budget and […]
Herb Gardening With Kids
“Mummy! It smells just like sunshine!” said my 5-year-old son, Cameron, his face split wide open with a grin. He was standing knee-deep in the middle of our herb garden, the sun pouring down on him from a cloudless blue sky. “How do you know what sunshine smells like?” said Kent, my 10 year old. […]
Beekeeping as a business
Beekeeping is a hobby that you can easily turn into a side-business no matter where you live. Keeping bees requires a relatively small monetary investment to get started and can turn a profit within a few short years. There are many non-monetary benefits to keeping bees like better garden yields, fresh honey, and a feeling […]
Children’s Clothing Exchange
Did your children outgrow their clothes overnight? With growing kids, it is a fact that you will end up with clothes that still have some wear-ability after your kids not longer fit in them. You can give them to relatives if they live close by, but inevitably your kids will be the last girl or new baby and […]
Hoop Houses
The earth may be giving, but the winds and the snows often conspire to take away that which the earth gives. So, for thousands of years people have been trying to protect a patch of earth from the vagaries of the weather. Enclosing an area and letting light in as a solution first appeared in […]
Entrée Exchange Groups
If there is economy in scale, an entrée exchange group embodies it. The idea is that if five families participate, each family makes five of the same meals, meet up and trade, and go home with four meals plus your own. By making multiples of the same meal you can save on preparation time and ingredients. Forming an entree exchange […]
Why World Food Prices May Keep Climbing
In February, world food prices reached the highest level on record. Soaring food prices are already a source of spreading hunger and political unrest, and it appears likely that they will climb further in the months ahead. As a result of an extraordinarily tight grain situation, this year’s harvest will be one of the most […]
What Is a Time Bank?
It all begins with a simple premise: an hour is an hour. No matter who you are, what you do, or where you are, your time is valuable – just as valuable as everyone else’s. Time banks are being created all over the world to facilite the equal trade of goods and services among community […]
Crowdsourced Project Funding
All too often the only thing that stands in the way of a great idea is a lack of funding. Innovation is expensive, and most people don’t have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around to finance their creative breakthroughs. The conventional methods of funding projects—bank loans and venture capitalists—have become inaccessible to […]
Small Wood-Burning Stoves For Small Homes: A Review
Wood stoves are a highly economical way to provide heat for your home if you have access to a woodlot or live in a remote or rural area. To get the most bang for your buck, you should invest in a clean(er)-burning, efficient model. Last year, I spent a fair amount of time researching small, […]
Know Your Vegetable Seeds: The Lowdown on Heirloom, Hybrid, and Organic Seeds
Now’s the time of year when prudent green thumbs curl up with their favorite seed catalogs and plan their springtime gardens, selecting from a huge variety of vegetable seeds for sale from an equally large number of seed companies. Many companies commonly offer heirloom and organic seeds, but what sets these varieties apart from the […]
How to Grow Amazing Roses with Coffee Grounds
I have found few things as rewarding as spending time in the garden, listening to the birds chatter, and to see little flying things moving around the leaves of home grown fruits and vegetables. Halfway through a wet Australian Summer, my garden is in excellent condition, from the topsoil to the tips of the sunflowers… […]
US Organic Farming: Digging into the Numbers
In 2008, the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the USDA (USDA-NASS) conducted a first-time, in-depth survey of the US organic farming sector. A summary was published in 2010 from which it is possible to see state-by-state and crop-by-crop how many organic acres were harvested, how much they produced, and how much the crop was worth. […]
Are There Laws Against Backyard Chickens?
Many people curious about keeping chickens for eggs and meat want to know: can I raise chickens in my backyard? There is a lot of confusion about whether or not one can actually keep chickens on their suburban lot, since the ordinances vary from town to town in individual states. However, you may be happy […]
Topsoil: Civilization & Foundation Eroding
By Lester R. Brown The thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet’s land surface is the foundation of civilization. This soil, typically 6 inches or so deep, was formed over long stretches of geological time as new soil formation exceeded the natural rate of erosion. But sometime within the last century, as human and […]
Green Business Blog Carnival #10 at Cleantechies
Yep, moving a little slowly… I blame it on last week’s heatwave (which has finally ended). Fortunately, our friends at Cleantechies were right on the mark (and, in fairness, they had cool, pleasant weather), and got Friday’s Green Business Blog Carnival published right on schedule. Edition #10 was a little light (I’m blaming that on […]
11 Steps to Minimize Indoor Pollutants and Live Greener
The Environmental Protection Agency states that, “The average adult breathes 13,000 liters of air per day; children breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults.” And, because children’s respiratory systems are still developing, they are much more vulnerable to the health dangers of airborne and other pollutants or allergic particles in […]
Agroecological Farming vs. Organic Farming: What’s the difference?
One of Becky’s recent posts raised the question of what separates agroecological farming from organic farming. Although agroecological farming shares some of the same principals as organic farming, agroecology is not associated with a particular type of agriculture. Conventional and organic farms alike can take an agroecological approach to managing farmland. What Is Agroecology? Agroecology […]
7 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Alternatives
Do you love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too much? Think you need a break from them or need to change it up a bit? Here are 7 (tested) alternatives to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you can try out. 1. Tahini instead of Peanut Butter This is one of my favorites. Instead of […]
Environmental Impact of Eating Meat
New United Nation Food and Agriculture report tells us again that eating meat has perhaps the largest negative environmental impact of any human action. And more than half of the world’s crops are fed to animals. I’ve written on the relationship between eating meat (or being vegetarian) and the environment extensively before. However, there is […]
Smarten Up: Reduce Your Phantom Power Use
Did you know your TV uses electricity, even when turned off? So does your iHome, coffee maker, microwave oven, hair-dryer, clock radio, and other electronics. Yes, even chargers for cell phones and laptops suck energy when plugged in—even if they are not charging anything! Surprised? Well I certainly was when I learned this and ever […]
Hunting for Wild Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms
Chicken of the Woods is another great wild mushroom species for beginning foragers. It’s relatively easy to identify, and has only a few look-alikes.
Top Ten Pea Shoot Recipes (In Season Now!)
Like most green leafy vegetables, pea shoots – the young tendrils and leaves of the garden pea plant – are incredibly nutrient-dense. You can start looking for them at farmers markets or Asian markets in the spring and early summer. Two cups of raw pea shoots have 10 calories, zero fat, 35.5% of your recommended […]
Some More Vegan and Vegetarian Dishes for a Barbecue or Picnic
Here are two more vegetarian or vegan dishes and a drink you can bring to a barbecue to go with the homemade vegan black bean burgers and herbal butter we wrote about yesterday. Especially if you are an apple or mushroom lover, these dishes might strike your fancy. Apple Chutney As you probably already know, I […]
Make Your Own Safe Non-Toxic Paints
Did you know that you can make your own safe and non-toxic paints from common household ingredients, without resorting to either dangerous conventional paints or expensive non-V.O.C. varieties? Using ingredients such as milk, wheat flour, and linseed oil, you can create paints for various surfaces that will not off-gas dangerous compounds that can be hazardous […]
Is RoundUp Killing the Soil?
There is still a great debate on whether or not Monsanto’s genetically modified crops and heavily used pesticides are safe. But has it already been proven that the company is severely damaging our soils? Monsanto is an $11.8 billion/year industrial agriculture behemoth. Aside from numerous environmental and health concerns regarding its pesticides, genetically modified seeds […]
Where Have All The Nasty Pesticides Gone?
(apologies to Pete Seeger for the song title reference) The graph above shows how over the last 15 years, the use of 23 old pesticides has declined more than 97% in California. These are all pesticides that have the specific, neurotoxic mode of action called “Choline Esterase Inhibition.” They are “organophosphate” or “carbamate” insecticides – the archetypal […]
What a Red Dawg Taught Me about Stray Animals and Sustainability
If you’ve spent any time at my Facebook page, or are even a long-time sustainablog reader, you know I’m an animal lover. I’m also a supporter of animal adoption (both my dog, Zelda, and my wife’s horse, Trey, are adoptees), and even volunteer occasionally at the Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. I haven’t written much about issues […]
Why Pesticides Are Actually Important for Agricultural Sustainability
I know that some readers will find my title surprising or offensive, but I hope you will read on. I’m writing this because I’m involved in a “broad stakeholder process” that is trying to define “scientifically sound metrics” to measure the sustainability of specialty agriculture (fruit and vegetable crops…). Its a very ambitious effort and […]
The Recycled, Post-Industrial Green Building Material: Urbanite
Urbanite is the perfect symbol for the new natural building movement, the new wave of building that incorporates natural, local, and recycled materials in place of high embodied energy, destructive, and ultimately unsustainable building practices. Urbanite is the name for reclaimed, recycled concrete from the demolition of roads, buildings, and sidewalks. It is typically broken […]
Seven More Homes and Buildings Made from the Darndest Things
You might see “Seven More” above, and think “Where were the first ones?” That’s OK… we’re doing something a little unusual in the blogging world: creating a sequel to a post on another blog. Not quite a year ago, Brian Clark Howard at The Daily Green did a post on unusual green buildings that included […]
Top 10 Reasons to Live in an Electricity-Free Home (PPB #27)
When I designed my cob house here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage two years ago, I decided that I was going to live without electricity. I had no plans to buy a solar power system or a wind turbine. I was going to make the leap to live electricity-free in my home, in order to live […]
How To Build Your Own Cheap Outdoor Pizza Oven
Last summer, I got hooked on the idea of baking pizza and bread outdoors in a wood-fired oven. Baking outside, in a super hot oven with a brick hearth, (the way bread is really meant to be baked) was a hugely appealing thought. It became very clear to me that I wanted to build a […]
Make Your Own Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains
Windows are very frequently a source of lost heat in your home. Older homes may suffer from only having single-paned windows, which lose a large amount of heat, and even newer double-paned insulated windows lack enough insulation against cold winter temperatures and wind. However, you can save home heating costs and easily bulk up the […]
Eating Vegan: Where do You Get Your Protein?
Second only to “I would die without cheese!” folks ask all the time about where vegans get their protein. For someone accustomed to centering their dinner plate around a piece of animal protein, I can see how this might seem like a problem. You take that steak off of your plate, and you’re basically living […]
sustainablog’s Pedal-a-Watt Powered Blogathon coming in March
UPDATE: The folks at Convergence Tech, Inc. have given us a very generous deal on a Pedal-a-Watt pedal power generator for the blogathon, so we’ve changed the name of the event slightly… we’re grateful for their help! A few of you may remember the last time I stayed up for 24 hours to blog for […]
Organic Farming Would Be Better In Terms of Climate Change Impact. Right?
I’m probably going to irritate some people with this post. I apologize in advance because that is not at all my intention. For those readers that don’t think climate change is a real problem, I respect the fact that there is uncertainty in that science, but if the majority position of climate scientists is true, the stakes […]
50 Years of Truely Sustainable Agriculture to be Celebrated Next Year
There is a sub-set of farmers who have been practicing a much more sustainable form of agriculture for decades and we are coming up on the 50th anniversary of it’s beginnings. I want to start writing about this event early because many environmentally-conscious folk are not aware of this hugely significant “revolution” that has occurred in […]
Reduce Water Waste by Installing a Rainwater Harvesting System
Got a roof? Get a tank! Harvesting rainwater is a great way to conserve this one of the scarcest natural resources and save your dollars in the bargain. An average family uses about 107,000 gallons of fresh water every year. Much of this is flushed down the toilet or poured into the garden. If you […]
An “Inconvenient Truth” about Composting
Composting is a really green thing to do, right? I’ve always thought so since my Grandfather taught me to do it in the early sixties. Large-scale composting is getting to be quite the rage. The City of San Francisco attracted a great deal of attention with it’s mandatory food scrap recycling program and lots of local […]
Top Global Warming Causes – Natural or Human?
If you’ve followed the debate over climate change even a little, you likely know the main causes of global warming: concentrations of greenhouse gases build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and create a “greenhouse,” or warming effect. You’re likely also aware that evidence of past warming periods has fueled the argument that natural causes are […]
Melting Ice Could Lead to Massive Waves of Climate Refugees
As the earth warms, the melting of the earth’s two massive ice sheets—Antarctica and Greenland—could raise sea level enormously. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, it would raise sea level 7 meters (23 feet). Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea level 5 meters (16 feet). But even just partial melting of these ice sheets will have a dramatic effect on sea level rise.
