In contrast to the monoculture of fast food quickly overtaking the globe, the Slow Food Movement is a grassroots organization started in Italy that strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages the farming of plants and raising livestock that are characteristic to the local ecosystem. It is a … Read more
Container vegetable gardening is a fun and easy way to keep a fresh supply of herbs and vegetables at your table all season long. It will also save you space and allow you to decorate as well as provide a hearty meal. Additionally it will save you a little money … Read more
Container gardening is great if you do not have any land to plant a garden or you just wish to add some texture and beauty to an area. An easy, healthy, and sustainable set of plants to grow in containers are herbs. They come in all shapes, sizes, and variety … Read more
Ostriches are farmed in over 100 countries and, when you look at the benefits of ostrich farming, it is clear why. Ostriches require less maintenance and less feed. They are free roaming and, as humans, we can get quite a few necessities from these birds. First of all, they are … Read more
In United States’ environmental communities, genetically modified (GM) foods are often seen as unnatural and therefore harmful. In other countries, such as France, they are banned altogether, embracing natural techniques of raising plentiful crops. Despite excessive marketing campaigns, government endorsement and the pervasiveness of genetically modified foods, strong arguments indicate … Read more
Green lawns have long been a staple of residential neighborhoods; they are favored by homeowners associations for their uniformity and by home builders for their ease of installation. However, lawns are just not suited for many geographic areas and arid areas require irrigation and extensive watering. In most cases, chemicals … Read more
When planning a garden for self-sufficiency it’s important to pick the best fruits and vegetables to help sustain a healthy and balanced diet. Watermelons are one of the best thirst-quenching summer fruits available. Although it may be hard to imagine now, watermelons originated in Africa, where they were first cultivated … Read more
When planning your garden or container herbs surely you are considering what your favorite plants are, but have you thought about adding catnip for your kitty? What is catnip anyway? Catnip, (Nepeta cataria) also known as “catmint” is named after precisely those that it affects- cats! Although known mainly as … Read more
I recently took a weekend to go fishing and found myself engulfed in gnats and mosquitoes that wished to eat me alive. I started to cook dinner which was full of home-grown garlic and onions and miraculously the insects disappeared. It was truly remarkable; garlic worked better than commercial bug … Read more
A haybox cooker is a box full of insulating material that keeps a meal hot enough so that it cooks without having to keep it in the oven or on the stove for hours [1]. It’s a bit like an insulated thermos flask, except rather than coffee or soup it … Read more
The Native Americans of the dry American Southwest creatively solved the problem of farming with very little rainfall by independently inventing and implementing the dry land farming agricultural technique. The ancient Anasazi people as well as the long-present Hopi, Tewa, Zuni, and Navajo tribes continue to use the innovations of … Read more
The concept of food forestry can be overwhelming to a typical household. A food forest is an edible landscape modeled after the ideas of layers of a forest including a canopy formed by tall trees, shrubs, vines, low groundcover, and all of the associated wildlife. Planning a food forest in … Read more
Clay, or “earthen” ovens are simple in design. Using wood to fire them and the insulating properties of bricks and clay to absorb and then radiate heat, you can cook anything in an earthen oven that you could cook in a conventional oven. One easy and common thing to cook … Read more
Foraging for food is an ancient aspect of the human condition but to most urban dwellers it is a concept and a skill long lost to history. Many view foraging as a “primitive” and “uncivilized” way of living but this ignorance of the wide variety of edible plants simply leads … Read more
Have you ever dreamed of being a farmer, gazing out over your herd of cattle as the sun sets on the horizon? It’s a romantic notion but not realistic for most of us. After all, you need a lot of land, a lot of cattle and a lot of experience … Read more