Silvopasture By Addition: Planting Trees Into Actively Grazed Pastures
There are two general methods to establish silvopasture – by addition or by subtraction. This post details a method for silvopasture by addition pioneered by Wyn Miller of Lick Skillet Farm for establishing high-value trees for livestock forage, fodder and shade in actively grazed pastures managed for commercial livestock production. Her method utilizes tree tubes…
Korean Natural Farming: No-Smell Pig Pens
When pigs are to be kept in a permanent or semi-permanent hard pen, a deep bedding system inoculated with indigenous micro-ogranisms (IMOs) should be used to improve sanitation for the animals and people tending them and to eliminate the smell of pig manure. This method for healthy, low-maintenance, pleasant smelling confinement pig rearing was developed…
Sovereign Energy > Moving Heat > Grid-Independent Cooking Systems
Introduction to Grid-Independent Cooking Systems Cooking food is an activity shared by all of humanity on a daily basis. We either do it ourselves or have someone (or increasingly, some thing) do it for us. It’s fun to cook hot dogs on a stick over a campfire, but it is hardly feasible as a daily…
Floating Wetland Gardens In Pantry Ponds For Resilience, Function and Yield Stacking ~Epi-079
Floating wetlands are a “new” old technology that is well worth looking into if you are doing aquaculture at just about any scale – from small backyard tanks a few hundred gallons in size, on up to multi-acre ponds and lakes. Floating wetlands take the essential functions provided by wetlands and concentrated them into a…
A Primer On Hugelkultur
A Primer On Hugelkultur What Is Hugelkultur? Hugelkultur is the technique of burying woody material and mounding it over with earth to create raised garden beds. When And Where Is Hugelkultur Appropriate? Hugelkultur is most appropriate in temperate climates with a pronounced wet season – often regions that are heavily forested – and is a…
Growing Mushrooms In The Forest
Log-based Mushroom Culture Preparing Logs Mushrooms can be grown on freshly cut, inoculated logs within a natural woodland setting. Logs are recommended to be cut in late winter to early spring and inoculated shortly thereafter. There are many methods to inoculate logs, some of which work better for different types of culinary or medicinal mushrooms.…
Building Freedom And Community In The REAL Private Sector – Real World Applications For Private Membership Associations with Joshua Longbrook ~Epi-075
Today I interview Joshua Longbrook on real world applications of Private Membership Associations for creating systems of support – i.e. the parallel society – outside the jurisdiction of the public (State dominated) sphere. We’ll cover what PMAs are, what protections they do and do not offer, how they are best utilized as extensions of a…
Constructed Wetlands Primer For Black & Greywater Treatment
What Are Constructed Wetlands? Constructed wetlands are built to use biology in the purification and clarification of blackwater and greywater effluents generated by human settlement. They are built to mimic the function of actual wetland ecologies, but in a way to prevent premature discharge of effluent waters to the environment. Where Are Constructed Wetlands Appropriate?…
Primer On Green Septic Systems
What Are Green Septic Systems? Green septic systems utilize aerobic biology to fully digest and break down sewage effluent, utilizing it as a fertilizer to grow valuable herbaceous and woody biomass. What Are The Components Of A Green Septic System? A green septic system utilizes traditional greywater and blackwater collection plumbing, a traditional septic tank…
Grow Food, Fodder, Fences And Forts For Cheap With Livestaking ~Epi-072
Today’s episode is a short primer on live staking – what it is, how it works, what its good for, what types of species you can use to do it, and how to harvest, prepare and plant your live stakes. If you have perennially moist soils in need of stabilization, or are able to irrigate…