posted March 07, 2007 01:59 PM            

Were you talking about defining words like "trait?" If so I think it's YOU who needs to spend some quality time with a dictionary.

posted March 07, 2007 07:32 PM              

Harpyr is a great source for this knowledge...she has some excellent stuff about it in Gaia's Garden...

(although she should tend to her moderator duties with much more frequency...as that raucous forum is so very out of control....hehe...

posted March 07, 2007 07:37 PM              

http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000534.html

nice thread on gardening ~

posted March 08, 2007 01:42 AM            

I'm not going to waste my time responding to the drivel that spews out of Ms. Coulter's mouth. So not worth it.

Just wanted to give a shout out to naiad.
Permaculture.. ecological gardening in general... really is the answer to so many of the humanity's ills.

posted March 08, 2007 07:04 AM            

******

Hello, Harpyr. I've seen you in and out around here but not much lately. I hope life is treating you kindly.

posted March 08, 2007 12:09 PM              

permaculture forest garden

posted March 08, 2007 03:28 PM            

Honestly, I'm not walking the talk nearly as much as I want to be when it comes to gardening.
But I'm workin on it! Last summer I only grew herbs.. it was my first real attempt to garden here in Alaska (besides helping my grandfather as a child)
The way he extended his growing season was to start seedlings in his basement under lights. Then when it started to warm up, he would roll them outside in a coldframe on wheels to toughen them up during the day and then wheel them into the garage at night. He also had a greenhouse. This year I was thinking of making raised beds for a veggie patch, since I've heard they thaw out faster in the spring.

posted March 08, 2007 07:17 PM              

the potential is unlimited. make a shift in perspective.

re-build earth into the eden-heaven that it once was. choose life over death...choose love...choose respect and reverence for everything and everyone under the auspices of creation. a noble mission if there ever was one.

posted March 08, 2007 08:30 PM              

Cities cover only 2% of the earth’s surface, but consume 75% of it’s resources

What if ‘waste is food’ and safe sewage and garbage were prime inputs to food production and building?

What if the urban landscape were edible and contained comfortable, safe dwellings?

What if vacant wasteland in cities were productive and enhancing the environment for living?

What if urban areas were increasing biodiversity and aesthetic beauty rather than diminishing it?

More and more environmentally conscious individuals are contemplating leaving the city to migrate to the country. They are in search of natural surroundings and an escape from the problems that the cities produce such as noise, pollution, concrete, reduced green space, and rectilinear environments. If everyone decides to move out of the city, then an effect is vast suburbanization. This diluted concentration of people creates inefficient demand for land, water, transportation, markets/commerce. Vast open corridors of native flora and fauna, which ultimately contribute to our own well being, will be severed and isolated. These spaces need to be preserved for our own enjoyment and the survival of the other species that inhabit them.

What better way than to create a livable environment within the city. Cities are where the people work and where resources are being consumed so the time is now to create sustainable systems. Cities can make a lot of sense because they concentrate people and resources in one area and decrease the amount of roads, buildings, services that must be present in every community for humans to live. Within our cities, there is a wealth of wasted resources waiting to become the root of our new dwellings and food source.

Food Production/Edible Landscaping

Producing food for human consumption has mostly been relegated to mega corporations whose intent is not always focused on our physical and spiritual health. Individuals and groups in urban areas often feel disempowered to grow their own food. There are vasts and untapped resources (unique growing spaces, organic material) when developing an urban eco-food system. This has been clearly demonstrated, out of necessity, in the high, production city farming of Havana, Cuba. City farming is spreading fast (if not in the U.S., we’re behind the curve, we produce grass clippings). City farms contributed 15% to world food production in 1993 and will grow to 33% by 2005.

A persistent belief that growing food for oneself is difficult and time consuming has led many people away from being connected with their food source. With a creative and whole systems approach to growing food it is possible, with limited space and time, to feed ourselves to a greater degree. To save money and resources (energy) it is possible to grow steadily higher percentages of local food. To do so requires a adaptive approach to managing the foods we eat. Eating more according to the seasons and supplementing what you don’t grow with local producers will reduce dependency on unsustainable systems (foreign energy etc.)

Many edible plants have been relegated to non-food status due to the lack of being able to exploit them for monocultures.

“It is our belief that plants can provide people with the majority of their needs, in a way that cares for the planet's health. A wide range of plants can be grown to produce all our food needs and many other commodities, whilst also providing a diversity of habitats for our native flora and fauna.
There are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world yet fewer than 20 species now provide 90% of our food. Large areas of land devoted to single crops increase dependence upon intervention of chemicals and intensive control methods with the added threat of chemical resistant insects and new diseases. The changing world climate greatly affecting cultivation indicates a greater diversity is needed.”

(– link to Plants for a Future)

Many concepts of mechanized farming have been brought along in the small scale food production arenas (gardens, etc.). Row cropping, tillage, monocultures, pesticides/herbicides (even organic ones) all are inherently difficult to maintain without vast inputs of energy, money and time. Each of these is part of the battle with nature that is unnecessary to produce food for yourself. A “battle” with weeds, watering problems, bug problems is simply misspent energy. Working with nature (Permaculture) to create a more harmonious, whole systems garden that takes advantage of the vast biological resources that nature provides. Indeed any system in battle with nature is doomed to quick failure without maintaining the vast amounts unsustainable inputs.

(link to No Work Garden class)

Natural Building

Modern buildings are composed mainly of dimensional old growth lumber, energy intensive concrete, and poisonous composites such as flooring, cabinets, insulation, carpeting, and furniture. In addition to their unsustainable production, they are often shipped halfway across the country or the world to get to their final destination.

Many people have the urge to build their own dream home from the ground up. There is an overwhelming existing infrastructure of usable buildings that already exist. In order to build new, many existing materials find their home in landfills. It makes sense to utilize these materials, such as existing buildings, foundations, structural support, or roofing structures. By blending existing structures with natural materials and urban waste, a post- industrial era can begin.

In or nearby most cities throughout the world are the natural materials of clay, sand, fiber, wood, and stone. The use of these materials helps to moderate fluctuations of humidity, sound pollution, air pollution

These materials can be used together to create structural support, insulation, and aesthetic qualities. These materials require and little energy to harvest

Michael Smith in The Case For Natural Building states accurately:

Of course, it’s impossible to build a house with no environmental impact, but it is our responsibility to minimize and localize the damage. Digging a hole in your yard for clay to make a cob house may look ugly at first, but it is a lot less ugly than strip mines, giant factories, and super highways. Nature has enormous capacity to heal small wounds…Many of us religiously protect the trees on our own property, then go to the lumberyard to purchase the products of wholesale clear cutting…Keeping our environmental footprint under our noses helps ensure that we will minimize our impact and protect the health of our local ecosystems, since we see them from our windows and walk through them everyday. Building with natural, local materials, also reduces our dependence on the polluting and energy intensive manufacturing and transport industries.
In nature, waste is food. Something is waste only because another use has not been determined. By closing the loop on existing energy systems, waste products of one system become the inputs to another. A true economy can then be achieved because the waste has been eliminated. Continual inefficiency and loss of input energy is destined for failure. The only way to create a sustainable human impact is to mirror processes already occurring in nature.
Fortunately there are alternative building techniques that utilize non-toxic urban waste products in conjunction with natural materials (such as sand, clay, straw, wood, and stone) to create healthy, inexpensive, energy efficient, sustainable dwellings.

Conventional stick frame homes create hundreds and thousands of short foot long pieces of kiln dried dimensional lumber that find their way into landfills. Outta The Box has created a building system that utilizes this former waste material. (See Urban Insulated Cob page)

This is only one example on how to creatively use an urban waste product. Waste management is now viewed as a problem to the modern city, when it may actually be part of the solution. This is an area that has been relatively unexplored. There is a wealth of untapped resources, often free, waiting to be used.

posted March 08, 2007 08:47 PM              

The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.

Some key points of the design and construction:

* Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
* Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
* Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
* Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
* Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
* Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
* Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
* Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
* Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring...)
* Woodburner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
* Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
* Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
* Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
* Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
* Water by gravity from nearby spring
* Compost toilet
* Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Main tools used: chainsaw, hammer and 1 inch chisel, little else really. Oh and by the way I am not a builder or carpenter, my experience is only having a go at one similar house 2yrs before and a bit of mucking around inbetween. This kind of building is accessible to anyone. My main relevant skills were being able bodied, having self belief and perseverence and a mate or two to give a lift now and again.

posted March 08, 2007 09:58 PM            

Those pictures are like a dream!! I am in

posted March 08, 2007 10:46 PM              

Thanks for all the articles Naiad, and Harpyr. I didnt' know you ladies were permaculture fans too? We've been wanting to do that with our property for some time now.

I'm a more desire than talent gardener kinda gal too. There's such a big learning curve to it, if you haven't had anyone to show you how to do it.

Love,
GG

posted March 08, 2007 11:09 PM              

Naiad, the picture you posted was also sooo beautiful. Thank you for the posts. Good stuff I don't know when it happened but you've become one of my very favorite people here.

God bless people who think outside the box. God bless people who aren't afraid to do, think and be different.

posted March 09, 2007 01:56 AM              

yes yes...delightful string.

GoatGirl ~ i am entranced with your cottage! thank you so so much for sharing all of that here. quite impressive!

i love the entire permaculture concept. thanks to Harpyr for opening my eyes to that.

posted March 09, 2007 10:27 AM              

They look pretty content don't they? I love the permaculture concept too. Working with nature makes a great deal more sense than attempting to work against it.

Yards with grass are a nice concept if you have a flock of sheep to graze on them. We stopped mowing our lawn about 4 years ago, and we've had such nice flowers start in the yard voluntarily. We also had a red raspberry drop in

I've done some sneak plantings of veggies too, and we always have greens about in the yard, and they're usually the first things to come up in the spring. A nice way to go out and suppliment your meal.

posted March 20, 2007 12:40 AM              

The Concept of Bio Lung”°Bio Lung”± is the word combined two words - ”®Bio' which means life and ”®Lung' which is necessary for us to live. Right in front of Expo Plaza will rise Bio Lung, a vertical wall filled with flowers and plants. With a height ranging from 4.5 to 15 meters, a length of 150 meters, and 3,500 m2 area, it will be dramatically highlighted by mist and light at the night show. More than 200 kind plants and flowers are planted in this great wall and the total amount will be more than 200 thousands pots. It must be the biggest green wall in the world.

Bio Lung was made for the purpose of improving the environment of busy city areas where enormous amount of CO2 is emitted which causes the serious problem such as global warming phenomenon or heat island phenomenon. Because we have developed our land without thinking to keep nature, now we face quite a lot of natural disasters caused by the global rising temperature ØC the result of the lack of consideration to our planet. Now we have to think how we can solve this problem and get returned the balanced environment which was used to be here in our land years ago.

Nowadays, there are hardly any flat areas left to grow plants. Bio Lung was born to give an idea to introduce plants in the areas with densely packed buildings where there is few nature any more. Because the soil base is set vertically and plants are planted in there, we could make the most of the area of buildings and build ”®independent greenery wall structures' such as soundproof walls along highways or fencing around schools, into organic urban devices. As the result of that, it must be sure that there will be certain drop in temperature which will be one of the contributions to ease the environmental problems which we have to find a solution.

Bio Lung Construction System

The Bio Lung construction system is built on re-usable steel-reinforced base structures. Different types of 1350mm multi-purpose green panel modules can be attached to these 1500mm grid base structures. This type of independent building structure is designed to be able to function in any kind of urban environment, and incorporates a ”®backyard' area, which can be used for maintenance. The Bio Lung Tower at the centre is 25 meters high and is the landmark of the EXPO 2005 Aichi, symbolizing the wisdom of nature and the meaning of the Japanese characters (Ūai) Love and (µŲĒņchikyuu)Earth.

Bio Lung Designs for Greening

The greenery design for the Bio Lung Screen links the many natural features of Japan, from gardens to rural villages and into the mountains. While the screen introduces as many Japanese varieties of plants as possible, the Bio Lung Tower re-creates the ”®grove of the village shrine'. The exhibit has been planned to create an overall design which presents visitors with a feeling for the ”®beautiful landscapes of Japan which co-exist with the natural world'. The Bio Lung uses 200,000 individual plants and 200 different species. Flowers can be enjoyed in each season with their attractive colours and features.

Mist Fountains and Lightning Systems

Bio Lung has introduced a variety of technical innovations, which can be used to build more attractive urban landscapes, while at the same time relieving pressure on the environment. Some examples of these technical innovations are automated sprinkler systems, water activation systems and mist fountains, all using recycled water, which we can expect to see used as temperature reduction systems, and in addition LED lighting systems, which use less energy and are not harmful to plants. During the Expo, the ”®Bio Lung Symphony' display incorporating mist and LED's working together will be shown.

Experiment at Bio Lung

In Bio Lung, we have set various kinds of measurement equipments, such as thermometers and hygrometer. Constantly gathered data is shown on the screen which is set at the Bio Lung pavilion next to Bio Lung wall. After Expo closes, all the data will be considered at the committee meeting and use it for the promotion of green wall in many cities and places.

Message from Bio Lung

Not only the power of plants itself, but we expect the healing effect to people. Those who are surrounded by nature will naturally have interest in the environment where they live and may start saving energy for their lives. This part is the other, or maybe, more important aspect that Bio Lung project would like to appeal to public at large in the world.

posted March 24, 2007 04:21 PM              

http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000722.html