Daniel Pauly: The ocean’s shifting baseline

The ocean has degraded within our lifetimes, as shown in the decreasing average size of fish. And yet, as Daniel Pauly shows us onstage at Mission Blue, each time the baseline drops, we call it the new “normal.” At what point do we stop readjusting downward?

Read Full Post »

How to Start Natural Beekeeping – for free!

Permaculture Media writes… “Beekeeping has suddenly become popular again, having been in decline for more than half a century. Honeybees have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: collapsing colonies, pesticide poisoning and parasitic mites – and all this bad news seems to have triggered an almost primitive desire in people to want [...]

Read Full Post »

Chicken tunnels

Eco films Australia writes… “Although allowing your chickens to free-range a great idea, getting them to just stay on the grass and not destroy your garden is not an easy thing to do. They don’t seem to listen and wander about blissfully digging up your garden, making mounds in your vegetable patch, spraying dirt all [...]

Read Full Post »

Healthier chook management

Dennis Argall writes… “I previously had a large run for chooks (chook is the Australian generic for chicken/hen/rooster) which became unmanageable, the chooks constantly escaping and eating every seedling in the backyard. A conventional feeder meant I was also raising about 40 sparrows and four pigeons. Open water meant dirty water, worms and sick and [...]

Read Full Post »

Free Range Chicken Song

Read Full Post »

Bees foraging coverage map

bees.morkland.org writes… “The honeybee in your hive can cover a huge area during foraging. A study from 1997 showed that the mean foraging distance was 1 km from the hive, but your bees will fly up to 4-5 km (2-3 miles) while foraging. This is a simple tool to measure the foraging area of your [...]

Read Full Post »

RawBale Chicken House Design

milkwood.net writes… “Within the Gravity Chicken Run, we needed a place for our chickens that was warm in winter and cool in summer. We also wanted it to be super easy to clean, cheap to build, and easy to keep our chickens healthy long term. So we came up with a design called the RawBale Chicken [...]

Read Full Post »

A depository of over 276 different beehive designs

A depository of over 276 different beehive designs, 93+ plans for beekeeping equipment and bee hives, beekeeping information and links from around the world. Submissions of photos and related information welcome. To post a comment click on the Beehive title, component title or the comment icon. source  

Read Full Post »

Space-saving chicken coop includes rooftop veggie patch

gizmag.com writes… “Having chickens and vegetables in your backyard is great for self-sustainability, but what if I want both in a small space? Seattle-based architect turned-self-starter Traci Fontyn has the solution in the form of the Kippen House; a modular chicken coop with a rooftop vegetable garden that creates a looped ecosystem to benefit both [...]

Read Full Post »

All about birds

With more than 800 species of birds in the U.S. and Canada, it’s easy for a beginning bird watcher to feel overwhelmed by possibilities. Field guides seem crammed with similar-looking birds arranged in seemingly haphazard order. Bird Identification Skills [allaboutbirds.org]

Read Full Post »