Understanding Soil

Understanding Soil

• Part 1: Benefits of Soil Improvements
• Part 2: Identifying Types of Soil
• Part 3: Soil Improvement Techniques for All Types Of Soil
• Part 4: Soil Improvement Techniques for Clay and Sandy Soils
• Part 5: PH Testing

Source

Read Full Post »

Track your plants and gardens online!

Folia

Keep tabs on when you planted and when your plants are ready for harvest

• keep a journal of events in your garden
• create to-do lists
• organise seed swaps
• discover others growing the same things as you!

Take the tour

Sign up for Free

Read Full Post »

NABUUR makes it easy to make a difference

NABUUR

Nabuur.com is an online volunteering platform that links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Connected through Nabuur.com, Neighbours and local communities learn about each other, share ideas and find solutions to local issues.

Everybody has something to offer, and everything is done online.

Do you have a little spare time and the desire to make a difference?

NABUUR

Read Full Post »

Calculate your roof’s solar potential

We are a solar array modeling service and community determined to help consumers evaluate solar for their home or business and to create greater awareness for solar overall.

Calculate your roof’s solar potential.

RoofRay

Read Full Post »

Nutritional Data for almost everything you eat!

Nutrition Data

Since its launch in 2003, Nutrition Data has grown into one of the most authoritative and useful sources of nutritional analysis on the Web. In July 2006, Nutrition Data was acquired by CondéNet, a digital publisher under the Condé Nast Publications umbrella dedicated to editorial excellence. Nutrition Data’s continuing goal is to provide the most accurate and comprehensive nutrition analysis available, and to make it accessible and understandable to all.

The information in Nutrition Data’s database comes from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and is supplemented by listings provided by restaurants and food manufacturers. The source for each individual food item is listed in the footnotes of that food’s Nutrition Facts page. In addition to food composition data, Nutrition Data also provides a variety of proprietary tools to analyze and interpret that data. These interpretations represent Nutrition Data’s opinion and are based on calculations derived from Daily Reference Values (DRVs), Reference Daily Intakes (RDIs), published research, and recommendations of the FDA.

While Nutrition Data cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of every listing, we make every attempt possible to ensure the quality of our data.

Nutrition Data Map

Nutrition Search

Read Full Post »

Print what you like

Printwhatyoulike

I normally don’t promote a website like this on my blog, but I think that this find will not only help you save money and paper but also support the environment so it deserves a mention.

Tired of printing web pages only to find your printout is full of ads, empty space and other junk you don’t want?

PrintWhatYouLike is a free online editor that lets you format any web page for printing in seconds!

Better still, don’t print it out to paper but to a PDF document.  Use this free tool to add a “PDF printer” to your computer so you are able to convert anything you want to print into a PDF document.

Now why don’t you combine the power of both tools.  Use PrintWhatYouLike to select the area you want to print and then print it to your PDF printer to convert it into a PDF document!

Read Full Post »

Low Input Manual

“In 2005, Stacia was contacted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Malawi to consult on a project that would begin to assist relief and donor agencies to look beyond food aid and start focusing on sustainable food programmes.  As food insecurity and malnutrition have become chronic problems in Malawi, so too have shipments of food aid (usually in the form of maize).  In many instances of extreme shortages or disasters, this type of aid can mean the difference between life and death, but even in these situations it remains only a temporary solution.  The true solutions to Malawi’s food and nutrition security problems lie with the people themselves and the agricultural systems that they are using to feed themselves.

In response to these problems, and the call by many for a more sustainable future for Malawi, Stacia worked with a team of people to compile the Low Input Food and Nutrition Manual…Growing and Eating More Using Less.  This manual is a culmination of the work that she and her husband, Kristof, have done over their ten years in Malawi on the issues of nutrition and sustainable agriculture (especially Permaculture).  This manual is currently being used by the WFPs partners in Nutritional Rehabilitation Units, schools, and various HIV/AIDS programmes.  It is also the model that is being used by Malawi’s Ministry of Education for thier school gardening/feeding project that is aiming to get Permaculture integrated into over 5,000 primary schools throughout the country.  To date, close to 5000 copies of the manual have been printed with plans for an additional printing of 20,000-30,000 copies in the next year or two.  So far, these printings have been supported by the World Food Programme and GTZ (a German Technical Agency).

The only restriction on the reprinting of this manual is that it be used for Non-Profit use only.  We encourage organizations and individuals to print and use their own copies as needed.  It is one of the main principles of Permaculture, “Observe, Learn, and SHARE!”.  We would like to get this information out to as many people and groups as we can who are interested in applying Permaculture principles to their lives and in their work. Below you will find the Low Input Manual that has been broken into downloadable PDF sections for you to use and reprint as desired for non-profit use.  These sections are still large, but we have tried to keep them all under 2mb in size.  We hope that you find this information useful.”

• 01 Low Input Manual p 1-20, introduction.pdf

• 02 – Making Food Choices
• 03 – Diet Diversity
• 04 – Soil Health
• 05 – Water
• 06 – planning design
• 06.5 Planning Design
• 07 – implement and monitor
• 08 – appendix 1 – handouts
• 09 – appendix 2 – handouts
• 10 – Appendix 3
• 11 – Appendix 4

• 12 – appendix 5
• 13 – appendix 6
• 14 – appendix 7, the LAST file!

source

Read Full Post »

Chrondala

Chrondala

A perpetual calender based on the seasonal cycle. Loads of info on times to sew & grow your garden crops, festivals and other fascinating facts…. A3 PDF format

Why not build your own for the area you live in?

source

Read Full Post »

A Refrigerator that Runs Without Electricity

Sometimes there are simple solutions to universal needs that don’t require coal fired electricity, fossil fuels, or even solar panels or wind turbines.

Around a third of the world’s population have no access to electricity. If you’re like me, you’ve spent your entire life being able to plug in. Do we ever give a thought to what life would be like if the various appliances we’ve come to rely on were to suddenly stop working? One of the most energy guzzling appliances in our carbon footprint portfolio is the refrigerator. But, unplug it, and the quality of your life will suddenly deteriorate. Take that thought, and imagine living in a hot dry country in Africa, without electricity, where food quickly wilts and rots in the sun, aided by onslaughts of flies.

One modern day genius, mindful of this basic need to preserve food, has solved the problem for many. Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian teacher, invented the ‘device’ — a refrigerator that doesn’t require electricity!

From a family of pot-makers, Mohammed has made ingeniously simple use of the laws of thermodynamics to create the pot-in-pot refrigerator, called a Zeer in Arabic.

Here’s how it works.

Read Full Post »

Grow 100 lbs. Of Potatoes In 4 Square Feet: How To

How To Build & Use Your Potato Box

Quite the clever gardening tip here folks! Today’s feature includes tips from three different sources for growing potatoes vertically (in layers) instead of spread out in rows across your garden. If you have limited garden space or want to try some nifty gardening magic, this could be a great option for you.

Source

Read Full Post »