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Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Click here to redirect to our

New Website

We are now hosting our own blog. Whoo hoo!!!!!

Greening the Desert

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:52:00 +0000

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Build your own Compost Tumbler!!!

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:43:00 +0000

Supplies:
-one 50 gallon drum
-2 hinges with nuts and washers
-12"x12" piece of metal (for door)
-5ft of 1" galvanized pipe
-latch with nuts and washers
-16ft of 2"x4" SPF (for legs)
-16ft of 1"x8" fir or cdr braces

Instructions:
**Click picture to enlarge and print.
1) Drill a 1" hole in the center of each end of the barrel
2) Cut 11"x11" square hole in the side of the barrel. This is where you will put in your food scraps, hay, grass clippings etc.
3) Attach metal door over this square hole with the hinges
4) Attach door latch
5) Cut 2"x4" into 4 foot pieces for legs
6) Build A-frames as illustrated
7) Drill 1" hole through top portion of each A-frame
8) Slide galvanized pole through A-frame holes and the barrel holes
9) Attach 1x8 as required for bracing

**You may want to ensure that your tumbler will be high enough to slide a wheel barrow under for unloading. Using EM with this composter works wonders.

GOOD LUCK!

101 uses for Effective Microorganisms

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:13:00 +0000

Ok...not quite 101, but many!

EM and I: a relationship of love

I use EM every day. I drink it, sprinkle Bokashi on my compost, innoculate my garden and clean my house with it.

I began using EM in my Bokashi composter on recommendation of a gardening instructor I had. It worked marvels! Within a few weeks my food scraps were no longer recognizable as food and within three months I had soil! Wow! Usually I would have waited almost a year for all that to decompose. Even the bones had been broken down.

I had heard about the myriad of other uses of EM and decided to make the big purchase. I bought EM for everything! The EM for human consumption gave me energy, helped with digestion and decreased bloating. My house plants grew much faster and had a beautiful green glow. This truly is miraculous stuff.

What is EM and how does it work?

EM is a blend of beneficial microorganisms developed by Teruo Higa, a professor at the University of the Ryukyu in Japan. These microorganisms improve the health of the soil, the plants, water and humans by breaking down organic matter in the soil, fixing nitrogen from the air, and feeding and protecting plants and animals. The organisms included are primarily yeast and pro-biotic photosynthetic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria.

Fermentation
Yeasts and lactic acid bacteria accomplish fermentation which is incredibly beneficial for plant and animal health. They speed up compost break down which quickly frees up nutrients and minerals for re-uptake. In fact, fermenting food can increase vitamin and mineral availability up to 500%. Fermented organic matter also provides important digestive enzymes and facilitates detoxification. These beneficial microbes will out-compete disease causing organisms and fight off infection.

Purple Bacteria
Photosynthetic bacteria (or purple bacteria) produce food including amino acids, nucleic acids and sugars. They fix nitrogen and carbon from the air and produce sugars. They degrade lignins found in tree bark which is accomplished by very few organisms. And most miraculously, these bacteria convert toxins to nutrients.

These bacteria have got it figured out! They work together to improve their own health and the health of organisms in their ecosystem.

Uses
EM can be used year round in the garden, but MUST be diluted. It is especially useful during times of high stress for a plant: planting, harvesting, pruning, transplanting etc. It can be used to inoculate the soil and as a foliar application.

For more information (including ordering) check out our Resources

The abandonned blog and FUNGI!

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:03:00 +0000

Hello again!

It has been a while. I abandonned the blog for a moment there while I worked furiously at launching a website. I had never built a website before, but I think it turned out OK. the new site can be found at www.livepermaculture.com We also launched an Edible Landscaping business servicing Salt Spring, the Gulf Island and lower Vancouver Island. So now that all that is complete I can get back to the blog. I am still very busy, so for now I'll leave you with FUNGI! Check this out

Composting 2: the Permaculture Way

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:22:00 +0000

What to put in your compost bin:
From the home:

Fruit and Veggie scraps
Eggshells
Cereal
Bread
Natural fibers
Newspaper (black and white) and paper towels
coffee grounds and filters
tea bags

From the yard:

grass clippings
leaves
tree waste (avoid cedar and walnut)
sawdust and woodchips (no treated wood)
straw
dead plants (not diseased ones)
soil

What not to put in:

feces (animal or human)
meat and bones
dairy
grease, fat, oil
citrus peels and pine needles
toxic plants
treated wood or grass clippings
ashes
plastic/metal
waxed paper

**Note: A Bokashi composter will take meat, bones, dairy, citrus peels and feces

About Bokashi and EM:
Bokashi is a wheat bran coated with a blend of effective microorganisms (EM). This bran is tossed in with your compost in a sealed container to promote fermentation of your organic waste as opposed to decomposition. This process encourages the growth of the microorganism population which is highly beneficial to your garden. It also speeds up the composting process. I highly recommend EM use. This technology was developed in Japan and has been employed for over 20 years.

I use EM for everything: cleaning the house, innoculating the garden and compost, innoculating my indoor plants and for my own consumption. It cuts my compost time in half, and my plants and I are both more productive.

Make your own Bokashi composter:
Easy! Find two equal sized buckets and drill about 20 pencil sized holes in the bottom of one. Place the one with holes inside the other, pop the lid on and voila! The important thing is to have the second bucket to collect your compost tea. These compost drippings are full of EM and should be diluted 1-2tsp/gallon and used to water your plants.

Make your own Bokashi:
Material: for 50lbs of Bokashi--adjust to your likeing

50lbs wheat bran
1 cup EM1
1cup molasses
water
lg plastic bag or airtight container for storage
mixing surface--big plastic tubs work great!

1) Dissolve molasses in 1 gal water
2)Mix in EM1 (this is totally safe--mix with your hands!)
3) Squeeze into a ball. You want this ball to hold it's form without liquid coming out.
No?--add water
Yes?--take it out and put it in your storage container--it's ready!
4) seal your container removing as much of the air as possible
5) store in a warm place for 2weeks to ferment
**There may be some mold growing on top. White mold is good mold, but black and green means you have a contaminated batch. Too much air got in.
**You may use your Bokashi wet or dry it out for longer storage. Always store in a sealed container.

Bokashi composters are available Here. They are the highest quality and are well-priced.
For more information about EM and how it fits with your permaculture life check out this video or emamerica's website.

Composting 1: Let's Get Practical with Permaculture

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:46:00 +0000

Now that you are taking steps towards sustainability and a permaculture homestead, what better place to start than with food!

That old saying, "you are what you eat", applies to all organisms. We are part of a food chain. With each organism in the chain building mass with the materials provided by the food it has ingested prior. Better materials=better quality of construction right? Right!

So watch what you eat. If you eat poison (pesticides & herbicides) you will incorporate poison into your body. This means you have to watch what your food eats, and what it's food eats and what it's food eats... let's not get carried away. Point is, nutrients and carbohydrates are accumulated through this food chain. So are poisons and the food we eat is formed from nothing other than the materials it has ingested--good or bad.

Soil, soil, soil: the food of our food
The key to a healthy garden is healthy soil. The Earth is not a hydroponic medium onto which you place the elements of life (fertilizers and pesticides), it is full of living breathing organisms that have biological needs themselves. Although plants intake nutrients as food, the biology in the soil is key to plant survival.

An example
Myccorhizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with plant root systems. They may receive up to 50% of a plant's photosynthetic production so they must be providing something great. The benefits of this fungi are still being discovered, but it is clear that fungi play a critical role in nutrient and water uptake and they facilitate exchange and communication between plants over great distances. They form vast root networks that connect entire forests, preventing erosion and nutrient loss.

Composting: making soil
We can begin making soil even without a garden so it is here we will start. Composting is wonderful! Why pay for all that beautiful energy to go to the dump when someone, if not you, is needing organic matter to nourish their soil? It's smelly? It's a hassle to get rid of? Not enough room? Unwillingness to change--the most likely culprit.

Composting is easy. It is more convenient than throwing everything in the trash, will save you money, decreases kitchen odours and will provide you with great soil.

Debunking the myths
1) Time consuming: the time consuming part is organization. If you have space, your biggest hassle will be building the bin. If you don't have space, your biggest hassle will be finding someone who wants your compost. If your concern is building the bin, stay tuned. I will be covering this very soon. If you have limited space and need a place to dump your compost start asking around. Find out if your local government has a collection facility or if a private company provides collection services in your area. Conduct an online search for your local farmers association. I am certain you will find someone there who would be thrilled to take your green waste. Once you have these issues sorted out, composting will actually save you time. By collecting compostables in a sealed container, you will find yourself making far fewer trips to the dump. Composting is waste management for lazy folks!
2) It's smelly: Not really. The in house container should be sealed and may even come with a carbon filter. It may smell briefly when you open the container, but that certainly beats the smell of rot coming constantly from a garbage can full of compostables.
3) I don't have the space: It's one bucket! If you don't have a yard--see myth #1 and find/make a friend who wants your green gold.

So where do I start?
Get yourself an in-house bucket. They range in price from free to 100+ dollars. An ice cream bucket will work just find to start, but other options are worth exploring. At a minimum you will want a breathable bucket with a carbon filter. The carbon filter will allow air to pass into the bucket encouraging decomposition and will prevent odours from taking over your house. I have found these for as little as $8. For the more enthusiastic composter I am happy to suggest a Bokashi composter. These buckets are completely sealed and use a different compost method (fermentation) that will take care of all your waste, including meat and bones. I have seen them priced between $80-120. They usually have a spout at the bottom for draining off the compost tea which your house plants will find delicious when diluted. I will speak more to the Bokashi composting method and the Effective Microorganisms (EM) that it utilizes soon. If the price is looking a little steep, hold out for my coming post on EM and I will suggest a DIY Bokashi system that I use myself.

What to keep?
In-house non-Bokashi: green waste only. Meat takes a long time to break down, attracts rats and smells rancid.
In-house Bokashi: green waste, meat and bones. EM promotes fermentation which breaks down meat quickly and keeps odours to a minimum.
Outside: 3 parts brown to 1 part green. Your outdoor compost should be primarily carbon rich brown matter. Grass clippings, fallen leaves, wood chips and straw are your best supplies so be sure to save yard waste. Add your kitchen waste to this brown waste in your outside tumbler or compost heap.

How to keep your compost cooking and reduce compost time 3x
1) Oxygenation: The aerobic bacteria metabolizing your waste and turning it into plant food need to breathe. Turn your compost pile at least twice a month or build a compost tumbler to make aerating easy. Use an in-house compost bin that is breathable or opt for a non-breathable Bokashi composter that ferments rather than decomposing waste.
2) Temperature: Get it HOT. The middle of your pile can reach up to 135F if you get this right. Pay attention to your 3:1 Brown: Green ratio and put your compost pile in the sun. Use a black bin or cover your pile with black plastic.
3) Water: Rain on a compost pile will wash away nutrients and can cause it to smell. Keep your pile moist, like a damp towel. This will ensure a balance between low oxygenation (water saturated soil) and dehydration.
4) Surface Area: The more surface area bacteria have to act on, the faster the compost breaks down. Chop your compost into smaller pieces before it reaches the in-house compost and chip wood before you toss it in the heap.
5) Brown:Green 3:1: The right mix of carbon rich and nutrient rich material will keep decomposition rolling. Mix well!

Now that you know what to put in it you can get started, but this conversation is far from over. Check back to the organic permaculture garden homestead blog for more posts on composting including Bokashi composting, how to build a compost bin, how to build a worm bin and how to build a compost tumbler.

Check out my Amazon Recommendations for quality well-priced Bokashi Composter systems.

Click Here

Work with the Earth: The birth of the Organic Permaculture Garden Homestead blog

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:43:00 +0000

This blog seeks to preserve the ancient knowledge of living with the Earth and to disseminate this knowledge so we can all build our own permaculture homesteads.

What Happened to the Knowledge?

How to live with the Earth is unknown to the majority of people. The loss of knowledge began with the agricultural revolutions: we forgot how to hunt and gather. We began by working with the Earth, growing crops that occurred naturally in the area so we could live a sedentary lifestyle. Working with the Earth gave way to dominating it, and plants were bred to outperform native species. Now, we genetically modify plants to accomplish this domination. We take cattle DNA and insert it into tomatoes to make them beefier and hardier for shipping. We created pesticides and herbicides that destroy all native species in the area except for our corn, genetically modified for protection from these poisons.

Although modern agriculture has helped us destroy the planet, it has also helped our population to explode. Overpopulation in rural areas and the excitement of the city drew people to large centers and away from the land. All aspects of homesteading became distant as people were educated about manufacturing, business and computer technology. Sustainable agriculture was a thing of the past and commercial agriculture is carried out by only a few farmers. Today, less than 2% of Americans farm for a living and only 17% of the population lives in rural areas.

I use the loss of agricultural knowledge as an example, but similar factors have caused us to loose knowledge about Earth-friendly forestry, construction, energy harnessing, waste disposal, animal husbandry, medicine, water collection and purification and pest control.

Barriers to a Sustainable Way of Life

We are reliant upon corporations t0 provide us with the technology, the employment, the food, and the energy that keep us alive. Our entire lives are so dependent on this system that it is easier to conform to it than to struggle for independence from it. If you are reading this blog you are one of the strugglers or at least you are considering it. Congrats go to you, to me and to the Earth. We are all better off with each person who decides to take on this struggle. The sustainable revolution is slowly taking hold.

The global hegemony, capitalism, instills fear in people. Most people no longer have the knowledge to grow their own food, build their own shelter, provide their own clean water and harness their own energy so they are reliant upon the monetary system to provide these things. Job security is crucial. Money is crucial. No job, no money, no food, no life. If you are lucky your government will provide you with basic needs, ensuring your survival, but you are dependent on the government. People are no longer born with a right to land so providing basic needs for oneself is a difficult option. Most people will spend their entire lives working to own a small chunk of our planet and by the time they do, will not have the time to learn how to survive off of it.

I explain this not to scare people, but to inform them about what they are up against. The people in charge of this system, the elite of our world, want it to continue. Without this system their dominance disappears. They will lose their cheap labor force that is now making them billionaires. The government will lose tax revenue. Provide for yourself and forget income tax; you are making little money if any! The governments and the corporations of this world have every reason to prevent you from creating a permaculture homestead because if you can achieve this independence from society they will lose the income that you provide them. The sustainable revolution is their biggest threat.

This point is clear from this graph borrowed from Prof. Domhoff at UC Santa Cruz. The top 20% of the US population holds 93% of the financial wealth and 85% of the net worth. If you are a wage or salary worker you fall into the 80% that provides the 20% with the labor that builds this incredible wealth.

To make matters worse, the top 1% of the US population controls about a third of the wealth and has done so for the past 80 years. They own 38% of the stock market--certainly enough to control it. This money keeps politicians on the side of the corporations, and removed from the citizens.

What to Do?
Overcome the barriers! Become independent of the system! Build your own organic permaculture homestead! Follow this blog!

Welcome to the Organic Permaculture Garden Homestead Blog

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:34:00 +0000

Welcome to my Organic Permaculture Garden Homestead. This site will provide how-to's on various permaculture practices from organic gardening, to construction, to renewable energy. If you have any questions please feel free to email your question to homesteadtoday@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Privacy Policy

noreply@blogger.com (ihomestead) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:28:00 +0000

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