Myke's Weblog

A Glaring Flaw in Economics Dogma Is Being Exposed

More than a century ago, John Muir theorized that ice-age glaciers carved out Yosemite valley into the beautiful rock formations that we see today. Geologists ridiculed him, because he was not trained as a geologist and thus his ideas were heresy. Muir was right, of course, and I doubt that the geologists apologized to him.

Similarly, John Michael Greer is looking at economics from a perspective untainted by economic dogma. He uses organic agriculture, in contrast to industrial agriculture, as his metaphor. He builds on the work of E.F. Schumacher to describe a "primary" economy that is ignored by most economists (which may explain why our economy is such a mess).

I've included some excerpts below in the hope that anyone concerned about future generations  might click on the link below and read the whole essay. And while you are there, read the comments. His audience has some great questions and insight, especially on the topic of  the value of land and organic farming.

Link: The Archdruid Report: The Wealth of Nature.

The Battle over our Food - the Pesticiders Hate Organic Gardens

Jim Hightower provides some political insight into symbolism and lobbyists.

Link: Jim Hightower | SPREADING THE ORGANIC MOVEMENT COAST TO COAST.

What's the number one outdoor activity in America? Not baseball, soccer, jogging or golf. Instead, it's gardening!

I happen to be part of this happy activity. Maintaining a small organic garden in my yard lets me dig in compost, rejoice at ripening tomatoes, clip fresh herbs – and devour the luscious results. So, when Michelle Obama recently planted an organic garden on the White House lawn, I joined gardeners and organic food advocates all across the country in applauding this symbolic stand for good food, the environment, and common sense.

Not everyone joined in the joy, however. An outfit called the Mid American Croplife Association (MACA) was in a full-tilt snit over this "First Garden." MACA is the lobbying front for such pesticide purveyors as Monsanto, Dow, and DuPont – not a bunch that's simpatico with the organic movement. Indeed, MACA executives zipped out an alarmist notice to their members: "Did you hear the news," they asked? "The White House is planning to have an 'organic' garden... The thought of it being organic made [us] shudder."

Building Raised Beds for the Garden

Here are the completed raised beds (except for a watering system). Missy likes being photographed – she's a fox. You can see much more of Ann's garden at www.InspiredGardening.com.

Ann and I wanted to expand the food production space in Ann's garden. We decided to remove a row of flowers along the west side of our garden and add four raised beds. I'm the Chief Bed Engineer (CBE) and she's the green thumb. Here's a photo history of the bed building.

I used 12' x 12'' x 2'' yellow pine boards - untreated (it's an organic garden). I brushed two coats of linseed oil on the wood to improve its resistance to rot and termites.

The beds are 24" wide. The most difficult part of the process was leveling the bed boards, since the terrain runs from northwest to southeast.

Our cat Blue inspected the beds after completion. Our cat Missy did soil tests.

Here's the construction process.

Small Farms To Be Regulated Out of Business

The End of Small Farms? What you should know about HR 875, HR 759, NAIS and Monsanto

America's small farmers are under attack through a series of bills presented under the guise of "food safety." I don't want to lose my freedom to grow, buy and eat real foods. Let's fight for our small farmers who not only need our protection and support, but actual freeing from government intrusion, control and harm. http://www.breakthematrix.com/node/34734

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE & SPREAD THE WORD:
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Sources of Information:
http://breakthematrix.com/node/34557

Urban Homesteaders

Link: YouTube - Homegrown Revolution Trailer: Premiers Wild & Scenic Film Festival Jan 9-11

Homegrown Revolution (2008) is a film short that gives a brief introduction to the Dervaes Family's urban homestead which they call "Path to Freedom." On this tiny city lot, a beautiful and productive oasis was created, producing 6,000 lbs of food annually and is a model of urban sustainability.

Film premiers at the WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL (Jan 9-11, 2009)

http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org

------About Path to Freedom------

Since the mid 1980s, members of the Dervaes family have steadily worked at transforming their ordinary city lot in Pasadena into a thriving organic micro farm that supplies them with food all year round. These eco-pioneers also run a successful home business providing their surplus produce to local restaurants. Through their adventures in growing and preserving their own food, installing a solar power system, home-brewing biodiesel for fuel, raising backyard farm animals, and learning back-to-basics skills, these modern-day pioneers have revived the old-fashioned spirit of self-reliance and resourcefulness.

Since 2001, their website has inspired hundreds of thousands to take steps towards a sustainable future and has generated a 21st century urban homestead movement.

visit their blog at http://www.urbanhomestead.org/journal

Growing Tomatoes On Your Deck

I haven't tried this technique. My wife's raised bed garden produces enough vegetables - we don't need to use our deck for food production. But perhaps many people could benefit from this low tech solution.

Link: The EarthTainer™.

A Revolutionary Alternative in Container Gardening is now available to all our gardening friends at TomatoFest.com.

Not too many years ago there was abundant space and unlimited water available for gardening. Today, with our postage-stamp size yards and increasingly scarce, rationed water resources, a new paradigm for water management by the home gardener has come to the forefront.

Traditional in-ground planting with "broadcast" watering is highly inefficient, along with creating an unintended weed bed to cope with. Result: higher water bills coupled with back-breaking labor in pulling weeds and constant cultivation. Consider a Hybrid alternative. The demand for multi-use energy sources such as solar and wind, plus the huge growth of dual fuel automobiles has sparked innovation in combining the best of hybrid technologies. The same opportunity for improved efficiency and plant yield exists in new growing environments for the home garden.

Practical Capitalism

Here's an excerpt from an essay by Eric Andrews that suggests how to adapt to a world characterized by overspending governments, boom and bust economies, deflation and inflation, greed, and shortages.

Link: oftwominds.com Readers Journal-Eric Andrews 12/29/08

Real, useful capitalism requires not a response to the belated price signal but visionary action. And since it is already too late to alter large, long-term issues at the Governmental level—say, mass transit, zero-energy homes, or building the transmission and generation capacity to support wind-fueled electric cars—the best any of us can do is to think ahead to make sure that we ourselves are insulated from unnecessary trouble. That is to say, if you want pickled herring on Friday, would you save in strawberry jam and hope to trade? So if you want a retirement that includes food, energy, and security, wouldn't it make more sense to invest directly in those things? The working of the price signal depends on somebody else thinking ahead and saving for you, anticipating what you may need and making it. But we already know those needs will not be met in the macro sense. So if you want them and want them reliably, shouldn't you buy them now while they're cheap? Things such as a low-energy/low money input house. Things such as ways to provide and produce your own food: a greenhouse, a mushroom log, a garden, a chicken coop. Perhaps become a marginal producer of energy with investment in wind, PV, or whatever other creative solution takes your fancy. As you will have far less to buy later, higher prices and shortages will have less effect on you while the yearly savings of non-buying accrue year after year. You thereby use your retirement savings far more wisely, with far more certainty and control.

Harvesting Rainwater

Eight Principles for Harvesting Rainwater from Brad Lancaster.

Brad Lancaster is a permaculture expert and consultant based in Tucson. His award-winning book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume I: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into your Life and Landscape (2006, Rainsource Press) and Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2: Water-Harvesting Earthworks are available on the web at www.HarvestingRainwater.com and at amazon.com. This website also contains a bounty of free information, image, video, and audio resources.

Link: The Oil Drum | Abundant Skies: 8 Principles for Successful Rainwater Harvesting.

Principle #1: Begin with long and thoughtful observation. Right after we bought the house, monsoon rains poured from the sky. Rodd and I got acquainted with where where runoff pooled against the house and how the bulk of the rain ran off our site into the street. We mapped these observations, and others, including noise, head¬lights, and pollution from the street; where we wanted privacy; where we needed shade; and where we needed to enhance winter solar exposure. Wherever you direct rainwater in your landscape, you will be nurturing plant life, so take the time to make ensure this vegetation is part of your overall plan.

Next, calculate the rainwater resources available within your site's “watershed.” For us, that area included not only the 12 inches of annual rainfall on our roof and 1/8th of an acre property, but the 20 foot wide public right-of-way adjoining our property, the section of street draining past the right-of-way, and the runoff from our neighbor’s roof. (See Table, below) This totaled about 104,600 gallons (397,000 liters) of rainwater in an average year!

Principle #2: Start harvesting rain at the top of your watershed, then work your way down.
In most cases, the top of your watershed means the roof of your house.

Theft in the Garden: Detective Advice Needed

My wife Ann has a large organic garden that provides fresh, tasty, and healthy food for us. In recent years, deer have been migrating to our neighborhood because the forests that they had lived in have been transformed into stores and subdivisions. The deer will take advantage of gardens as a food source.

We have been using a device called Nite Guard. Here's a description from their web site:

• Maintenance-free, solar-powered units require neither batteries nor electricity
• Units are completely sealed, protecting against moisture and are high/low temperature resistant
• Red flashing LED light automatically turns on at dusk and off at full daylight
• Concept is simple, but it WORKS! Predators believe the flash to be the eye of another organism and feel threatened, so they stay away

It was designed to scare predators but we have discovered that it works for deer in our garden.

We used two units of four Nite Guards each (one for each direction) in our garden. Our neighbors have been very curious about the flashing red lights in our garden.

Here's the problem: several days ago our Nite Guards disappeared. Someone came into our garden and took them.

We don't know if it was a prankster or gardener.

I watch the detective/CSI shows on TV, but I don't know how to find these culprits. Please leave suggestions in the comments.

Water in the American Desert

Barbara Kingsolver, in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (page 4), wrote about living in Tucson, Arizona:

If it crosses your mind that water running through hundreds of miles of open ditch in a desert will evaporate and end up full of concentrated salts and muck, then let me tell you, that kind of negative thinking will never get you elected to public office in the state of Arizona. When this giant new tap turned on, developers drew up plans to roll pink stucco subdivisions across the desert in all directions. The rest of us were supposed to rejoice as the new flow rushed into our pipes, even as the city warned us that the water was kind of special. They said it was okay to drink, but don't put it in an aquarium because it will kill the fish. She was describing life in Tucson, Arizona.

She and her family subsequently moved to a small farm in Virginia, where they started growing their own food and wrote a book about it.