PureWorldEating.org

Pretty Unbelievable Really Easy. Whole Organic Raw Local Diet! New project I’m working on with a friend… Totally amazing so far!

1 month ago  /  0 notes

My zero-garbage tally and what I’ve learned.

A darling friend of mine and I decided to compete in a “zero impact” week. She, a married woman whose husband is currently elsewhere on assignment, I a member of a family of three, including a toddler.

I thought it would be easy on my part, difficult on theirs. So, we basically only included our own garbage in the tally. The three rules were that we either had to be able to recycle, repurpose, or compost anything we threw away.

With goals and rules in mind, I went about my days, and even threw a birthday party for myself, meaning all garbage would remain in my home at the end of the event. Including that garbage, and various plastic bands that companies seem to agree is absolutely imperative when manufacturing glass-bottled products… ugh. Anyway, I tied a grocery bag to the door of the “trash closet” and gathered up all my garbage and crammed it in.

It was about half full the next day when my husband saw it and decided it belonged in the garbage can. oy.

So, i kept a mental record of the volume of all the garbage i grudgingly agreed to throw away in the garbage can, and my total came to about a whole grocery bag by the end of the week.

These are the things I’ve learned:

When purchasing groceries, buy 1) the largest, most easily re-purposeable or 2) the most recyclable packaging 3) or the compostable option. This means large plastic bulk containers, and large glass jars. The plastic containers can be used as planters, and the glass jars will live on as pieces of my soon-to-be terrarium collection.

If I were able/allowed to go grocery shopping every day, I’d be able to fit all the groceries in my reusable bags. My husband is a much bigger fan of the let’s-go-together, use 590 plastic bags and get it out of the way twice a month version of grocery shopping. I have NO idea why.

If I can change this, and keep the reusable/recyclable/repurposeable mindset, then it will get easier and easier to do this every day!

We also agreed to not buy anything not food related new. This means that I had to scour the web sale page on facebook for my neighborhood to find things i could use for the various projects i wanted to do during this week. fail. I didn’t buy anything new, but i didn’t find the materials i needed either.

Once I get the hang of this here on base, going back to the States will be a BREEZE!!! Rummaging garage/yard sales, and being able to shop everyday in stores that sell in bulk (our commissary does not) will make our impact on the environment so much smaller!!! And once I get a bike, look out world! I’ll be (almost) untraceable! sweet…

2 months ago  /  2 notes

Creepy. So glad I can’t drink milk anyway.

http://www.ejnet.org/bgh/nogood.html

Bovine Growth Hormone:
Milk does nobody good…

by Mike Ewall

The recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a genetically engineered hormone manufactured by Monsanto, has sparked a controversy nationwide since its introduction to the marketplace a couple of years ago. Sometimes referred to as Bovine Somatotropin (rBST), the bioengineered hormone is injected in the cows every other week to force the cows to produce more milk than their bodies normally would. rBGH is similar, although not identical, to a hormone that the cow naturally produces. Increasing levels of this hormone boosts milk production, causing a number of problems with the milk, among them, raising levels of pus, antibiotics residues and a cancer-accelerating hormone called IGF-1.

Pus

Whenever cows are forced to produce more milk, they become more susceptible to udder infections called mastitis. Mastitis is a condition which can increase the amount of cow’s pus which ends up in the milk. Monsanto’s own data shows that there is a 79% increase in mastitis (udder infections) and a resulting 19% increase in somatic cell counts (pus & bacteria in the milk). In fact, the warning label on Monsanto’s Posilac drug (their brand name for rBGH) explicitly states: “Cows injected with POSILAC are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis (visibly abnormal milk). The number of cows affected with clinical mastitis and the number of cases per cow may increase…. In some herds, use of POSILAC has been associated with increases in somatic cell counts [pus & bacteria].” The warning label goes on to say “use of POSILAC may result in an increase in digestive disorders such as indigestion, bloat, and diarrhea…. Studies indicated that cows injected with POSILAC had increased numbers of enlarged hocks and lesions (e.g., lacerations, enlargements, calluses) of the knee…and…of the foot region.”

Antibiotics

Mastitis is treated with antibiotics, increasing the antibiotics residues which are present in milk fed to consumers. Proponents of rBGH insist that milk is one of the most heavily regulated foods with regards to antibiotics. They claim that antibiotic residues in the milk couldn’t possibly reach the consumer because each tanker of milk is tested and would have to be thrown out if antibiotic residues were found. They explain that every time a milk truck makes a pickup, the farmer’s milk is tested. A farmer guilty of providing contaminated milk would be charged for an entire tanker, therefore it would not be economical for a farmer to sell such milk.

In fact, only 4 out of 82 commercially used antibiotics are commonly tested for. In addition to the fact that so few of these are tested for, other antibiotics that are not legal for use end up in our milk. The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 1989) did a study of the antibiotic residues in milk on the market and found that 20% of the milk had illegal antibiotics present. This number was confirmed in a May 1992 Consumers Reports study while the Center for Science in the Public Interest found 38% of the milk to be adulterated with illegal antibiotics.

The economic incentives, rather than preventing antibiotics from reaching the consumer, seem to encourage farmers to use antibiotics which they know won’t be tested for.

Cancer

The presence of rBGH in the cow’s blood stimulates production of another hormone, called Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1, or IGF-1. It is IGF-1 that is directly responsible for increasing milk production. rBGH use raises IGF-1 levels significantly (about five times as much, according to Monsanto studies).

IGF-1 is a naturally-occurring hormone found in the milk of both cows and humans. It affects cell growth and is responsible for the quick growth of infants in both species. This is why it is biologically present in mother’s milk, since it is meant to be consumed by infants. While the IGF-1 hormone already exists in humans, it is usually bound to protein and thus has less of an effect than unbound IGF-1 in milk.

When cow’s milk is consumed by human non-infants, it behaves as a cancer-accelerator. IGF-1 is not destroyed in the pasteurization process nor during human digestion and is therefore biologically active in humans, being associated with breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

IGF-1 promotes cell division. As cells divide, at some point they are instructed (by their genes, in combination with hormone signals) to stop dividing or they are instructed to die so that the creation of new cells is matched by the death of cells and no net growth occurs; this is called “programmed cell death.” If “programmed cell death” is prevented, then cells don’t die at the right time, causing out-of-control growth of cells, which is another way of saying cancer. Cancer is uncontrolled cell division.

Corporate Criminals

Monsanto, Eli Lilly, Upjohn, and American Cyanamid are the four corporations that stood to profit from the $500 Million to be made from worldwide marketing of rBGH. While they all competed to develop rBGH, only Monsanto has continued to develop and market it. The first 3 of these four companies are convicted corporate felons. All 4 of them have a history of chemical plants that explode, toxic waste spills, deadly toxic gas cloud releases, consumer pharmaceutical products that kill people and produce birth defects, conspiracy to fix prices, antitrust violations, predatory and monopolistic practices, and/or failure to inform Federal officials of testing results indicating fatalities connected to their products.

Monsanto, one of the top 10 polluters in the U.S., is the same corporation which brought us Agent Orange and PCBs (a chemical so toxic that congress banned it in 1976). They have exposed many workers to toxic chemicals such as benzenes, PCBs and dioxins, often covering up such practices. They’ve been found guilty of conspiracy and anti-trust in marketing of herbicides and have violated federal law (despite government warnings) by promoting rBGH before its FDA approval. They’ve blatantly attempted to bribe Canadian officials (who admitted it) in order to hasten their approval of rBGH. They also have an apparent conflict of interest with their regulators (FDA) in that they share the same lawyer (Michael R. Taylor of Washington, D.C. law-firm, King & Spaulding). Monsanto and FDA have ganged up on any markets which try to label their milk and dairy products “rBGH-free” by threatening to sue (and actually suing some). The FDA and Monsanto have both lied about the existence of a test for rBGH in milk (stating that there is none). Monsanto has tried to block publication of research from British scientists on rBGH showing the hormone’s link to increased somatic cell (pus and bacteria) counts in milk as a result of mastitis.

Upjohn has been found guilty of willful and wanton conduct and conscious disregard of public safety in manufacturing a drug so toxic that one patient was blinded when the drug was injected in his eye. They’ve also been found “grossly negligent in marketing a defective product — Halcion,” a drug which made users “paranoid, aggressive, suicidal and totally irrational”, and has been related to a number of murders.

Eli Lilly marketed DES, a drug designed to prevent miscarriages (later found ineffective), which exposed 5-10 million people, causing vaginal cancer and birth defects. In 1982, federal investigators had linked one of Eli Lilly’s anti-arthritis drug to the deaths of at least 26 Americans. The drug was pulled from the market, and Lilly eventually pleaded guilty to criminal charges for failing to inform federal officials that the drug had been tied to deaths and illness in other countries.

Universities for Sale

There is evidence of industry manipulation of academics in order to win approval for BGH. For example, University of Minnesota scientists have received hundreds of thousands of dollars to evaluate BGH from Monsanto and American Cyanamid, two of the companies which stood to profit from FDA approval of the hormone.

Pennsylvania State University Diary Science Professor Larry Muller took part in BGH research partially funded by Upjohn, and a division of Eli Lilly participated in the research itself. Milk from the university’s research dairy herd is fed to a cooperative which serves the university students and the local community.

Between 1986 and 1990, Monsanto paid nearly half a million dollars to conduct four review studies at University of Vermont. Researchers covered up the fact that five deformed calves had been born at UVM in less than a year, compared to none in the previous five years. The deformities were of two types rarely seen on dairy farms.

The University of Florida also did much of the research on BGH and has received millions in gifts and grants from Monsanto.

Monsanto vs. Small Farmers & Consumers

Monsanto admitted to receiving 95 reports in the first 6 months of sales from farmers with problems. 36 cows treated with the drug died and 14 farmers have reported problems with mastitis. Monsanto did not report the case of a farmer in Florida who lost 9 cows and stated that another 15% of his herd needed to be culled (killed). His milk was rejected due to high pus content as a result of mastitis. This follows the same pattern as the farmer in New York who lost a quarter of his dairy herd to rBGH and the multiple reports from farmers who lost small numbers of cows shortly after introduction of rBGH, due to things like internal hemorrhaging.

rBGH benefits no one but Monsanto. FDA even admits that there will be no benefit to consumers. Consumers Union predicts that rBGH will cost the taxpayer an additional $200 million in surplus milk that the government (your taxes) will buy up to keep the milk prices stable. This is in a nation where we’ve spent an average of $2.1 billion each year from 1980 to 1985 buying surplus milk.

During 1986-87, the government paid farmers to kill their cows and stop dairy farming for 5 years. Some 14,000 farmers participated in this voluntary program, slaughtering a total of 1.55 million milk cows. Although we still have a glut of milk and agribusiness does everything they can to stress out the dairy herds, forcing them to produce more milk per cow, Monsanto sees a need to profit from a needless experiment on the public (it wasn’t subject the proper legally-required testing before release for use on the general public’s milk supply).

Small farmers should support labeling of rBGH-treated milk so that consumers can make a conscious choice to choose hormone-free milk rather than be forced to avoid all milk and dairy products. In 1990, 38% of Pennsylvanian consumers polled by “Dairy Today” magazine said they would drink less or no milk should BGH be introduced. Of those polled, 81% supported labeling. The anti-rBGH campaign has been backed by small to mid-size family farms since 10 to 30,000 small dairy farms could go out of business with the introduction of rBGH, accelerating a trend that’s been going on for decades.

If you’re against rBGH-treated milk desensitizing you to antibiotics, increasing your cancer risk, putting family farms out of business, and making profits for corporate criminals, and would like to get more information, visit http://www.ejnet.org/bgh/, read up, contact some of the national organizations and enroll yourself in the fight for food safety!

2 months ago  /  0 notes

I love this story. I cry every time I read updates!

http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/08/10562260-pronounced-dead-revived-by-moms-hug-miracle-baby-turning-2

Pronounced dead, revived by mom’s hug: ‘Miracle baby’ turning 2

By Rita Rubin

Kate Ogg has an answer ready for the day her son Jamie asks who’s older, he or his twin sister:

“Technically, you’re two minutes older,” she’ll tell him, “but Emily’s been alive longer.”

Shortly after Jamie and Emily were born prematurely at 27 weeks on March 25, 2010, doctors told Ogg and her husband David that Jamie had died.  Nurses placed his limp body across his mother’s bare chest so she could say goodbye.

But after five minutes, Jamie began to move. The baby’s doctor told the Oggs his movements were reflexive and not a sign of life. But as his mother continued cuddling him, Jamie opened his eyes. Kate put some breast milk on her finger, and he eagerly accepted it. Their tiny baby grew stronger and stronger in his mother’s arms, and their final goodbye turned into a hello.

TODAY

Born prematurely at 27 weeks, twins Emily and Jamie made a dramatic entrance. Jamie was declared dead shortly after birth, but revived after cuddling skin-to-skin with his mother.

“I’d carried him inside me for only six months – not long enough – but I wanted to meet him, and to hold him, and for him to know us,” Kate Ogg told TODAY’s Ann Curry in 2010. “We’d resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to lose him, and we were just trying to make the most of those last, precious moments.”

“We feel so fortunate,” David Ogg told TODAY. “We’re the luckiest people in the world.”

Read the original story: Mom’s hug revives baby pronounced dead

Ogg family

What a difference two years makes! Now about to turn 2, twins Jamie and Emily are healthy, happy toddlers.

The Oggs’ experience garnered international media attention and dramatically highlighted the benefits of parents holding newborns skin-to-skin on their bare chests, which is commonly called “kangaroo care.” Though the medical benefits of skin-to-skin contact are well documented, it’s still not encouraged, or even allowed, at many hospitals.

Jamie and Emily, now nearly 2, are doing great, Kate Ogg said in a Skype interview as she and her husband held the tow-headed toddlers on their laps. In November, the family moved from Sydney, Australia, to a home with an ocean view in Nelson, New Zealand, “a very chilled-out town,” she said.

The twins’ last checkups showed they are developing completely normally, she said. To demonstrate, she asked, “Where’s your nose? Where are your ears?” and the twins pointed to the correct body parts. “Where’s your belly?” she asked, and the kids obediently lifted their shirts.

Soon after the twins’ premature birth – and Jamie’s revival – the Oggs promised themselves they wouldn’t drive themselves crazy worrying about potential problems related to their children’s prematurity. They’d enjoy their babies, and cross those bridges when they got to them. “If there was a problem,” Kate Ogg says they figured, “we’d find out about it eventually.”

Still, Ogg and her husband think about Jamie’s brush with death “all the time. Probably too much,” she said. She panics if the twins sleep in and she doesn’t hear a sound from the nursery. “I’m a bit too morbid, I think.”

Sharing their story publicly also led to some unintended emotional consequences. A Colorado woman told Ogg Jamie’s story caused distress in a support group for parents who’ve lost babies. “The portrayal of our story almost suggested if you love your baby enough you can bring it back to life. That’s one of the concerns we had about going public.”

Surprise! Their ‘little sumo’

As the spotlight faded, the Oggs returned to normal life as a happy family – and these days they have a new blessing to count.

Ogg family

The Oggs welcomed a third child, baby Charlie, last April. He tried to arrive early like his big brother and sister, but ended up being a full-term, 10-pound baby!

The big news lately in the Ogg family is that Jamie and Emily now have a little brother, Charlie, born April 27.

Jamie and Emily were conceived via in vitro fertilization, and the Oggs had planned to try it again when the twins turned 1. So Kate Ogg was pretty surprised when she learned she was already three months pregnant before the twins were even a year old. She hadn’t undergone any fertility treatments and figured her missed periods were due to breastfeeding Jamie and Emily.

Charlie Ogg also tried to arrive extremely early, at 20 weeks, but made it to term thanks to stitches to close his mother’s cervix and the hiring of an au pair to do the heavy lifting with the twins while mom was on bed rest.

Ogg had gestational diabetes while pregnant with Charlie, who weighed more than 10 pounds at birth — more than four times his brother’s and sister’s birth weight of just over 2 pounds each. The three now wear the same size diaper, and Charlie can wear Jamie’s clothes. Ogg describes her youngest as “a little sumo.”

She held him for three and a half hours after the delivery.

“Just give him to me when he’s born,” Ogg instructed her doctor. As a result of her experience with the twins, she says, ‘’I’m more confident in telling medical professionals what I want with my babies.”

The science behind kangeroo care

While the Oggs have been enjoying their three healthy children, the story of Jamie’s remarkable birth has helped publicize the growing body of research behind kangaroo care.

It’s not a miracle cure. Nurse researcher Susan Ludington pioneered kangaroo care in the United States, and she cautions: “It does not resurrect the dead.” Ludington, a professor of pediatric nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, speculates that Jamie might have had an ineffective heart beat that was difficult to detect.

What she’d like to think happened, Ludington says, is that skin-to-skin contact with his parents made him more alert. In 2005, she says, researchers identified a special set of nerves in babies that are “exceedingly sensitive” to pleasant human touch.

TODAY

Kate Ogg and Jamie, moments after the premature infant came “back to life” in her arms. The science behind skin-to-skin contact for newborns, especially preemies, is well documented, but it’s still not the standard of care in most hospitals.

Skin-to-skin contact with their mothers releases oxytocin, the so-called “cuddle hormone,” which affects multiple areas of newborns’ brains, Ludington says. The hormone makes their heart beat and breathing become more regular.

Kangaroo care can also help minimize pain in preterm and full-term babies. Celeste Johnston, director of research at the McGill University School of Nursing in Montreal, has investigated its use in babies born as early as 28 weeks’ gestation.

 In Johnston’s studies now, all babies are held skin-to-skin with their mothers before undergoing a procedure such as a heel stick. “I can’t do control groups (with no skin-to-skin contact) anymore,” she says, “because I don’t think it’s ethical.”

The length of time moms hold babies before procedures doesn’t seem to matter, says Johnston, who’s found even 15 minutes of skin-to-skin contact effectively minimizes pain.

“The evidence is really pretty overwhelming about how good it is for term and preterm babies,” nursing researcher Diane Spatz says of kangaroo care, which she prefers to call skin-to-skin. “It’s not like we need more research… but we have to get people to actually do it.”

Overcoming resistance

Despite the evidence that it works, the medical establishment has been slow to recommend skin-to-skin contact with newborns. Ignorance about the research findings and fear of handling premature babies are two of the main obstacles, say Ludington and Spatz, who works at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

 “In the United States, our biggest reason is the physicians don’t know about it because it’s nursing-generated knowledge,” Ludington says. “The physicians want to see the data, but they don’t read any nursing journals.”

Fear plays a role, too, Spatz says. “I still see in most NICUs (neonatal intensive care units) that skin-to-skin is not a standard of care.” NICU babies tend to be tiny and fragile and hooked up to tubes and machines, and both nurses and parents worry about trying to move them, she says.

Her hospital has filmed an instructional video that’s used in NICU’s around the world, Spatz says. It shows step-by-step how to transfer a critically ill baby from an incubator to the parent’s chest. Practicing with a doll first helps eliminate the fear factor.

“It’s the thing the parents look forward to the most in their entire lives,” Spatz says. “The first time they get to hold their baby skin to skin, everyone cries. The nurses are crying, the parents are crying. It’s so beautiful.”

Up until that point, it’s like the nurse owns the baby, Spatz says. “Once you do skin-to-skin, that baby is yours.”

2 months ago  /  0 notes

Self-sufficient Life.

http://www.organic-gardening-and-homesteading.com/self-sufficient-life.html

Self Sufficient Life 
How to Live Off Your Land

Self sufficient life. If that your dream? More people are turning to homesteading, depending upon themselves for their food and making a living off their land. If you long to get off the office treadmill and onto your own land, here are some crucial steps you should take to pursue your life of freedom: 
Get Out of Debt
As any farmer will tell you, unless you own a corporation with hundreds, if not thousands of acres, you won’t make a fabulous income living off the land let alone pursue a self sufficient life. Those farmers who do own hundreds of acres and thousands of dollars worth of equipment (along with the mortgages to prove it) are struggling to get by. The secret is to live simply and downsize. 

Sell that newer car with those high car payments and buy a used model, preferably one with no payments. Avoid fast food and cook at home instead. Learn to live on a budget and cut back on unnecessary expenses. Then use that extra money to pay off your loans. If you’re ready to learn how to take charge of your finances and become debt free forever, click here.

Get Some Land

You don’t need hundreds of acres, but if you want to live the self sufficient life, you will need at least five. You will want enough space for a good sized garden, along with some farm animals. Live in town? Consider selling or renting that house and buying a used manufactured home set on a small acreage instead. Many people do it and live quite comfortably – and debt free.

Learn to Grow Your Own Food

Put in a lot of raised beds and grow potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and other vegetables. Learn to preserve your food through canning, drying and freezing, so that you go to your pantry instead of the grocery store, cutting down on cost and time. Growing food is one of the most satisfying aspects of living the self sufficient life. You can learn more about self sufficient gardening by clicking here.

Get Your Goat

Goats will supply you with milk, meat and cheese. Control their diet – only hay and grains – and your goat’s milk will taste exactly like cow’s milk, only sweeter. Plus, many people are realizing the health benefits of raw goat’s milk, making it a marketable product. Get two or three female goats – or does – along with a billy goat, and you will have enough milk for your family and some extra to sell to cover your cost. Better still, you can raise Boer goats for meat and profit. You can learn more by clicking here.

Raise Chickens

These wonderful birds will supply you with eggs, meat, and even income if you raise enough of them. Fresh chicken eggs are easy to sell. These eggs are delicious, and if they come from chickens who have eaten mostly grass and insects – chickens who live in chicken tractors, for example – they are also far healthier and more valuable than the store-bought brand.

Diversify What You Sell

Many people who try living off the land make the mistake of raising a single product in large supply and then selling it. But if the crop fails, then you are in trouble. Instead, raise a small supply of several items to sell. Sell chicken eggs and goat’s milk, honey and produce when it’s in season. That way if one item fails to produce, you have others to fall back on. Your pursuit of the self sufficient life will be easier.

Avoid the Exotic

A few years ago, raising ostriches were all the rage. At least they were until those raising them realized not many people are willing to eat ostrich meat. For the self sufficient life, it is far wiser to stick with the standard fare –chickens and other poultry, pigs, and beef, for example. Raising something unusual and hoping to get rich off it – like many get rich quick schemes –usually leaves you with an empty pocketbook and an animal nobody wants and you have to feed.

Raise Only What You Want to Eat

This goes with the ostrich example above. If you don’t sell those hundreds of bushels of Japanese beets, then be prepared to eat them. If you don’t enjoy them that much, then don’t grow them.

Be Prepared to Learn a New Trade

My grandfather was a plumber, and even during the depression, he prospered. During hard times, people might not need an insurance adjuster, but they will need someone who can fix their leaky pipes. Consider learning woodworking, electrical work or mechanics. Learn to make items others want that you can sell or barter with. There is no better way to prepare for a self sufficient life.

Sell Online

The World Wide Web is truly the new frontier - just as America was the new frontier a century ago. More and more people are looking for information and buying online. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination. But just setting up a website is not enough. You will need to build a business the smart way. Learn how.

Simplify

Do you really need three television sets? They use electricity even when they are not running. How about that 3,000 square foot home? Do you really need all that space, and all that clutter you accumulated to fill it? Learn to live on less. Cleaning and protecting all those things simply takes up precious time and money. The self sufficient life is one of simplicity.

Steer Clear of the Car

You won’t be able to homestead successfully if you are driving into town everyday for one thing or another. If you are a soccer mom and trying to homestead, you are going to become exhausted in a hurry. Caring for livestock is a full time job that requires you to spend a lot of time on your land. Plus, the gas and wear and tear on your car is expensive. If you don’t like staying at home, the self sufficient life may not be for you.

Don’t Go It Alone

Don’t try to homestead by yourself. Accidents can happen, and when you live in the country, there will be few neighbors who will hear you call for help. If you are single, consider finding one or two like-minded individuals who will room with you and share expenses.

Join a Community

Find others in your area passionate about homesteading. Look for a local online group or start one. Go to your nearby feed store and see if they offer classes on animal husbandry. Sign up for an organic gardening class. All of these will get you in touch with people who can share information with you and who will encourage you.

Give Back

Be willing to help those who are just starting out on their journey of self reliance. There’s an old phrase that rings true: what goes around, comes around. Make certain that what goes around from you is positive, rather than negative.

Embrace Hard Work

Pursuing a self sufficient life is wonderful, but it does involve a lot of hard, physical labor. You will be lifting hay bales, roping contrary critters and moving chicken tractors. I personally love the hard work (and the great sleep I get each night), but if you prefer a desk job, then naturally, the homesteading life probably isn’t for you.

Think you can do these things? Then start working on getting out of debt and go forward! A life of freedom and purpose awaits you.

Live On a Pretty Plot of Land?

Do you live on an idyllic acreage? Or is your small farm near a scenic spot or a large metropolis? Then your view may be your best source of self reliance. Consider running a country bed and breakfast. More people are drawn to country bed and breakfasts where they can escape the hectic pace of the city and live the country life for the weekend. You can learn more by clicking here. Then when you are ready to list your farm accommodation, contactCountry Living & Farm Lifestyles. It’s a farm directory for agriculture, produce, accommodation and rural services worldwide.
Read More
Ready to give up the day job and live on your hand full time? You can earn money from home. Learn more.

Ready to build your own home? By building your own home and you can cut way back on the expense and get far closer in your goal of self-sufficient homesteading. Learn more.

Foxfire books are handy tools for anyone interested in homesteading, and their history is a great example of what one man can accomplish when he breaks away from the traditional way of doing things. Read more.

Would you like to have a home business, but don’t know what you want to do. Check out this list of businesses opportunities to give you an idea of how you can stay at home, be more self reliant, and have your own home business to boot. 

Having an online business is one of the best ways to make an income, because you can take it with you anywhere. Learn more. 

Some people build a successful business using none other than…eBay! Learn more. 

Start keeping bees, and you’ll be amazed at how many people will want to buy honey. It’s a great opportunity for a home business. Learn more. 

2 months ago  /  0 notes

I want to live off the land! For like a week, maybe.

http://www.ehow.com/how_136589_live-land.html

How to Live Off the Land

Ever gotten the urge to quit the rat race and live in the wilderness? In
fact, it’s very difficult for a solitary person to live comfortably off the
land. Most people who do so are members of highly cooperative societies
who balance the uncertainty of their existence with an intricate
network of mutual support. You have no safety net if you’re flying solo.

2 months ago  /  0 notes

Composting. Love it!

http://www.composting101.com/what-to-use.html

What to Compost

Now that you’re ready to start making compost, you need to know what organic materials can — and cannot — be used in the compost bin or pile.

Composting Ingredients

Organic waste is the best raw material to make compost from. This can come from your garden, your kitchen (visit Starbucks’ page on Grounds for Your Garden) and even your home at large.

Note: According to the United States EPA, yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 23 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead!

Ingredients that can make good compost include:

Browns = High CarbonGreens = High NitrogenAshes, wood
Bark
Cardboard, shredded
Corn stalks
Fruit waste
Leaves
Newspaper, shredded
Peanut shells
Peat moss
Pine needles
Sawdust
Stems and twigs, shredded
Straw
Vegetable stalksAlfalfa
Algae
Clover
Coffee grounds
Food waste
Garden waste
Grass clippings
Hay
Hedge clippings
Hops, used
Manures
Seaweed
Vegetable scraps
Weeds**Avoid weeds that have gone to seed, as seeds may survive all but the hottest compost piles.
Materials to Avoid

• Coal Ash - Most ashes are safe to mix into your compost pile, but coal ashes are not. They contain sulfur and iron in amounts high enough to damage plants.

• Colored Paper - Some paper with colored inks (including newsprint) contain heavy metals or other toxic materials and should not be added to the compost pile (see Heavy Metal Garden).

• Diseased Plants - It takes an efficient composting system and ideal conditions (extreme heat) to destroy many plant diseases. If the disease organisms are not destroyed they can be spread later when the compost is applied. Avoid questionable plant materials.

• Inorganic Materials - This stuff won’t break down and includes aluminum foil, glass, plastics and metals. Pressure-treated lumber should also be avoided because it’s treated with chemicals that could be toxic in compost (see Safety Concerns Cut Down Treated Lumber).

• Meat, Bones, Fish, Fats, Dairy - These products can “overheat” your compost pile (not to mention make it stinky and attract animals). They are best avoided.

• Pet Droppings - Dog or cat droppings contain several disease organisms and can make compost toxic to handle. (Can you believe the state of Alaska actually spent $25,000 on a study to determine the effects of composting dog poop? - PDF format)

• Synthetic Chemicals - Certain lawn and garden chemicals (herbicides - pesticides) can withstand the composting process and remain intact in the finished compost. Poisons have no place in the natural micro-community of your compost pile.

Speeding Up the Compost Process

Compost decomposes fastest between 120 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so anything that will increase the heat will “cook” your compost faster. Here are four tips for fast composting:

1.) Chop and shred larger items, which makes it easier for the bacteria to break them down. For example, one easy way is to slice and dice garden waste is to run your lawn mower over leaves and other garden waste. Take scissors to newsprint or cardboard.

2.) Turn, turn, turn.

3.) Give your compost heap a “big meal” versus small snacks. Collect all your organic waste over a couple of days and then add it in one big bunch. The more you add at one time, the more your compost will heat up.

4.) Keep your compost pile in the sun. The heat will speed up the process.

A Word About Activators

A compost activator contributes either high nitrogen, microorganisms, or both, and provides a quick boost to the decomposition process. Consider throwing some algae, seaweed or lake weed into the pile. Just be sure to rinse off any salt water before adding. You can also “jump start” your compost by adding aged manure, alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, blood meal or compost starter. Also you may want to add ashes from a wood-burning stove if you’ve added a lot of acidic materials such as pine needles and oak leaves. Wood ashes are alkaline and can help adjust the pH of your compost pile if it gets too acidic.

2 months ago  /  3 notes

I want to grow my own coffee!

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/homegrowing.htm

Growing Coffee Beans at Home

Growing coffee plants at home is a rewarding experience that will help you learn and appreciate the work involved in producing coffee.  It is a very easy plant to take care of and is a great conversation piece, especially during flowering or cherry development.

When home growing coffee beans, you should start with a freshly picked coffee cherry. But unless you are in a producing country, however, this may not be possible and you can skip to section 2.

Harvesting Coffee and Preparing the Coffee Seeds

Ripe coffee cherries should be harvested and picked from trees with a high production and without any disease or other affliction.  Pulp the cherry by hand, wash with water, and ferment in a small container until the pulp falls off.  This can be determined simply by rubbing the coffee bean in you hands during the fermentation process.  Wash again with fresh water.  Any coffee beans that float at any stage of washing should be discarded.  The coffee beans must then be dried to about 20% moisture content on mesh screen in open and dry air, but not in direct sunlight.  After pulping, a coffee will have between 60-70% moisture content so you can determine the appropriate stopping point simply by weighing the beans.  Otherwise, you can bite the bean open to ensure that it is dry on the outside and slightly soft and moist on the inside.  Alternatively, a pulped coffee bean can be used immediately for planting and in some areas this is considered advantageous.

Germinating Coffee Beans

If coffee cherries are not readily available, green coffee can be purchased from a green coffee supplier, but it is essential that the bean is of a recent crop and recent shipment.  I would recommend ordering green coffee from Sweet Maria’s and asking for the most recent crop.  Sweet Maria’s also provides tips for growing coffeea arabica at home.

The potential for germination will continue for almost four months, but after this time the germination rate is several fold less and germination time is significantly longer.  Fresh seeds should germinate in 2.5 months, but old seeds can take as long as 6 months. Coffee in pergamino is even better. If this is available plant the coffee face down in the pergamino.

It is advisable to pre-germinate the seeds.  First soak the coffee seeds in water for 24 hours.  Then sow the seeds in damp sand or wet vermiculite in which the excess water has been drained.  Otherwise, you can place the seeds between moist coffee sacks, which should be watered twice a day and drained well.

Once the coffee seed germinates, very carefully remove it from the sand, vermiculite, or burlap bags.  Make a  hole about 1.25 cm deep in a friable loam soil with a high humus content.  Rotted manure, bone meal, and dried blood can also be added.  If this type of soil is not readily available try a light weight and porous soil.  Place the seed flat side down in the hole and sprinkle soil over the hole.  Do not press the soil down firmly.  Placing a 1/2 inch of mulched grass on top will help preserve moisture, but should be removed when the seed has fully germinated.

The seeds should be watered daily.  Too much water or too little water will kill the seed.  The soil should remain well drained, but moist at all times.

After germination, the coffee plant should either be left alone or carefully removed and planted in a soil with a low pH (acidic) and high nitrogen content.  The soil should be porous.  Therefore, course sand or basalt gravel dust can be added.  Manure can also be added.  A fertilizer that is appropriate for orchids can be used sparingly for the coffee plant to maintain mineral levels and a low pH.

Coffee Plant Care

The coffee plant thrives under artificial plant lighting indoors.  The outside temperature in countries outside the Tropic belt is too volatile and too cold to allow the tree to develop. Water the tree twice per week in what is called a full watering and a half watering.  In a half watering, simply add some water to the soil and allow it to drain.  In a full watering, add water, allow it to drain, and then add water with fertilizer and allow it to drain.  The key is to keep the soil most, but well drained.

After two or three years flowering and possibly cherries can be expected, but do not expect high-quality coffee unless you are at a high altitude and are monitoring the conditions of the artificial microclimate carefully.  For more coffee growing details please see the rest of the agriculture section.  In theory, it is feasible to grow a high-quality coffee at home under the right conditions.

To spur flowering, wait until the beginning of winter and significantly reduce watering for 2-3 months.  When Spring begins water the plant well, which should shock it into producing flowers.  From this point forward, water well and regularly.  Arabica coffee is self-fertilizing so you will not need to worry about pollinating.

Once the cherries mature you can harvest, pulp, ferment, dry, roast, and drink the coffee.

2 months ago  /  3 notes