How to build an aquaponics vortex filter

This is a pretty cool setup...

Rock dust and wood chips are awesome amendments

For example, look at this video...

Francis Thicke video

The Rebel Farmer

Joseph Holzer

What an awesome tour of Sepp's place...

laundry soap recipe

http://www.everydaycheapskate.com/home-and-family/a-fantastic-new-recipe-for-laundry-detergent/

3 tablespoons borax
3 tablespoons washing soda
2 tablespoons original dawn blue dish soap

put in one gallon container with two cups of hot water.
shake until dissolved.

fill with cold water.
use a cup per load.

Let's talk soil...

Agriculture destroys civilization

Modern Agriculture destroys the carbon cycle.

We can put carbon back in the soil and increase fertility and decrease global warming.

We should maximize the carbon in the soil.

We need to put the fungi back in the soil and can solve so much of the problems with them.

How do you heal the land?

You do it with rotational grazing. Here is the video...

How do we move water?

This is a really good video about how one guy moves water around on his side of the mountain...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X-BMbLBozA

DIfferant plants can be used for energy production.

Here is a site that has a list of plants to be used for energy.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html

what an image.

What an awesome aquaponics picture!

Aquaponics video

I think this is the aquaponics system I'd like to build...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6WfWPOvVwQ&feature=related

Wicked beds!

Now that I have your attention: The best method of garden irrigation is... drum roll please...

Wicking beds... It would work great with an aquaponics system...

This is a tutorial

Farm Legal stuff

There are always new farm bills and ways that the feds (and states) are trying to regulate and control farming... One good source of news on this front is the  Farm and Ranch Freedom alliance.

check it out.


http://farmandranchfreedom.org/

How to build a warre bee hive

According to brrthinking.com, the warre hive is the best of the best in natural bee hives...
And what is a warre hive?
How do you build one?
Here you go...

http://thebeespace.net/2008/07/30/introduction-warre-beehive-construction-guide/

Crawler in a kit? Oh yeah!

http://www.struckcorp.com/index.html

An Open Source Civilization Kit

Need to build a tractor? Need to build a backhoe? Cement Mixer?



http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Main_Page

When is low tech high tech?

We often wonder how the world survived at all before electricity and before  all the high tech gadgets we have now.

But then, when I look at so many of the low tech solutions, I am amazed at how high tech they are. And how simple...

This is an organization in Bolivia that does really cool things in a high tech/low tech sort of way. I am impressed.

http://vimeo.com/channels/emas#8454559

PV and electric tractors sources and supplies...

When I get to needing an electric vehicle or a PV system, I should call Steve here and http://www.renewables.com

Public Schools...

Clearly, Public Schools are a mess.
http://www.indoctrinationmovie.com/

I want THIS tractor...

Are CFLs the way to go?

If you read the box that the bulb is packed in, it makes so much sense. But have you ever noticed that you have to change a CFL bulb every year or so? Why doesn't it last ten years???
http://www.richsoil.com/CFL-fluorescent-light-bulbs.jsp

In case you missed it. hugelkultur is making a move

Paul has a great description of it here:
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

How can you keep warm?

Rocket Mass heaters are the bomb, and Wheaton, once again, rocks the world with it.

It is probably the most efficient heating system ever devised by man that doesn't involve a down sleeping bag.

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

How to go Cast Iron

There is a move to get back to those nice cast iron skillets.
http://www.richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp

No more chicken coops

So, why do we coop chickens?  I don't know why?

But Paul Wheaton suggests something different... http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

The world is just crazy sometimes

What do you do the world has gone mad. It seems that the public enemy number 1 is the small organic food producer. It appears that the USDA has made it their job to shutdown any operation that isn't multi million dollars in size.

There is a movie that just came out called farmageddon. which chronicles the battle being waged.

see the trailer here Farmageddin Movie Trailer.

I suggest that  we all support the guys fighting the battle in the courts pro-bono
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/

Found a great blog posting from a homesteading family that does lots of cool stuff.

http://claimingliberty.com/

They have a good bug spray recipe there..

If you are unfamiliar with aquaponics, it is probably the fastest way to grow anything...

Dreams are lost because we hold on to what we have

I think a lot of us are not on a path; we’re in a rut. We have confused comfort with peace, belief with faith, safety with wisdom, wealth with blessing, and existence with life. And for many of us, our dreams will be buried under the epitaph, “I refused to let go of what I had.” - Erwin McManus

I ran across this quote today from my favorite Pastor. It reminded me that the path I choose is directly related to whether I keep walking my current path. In order to get "there" I have to leave "here". This takes courage. I only pray that when the time comes, courage will abound.

If an Amish guy without an computer can make a lot of money, then it ought to be doable... Article of millionaire Amish Farmer - Age 32.