Author Tobias Roberts

Tobias Roberts is a writer and permaculture farmer based in the mountains of El Salvador. He runs a natural building cooperative in the Central American region as well as a diversified permaculture orchard.

Gardening & Farming microclimates within an urban landscape
The Importance of Microclimates to Landscape Design

The climate you live in largely determines what you can grow and when you can grow it. Most of us have heard of the United States Department of Agriculture climate zones. Those numbers that come on the packets of every seed packet serve to remind us we’ll be hard-pressed to grow peaches in Michigan or […]

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Gardening & Farming hands holding plant in rich terra preta
Terra Preta: Black Gold in the Amazon Rain Forest Soil

Most people believe that the Amazon Rainforest is nothing but a virgin paradise of untouched wilderness. Recent studies have shown, however, that much of the Amazon might very well have been a landscape designed by the patient persistence of indigenous cultures who interacted with the land and the local ecosystems. What if the Amazon Rainforest […]

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Green Living blue natural plaster wall in a livingroom
Natural Plasters: A Simple Way to Beautify Your Home

Most home interiors these days are constructed with commercially made drywall. The days when plastering was a dignified occupation of skilled workers who passed down their art from master to apprentice have long since passed. Drywall, aside from being rather simple and unattractive, can also be filled with enormous amounts of dangerous chemicals. Natural plasters […]

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Gardening & Farming permaculture garden planning for sustainability
Permaculture Ethics for a More Sustainable World

In recent years, permaculture has influenced thousands of people to begin to search for more sustainable ways to live in harmony and community with the natural world and the community of people around them. More than just a simple collection of organic farming tools and methods, the permaculture movement rests on three main ethics that […]

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Green Living panaromic view of uran sprawl of big city
Urban Sprawl and the Danger of the Loss of Wild Spaces

As ever larger portions of our world’s population move into cities, the growth of these cities and the resources they demand create more and more strains on local ecosystems. While urban spaces certainly do to offer a number of opportunities for many people, they don’t come without their costs. Very rarely have we collectively stopped […]

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Gardening & Farming loseup of chicken with others in background
Chicken Tractors and Sustainable Poultry Pasture

Chickens have long been some of the most widely raised “farm” animals. While chickens have been valued for providing an easily obtainable source of protein, when put out to “pasture”, chickens can also help to improve the land and landscape. Your grandmother may very well have complained to you about chickens eating her garden greens […]

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Gardening & Farming three shiitake mushrooms on a wooden board
Growing Shiitake Mushrooms: An Inexpensive Delicacy

The Chinese people have been using shiitake mushrooms as a nutritional and medicinal food for over 6,000 years. One of the most well-known of the edible mushroom, shiitakes, have recently been discovered by the health food movement around the world and are considered to be one of the top superfoods most widely available. Instead […]

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Gardening & Farming tender seedling growing out of top soil
Lasagna Gardening: Build Soil And Get Rid Of Weeds

Healthy top soil, or humus, is necessary for growing healthy plants. However, top soil takes dozens of years to naturally accumulate through the slow decomposition of leaves and other organic material. For people who don’t have the budget to buy those overpriced bags of garden soil sold at hardware stores, lasagna gardening is a quick […]

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Gardening & Farming farmer harvesting crops using industrial agricultural methods
Food Forests For Abundant And Ecological Production

One of the biggest challenges we collectively face as a species is how to grow sufficient food for our growing population. Large scale farming dependent on fossil fuel inputs, dangerous chemicals and genetically modified organisms has only increased our vulnerability. Food forests offer us an opportunity to revolutionize the way we grow our food, offering […]

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