Browsing: permaculture

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Green Living cross section of fresh water
Compost Water Heater: Hot Water Without Electricity

Everyone loves hot water in the home, but the ecological cost of long, hot showers powered by fossil fueled water heaters add some guilt to those long hours in the bathroom. What if you could have a huge supply of hot water heated by the compost pile in your garden? Instead of greenhouses gasses, the […]

Gardening & Farming small pond storing water on a property in the fall
Storing Water In Landscapes: A Swales And Ponds Primer

Rain is often seen to be one of the leading causes of soil erosion. The problem isn’t with rain itself, but rather with bad land management practices and farming practices that aren’t designed to take advantage of the rain. The best place to store water is in the landscape itself, and through the process of […]

Gardening & Farming woman planting plants using mulch for no-till agriculture
No-till Farming for Healthier Soil and Lifestyles

Masanobu Fukuoka, the late Japanese farmer, developed a unique farming system he called “Natural Farming”. Trying to replicate what he saw in Nature, Fukuoka’s no till system allowed the soil to continually grow in fertility. Through the use of mulch and cover crops, this system effectively allows for continuous harvests of crop rotations, eliminates weeds […]

Lifestyle Young people holding hands, creating a community circle.
The Unexpected Perks of Modern Communities

When most of us think about the word ‘community’, we tend to think on the scale of a neighbourhood, town or perhaps even a city. We may think about seeing the same people in the local cafe; or having the sense that everyone is looking out for one another. Largely, we have positive associations when […]