Agriculture

How To Start a Simple Heirloom Vegetable Garden from Scratch

How to Do It Yourself!, Outdoors

How To Start a Simple Heirloom Vegetable Garden from Scratch

How many of us have been at a grocery store and been disappointed with the variety and quality of produce? How many sandwiches or other dishes have been befouled with limp lettuce or a feeble yellow-green-pink tomato? It’s no wonder kids (and some adults) aren’t too keen on vegetables. What to do? One solution is to start your own garden, especially an heirloom garden. The term “heirloom” is still often debated, but for the purposes of this post I’m going to loosely define the term to mean an openly pollinated plant that breeds true to its parents and is not…

Home Aquaponics Kit: A Self-Cleaning Fish Tank that Grows Food

Crowdfunding

Home Aquaponics Kit: A Self-Cleaning Fish Tank that Grows Food

Project Title: Home Aquaponics Kit: Self-Cleaning Fish Tank That Grows Food Status: Funded, with only 37 hours left (at this posting) Closing Date for Funding: 1:59am CST December 15, 3012 URL of the Project: Home Aquaponics Kit From the Creatives: Grow fresh produce right in the comfort of your own home – beans, basil, thyme, baby greens, oregano, mint, parsley, spinach and so many other delicious foods! • So what’s happening inside? The fish, they poo and they pee, and all that waste-water gets broken down by beneficial bacteria into nutrients • The waste-water from the fish is then pumped up…

Help Combat the Spread of West Nile Virus Mosquito Vectors with Acase's InaTrap

News & Features

Help Combat the Spread of West Nile Virus Mosquito Vectors with Acase’s InaTrap

When my wife and I were married, 13 years ago today, we had plenty of birds flocking to our feeders, including blue jays and an occasional crow or two. A few years later I began to notice significantly fewer of these members of the Corvidae bird family, a harbinger of the West Nile virus insidiously creeping westward. These birds are a reservoir species for the West Nile virus, and are quickly killed off by the virus. The nasty little critters that are the primary vectors of the virus are mosquitoes, and when a human is bitten by a mosquito infected…

Monsanto, Already 'Most Evil Company of 2011', Buys Bee Research Company to Hide Ills

Editorials, News & Features

Monsanto, Already ‘Most Evil Company of 2011’, Buys Bee Research Company to Hide Ills

There are few insects as critical to just about every part of the ecological cycle as the bee. Some estimates say that one-third of naturally grown food requires pollination by bees, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soy beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals. And yet in recent years the bee population has been in freefall, with reports stating that a decline of 90% or more has occurred over the last few decades. The reports are not…

Does Holiday Food Waste Bother You?

Gear Bits

Does Holiday Food Waste Bother You?

photo courtesy of The New York Times via Green Options  When I was a kid, if I didn’t eat enough I was told that should think about all of the “starving children around the world” and clean my plate. Granted, my feelings at the time were along the lines of how happy I would be to box up my leftovers and ship them off, but my parents did have a point. Just because we live in a country where food is more readily available than in other parts of the world does not give us license to waste it; it’s…

EasyBloom Plant Sensor Review - Help Your Plants Thrive!

Reviews

EasyBloom Plant Sensor Review – Help Your Plants Thrive!

I do not have a green thumb, but through much trial and error over the years I have compiled a list of plants I can keep alive. I have also learned that there are some, that when I see them seemingly thriving and beckoning to me at the store…no matter how good they look, I should just keep on walking. When dealing with indoor plants, I know that I do best with ones that can handle diffused light and weekly watering; since I love blooming flowers, I tend to buy orchids. Outdoor plants must be able to handle direct sun,…

AeroGarden Pro 100 - Indoor Gardening Made Simple - Review

Reviews

AeroGarden Pro 100 – Indoor Gardening Made Simple – Review

About 3 months ago I saw an AeroGarden advertised in Sharper Image and did further investigation as it seemed interesting. An appliance you just plug in a seed pod, 2 nutrient tablets and water (no soil! Yay!). And on your counter you’ll quickly have enough fresh herbs to last a lifetime. Being the gadget geek that I am there are very few home devices that have a microprocessor that I don’t own. So this was new and somewhat exciting. Combine nature, healthy eating, and a touchpanel….Joy!