Abundanjah

Have a glass of raw milk. You’ll see.

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:40:44 -0400

Have a glass of raw milk. You’ll see.

this summer’s major pastime… and I only got stung...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:15:26 -0400

this summer’s major pastime… and I only got stung twice.

Agriculture with a future comes to dinner -Sharon Astyk | Energy Bulletin

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:45:51 -0400

Agriculture with a future comes to dinner -Sharon Astyk | Energy Bulletin:

I certainly share her views.

ODDEDGES HYPERSPACE NEWS NETWORK: Build your own Hobbit hole for less than $5,000

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:42:16 -0400

ODDEDGES HYPERSPACE NEWS NETWORK: Build your own Hobbit hole for less than $5,000:

oddedgeshyperspacenews:

This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a…

Toronto Garlic Festival

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:38:46 -0400

Toronto Garlic Festival

How could you kill Randy? How could you? The guilt in your heart will never subside. In that split second that Randy felt the immensity of the pain you caused him, did you ever think that he wondered why someone that seems like he loves him would ever hurt him like this? Just stop. You grow your own food for gods sake, just eat that. Why resort to murder?

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:33:00 -0400

My reason for killing Randy is quite a simple equation, whereas my food choices stem from responsible low energy agricultural systems. First the sunlight shines down and hits a blade of grass or a leaf of a willow tree, and through the powers of photosynthesis, converts to a complex chain of carbohydrates. Randy’s mother, April, then consumes these carbs, otherwise undigestible to humans, and converts those into high quality, easily digestible, meat protein and milk, along with manure for our annual garden and fiber from the hide. The yields from this near zero energy system are incredible!! I killed Randy because I am taking responsibility for my actions.

Chronicle Herald article of the Roundwood Timber Framing course Kyle and I attended this past weekend.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:39:00 -0400

Chronicle Herald article of the Roundwood Timber Framing course Kyle and I attended this past weekend.

Seems these days farmers are obsessed with season extension:...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:52:05 -0400

Seems these days farmers are obsessed with season extension: heated plastic green houses, row cover, all that damn industrial material. But if you want fresh/raw green beans in February, give fermentation a try; all you need is salt, water, and a vessel to hold the goods. I would recommend the book ‘Wild Fermentation’ by Sandor Katz to get you started. Fermentation is season extension.

sharpsideoftheknife: Garlic is for Heroes

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:44:25 -0400

sharpsideoftheknife:

Garlic is for Heroes

Now thats fucking garlic. 10000 bulbs curing peacefully away....

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:00:51 -0400

Now thats fucking garlic. 10000 bulbs curing peacefully away. Get yours at the Old Brewery Market in Halifax.

the horse (or oxen) = the way of the future

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:56:20 -0400

the horse (or oxen) = the way of the future

Post Carbon Tool: The Chainsaw. What!! The most controversial of...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:47:00 -0400

Post Carbon Tool: The Chainsaw. What!! The most controversial of the tools. Way to much power for one person. But nobody these days would ever think about using an axe and saw to put up wood for the winter. The chainsaw may be here until the bitter end. I shouldn’t get to used to this one.

Post Carbon Tool: The Garden Fork. Ah yes, this must be the most...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:38:31 -0400

Post Carbon Tool: The Garden Fork. Ah yes, this must be the most used tool on the farm. How else can you prepare the ground for planting without fossil fuels. And further regarding blacksmithing, I think we need more local cottage industries producing hand tools, starting with the garden fork. So get yours!

Post Carbon Skill: Blacksmithing

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:32:54 -0400

Post Carbon Skill: Blacksmithing

two of many systems on our site. I have decided that rainwater...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:16:49 -0400

Rainwater (potable) collection system

Newly installed solar panels (

two of many systems on our site. I have decided that rainwater collecting is great, maybe do without industrial plastic tanks… I am still on the fence regarding solar panels, with their rare metals and toxic batteries and all. What is the value of lights and convenient hot water? Maybe we should just do without? And concentrate on establishing a woodland, as we will all return to solar energy via wood soon enough. Any thoughts out there on solar? And perhaps rain collecting ideas?

"Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness..."

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:35:47 -0400

“Tidiness is something that happens when you have frontal brain damage. You get very tidy. Tidiness is symptomatic of brain damage. Creativity, on the other hand, is symptomatic of a fairly whole brain, and is usually a disordered affair. The tolerance for disorder is one of the very few healthy signs in life. If you can tolerate disorder, you are probably healthy. Creativity is seldom tidy.”

- Bill Mollison, Introduction to Permaculture (via puttheneedleon)

Voluntary poverty -- it could save your life, but it's a hard sell | Energy Bulletin

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:32:39 -0400

Voluntary poverty -- it could save your life, but it's a hard sell | Energy Bulletin:

I think it’s time to go monk.

How many energy slaves does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:09:20 -0400

The concept of energy slaves has been on my mind since arriving here, being a topic of conversation daily. But now with haying season at hand, I must get it off my chest. You can think of an energy slave as simply the amount of humans needed to accomplish a specific task. Or the amount of slaves we need to live our daily, lazy assed, overweight, spoiled lives (harsh?). Some estimate an incredible 400 slaves each, making slavery more prevalent today that ever before in history, but at the expense of our dear planet. Ok, lets bring this back to hay, a beautiful perennial crop. Our hay grows year after year on the same spot, adding compost and occasionally lime. The hay just grows, tall and proud, ready for our harvesting. Once harvested, this hay goes into the barn to keep our two goats, two draft horses, and one mildly drunk pony through the winter (and perhaps for all you permaculture mulchers out there). Sounds pretty simple… some logistics to boot. The tractor has to pass over the field several times, with several different implements: The sickle bar mower comes first, then the tedder passes over a couple times, over a couple days, to help fluff dry the downed grass into hay, after two or three days windrows are made, next comes the square baler to gobble up the loose mess into tight gifts. And finally the hay wagon is attached and the festivities begin, tossing bales up, stacked neatly, then unstacked, and then stacked neatly again into the barn. And that’s easy work, a true industrial luxury! I ask myself how many slaves would be needed to accomplish this task without our precious diesel fuel?! I can’t quite comprehend the amount: with the kilo joules of energy burned plus the embodied energy of the tractor and implements, amortization, etc, etc, but I assure you that its an amount that really worries me about the future.

But it can be done, or has been done quite successfully in the past. The so important idea of scale comes to mind, we need way more than 2% feeding the 98%.

And so how many energy slaves does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Edible Toronto Article

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:01:42 -0400

Edible Toronto Article:

by friend and fellow intern last year at Whole Circle Farm. Nice one, Peter!

Post Carbon Tool: Japenese Scythe. Controlling undesirable weeds...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:15:55 -0400

Post Carbon Tool: Japenese Scythe. Controlling undesirable weeds in the forest garden and having fun.