20+ Yarrow Stalk Garden Markers
Very simple, these yarrow stalks are so slender they won’t block any precious sunlight. Biodegradable with easily changed masking tape flags to label your seedlings.
I needed some markers for my seedlings and had these yarrow stalks on hand that I wild harvested from the pristine Catskills of New York, added a bit of masking tape and what do you know, very useful bio-degradable garden markers, excellent.
The ultimate earth-friendly laundry detergent.
Soapnuts have been used for everything from removing lice to silver polish. They are actually helpful for sewer systems, and can be reused for several laundry loads.
The pouch is made from recycled tea towels (colors vary) and can be tossed in with a load of laundry and dried out to wait for the next washing. Soapnuts have no smell so you can add your own favorite essential oil such as rosemary, musk or amber.
More uses of soapnuts are discussed here.
This is a very important item we should all be using for the health of the earth.
Each pouch includes 5 soapnuts which can be used for at least 5 loads of laundry.
Last year I started reading The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner right around this time of year. I enjoyed it so much that I had to save the rest of it for later, which ended up getting put of for a full year. So, now that I have finally finished it I am eager to start it all over again. This book allows our interaction with plants to become richer and deeper. The end of the book included essays by Carol McGrath, Sparrow, Rosemary Gladstar and John Seed.
I found this particular description in John Seed’s essay about The Bradley Method to be a beautiful and very helpful way to also develop your own inner flora while helping the Earth heal.
From I Call on the Spirit of Herbs by John Seed.
In Australia, two sisters by name of Bradley came up with an exciting technique by which we may slowly invite back the original biotic community from denuded and scarred landscapes.
Some bedtime reading from my favorite inspiring Little Green Book…
I do not particularly like the word “work.” Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think this is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time.
p115 The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) by Masanobu Fukuoka
I’ve been using soapnuts for just about everything lately. They are especially handy for doing laundry. All you have to do is tie up 5 berries in a muslin or net bag and toss it in with your laundry. I like to add a few drops of musk oil, and a bit of hydrogen peroxide to remind me of the perfumed laundry soaps I have grown up with. One bag of five soapnuts will be able to wash about 5 loads of laundry, or more, just keep an eye on your soapnuts, and as they break down you can add some more.
I also found that you can make them into a liquid detergent which I have described and detailed in my Cradle to Cradle Dish-washing instructable. This liquid can also be used for washing out the fridge, cleaning tables, the floor or anything else that need cleaning. It can be used for shampoo and as a spray for house plants to help to protect them from insects or fungus.
I also have found that keeping a bag of soapnuts in the toilet tank will help to keep the toilet smelling fresh and keep it clean.
After waiting for residency for more than a year, wondering how much longer I would be an illegitimate person was starting to wear on me. But, as they say, when the planets are in line everything falls into place. The full rose moon of June 7th, 2009 was such a day. I finally got my Canadian residency so that night I planted 13 Hidasta Shield Figure Pole beans (from The Cottage Gardener) to give my thanks to Vancouver, BC for welcoming and accepting us.
The previous year I had spent a lot of time walking the nearby streets admiring everyone’s fantastic gardens. I finally found the perfect spot on one of the Greenways of Vancouver. No one was using it, it got good sun and was just by a sky-train and rail-road tracks so it seemed a perfect spot. There is a lot more space available in this area, although much of it is under the tracks and wouldn’t get any rain.
Instructables had a competition called United States of Efficiency. There are some really cool low cost easy ways to save all kinds of energy.
My favorite is the incredible recycled solar oven, made from an old satellite dish and used CDs. Following in close second is the Hay Slow Cooker, which was invented in Holland around 1900.
Recently I have become a convert to the soapnut craze. I first noticed these little fruits in Burma/Myanmar where they use them in their traditional shampoo. Last year I discovered that their popularity has really grown in Western countries and now you can spend top dollar on powdered soapnut laundry soap and other commercial products. The best way to use these berries from all perspectives is to simply use them as is in your laundry, or to make them into laundry detergent (see below). Powdered soapnut berries are not really a viable product and anything that has things added to it to make the shelf life longer is a step in the wrong direction. Follow this link for more practical information about soapnuts, how to use them and links to various online stores in various countries.
There are as many ways to guerrilla garden as there are stars in the sky, and that is the best thing about it. The best way to do it is your way and to just get started. Many people love to make seed bombs and drop them as a group, other people love sneaking privately about the city — planting plots. Some people like to be highly organized — others random and without a thought. The main thing that holds it all together is that we are people reclaiming the land around us, reaching out and getting involved, hanging around and making sure that it grows, and grows and is a pleasure for all who pass by.
I have recently started reading the book The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka and his natural farming methods have astonished me and made me rethink what little I thought I knew about growing plants. I was already familiar with Rudolf Steiner’s methods of biodynamic farming, yet even so this book has been a real mind-opener.
Although I have been planting things in random places for a few years I haven’t had a chance to really take over a piece of land in an urban setting until this year. I spent much of last year walking the streets around my area checking out pieces of land. I didn’t want it to be too far from where we live in case it didn’t rain much and I had to haul water every day. I didn’t want it next to a main road to avoid the pollution from car exhaust, and I wanted it to get plenty of sun and rain. I finally found a good spot on the Greenway under the skytrain and next to the train tracks not too far from our apartment.
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD
Medicinal Stories that Nourish the SoulA culture that requires harm to one’s soul in order to follow the culture’s proscriptions is a very sick culture indeed. This culture can be the one a women lives in, but more damning yet, it can be the one she carries around and complies with within her own mind. -P189
Women Who Run with the Wolves is a very powerful book that I have found very helpful at crossroads in my life when I had to look deep into myself and understand who I was. I know there is a huge community of women who have also been supported by these ancient stories and the poetic way that Clarissa Pinkola Estes brings them to us. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to post your favorite quote(s) and what they mean to you (or not) in the comments section.
I have been a South Park fan since episode one, but I will confess, they hit my button in the episode which mentioned Women Who Run with the Wolves. It is time my secret came to light–I get annoyed just thinking of Cartman badmouthing this sacred book, on the other hand, I also take this as a good sign–South Park is doing what it does best, pointing out where we take ourselves too seriously. If you have seen this episode, don’t let it deter you, this book is worth more than gold…
Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy
by Hazel Henderson (Dec, 2006 Chelsea Green Publishing Company)
I found this book to be a very comprehensive and interesting reading. The amount of information and the way it was all set out is very helpful. It includes websites where you can get more information if you want to delve deeper into a certain area. It is very positive and shows how much is going on around the world to create a better future for our children and grandchildren.
Food and HealthIn 2006, for the first time in history US children are sicker than the generation before them. Obesity affects nearly one-fifth, triple the prevalence in 1980; autism has increased on thousandfold in a generation; asthma is up 75%; life-threatening food allergies increased nearly sixfold; and nutrient deficiencies not seen for decades are now prevalent again, according to a report by Judy Converse, MPH, RD, LD, a licensed dietitian specializing in medical nutritional therapies for children. She and other health professionals note that increasingly aggressive vaccination – children are advised to get fifty-four vaccine doses (most containing mercury) by age twelve – may be causing health problems (www.redflagsdaily.com). –p189
We are slowly remembering that our bodies, minds, attitudes, spiritual lives, social circumstances, and physical environments interact to keep us well, or make us sick. –p202
“The air we breathe on average in our homes is two to five times more polluted than the air outside of our homes, according to the EPA. We can look at a specific situation: when you are using a household cleaning product, and you can smell it. Normally what you smell, whether it’s a scent or a chemical odor, is what is called the VOC, a volatile organic compound. Those VOCs come out of cleaning products into our air. We know without a question that those VOCs are asthma triggers for children. They also cause allergies and various types of irritation to our lungs.” –Jeffrey Hollender (Seventh Generation Company) –p206
Seeds of Change is now owned by M&M Mars, Ben and Jerry’s is owned by Unilever, Boca Foods is owned by Altria, the tobacco firm, formerly known as Phillip Morris. Horizon Organics and Silk Soy Milk are owned by Dean Foods. –p182
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::: CONTRIBUTORS :::
I have adapted this old favorite from Sally Fallon’s Raisin Nut Cookies page 532 in Nourishing Traditions. Everyone who has tasted these cookies loves them.
Makes about 2 dozen
Method: Blend yogurt, butter, flour, oats and salt. Place in a bowl, cover and leave at room temperature 12-24 hours.
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03-08-2010 » Ruth Martinez said: yum sounds so good!! I'll have to try it once I can sta (more...)
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