ufarmiit

I found a really good book that I think will help!

It’s really easy to follow and has a wide variety of plants:

You can basically find the plant listed that looks most like the plant you have, and go to the page listed under it. And it’ll say how to care for it!

Here’s an example ^ not only does it say what lighting and watering it needs like most books, but it also lists the different things that can go wrong with this plant and which make us think it’s dying. Like wilting being too much water, edges crisping being not enough misting, what sunburn on this plant looks like, etc.

A common mistake people make that kills plants is too much water or not enough water, it can be tricky until you get used to your plant’s needs! This explains watering techniques really well.

And a bunch of other stuff it shows you, like buying the best plant for your environment, repotting them, feeding them, all sorts of things!

Hydroponics in India: 

A 45-minute drive from the city to Kharghar in neighbouring Navi Mumbai will lead to an enterprise, a little over a year-old, that is striving to promote a safe and alternate farming technique to rural and urban farmers. Called Craft (Center for Research in Alternative Farming Technologies), its aim is to create safe food for everyday consumption. Through research, training and practical application it is taking its ideas to entrepreneurs all over. “Finding safe food that is organically grown is hard and invariably the price one pays is high, not affordable by all,” said founder Vijay Yelmalle. Keeping this in mind, they have developed two techniques in alternative farming - hydroponics and aquaponics. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in water without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions. While in the traditional method, only minerals and salts are added, here additional nutrients are included to ensure that the produce has more benefits. 

In this guest post, Blue Planet Consulting summer intern Ben Mickel responds to this recent article critcizing urban agriculture: What’s the REAL Problem with Urban Agriculture by Harkyo Hutri Baskoro

Before trying to answer what the problems with urban agriculture might be, lets first define what exactly urban ag is: Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city. (Bailkey, M., and J. Nasr. 2000. From Brownfields to Greenfields: Producing Food in North American Cities. Community Food SECURITY News. Fall 1999/Winter 2000:6)

This is a complex industry that exists at the intersection of Horticulture, Technology, Urban Planning and Food Security.  There is so much positive support coming from the community and an influx of capital is driving the expansion of high tech urban agriculture around the world and sometimes its difficult to know if its all just “hype” or really part of the future of cities. 

Growing Food in the Middle of the City is only Half the Story

Let’s address some of the cons Baskoro raised about Urban Ag. The first issue Baskoro addresses is whether or not it is “worth it to farm in the middle of the city” despite the fact that still most urban agriculture occurs not in the heart of most cities but in the peri-urban areas. In fact, some of the greatest opportunities for urban agriculture lie on the edge of the city where the land is cheaper but access to infrastructure and customers is still high. Lets stop thinking about urban agriculture simply as picturesque farms in the city and start determining how we can feed more of the city from nearby sustainable farms.

Most Americans could be sustained on local foods alone—except in NY and LA

The researchers found that based on population data from the year 2000, up to 82% of people in the US could eat a standard American diet with food from within 50 miles of home. That proportion goes up to 85% for a vegetarian diet, and down to 80% for a meat-intensive diet. If the foodshed radius expands to 100 miles, the potential for a standard American diet goes up to 90%, 93% for a vegetarian diet, and 88% for a meat-intensive diet.

Not everyone can eat so locally, though, even in the utopian model created with the study’s computer programs and algorithms. While most cities, including Chicago and San Francisco, can feed 100% of their populations with food from within 50 miles, large cities that have relatively little nearby cropland cannot. “New York City and Los Angeles, for example, can support only about 10% of their populations with a 50-mile foodshed radius but as much as 30-50% with a 100-mile foodshed radius.”

This hive structure, if it works like the descriptions imply, would make beehives something super affordable, that just about anyone could install near their home and maintain. AND it would reduce the cost of harvesting honey by more than just the money-

A typical honey harvesting device costs $200-300, plus the time it takes to use to harvest. For a Langstroth hive, you have to suit up (gear which can be pricey), remove the comb (which is highly disturbing to the bees), install said comb in the extractor (scraping all the caps off the comb first), spin out the honey, RE-open the hive (after suiting up and again disturbing the bees), and put the comb back.

If you use a method that doesn’t require an extractor, you usually end up destroying the comb, which is damaging to the hive and intensively laborious for your bees because they have to completely remake the combs from scratch.

What this looks like is that you probably wouldn’t even need to suit up any time you wanted to harvest honey (though you would still need the equipment for installation of the colony and for inspections, etc, or if you’re still getting used to the colony). Removing the viewing window on a hive doesn’t disturb the bees at all (ours hardly even notice us), and the shift in the comb to start extraction is unlikely to cause enough disturbance to merit a response.

The bees get to keep/recycle all the materials they created (aside from the honey), and you get fresh, almost-effortless honey.

Perhaps the most important and AWESOME thing about this?? The “Flow Frames” that allow for this type of extraction can be used with pre-existing hive boxes. This means that folks who already own bees that are being kept in most kinds of hives, especailly the standard Langstroth hive boxes, can replace their old frames with Flow frames without having to start from scratch.

By Preeti Shanker

Myth-busting can be a full-time job, especially in the world of food. For every myth that gets busted, a few more crop up.

Case in point, a recent article that highlights arguments of a few organic champions who are vehemently opposed to hydroponic farms becoming organic certified. The really interesting part of the story is why they think hydroponic farms are not worthy of being anointed ‘organic’ and included in their exclusive round table. A deeper look at their views affords an opportunity to examine hydroponics with a fresh perspective. Not to mention, a chance to bust some myths along the way!

Here’s why they think hydroponics cannot be organic:

‘No soil is used to grow the plants, so that’s not natural’

Why does that seem so unnatural? There are many plants that naturally grow in water, some in fact grow only in water. We see examples in nature all the time: water hyacinth, lotus, water lily, floating hearts. In fact, some aquatic and semi-aquatic plants have been used as human food sources for centuries in different cultures for eg. wild rice, water caltrop, Chinese water chestnut, Indian lotus, water spinach and watercress. Did you know that the beloved mint naturally occurs in the wild in moist areas only i.e. along river banks, ponds and lakes? Since it was also able to tolerate warm and dry conditions, humans have been growing it on dry land; perhaps because it seemed more practical for cultivation. So then, does it really seem so unnatural that land-based lettuce is grown in water in a hydroponic farm, because it is more efficient (by the way, they love the water and grow splendidly, almost 25% faster)

REGARDING THE “FLOW HIVE” 

Now, I’m sorry this is different content than what is normal, but this desperately has to be said and it has to be spread. 

The Flow Hive advertises being a more hands-off approach than regular beekeeping, but in the long run, that may very well not be the case. The plastic frames that make the hive, well, flow, are not only unnatural (no good beekeeper wants plastic in their hive), but also aren’t the natural size that a bee’s combs should be. Bees aren’t going to willingly and happily build in plastic, and it also poses problems like mould, dirtiness, and so on. Not once do they even say you should wash the frames, which is also rather off-putting, especially when that is put alongside the Flow Hive’s constant skimming over the need for hive maintenance. Bees can do most of it, yeah, but when plastic is put in the equation, one shouldn’t entirely trust that the bees will properly clean it, and they can’t defend themselves properly against many of the problems posed by an non-natural hive. 

No smoker, no maintenance. Let’s elaborate on that, shall we? Common hive problems are Varroa mites, robbing, wasps and hornets, moths, mice, and more. With a hive that, even in its first bullet, states that smokers “used to be” used in keeping and that “now you don’t need to do any of that.” Though it does state later (about twice) that smokers should still be used, the misinformation in the beginning is already enough to lead to irresponsibility. More on that, later, though.

Queen Excluder, no honey. No Excluder, quite some mites. A common issue in all sorts of hives is making sure there’s no brood in the supers, or honey boxes. One of the ways to deal with that is by using a queen excluder, which is basically a screen that lets bees go through, but keeps the queen from doing the same. Though a queen excluder is offered in some of these packages, it isn’t used in all of them. The problem here is that if you press the tap and brood is in the cells, you’ll get some… nasty honey. More important than that, though, is that you’ll be helping out a pest you don’t want at all– the Varroa mite. Varroa mites take advantage of the larger cells that drones need and reproduce that way. With cells as big as the Flow’s cells, you can cause an all-out epidemic just by getting rid of the Excluder. The risk of keeping the excluder in, though, is that many bees won’t go past it, and so you have a risk of not getting honey at all in those specially-designed frames. 

You can’t monitor how much honey you take. How much is too much? What if they need some of what you’re taking? You can’t really tell how much honey is in the brood box and how many total bees there are when all you have to do is turn a handle and get your prize. That alone causes super huge risks, especially in places with non-moderate winters.

It’s unnatural. The general problem with Langstroth hives as a whole is that Bees don’t naturally build upwards. They build going down, but are often forced to go up in designs such as these. 

It encourages irresponsibility. Let’s face it– most people who want this hive want it because honey collection becomes “easy” with it, not because it’s better for the bees. What will likely happen is that the Flow Hive will turn into a cruelty machine extraordinaire, with people overcollecting honey and neglecting their hive. 

OREGON — It doesn’t take much to start a small indoor garden, said University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Candice Miller. 

Miller will teach a workshop on hydroponics Tuesday at Highland Community College in Freeport. She began teaching the class last fall and said interest has been steady enough that the Extension office will offer the class in several northwest Illinois counties through the winter. 

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil in a nutrient solution, she said. Growing hydroponically has several advantages.

Miniature cattle are the perfect size livestock for smaller farms and acreages, they are much easier and safer to handle than standard sized cattle, and they are ideal as organic or grass-fed beef.

Butchering one animal provides the right amount of meat for a small family and has more choice-cuts. One “mini-cow” will feed a family of four for six months. Mini-milk cows are perfect for families who prefer cows milk to goats milk and wish to consume organic, hormone-free milk.

Minis range in size at three years of age from 36″ in height to a maximum of 48″. This is one-half to one-third the size of normal cattle.