This amazing 420 sq ft home has all the amenities demanded from the standard urban home, yet uses a fraction of the energy.
http://inthralld.com/2013/02/tiny-420-square-foot-sustainable-backyard-cottage/
America’s 1st Tiny House Hotel
Deb Delman and Kol Peterson love tiny homes: she’s spent the past couple decades living in a converted garage, a yurt, a tiny unelectrified cabin; he studied urban planning and is a “really big advocate of ADUs [accessory dwelling units AKA granny cottages, in-law suites]”; and the couple now live together in a self-built ADU. I hope this idea presented by Fair Companies spreads far and wide.
How Wolves Change Rivers
When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable “trophic cascade” occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains these ideas in this inspiring video.
Rik Kretzinger’s Arduino Powered Aquaponics System
This Fair Companies interview is fantastic. They visit Rik Kretzinger and get a great tour of his revolutionary garden design. He has managed to create an inexpensive, highly efficient and configurable aquaponics system that is controlled by an Arduino .
The Twelve Essential Steps to Net Zero Energy with Ted Clifton
Ted Clifton has been building highly efficient homes for 24 years. This informative video briefly addresses each of the twelve steps it takes to build low energy home. These ideas are scalable which allows builders to apply these technologies into homes of all sizes.
Farming as Dance -The Choreography of Polyculture
Joel Salatin, alternative farmer at Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, passionately defends small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm. Edible Education is a lecture course at UC Berkeley, funded by the Edible Schoolyard Project www.edibleschoolyard.org and the Epstein Roth Family Foundation. This lecture is hosted by instructor Michael Pollan.
How big of a backyard do you need to live off of the land?
Dr. Mercola Discusses Chickens with Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm
Internationally renowned natural health physician and Mercola.com founder, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, show how chicken live on the Polyface Farm. Joel’s techniques grow healthy chickens and develop top soil in a balanced manner. Using a mix of chickens, cattle, pigs, and turkeys the technique has transformed his family’s land from a barren rocky plot to a robust pasture with over 8″ of perfect topsoil. His methods are scalable and can be implemented in everything from backyards to huge tracts of land.
An Excellent Example of a Well Built Aquaponics System
This large scale Aquaponic system is designed from the A-Frame Deep Water Culture Column (ADWCC) Prototype designed by Nelson Mmbando, 256 square feet foot print capable of producing approximately 400 heads of lettuce every two weeks. This system also incorporates vermiculture to break down food waste and introduces the nutrients back into the system.
Nelson utilizes the concepts he fine tuned during his thesis project and is a great example of a well thought out aquaponics system the expands the standard model into vermiculture.
Introduction to Black Soldier Fly Larvae
The black soldier fly is a widespread fly whose larvae are commonly found in compost heaps. Larvae are also sometimes found in carrion. This is fascinating as they are able to break down animal matter where other composting techniques fail.
When the larvae have completed their larval development, they enter a stage called “prepupae” wherein they cease to eat, they empty their gut, their mouth parts change to an appendage that aids climbing, and they seek a dry, sheltered area to pupate. This migration instinct is utilized by grub composting bins to self-harvest the mature larvae. These containers have ramps or holes on the sides to allow the prepupae to climb out of the composter and drop into a collection area.
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) may be used in manure management, for house fly control and for the bioconversion of organic waste material. Mature larvae and prepupae raised in manure management and waste bioconversion operations may also be used to supplement animal feeds. The larvae are highly efficient in converting proteins, containing up to 42% of protein, and a lot of calcium and aminoacids. In 432 hours, 1 gram of black soldier fly eggs turns into 2.4 kilograms of protein.
Larvae are sold as feeders for owners of chickens, herptiles and tropical fish, or as composting grubs. They store high levels of calcium for future pupation which is also beneficial.