carlo biagi

Hi,
This farm, at singingfrogsfarm.com, is apparently grossing $100,000 per acre, on 3 acres, no till veggie production. Very interesting no till methods, soil O.M. content, low water use,etc. Good interview of the farmer's here: http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-05-27/paul-elizabeth-kaiser-sustainable-farming-2-0

Hi Burra and Dougan,
Thanks for embedding the video. Dougan, I would definitely check out the book " Your Money or Your Life", that I mentioned in the post-it's worth a look, should be in a local library. The author really transformed my ideas about money, and many ideas about faster, creative ways of getting out of debt,if you have it, and also building up that nest egg, so you have the freedom to do what inspires you. Definitely Not your average personal finance book-once again ALTERNATIVE thinking. Cheers.

Hi, I was just watching a tedx talk of this guy from Thailand which I will leave a link to below. What he says parallels in many ways the things I learned, AFTER I got out of college. He is saying basically, life in our modern world is way too complex, and could be much easier, if we could get rid of much of the cultural programming that has shaped each of us since we were toddlers. He has a new record ,in my book, for ease of life as far as hours worked is concerned. When he went back to his village to live, after having been in Bangkok trying to make his way in the "modern" world, he took up the old farming ways of his ancestors again, and worked 2 hours a day, for 2 months a year doing his farming! That was all the time it took! Watch the video for the other details of how he lives simply. I have found many other sources over the last over 20 years of examples of people who live simpler, yet more fulfilling lives, working much less than 40 hours a week. One of the first people I ran across in the early 90's were the homesteaders Scott and Helen Nearing. They worked 4 hours a day-their "bread labor", then they chose to have 4 hours of study of interests of their own choosing, and 4 hours of socializing/entertainment. I also came across a book called -Stone Age Economics- by Marshall Sahlins, in which he describes the average work week of our stone age ancestors being about 3 hours per day, with much time for socializing, story telling, rituals, games, etc. ,etc., hardly the grueling existence usually depicted. Then there were also many examples of much shorter working hours in the "Simple Living" literature, and one of my all time life changing books-Your Money or Your Life- by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, transforming our ideas about money, and how we can, practically, get out of the rat race in a fairly short period of time, or at least curtail the amount of time we spend at jobs we don't like. Permaculture fits into all this, because it is the perfect activity for when we have all that now-freed up time, and plus I think it is a natural outgrowth of the permaculture philosophy, of smart planning, stacking functions, independent thinking, simplifying, etc. etc...... Oh ya-here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg.

Hi, I just found this pbs documentary on managing grass lands with animals-being done by various cultures all over the world, using similar techniques as Alan Savory, and also including him as well. Some of these peoples use even less "managing" of the livestock, and have done so for a long time, and seem to live in landscapes that are thriving. In case I can't post the link, just google: " Earth: a new wild PBS series". It is a 5 part series, and the one you want is #2- "plains". Enjoy. http://www.pbs.org/earth-a-new-wild/episode-plains/

Hi, from what I can tell this does not look like J. artichokes. As others have said , the flowers and roots look different, and different from the ones I grow. No problem though, I bought some tubers from Johnny's selected seeds, called "stampede", are VERY productive, and once you plant your first tubers, you will have a constant supply forever. This variety does not reseed, so it won't take over your garden, and you can easily get from 1-2 lbs. per sq. ft. Or if you can find someone who grows them, I'm sure they will be happy to share, since they are so prolific. I love the taste of them, both raw and cooked, but I haven't found a way to prepare them, so that they don't produce lots of gas(thus the nickname- fartichokes). Has anyone found a solution to this problem? They are so productive that people have made ethanol from them-in David Blumes book, Alcohol can be a gas, agreat read by the way if you want to learn about ethanol production, and its use as a fuel- but anyway in that book they have an ethanol yield for jchokes of 550-750 gallons per acre, one of the highest plant yields of ethanol. I'm told they make good animal feed, and the birds and the bees seem to love the late-season flowers. I still wish I could find a way to eat them though, because it would be such a great food crop, and so easy to grow. Hope this is helpful.

you can make "corn nuts" by using flour corn, also called dent corn, and letting the corn mature on the cob until husk, and or plant is dried. Then remove the corn kernels (I just use a knife and my fingers) and oil and heat a frying pan to high-medium heat and add a layer of the kernels and stir occasionally and in approximately 3-5 minutes the kernels will be done. You will know because some of them will have puffed up, and a few will pop, and when you eat them, they are fairly easy to crunch. I add garlic salt. mmm. yum. I used a specific variety from a seed catalog, and they called it "parched corn". google parched corn for more info.

I like to use some in my salad dressing, as an option, when I have extra. Salad dressing consists of: red wine vinegar/cider vinegar, pickle juice, garlic, dill, water, sugar, maggi flavoring, w/ other options like Dijon mustard, lemon juice, brine,etc. in a 1.5 Qt. container, olive oil and spices added separately.