So, the garden is started. Still lots to plant but ’tis started at least.

Quick little video to share. We’d started on a teardrop but moved on to a Gypsy Vardo, this is somewhat a pregnant teardrop. Still cool to see how simple they went with it, and I mean the bare minimum structurally too!

Posted from Naperville, Illinois, United States.

This is the neatest little garden cabin… Best part, I can see applying a lot of these little tricks as additions to our house plan.

Great piece on Permaculture. It’s aimed at Australia, but there’s some fantastic ideas and information contained in it so it’s worth the watch.

An Earthship is a radically sustainable home made of recycled materials.

* Electricity is from the sun with solar panels and wind with wind modules.
* Water is caught on the roof from rain and snow melt.
* Sewage is treated on site in interior and external botanical planters.
* Heating and Cooling is from the sun and the earth.
* Food is grown inside and outside.

Earthships are constructed with recycled materials and perform as expected in any part of the world, in any climate and still provide you with what you need to survive.

Earthship Biotecture is a global company, based on 40 years of research and development by Michael Reynolds, principal architect of Earthship Biotecture.

Anyone have any experience with them? There’s many brands out there that all purport to do the same thing (with varying yields).

This is one of the only articles I’ve found describing the use of them after storage: http://www.utahpreppers.com/2009/05/survival-seeds-in-a-can-9-years-later/

Original post I read: http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2010/02/survival-seeds.html Source for the ones mentioned in this article: http://www.hometownseeds.com/best-sellers-c-215/survival-seeds-peace-of-mind-for-your-family-p-35

DING DING!

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/

This might be a good way to get rid of extra veg either for trade or sale…

http://www.veggietrader.com/index.php

I often get asked what type of things do I read. What do I read as far as articles for work, articles for our property, ideas for the home and land, gardening, cooking and etc.

It dawned on me that since I use Google Reader I can actually share them with anyone who’s interested.

So now you can click here: Articles Rick Shared and see what I’ve tagged for future reading or to save.

Between the things happening in the pictures below and more, I’ve not had much time to post. I have some topics to post and I’ll get them posted in the next week or so…

Lets see, we’ve got some fresh veggies out of the garden, some fishing and one shot from the midget car races at the Grundy County Speedway. Good fun!

I was sitting here this morning thinking about the garden and it hit me – all these folks (farmers, ranchers and other small vegetable producers) have pissed and moaned about the government wanting to implement various tracking systems for livestock and foods on “their dime” and saying things like “it’s unnecessary”, are also part of the people who are all up in arms about the latest breakout of salmonella.

Had a tracking system been in place for our food stocks, which was turned down by corporate interests and our current government, we could’ve tracked the outbreak back to it’s source.

There is an AP report that confirms this, at least in part, to be accurate. While I believe their rejection was due to the “interference” of the government in their business, their business becomes our business when it’s an item to be consumed by the general populous.

I often hear folks bitching about how much food costs and that measures like this would increase those costs. Bottom line is they’re calling for simple record keeping (not much beyond what farmers already do). Note that I’m not talking about the much contested NAIS. But the principle is the same – if it’s grown for mass consumption or resale it should be documented for purposes of tracking illness and disease – period.

How do you get around this? Grow your own food! You then know exactly what’s in it, who grew it, what the conditions were and you have the pride of having stocked your own table.

We are still guilty of consumption of market foods, but as time goes on we will be reducing our consumption of these foods as we grow and raise more and more of our own food.