Tag Archives: gardening

Episode-895- Will Bratton and Sam Bagot on Open Source Agriculture

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Modern Survival| 18 Comments
Episode-895- Will Bratton and Sam Bagot on Open Source Agriculture [ 55:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sam Bagot and Will Bratton are woking togehter on an open source agriculture project called horto domi.   Horto domi is an open hardware raised-bed garden unit with environmental control and monitoring via web-interface thanks to Arduino Ethernet. DIY sensors, such as those collecting moisture and temperature data help monitor the environment within the dome and will eventually be used to automate conditions.

The goal is to grow whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you are. Horto domi is Latin for ‘Garden at home.’ It’s a statement to healthful food independence, a “neo-renaissance” tip of the hat to Arduino, and it sounds like horticultural dome. Particular consideration was taken in this prototype’s design to maximize the mineral and nutrient value of the beyond-organic produce and minimize environmental contamination risks.

Sam and Will are looking for Kickstarter funding that will satisfy all the elements necessary for an open hardware publication per the definition provided by FreedomDefined.org/OSHW. However, with additional funding they will be able to pursue further open source innovation, development and publication. They hope our community will support their idea for using contemporary open technology to achieve relative food independence so that we may all better address the goal of individual and community self sufficiency.

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-837- Matthew Stein on Prepping, Herbals, Self Reliance and More

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Modern Survival| 18 Comments
Episode-837- Matthew Stein on Prepping, Herbals, Self Reliance and More [ 1:07:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Mat Stein - Author of When Disaster Strikes

Mat Stein - Author of When Disaster Strikes

Matthew Stein is the author of When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival (Chelsea Green 11/16/2011). This book has received excellent advance praise from experts on survival and disaster preparedness. Stein is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he majored in Mechanical Engineering.

As the owner of Stein Design & Construction, he has built hurricane resistant, energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes.  The mechanical engineering side of his firm specializes in product design and development. Among other things, Mat has designed consumer water filtration devices, solar PV roofing panels, medical bacterial filters, emergency chemical drench systems, computer disk drives, and portable fiberglass buildings.

He joins us today to discuss a variety of topics such as…

  • 2012 all hype, pretty much but a frightening time anway
  • Growing your own food
  • Herbal remedies you really want to know about
  • Colloidal silver the good and the mythology
  • What a financial collapse might look like
  • The skills you want to develop prior to a collapse situation
  • What we can learn from Cuba vs. North Korea about self sufficiency
  • The “pit of the stomach” exercise
  • The threat of emerging antibiotic resistant diseases like new strains of TB
  • The best case scenario for a pandemic and how bad even that would be
  • Simple steps to get on to a path of self sufficiency

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Matthew Stein’s Links

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-832- Darby Simpson on Full Time “Beyound Organic” Farming

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Modern Survival| 48 Comments
Episode-832- Darby Simpson on Full Time "Beyound Organic" Farming [ 1:25:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
A Pigs Life is a Good One at Simpson Family Farm

A Pigs Life is a Good One at Simpson Family Farm

Darby Simpson is the owner of Simpson Family Farm, a 7th generation family farm (1828-present) and a lifelong Indiana resident Darby grew up not realy learning anything about farming, became a mechanical engineer.

He worked in the engineering field from 1994-2010.  Began small scale pastured based meat farming (Joel Salatin style) in 2007.  Grew the business while continuing to work off farm full time. In 2010 like many Americans he lost his job due to the recession and took the farm full time.  The farm now provides his family with a full time income.

Darby’s family began homeschooling in 2011, and his family is now together everyday.   In his words.

“We have a blessed life.  I feel like Neo in the Matrix: I’ve unplugged from what society told me my life was supposed to look like – public school, college, cubical, fast food lifestyle.”

Today he joins us to discuss small scale, beyond organic production of pastured based meats & eggs (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs) for the homesteader or for someone looking to begin their own business (full or part time).

 

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Episode-831- Seed Starting Primer for 2012

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Modern Survival| 38 Comments
Episode-831- Seed Starting Primer for 2012 [ 1:17:17 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Starting Seeds

Starting Seeds is Easy

I get a lot of questions from people who are looking to start plants from seeds vs. buying plants at the nursery.  Many people struggle with seed starting for a variety of reasons so I am dedicating most of today’s show to help you master the skill of taking tiny seeds and turning them into food and medicine producing plants.

The reality is starting seeds can be frustrating if you don’t do it correctly but it doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you follow the blueprint Mother Nature has laid out for us.  Once you do that starting your own makes producing your own food extremely cost effective.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • Understanding how seeds germinate in the wild (this answers so many questions)
  • What are the needs of a seed
  • Cubes, pots, paper and peat
  • Why starting indoors is a good idea
  • Light and not all light is equal
  • The role of the greenhouse and getting by without one (sort of)
  • Building a simple grow light
  • Mist watering and watering from the bottom
  • Creating constant temperatures
  • Culling and “pricking out”
  • Starting seeds in pots that are generally considered “direct sow”
  • Seeds that should almost always be direct sowed
  • Hardening off seeds
  • Potting up the why and how
  • Holding back in ground planting until you are sure
  • Mulch is your friend

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-828- Steve Solomon on Organic Mythology and Soil Health

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Modern Survival| 49 Comments
Episode-828- Steve Solomon on Organic Mythology and Soil Health [ 1:27:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Steve Solomon author and founder of SoilAndHealth.org

Steve Solomon founder of SoilAndHealth.org

Steve Solomon writes books on food gardening.  He officially “retired” at the age of 44 after selling the mail order seed business he built up with great success in the 1980s.  Today he makes his home in Australia where he grows the majority of the food they consume.

Steve considers himself a political libertarian and sees his role in life to be “encouraging others food self sufficiency and better health.  He describes his methods and books as “beyond organic” or even as “outside organic”.

Today he joins us to discuss why the quality of our food has been in decline for centuries.  The importance of mineral amendments in not just growing a lot of food or good looking food but growing highly nutritious food.  Why you should definitely do a soil test on the land you are growing on even if you are getting good or even great production and more.

Steve will even explain why although organic food may be free of many toxins it is often no more nutritionally valuable then conventionaly grown produce.  He will even challenge the definition of “heirloom seeds” in a quite convincing manner.

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-827- Dave Whitinger of AllThingsPlants.com

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Modern Survival| 18 Comments
Episode-827- Dave Whitinger of AllThingsPlants.com [ 1:27:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Dave Whitinger of AllThingsPlants.com

Dave Whitinger of AllThingsPlants.com

Dave Whitinger is the founder of many websites, most notably DavesGarden.com and AllThingsPlants.com.  Thousands of gardeners around the world use his websites for researching gardening information.

Dave is widely recognized as a leading figure in the online world of gardening. He’s the current president of his local master gardener association and lives a mostly self-reliant existence with his family on 90 acres in East Texas.

He joins us today to discuss the history of Dave’s Garden and his new and dramatically improved website, All Things Plants. We will also be discussing gardening, farming, self sufficiency, sources of online gardening information, advanced gardening topics, permaculture, hugelkultur, raising livestock, gardening in Texas along with the drought of 2011.

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-813- Growing for Market with Steve “The Greenhouse Guy”

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Modern Survival| 20 Comments
Episode-813- Growing for Market with Steve "The Greenhouse Guy" [ 1:03:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Steve Kasarda, started, built, owned and sold 3 nurseries. Now he grows for market (show theme) and manufactures greenhouses. He is here today to discuss “growing for market” without spending thousands or perhaps even hundreds of dollars.

Steve's Green Houses Growing in The North West Winter

Join Us Today As We Discuss…

  • General green house growing
  • Soils ,plant starts, grow temps, supplemental heat
  • Getting started at the market with selling, display and pricing mix of product
  • How to treat a customer and keep them as a customer
  • The role a greenhouse or poly tunnel can play in making you money
  • How long it takes to become an established market grower
  • Getting plant starts on the cheap or free
  • Creating unique niches and selling the average stuff as wel
  • How to organize your displays for transport and protect your merchandise
  • Making gardening into a profit center

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-788- Trevor Van Hemert on Composting

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Modern Survival| 14 Comments
Episode-788- Trevor Van Hemert on Composting [ 1:13:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Trevor Van Hemert of PedalToPetal.com

Trevor Van Hemert of PedalToPetal.com

Trevor Van Hemert runs Pedal to Petal a company that picks up food scraps from all over the city of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Pedal To Petal is a permaculture-based collective of bicycle loving food security activists who are taking direct action to reduce carbon emissions and landfill waste and to feed the soil and the city’s hungry.

They do all their pick up and transport via the use of bicycles with zero use of any fossil fuels. The finished compost is used to grow food in the same city where the components are collected and the compost is produced making Pedal to Petal a truly local business.

While most people would tend to expect Pedal to Petal to be a non profit business it is actually a very successful for profit enterprise proving that a business can be successful, profitable and still have a soul and a noble purpose.

Join Us Today as we Discuss…

  • What exactly is compost
  • What is compost useful for
  • How does nature make its own compost
  • What can and can not be composted
  • The science of composting
  • How long does composting take
  • Stages of the compost cycle
  • Carbon and nitrogen sources and ratios
  • Rat proofing compost bins
  • Composting with worms
  • Multi bin systems
  • Heating with compost
  • Aerobic vs anaerobic composting
  • Making bio gas
  • Composting humanure
  • Compost pit for water storage

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-776- Winter Gardening Projects

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Modern Survival| 17 Comments
Episode-776- Winter Gardening Projects [ 1:01:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
A Winter Homestead

Photo Credit to lawr88223

Now is the time to get going with your late fall and winter gardening projects and project planning.  Yesterday I went and got another load of compost from the city compost facility.

What I noticed is in the 55 degree weather doing so was a lot more enjoyable, it reinforced something I have always said, cool weather is best for your gardening projects.  So I figured today would be a good time to go over some fall/winter project ideas, including some I am currently working on and have planned.

Join me today as I discuss….

  • The greenhouse is going in this month
  • Why I am rethinking aquaponics
  • Time to trick or treat for organic matter
  • My concept for a seasonal zoned rabbit hutch
  • Cover cropping and pasture creation
  • Thoughts on compost heating systems
  • The rocket mass heated greenhouse
  • A true hidden/survival garden
  • Hugelkultur bed progress to date

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-728- Personal Liberty and Actionable Garden Intelligence

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Modern Survival| 19 Comments
Episode-728- Personal Liberty and Actionable Garden Intellegence [ 1:09:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Two we have a two part episode.  In the first part I discuss more about Jan Cline and a progress report on what the TSP audience has done so far.  As of this morning Jan had received over 16,000 and the TSP community by my best count has chipped in over 5,000 of that 16K.

Additionally we discuss personal liberty and why standing up in situations like this is important for everyone’s liberty including our own.  I am also asking you to call the Mayor of Salem Oregon today and tell her what a waiver is!  She stated that they are “looking for a solution to the problem are trying to find some commercial property she can use for her sales”.  Only politicians are stupid enough to see this as a solution.

Apparently this mayor thinks it is okay to expect a woman so riddled with bone cancer to carry her stuff to some “commercial property”.  A woman so riddled with cancer that in her own words, “I could break my leg by walking”.

Personally I feel that at this point that Jan won’t need the sales anymore.  Her real hope though was, “I hope no one else ever has to go through this”.  Well we have come together to help Jan financially now today let us come together to make that wish come true at least in Salem.  Please call the mayor and explain to her that she could and should fix this in 5 minutes with a waiver if she had courage to use her power to do just that.  You can find contact information for Salem’s mayor here.

In part two of the show we discuss the lessons I have learned with my bag and container gardens this year.

Some of the things I  have learned this year…

  • Mason wasps are cool
  • Red wasps patrol your plants looking for prey
  • Cope’s Gray Frogs like dog dishes and blossoms for mini ponds
  • Green anoles are very prolific
  • Swifts and skinks like wood and rock piles
  • Black ants may kill squash vine borers (not sure yet)
  • Bag gardening works great you just have to water often
  • Watermelons grow beautifully in my area

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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