Tag Archives: organic gardening

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

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Modern Survival| 44 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-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-693- Creative Gardening Solutions for Transitional or Harsh Environments

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Modern Survival| 29 Comments
Episode-693- Creative Gardening Solutions for Transitional or Harsh Environments [ 1:03:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A quick bag garden combined with a natural trellis.

Gardening and permaculture are key topics with me when it comes to modern survival living.  Some question this concept and feel survivalism is far more about beans, bullets and bandaids than compost, a shovel and turning soil.

To such types I have one question, where do you think the beans come from?

I have said a few things before that I feel need to be reinforced today.

  1. You can only store so much food
  2. You may fight a real battle a handful of times in your life or never but you must eat daily
  3. Our current food supply is threatened
  4. Our food supply is now heavily effected by inflation
  5. Being self sufficient means you must feed yourself

This is all well and good but at times we find ourselves in transitional periods or dealing with harsh environments.  While I believe that permaculture can in fact terraform the desert (because it has, see Greening the Desert for an example) such terraforming takes time and resources.  Something you may not have or have in sufficient amounts to feed yourself this season.   Today I present to you some options that can get you up and producing quickly during just about any season of the year.

The purpose of today’s show is to help you get production will making major improvements to the land itself or even use the transitional method to improve the land long term.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • The bag garden
    • For quick production
    • For creating a permanent “fence garden”
    • Fore creation of conventional raised beds
  • The self watering bucket and rain gutter garden
    • Self maintaining
    • Used easy to find materials
    • Presents unlimited configurations
    • Can be permanent
    • Takes care of itself while you improve your land
  • The Straw Bale Garden
    • Can be up and running in a few weeks with no digging
    • Can be a permanent or transitional
    • Is very water efficient
  • Rock Garden Hugelkultur
    • Fast permanent structure
    • Requires no digging
    • Looks great
    • Perfect for herbs
    • Uses abundant/cheap/free  materials

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-436- Listener Feedback 5-17-10

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Modern Survival| 10 Comments
Episode-436- Listener Feedback 5-17-10 [ 1:06:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we do another listener feedback Monday and discuss your questions about precious metals IRAs, bugging in vs. bugging out, the lie that everyone should go to college, advice for people considering a military career and more.

Join Me Today As We Discuss…

  • What military trades are best for post military careers?
  • What is a “maintenance echelon and why should a perspective solider care?
  • What should a person do that doesn’t want to bug out?
  • Is a college degree necessary, can it be a bad idea for some?
  • Can you hold physical gold and silver in an IRA or just “paper metal”?
  • How do you secure gold and silver in your home?
  • What should you consider before you get a safe deposit box?
  • What permaculture investments can a short term resident make in property?
  • Are organic pesticides safe for your garden?
  • Is the state of Pennsylvania threatening its citizens with thuggery?
  • Does the Federal Reserve use lobbyists?

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-425- Eight Essential Survial Gardening Skills

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Modern Survival| 9 Comments
Episode-425- Eight Essential Survial Gardening Skills [ 1:00:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we take a look at developing eight conventional and unconventional skills for the survival gardener.  Ways that you can maximize production, protect your crops, extend your seasons and maximize space.

I am also going to do a follow up on my comments about the Arizona immigration bill yesterday, giving you what Paul Harvey would call “the rest of the story”.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • Succession planting
  • Trellising
  • Guerrilla gardening
  • Companion planting
  • Container gardening
  • Sheet mulching and rough mulching
  • Water harvesting
  • Wildlife identification

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-192- Pest Control for a Sustainable Survival Garden

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Modern Survival| 23 Comments
Episode-192- Pest Control for a Sustainable Survival Garden [ 44:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s show is about methods of organic pest control in your garden.  I am big on organic gardening and organic methods, not because I want to save the polar bears but simply because they work better and are more efficient and sustainable long term.  Sustainability is the key to long term survival.

I also have another brief swine flu update and big news, TSP has been featured by Lew Rockwell.com

Tune in Today to Hear…

  • What we can learn about organic vs. chemical from the medical world
  • Why if you don’t have healthy soil you don’t have anything long term
  • Using diatomaceous earth to kill pests with out any toxins
  • Garlic based repellent repel more then just insects
  • Neem a natural wonder are insect control but let’s not over use it
  • Soap based insecticides and combining them with other ingredients including neem
  • Orange based products handle garden pests and even fire ants
  • Nasturtiums an editable flower that does a great deal to protect your garden
  • Mint, use with caution because it is invasive but it is very effective in companion planting
  • Onions and Garlic great allies in repelling insect pests
  • French Marigolds a death sentence for bad nematodes
  • 4′Oclocks the last mean for the Japanese beetle
  • Chrysanthemums hard to spell, easy to plant great for your garden
  • The four horsemen of herbs; parsley, basil, oregano and rosemary

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.

You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.

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Episode-101- Monsanto and the Genetically Modified Food Threat

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Modern Survival| 5 Comments
Episode-101- Monsanto and the Geneticallyy Modified Food Threat [ 42:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s show is about Monsanto and the Genetically Modified Food Threat.  I wanted to take a day to really inform our listeners about how real the threat of Genetically Modified Food (GMOs) really is.

Tune in today to hear…

  • How the company that brought us PCBs, DDT and Agent Orange and told us they were all “perfectly safe” wants us to “trust them on their word” about GMOs!
  • How Monsanto knowingly poisoned the town of Anniston and are “proud of what they did”
  • The threats posed by “Round Up Ready” Canola and Soy
  • How ancient seeds are now being patented on a first come first serve basis
  • How the ancient of rule of agriculture (you must contain your threats from you neighbors) are being ignored by legal courtroom manipulation by Monsantos legal squad
  • How the issue of patenting life might be the biggest threat we face today
  • How GMO Cotton, Beets and Canola do effect the food supply even if you don’t personally eat them
  • How Monsanto has begun buying up almost all the independent seed companies
  • What you can do about all this, the only real thing you can honestly do!
  • Look at your hands and see your answer to this problem

Resources for Today’s Show

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Episode-89- Organic Companion Planting for Survival Gardening

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Modern Survival| 6 Comments
Episode-89- Organic Companion Planting for Survival Gardening [ 41:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In today’s show we dig into companion planting as part of building sustainable survival gardens.  Tune in today to hear….

  • How organic gardening is more about what you do then what you don’t do
  • How organic gardening is a holistic system not just the absence of chemicals
  • Why companion planting is more “natural” then isolated planting
  • Combinations such as…
    • Cabbage and dill
    • Corn, beans and squash
    • Lettuce and Flowering Tobacco and Spider Flower
    • Radishes and Spinach
    • Roses and Garlic or Onions
    • Tomatoes and Broccoli
    • Cucumbers and Nasturtiums
    • Peppers and Pigweed
  • The two pairings you should never make
  • Six plants that can kill, repell and destroy pest insects
  • Four awesome herbs for every garden

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.

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Episode-23- The Role of Heirloom Vegetables in Survival Planning

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Modern Survival| 8 Comments
Episode-23- The Role of Heirloom Vegetables in Survival Planning [ 30:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we discuss heirloom vegetables and their unique role in survival planning. Tune in to today’s show to learn…

  • The danger we face from “Monsantisation” of our food supply
  • How Monsanto has used hybrids and patents to control agriculture across the globe
  • The difference between heirloom seed, hybrid seed and genetically altered seed
  • How you can build better strains of vegetables that are highly adapted to your region, naturally
  • The need to keep proper distances to prevent natural hybridization of your heirloom plants
  • How seed saving creates greater independence and sustainability
  • How to select the best starting stock for your seed requirements
  • The advantage that the home gardener has over the small scale farmer
  • The importance of adding composting to your gardening plan
  • The need for legumes in organic gardening

Remember that this podcast is not a lecture it is a conservation. Comment, suggest topics and let me know what you want to hear next.

P.S. – Remember to enter and participate in our Listener Appreciation Contest where you can win a free iPod Nano or another cool prise.

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