Update on Gardening

As of late, I have been doing a lot of research into forest gardening and the efficacy of the its practice, and frankly, I think it is the best gardening system I have come across! Now, I am pretty new to gardening techniques, but the way it works just makes so much sense.

A garden comprised of food bearing perennials(plants that return year after year) and some non-food bearing perennials that provides food and medicine year after year. It seems to just fit nicely with the current hustle and bustle of life since forest gardens require little upkeep.

To be more specific, the system works by the gardener selecting and pairing plants that not only provide food, but also provide a healthy environment for the other plants. For instance, selecting a tree that may not necessarily produce food but that infuses important nutrients like nitrogen into the soil makes the garden work particularly well. I am right now reading about the ginkgo tree and how well it is going to go in my future forest garden because it is a hardy tree that benefits the overall ecosystem. As an added bonus, it is a medicinal tree that has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine for boosting memory.

In summary, I am really excited about forest gardening and cannot wait to start mine! I will continually post about forest gardening because I think it is really important.

Arctic Ice Increases 30%

For those who still hold on to the Al Gorian world-view that the earth is being irreversibly warmed by SUVs, here is some new that might change your mind.

Arctic Ice, which global-warming-alarmist had predicted would be near gone this summer, were surprised to learn that arctic ice has increased by 30% from August 2007 to August 2008.

Time will have to tell, however, whether or not Al Gore will still throw his weight behind this man-made problem.

Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/arctic-ice-grows-30-per-cent-in-a-year.html

Natural Baby Care

To Continue this week's theme of natural family and baby care, I am going to write about baby care that is not only wonderful for the family as a whole, but for the environment as well.

First, one technique that I thought was interesting and a great alternative to cloth and commercial diapers a like is the elimination communication technique (or infant potty-training as I like to call it). This technique requires a few diapers in the beginning, but as you pick up the baby's cues or signals that he (or she) needs to use the bathroom, it becomes easier. A great book on the subject would be Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke. This would be a great way to be eco-friendly and teach the child how to eliminate waste early on in life. Though this technique is aimed at infants, it can be used on older babies and toddlers as well.

Lastly, the most important natural baby care thing to do is to breast-feed, Breast-feed BREAST-FEED! I used such strong emphasis because it is very important for the baby that it is breast fed. The only time a baby should not be breast is if for some reason the mother is unable (HIV/AIDS or some other disease that makes it unsafe to breast feed). Natural breast milk provides all the nutrition a baby needs early on in life, provided the mother eats nutritiously, and creates a wonderful bond between mother and child. But, for those who cannot breast-feed, raw organic goats milk is the best alternative (cow's milk contains proteins that most babies cannot digest). Soy formula should not be used because it contains soy protein which deprives the body of minerals and some vitamins, so only organic, raw goats milk should be used (if that is unavailable, just use organic goats milk).

An additional tip for breast-feeding is to learn different feeding positions. We all of pictures in our head of mother sitting upright in a rocking chair feeding the baby, but breast-feeding doesn't have to be that static. Try breast-feeding the baby while lying down. This way, the mother can sleep and the baby can eat, and that means both won't be very fussy later! Also, this allows the mother to get much need sleep while her baby is feeding, after all a well rested mother can lead to more quality time with the baby as well as other family members (husband, other children).

FWW

This weeks featured website is Natural Birth and Baby Care. This website provides an exceptionally valuable service because it shows how to naturally care for babies, good nutrition during pregnancy (and a few things that I didn't know!), as well as natural birthing tips.

I have been reading a lot of the articles and I can say that this website is one of the better ones for natural baby care.

Cleaning Up the Environment

For the last few days, I have been focusing on being environmentally friendly. I have been doing this because I think it is important that we all un-learn our destructive behavior and adopt new, more earth-friendly habits.

Many people want to look at popular things like buying a hybrid to be environmentally friendly. Not that thats a bad thing, but there are many ways that the earth is being polluted and hardly anyone is aware of the simple solutions that could help reduce pollution. Now I don't believe the "Global Warming" hype as I have stated in a previous post, but that doesn't mean I believe in trashing the earth.

So here are two ideas that I think will affect our health and environment greatly. First, I think that women should convert from disposable menstrual pads to the reusable cotton variety. It is less expensive because you don't have to keep buying a ton of pads every month. It is also healthier because organic cotton menstrual pads do not contain dioxin, bleach, glues or other chemicals that could be harmful. From an environmental stand point, this would create less trash because there is a great preponderance of feminine care products (pads, tampons, applicators, etc.) that fill landfills. A great source for natural, reusable cotton pads is LunaPads.

Secondly, this suggestion is really along the same lines as the first. Instead of using disposable baby diapers, use reusable cloth. This has many health benefits because cotton diapers are more breathable than the disposables, and they do not have the same kind of glues or other chemicals in them that could harm the baby in the long run. Also, you have less diaper rash, and that is better for everyone involved! For the same reason as disposable menstrual pads, cloth diapers are much better for the environment. A good source of cloth diapers is Green Mountain Diapers.

All in all, we can do things like buy a hybrid, and that is good; however, we also need to think on a smaller scale of how our trash is affecting the world and how we can take smaller steps to clean up the earth. Plant a tree, walk more, use reusable personal care products, these are just some of the small, simple steps that need to be taken to create a better environment.

New Kind of Gardening Technique

Good Morning! I was just doing some morning reading when I came across a website that details a new kind of gardening which provides greater yields and is more eco-friendly! It is called Forest Gardening. Now, it is still new to me, but it looks like it is a great form of gardening.

If we really want to help the environment, I think it is imperative that a large portion of people begin, sustainable, natural home gardening. I think Forest Gardening can provide just that! It is supposed to work by mimicking the ecosystems of forests, but since I am new to the system, I will give you the definition of forest gardening the website gives:

Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts.

I plan on thoroughly perusing the website and maybe buying the books to better educate myself and you, the reader, about this form of gardening and how it can effect you, your offspring, and the environment.

But for now, I have learned one tip that will help Gardeners everywhere get better plants. Dissolve sea salt or Himalayan salt in pure water(maybe spring water) in a glass jar, and keep adding salt until it just barely dissolves --with a few salt crystals floating. And then, feed it to your plants, that will help restore minerals to the plants and soil.

Evironmentally Friendly Products

Recently, I have come across a product that I think will be helpful in being environmentally friendly. Now don't get me wrong, I do not hold to the Global Warming ideology; however, I do think it is important to be clean living and to be environmentally friendly.

Before I tell you about this product, I just want everyone to know that I am not, have not, and will not be payed or reimbursed for blogging about this or any other products. I am blogging about it because I think it is important to promote such a product to help people live more healthfully and environmentally friendly.

The product is the eco-friendly Bodhi Soap Nuts. This is a ground-breaking new way to get clean laundry, naturally, without the harsh chemicals. These nuts have been used in India for hundreds of years for the expressed purpose of getting naturally clean clothes. It comes from a tree known as the Chinese soapberry tree, it is bio-degradable (you can simply throw it on your compost heap after your done with them), and best of all it does not have carcinogens, skin irritation chemicals, or any such harmful chemicals that are harmful to the body and the environment. I have not tried them yet, but from what I have read, they seem to be the real deal. Mike Adams of Truth Publishing wrote a good review of Bodhi Soap Nuts, and from other reviews, this product seems great! I think this is a must in every household, and it would help the environment and preserve health.

Top Soil Depletion

I was just reading this article on naturalnews.com and I found it quite interesting. The article speaks to soil depletion, and I think this is a very important topic. We need start taking better care of our soil buy recycling food back into it. Compost! Compost!Compost! Admittedly, I have been neglecting my own compost pile, but that will not always be the case. I plan on taking better care of my compost pile better in the future. Anyway, this article is very interesting, but I found it to be devoid of solutions to the top soil depletion problem. So, I did a little digging (no pun intended), and I found another article that gives more details into what can be done.

To sum up a lot of information, it lists four ways to slow the depletion of top soil:
- Compost leaves from fall
- Eat local from small farms
- Don't support corn products like ethanol (I know gas prices are through the roof, but this about something more important than that)
- Buy direct from farmers

Until next time!