This Sustainable House

Posts Tagged ‘seed’

In another fabulous book by Michael Pollan (can you guess that I am something of a fan?), looks at four distinct families of domesticated plants asking the question… who domesticated who? The plants looked at are the Apple, Tulip, Marijuana and Potato.

In this very entertaining book, Michael shows that much of the success of these plants in our world is predicated on their ability to meet certain human desires and how, through judicious breeding, these plants have improved upon their ability to meet those needs.

For example, whilst considering the apple, Michael delves deeply into the history, and controversy, surrounding John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) who simultaneously preached to the frontier as well as bringing them applejack (a hard liquor made from cider). He demonstrates that by providing the settlers with apple seedlings he was meeting their needs for the familiar (each apple orchard ‘tamed’ the wilderness), stability (apples take many years to fruit), and social lubrication (let’s not forget the applejack!). This combined with their natural genetic variability, assisted them to acclimatise so rapidly to the new world.

When looking at the potato, he looks at the important role this tuber has played in the civilisation of the Inca’s, the growth of the potato as a crop in Ireland (and most of Europe), the tragic impact of the potato blight, and modern methods and refinements to this delicious crop. Central to this discussion is the “New Leaf” potato, a genetically engineered spud created by the Monsanto corporation to produce it’s own BT toxin.

I’d highly recommend this book to any gardener or farmer as it is not only an entertaining read, but also provides us with a different view on 4 very familiar species of plants. I know that I will no longer look at these plants in quite the same manner.

Note: If you are interested in purchasing The Botany of Desire, the please consider purchasing via this link from Amazon. In this way you will be supporting the This Sustainable House project. Mind you… if the local library has it then get it there!

I know that the above phrase normally goes the other way around, but in this case I noticed the curse first…

A couple of months ago I decided to revegetate a sacrificial paddock. A sacrificial paddock is one in which the animals are maintained for longer than would normally be prudent.  This would normally be a landcare nightmare but in this case a small area was chosen, which was already significantly degraded, which could be intensively revegetated following the animals.

I chose to build 2 sacrificial paddocks near the front gate for this purpose as the soil in that location was already bare hardpan, and their location would be ideal for quarantine/holding/calving paddocks moving forward. They are approx. 0.2 acres in size each.

A pair of the mischevious maruaders...

The plan to revegetate was to cover the soil with straw to a depth of about 1-2cm, and then Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I have been reading a number of books around transgenic foods (also known as genetically modified foods), and the dangers/benefits they produce. Whilst this topic is highly decisive, it did highlight for me another area of concern… the twindling number of species grown in our agricultural systems.

For example, over the 20th century, the US Department of Agriculture’s seed storage bank reduced the varieties of fruits and vegetables held. For example 544 varieties of cabbage became just 28; 287 varieties of carrot was reduced to 21; and most staggeringly of all, 2,683 varieties of pear was reduced to approx 300.

Of course the practical upshot of these losses is the fact that the majority of our food crops, both in agriculture & the home garden, are genetically narrow.

What is the risk of sameness??

Read the rest of this entry »

The reality for a lot of people living in cities is that they don’t have the space, or time, to grow their own food. Of course there are a number of initiatives that help to address this, such as the allotment movement. But how do you grow your own food at home, or how do you make the most of allotment resources if you are frail, infirm or have other ‘issues’. The solution is easy… Sprouted Seeds

The Benefits of Sprouting

Sprouting seed is one of the easiest, and most productive form of gardening available. It is something that anyone can do and, in fact, it is a wonderful activity for children.

Sprouts are an alkalizing, living food which continue to grow until such time as they are eaten. They contain a greater concentration of vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes than almost any other food, and have been used for centuries to invigorate the body’s immune system, work against toxins and even counter cell mutation. Think of them as a super food you can grow right on your bench top and you wouldn’t go far wrong… Read the rest of this entry »

One of this weekends task’s was to begin setting up the greenhouse. One of the first things I needed to do was to setup a couple of propagation tables with irrigation system. The irrigation system is attached to a automatic timer ensuring that the system turns on, and off, regularly throughout the day without supervision.

The video below details the system…

One of the things I really love about gardening is the way it constantly surprises me. For example, on Friday I set-up the indoor gardening trial using hydroponics to grow salad vegetables inside (see the post here). As noted in that post, I also planted some seeds in growool cubes to ‘flesh’ out the bed… and WOW!! Talk about growth…

Here we are, only 72hrs from planting, and already we have seedlings presenting their heads. Admittadley, they are slightly spindly as their current location is a little devoid of light but that can easily be fixed. Check it out…