Food
Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms, human sewage sludge, and nanomaterials.
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming
Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design that develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems. The core tenets of permaculture are:
- Text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
- Image from: http://www.hgconnsoil.com/Pages/GuestPermacultureforProfessionals.aspx
- Care for the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.
- Care for the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.
- Return of surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness.
- Text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
- Image from: http://www.hgconnsoil.com/Pages/GuestPermacultureforProfessionals.aspx
Hugelkultur
Used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, hugelkultur (in German hugelkultur translates roughly as “mound culture”) is a gardening and farming technique whereby woody debris (fallen branches and/or logs) are used as a resource.
Often employed in permaculture systems, hugelkultur allows gardeners and farmers to mimic the nutrient cycling found in a natural woodland to realize several benefits. Woody debris (and other detritus) that falls to the forest floor can readily become sponge like, soaking up rainfall and releasing it slowly into the surrounding soil, thus making this moisture available to nearby plants. Hugelkultur garden beds (and hugelkultur ditches and swales) using the same principle to:
- Text from: http://permaculturenews.org/2010/08/03/the-art-and-science-of-making-a-hugelkultur-bed-transforming-woody-debris-into-a-garden-resource/
- Image from: http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
Used for centuries in Eastern Europe and Germany, hugelkultur (in German hugelkultur translates roughly as “mound culture”) is a gardening and farming technique whereby woody debris (fallen branches and/or logs) are used as a resource.
Often employed in permaculture systems, hugelkultur allows gardeners and farmers to mimic the nutrient cycling found in a natural woodland to realize several benefits. Woody debris (and other detritus) that falls to the forest floor can readily become sponge like, soaking up rainfall and releasing it slowly into the surrounding soil, thus making this moisture available to nearby plants. Hugelkultur garden beds (and hugelkultur ditches and swales) using the same principle to:
- Help retain moisture on site
- Build soil fertility
- Improve drainage
- Use woody debris that is unsuitable for other use
- Text from: http://permaculturenews.org/2010/08/03/the-art-and-science-of-making-a-hugelkultur-bed-transforming-woody-debris-into-a-garden-resource/
- Image from: http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
Vertical farming is cultivating plant or animal life within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically inclined surfaces. The idea of a vertical farm has existed at least since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The modern idea of vertical farming uses techniques similar to glass houses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting. Mixed-use skyscrapers were proposed and built by architect Ken Yeang. Yeang proposes that instead of hermetically sealed mass-produced agriculture that plant life should be cultivated within open air, mixed-use skyscrapers for climate control and consumption (i.e. a personal or communal planting space as per the needs of the individual). This version of vertical farming is based upon personal or community use rather than the wholesale production and distribution plant and animal life that aspires to feed an entire city. It thus requires less of an initial investment than Despommier's "The Vertical Farm". However, neither Despommier nor Yeang are the conceptual "originators", nor is Yeang the inventor of vertical farming in skyscrapers.
- Text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming
- Image from: http://www.stanford.edu/group/suss/cgi-bin/main/blog/?attachment_id=5863
- Text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming
- Image from: http://www.stanford.edu/group/suss/cgi-bin/main/blog/?attachment_id=5863