The Earthbound Farm Farm Stand in Carmel Valley, California, offers more than unique organic produce and flowers fresh from our fields — there's delicious food from our certified Organic Kitchen, gourmet groceries, and engaging events for the whole family. Come visit us!

Our Farm Stand: The hub of our 30-acre organic R&D farm offers unique fresh produce and flowers, gourmet groceries, plus a Cut-Your-Own Herb Garden and more.

Organic Kitchen: Hungry? Every day our certified Organic Kitchen in the Farm Stand creates organic treats for every taste — from beverages, baked goodies, and entrees to a tempting all-organic salad bar.

What's Happening at the Farm Stand: From April through October, a wide range of engaging events take place each Saturday.

Ask Farmer Mark: What makes organic farming so special? Ask someone with more than 26 years of organic farming experience: "Farmer Mark" Marino, our Carmel Valley farm manager — we sell his premium organic produce at our Farm Stand.

Our Farm Stand is Open Year-Round
Hours: Mon-Sat 8-6:30, Sun 9-6
7250 Carmel Valley Road (just 3.5 miles east of Highway 1), Carmel, CA
831-625-6219

Sustainability Network 

More and more, no matter where you go, there are people taking steps towards sustainability. The links provided by the Sustainability Network will connect you to some really inspiring places and projects that have developed around the desire to live sustainably with the earth. 

Sustainability Network
http://www.sustainabilityproject.net/Sustainability_Network.html

Resources inclue Global Organizations, and various countries as diverse as the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Southe Africa, Ireland, and Australia.

The Land Institute's strategy includes collaboration with public institutions in order to direct more research in the direction of Natural Systems Agriculture.  

The team at the Land Institute feels comfortable having demonstrated the scientific feasibility of their proposal for a Natural Systems Agriculture. Because this work deals with basic biological questions and principles, the implications are applicable worldwide. If Natural Systems Agriculture were fully adopted, we could one day see the end of agricultural scientists from industrialized societies delivering agronomic methods and technologies from their fossil fuel-intensive infrastructures into developing countries and thereby saddling them with brittle economies.

Perennial Grain...a hybrid of intermediate wheatgrass and triticale could produce a more sustainable food crop that lives for years and builds deep root systems to tap deeper water sources. 

According to Scientific American's article about the Land Institute in 2007, Americans assume food production is easy and highly efficient already.  However, reality is that agriculture requires vast areas of land, regular high quantities of waer, energy and chemicals to meet the demands for our escalating human and animal populatons.

The UN sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment suggested that agriculture may be the "largest threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function of any single human activity."  OUCH!

"Today, most of humanity's food comes directly or indirectly (as animals feed) from cereal grains, legumes and oilseed crops.  These staples are appealing to producers and consumers because they are easy to transport and store, relatively imperishable, and fairly high in protein and calories.  As a result, such crops occupy about 80% of global agricultural land.  BUT, they are all annual plants, meaning that they must be grown anew from seeds every eyar, typically using resource-intensive cultivation methods. More troubling, the environmental degradation caused by agriculture will likely worsen as the hungry human population grows to eight billion or 10 billion in the coming decades."

Plant Breeders, Agronomists and Ecologists Strive for Solutions

Grain-cropping systems that functin much like natural ecosystems that have been displaced by agriculture is the holy grain for agriculture researchers.

Significant advances in plant breeding science are bringing this goal within sight at last!

Kansas plant geneticist Wes Jackson looked at the ecosystems that preceded agriculture to look for a solution. Mixtures of perennial plants once dominated nearly all the planet's landscapes and they still do in uncultivated areas today. 

More than 85% of North America's native plant species are PERENNIALS.

Because annuals have relatively shallow roots -- most less than 0.3 meters -- farming areas have problems with erosion, foil fertility depletion and water contamination...and lack of nature's natural farmers, wildlife.

Today the traits of perennials are becoming better appreciated for their root depths of more than two meters, plant communities that regulate ecosystem functions such as water management and carbon and nitrogen cycling.  They are also highly productive yet resilient in the face of environmental stresses.

Timothy grass, a perennial hay crop, is roughly 54 times more effective in maintaining topsoil than annual crops.  Scientists also find a fivefold reduction in water loss and a 35-fold reduction in nitrate loss from soil planted with alfalfa and mixed perennial grasses compared with soil under corn and soybeans.

Carbon sequestration by perennials is also boosted.  Carbon is the main ingredient of soil organic matter and can contain 50% more than annually cropped fields.   And perennial fields do not need to be worked every year, so less farm machinery cycles and less fertilizers and pestcides also reduce fossil fuel use.

Wildlife also benefits -- bird populations can be seven times more dense in perennial crop fields than annual crop fields. 

And perennials are far more capable of sustainable cultivation on marginal lands, which already have poor soil quality or would be quickly depleted by a few years of intensive annual cropping.

Perennial plant breeding research are focusing on wheat, sorghum, sunflower, intermediate wheatgrass and other species as perennial grain crops.

At The Land Institute, breeders are working both on domesticating perennial wheatgrass and on crossing assorted perennial wheatgrass species with annual wheats.  Although perennial crops such as alfalfa and sugarcane already exist around the world, none has seed yields comparable to those of annual grain crops...and  here is where creative plant breeding  works with  the growing environment, selective  breeding stock, and  judicious use of fertilizers to increase the yield of these perennial grains.

Deep roots mean resilience, and that trait might be more important than many short term plant attributes currently valued by agriculture.

Additional programs include the Climate and Energy Project (CEP)   See www.climateandenergy.org . The Land Institute formed this new project on climate and energy in February 2007. Because of the close connections between climate change, energy from coal, and agricultural vulnerabilities -- research is growing to explore the issues and find solutions to the issues that connect energy and farming.

The Land Institute
2440 E. Water Well Road,
Salina, KS 67401
785-823-5376
www.landinstitute.org

Nancy Jackson, Project Director
Climate and Energy Project
P.O. Box 442217
Lawrence, KS 66044
Ph: 785-331-8743
jackson@climateandenergy.org
www.climateandenergy.org

 

House 97: The Buck House, original home of the Center.

Campus Center for Appropriate Technology in California is a live-in demonstration home and educational center for appropriate technology and resource conservation.

This home based center is located on the Humboldt State University Campus in Arcata, California. Motivated by an approach of "education by example," CCAT offers tours, workshops, and opportunities for hands-on involvement to university students and the general public.

CCAT began in 1978 when a group of students, with the support of faculty and community members, renovated a dilapidated house on the university campus and initiated an experiment that continues today. CCAT works with fifteen HSU classes a year to incorporate new appropriate technologies into this living laboratory in sustainability.

The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology uses less than five percent of the energy consumed by the average U.S. house, produces almost no waste, and serves as a national model for appropriate technology.

Just as important as what the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology does, is how it is done. Three students live in the house and direct the program for one-year periods. Eighteen student employees keep operations going. Being directed, staffed, and funded by students makes CCAT a place where young adults become leaders; it nurtures creativity and hones professional and technical skills. CCAT helps to infuse their local university community with a practical idealism and a desire to serve the global community.

In 2007, the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology began rebuilding in a new location, offering another generation of students the opportunity to develop skills that lead to a greener future at the hands-on environmental learning center and demonstration home for sustainability projects.

A variety of university course students spend classroom time at CCAT, where students learn about everything from renewable energy to organic agriculture to green construction and design. Little by little, workers are reshaping the yard into a miniature eco-topia. “We joke that this is our little patch of South America or Southeast Asia,” Hart says, standing in the terraced gardens behind the home. The area used to be a bramble patch of invasive plants and weeds. As well as common fruits and vegetables, the garden includes edible native plants, herbs and wildflowers.

The recently installed solar panels should provide all of the home’s electricity, and a solar hot water heating system will not only provide hot tap water but also warm the house in winter by circulating the sun-warmed H2O through radiant concrete floors on the ground level. The concrete floors themselves are a thing of beauty, covered in a swirl of natural pigments made from iron sulfate and coffee topped with a soy-based sealant. The energy efficient home’s walls are filled with blown-in cellulose—made from shredded recycled newspaper—rather than industrial fiberglass.

Future projects include the installation of a rainwater collector to gather and store runoff from the roof, which will be used to quench the gardens.

For more information about the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology. Or stop by any Friday, volunteer day, to participate in the ongoing reconstruction effort.

The Campus Center for Appropriate Technology at Humboldt State University (CAL) has worked on sustainable strategies since 1978.  One "alternative technology" is alternative building techniques, which actually is a wide variety of technologies and materials that help people create buildings with less impact on the environment than traditional wood, concrete and brick.

Many regions of the world (including many parts of the U.S.) do not have enough wood to build wood-frame houses, so forest resources in other regions are depleted in order to import these scarce materials.

While wood-frame houses predominate in the U.S., many other building materials are in use around the world. Houses can be made out of locally available building materials such as cob, adobe, bamboo, straw bales, rammed earth, formed cement, and mixtures of these materials with waste debris (i.e. tires, cans, or bottles).

Inexpensive shelters can be made with poles and canvas, hides, or wool (i.e. Yurt or Teepee). In many places where wood is available, there is an under-utilized supply of "waste" -- small diameter timber (harvested in forest thinning operations). This timber can be used to make pole or log cabin style houses. Thatch, bamboo, tin roofing, sprayed cement, and living roofs can be used as alternatives to plywood/asphalt roofing.

Here are links to the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology's many resources for alternative building options:

• Alternative Building
  • Adobe
  • Bamboo
    • Bamboo Construction at CCAT By John Halley 
      
    • www.DeBoerArchitects.com
  • Cob
    • How to Build With Cob 
      
    • Cob: Technology of the Past, NOW By Patrick McAuley 
      
    • History of Cob By Jeffrey Steuben (Spring 2005)
  • Strawbale
    • CCAT's Strawbale Shed By Lisa Murgatroyd 
      
    • HSU Student Website Strawbale Shed By Tony Frink
      
    • How to Build Straw Bale Buildings [PDF 56.2KB] 
      
  • Rammed Earth
  • Sprayed Concrete and Papercrete
  • Earthships
    • Recycling Tires...More than Just Swings By Desideria Ramirez 
      
  • Yurts
    • Yurt: A Traditional Dwelling as an Alternative Building Design 
      
    
    

Appropriate Technology (AT) describes a way of providing for human needs with the least impact on the Earth's finite resources.

When determining if a technology is appropriate for a specific use,  members of the Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT) examine a number of issues:

Is the technology built locally or use local materials?

Can it be built, or at least maintained, with a minimum of specialized training?

Is its use sustainable over many generations?

Does it cause suffering in its manufacturing or use, human or otherwise, disproportionate to its benefits?

Can we financially afford it?

With answers to these questions, or at least predictions, we try to balance the benefits and harms of a technology to determine if it is appropriate.

Appropriate technology is not a specific item--it's not solar panels, or a greywater marsh, or anything. It's a way of evaluating a technology, a way of thinking about the social, economic, and environmental impacts of introducing a technology into our lives, and a technology may be appropriate in some situations and not in others. As E.F. Schumacher said when he coined the phrase, "AT is technology with a human face."

If you would like a more thorough description of the history of CCAT and four other demonstration cites at universities accross the United States see the following link [PDF 465.6 KB]. It was written by graduate student Kathy Jack under the advisement of Dan Ihara of HSU and the Center for Economic and Environmental Development.

Center for Appropriate Technology
Humboldt State University
Arcata, CA 95521
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/drupal-5/?q=node/5

Inspired by ecosystems as old as the earth itself, John Todd Ecological Design, Inc. rebuilds ecological balance for clients with The ECO Machine - a wastewater treatment system that naturally treats sewage and industrial waste to re-use quality. Ecological function is an important consideration as fresh water becomes one of the most important commodities in our urbanized world.

Nine Principles for Designing ECO Machines for Ecological Restoration

1. Microbial Communities: The primary ecological foundations of living machines are predicated upon diverse microbial communities obtained from a wide range of aquatic (marine and freshwater) and terrestrial environments. In addition, organisms form chemically and thermally highly stressed environments are critical. Genetic engineering cannot do what constellations of natural organisms can accomplish when they work in concert.

2. Photosynthetic Communities: Sunlight-powered photosynthesis is the primary driving force of these systems. Anaerobic phototrophic microbes, cyanobacteria, algae, and higher plants must be linked in a dynamic balance with the heterotrophic microbial communities.

3. Linked Ecosystems and the Law of the Minimum: At least three distinct types of ecological systems need to be linked together to produce living machines that carry out self design and self repair through time. Such systems have the theoretical ability to span centuries and possibly millennia.

4. Pulsed Exchanges: Nature works in short term/long term pulses which are both regular and irregular. This pulsing is a critical design force and helps maintain diversity and robustness. Pulses need to be intrinsic to design.

5. Nutrient and Micro nutrient Reservoirs: Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus ratios need to be regulated and maintained. A full complement of macro and trace elements needs to be in the system so that complex food matrices can be established and allowed to "explore" a variety of successive strategies over time. This will support biological diversity.

6. Geological Diversity and Mineral Complexity: Living machines can simulate a rapid ecological history by having within them minerals from a diversity of strata and ages. The geological materials can be incorporated into the sub-ecosystems relatively quickly by being introduced as ultra fine powders which can be solubilized over short time frames.

7. Step Gradients: Step gradients are required within and between the sub-elements of the system. These include redox, pH, humic materials, and ligand or metal-based gradients. These gradients help develop the high efficiencies that have been predicted for living machines.

8. Phylogenetic Diversity: In a well engineered ecosystem all phylogenetic levels from bacteria to vertebrates should be included. System regulators and internal designers are often unusual and unpredictable organisms. The development of various phyla has arisen to a large extent from the strategic exploration of the total global system over a vast period of time. This time can be compressed with the consequences of this evolution.

9. The Microcosm as a Tiny Mirror Image of the Macrocosm: This ancient hermetic law applies to ecological design and engineering. As much as possible, global design should be miniaturized in terms of gas, mineral, and biological cycles. The big system relationships need to be maintained in the living machine.

CONTACT:
John Todd Ecological Design, Inc.
P.O. Box 497
Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA
1.508.548.2545
www.toddecological.com

Inspired by ecosystems as old as the earth itself, John Todd Ecological Design, Inc. rebuilds ecological balance for clients with The ECO Machine - a wastewater treatment system that naturally treats sewage and industrial waste to re-use quality. Ecological function is an important consideration as fresh water becomes one of the most important commodities in our urbanized world.

John Todd Ecological Design's ECO Machines bring advanced wastewater treatment technology, and unsurpassed aesthetic, economic, and environmental advantages to companies, communities, and resorts both at home and internationally.

Dr. Todd is a pioneer in the emerging field of ecological design and engineering and has won many prestigious awards and honorary degrees including awards for projects from the EPA and a number of innovation awards including the Theodore Roosevelt conservation Award from the White House, and an achievement award by the United Nations Environment Program.

How does an Eco Machine Wastewater Treatment System Work?

ECO Machines accelerate nature's own water purification process. Unlike chemical-based systems, ECO Machines incorporate helpful bacteria, fungi, plants, snails, clams, and fish that thrive by breaking down and digesting organic pollutants, pollutants that normally deprive the water of oxygen. This clean, simple approach efficiently transforms high-strength industrial wastewater and sewage into water clean enough to be recycled for reuse.

CONTACT:
John Todd Ecological Design, Inc.
P.O. Box 497
Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA
1.508.548.2545
www.toddecological.com

We don't think of cemeteries as being landscapes of significance in the scheme of things...but they are.  Not only do they cover many thousands of acres in our communities, but the use of toxic materials in coffins also impact the ground water. 

In the Eastern and Southern states, coffins from Civil War times are still leaching lead into the water supply! How we bury our dead today will affect our landscape quality for generations to come.  And there ARE better choices.

Ecoffins: Eco-Friendly, All Natural and Biodegradable Alternatives for Green Burials and Cremation

As more and more American families and communities look for eco-friendly solutions to everything in life, a need remains for greener choices to fulfill the final wishes of loved ones at their time of death.

When William Wainman decided to introduce his company’s Ecoffins to the United States (at the 2007 National Funeral Directors Association International Convention & Exposition last fall) he was not sure how his products would be received. Wainman soon discovered that his timing was right, and that his products fit nicely with a growing need sought after by US funeral professionals.

Sustainable Materials

Ecoffins manufactures their entire product line using only environmentally sustainable material:

Bamboo– not the species consumed by pandas– the ultimate sustainable material, grown and harvested in licensed plantations (when cut down at the root, bamboo takes just 59 days to grow back to full height without the need for replanting);

Pandanus– an environmentally friendly alternative to sea grass (currently under threat from coastal development, dredging and urban expansion);

Willow– cut from bushes known as crowns which remain harvestable for approximately 40 years before they need to be replanted; and

Banana– sheaves come from the trunk of the plant which peel off naturally each year.

For additional information inquiries about EcoffinsUSA, please contact:

EcoffinsUSA
Telluride, Colorado
970-708-9652
www.ecoffinsusa.com

While the following story pertains to agriculture, the same concepts can be applied to urban management of soil...less surface disturbance means less dust and more stable growing environment.



Conservation tillage allows growers to reduce the number of times that tractors are run through their fields, for savings in time, energy and labor. The authors studied how the practice, with and without cover crops, affects yields, dust production and other factors in a cotton-tomato rotation.

Many tillage practices, however, can be a significant production cost, a cause of soil organic matter losses and a source of particulate matter emissions.

On average, 9 to 11 separate tillage related operations, each involving heavy equipment, are conducted during the fall through spring to prepare the soil for summer cropping in most current San Joaquin Valley cotton and tomato production fields. Deep tillage often is used in these systems to alleviate compaction that results from frequent tillage passes and harvest operations.

These operations account for up to 20% of production costs (Carter 1996), and require high energy and increased subsequent effort to prepare seed beds.

The adoption of conservation tillage (CT), or reduced tillage practices, may be a viable means for improving field-crop production systems if their profitability and capacity to conserve natural resources can be demonstrated.

In their many and varied forms, conservation tillage systems aim at reducing primary, intercrop tillage operations such as plowing, disking, ripping and mulching. As a result of these deliberate reductions in tillage, surface residues may accumulate and must be managed, and new techniques for crop establishment must be developed. Despite the potential attractiveness and utility of reduced-tillage production alternatives, conservation tillage adoption rates in agronomic row crops are very low in California, less than 2% (CTIC 2004).

Reasons for California’s low adoption rate include a lack of locally available conservation tillage equipment, inexperience with conservation tillage techniques, the predominance of surface, or gravity, irrigation systems and the fact that the tillage-intensive systems used in the San Joaquin Valley for several decades are generally quite productive (Mitchell et al. 2007).

RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

The researchers compared standard tillage (ST) and conservation tillage (CT) for tomato and cotton production systems, with winter cover crops (CC) and without (NO), in Five Points, Calif., from 1999 to 2003.

Conservation tillage reduced tractor trips across the field by 50% for tomatoes and 40% for cotton compared to standard tillage.

When averaged over the 2001 to 2003 period (when the conservation tillage systems were established), tomato yields in CTNO were 6 to 8 tons per acre higher than the other treatments.

In cotton, the STNO cotton yields during this period were the highest of all treatments and were 276 pounds per acre higher than the CTNO system.

In-field dust concentrations were also significantly reduced by conservation tillage.

Our results suggest that conservation tillage may be a viable alternative for managing tomato and cotton crops in the San Joaquin Valley, but that fine-tuning of the systems is needed.

by Jeffrey P. Mitchell, Randal J. Southard, Nicholaus M. Madden, Karen M. Klonsky, Juliet B. Baker, Richard L. DeMoura, William R. Horwath, Daniel S. Munk, Jonathan F. Wroble, Kurt J. Hembree, and Wesley W. Wallender

READ THE COMPLETE STORY: California Agriculture

 
Protecting the earth is getting harder for growers on California's Central Coast, where the need to ensure food safety conflicts with environmental rules aimed at improving water quality and wildlife habitat.
 
In response to a number of food safety outbreaks -- most recently an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with bagged spinach in September 2006 that killed three people and sickened 200 others -- some growers are removing conservation measures adjacent to croplands, according to a survey of Central Coast growers published in the University of California's California Agriculture journal (April-June 2008).

 
Researchers found that 8 percent (of 181 growers surveyed in spring 2007) had crops rejected by buyers based on the presence of practices to improve water quality and wildlife habitat on the farm. Likewise, 15 percent of the growers (managing some 30,000 acres) had removed or discontinued the use of previously adopted conservation practices, including ponds and reservoirs, irrigation reuse systems, and noncrop vegetation buffers such as grassed waterways, riparian habitat, buffer strips and trees.
 

However, authors Melanie Beretti, program director of the Monterey County Resource Conservation District, and Diana Stuart, UC Santa Cruz doctoral candidate in environmental studies, cite research showing that discouraging or actively removing such conservation practices could, in some cases, actually increase the risk of crop contamination.

 "Keeping produce as safe as possible is a critical goal," the authors write in California Agriculture journal. "However, the means to achieve this goal should be carefully investigated to insure that those measures actually reduce risks of crop contamination, do not increase other human health risks as a result of environmental degradation, and are cost-effective and practical to implement."


California Agriculture is the University of California's peer-reviewed journal of research in agricultural, human and natural resources. For a free subscription, go to: http://californiaagriculture.ucop.edu, write to calag@ucop.edu or call (510) 642-2431 x33.

Containers are...and aren't... natural growing mediums for plants.  That's a puzzling way to look at containers, but in nature, you find small containers such as a tree growing in a little pouch of soil on the side of a cliff, and you find watersheds which are really huge containers snuggled into the subsurface rocks of the earth's very infrastructure.

So...let's talk containers on a human scale.

Pots on a porch are the simplest form of container gardening.  Then come larger potted trees indoors.  And porch boxes to decorate Mediterranean windows and railings.  And even larger concrete pots that are lavish planters for corporate entryways and shopping centers.  And indoor gardens infused with water gardens and even waterfalls.

Containers are practical ways to bring living plants up and close to where we spend our time.  And I'm assuming you've already heard that Americans spend as much as 95% of their time indoors...

Customized Container Gardens

A new trend in landscaping is to plant customized containers in their final location.  Add professional skills to create professional results -- and reduce the amount of transportation and injury to plants as they are moved from distant growers to retailers to final destination landscapes.

Just plant them in place.  What a novel idea! 

The novelty is really that local nurseries can grow these pre-designed pots in their well-tended facilities and then move them in one piece, with specialized lifting equipment, of course, to their home without any transplanting, trimming or damage from poor care.

Container Gardening for Scale

A hanging basked just doesn't provide the scale necessary for today's larger buildings.  Whether the third story loft apartment or the three story office building...or towering entryway to a MacMansion, larger plantings fit better. 

Environmental Impact of Container Gardens

LARGER CONTAINTERS:  A potential benefit of larger plantings is that larger, more mature plants also provide more greenhouse gas and clim ate change benefits.  Mature trees provide more air filtration than saplings, so the larger the container and the longer-lived the trees and shrubs, the "greener" they can be.

Larger containers also hold moisture better than small containers.  Less exposure to air reduces evaporation.  Mulching containers with decorative rocks, bark or other natural materials can also reduce water use. 

SPECIES SELECTION:  Some species of plants provide more air filtation and less water use than others. And desert plants such as cacti also require less water use.

RECYCLED MATERIAL:  The containers  themselves can be manufactured with recycled  content:  crushed concrete, rubber tires, recycled glass, etc. can be mixed into the container materials to use some of the landfill materials that cause problems in the wider community.

 Waste is the largest contributor to climate change -- be it wasted construction debris (C&D), used tires, wasted green materials that are put into landfills instead of composted back into the soil...or wasted water.

Many green solutions provide multiple benefits in this complex, interwoven world of ours.  Recycled content is one of those multi-benefit solutions...and large container gardens are a perfect application to not only use recycled materials in a beautiful way, but use them to grow environmentally hard-working plants! 



 

A recent discussion about composters on the GreenYes news group brought the following recommendations about composters.

In my experience, tumblers do not work as well as the manufacturer would like you to think they do !

A couple of reasons, for composting to really happen you need 4 basic needs; Brown (carbon), Green (nitrogen), Water (40%- 60%) & Air. But you also need a strong back a microorganisims. The tumblers is suspended in the air, with air flow all around the bin - this tends to dry the compost out, you will need to monitor and add water more often. I like the fact that a compost pile directly on the ground is in contact with soil micro & macro organisims, which play a huge role in the process of decomposition.

For composting to speed up or excellorate, you need enough material in the mix (critical mass) to get the pile or microbs going (heat up -131 F- 150 F optimum). At those temperatures the organic material is broke down very quickly, also plant pathogens and weed seed are distroyed in the center of the pile. This heat is generated by the microbs (thermophilic) that when comsume or break down a carbon molecule, it releases that energy stored in that molecule. Along with heat they respire water, which then dries the pile out further.

The other problem that will be incountered is the dead weight. When you have 60 gallons of material in a drum, most of the weight will settle, this tends to squeeze out air and all the weight is at the bottom. In order to mix & aereate the pile or the bin, you have to tumble or get that weight at the bottom of that pile, up to the top, several times to mix thoroughly. This can weigh quite a bit and can be hard work. Not to say turning a pile on the ground with a pitch fork is not hard, I just find it difficult and more time consuming to monitor, maintain and a rotate a tumbler.

...and opinion two:

Several years ago, when I worked for the County Extension Office, we established a compost demonstration area with several types of home built and manufactured composting devices. This included a tumbler.

As a general rule, the home built bins worked better and were easier to use than the manufactured ones. We had more problems with the tumbler than any others.

Composting can be as simple as green manure in which you bury food scraps in the soil of a flower or veggie garden, or it can be a large, scientifically designed operation to handle leaves, hay and food scraps gathered from restaurants, etc.

Either way, a little experimenting helps. And asking questions at your local County Extension center can be enlightening. Many of these Department of Agriculture offices also offer instruction sheets and classes to help you get started. Just look up "agricultural extension agent" and your county on search engines to find your local office. They are located in every state (US), and in most counties. Large cities also have offices.

Very helpful information centers!

Where does the term "green" come from...if not from the horticulture field...and the back forty...and the wilderness! 

It’s been said a lot in the past year, but it bears repeating: We are the “original” green industry. But at the same time, we are heavy users of energy, plastic and water. We need to do something about that. We need to work toward lessening the impact our individual businesses have on the environment. And we need to pay attention to our employees and their needs as fellow human beings.

This is “sustainable floriculture.” And we’ve come up with a formal definition of that:

“Producing and selling greenhouse or field crops in a manner that provides a profit for the business, minimizes the impact upon the environment, maximizes employee well-being and benefits the community.”

We hope the industry will adopt this definition simply because there’s so much confusion about what the sustainable movement is all about.  SOURCE: GrowerTalks

Every thinking person has a personal connection with the green part of our planet ... and a right to a personal definition of "green business"...since we all deal with business in one way or another.  Leaders in floriculture are  no exception.  Chris Beytes of Ball Publishing went on to  make his key points about green sustainability.

1) Sustainable floriculture is NOT a destination. It’s a journey, one that’s made up of thousands of small steps over many years. It’s a journey that your children or your staff will continue long after you’re gone.

2) Sustainable floriculture is NOT a feel-good, warm-and-fuzzy exercise. Sustainable floriculture is a way to make money.

I come from an unusual heritage.  My father was a rebel against business and "the love of money".  He believed in  his rebellion so much that he insisted that his family pay the price in terms of educational and  career options -- or lack thereof.  So I realize I have a biased viewpoint -- but when I hear the opposite of what my parents taught me -- that business is all about making money -- I am afraid my father is turniing over in his grave, and I share his concern.

Sustainable business is NOT about making money -- although some money can be exchanged in a respectful manner. Sustainability is more basic than money and wealth.  It's about survival.

We're to the point that survival truly is at stake.  And if a second car, or a bigger house is more important than your children and grandchildren's very survival...maybe the lesson taught a couple thousand years ago hasn't been learned.  Maybe "the love of money" needs to be revisited.

Restorative Habitat

We are past "minimal impact on the environment". We are at the point of numerous ecosystems and species collapsing.  We can no longer be content with a wink and a commitment to "minimal impact". Today's job is restoration of the natural systems because we have pushed them beyond their capacity to restore themselves without our intelligent interference.  Science and politics both are making guesses about how many years we have before the oceans rise -- and how far they will rise.  But they tend to agree that they are already rising.

Weather patterns are changing.  Species are going extinct.  And yet, habitats are still being devastated to grow more coffee, more beef, more hardwoods for elegant furnishings and MacMansions.

The original green industries -- horticulture, forestry, farming, floriculture, landscaping, etc. have the solutions.  They know about organic farming, permaculture, crop rotation, contour farming, integrated pest management, etc.

You know.  We know. The challenge facing us is how loudly we will insist that we implement these sustainable practices -- these common sense practices IMMEDIATELY.  How quickly we will restore our forests and plains and deserts and oceans.

The question for you is:  what can you do today to restore your land?  How close to a fully functional ecosystem can you recreate?  Do your  loved ones deserve that heritage more than they deserve  a new car and an expensive education, or an bigger house?  We are the adults. 

We know better.  And we're responsible adults, right?

"The fact that his efforts are also good for the planet is a nice side benefit."  Nice side benefits just won't cut it any longer.  When your children are drowning, you don't think about nice side benefits -- you act and you give it everything you've got to help them survive.  Our air, our water and our health is that serious.  

Industry niches are making progress in developing green and sustainable business practices.  A  numer of national consulting agencies and audit organizations help associations develop best practices for their particular business and production traditions and conditions. 

Standards for Sustainable Agriculture
(includes ALL crops, including greenhouse and nursery crops).

On October 29-30, 2007, the Leonardo Academy and Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) co-hosted a meeting to start soliciting stakeholder input on SCS-drafted language to create a national standard for producers and handlers (including retailers) who want to make a claim of engaging in sustainable agriculture (includes ALL crops, including greenhouse and nursery crops) practices.

Leonardo Academy works to increase sustainability throughout a broad range of projects and programs. From our LEED consulting services to facilitating the development of ANSI accredited sustainability standards to offsetting emissions through our Cleaner & Greener® Program, the Leonardo Academy works diligently to make everyday living more sustainable for people, businesses and the environment.

Leonardo Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1997 with a vision of advancing sustainability and putting the competitive market to work on improving the environment. Leonardo Academy is a Think and Do Tank. We develop and distribute strategies, guidance, metrics, standards, education, and information on how to increase sustainability. We also help companies, organizations, families, and individuals successfully promote, encourage, and implement sustainability. Our integrated approach lets us make sustainability very practical to our clients.

The intent of  Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) is to get these draft standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) no later than April 2010.

OFA, in conjunction with other national associations, will make every effort to represent member interests in these discussions, because these standards may have a direct impact on how you operate in the future.

The Ohio State Florist Association was formed in 1929, when graduates of The Ohio State University decided to meet each year to discuss and share current issues and technology.

Current Standards - DRAFT

Highlights from the Sustainable Agriculture Framework Elements

The sustainable agriculture framework set forth in this Standard addresses a spectrum of issues
that can be grouped under three categories:

Environmental Sustainability

- Sustainable Crop Production
- Resource Conservation & Energy Efficiency
- Ecosystem Protection
- Integrated Waste Management

Social & Economic Sustainability

- Fair Labor Practices
- Community Benefits

Product Integrity

- Product Quality
- Product Safety and Purity

Life-Cycle Scope

The sustainable agriculture framework addresses the full breadth of environmental, social, and quality issues associated with agricultural crops, encompassing a “life-cycle” scope of assessment — i.e., from seed to store. This scope ensures that potential impacts throughout the production and handling chain of custody can be taken into account, including both direct and indirect operations (e.g., farming practices, storage, conditioning,
shipping, packaging, distribution, display), and ensures that agricultural operations are evaluated on a level playing field. This scope of assessment is consistent with international life-cycle assessment guidance.

The Standard identifies crop production practices that: 1) build and maintain a
healthy agro-ecosystem, based on healthy soil structure and functioning; 2) preferentially
employ biological, mechanical, and cultural methods to control pest and disease vectors; 3)
minimize agrochemical inputs, utilizing reduced risk or US National Organic Program
(NOP) permitted agrochemical options; and 4) phase out those agrochemical inputs that
pose significant, recognized acute and chronic risks to human health or ecotoxic risks to the
environment.

The Standard identifies practices that protect the surrounding ecology including but
not limited to waterways, riparian and wetlands habitats, high ecological value habitats and
species, and other biologically and culturally significant areas.

The Standard identifies practices that optimize the use of water resources, reduce
excessive packaging, and maximize the recycling of both agricultural and non-agricultural
wastes through composting and other material recycling protocols.

The Standard provides a framework and guidelines for strategies that minimize
overall packaging while maintaining the quality and appearance of the product.

The Standard provides a life-cycle impact assessment tool that encourages producers
and handlers to seek the most energy efficient methods for growing, transporting and
handling crops by supporting local/regional crop production and distribution of agricultural
products and by minimizing fossil fuel use.

The Standard addresses the issue of global climate change related to agricultural
production by providing a method to account for greenhouse gas emissions through the
product life-cycle (from seed to store) from all direct and indirect sources. The Standard
establishes specific greenhouse gas reduction goals, and sets an objective maximum carbon
storage level per hectare while retaining overall productivity and yields.

The Standard defines practices that provide a safe and equitable workplace for
agricultural workers

The Standard provides guidelines and requirements for producers to support local
communities through preferential purchasing, hiring, and improvements/development.

The Standard identifies practices that yield products with high nutritional value and
meet national organic standards for purity in terms of pesticide residues and contaminants.

The Standard identifies minimum acceptable food safety practices to protect edible
crops from food pathogens during the chain of custody.

The Standard establishes quality assurance and traceability requirements designed
to ensure that sustainably grown products are properly handled throughout the chain of
custody and that they can be traced back to their source.

Although the Standard is built upon a life-cycle impact assessment scope of assessment, it does not provide requirements for quantifying impact indicators in accordance with international life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) guidance. For example, issues such as impacts from production and delivery of pesticides are not addressed within the scope of the Standard.


SOURCE:
Ohio Floral Association
OFA 2130 Stella Court
Columbus, Ohio 43215
phone: 614-487-1117
http://www.ofa.org
 

Napa Home & Garden is a fast growing garden accessory and decor line, headed by husband and wife team, KC and Jerry Cunningham.  Before KC Cunningham turned Napa Home & Garden into a successful manufacturer of high-end decor, she was content puttering around in her own Napa home and garden. Her move into the decorative accessories industry was accidental — one that came late in life and for which she credits husband, Jerry, her business partner.  KC Cunningham was enjoying an early retirement following the couple's sale of their financial services business in California when Jerry invested in a gift company that turned out to need a turnaround!  Her experience building, remodeling and decorating homes in Napa Valley helped grow the business into a highly successful home and garden retailer working with world class decorators and talented horticulturists.

Napa Home & Garden is on the move, and anticipates substantial growth in 2008 as they build a national showroom presence for their customers'  convenience.  Their product line includes ceramics, glass, wrought iron, wood products, patio furniture and wire decor and accessories.

The company's rapid growth also necessitated the Cunninghams' relocation from California to the East Coast, where they divide their time between a high-rise Atlanta condominium in Buckhead, and a Highlands, N.C., mountain lodge.

A new showroom in High Point debuted in October 2007, and they are located on the 2nd Floor in the IHFC Building, this is their largest and most successful showroom to date. 

In New York, Napa moved to Pier 94 where the NY Gift Show is concentrating the best home decor vendors. 

In the  summer of 2008, they will move into a permanant space on the 6th Floor, Building C in Las Vegas. 

In Atlanta, they moved around the corner on the same floor (10th) to be in a position to combine their Gardens showroom with their Home showroom when the new 2West building opens January 2009.

Napa Home & Garden will be taking a large space at the Independant Garden Center Show in Chicago this August to introduce new products and lines to garden center customers.

The corporate sales representation relationship with OneCoast (www.onecoast.com), one of the industry's premier sales representatives  to home decor vendors will include Napa's presence in OneCoast Showrooms in Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle and Chicago.

OneCoast will sell Napa in the entire nation with the exception of Southern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona.

Jerry and KC Cunningham

Ecosystems affect not only immediate residents -- but everyone in the rural, suburban and urban areas in the vicinity -- the watershed.  Water use has increased with irrigation of both agricultural and residential / commercial properties, and the solution to the Delta's subsidence lies with all those communities, as well.

The California Department of Water Resources - Delta Suisun Marsh Office has offered an intriguing solution to the California Delta's fragile condition:  plant rice.

The Rice Farming Solution

For over 100 years, as the West Delta islands have been reclaimed and farmed, the land (which is primarily made up of peat) has been subsiding. In several places within the West Delta, land has subsided over 25 feet and is continuing to subside at rates of approximately 0.5 to 1 inch per year. As the land subsides, more and more hydraulic pressure is exerted on the levees increasing the risk for levee failure. Millions of dollars are spent every year on maintaining these levee systems to insure the islands are not lost by flooding waters. Nowhere is this protection more important than in the West Delta where islands are used to hold back salty water from the San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and Suisun Marsh from the relatively clean waters of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers.

This “Cork in the Bottle” ensures the quality of water that is paramount for not only human consumption, irrigation, and industrial uses but also the sustainability of many wildlife species within the Delta.

The Department of Water Resources (Department) has participated in studies that show decaying plant matter under certain conditions may not only eliminate the continued subsidence that is occurring, but also accrete plant mass and add land volume.

As part of the photosynthetic process, plants convert atmospheric carbon (CO2) into plant mass, thus fixing carbon and reducing greenhouse gasses. The Department would like to develop project(s) to demonstrate the potential for subsidence reversal and its subsequent benefits.

Rice farming has the potential to provide the Delta ecosystem with the ability to stop and possibly reverse subsidence as well as store carbon as organic matter, while providing local human populations with a potential economic benefit through commercial aspects of farming and carbon credit trading. Generating quantifiable research results that connect rice cultivation with subsidence reversal is a central part of this effort.
However, as a result of the decay of plant matter and other land management activities associated with rice farming, there is a need to develop management practices that eliminate adverse water and air quality impacts. As a result, these land management activities must be analyzed to ensure water and air quality are not adversely impacted and overall potential risk must be considered before these practices are encouraged Delta-wide. An important part of this project will seek to quantify water quality, sediment, nutrient, pollutant loads and fluxes, with a special focus on methyl mercury. Best management practices that foster subsidence reduction and minimize adverse environmental impacts such as increased nutrient and pollutant exports from rice growing areas will be implemented and assessed.

Funding for the Subsidence Solution

The DWR says it will pay for a rice cultivation project to test the theory

The project will also measure water and air quality impacts as well as the overall potential risk from the increased rice farming. The minimum size of the rice growing plot is 300 acres and the required average depth of peat underlying the site is seven feet.

The DWR says it plans to have one funding recipient for a multi-year project lasting up to eight years. with funding  as much as $8 million for this multi year effort.

Local public agencies meeting the criteria as defined in California Water Code Section 12311(a) may apply for funds. Applications for funding will be accepted from reclamation districts meeting the aforementioned criteria. These reclamation districts are encouraged to associate with research entities that may include but are not limited to: academic institutions; federal, state, and local agencies; private consulting firms and entities that are qualified to complete the activities associated with this project. There is also a farming component to this project, which may require partnership with a grower that has rice farming experience.

The minimum size of the rice growing farm plot is 300 acres and the required average depth of peat underlying the study site is 7 feet. Please provide location details in the proposal that ensures these minimum criteria are met.

Proposed work should be described under five main topics with clearly defined research questions and testable hypotheses:

1. rice cultivation/agroecology
2. subsidence reversal and soil carbon dynamics
3. water and air quality impacts/biogeochemistry
4. economy/socio-economic implications
5. management/research recommendations

If you have additional questions or need further clarifications, please contact Mr. Bryan Brock at bpbrock@water.ca.gov or (916) 651-0836. Download the report and application from the Department of Water

CO2 Saver is a lightweight software program
that manages your computer's power
usage when it's idle,
saving energy and decreasing the demand on your power utility.

Save Computer Power Every Day!

When a computer is running, energy providers supplying power to it are burning fossil fuels and emitting harmful Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Although CO2 is a normal component of the atmosphere, elevated levels of it are likely to cause future climate change (global warming). Although there are other types of emissions from burning fossil fuels, CO2 makes up over 99.6% of emissions by weight.

So...the less electricity produced, the fewer harmful emissions and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are released into the atmosphere.

The green-conscious folks at Snap.com developed this handy little tool and is giving it away to help reduce CO2 emissions.

• It's quick to download
• Windows XP and Vista compatible
• Works on desktops and laptops
• Displays savings in US or Metric
• No spyware or adware...just a helping hand for you and Mother Earth!

In a matter of seconds you can reduce the amount of energy your computer and monitor use when they are idle and prevent extra CO2 emissions from being generated. What's more, CO2 Saver shows you the amount of CO2 you've saved single-handedly, as well as all other CO2 Saver users combined!

Because each computer is different, we currently use averages. CO2 Saver detects the type of computer you're using (for example, desktop vs. laptop) and uses that information to help calculate how much energy it normally uses (and how much the program will save).

In the Options menu under "Computer Details," you have the ability to enter more information about your computer and monitor(s) so this can be taken into account, as power consumption also varies widely across monitor types and sizes. In the future, the developers plan to allow more precise measurements, and they're working on those features now.

Download CO2 Saver

More info...and download CO2 Saver at:
co2saver.snap.com

Manage Risks and Opportunities Arising from

Ecosystem Degradation

Global warming may dominate headlines today. Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow.

To prepare businesses for this new landscape, three organizations have launched a set of guidelines designed to help companies proactively develop strategies to manage risks and opportunities arising from ecosystem degradation.

The guidelines, called the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (3.5 MB) were developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with the Meridian Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Five WBCSD members - Akzo Nobel, BC Hydro, Mondi, Rio Tinto, and Syngenta - "road-tested" the methodology and provided input to its design.

"The world's forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems are under tremendous pressure due to climate change, land conversion, and many other factors," said Jonathan Lash, President, WRI. "As ecosystems degrade, companies will face operational, regulatory, and reputational risks while those that offer solutions may find new business opportunities and new sources of revenue."

Ecosystems provide companies with a wide variety of benefits or services including

• Freshwater
• Wood
• Pollination
• Climate regulation
• Protection from natural hazards,

...to name a few.

"Ecosystem services are often unacknowledged, yet they underpin many corporate activities," said John Ehrmann, Managing Partner of the Meridian Institute. "I am pleased with the feedback from company managers who are finding the guidelines helpful for developing strategies that improve both corporate performance and ecosystem stewardship."

Guideline Benefits

The road-testers found that the guidelines can provide a number of other benefits as well.

• They can help companies anticipate new markets and government policies that may emerge in response to ecosystem degradation.
• They can strengthen corporate environmental impact assessments by adding considerations traditional methods may overlook.
• They also can help companies better manage conflicts over resources, identifying options for better trade-offs between ecosystem services.

"The Corporate Ecosystem Review helped us to better understand how a number of emerging environmental changes are likely to affect our business and how our company might best position itself to respond to these changes," said Steve Hunt, Senior Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Eka Chemicals, a division of chemical giant Akzo Nobel.

Some road-testers, such as Mondi and BC Hydro, used the guidelines to gain insight into the direct implications that ecosystem trends pose for them.

Other road-testers, such as Akzo Nobel and Syngenta, applied the methodology to understand the risks faced by a segment of their customers due to ecosystem degradation and, in turn, discovered opportunities for new products or services that address these risks. The guidelines profile these and other road-test experiences.

"We're going to be hearing a lot about the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review. A couple dozen more WBCSD members are already taking it up this year," said Björn Stigson, President of the WBCSD. "Leading companies realize that they need to be prepared for the business challenges posed by ecosystem decline."

Download Corporate Ecosystem Services Review"