#urban growers

[bumblebeeappletree]

This panel event was originally recorded on September 18, 2020, as part of GreenThumb's international virtual event in partnership with Capital Growth in London and Toronto Urban Growers.

Hear from community gardeners and urban farmers from London, Toronto, and New York City around how gardens and farms are contributing toward these cities’ resilience, food security, and COVID-19 response. Organised by Capital Growth in London, NYC Parks GreenThumb in New York, and Toronto Urban Growers, this webinar shares lessons from across the pond on how community gardens and urban farms are responding to the COVID-19 crisis, building solidarity among neighbours, and preparing the road ahead.

Intros by organizations:

o Sarah Williams, Capital Growth, London → introduce Bill

o Bill LoSasso, NYC Parks GreenThumb → introduce Rhonda

o Rhonda Teitel-Payne, Toronto Urban Growers → introduce Melana

Welcome and intro from moderator - Melana Roberts, chairperson of the board of Food Secure Canada

Panelists:

• NYC: Karen Washington, from the Garden of Happiness, speaking about Bronx Community Farm Hubs

• NYC: Mark Leger, gardener at Phoenix Community Garden speaking about Phoenix’s food access and COVID response activities

• London: Kiloran O’Leary from Global Generation speaking about The Story Garden’s involvement in Community Harvest and other COVID responses

• London: Alice Holden, Head Grower at Growing Communities Dagenham Farm - an organic farm based in outer London growing produce for sale locally and through a box scheme, while supporting various community initiatives

• Toronto: Jessey Njau, www.zawadi.farm - backyard farmer building community in Thistletown neighbourhood

• Toronto: Isaac Crosby, Lead Hand in Urban Agriculture and Indigenous Gardens at Evergreen Brick Works

#NYC Parks GreenThumb #solarpunk #webinar #garden #gardening #urban farming #urban farm #farm #farming #Capital Growth #London #england #Toronto Urban Growers #Toronto #canada #new york #new york city #USA #covid 19 #food security #community #Youtube

[artinthegarden]

We officially have space for our own garden!

The area is basically barren of an ecosystem excluding an old mango tree and hibiscus shrub on sandy soil, and so it's extremely hot and dry. My partner and I are in the process of laying mulch to establish a small forested area and in the meantime I've got some potted plants going. We're letting the mulch rest this year and will be transplanting saplings, shrubs, cactus, and vines I've started over the last 3 years to help create a healthy layer of soil and mycelium. The worm farm is expanding happily and the castings will be a huge help in the rebuilding process of the ecosystem. The trees aren't all necessarily native to the area but they hold ancestral power for me and will feed my family and community, we do want to establish a thriving native ecosystem and primarily grow native plants for food and health, though. Many plants have been chosen to provide food and shelter for wildlife as well, that is very important to us.

A lot of our potted plants died through the drought due to the heat, but I've got plenty of seeds and am starting again. What plants die this year will die and that is okay. I was also able to harvest the first tomatoes from the plants this year! It's not much but it's a start.

I feel so empowered to move forward with this project and continue my responsibility to my ancestors and the earth.

#container gardening #urban gardening #gardening #patio gardening #huertaorganica #permaculture #permacultura #native grower #native gardening

[probablyasocialecologist]

If Ugandans have a social safety net, it is woven from banana fibers, and if there is a clear path to socialism, it will be lined with banana leaves. The lusuku model, premised on intercropping and smallholder farming, could be the basis for national agrarian reform that improves the lives of Uganda’s agricultural workers without accelerating the destruction of the natural environment. Uganda faces increasing difficulty feeding itself because of climate extremes and land degradation, and this affects farmers more significantly than anyone else. Moreover, since the 1990s, the ruling National Resistance Movement regime sold off and dismantled most of the coffee, tea, and cotton growers cooperatives, leaving smallholder farmers in the hands of the predatory middlemen which cooperatives had been established to protect them against. Unable to collectively bargain and exposed to dramatic fluctuations in the market prices for cash crops, many people left rural areas to search for employment in cities. This has been a driving force behind the massive inequality between rural and urban workers. Ugandans now produce more food than they consume, even exporting to other countries in the region, yet 41% of people are undernourished, and agricultural production has decreased over the last 20 years. For the most part, the strategy pursued by Uganda’s government has been to encourage the development of ecologically disastrous intensive agriculture for export, privileging foreign investors rather than developing the infrastructure that would benefit peasants. Indeed, while more than 70% of Ugandans are employed in agriculture, the sector only receives around 4% of public investment, and projects aimed at helping smallholder farmers have had very little success, even by their own standards. Many of the government’s investments in agriculture very clearly advantage larger landowners, to the detriment of the poorest farmers. For example, most of the government’s investment in labor-saving technologies has been spent on tractors, which are great for large plots but largely unaffordable or unsuitable for the average farmer, whose plot is usually between 1-3 acres large. However, a socialist transition premised on agroecological reforms could make use of the existing lusuku model to create the kind of growth that actually improves poor farmers’ lives without destroying their environment. This could begin with reestablishing cooperatives and engineering agricultural prices around social needs and goals, like guaranteeing access to food. Research from around the world has shown that while large, monocrop plantations are good at producing huge volumes of one crop, smallholder farms are more productive when evaluated on a per-unit area and are capable of securing national food sovereignty. Why, for example, should Ugandans buy rice imported from Pakistan or Vietnam when banana intercropping yields more calories per hectare than rice? Lusukus could feed the nation without relying on foreign experts, development aid, or the capital-intensive inputs now being imported to grow for export. Because lusukus are far better for the soil, they also improve the nation’s capacity to resist severe floods and drought, effects of climate change that hit poor farmers hardest. In these ways, the lusuku model could provide a sustainable path to socialist development.

#uganda #agroecology #socialism #agriculture #for a banana (socialist) republic #banana discourse

[witch-of-the-creek]

Fascinating flora, special edition.

White Sage

I am still doing a regular post about sage in general, but as a conservationist and student of ethnobotany, I wanted to address the conservation status and history of salvia apiana in particular.

White sage is endemic to Southern California and parts of Northern Baja, and is a valuable medicinal and cultural resource to indigenous populations who were forcibly relocated to these areas. Today, the majority of white sage is cultivated by indigenous Americans on protected land.

Smudging refers to a variety ceremonies that involve the burning of sacred herbs. The British, Spanish, and French colonizers started to relocate indigenous people, to wash away their culture, take their children, and erase their languages. Smudging is an English word that was used to generalize and belittle a widely held set of spiritual practices, and has now been reclaimed by many indigenous communities.

The use of this plant by non native people, and the misappropriation of the word ‘smudging’ came much later, around the time the first legal protections were established to protect the remaining people and culture. “In the 1960s, the hippie movement co-opted the use of white sage and evolved into the New Age Movement.” (Ramirez, Rose & Small, Deborah)

The popularity of white sage has only gotten higher, and with a boom in demand, illegal harvesting of the plant has become all to common a practice. “With very few commercial growers of white sage (Salvia apiana), the vast majority of products are wild-harvested.” (Ramirez & Small)

“What I learned when I was in California and visited the Etiwanda Preserve was that it is the epicenter of the current commercial harvest.” (Leopold, Susan).

“What is important to stress is that this underground sage mafia is not ethical or sustainable wildcrafting as it is portrayed in hipster IG accounts and stores! The scale of white sage commercial trade on the Internet and demand in China is alarming” (Leopold).

“I was invited by the owner of a white sage company to meet at the Etiwanda Preserve in March of 2019; he wanted to show his sustainable harvesting methods. I quickly pulled out my phone to show him that it was against the law to do so, and that recent arrests had been made. He carried on as if that was not the case” (Leopold).

The current elemental status of white sage is G4, which means ‘apparently secure.’ This rating has not been reviewed since June nineteenth, 2002. The lack of updated information on the plants range and occurrences have kept it off multiple endangered species lists.

The article referencing a book by Ramirez and Small, published in spring of 2020, evaluate that 50% of white sage has been eradicated due to urbanization.

I am not native, I can’t speak for any native people. All of what I have stated here is a summary or quotation of the words of indigenous activists, ethnobotanists, and conservationists. My hope here is to give a factual overview of the situation and provide direction to people more knowledgeable than myself.

Sources below

-News from Native California, Spring 2020 By Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small

#herbalism #botany #green witch #decolonizing your craft #smoke cleansing #white sage

[writeblrgarden]

PLANT GROWERS - MEET THE WINNERS - TARI

Meet Tari, who got third place in our grow a plant event in november! Tari goes by she/her, and you can find her at @mxxnlightwriting. She wrote her first story when she was six, and has been writing with the goal of publishing since 2020. She writes romance and fantasy, along with dabbling in a few other genres.

Tell us about the WIP you'd like to talk about today.

The WIP is "A Spark of Magic" a YA Urban Fantasy novel (the first in a series!) Isaac has turned into a merfolk and that puts everything in his life in jeopardy. To try and fix this predicament he asks Alice for help, someone he believes to be a witch based on a rumour he heard. He's right that she's a witch, but what he doesn't know is that she can't summon her magic. What starts as an unlikely partnership turns into something more as every answer they seek seems out of reach and the secrets they encounter make it hard for them to trust anyone, including each other.

Describe your writing process. Do you like to plan everything or are you more spontaneous?

I am more spontaneous, but my process changes depending on my writing project. Sometimes, I have a scene, a couple of characters, a small playlist for vibes and I just go for it. In those cases, I discover my story along the way, and through subsequent drafts, I work to make it cohesive and the best it can be. Some require more planning, and in those cases, I tend to outline the vast majority of the story, but there's always something that even I, as the writer, don't know from the start.

What have you found to be the most challenging and/or rewarding about writing?

I think writing can be a lonely endeavor, especially when you don't have writer friends to help you keep motivated. It's also challenging because more often than not, only you know your story and its characters and world, and translating that from your mind to the page can be hard, especially when you're a perfectionist. On the flip side, there's nothing better than finishing a WIP. Writing "The End" on a draft is always incredible. No matter how many times I do it, it always feels like the first time. It's the culmination of so many hours of work, of meeting characters and watching their journey from start to finish, of writing their story. It that feeling of "You've done it", you know? And no one can ever take that achievement from you.

Below the read more is more of our conversation with Tari, along with a link to pre-order her novel now!

What inspires you to write?

People. Loneliness. I want to write stories to keep people company, to be there for them when they feel like no one is. Mostly, I write stories because it's the only way I know how to live. They've been an integral part of my life for so long that I would be incomplete without it.

Share some advice for other writers.

Just keep writing! Never look down at your own work, always look at it from an inquisitive lense. Look at how far you've come, at how much you have improved. Be fascinated by your previous work and know that it's the foundation for the writer you are today. You will always be improving, so celebrate that, even when it's hard. On that same note, never put down your work when sharing it with others. That will have them create expectations of your work before they get to enjoy it. Present it as a blank canvas and let people create their opinions of it, good or bad, but always remember that it is your story. Make it the best it can be for you, not for others.

What do consider your writing strength?

I'd say dialogue is my strength as well as character building! With dialogue is great to go over everyone's speech patterns and see what kind of words they would use and how they would chat with others (and notice how that changes depending on the character they're interacting with), which also influences character building.

What has been the nicest compliment you've received or what has been the toughest criticism you've received?

Whenever people say they were moved by my writing that always feels like the greatest compliment. As for the toughest criticism, as a perfectionist, I am my toughest critic.

What do you love the most about writing?

The entire process of falling in love with a new idea and making it the best it can possibly be. Nothing will ever make me as happy as when I have a random idea that consumes my entire existence and demands to be brought to life. Sometimes, it's not you who chooses the story. Sometimes, it's the story that chooses you.

✨ Tari's novel, A Spark of Magic, is available for pre-order now! Check out the information on her post here.

#growaplant #writeblrgarden #writeblr #writeblr community #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #am writing #nano winners

[moregraceful]

wip....sunday?? new york rangers post-apocalypse au...

;;

The kids are alright, for definitions of alright. None of them have a green thumb to save their lives, though Chris has been trying to teach them, but all three of them are crafty, determined to survive. Kaapo can fight off the wolves without a scratch, Alexis can scatter the owls without hurting them or himself, K’Andre can see the ghosts, and all three of them can dodge a bullet without panicking. If nothing else, Chris taught them that last one well.

They sleep on a mattress on Chris’s living room floor, three kids in their early twenties from three different countries, finding comfort in each other after being left behind in New York by three different national teams. When the veil split over the Atlantic and the soul of the universe came pouring out, Kaapo and Alexis couldn’t go home. K’Andre won’t go home. And Chris won’t leave them alone.

Today, the kids go looking for food, or possibly trouble, leaving Chris at home with his garden. Chris is never really sure when grocery store runs are just thin excuses to antagonize haunted wildlife or see how far they can run across the Hudson before the ice is too weak to support their former hockey player bodies, but as long as no one’s actively bleeding when they come back, he doesn’t really care. He’s not their dad, except that he’s the only one they’ve got left to rely on, so he sort of is. He’s only nine years older than K’Andre, and ten years older than Alexis and Kaapo, but it feels like more, sometimes, when they come home in before dark with their eyes shiny and their hands wet with something or someone else’s blood, laughing with hearts that are growing harder each day.

Chris likes quiet time in his garden, working in the weak summer sun on the rooftop in the dirt. He’s been working on it for a couple years now, since the world turned wild and strange. Before, he had not paid much attention to the garden – as a professional hockey player, he had not had much time or energy to pay attention to his apartment building’s community garden – but as the years have gone by, he’s grown to love it. The vegetables he’s grown in the garden boxes, the small citrus trees he’s managed to coax to life in the winter. It helps having collected Kaapo, K’Andre and Alexis off the street early on, because they’re quite often bored and while they don’t have much interest in gardening, they love when Chris gives them pictures of plants he ripped out of stolen library books with titles like Native Plants of New York or Container Gardening For The Stay-At-Home Mom and sends them on a mission to find what he wants. They’re eager to please and love a challenge and he prefers the days when they come home just as the sun is setting, loaded down with plants in their pockets and hoods and arms. It beats the days when they come home bloody or sopping wet just after dark.

Today, he’s working on the lemon tree, a small little bush that is barely past his knees. It won’t bear fruit for several months, but he worries about its survival endlessly. It’s stupid of him – he should worry more about the tomatoes, he’s pretty sure, or anything that needs more sunlight than their summers provide these years. But he wants this little lemon tree to survive. It was the first thing the boys found for him and he’s desperate for it to live. They were teenagers growing restless and cranky indoors, until he was satisfied they wouldn’t die on the street without him and tore out a picture of a lemon tree from a book he’d stolen from the bookstore down the street, Fruit Trees for Urban Growers, and told them to go to the Botanical Garden and find him a lemon.

They’d stolen an entire tree, coming home as the sun was going down, yelling with pride for Chris to look at what they’d done. It almost died in the first three months, shrank considerably like the rest of Chris’s world, but Chris coaxed it into wanting to survive.

He can hear the boys down the street, yelling about something. He has no idea if they’re yelling at each other or someone else. Four years past their World Junior Tournament in Buffalo and three years since Chris rescued them off the street, and they’ve grown skinnier, grittier, more emotional. He doesn’t want to know what they do all day and doesn’t really care, as long as they come home before dark.

Gunshots down the street, more yelling. Chris ignores whatever is going on down there and focuses on clipping off dead leaves of the lemon tree and letting them fall to the ground around the trunk. He read in a book that the dead leaves help fruit-bearing trees grow, that mulch created from the dead leaves will help a tree become stronger, bear more fruit.

How poetic to grow stronger from a part of you dying, he thinks grimly. He clips off another dead leaf.

Down in the street, Kaapo, K’Andre, and Alexis are laughing.

#sunday afternoons are supposed to be my weekend but i have been doing pastoral care stuff all day 😩😩 #someone gave me a $30 starbucks giftcard and i've been sitting in here for like an hour trying to make myself write one single email #that would help with the care stuff but i'm so tired...maybe another latte idk #unfortunate birdcage fanfictions

[aller-geez]

Get to know: Rexar Fang

29 // he/him // Straight // Pasanta (Catalan urban legend)

Full name: Rexar Fang

Nickname: Rex

Date Of Birth: June 22nd

Big Three: Cancer 🌞 Libra 🌝 Scorpio ↗️

(under construction!!!!)

Physical Appearance —

Age: 29

Eye Color: Red centers with a grey outer ring

Hair Color: Grey with red bangs

Weight: 162 pounds

Height: 6’4

Race: Pasanta (a Catalan Urban Legend that describes them as huge terrifying canines with flames for eyes that comes into peoples homes at night and sits on their chest while they’re asleep, causing breathing problems as well as horrible nightmares)

Distinguishing Marks or Characteristics: Rexar has deep red freckles, and a pale complexion. He has two bridge piercings, both cheekbones (Anti-eyebrow), as well as a piercing in the center of his bottom lip. He constantly has a thin stream of smoke coming from both nostrils that smells of burning maple wood, and it relaxes whoever smells it. Some of his relatives use this trait for malicious things, however Rexar has no interest in killing.

Personality —

Greatest Strength: His pyromancer abilities

Greatest Weakness: his love for his girlfriend, Kriia may sometimes cloud his judgement, causing him to act irrationally.

Soft Spot: Kriia

Mannerisms: Friendly, and outgoing. Golden Retriever personality. Gets along with Remington, and even has somewhat a rivalry going with him. Extremely loving and devoted boyfriend to Kriia, who is pretty much in charge in their relationship.

Miscellaneous Trivia —

Rexar’s family all masquerade as simple Pyromancers, as revealing their true species could end up in their demise. They are very well known and extremely wealthy, leaving Rexar very well off in their huge estate.

In his free time, he is a Trap Metal artist who produces his own music, using one of the guest houses on his property as a studio that he records in as well as occasionally jamming with friends. He goes to local shows and events where he sometimes will preform.

Rexar is also widely known as an experienced marijuana grower. He has converted some of the acreage in his family’s huge estate they had left for him into grow buildings and fields where he grows and cultivates medical marijuana that gets sold to clubs all over, and locally on the street by his girlfriend.

Sneeze Content —

ALLERGIES

Any smoke that isn’t produced by his body

How severe are they?

Not extremely severe but they do cause near instant fits. These can be dangerous if they are unexpected, as every time he sneezes it produces some kind of flame. Stifles only produce sparks/embers, but full bodied sneezes have almost a flamethrower effect.

Do they get sick often?

He does have a crappy immune system, although no where near Remington’s. He can even sometimes deflect Remi’s germs due to his extreme body temperature.

How bad is it usually?

Part of his must have items for whenever sick is a fire extinguisher, as fires tend to happen frequently when Rexar is sick. He tends to get seemly deathly ill for only a day or two, but his body naturally sweats it out. If he is sick and his nose is too stuffy for any smoke to exit, it will divert to his mouth, with a small fraction leaking from his eyes, making them constantly water.

Do they stifle?

If out in public or otherwise somewhere flames wouldn’t be appreciated, he’ll stifle, as to only have to worry about any embers that may fall afterward.

How loud are their sneezes?

Not very loud. He tends to naturally quiet them due to the huge flames that decimate everything in front of him.

What do they sneeze into?

His hands usually, as they are by nature, flame retardant, although sometimes an unusually large sneeze or a longer than usual fit can result in some burns.

How often do they sneeze?

Isn’t usually a frequent sneezer, as the smoke that constantly flows from his nostrils seems to almost numb his sinuses.

How many times do they sneeze in a fit?

3 is almost always guaranteed. If he stops at 2, you know there’s a 3rd coming sometime soon after.

Do they have build-ups or are they sudden?

Both. Sometimes he’ll have warning with a short buildup, other times he’s caught completely off guard with no chance to stifle them.

Do they sneeze in public?

Not if they can help it, although some are bound to slip sometimes. He will automatically try to stifle them, however.

Some examples of their sneezes?

etCHXIEW!!

heT’CHXOO!!

H'uSSHhhiew!

et’tCHOO!!

Backstory —

(coming soon..)

Reference Sheet —

#snz ocs #sneeze oc #geezieoc #geezieart #get to know my oc #oc biography #oc bio #ocs #oc ref sheet #oc reference #Rexar Fang #snz fet #snezblr #snzblr #snz #snz kink #sneeze kink #snzfucker #snz things #snz blog #oc stuff #oc rp #my oc art #a shifter’s tale #my ocs #oc #my ocs do not steal #oc roleplay #original character #sneezing

[dustedmagazine]

Bonnie “Prince” Billy — Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (Drag City)

Photo by Urban Wyatt

Will Oldham’s latest album as Bonnie “Prince” Billy has a deceptive simplicity. It is mostly framed in casual, campfire strumming and homespun stringed accents. Its lyrics scan in a predictable, folk-infused manner, following steady rhythms in waltz-time and four-four; they are delivered with wry, unflappable confidentiality, however surreal or fanciful they turn. Keeping Secrets feels like, itself, a bit of a hidden gem, murmured at you rather than shouted, a quiet one but a grower. You might imagine a family gathering, after dinner, playing for the joy of it, a vibe that Oldham captures in his understated single, “Crazy Blue Bells,” when he croons, “Someday when there’s time to sing, a few of us will gather, and raise a voice to anything because everything matters.”

This is not to say that there is anything austere about Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You. On the contrary, these songs bloom like an old-fashioned garden, outwardly modest but wafting heady perfume and color in your direction. “Bananas” is a gentle knock-out, as it buzzes with glorious, dizzying harmonies (Dane Waters sings back-up) and ends with an operatic high note, hushed but also astonishing. “Blood of the Wine” drapes lush folds of string sound over its minor key jitter, skittering jewel-like mandolin trills over Appalachian lament. Oldham benefits from some real skill in his backing band, which includes Sara Louise Callaway on violin, Kendall Carter on keys, Elisabeth Fuchsia on viola and violin, Dave Howard on mandolin, Drew Miller on saxophone and Dane Waters singing.

Of course, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s casual music get together is better than yours will ever be, because of who he is, a master of whimsy and existential dread and a consummate constructor of metaphor. That’s on the verbal side; he is also quite good at melody. His songs curve and flower in pleasing ways that are not quite unexpected, but not a cliché either. They sound familiar when you hear them first and burn in slowly over multiple hearings.

On the verbal side, I’d give the nod to “Willow, Pine, and Oak,” a gently coruscating examination of human failure, cast in the form of an extended meditation on trees. Here are willows, sucking up all the water, and pines, showy but prickly and oozing resin, and oaks, the best by far, on the basis of strength and constancy. It’s the sort of extended metaphor that is simultaneously exact about its subject and its larger poetical applications, and instead of quoting the words, I urge you to just listen to it once or twice and here how well it does what it does. The melody of this song is lovely, too, with swooning lashes of string sound and the most subliminal kind of harmonies. It is sort of perfect despite the degree of difficulty. If I were a diving judge I’d give it a 10.

For sheer sonic beauty, however, the prize is harder to award, so let’s split it between haunting “Bananas” and more ebullient “Behold! Beheld!,” both quiet and unassuming but full of grace. It’s a gift to be simple. Keeping Secrets is that sort of present.

Jennifer Kelly

#bonnie prince billy #will oldham #keeping secrets will destroy you #drag city #jennifer kelly #albumreview #dusted magazine #folk #country #Youtube

[krishilearning]

What is Hydroponic Farming System

It is the skill of growing plants in the absence of soil. Hydroponic system depends on a water based nutrient rich solution.

Hydroponic is a method of growing plants in a controlled environment (eg-greenhouses) where nutrients are dissolved in water and delivered directly to the plant’s roots instead of relying on soil for support and nutrition. The hydroponic system utilizes various substrates such as perlite, coconut coir or even air to anchor the plants. The nutrition solution, which contains all the essential elements necessary for plant growth, is carefully monitored and adjusted to ensure optimal conditions.

Here are some key components of Hydroponic Farming -

Growing medium : Instead of soil, hydroponic system use various growing mediums such as rock wool, perlite, coconut coir or even air (Vertical Farming) to support plant roots

Nutrients Solution: A carefully balanced mixture of essential nutrients is dissolved in water and delivered directly to the plant roots. This ensures that plants receive the precise nutrients they need for optimal growth.

Environmental Control: Hydroponic systems enable growers to fine-tune environmental factors like temperature, humidity, light and CO2 levels to create ideal conditions for plant growth . This level of control minimizes the risk of pests and diseases.

Water Recycling: Hydroponics is highly water efficient. Unlike traditional farming which can be water-intensive, hydroponic systems recirculate water, reducing overall consumption. This makes it particularly attractive with water scarcity. 

Hydroponic Farming in India -

In India, hydroponic farming is gaining traction due to its potential to address various agricultural challenges, such as water scarcity, limited arable land availability, and the need for sustainable and high-yield crop production. It offers opportunities for urban and peri-urban farming, making it a viable solution for increasing food security and promoting sustainable agriculture practices in the country.

Applications in India:

Hydroponic farming has diverse applications in India:

Urban Agriculture: Hydroponics is well-suited for urban areas, where space is limited, and fresh, locally grown produce is in high demand. Rooftop gardens, vertical farms, and container farming are popular choices for urban agriculture in India.

Commercial Greenhouses: Many commercial growers in India have adopted hydroponic systems for the production of various crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens.

Research and Education: Hydroponic systems are used in research institutions and educational settings to study plant growth, nutrient management, and environmental control, contributing to agricultural innovation in the country.

Food Security: Hydroponic farming can help improve food security by providing a reliable source of fresh produce, even in regions with challenging climate conditions.

Types of Hydroponic Systems:

There are various hydroponic systems designed to cater to different crops and environmental conditions:

Drip System: Nutrient solution is delivered directly to the base of each plant via a network of tubes and pumps. Excess solution is collected and recirculated, minimizing waste.

Nutrient Film Technique (NFT): In NFT systems, a shallow film of nutrient solution flows over an inclined trough, with plant roots placed in the film. Roots draw nutrients and oxygen from this thin film.

Aeroponics: This system mists the plant roots with a nutrient-rich solution, providing both nutrients and oxygen to the roots through a fine mist. This method encourages rapid growth.

Deep Water Culture (DWC): Plants are suspended in oxygenated nutrient solutions in DWC systems. Air stones or diffusers are used to oxygenate the water, ensuring the roots receive an adequate oxygen supply.

Wick System: The simplest of all hydroponic systems, wick systems rely on capillary action to draw the nutrient solution from a reservoir into the growing medium. This is a passive system that requires no electricity.

Ebb and Flow (Flood and Drain): This system cyclically floods plant containers with the nutrient solution, then allows it to drain, providing oxygen to the roots. This mimics natural irrigation patterns.

Vertical Farming: Vertical hydroponic systems utilize vertical space, allowing for the stacking of plant layers. This approach maximizes crop production in limited space, making it suitable for urban environments.

Kindly visit the profile for more - https://krishilearning.com/

What you"ll discover here - 

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#agriculture #blog #agriculture technology #hydroponics #hydroponic system #hydroponic farming

[collapsedsquid]

In America, too, prior appropriation, as legally and culturally revered as it is, may have become more cumbersome and obstructive than it needs to be. Western water rights, according to Newsha Ajami, a leading expert at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the former director of the urban water policy program at Stanford University, were set up by people measuring with sticks and buckets, long before anyone had ever even considered climate change. Today, they largely serve powerful legacy interests and, because they must be used to be maintained, tend to dissuade conservation. “It’s kind of very archaic,” she said. “The water rights system would be the first thing I would just dismantle or revisit in a very different way.”

This is probably not going to happen, Ajami said. “It could be seen as political suicide.” But that doesn’t make it the wrong solution. In fact, what’s best for the Colorado, for the Western United States, for the whole country might be a combination of what Israel and Australia mapped out. Deploy the full extent of the technology that is available to eliminate waste and maximize efficiency. Prioritize which crops and uses are “beneficial” in a way that attaches the true value of the resource to the societal benefit produced from using it. Grow California and Arizona’s crops in the wintertime but not in the summer heat. And rewrite the system of water allocation as equitably as possible so that it ensures the modern population of the West has the resources it needs while the nation’s growers produce what they can.

Fun thing about water rights is that it’s possible to describe the same reform as nationalization or privatization depending on who you are talking to

[bumblebeeappletree]

Sam Van Aken is the creator of the Tree of 40 Fruit and he is the guest on Episode 65 of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast with Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care training website orchardpeople.com. #fruittrees #grafting #organicgardening

Learn more about Sam Van Aken here:

https://www.samvanaken.com/

And if you are ready to learn more about fruit tree care, read on!

🌳 Learn specialist fruit tree pruning, pest and disease management, young tree care and more in one of Orchard People’s premium online courses: https://learn.orchardpeople.com/

😀 For a 10% discount on any course, use the discount code: VIDEO.

🍑 To purchase recommended fruit tree care products and books visit Orchard People's online store: https://orchardpeople.com/shop/

🍐 For monthly fruit tree care content updates sign up for Orchard People's free monthly newsletter and to receive a free 11-page eBook "Growing Fruit Trees That Thrive" visit:

https://orchardpeople.com/growing-fru...

🍎 For more videos, eBooks and podcasts about fruit tree care, visit https://orchardpeople.com/.

Orchard People has made fruit tree care easier for thousands of home growers, gardeners and arborists in North America and beyond since 2013.

Visit our website for more in depth information on fruit tree care and maintenance!

https://orchardpeople.com.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

03:32 How did the Tree of 40 Fruit Project Start

04:26 The mix of blossom colors

05:25 Grafted branch placement

06:05 The first Tree of 40 Fruit Exhibition

07:56 Number of varieties grafted onto each tree

08:41 How interstock grafting works

09:30 Best rootstock for multi-graft stone fruit trees

10:13 Santa Rosa plum rootstock history

10:57 Types of fruit on a Tree of 40 Fruit

11:53 Myrobalan rootstock compatibility

12:22 Interstock as a "highway" between cultivars

14:16 New Tree of 40 Fruit projects

16:21 Multi graft apple trees

18:05 Downside of multi-graft trees

20:35 Examples of multi-graft trees

23:12 Grafting apple with stone fruit trees

24:39 Multi-graft tree maintenance

29:10 Commercials

34:00 Mid show topic reminder

36:27 Why grafting works

38:13 Relationship between rootstock diameter and tree health

40:45 Cultivar choices for Tree of 40 Fruits

41:50 Client requests for Tree of 40 Fruits

43:18 Growing multi-fruit trees indoors

44:07 Cooling hours necessary for fruit trees

45:00 Working with artists from communist regimes

47:48 Tree of 40 Fruits in Canada

48:34 Map of Trees of 40 Fruits

49:05 Sam's website address

49:43 Viruses in tree cuttings (scions)

51:52 Sam's family's view of his work

53:25 Sam's art for sale

54:10 Show contest

55:40 Show wrap up

#Orchard People #solarpunk #Sam Van Aken #tree of 40 fruit #tree of 40 fruits #art #fruit tree #tree #stone fruit #The Urban Forestry Radio Show #Susan Poizner #tree grafting #grafting #USA #canada #Youtube

[ediblegardenspointloma]

My Favorite Seed Sources

The holidays have past and gardeners mull over the coming garden season. Seed catalogs have arrived and the email inbox has regular enticements to prompt an order. Reviewing the offerings is a favorite winter activity, especially if you live where planting the garden doesn’t commence until spring.

Here’s a list of the seed companies I’ve come to depend on. If you have a favorite I should know about, add it in a comment, including why you like it.

You can find this list on my RESOURCES page along with my Favorite Garden Books and Knowledge Bases for Gardeners.

Mother Earth News Seed and Plant Finder lets you quickly search the online catalogs of more than 500 mail order seed companies. Especially useful for unusual varieties. Johnny’s Selected Seeds has an incredible variety of seeds and an extensive Grower’s Library I consult frequently. Renee’s Garden offers a wide selection of heirloom and gourmet vegetable, flower and herb seeds. Some of their seeds I’ve planted for decades. Frequent new introductions and lovely seed packets with artist drawings and useful info. San Diego Seed Company Brijette, urban farmer and seed purveyor produces and curates organic, heirloom vegetable, herb and flower seeds regionally adapted for Southern California. Check her Instagram feed too. Territorial Seeds often has seeds I want that are out-of-stock at other companies. The seed quality and germination rates have been excellent. Seeds from Italy is the U.S. distributor for Franchi Seeds, Italy's oldest family-owned seed company, founded in 1783. Many of their heirloom varieties are untreated, most are open-pollinated, and many are certified organic. Seed count is very generous and packets reasonably priced. Fedco Seeds is a no nonsense seed company in Maine with many organic, open-pollinated and unusual varieties. Seed packets and website are ordinary but have everything you need to know. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds carries the largest selection of heirloom seeds and one of the largest selections of seeds from the 19th century; hence their website rareseeds.com Botanical Interests is another reliable seed source with gorgeous art and helpful information on their seed packets. Often available in garden centers.

#seed companies #seed catalogs #favorite garden books #knowledge bases for gardeners

[writeblrgarden]

PLANT GROWERS - MEET THE WINNERS - ETLU

Meet Etlu, who got second place in our grow a plant event in november! Etlu goes by she/they, and you can find them at @etlu-yume. She has been writing for about 20 years, primarily fantasy or urban fantasy, and lately has been dipping their toes into slice-of-life.

Tell us something interesting about yourself!

"Interesting" is a tricky thing because it's so subjective! Like some people would say being able to speak/read/write another language is interesting, and others would just expect it, right? I guess in some ways I could be considered a quadruple threat - in addition to writing, I also am an artist, study languages, and played and performed with music groups on local and international stages.

Tell us about the WIP you'd like to talk about today.

Fangs with Benefits (not what I did for NaNo - but that's self indulgent and stays between me and the dust on my hard drive). Fangs with Benefits follows the story of a set of siblings, Sherry and Gael. After the pair are banned from donating blood, they are forced to move to the big smoke in order to chase medical treatment for a family illness. After a chance meeting, the pair discover the secret supernatural underground of their new home. Full of supernatural creatures, Sherry decides that there's a solution to their frustration with red tape at the hospital; Vampires. After all. It would be of mutual benefit to both parties. And so chaos ensues.

Describe your writing process. Do you like to plan everything or are you more spontaneous?

I'm a bit all over the place. I tend to do best when I have a game plan, something to refer back to (more often than not somehow it takes scenic routes between written points; go figure). However sometimes, particularly when later scenes will not leave me alone, I will just go ahead and write them out in a separate document. Once they're out of my head and down on paper, it usually becomes much easier to go back to where I had left off and keep going. That said, it's a work in progress and always changing. What worked last year may not work for me this year, and so on and so forth. I'm just hoping I can try and establish a better year-round writing habit in 2024 <3

What have you found to be the most challenging and/or rewarding about writing?

If you'd asked me this question prior to last November, I would have struggled. Maybe I would've said "a blank page/new chapter" is the most challenging thing (and, really, it still is). But. I think the most rewarding thing about writing comes in two parts; 1.) One is when you're writing for others or an audience. I can't really speak too much on this, since I've been super shy with my work and haven't posted much if any online for general consumption. But to the few people I do share with, seeing their reactions to the story progressing, screaming about characters or events. I know there's been times where those reactions have been the difference between opening up the document and writing a few more words that day, or giving it a miss. 2.) Two is when you're writing for yourself, using your writing to help process things that have happened or that you're struggling with. It may not make things 100% better, it may not change the situation at all. But somehow there's also a weird healing power to it, too.

Below the read more is more of our conversation with Etlu

What inspires you to write?

This is a hard question! I'm actually trying to work this out myself. I started to fall out of love with writing a while ago, and I'm still looking for my way back. I'm sure I'll get there, I just don't know how long it will take, or what form it will take. But I'll get there. <3

Share some advice for other writers.

Hmm. One of the classics is "you can edit a bad page, but you can't edit a blank one", which is very true. But I'm not sure that's the kind of advice I'd want to give other writers - or myself for that matter. Bad days happen - be kind to yourself. If you're working towards a goal, keep believing in yourself. Don't give up. You can achieve amazing things! (Said from 2018's cloud of cough medicine zombie fog and pulling like 30K out of nowhere in the last 2 days of November.) Also it sounds weird but don't start from a fresh document. Even if you're finishing a chapter off, just start the next one. I'm super bad at taking this advice myself, but it's easier to re-read a few lines and make tweaks before moving forwards than it is to sit there face to face with a blank page at the start of a session.

What do consider your writing strength?

I'm probably best at workshopping or bouncing ideas, and then never writing them. Does that count? haha. On a serious note I think perhaps my strengths with writing is my structural pacing. (Not plot pacing. I've already picked up some rushed chapters in the last 3 months)

What has been the nicest compliment you've received or what has been the toughest criticism you've received?

Actually today I had a message from a friend, just a simple spotify link to a song. They followed it up with comments that they had been ruminating about events of the last couple of chapters when it started playing, and it made everything hurt even more. It's been a week since they read it - to hear that my silly little story is something that they're still thinking about this long after reading it, that combined with music it brings out more emotion. It's the little things like that, that remind me what it's all about.

What do you love the most about writing?

I'm still trying to work this out. But it falls somewhere between research, the friendly banter with other writers while everyone procrastinates, and the way that your words and the way you write will be so very different to the next writer, that everyone has their own style.

#growaplant #writeblrgarden #writeblr #writeblr community #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #am writing #writing community #nano winners

[ready2see]

Coming from Lithuania, a country known for its greenery, I have always had a special passion for nature. As a child I would often help my family in our summer home garden, or accompany them in forest foraging. When I moved to London 4 years ago, the disconnect between people and wildlife seemed acute. I felt strongly about human/nature bonds and how they enrich our lives, and felt determined to embrace this in London. Since then I have been thoroughly committed to finding ways to connect with nature by immersing myself in community based projects that share my hopes and views; an urban life amongst nature is not only possible, it is necessary. Communities thrive on knowledge-sharing, mutual support and a joint mission to care, in this case, for our land and its residents. I started my horticulture journey during the national lockdown by volunteering at my then local community mutual aid and gardening group, The Field New Cross. I quickly fell in love with their passion for community building via learning from each other, inspiring and nourishing eachother with art, protest and home grown vegetables! I took on the responsibility of helping organize and run volunteer food parcel deliveries during the pandemic, administering delivery schedules, enforcing COVID-19 regulations during pick-up and delivery as well as organizing contents of food parcels to ensure a nutritionally dense and fulfilling package. I was also working in the food garden and illustrating for the monthly newsletter. After moving to Peckham, I was determined to put my energy into something similar in the local community, so I joined OK Grow, a Southwark Council funded project geared towards the support of the residents of Aylesbury Estate’s Penbroke House. I worked with the head grower as we planted, grew and distributed food in mutual aid groups and charities such as Peckham Pantry. Our aim was to encourage community engagement and empowerment;  we worked with council house residents to get involved in food growing, one

on one teaching of planting and plant care, which attracted many children who were otherwise playing in the outside areas of the estate. Their curiosity and determination to  learn and help inspired me; I understood then that I want to work with children in this capacity as they are the ones to carry the wisdom of the earth into the future. At this time I also volunteered at Glengall Wharf Community Garden, where I took care of the rescue chicken coop and partook in their weekly gardening and DIY sessions. 

Despite not holding any official horticulture qualifications yet, I believe I would make a great fit  for the gardening educator role  as my extensive volunteering in mutual aid & gardening communities has given me an array of practical skills such as food growing, community action organization & project management and having worked at managerial hospitality roles for many years I have acquired leadership and team building skills that would undoubtedly aid in working with groups of children looking to learn from and get inspired to work outdoors. Through my bachelors degree I have excelled in research/analysis and project completion, as well as developing  productive time management and work/life balance skills which will enable me to put together a curriculum on whatever scale is needed and execute it creatively with mindfulness to each specific group.

[corruptimles]

Is Audino on good terms with any local pokés who grow Sitrus or Lum or the status healing berries?

I'd imagine yes, if there are any. In the recontextualization of a Pokemon AU, I'm sure there's some neighbours or garden centres that could provide!

I don't have any immediate characters in mind that would be the one. There wouldn't be that many local berry growers since the story takes place in a very urban location. There's only a few major gardens in the city (including the one connected to the museum Muriel works at).

#talk to me tag #Anonymous #op rambles about an au for their own OCs more at 7 #ripleys a farmer but shes from out of town #goldfinch would run a pokemart I guess