You might remember my battles to convert our harmful saltwater pool into a natural pool last year. Well, I have finally succeeded. We now swim in a clear mountain pool – yes, the natural colour of water is brown. White or sea-through water is bleached and therefore chemically laden and not good for you or the environment. Why would one bother to convert your pool? A 2010 … [Read more...]
Wild About Weeds Part 3: Dandelion
Dandelion reminds us of the abundance that life holds. The seed head is symbolic of this - since it was believed that if you make a wish or focus on your dearest dream and then blow the seeds. These little messenger seeds will carry your wishes to the heavens - thereby making your dreams come true. Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion) Habitat: Found in a very wide variety … [Read more...]
Grow your own food step 5: Who likes who in the zoo?
Who likes who in your food garden? Just like people, there are some that benefit each other and offer natural protection against predators. So it helps to know a little about companion planting when you plan your food garden. This way we can treasure their very unique natures and understand their ecology better. Growing our ecological intelligence, grows awareness and … [Read more...]
Clothing that doesn’t cost the earth
Hemp fibre is stronger and more durable than cotton. Hemp produces as much as 4 times the paper pulp per acre compared to trees. Hemp stalk can be used for building purposes. The seed is recognised as the single most nutritious source of non-animal protein on Earth. No other single resource that can provide us with so many diverse products at such a small cost to the … [Read more...]
Grow your own food step 4: Veggie planting & managing pests
Our next garden lesson involves the planning and planting of your seedlings, in your veggie beds. Just to revise… some plants that are not suitable to transplant are: carrots, radish, beetroot, peas, beans, corn, pumpkin, melons & butternut. These are generally to be planted straight into the veggie beds. Veggies suitable to be transplanted from a seed box or tray are … [Read more...]
How to create a greener bathroom
How to select between the vast collection of water saving taps and other sanitary ware on the market today? As they say, the proof is in the pudding. In this case in the green business story of the 111 years old Hansgrohe company. And if you want to make the most earth-friendly choices as a consumer nowadays you simply have to check out how serious the manufacturer is in taking … [Read more...]
Protecting potatoes against common scab naturally
Incorporating cabbage and mustard residue are effective and natural ways to reduce potato common scab. Of these three Brassica crops incorporating mustard residue is definitely the best biofumigation method. This is the advice of Dr Reinette Gouws, who in March 2013 received her doctoral degree in plant pathology in the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University. She … [Read more...]
Corporate gardens feed hungry children
If it is possible to transform a dead piece of grey gravel along a corporate building into a row of vegetable gardens abundantly delivering organic nourishment to hungry children attending a soup kitchen, then one can surely grow food almost anywhere? This was what happened alongside the Nedbank Contact Centre in Mount Edgecomb, Durban. The man in charge of this hopeful … [Read more...]
Grow your own food step 3: Digging a trench bed
There are many ways in which you could create a good bed for your vegetable plants. We are going to describe how to do one type for now – that of a Trench Bed (TB). This model was especially developed for water stressed African conditions and has been used with huge success in many township as well as suburban gardens. It is also ideal for those who believe they don’t have … [Read more...]
Realizing the full potential of your Garden
It’s not so long ago that our gardens were productive as well as aesthetically pleasing, containing a veggie garden, a small orchard, and herbs and medicines too. How wonderful, but perhaps too much hard work? Or so thought some, as gardens moved away in disdain from anything productive or working class, to the opposite extreme of being purely decorative. Some modern gardens … [Read more...]
Woman dies after spraying insecticide
A woman died on Tuesday, apparently from inhaling insecticide after spraying for cockroaches in her Joburg inner-city flat and then closing the windows. A man believed to be her partner was seriously ill in hospital on Tuesday night. The couple lived in a flat in Lofts@66 on the corner of Smal and Pritchard streets. According to a security guard, the couple sprayed … [Read more...]
Grow your own food step 2: Sowing the seeds of life
The time has come to sow the seeds for our next veggie harvest. We trust that your compost is coming along nicely? Please comment below this story, if you need any help. So let’s get the next season’s seeds sown. You can either purchase seed boxes from your nursery, or I got mine from Builder’s Warehouse, or simply use what you have. Vinny is good at collecting used … [Read more...]
Let your animals heal themselves
For as long as mankind has been on planet earth, we have been trying to heal ourselves when physical ailments have troubled us. Through the centuries this healing has continually evolved and changed until what it is today. Looking back it all began with the humble plant and noticing changes in our bodies when taken into the system or applied to wounds. In the last 100 years … [Read more...]
