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The Next Green Revolution: Urban Reforestation, Farming, and Wildscaping

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posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 03:52 PM
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reply to post by Eidolon23
 


Indeed! It is one of my favorite TED talks. People like Mr Ritz, with so much positive energy just makes me happy.
I do not know that much about Aquaponics, but are fish required in the setup?
I am a little bit lazy know and ask instead of making my own Google research.



posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 03:54 PM
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What an inspirational thread Eidolon23,

I want to get right on some of that vertical gardening. There was a wonderful phenotype of a plant that we call 'Creeping Charlie' in So Cal. I used to love it when I was a kid, it had very succulent leaves for a tropical foliage plant. I sort of lost track of the plant for a while and much later I saw a plant that my mother was growing that had leaves and a growing habit very much like the Creeping Charlie I knew from childhood and my teens, only this one had thin, papery leaves.

So I ask my mom, "What's that plant that looks like a Creeping Charlie?", and she says, "That is a Creeping Charlie, silly". We got in to it immediately, she swearing that was 'it', the 'Creeping Charlie' and I refusing to accept this weak, attenuated (although delicate and lovely) plant, as the authentic, succulent favorite from my youth.

This went on for 5 or 6 years until by accident I discovered this "Proto-Creeping Charlie", growing in an 8" terra cotta pot in the greenhouse attached to my college's Biology department. I have cuttings and once I get it up and happening I am going to get some to grow vertically like that for my computer space. I am also going to have a field day surprising my mom.

I really wanted to post to mention Xeriscaping.




Xeriscaping and xerogardening refer to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation.

It is promoted in regions that do not have easily accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water, and is gaining acceptance in other areas as climate patterns shift.

Although xeriscaping may be an alternative to various types of traditional gardening, it is usually promoted as a substitute for Kentucky bluegrass lawns.



You are so right, great expanses of Kentucky blue grass and fescues, in other words 'lawns', don't make any sense at all. Xeriscaping in SoCal was originally promoted as a remedy for that. I happened to be working in the plant trade at the time and it was a lot of fun bringing in plants from South Africa and Australia to introduce to customers.

It has really developed over the years and now a person can see some really sophisticated installations in SoCal suburbs and now even in and around commercial developments closer to the urban centers.
And It works out as a sort of 'reforestation' in this area. The very plants that used to make up the wild chaparral in this region look incredible when thoughtfully re-arranged in to the landscapes around homes. It kind of creates Southwest or Far Western versions of the English Cottage, only totally drought tolerant...

The whole of southern California, from San Diego County, though L.A. County and reaching past the Inland Empire used to be made up of Chaparral...



When the Chaparral is re-introduced to the suburbs it looks like this. I think it looks awesome. And if you look you can see the red tile roof of a Spanish style Craftsmen bungalow peaking over the trees...



And in the Chaparral live these amazing trees called Manzanitas. They are one of my favorites and have the smoothest bark you have ever touched...





X.



posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 03:59 PM
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Originally posted by LiberalSceptic
reply to post by Eidolon23
 


I do not know that much about Aquaponics, but are fish required in the setup?


Yah dude! The fish poop a bunch, which makes a perfect water soluble nutrient solution for the plants. No additions needed, unlike hydroponics. Popular food fish include tilapia and trout.



posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 04:12 PM
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Here are two nice videos about vertical gardening. Could perhaps give some of you a couple of good ideas.



John from www.growingyourgreens.com... goes on a field trip to the 99 Only dollar store to share with you some items that will allow you to grow more food at home. In this episode you will learn about bulbs, seeds, vertical gardening pots, ceramic pots, plant clips, inexpensive tomato style cage and more.






Chris Bribach of Plants On Walls and Davis Dalbok of Living Green team up to create a dramatic living wall for the San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2012. A stunning floating wall of Florafelt Vertical Garden Planters welcomes visitors, first with an array of succulents, both fiery and vibrant, that feather into a serene and shady fern grotto at the entrance. Chris demonstrates how plants are root-wrapped and inserted into felt pockets while Davis explains how the design is arranged to delight with a lush and dazzling visual first impression. Located at the distinguished Hellman Mansion in Pacific Heights, this one-month show features San Francisco's most prominent and talented designers. Learn how to create your own vertical garden at www.PlantsOnWalls.com .




posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 04:16 PM
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reply to post by Eidolon23
 


Nice thread.

Just wanted to add, with all that growing, don't forget about making provisions for composting all that greenery, keeping the cycle going, putting back into the Earth what is taken out.

We are fortunate in the UK that we have green waste collections now, as well as subsidised composters for domestic use. Some areas even have kitchen waste collections, which all goes towards making the most of what is biodegradable, and cuts down on landfill and incinerated waste.

For those gardening in a small space, you can't beat a good wormery



posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 04:17 PM
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reply to post by Eidolon23
 


Ah ok, I thought that could have something to do with the process.
Seems easy to take care of a Aquaponics garden, rather self sustaining right?
I am getting some ideas over here...
Urges to set something up are forming



posted on Sep, 15 2012 @ 04:23 PM
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Originally posted by Biliverdin
reply to post by Eidolon23
 


Nice thread.

For those gardening in a small space, you can't beat a good wormery


Thanking you.


Worm composting is the coolest, and can even be integrated into a aquaponics set-up to recycle the fishpoop solids.
They are pretty easy to assemble, as well as being space conservative and more efficient than pile or bin composting.

Here's a nice little how-to guide:

www.cityfarmer.org...



posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 12:20 AM
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Never was one for growing plants, but they always seem to be around and its one of the things that I need to get more familiar with, not that I am totally unfamiliar with such. And seeing as its been a sort of offshoot theme all through out my life, from the time I was a wee tike my family used to live in ghetto concrete jungle apartments back in another country. But I never liked it there all that much, and preferred the country setting to it, so every chance I got I spent more time back with my grandparents in the country, doing country things and farming things.

Even my mom she loves doing that sort of stuff, I told her to quit playing with dirt but you know old habits are hard to kill, and especially if they have been installed into you for generations. So ya! shes a plant person, and seeing that she was born and raised in a little village were everything that you eat you usually grow it and make it yourself, in fact I still remember doing the whole summer reaping and winter harvesting thing that was basically what life rotated around back there and then in that place.

In all she can probably grow anything anywhere, even if she never heard of it or know its scientific name, and even in between the cracks of concrete she grew stuff. She even a few time got chickens and a freaking rooster, and not because we needed them, I kid you not. Back when we used to life in apartment buildings back in the day in my youth, which did not go all that well with people and neighbors and since they did not even allow dogs or any other pets in most of them and they complained. But you know whatever, they can go suck a lemon for all I care. In fact she seems to get chickens or some farm type animal every few years at random, we have kept chickens we even had rabbits, and if we had the space we probably would have had a cow or goat. But thankfully she slowed down on that, and no longer wants to recreate the environment of her youth.

And man do those things "chickens" poop everywhere which is why we could never keep them for long, they even had there own little spot in the place were they stayed in a corner all decked out with old newspapers for there little pooping asses, which I had to clean for what seemed like every odd day, to keep them from stinking the place up. I used to hate doing that and gardening stuff, or any of that stuff, and its still not my thing. Even the compost heap she kept around annoyed me, even if it did serve a purpose then all the other stuff, we never really needed it technically since we got the garbage, recycle and compost/yard waste pickup around here.

But you know, like E23 said that stuff is important and the older I get the more I regret I never got into it or really wanted to pick up any of it, seeing as its a really handy skill to have and just to know about it in general. As it is now, and even growing up around people that did all that stuff, to me its all just green stuff and most of it is indistinguishable from the others, there is the green stuff you can eat, and then there is the green stuff you can not eat. But you can try eating it.


Besides was thinking I could do that stuff later in life, and seeing as my parents were thinking of going that route some years down the road when they retire, I may go and join them, you know being all naturey and farmy and whatnot, or at the very least I can pick up or learn something. I mean how hard can that stuff be, you put stuff in the ground and then wait a while... and bam!... you pick it and eat it, piece of cake...I will miss the concrete though.




edit on 16-9-2012 by galadofwarthethird because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 09:54 AM
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reply to post by galadofwarthethird
 



Chicken poop- deal with enough of it, and you just don't care anymore. Mucking out an enclosed pen for the first time feels like finding yourself on a bad reality show- Fear Factor Farm Edition.


It's the best thing for your soil. The movable chicken coop allows you to keep a couple of laying hens, and one can move the coop from spot to spot, allowing the chickens to poop and scratch in fallow areas of the garden.





posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 10:05 AM
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Very nice thread, and well worth the read!!

I live in a heavy deciduous forest in the Loess Hills along the Missouri River. There are about 15 huge shade trees in my yard, including several oaks, a few ash, a silver maple, elms, and an enormous walnut. I barely have enough "full-sun" areas to cultivate a few native species of flowers; and no grass will grow in the back at all...

however, I DO have green things growing. They are short, and keep the dirt from running downhill, so my yard is green with some bare spots. I prefer to call the backyard a "campground" (it's under a tree canopy and not landscaped at all....), and the front a "meadow".

I sometimes have to cut the remnants of "grass" that are still here and there, but mostly, my lawn doesn't get above 6" or so; it has lots of moss, wild violets, wild strawberries, and many other herbs and groundcovers, like Creeping Charlie (YAY!), and vinca. A lot of the stuff growing on its own has medicinal and/or nutritious merit (yes, even dandelions are good for you).

I've always hated mowing; hate the noise, and the smell, and the hassle...so, I've let it go fairly "natural"....proudly. Fortunately, my neighbors aren't bothered. The guy down the block just got chickens; I was considering getting a miniature equine as a "mower" (smaller than a large dog, and I'm too old to mess with full-size horses like I used to).

I bought several books on natural and herbal medicine over the years, and learned what plants I have. I could feasibly live here without outside groceries; there are some blackberry bushes, mulberry trees, and of course the walnuts, plus plenty of "salad" stuff.

I've never understood why people want an acre or more of "lawn" that just requires constant maintenance and uses up water. My motto is, if you can't make it with the climate we've got, you don't need to grow here.....especially with water crises looming....
why water, fertilize, pesticide, fill your yard with chemicals?? (I think it makes the bugs come inside, too, if you poison their natural outdoor habitat)

Still, without doing any of that stuff, and minimal mowing and some weed-pulling, I have a very pleasant woodland garden, and NO BUGS in my house..

The house is also situated to take full advantage of the seasons: shade in summer, south-facing windows for sun in winter, excellent ventilation, and stout plaster walls with masonry outside the "frame".

Thanks again for the thread, OP!


GO GREENIES!
s/f


edit on 16-9-2012 by wildtimes because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 04:26 PM
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im pretty sure the next revolution wont involve trees



posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 04:35 PM
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reply to post by ~widowmaker~
 







posted on Sep, 16 2012 @ 07:19 PM
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reply to post by Eidolon23
 

Oh ya chickens are one of the most annoying animals around, its not that its hard to take care of them as they do that by themselves, but man do they poop. It may be good for the soil and what not, but if you don't have the space or like here were I live we have a small back yard. I can step out from the back door take about 5 long steps and I will reach the fence, and its like that lengthwise to about the size of the house, on the side and in the front of the house you got more space but in the back, nope.

And ya we even had chickens some years back at this house, we kept them in the back yard, we even built a chicken coop for them, nothing so fancy as that coop in the vid, but a bit similar only built more heavy and built with heavier materials. Nor was it so high there little cooping place was about 3 feet from the ground in the coop.

The portable one in that vid would be ideal but if you do not have the space it really does not matter, in fact after we got rid of the chickens because they were all over the place, and even got under the fence and in the neighbors yard, and the rooster could reach the top of the fence and used to do his thing in the morning. So we got rid of him first because even though he never went anywhere you just never know, and eventually the chickens we had to get rid of also, at this current place we did not have them for long, only for a couple of months or so before they became to much. After that we converted the chicken coop into a dog house because it was pretty sturdy and we had to do something with it, but now that we don't even have a dog, we scraped it and got rid of it as it was taking to much space.

One thing though, we get no more eggs from them, and you could taste the difference between the eggs we got from them and the ones we bought at the store. And sorry E23 but for the time being I think I like my chickens on a plate or coming in a little box from KFC. I know that's not your thing seeing as your a vegetarian and stuff, but really chickens are hella freaking annoying. If somebody had the space, then I would say go for it. But if you don't, there a pretty big hassle eventually.

Anyways! keep on planting, and playing with dirt, and all that.

edit on 16-9-2012 by galadofwarthethird because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 17 2012 @ 04:00 PM
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reply to post by galadofwarthethird
 


Chickens actually aren't that cost effective as a mean of producing fertilising either. The cost of feeding them, combined with the space that they require runs into the negative, even when they are good egg producers. That is, they take more than they give. Much better, even with the space that you have, is a pig. They eat household waste...well let's face it, they eat anything, and therefore, given a reasonably sized household, they will therefore cost nothing whatsoever to feed, and will produce very rich fertiliser. Plus, you can eat the pig once it gets nice and fat, and replace it with a new pig and repeat. In terms of energy expended (both in terms of maintenance and pecuniary) against return, the benefits of the pig far outweigh those of chickens

Mmmm...bacon!



posted on Sep, 17 2012 @ 07:09 PM
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reply to post by Biliverdin
 

Good points biliverdin, but for the fact that pigs are even more annoying then chickens.

Your right however that they are more cost effective, but if you try to keep them in a small spaces, expect to be knee deep in pig sh*t fast, they do get a lot more messy then chickens crazy fast. And the fact that they will eat anything also has a down side to it. It's no joke there there when they say that pigs will eat anything or the expression greedy as a pig, as you likely know.

I have seen a few pig slaughters in my time back when I was a kid, my grandpa used to keep them among other farm animals, and like you said when they reached a certain size, well you know the rest. But you really got to be careful with them, back then from what I remeber they used to be keept in there own stalls and not really let out to forage, mostely because they would tear things up, and the fact that they would eat the chickens...No joke like I said when you said that they will eat anything. Even the household pets if there small enough like a cat or small dogs, well do not leave them with a growing pig for a minute, or they will be gone when you come back.

I have even seen them try to get at chickens through there pens if it strays to close, and have heard of them literally eating them whole when they actually get one that strayed to close. And the more there enclosed and have no room the more mean and crazy they become, and the more stinky the place gets. Again since it probably needs be stressed, you will be literally knee deep in pig sh*t. But if you let them forage around, well again you would definitely need to first have the space and room, and second only in places and spots were they can not get at the other things and animals, or even small children that may be around the area, because once they get some size on them expect them to be more aggressive and to be constantly hungry and eating just about anything that comes its way.

By the way whats with the new sexy avatar, and the "I'm evil sign" you joining the legion of doom? Or is it some sort of statement that your trying to make?



posted on Sep, 17 2012 @ 07:32 PM
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reply to post by galadofwarthethird
 


Pigs: they're as smart as eight-year-olds, and way too tasty for their own good. And Biliverdin is totally correct, you can't beat a pig for sustenance or fertilizer. I ran across an article a few years back about an alarming trend in Hong Kong where people were raising pigs in apartments the size of office cubicles- and the resulting health hazards were ballooning out of control.

And that's really the only bar to urban pig farming: they are filthy goddamn animals (I know, I've raised them), and encephalitis ain't no joke. However, this lady seems to have had some success with inner-city pig farming.

For the record, I love Biliverdin's avatar. I always pictured her resembling Emma Peel, and that's pretty darn close.

edit on 17-9-2012 by Eidolon23 because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 17 2012 @ 08:39 PM
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reply to post by Eidolon23
 

Well some of the pigs I am talking about were not on the small side, don't remember exactly how big they were but they were bigger then me at that age that's for sure. In fact they would not let me into there stalls back then, so I suppose it all just depends on how big of a pig were talking about here as they can pretty much grow to be really huge.

The little ones or the smaller ones they let them run around once in a while with the piglets, in fact they kept the piglets and the average size ones away from the huge ones from what I remember, the reasons why? Well you can guess. And yes there really only have two things on there minds eating, and sh*ting. Definitely not the smartest animal around that's for sure, but definitely one of the filthiest animals around that's for sure.

Again which is a big reason why they can be a problem and even dangerous in certain situations. I suppose it can be done to raise them or really I shouldn't say "them" more like one of them in an urban area, but no way do I see how people would raise any pig in an apartments the size of an office cubicles, that's just not that great of an idea. Unless its just a small one as a pet or something.

Also I had no clue who Emma Peel was, but thanks to Google now I sort of do.

And also I actually don't know if I did it, but you know that button in the Tools section that says "hide member avatars and backgrounds" Well for about 2 month, I must of accidentally hit it because I couldn't see anybody's avatar, and only a few days ago, around the time I changed my avatar to this current one, did I notice that button. And now I can see everybody's avatars again. It was pretty interesting looking at ATS for a while without seeing anybody's avatar, you sort of get used to knowing who everybody is by there avatars more so then by there member names.

And I got used to Biliverdin's other avatar, that one lady with the plant, that looked like some sort of Oracle/Gypsy person. I pictured she had that avatar the whole time I ran into the things she wrote on this site. Not that her new avatar isn't cool. But you know...One has to ask whats up with the sign? I also kind of pictured her looking something like her new avatar.



posted on Sep, 17 2012 @ 09:02 PM
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Brilliant thread

and a simple message I never get tired of hearing at all.

Fancy living where someone tells you, you can't plant food?!?! The idiocy of that is mind blowing.



posted on Sep, 19 2012 @ 10:04 AM
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Originally posted by AussieAmandaC
Brilliant thread

and a simple message I never get tired of hearing at all.

Fancy living where someone tells you, you can't plant food?!?! The idiocy of that is mind blowing.


I know, it's such a ridiculous thing. I get upset when I hear stories of people in neighborhoods going to the authorities about folks who have gardens instead of yards, because "it ruins the aesthetics". Who ARE these people? And why are they so obsessed with controlling other people? I don't get it!

This is why most of my backyard is a garden and why I have a garden in my front yard too.


The best idea I've ever heard, in a thread posted awhile back (www.abovetopsecret.com...) was how some folks will go and stealth plant edibles in public spaces. I love that idea - planting carrots and stuff in places where people can find them.

Great thread, I've been following it since it started.



posted on Sep, 20 2012 @ 10:39 PM
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OK just something I noticed a few days ago, I really do not notice this stuff but once in a while I would find a strange plants in weird places were they should not be, I even saw a tomato plant some years ago in a foot long gap by were the cars park, and only noticed it till is started growing tomatoes.

And now I only noticed this sunflower plant because of this thread. Really I do not even know if my mom planted it there on purpose or if some seed or bulb or whatever is used to grow sunflowers, just ended up there.

But there it is growing out of the side of the planters with the rest of the weeds. Then again tomato plants and sunflowers are practically weeds as they freaking grow anywhere, I remember that last year she had a bunch of them in there with flowers and other things, so it could be that some seed or whatever fell there and it up and grew this year. Because this year there is nothing but a bunch of weeds in there.




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