Gardening

The Monsanto Wars

by Almira February 4, 2011

Upon watching Food, Inc. and David Versus Monsanto (see full version here), I was introduced to the farming world in the U.S and got a sneak peak of some of the struggles farmers face daily. The likes of Monsanto and their industry of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are wreaking some terrible havoc, “If you are contaminated, against your wishes, by Monsanto’s GMOs, you no longer own your seeds or plants. They become the ownership of a corporation, in this case, Monsanto,” says Percy Schmeiser, a canola farmer from Saskatchewan, Canada. He claims his fields were contaminated with the Roundup Ready Canola genes, ruining 50 years of work on his 1400 acre farm in breeding saved seeds. The lawsuit lasted 3 years, and ended in favor of Percy and his wife, Louise.

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Chicken Tractors

by Almira February 3, 2011

Though your fowl darlings won’t actually be pulling a plow down each row as the chicken tractor might suggest (I can’t imagine them keeping to straight lines anyway), they will do something even better. Here’s how a chicken tractor works:

Move the chicken tractor along your garden rows or yard every so often for excellent fertilizer, while giving your chickens premium worms and bugs to munch on, and allowing them to do some weeding for you. No clean-up required, just refill their water and food, shut their “bedroom” door at night, and collect the eggs!

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World’s Tallest Roses Are Also Sustainable: VeriFlora

by Almira August 13, 2010

VeriFlora is a sustainable farm that grows fair trade, certified organic roses in the mountains of Ecuador, with blooming stems that can reach the heights of 5-6 feet tall. The workers are compensated fairly and their children are provided with daycare and meals during the workday. We should have companies doing that here in the U.S.!

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King Corn

by Almira August 10, 2010

This Month’s Film Review: King Corn, Directed by Aaron Woolf, with co-producers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis {Available on Netflix and Amazon On-Demand} On a scale of 1 (gouge my eyes out) to 5 (enjoyed every moment), I rate it: FIVE STARS Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, from Boston, MA, became best friends at Yale, [...]

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Big Ideas For A Small Planet (Season 3)

by Almira July 14, 2010

On a scale of 1 (gouge my eyes out) to 5 (enjoyed every moment), I rate it: FIVE STARS 13 episodes (Games doesn’t work on Netflix, so no-go on that one, but each episode is 25 minutes—so many nuggets of great information rolled into such a small amount of time! I realize this list is [...]

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The Backyard Homestead

by Almira July 13, 2010

This Month’s book review comes from The Backyard Homestead, edited by Carleen Madigan. On a scale of 1 (major qualms) to 5 (enjoyed every moment), I rate it: FIVE STARS Madigan claims that you can “Produce all the food you need in just a quarter of an acre!” and although I haven’t had the opportunity [...]

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Introducing: The Healthy Republic Little Shop

by Almira July 7, 2010

From the gardening and homesteading to holistic healing, nutrition and fitness, you can find many of the Healthy Republic recommended reads at the Healthy Republic A-Store. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Since Amazon doesn’t carry everything—try The Little Green Book.
BOOK CATEGORIES:

Media Club: Summer Reading

Nutrition & Healing

Gardening

Fitness

Documentaries

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