We all know how important breathing is. It's so important, it's an involuntary action of our bodies, carried out without having to think about it. Our body just does it, because if we stopped breathing long enough, we'd die. Since our body does it involuntarily, we often just forget about [...]
What if I told you you don't have to wash your hair? By the end of this article, you'll believe me. You know, sometimes when you think about things, like really think about them, they start to make no sense. Well, about a year or two ago, I started really thinking about [...]
EDIT: This group is now in operation. Please visit the Parents Accomplishing Goals (PAG) Cooperative website to learn more. I am in the process of creating a group that will allow full-time parents to accomplish other goals. These goals could be things like professional work, volunteering, studying, and starting a business. I am [...]
This summer I attended a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) at Whole Systems Design in Richmond, Vermont, from July 10, though July 19, 2015. The PDC was tought by a team of permaculture professionals including Ben Falk of Whole Systems Design, Mark Krawczyk of Keyline Vermont, Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres, and Mark Angelini [...]
A great benefit of transforming my suburban-type yard from an unsustainable lawn to a sustainable ecosystem is setting an example. I can use the process of transformation to inform neighbors, who undoubtedly have many opinions and questions. I've been getting a few general questions since I started the process, but yesterday [...]
I'm one of those people who tends to think everything happens for a reason. I'm also one of those people that thinks that what we like to call "Mother Nature" has got it all figured out. After billions of years of evolution from a probably lifeless planet to a complex [...]
I tend go back and forth between wanting to fit in and wanting to not fit in. At first, it may sound odd that someone would want to be a misfit, but hear me out. You see, humans have always wanted to find a common bond with one another. We're social creatures; [...]
I have a crazy idea. It would be a ton of work and require a ton of collaboration and generosity from others. It would be a lifetime commitment and beyond. It would also provide extensive benefits to thousands of local children and even help to save the planet. There is [...]
Image credit: http://images.sodahead.com/polls/004045829/372666676_Cute_Picture_64_answer_3_xlarge.jpeg Growing up, I never thought twice about the sustainability of our bathroom habits. Why should I have? Everyone else did the same thing. I mean, we all do it this way because the best way has evolved out of hundreds of years of trial and error, [...]
Not too long ago, my son's school sent us a survey. One question asked how well we feel the school is preparing the children for the future. This is a difficult question. At first glance, we see the future as a more technologically advanced version of today with not much [...]
If you want to make a huge difference in your environmental impact, a good place to start is being responsible for what goes in your mouth. I don't have all the scary facts, and I don't intend to include much of them here, but I do encourage you to research [...]
As stated in the post introducing the design of my front yard guilds, I had very specific requirements when choosing a plant list. If you haven't read it yet, check it out here. So here's my plant list along with the traits and uses that I personally found to be beneficial [...]
While I have been reading since my last post, the bulk of that passed time was spent researching and organizing plants and designing the apple guilds I'll be planting this spring. Permaculture design requires a lot of forethought and planning. Designing my guilds involved only a small portion of what [...]
Lately I’ve been feeling something that would be best described as urgent helplessness with regard to the state of the Earth and the rampant apathy surrounding it. I want to spend every possible second I can learning and arming myself to be able to spread the word and do everything [...]
I could write a lengthy blog post on just about every sentence in The One-Straw Revolution. Unfortunately, my library loan has expired for this e-book and all the highlights I made, so I must write a quick final post on a couple of his points that currently stand out the [...]
Part three of The One-Straw Revolution is wise, thoughtful, and philosophical. Much of it I've already read and begun to practice in my Buddhist studies, but there were quite a few gems that I had not encountered yet. The first gem that keeps coming back to mind is, "Each person [...]
The Four Principles In part two, Masanobu Fukuoka discusses his four principles for successful natural farming. The four principles are simple and indeed seem to propose a less labor-intensive method of producing food. Here I'll discuss each of the principles while adding my own elaboration. No Cultivation Throughout my life, I've [...]
I first decided to read a book by Masanobu Fukuoka, because I knew that he used natural farming to raise grains, and I am interested in growing some grains. But it turns out that Fukuoka is a good author with whom to start my The Permaculture Pupil writings, because he used [...]
