Permaculture Blog

I almost put goop down these holes and then I said to myself, you know they are not doing any damage here. It may be a jumping off point to attack my trees 20 30 feet away but right here, right now, it’s not a problem.

I claim that I am willing to share so let’s do it. I don’t need to beat up on the gophers now, simply because I can. I almost feel sorry for putting goo down their holes because it is so easy for me and so annoying for them.

I can’t imagine how it would be to come home and find my living room full of goop. I do feel sorry for them. And the incredible thing about this new system is that I _can_ feel sorry for them. And I can redirect them instead of killing them. But the bald eagle circling the other day I guess is a bigger worry than a little bit of goop in a new expansion project :-)

Peace to everyone and please try to live with the world instead of against it.

Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

http://www.vegetariat.com/2015/12/plant-guild-4-nitrogen-fixing-plants/

[Quote]
It would be pompous for us to believe that plants, which began about 450 million years ago on Earth, just fiddled around until their true keepers (humans) came along and evolved enough to produce chemical nitrogen to dump onto their roots.
[EndQuote]

Oh how true, how true!
Bob

http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

This morning I was out checking the orchard. I was putting some vegetable goop down gopher holes (old, fermented, mushy okra is God’s gift as a gopher deterrent) and happened to look up… and saw exactly why I work so hard at not poisoning the gophers.

I was so excited to see this beautiful bird. A belated solstice/ holiday present.

Bob

http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

>http://netnebraska.org/article/news/989947/cheaper-easier-monitoring-could-hasten-water-clean br>
[quote] Decades-old systems of field tiling, which drain fields of excess water, keep crops from drowning. But they also concentrate nutrients in water flowing across the Midwest and into the Mississippi River. That’s contributed to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, an oxygen-starved area where marine critters die.br>
[endquote]

You know, BP did not cause the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. We did. Think about it!. But this is why I say technology can drag us out of the hole that we are digging for ourselves.

Bob

http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, (except for Greece, New York,) or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (except for Muslims); or abridging the freedom of speech, (except reporters who refuse to reveal who supplied them with unauthorized leaks.) or of the press; (except if they have been supplied with unauthorized leaks.) or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (Except the 99percent protestors who refused to go home when ordered to by the government and SWAT rumbled in) So sayeth the new First Amendment.

I’m talking to a friend the other day and she’s telling me how she and her daughter are watching a movie on dung beetles while eating. I really like them.

The other day with a group of outdoors people, I am showing some pictures of tiny, tiny, worms that I had taken under a microscope and one woman was so creeped out she couldn’t watch them.

90 thousand _tons_ of pesticides on our food should not only make us unable to watch a movie but it should make us gag.

If a Chemical Company had a vivid orange fluorescent product that had absolutely no side effects, 100% safe: or it had a product that had some iffy properties, caused some minor nerve damage in a small control group, but it was completely odorless and colorless, which do you think that they would market?

if you really think that big chemical companies have your best interest at heart remember that Cigarette commercial where 4 out of 5 doctors prefer camel cigarettes? If you’re too young to remember look it up.

And people someone was making money on running those ads.

Bob

So I hiked up to check the fairy shrimp habitat on a hilltop near my house this morning. Because after the rains, I figured that it might have some water in it :-)

By the way if you’re in California how much water did you collect? 50 gallons in a rain barrel or a thousand in a pond?

You should have seen me trying to get up and then back down the wet granite boulders without killing myself. But it was worth the trip! Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

It is amazing what people will put on themselves. And what companies will sell them. The chemicals below are found in hand sanitizers

On the Need and Speed of Regulating Triclosan and Triclocarban in the United States

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974611/#!po=0.308642

I just sent my post about permaculture in space and how I believe that technology is a good thing.

And then I run into this.

I do not believe that spraying, putting, spreading, smearing, toxins all over the place is forward thinking, nor a good use of technology. It is simply the chemical companies preying on our fear and paranoia of microorganisms. Fear of the unknown is not being a permaculturist.

Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

SpaceX launches rocket 6 months after accident, then lands.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/12/21/spacex-launches-rocket-6-months-after-accident-then-lands.html?intcmp=hpbt3

Well I don’t know whether this link will be good for everyone but certainly you can google the title and get a plethora of similar sites. I chose this one because it’s got the embedded link to the landing video.

I was talking to a fellow permaculture conspirator this morning and commented that December 21st 2015 was a great example of permaculture in space. I am NOT a Luddite. I believe that technology can drag us out of the hole we are digging. But I also recognize that technology has a cost to the earth.

All the toxic rocket fuel and all the money that could be used to improve conditions here on earth have a cost. And so those of us who believe in moving forward with technology need to be better stewards than the average Joe and Jane sitting around at home in front of Dancing with the Stars.

Permaculture is hard work! It is not easy! And yet the benefits do make life easier.

So why do I think that the latest rocket — roaring into the sky, burning tons of fuel, and putting toxic materials into the atmosphere — is a fantastic example of permaculture? It’s because the rocket booster came back down and landed! We are able to recycle what we used to just throw out. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of time, effort, money, and materials are now recycled.

It’s as if an entire city that was not recycling before has now started; yesterday. The ability to now do this recycling took a lot of time, effort, and money. It was freaking hard to land a 15 story rocket without it toppling over. But it also goes to show that Permaculture and caring about recycling can be profitable! And I would suggest that that “profit” is not always in money!

Woohoo!

Happy Holidays!
Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35153795

Colistin resistance in bacteria is now in pigs in the UK (and other countries). I wonder why it showed up in animals first.

In addition, the problem with getting down to where you only have a single antibiotic to treat a particular infection is that some people will have adverse reactions to that one last antibiotic.

[Quote] Serious and occasionally fatal allergic reactions can occur in people treated with carbapenems.[15] Seizures are a dose-limiting toxicity for both imipenem and meropenem. [EndQuote]

All Permaculturists should try their best to not buy animal products that have been treated with antibiotics! Better yet become a vegetarian.

Or grow your own food with your swimming pool water!

http://www.puravidaaquatic.com/index.php/pool-conversions/

Bob