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Showing posts with label Home Sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Sustainability. Show all posts
Friday, November 2, 2012
Save the Bees
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) - (Wikipedia) - is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term colony collapse disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006.[1] Colony collapse is significant economically because many agricultural crops worldwide are pollinated by bees; and ecologically, because of the major role that bees play in the reproduction of plant communities in the wild. European beekeepers observed similar phenomena in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain,[2] and initial reports have also come in from Switzerland and Germany, albeit to a lesser degree[3] while the Northern Ireland Assembly received reports of a decline greater than 50%.[4] Multiple possible causes of CCD have been identified. In 2007, some authorities attributed the problem to biotic factors such as Varroa mites and insect diseases (i.e., pathogens[5] including Nosema apis and Israel acute paralysis virus).[6][7] Other proposed causes include environmental change-related stresses,[8] malnutrition, pesticides (e.g.. neonicotinoids such as clothianidin and imidacloprid[9][10][11]), and migratory beekeeping. More speculative possibilities have included both cell phone radiation[12][13] and genetically modified (GM) crops with pest control characteristics.[14][15]
Controversy Deepens Over Pesticides and Bee Collapse - Wired Magazine - Brandon KeimEmail - April 6, 2012 - controversial new study of honeybee deaths has deepened a bitter dispute over whether the developed world’s most popular pesticides are causing an ecological catastrophe. Researchers led by biologist Chensheng Lu of Harvard University report a direct link between hive health and dietary exposure to imidacloprid, a so-called neonicotinoid pesticide linked to colony collapse disorder, the mysterious and massive die-off of bees across North America and Europe. The study isn’t without critics, who say doses used in the study may be unrealistically high. But the level of a realistic dose is also a matter of controversy, and even critics say the findings are troubling. “Our result replicates colony collapse disorder as a result of pesticide exposures,” said Lu, who specializes in environmental exposures to pesticides. “We need to look at our agriculture policy and see if what we’re doing now is sustainable.” Developed in the 1990s as a relatively less-toxic alternative to pesticides that seriously harmed human health, neonicotinoids soon became the world’s fastest-growing pesticide class and an integral part of industrial agricultural strategy. In the United States alone, neonicotinoid-treated corn now covers a total area slightly smaller than the state of Montana. Like earlier pesticides, neonicotinoids disrupt insects’ central nervous systems. But unlike earlier pesticides, which affected insects during and immediately after spraying, neonicotinoids spread through the vascular tissues of plants. They’re toxic through entire growing seasons, including flowering times when bees consume their pollen.
Bees Colony Collapse Disorder - Google Articles
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
TEDx Hickory April 21, 2012 - Part 2 - Edwards and Simmons
Barry Edwards - Catawba County EcoComplex
NORTH CAROLINA'S CATAWBA COUNTY SELECTS NEXTERRA/GE BIOMASS CHP SYSTEM
Nexterra debuts biomass CHP system
Future Economy Council Meeting #17 - (August 20, 2010)
Rob Simmons - Local Entrepreneur - Frontiers
The New Frontier - The Hickory Hound - Tuesday, September 27, 2011
NORTH CAROLINA'S CATAWBA COUNTY SELECTS NEXTERRA/GE BIOMASS CHP SYSTEM
Nexterra debuts biomass CHP system
Future Economy Council Meeting #17 - (August 20, 2010)
Rob Simmons - Local Entrepreneur - Frontiers
The New Frontier - The Hickory Hound - Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
TedX Program and Notes - April 21,2012 - Hickory Hound
TedX Program Guide - This is a guide to all of the people who made presentations and TedX and what the TedX Hickory Event is about.
The Hound's TedX Notes - (PDF File) - These are the notes that were taken in relation to each presenter at the TedX Hickory Event.
One at a time over the next few days I will be putting out the audio of each of the presenters. I know that Alan Jackson and the Media Guild will soon be putting out Video from the event. It was a very exciting event with 150 people in attendance. The attendees were limited because this was the first year of the event. This event was awesome and I would highly suggest that you attend next year's presentations.
Often the Hound is criticized for putting out negative information. The information is what it is. This information is very positive. It relates how entrepreneurs-innovators-artists are making a go of it in our area. These people aren't making a killing, but they are in charge of their long term destiny and they are pursuing their passions.
So I hope as these presentations are released to the public that you will afford yourself the opportunity to find out about the leaders in this community -- The Doers and Makers.
The Hound's TedX Notes - (PDF File) - These are the notes that were taken in relation to each presenter at the TedX Hickory Event.
One at a time over the next few days I will be putting out the audio of each of the presenters. I know that Alan Jackson and the Media Guild will soon be putting out Video from the event. It was a very exciting event with 150 people in attendance. The attendees were limited because this was the first year of the event. This event was awesome and I would highly suggest that you attend next year's presentations.
Often the Hound is criticized for putting out negative information. The information is what it is. This information is very positive. It relates how entrepreneurs-innovators-artists are making a go of it in our area. These people aren't making a killing, but they are in charge of their long term destiny and they are pursuing their passions.
So I hope as these presentations are released to the public that you will afford yourself the opportunity to find out about the leaders in this community -- The Doers and Makers.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Calorie Economy
Calories - The Currency of All Economies - by Thomas J. Elpel - www.greenuniversity.com - (Below is a synopsis - Visit link to read the entire article on the theoretical basis of the real economy).
Most economists rely on computer printouts of numerical data for their financial planning. By comparing one series of digits with another they can find the immediate trends in the economy and take advantage of those trends. To most people that seems normal. To me it always was, and still is, artificial. I have always wanted to help both people and the environment, and I learned at an early age that knowledge of the economy could be one tool to reach that end. However, I wanted more than just the knowledge of how to generate a positive series of numbers. I was looking for something bigger. I was searching for universal truths. I wanted knowledge about the economy that was constant from year to year, from culture to culture. I wanted knowledge that would be useful to a poor person or a rich person, in our culture, or in any culture. The truths about economics that I found were not in the New York Stock Exchange, but in anthropology and nature...
The calorie is a unit of measuring energy. Specifically, it is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. The caloric value of food is measured by igniting the food to find out how much heat it releases. As human beings, you and I require approximately 2,500 calories of energy to fuel us through each day. The calories we consume come from the sun. Plants convert sunlight into food that we and other animals can eat. Petroleum and coal also contain calories of solar energy, but that energy was captured by plants millions of years ago. The calories from these and other sources are ultimately the basis of all economies...
Money is simply a token we use today to represent calories of energy. Strictly speaking, we use it to represent human energy, or human productivity. Each of us produces goods or services to exchange to others for the goods and services we need. We put a great deal of energy into the goods and services we provide, as does everyone else. Money represents that energy and makes it easy for us to swap our energies. I can make a product and sell it, and I get paid for the energy I put into it. I can then take that money and buy a product from another person. I give them my money to compensate them for their energy. Ultimately I have exchanged my energy for theirs, and money is just something that makes the exchange process easier. For simplicity we can say that money is a token that represents calories of human energy or labor...
Ultimately, all aspects of our economy are tied to calories, including inflation, insurance, stocks and bonds, and interest. Consider, for example, insurance. Insurance in a primitive economy meant having neighbors who would share some of their calories with you if you had an accident, and you would do the same for them in their time of need. Insurance is similar today. We all pay calories into a common fund, and any person or family that is in need draws from the fund. For example, if a person's house is destroyed then that person withdraws enough calories from the fund to rebuild the house. Having built our own house, I can tell you that you expend a lot of calories building a house. So the person whose home is destroyed withdraws a large amount of calories form the common fund to fuel the carpenters as they rebuild the house, plus enough extra for the carpenters to exchange for the goods they need. There is only one main difference between insurance in our economy and insurance in past economies. In past economies every member produced calories and contributed them to the insurance pool. In our economy today the insurance agents do not produce for the pool. We sustain them with a share of the calories we produce, and they in return serve us by overseeing the pool of calories and by doling them out to those in need...
The Hound: I have heard it expressed by others that we are headed into a period that will focus on the Calorie Economy. Food as a commodity is becoming from one perspective more expensive and from another perspective more valuable. This is the reason that I am urging people to focus on sustainability. We are going to start focusing more on the issues of the calorie economy and ways that you can take advantage of that. And over time you can see that this blog has addressed these very issues through articles such as:
The Possibilities of Urban Gardening,
Garden Time - Ideas for the coming season,
Agriburbia© possibilities in Catawba County,
The Food Crisis -- February 19, 2011,
Does anyone notice that food prices are rising?,
Houndvision: Building a Raised Bed Garden - Ready to plant today,
Icelandic volcano displays our vulnerability related to the World Economy,
Last Frost Date - April 15 - Time to start planting,
My Scientific Garden 2010.
I am far from what one would term a "Greenie." As a conservative, I do believe in conservation. Look all around you and you see waste. We have over the years based our entire economy on consumerism, consumption, convenience, and disposability. This accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s into a rat race lifestyle where people decided that working all of the time and paying for contrived material conveniences was good. People thought that this was the way to get ahead. Many people have very little to show for those efforts.
I believe that we must get back to basics in order to survive. We need to get off the Corporate Energy Grid. Now I am not saying that one needs to completely abandon the grid, but this addiction to everything offered as convenience and disposability will get you nowhere and leaves you very vulnerable. This is a cycle of dependence that will increase your odds of bankruptcy and/or an early grave. Interdependence is important, but we must not forgo the independent nature in which the nation was founded upon. It is time to get back to basics.
Most economists rely on computer printouts of numerical data for their financial planning. By comparing one series of digits with another they can find the immediate trends in the economy and take advantage of those trends. To most people that seems normal. To me it always was, and still is, artificial. I have always wanted to help both people and the environment, and I learned at an early age that knowledge of the economy could be one tool to reach that end. However, I wanted more than just the knowledge of how to generate a positive series of numbers. I was looking for something bigger. I was searching for universal truths. I wanted knowledge about the economy that was constant from year to year, from culture to culture. I wanted knowledge that would be useful to a poor person or a rich person, in our culture, or in any culture. The truths about economics that I found were not in the New York Stock Exchange, but in anthropology and nature...
The calorie is a unit of measuring energy. Specifically, it is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. The caloric value of food is measured by igniting the food to find out how much heat it releases. As human beings, you and I require approximately 2,500 calories of energy to fuel us through each day. The calories we consume come from the sun. Plants convert sunlight into food that we and other animals can eat. Petroleum and coal also contain calories of solar energy, but that energy was captured by plants millions of years ago. The calories from these and other sources are ultimately the basis of all economies...
Money is simply a token we use today to represent calories of energy. Strictly speaking, we use it to represent human energy, or human productivity. Each of us produces goods or services to exchange to others for the goods and services we need. We put a great deal of energy into the goods and services we provide, as does everyone else. Money represents that energy and makes it easy for us to swap our energies. I can make a product and sell it, and I get paid for the energy I put into it. I can then take that money and buy a product from another person. I give them my money to compensate them for their energy. Ultimately I have exchanged my energy for theirs, and money is just something that makes the exchange process easier. For simplicity we can say that money is a token that represents calories of human energy or labor...
Ultimately, all aspects of our economy are tied to calories, including inflation, insurance, stocks and bonds, and interest. Consider, for example, insurance. Insurance in a primitive economy meant having neighbors who would share some of their calories with you if you had an accident, and you would do the same for them in their time of need. Insurance is similar today. We all pay calories into a common fund, and any person or family that is in need draws from the fund. For example, if a person's house is destroyed then that person withdraws enough calories from the fund to rebuild the house. Having built our own house, I can tell you that you expend a lot of calories building a house. So the person whose home is destroyed withdraws a large amount of calories form the common fund to fuel the carpenters as they rebuild the house, plus enough extra for the carpenters to exchange for the goods they need. There is only one main difference between insurance in our economy and insurance in past economies. In past economies every member produced calories and contributed them to the insurance pool. In our economy today the insurance agents do not produce for the pool. We sustain them with a share of the calories we produce, and they in return serve us by overseeing the pool of calories and by doling them out to those in need...
The Possibilities of Urban Gardening,
Garden Time - Ideas for the coming season,
Agriburbia© possibilities in Catawba County,
The Food Crisis -- February 19, 2011,
Does anyone notice that food prices are rising?,
Houndvision: Building a Raised Bed Garden - Ready to plant today,
Icelandic volcano displays our vulnerability related to the World Economy,
Last Frost Date - April 15 - Time to start planting,
My Scientific Garden 2010.
I am far from what one would term a "Greenie." As a conservative, I do believe in conservation. Look all around you and you see waste. We have over the years based our entire economy on consumerism, consumption, convenience, and disposability. This accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s into a rat race lifestyle where people decided that working all of the time and paying for contrived material conveniences was good. People thought that this was the way to get ahead. Many people have very little to show for those efforts.
I believe that we must get back to basics in order to survive. We need to get off the Corporate Energy Grid. Now I am not saying that one needs to completely abandon the grid, but this addiction to everything offered as convenience and disposability will get you nowhere and leaves you very vulnerable. This is a cycle of dependence that will increase your odds of bankruptcy and/or an early grave. Interdependence is important, but we must not forgo the independent nature in which the nation was founded upon. It is time to get back to basics.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The Possibilities of Urban Gardening
AMERICA REVEALED - Urban Farming - PBS
Meet the ordinary people who bring food production back to basics in this clip from AMERICA REVEALED "Food Machine." New four-part series premieres Wednesday, April 11, 10/9c on PBS.
Urban Farming: Hydroponics in the City
Keeping agriculture sustainable increasingly means keeping it local. Besides the environmental benefit of reducing reliance on fossil-fuel guzzling transportation, eating local food is a more seasonal and often healthier experience. With concern about food security growing, it might turn out to be safer, too. The folks in charge of the Science Barge, a new urban farming experiment in New York, are bringing local food production closer than ever. In this video Vanessa Rae learns about the floating greenhouse facility, which is designed as a demonstration of how urban space, especially rooftop space in big cities like New York, can be used to efficiently produce food. Self-powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and a biodiesel generator, the Science Barge uses state of the art computer technology and an agricultural technique called hydroponics to grow fruits and veggies using much less water and space than field farming. Watch out, city slickers. Farm country is coming to your neighborhood.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Garden Time - Ideas for the coming season
Building a Raised Bed Garden
Mother Earth News: How to Make Instant No-dig Garden Beds
Using Pressure Treated Lumber in Raised Garden Beds - Backyard Gardening Blog - April 12th, 2009 - ... Should you go out and buy CCA pressure treated lumber to build your raised beds? Well no, you can’t. You see, despite the tiny safety risk, CCA pressure treated lumber was banned for consumer use by the EPA in 2003. Any pressure treated lumber manufactured for consumer use after that date has no arsenic in it. The ban all told was a better safe than sorry issue grown out of kids touching/playing on/eating off of/ CCA playground equipment, not garden contamination, but nevertheless, for the last 5 years pressure treated lumber has not contained arsenic. So, for those worrying about it, don’t. Save yourself a few hundred dollars and get pressure treated lumber for your raised bed or other garden projects. It is cheaper than cedar, and worry free. Even if it still contained arsenic it’d be pretty safe, but it doesn’t even have that small risk anymore.
How to Build a Cold Frame Hoop House Greenhouse
Mother Earth News - Vegetable Garden Planner
Mother Earth News: How to Make Instant No-dig Garden Beds
Using Pressure Treated Lumber in Raised Garden Beds - Backyard Gardening Blog - April 12th, 2009 - ... Should you go out and buy CCA pressure treated lumber to build your raised beds? Well no, you can’t. You see, despite the tiny safety risk, CCA pressure treated lumber was banned for consumer use by the EPA in 2003. Any pressure treated lumber manufactured for consumer use after that date has no arsenic in it. The ban all told was a better safe than sorry issue grown out of kids touching/playing on/eating off of/ CCA playground equipment, not garden contamination, but nevertheless, for the last 5 years pressure treated lumber has not contained arsenic. So, for those worrying about it, don’t. Save yourself a few hundred dollars and get pressure treated lumber for your raised bed or other garden projects. It is cheaper than cedar, and worry free. Even if it still contained arsenic it’d be pretty safe, but it doesn’t even have that small risk anymore.
How to Build a Cold Frame Hoop House Greenhouse
Mother Earth News - Vegetable Garden Planner
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Hounds notes from the Regional Entrepreneur Summit (Part 1) - January 11. 2012
The following is Part 1 of a summary of the information provided at the conference on Building Entrepreneurial Communities held this morning Wednesday, January 11, 2012 sponsored by the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Partners in Innovation (NCPI). The conference was held at the Crowne Plaza in Hickory and featured speaker Ted Abernathy who is the Executive Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board who believes that "Complex problems need collaborative solutions. Collaboration is not natural, but by following some basic rules communities can use collaboration to create a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial businesses and collaboration are both a natural fit and a marriage of necessity."
In Part 1 of the presentation you will see local leaders provide ideas, information, and initiatives that can help to turn the Economic plight of our community around. Especially interesting was the information provided by Bill Parrish who is the Director of The Small Business and Technology Development Center and a fellow participant in the Future Economy Council. Much of the information provided within this presentation is relevant to the discussions that have been presented on the Hound. In Part 2, I will write about the Presentation of Ted Abernathy, who in the past was the Director of the Research Triangle Park and wants to work in collaboration to help turn Hickory around. What you will see is that it isn't us against the World. There are many interested parties in this State that want to see this region turn it around and are willing to help us do just that.
Michael Blackburn, CEO of Frye Regional Medical Center and the current chairman of the board of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce mad introductions for each speaker at the event.
Dr. Jane Everson the Chair of the NCPI explained the purpose of the NCPI and how it consists of the UNC system and the region's Community Colleges along with the four county Chamber of Commerce's. She introduced the top three finalist winners of the Edison project and spoke about entrepreneurial initiatives in the area. Dr. Everson is the outgoing Director of the Appalachian State University - Hickory Partnership and the outgoing chair of the NCPI. It will be hard to fill her shoes in these positions, because she has worked hard getting these initiatives off the ground.
Dr Garrett Hinshaw, President of Catawba Valley Community College was the next speaker. He talked about how hard it was to define entrepreneurship and compared the economy of the 1990s to now. What has happened? The challenge comes in the uncertainty of the future. He spoke about Frye Regional Medical Center and a patient with a fibrillating heart. You have to do something. The community is going to have to provide the shock and create the vision and it includes a role to play for every person in the community. He challenged the people at the conference to help determine what the shock will be. We have to determine that action. The answer has to be created. He introduced Bill Parrish.
Bill Parrish is the Director of the The Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC). He paid complements to the work of Dr.s Hinshaw and Everson. He talked about last years event - (Innovation 2010 - Andrew Hargadon - Creating a Network of Innovation). He gave credit to Dr. Jim Zuiches and Dr. Tom White of NC State University, stating this event couldn't have taken place without their help. Bill spoke of the Catawba County Chamber's role in this event and wanted to emphasize Catawba County Chamber President Danny Hearn's point that this is a regional event. He pointed to the organizations that have supported this event.
Bill talked about a study done by a group called Collaborative Economics. Entrepreneurship and small business plays a key role in economic development and is the single business driver of economic well being, technological innovation, and wealth creation. Entrepreneurs are innovators, connectors, and collaborators raising money from people they don't even know. Entrepreneur - a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk, but their are more definition than can be counted.
Execution - the act of putting ones ideas into action... putting it into a business entity that is sustainable.
He pointed to the movie "The Sound of Music" and how Julie Andrews character got things done in spite of children that didn't like her and an overbearing father. Execution separate the dreamer with an idea from the business visionary who takes it forward and creates jobs. He pointed next to Steve Jobs, the president of Apple.
So what? Who Cares? What me worry? Carrying on with business as usual won't get us where we need to go. Manufacturing in the United States was 20% in 1990 and has fallen to below 12%. Manufacturing in the Catawba County was over 50% in 1990 and has fallen to 27%. Technology Explains Drop in Manufacturing Jobs.
U.S. Manufacturing Productivity and Output.
We have lost 35% of our jobs in the 1987-2010 time period shown in the graph above. 49% of rural folks who become unemployed find work in one year. That means that 51% didn't. 30% of these people made less than half of what they made in their previous job. North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center
Dashboard Indicators- Most Communities are not Entrepreneurial
Change in Output - Local Equivalent of the National Gross Domestic Product
Employment Growth
Productivity
Per Capita Income Growth - Jobs is one thing, but to sustain and grow, you need income growth.
Keys to Regional Growth
Skilled Workforce - We are dead last in educational attainment. Local initiatives have created programs to address this. It will take time to turn around.
Business Dynamics - Churning - Entrepreneurial turmoil where businesses are created and destroyed.
Legacy of Place - The cost of outdated facilities and the effects of a shrinking tax base.
Location Amenities - Quality of Life. Will people want to move here?
Environmental Ecosystem
Assets - Education Infrastructure, Financial Institutions, Broadband
Connections - Networking, Partnerships, Collaboration
Culture - The mindset and attitude of the community towards entrepreneurs of different lifestyles.
Quality of Life - The Environment and pools of talent in a community
Combination - Recipe of Ingredients. The community has to put the ingredients together and make them work.
National Trends 2011
Focus on Region - Action and tangible outcomes of regionalism
Reorganizing Economic Development
Access to Capital - As hard to come by as ever
Tax Incentives - NC has a number of them
New Commitments to Technology Based Economic Development (TBED) - More money being spent on targeted research.
Research Investment
Higher Education & Stem Incentives - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
Fortune 500 Replacement
Replacement of 1/3 of companies in 1960 took 20 years, in 1983 it took 11 years, in 1999 it was down to 4 years. Those are the big businesses where things turn slower. Think of the smaller businesses and this churn rate. The entrepreneurs are having to outrun the big guys.
Bill next talked about Facebook
130 - Average # of friends of users of Facebook
50% growth of users in 2011
800 million users worldwide
$70 Billion minimum market cap estimate for when the company goes public
Bill wants us to watch a story that will be broadcast on NBC on January 16, 2012 at 10pm that will discuss the restart of Cochran Furniture. The company is being reborn as Lincolnton Furniture. The company CEO is Bruce Cochran and he was interviewed by Carolina Business Review (starts at the 11:00 mark in the video below).
CBR 2115 - Bruce Cochrane, President & CEO, Lincolnton Furniture Company from WTVI Charlotte on Vimeo.
In Part 1 of the presentation you will see local leaders provide ideas, information, and initiatives that can help to turn the Economic plight of our community around. Especially interesting was the information provided by Bill Parrish who is the Director of The Small Business and Technology Development Center and a fellow participant in the Future Economy Council. Much of the information provided within this presentation is relevant to the discussions that have been presented on the Hound. In Part 2, I will write about the Presentation of Ted Abernathy, who in the past was the Director of the Research Triangle Park and wants to work in collaboration to help turn Hickory around. What you will see is that it isn't us against the World. There are many interested parties in this State that want to see this region turn it around and are willing to help us do just that.
Michael Blackburn, CEO of Frye Regional Medical Center and the current chairman of the board of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce mad introductions for each speaker at the event.
Dr. Jane Everson the Chair of the NCPI explained the purpose of the NCPI and how it consists of the UNC system and the region's Community Colleges along with the four county Chamber of Commerce's. She introduced the top three finalist winners of the Edison project and spoke about entrepreneurial initiatives in the area. Dr. Everson is the outgoing Director of the Appalachian State University - Hickory Partnership and the outgoing chair of the NCPI. It will be hard to fill her shoes in these positions, because she has worked hard getting these initiatives off the ground.
Dr Garrett Hinshaw, President of Catawba Valley Community College was the next speaker. He talked about how hard it was to define entrepreneurship and compared the economy of the 1990s to now. What has happened? The challenge comes in the uncertainty of the future. He spoke about Frye Regional Medical Center and a patient with a fibrillating heart. You have to do something. The community is going to have to provide the shock and create the vision and it includes a role to play for every person in the community. He challenged the people at the conference to help determine what the shock will be. We have to determine that action. The answer has to be created. He introduced Bill Parrish.
Bill Parrish is the Director of the The Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC). He paid complements to the work of Dr.s Hinshaw and Everson. He talked about last years event - (Innovation 2010 - Andrew Hargadon - Creating a Network of Innovation). He gave credit to Dr. Jim Zuiches and Dr. Tom White of NC State University, stating this event couldn't have taken place without their help. Bill spoke of the Catawba County Chamber's role in this event and wanted to emphasize Catawba County Chamber President Danny Hearn's point that this is a regional event. He pointed to the organizations that have supported this event.
Bill talked about a study done by a group called Collaborative Economics. Entrepreneurship and small business plays a key role in economic development and is the single business driver of economic well being, technological innovation, and wealth creation. Entrepreneurs are innovators, connectors, and collaborators raising money from people they don't even know. Entrepreneur - a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk, but their are more definition than can be counted.
Execution - the act of putting ones ideas into action... putting it into a business entity that is sustainable.
He pointed to the movie "The Sound of Music" and how Julie Andrews character got things done in spite of children that didn't like her and an overbearing father. Execution separate the dreamer with an idea from the business visionary who takes it forward and creates jobs. He pointed next to Steve Jobs, the president of Apple.
So what? Who Cares? What me worry? Carrying on with business as usual won't get us where we need to go. Manufacturing in the United States was 20% in 1990 and has fallen to below 12%. Manufacturing in the Catawba County was over 50% in 1990 and has fallen to 27%. Technology Explains Drop in Manufacturing Jobs.
U.S. Manufacturing Productivity and Output.
We have lost 35% of our jobs in the 1987-2010 time period shown in the graph above. 49% of rural folks who become unemployed find work in one year. That means that 51% didn't. 30% of these people made less than half of what they made in their previous job. North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center
Dashboard Indicators- Most Communities are not Entrepreneurial
Change in Output - Local Equivalent of the National Gross Domestic Product
Employment Growth
Productivity
Per Capita Income Growth - Jobs is one thing, but to sustain and grow, you need income growth.
Keys to Regional Growth
Skilled Workforce - We are dead last in educational attainment. Local initiatives have created programs to address this. It will take time to turn around.
Business Dynamics - Churning - Entrepreneurial turmoil where businesses are created and destroyed.
Legacy of Place - The cost of outdated facilities and the effects of a shrinking tax base.
Location Amenities - Quality of Life. Will people want to move here?
Environmental Ecosystem
Assets - Education Infrastructure, Financial Institutions, Broadband
Connections - Networking, Partnerships, Collaboration
Culture - The mindset and attitude of the community towards entrepreneurs of different lifestyles.
Quality of Life - The Environment and pools of talent in a community
Combination - Recipe of Ingredients. The community has to put the ingredients together and make them work.
National Trends 2011
Focus on Region - Action and tangible outcomes of regionalism
Reorganizing Economic Development
Access to Capital - As hard to come by as ever
Tax Incentives - NC has a number of them
New Commitments to Technology Based Economic Development (TBED) - More money being spent on targeted research.
Research Investment
Higher Education & Stem Incentives - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
Fortune 500 Replacement
Replacement of 1/3 of companies in 1960 took 20 years, in 1983 it took 11 years, in 1999 it was down to 4 years. Those are the big businesses where things turn slower. Think of the smaller businesses and this churn rate. The entrepreneurs are having to outrun the big guys.
Bill next talked about Facebook
130 - Average # of friends of users of Facebook
50% growth of users in 2011
800 million users worldwide
$70 Billion minimum market cap estimate for when the company goes public
Bill wants us to watch a story that will be broadcast on NBC on January 16, 2012 at 10pm that will discuss the restart of Cochran Furniture. The company is being reborn as Lincolnton Furniture. The company CEO is Bruce Cochran and he was interviewed by Carolina Business Review (starts at the 11:00 mark in the video below).
CBR 2115 - Bruce Cochrane, President & CEO, Lincolnton Furniture Company from WTVI Charlotte on Vimeo.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Food Crisis -- February 19, 2011
Prologue - The following video can look scary if you don't have a clue about what is going on in the world related to the devaluation of our currency by the Federal Reserve and the domino effect of implications that this is having on the world stage.
We are in a period of extreme economic instability which has roots in issues that should have been dealt with long ago. It is time to prepare for this instability by building cushions. If we have more local food production and consumption options, then it will reduce the costs associated with the world wide network of food transportation and reduce the anxieties that we are seeing in other parts of the world. I think that people need look into buying food through local farmers and learn how to grow food in their yards and through container gardening.
People need to become more efficient with their resources during these times. Just think what that additional savings can me in a crunch and it is healthier in a number of ways -- Peace be with you!
Prices of Commodities at all time nominal highs include Arabica Coffee, Sugar, Beef, Wheat, and Cotton.
Cotton futures surge 12-fold in 6 months as prices hit peaks - Daily News & Analysis - - 2/18/2011
Beef industry battling grain prices, ethanol production - CattleNetwork.com - Feb 14, 2011
Arabica coffee close to 30-year peak - Financial Times - 2/18/2011
Grain prices surge Thursday - UPI.com - - Feb 17, 2011
Uncertainty Over Supplies May Keep Sugar Price Volatile - Daily Markets - Feb 11, 2011
Desperate people will do desperate things!
Food price rises bring risk of new riots-France - (Reuters) - 2/17/2011 - France's agriculture minister warned the United Nations on Thursday that food riots like those of three years ago could break out around the world because of steep rises in food prices. ...
Food Riots Threaten Latin America on Surging Commodities in UN Assessment - Bloomberg - - Feb 16, 2011
Food prices push millions into poverty - Washington Post - - Feb 15, 2011 - Rising food prices pushed tens of millions of people into extreme poverty last year and are reaching "dangerous levels" in some countries, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he released new data showing that the ...
Rising global food prices an 'extreme poverty' crisis - Washington Times - - Feb 15, 2011 - Skyrocketing global food prices have pulled more than 40 million people into “extreme poverty” and have almost reached the levels of June 2008, when the world was rocked by food riots. “The Bank's Food Price Index shows food prices are ...
We are in a period of extreme economic instability which has roots in issues that should have been dealt with long ago. It is time to prepare for this instability by building cushions. If we have more local food production and consumption options, then it will reduce the costs associated with the world wide network of food transportation and reduce the anxieties that we are seeing in other parts of the world. I think that people need look into buying food through local farmers and learn how to grow food in their yards and through container gardening.
People need to become more efficient with their resources during these times. Just think what that additional savings can me in a crunch and it is healthier in a number of ways -- Peace be with you!
Prices of Commodities at all time nominal highs include Arabica Coffee, Sugar, Beef, Wheat, and Cotton.
Cotton futures surge 12-fold in 6 months as prices hit peaks - Daily News & Analysis - - 2/18/2011
Beef industry battling grain prices, ethanol production - CattleNetwork.com - Feb 14, 2011
Arabica coffee close to 30-year peak - Financial Times - 2/18/2011
Grain prices surge Thursday - UPI.com - - Feb 17, 2011
Uncertainty Over Supplies May Keep Sugar Price Volatile - Daily Markets - Feb 11, 2011Desperate people will do desperate things!
Food price rises bring risk of new riots-France - (Reuters) - 2/17/2011 - France's agriculture minister warned the United Nations on Thursday that food riots like those of three years ago could break out around the world because of steep rises in food prices. ...
Food Riots Threaten Latin America on Surging Commodities in UN Assessment - Bloomberg - - Feb 16, 2011
Food prices push millions into poverty - Washington Post - - Feb 15, 2011 - Rising food prices pushed tens of millions of people into extreme poverty last year and are reaching "dangerous levels" in some countries, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he released new data showing that the ...
Rising global food prices an 'extreme poverty' crisis - Washington Times - - Feb 15, 2011 - Skyrocketing global food prices have pulled more than 40 million people into “extreme poverty” and have almost reached the levels of June 2008, when the world was rocked by food riots. “The Bank's Food Price Index shows food prices are ...
Friday, October 29, 2010
Fraudclosure 102: Multi-tiered Bank Fraud Exposed!
Already on Craigslist you can find a house that sold 2 years ago for $140,000 AND now trying to sell for $50,000 to $60,000 and they are not selling. I know people who are trying to sell their homes and there are no takers even at substantial discounts. The new home market is dead. The construction industry is dead.
In the past we paid 2% to 5% interest on homes. It was illegal to charge over 18% and anyone that did was considered a loan shark. Today banks are charging as much as 29.9% interest on Credit cards. They fostered predatory lending and sub-prime mortgages by creating balloon mortgages & adjustable interest rates on highly leveraged speculative loan investments. The banks charge outrageous fees that can cause consumers to pay 500%+ per year on money that they have borrowed, but because they call these charges “fees” they are permitted. And the government is complicit by endorsing all of this.
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
Maybe we should all walk away from our mortgages. The cost of home maintenance keeps escalating. The values of the homes are depreciating, because of the stagnant real estate market and in real terms because of the depreciation of the dollar. People also are having a hard time affording the bubble prices they originally paid for their mortgage, because of the housing market and the inflated cost of living.
In all, 930,437 homeowners received a foreclosure-related warning between July and September, up nearly 4 percent from the second quarter but down 1 percent from the same period last year, RealtyTrac said (Banks seize a record 288,345 homes in 3Q - Alex Veiga AP - 10/14/2010). The latest tally translates to one in 139 (7/10 of 1 percent) of U.S. homes in foreclosure. Banks have seized more than 816,000 homes through the first nine months of the year and are on pace to seize more than a million - .
1 in 4 homes currently being sold are homes that are in foreclosure (Nearly one in four second-quarter home sales a foreclosure - Reuters - 9/30/2010). Even without the current problems associated with fraud and foreclosure, we are going to see a disastrous depreciation in home prices. The fraudclosure issue only exacerbates the problem. This loss in value of home prices not only hurts mortgage holders, it also hurts people who own property outright, because it translates into negative equity in your home or property. You could see a situation where a home with a value of $200,000 in 2006 could fall to a value of $100,000 or less in the next few years.
The reason we are in this mess is because of the Financial Institutions’ hubris and greed. They used their own appraisers to escalate homes many times over their true intrinsic value. They also used the MERS system to avoid fees and did not follow historical precedent associated with Common law to follow proper procedures to secure and register property and maintain the history of the chain of ownership of properties. This leaves the entire market associated with foreclosures in a state of flux. The banks created truly convoluted schemes by loaning money out for $0 down and/or at initially low adjustable interest rates. They put people into homes that were too large a percentage of their income.
And the Banks keep getting bailed out by the Federal government. They used their appraisers to inflate properties that had a true value of let’s say $70,000 to $125,000. And a variable in the equation allowed the system in which artificial demand was created through speculation through house and property flipping. The client who enters the market wanting (creating demand) a home has to pay the price in this rigged (inflated bubble) market. The mortgage holder pays the mortgage until they can no longer afford it or the property falls so far under water that they no longer desire making the inflated payment in a recessed or depressed economic environment. At this point many homeowners/property owners will choose to walk away from the property.
Banks have made money on the monthly installments, they collected on late fees, and they collected on the derivatives and insurance from the foreclosed properties (Remember those PMI payments), and in the end they own the property. The banks should have to take the loss, because of the fraudulently elaborate structure that they have created. That might be bad for the bankers, but the government has decided to come along and bail out their banker buddies on multiple levels. And the government bailing out the banks leaves the taxpayers holding the bag. So the injured parties, in this system, are average Americans who have lost equity in their home, some who have taken home equity mortgages could end up in foreclosure, and some have already been forced into the foreclosure process, because they can’t afford the exorbitant cost of their mortgage in this imploding economy.
The government has loaned the megabanks trillions at 0% in the name of creating liquidity to take care of the problems associated with the Real Estate implosion. Very little of this free money has made its way to help individuals and small businesses out. They are using the market to make money through an arbitrage scheme called the “Carry Trade.” Carry trades are a form of arbitrage in which money is made if nothing changes against the carry's favor. The banks are borrowing money created by the Federal Reserve in conjunction with the sale of U.S. Treasuries at an artificially low interest rate. The banks then in turn invest the money in developing countries which inherently have higher rates of return associated with the increased risks associated with the returns on investment. This allows the megabanks to take this cheap money and make a substantial rate of return.
Besides the megabanks, this “hot money” has gone to an Automobile company, General Motors, who has been deemed too big to fail and it has gone to insurance company, AIG, who took premiums and invested them in very risky investments. What does this teach? General Motors has taken some of this money and invested it in their factories in China and Brazil. Once again we see harm being done to average Americans in favor of Wall Street and the Banking cartel.
It sure does seem that the Banks are staying afloat by buying time through these “Hot Money” Speculative Investments paid for by American Taxpayers. With so many homes being foreclosed on and the high default rates on short term loans, such as credit cards, that financial institutions are rigging the market at the expense of the middle class who is going broke. The Plunge Protection Team (run by the Fed and the Megabanks) is manipulating the markets to the tune of billions of dollars per day, the same way that they sold bad mortgage notes and played both sides of the fence when the Real Estate market tanked over the last few years. They have been in a no lose situation reflected by the huge bonuses that they continue to receive, while this debacle continues.
The worst part to me is when the wealthy disparage poor people as lazy, dumb, etc. They do this because their silver spooned minds can't understand common folks. Nothing ever trickles down. They tinkle down on us like they own us and we should be glad they allow us to breathe. They are comfortable and they don't understand people who struggle, so they insult, ridicule, and hate. Anyone who struggles is lumped in as a freeloader looking for a handout. The last few years have taught me, sure there are those who abuse the safety net, but the majority of people who are struggling have been pawns to the rich man’s game and this has nothing to do with Donkey or Elephant, because both parties have sold out the middle class through a lack of investment in human capital and endorsing the offshoring of our industry.
The banks are broke and the sooner people wrap their pea-brains around that, the sooner we can get on the road to recovery. The Federal Reserve represents the Financial Institutions interests. Any Americans who do not have ties to the Cartel are at risk of losing everything -- to think otherwise is foolish. They are debasing our currency to the point that it will soon be worthless, if we do not act. This housing debacle is part of the process leading to the destruction of the dollar and subsequently any assets based upon (tied to) our sovereign currency.
Below is a video of Randy Kelton, a Pro se litigant in Texas, who addresses this issue on Alex Jones radio show. For the non-dimwitted, who aren't lip locked to the mainstream media, here is an excellent summary of the Fraudclosure issue and remedies to this situation. This issue is going to have to be dealt with in the near future and the answer isn't to throw more money at the Banksters who go us into this mess to start with.
Fraudclosure 101: Bursting the Piñata
A letter to the NC Attorney General involving Fraudclosure
You can help people save their homes!
Real Terrorism: Financial Terrorism - Time to break the Banksters
2nd wave of the Banking Meltdown is here
How can the United States avoid Bankruptcy?
The Plunge Protection Team and the Ponzi Economy
In the past we paid 2% to 5% interest on homes. It was illegal to charge over 18% and anyone that did was considered a loan shark. Today banks are charging as much as 29.9% interest on Credit cards. They fostered predatory lending and sub-prime mortgages by creating balloon mortgages & adjustable interest rates on highly leveraged speculative loan investments. The banks charge outrageous fees that can cause consumers to pay 500%+ per year on money that they have borrowed, but because they call these charges “fees” they are permitted. And the government is complicit by endorsing all of this.
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'A House that was built in the early to mid 1900s for $1,000 to $3,000 was being sold a few years ago for as much as $250,000. The banks knew some of the homes needed major work & were not worth the loan amount, but they loaned large amounts and then sold these notes as derivative instruments on Wall Street. They even wagered on mortgage holders failing to maintain or increase their household income. And it has been obvious that the government allowed this by not maintaining proper oversight procedures.
Maybe we should all walk away from our mortgages. The cost of home maintenance keeps escalating. The values of the homes are depreciating, because of the stagnant real estate market and in real terms because of the depreciation of the dollar. People also are having a hard time affording the bubble prices they originally paid for their mortgage, because of the housing market and the inflated cost of living.
In all, 930,437 homeowners received a foreclosure-related warning between July and September, up nearly 4 percent from the second quarter but down 1 percent from the same period last year, RealtyTrac said (Banks seize a record 288,345 homes in 3Q - Alex Veiga AP - 10/14/2010). The latest tally translates to one in 139 (7/10 of 1 percent) of U.S. homes in foreclosure. Banks have seized more than 816,000 homes through the first nine months of the year and are on pace to seize more than a million - .
1 in 4 homes currently being sold are homes that are in foreclosure (Nearly one in four second-quarter home sales a foreclosure - Reuters - 9/30/2010). Even without the current problems associated with fraud and foreclosure, we are going to see a disastrous depreciation in home prices. The fraudclosure issue only exacerbates the problem. This loss in value of home prices not only hurts mortgage holders, it also hurts people who own property outright, because it translates into negative equity in your home or property. You could see a situation where a home with a value of $200,000 in 2006 could fall to a value of $100,000 or less in the next few years.
The reason we are in this mess is because of the Financial Institutions’ hubris and greed. They used their own appraisers to escalate homes many times over their true intrinsic value. They also used the MERS system to avoid fees and did not follow historical precedent associated with Common law to follow proper procedures to secure and register property and maintain the history of the chain of ownership of properties. This leaves the entire market associated with foreclosures in a state of flux. The banks created truly convoluted schemes by loaning money out for $0 down and/or at initially low adjustable interest rates. They put people into homes that were too large a percentage of their income.
And the Banks keep getting bailed out by the Federal government. They used their appraisers to inflate properties that had a true value of let’s say $70,000 to $125,000. And a variable in the equation allowed the system in which artificial demand was created through speculation through house and property flipping. The client who enters the market wanting (creating demand) a home has to pay the price in this rigged (inflated bubble) market. The mortgage holder pays the mortgage until they can no longer afford it or the property falls so far under water that they no longer desire making the inflated payment in a recessed or depressed economic environment. At this point many homeowners/property owners will choose to walk away from the property.
Banks have made money on the monthly installments, they collected on late fees, and they collected on the derivatives and insurance from the foreclosed properties (Remember those PMI payments), and in the end they own the property. The banks should have to take the loss, because of the fraudulently elaborate structure that they have created. That might be bad for the bankers, but the government has decided to come along and bail out their banker buddies on multiple levels. And the government bailing out the banks leaves the taxpayers holding the bag. So the injured parties, in this system, are average Americans who have lost equity in their home, some who have taken home equity mortgages could end up in foreclosure, and some have already been forced into the foreclosure process, because they can’t afford the exorbitant cost of their mortgage in this imploding economy.
The government has loaned the megabanks trillions at 0% in the name of creating liquidity to take care of the problems associated with the Real Estate implosion. Very little of this free money has made its way to help individuals and small businesses out. They are using the market to make money through an arbitrage scheme called the “Carry Trade.” Carry trades are a form of arbitrage in which money is made if nothing changes against the carry's favor. The banks are borrowing money created by the Federal Reserve in conjunction with the sale of U.S. Treasuries at an artificially low interest rate. The banks then in turn invest the money in developing countries which inherently have higher rates of return associated with the increased risks associated with the returns on investment. This allows the megabanks to take this cheap money and make a substantial rate of return.
Besides the megabanks, this “hot money” has gone to an Automobile company, General Motors, who has been deemed too big to fail and it has gone to insurance company, AIG, who took premiums and invested them in very risky investments. What does this teach? General Motors has taken some of this money and invested it in their factories in China and Brazil. Once again we see harm being done to average Americans in favor of Wall Street and the Banking cartel.
It sure does seem that the Banks are staying afloat by buying time through these “Hot Money” Speculative Investments paid for by American Taxpayers. With so many homes being foreclosed on and the high default rates on short term loans, such as credit cards, that financial institutions are rigging the market at the expense of the middle class who is going broke. The Plunge Protection Team (run by the Fed and the Megabanks) is manipulating the markets to the tune of billions of dollars per day, the same way that they sold bad mortgage notes and played both sides of the fence when the Real Estate market tanked over the last few years. They have been in a no lose situation reflected by the huge bonuses that they continue to receive, while this debacle continues.
The worst part to me is when the wealthy disparage poor people as lazy, dumb, etc. They do this because their silver spooned minds can't understand common folks. Nothing ever trickles down. They tinkle down on us like they own us and we should be glad they allow us to breathe. They are comfortable and they don't understand people who struggle, so they insult, ridicule, and hate. Anyone who struggles is lumped in as a freeloader looking for a handout. The last few years have taught me, sure there are those who abuse the safety net, but the majority of people who are struggling have been pawns to the rich man’s game and this has nothing to do with Donkey or Elephant, because both parties have sold out the middle class through a lack of investment in human capital and endorsing the offshoring of our industry.
The banks are broke and the sooner people wrap their pea-brains around that, the sooner we can get on the road to recovery. The Federal Reserve represents the Financial Institutions interests. Any Americans who do not have ties to the Cartel are at risk of losing everything -- to think otherwise is foolish. They are debasing our currency to the point that it will soon be worthless, if we do not act. This housing debacle is part of the process leading to the destruction of the dollar and subsequently any assets based upon (tied to) our sovereign currency.
Below is a video of Randy Kelton, a Pro se litigant in Texas, who addresses this issue on Alex Jones radio show. For the non-dimwitted, who aren't lip locked to the mainstream media, here is an excellent summary of the Fraudclosure issue and remedies to this situation. This issue is going to have to be dealt with in the near future and the answer isn't to throw more money at the Banksters who go us into this mess to start with.
Fraudclosure 101: Bursting the Piñata
A letter to the NC Attorney General involving Fraudclosure
You can help people save their homes!
Real Terrorism: Financial Terrorism - Time to break the Banksters
2nd wave of the Banking Meltdown is here
How can the United States avoid Bankruptcy?
The Plunge Protection Team and the Ponzi Economy
Monday, June 7, 2010
Houndvision: Building a Raised Bed Garden - Ready to plant today
Would you like to start a garden today? Do you hate the thoughts of pulling weeds or spending hours building a garden only to lose it to those pesky weeds or crab grass?
This is the way to get a quick start in gardening when you are having trouble getting the soil to cooperate, because there may be a weed issue or the soil isn't properly amended. You can do this in just a few hours. The bed that I build in this video is 18 feet long by 1.5 feet in width and 8 inches deep at the center of each bag -- as is its twin bed along the fence. You could build a 9'x3' with the same depth or a 4'x6' and make it a couple of inches deeper.
The beds built here are 27 square feet in total area utilizing 11 bags of top soil(98 cents per bag on sale), 1/4 bags of 50lb sterilized play sand ($2.50 per bag on sale), and 1/10 of a bag of peat moss ($8.98 for 3 cubic feet). Extrapolating those numbers out, this project cost less than $14, when you include tax. Even without the added savings of the sales, you will add less than $5 to the total cost of this project.
I will probably stretch this to two feet when I enclose it this Fall. And my goal is to add a removable cold frame top to grow lettuces and other cold season plants and vegetables.
My backdoor garden area has had issues with crabgrass. I wanted to plant herbs there and begin the process of getting the weeds under control in that area. I got this idea of how to make this quick raised bed garden at the Mother Earth News website:
Mother Earth News: How to Make Instant No-dig Garden Beds
Many of the plants that you see in this video were plants that were started in February and March and transplanted the first week of April. I also have utilized 100% of the water resources collected in the Water Container system that I developed in April.
I hope these ideas might help open your mind to the possibilities of self sustainability and the many ways that you can save and conserve your resources, while leading a healthier lifestyle and reducing your dependence on the grid.
Houndvision: Garden Watering System
My Scientific Garden 2010
This is the way to get a quick start in gardening when you are having trouble getting the soil to cooperate, because there may be a weed issue or the soil isn't properly amended. You can do this in just a few hours. The bed that I build in this video is 18 feet long by 1.5 feet in width and 8 inches deep at the center of each bag -- as is its twin bed along the fence. You could build a 9'x3' with the same depth or a 4'x6' and make it a couple of inches deeper.
The beds built here are 27 square feet in total area utilizing 11 bags of top soil(98 cents per bag on sale), 1/4 bags of 50lb sterilized play sand ($2.50 per bag on sale), and 1/10 of a bag of peat moss ($8.98 for 3 cubic feet). Extrapolating those numbers out, this project cost less than $14, when you include tax. Even without the added savings of the sales, you will add less than $5 to the total cost of this project.
I will probably stretch this to two feet when I enclose it this Fall. And my goal is to add a removable cold frame top to grow lettuces and other cold season plants and vegetables.
My backdoor garden area has had issues with crabgrass. I wanted to plant herbs there and begin the process of getting the weeds under control in that area. I got this idea of how to make this quick raised bed garden at the Mother Earth News website:
Mother Earth News: How to Make Instant No-dig Garden Beds
Many of the plants that you see in this video were plants that were started in February and March and transplanted the first week of April. I also have utilized 100% of the water resources collected in the Water Container system that I developed in April.
I hope these ideas might help open your mind to the possibilities of self sustainability and the many ways that you can save and conserve your resources, while leading a healthier lifestyle and reducing your dependence on the grid.
Houndvision: Garden Watering System
My Scientific Garden 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
A Little Ambition + Home ownership = UrbanFarmOnline
Back in January, I received a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble and went there to see if there was anything that I wanted. Looking through the magazine section, I started looking at Gardening magazines, because I have been into Gardening, Sustainability, and enhancing the value of my property, since I moved into this house five years ago.
I ended up buying Urban Farm. This magazine is truly awesome and that issue delved in subjects like square-foot gardening, locally produced food, dealing with city ordinances, raising chickens in the city, and many other subjects. The magazine has been published quarterly since last Summer. The newest issue is out. I haven't purchased it yet, but I have already joined the Urban Farm Facebook page and I constantly check out what is going on with it and I have encouraged my friends to join..
Now Urban Farm has developed an Urban Farm Website that is very interesting. I really have to endorse what I have seen from the developers of this Urban Farm entity. You can register on the site and receive updates. They are having a grand opening contest that is offering a lot of prizes that will help you with your gardening and other hobby farming.
I truly believe that due to the economic times we are in that raising a garden and living a more sustainable lifestyle will become an essential part of successful personal finance. A few dollars and time can bring a value of hundreds of dollars. Instead of paying to go to a local gym, how about getting a workout with a shovel, a rake, and a tiller. Instead of paying to work out, you will be getting paid to work out.
Over the last few years, I have been able to Can and Freeze enough vegetables to get me through the winter, when it comes to cooked vegetables. I also have enjoyed the freshness of vegetables during the summer months. The best part is that the efforts are cumulative. As you turn the soil from year to year it becomes more fertile and easier to manage. Each year I have maintained the plots from the previous year and added new plots and projects to the current years activities.
I hope that you will check Urban Farming out. If it is something that you can't get into, I understand. But, I certainly hope that you will give this consideration, because in my opinion it is good for you and will be helpful to all of the people that touch your life. That is the reason why I am presenting this information to you.
I ended up buying Urban Farm. This magazine is truly awesome and that issue delved in subjects like square-foot gardening, locally produced food, dealing with city ordinances, raising chickens in the city, and many other subjects. The magazine has been published quarterly since last Summer. The newest issue is out. I haven't purchased it yet, but I have already joined the Urban Farm Facebook page and I constantly check out what is going on with it and I have encouraged my friends to join..
Now Urban Farm has developed an Urban Farm Website that is very interesting. I really have to endorse what I have seen from the developers of this Urban Farm entity. You can register on the site and receive updates. They are having a grand opening contest that is offering a lot of prizes that will help you with your gardening and other hobby farming.
I truly believe that due to the economic times we are in that raising a garden and living a more sustainable lifestyle will become an essential part of successful personal finance. A few dollars and time can bring a value of hundreds of dollars. Instead of paying to go to a local gym, how about getting a workout with a shovel, a rake, and a tiller. Instead of paying to work out, you will be getting paid to work out.
Over the last few years, I have been able to Can and Freeze enough vegetables to get me through the winter, when it comes to cooked vegetables. I also have enjoyed the freshness of vegetables during the summer months. The best part is that the efforts are cumulative. As you turn the soil from year to year it becomes more fertile and easier to manage. Each year I have maintained the plots from the previous year and added new plots and projects to the current years activities.
I hope that you will check Urban Farming out. If it is something that you can't get into, I understand. But, I certainly hope that you will give this consideration, because in my opinion it is good for you and will be helpful to all of the people that touch your life. That is the reason why I am presenting this information to you.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Houndvision: Garden Watering System
Please excuse the work in progress. These projects are the result from work that I am doing completely myself. What you will see are the four 275 gallon water containers at the corners of my house that are attached to my guttering.
The entire cost of this project, so far, has been less than $300. This includes the water containers that I purchased for $60 a piece and the gutter extensions. You will need a hacksaw to cut the gutters, but that is about it and some brute force to position the containers themselves.
I have the water containers centered on cinder blocks to allow gravitational flow through. I will eventually have the containers disguised by plants growing around them and I may eventually attach a pump to allow for a sprinkler type of irrigation system and/or drip hoses.
This has become a hobby and a way of life to attempt to create a more self-sustainable lifestyle. It will take time, but everything I am doing here creates value. I will get much more out of these projects than the initial cost requires, plus it is enjoyable and gives me achievable lasting goals that will bare fruit (or vegetables and herbs -- haha!!!)
If you decide that you want to attempt this, then shoot me an e-mail and I will give you some suggestions about how you can go about achieving this. And if you have any suggestions, I am all ears. I am learning a lot by reading Urban Farmer and Mother Earth News and fully endorse the principles of these resources.
Many of the plants that you see in the garden were the ones that I started in February and displayed on this site in the article -- My Scientific Garden 2010
The entire cost of this project, so far, has been less than $300. This includes the water containers that I purchased for $60 a piece and the gutter extensions. You will need a hacksaw to cut the gutters, but that is about it and some brute force to position the containers themselves.
I have the water containers centered on cinder blocks to allow gravitational flow through. I will eventually have the containers disguised by plants growing around them and I may eventually attach a pump to allow for a sprinkler type of irrigation system and/or drip hoses.
This has become a hobby and a way of life to attempt to create a more self-sustainable lifestyle. It will take time, but everything I am doing here creates value. I will get much more out of these projects than the initial cost requires, plus it is enjoyable and gives me achievable lasting goals that will bare fruit (or vegetables and herbs -- haha!!!)
If you decide that you want to attempt this, then shoot me an e-mail and I will give you some suggestions about how you can go about achieving this. And if you have any suggestions, I am all ears. I am learning a lot by reading Urban Farmer and Mother Earth News and fully endorse the principles of these resources.
Many of the plants that you see in the garden were the ones that I started in February and displayed on this site in the article -- My Scientific Garden 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My Scientific Garden 2010
Last week I started my garden for 2010. This will be my 3rd consecutive year of having a full blown garden. Two years ago I canned 26 quarts of tomatoes and froze squash, okra, and eggplant. This past year I canned 20 quarts of tomatoes and froze vegetables again. Every year I look to learn how to grow something new or learn a new way to store vegetables.
This year I have begun the process of learning how to design and build geodesic greenhouses at affordable prices. I have already started building one that will be 12 feet in diameter to see how it works. I am also utilizing the southern exposure in my house along with a $10 grow-light, you can buy at Wal-Mart, to get a head start. Previously, I have been buying starter plants and not getting them in the ground until the 3rd week of April at the earliest.
This year I decided to start my own plants from seed. It is my hope that I will utilize techniques I have been studying to get these plants in the ground by March 21. That would give me a full one month head start over the previous two years. Below is a list of what I have started. I will give the start date, plant name, number planted, number successfully growing, and the approximate date of first harvest.
2/17/2010 Green Cucumbers (large) - 8 - 7 - 5/1
2/17/2010 Cantaloupe - 8 - 8 - 5/13
2/17/2010 Lemon Cucumbers - 8 - 7 - 5/1
2/17/2010 White Cucumbers - 8 - 1 - 5/1
2/17/2010 Acorn Squash - 8 - 8 - 5/13
2/17/2010 Cauliflower - 8 - 8 - 4/18
2/17/2010 Brandywine Tomatoes - 8 - 8 - 5/3
2/20/2010 Fennel - 8 - 8 - 5/30
2/20/2010 Purple Basil 8 -8 - 5/20
2/20/2010 Eggplant - 8 - 8 - 5/20
2/20/2010 Zucchini - 8- 8 - 4/20
2/20/2010 Cilantro - 4 - 4 - 5/20
I have also started sprouting seeds for Green Bell Peppers, Italian Basil, more White Cucumbers, Broccoli, and Snow Peas. I also have seeds for Grape and Roma Tomatoes, Okra, Chives, Celery, Butternut Squash, Yellow Squash, and Kentucky Wonder Green Beans.
I know that the scientist in me sometimes overwhelms my ability to achieve all of my goals, but I am surely going to try to make this a success. I am going to document this process and give out ideas along the way and I hope that you will shoot me suggestions, because I could surely use input to make this the success I want it to be.
I believe in these times that one needs to be as efficient as possible with their resources. Which is better, to have a lawn I constantly need to mow or a garden that feeds myself, family, and friends. And in case you wonder, I will be collecting rain in home made rain barrels and composting everything I can get my hands on. That is how I've been rolling the past couple years.
I would eventually like to make my house self-sustainable. I bought a magazine called Urban Farmer that has some very interesting ideas in it. These days I look at my house and property as a science experiment. I hope I don't turn into Christopher Lloyd's character, Doc Brown, from Back to the Future - haha!!!
So maybe you can follow my lead, if you haven't already. And if you have or if you do, best of luck and may the rain be plentiful, the sun be perfect, and our thumbs be green.
This year I have begun the process of learning how to design and build geodesic greenhouses at affordable prices. I have already started building one that will be 12 feet in diameter to see how it works. I am also utilizing the southern exposure in my house along with a $10 grow-light, you can buy at Wal-Mart, to get a head start. Previously, I have been buying starter plants and not getting them in the ground until the 3rd week of April at the earliest.
This year I decided to start my own plants from seed. It is my hope that I will utilize techniques I have been studying to get these plants in the ground by March 21. That would give me a full one month head start over the previous two years. Below is a list of what I have started. I will give the start date, plant name, number planted, number successfully growing, and the approximate date of first harvest.
2/17/2010 Green Cucumbers (large) - 8 - 7 - 5/1
2/17/2010 Cantaloupe - 8 - 8 - 5/13
2/17/2010 Lemon Cucumbers - 8 - 7 - 5/1
2/17/2010 White Cucumbers - 8 - 1 - 5/1
2/17/2010 Acorn Squash - 8 - 8 - 5/13
2/17/2010 Cauliflower - 8 - 8 - 4/18
2/17/2010 Brandywine Tomatoes - 8 - 8 - 5/3
2/20/2010 Fennel - 8 - 8 - 5/30
2/20/2010 Purple Basil 8 -8 - 5/20
2/20/2010 Eggplant - 8 - 8 - 5/20
2/20/2010 Zucchini - 8- 8 - 4/20
2/20/2010 Cilantro - 4 - 4 - 5/20
I have also started sprouting seeds for Green Bell Peppers, Italian Basil, more White Cucumbers, Broccoli, and Snow Peas. I also have seeds for Grape and Roma Tomatoes, Okra, Chives, Celery, Butternut Squash, Yellow Squash, and Kentucky Wonder Green Beans.
I know that the scientist in me sometimes overwhelms my ability to achieve all of my goals, but I am surely going to try to make this a success. I am going to document this process and give out ideas along the way and I hope that you will shoot me suggestions, because I could surely use input to make this the success I want it to be.
I believe in these times that one needs to be as efficient as possible with their resources. Which is better, to have a lawn I constantly need to mow or a garden that feeds myself, family, and friends. And in case you wonder, I will be collecting rain in home made rain barrels and composting everything I can get my hands on. That is how I've been rolling the past couple years.
I would eventually like to make my house self-sustainable. I bought a magazine called Urban Farmer that has some very interesting ideas in it. These days I look at my house and property as a science experiment. I hope I don't turn into Christopher Lloyd's character, Doc Brown, from Back to the Future - haha!!!
So maybe you can follow my lead, if you haven't already. And if you have or if you do, best of luck and may the rain be plentiful, the sun be perfect, and our thumbs be green.
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