#permaculture bike park

[solarpunks]

#003 “Use biological solutions before technological” — Interview with Jesse Grimes — Pt2

Part 2 of our interview with Jesse Grimes, who’s one of our favourite Youtubers. He is currently running a gofundme to take him to the The Ecological Landscaper Immersion program (details below).

In Part 1 we talked Permaculture, Ant Village at Wheaton Labs and Standing Rock.

In Part 2 we talk Technology, bikes and the future! 

This post is mirrored on our medium here if you prefer. (it looks nicer)

Bikes

SPS! From your videos it seems that bikes and BMX played a big role in your life growing up. When did you start riding and how has it influenced you as a person?

I’ve been riding BMX since I was 5 years old. I lived right next to the first ABA race track in the country in Chandler, Arizona, and my dad started bringing me there. My bike was stolen, so I stopped riding for a while, but I got back into it in a big way when I was 12 and moved to Southern California. All through high school I rode BMX, and pretty much all my friends came from riding. I really think it kept me away from drugs and alcohol during my teen years. I had a social group that was organized around doing something active and positive, instead of around partying, we got our thrills through learning new tricks and discovering new spots to ride. To this day, riding BMX has given me a community that I can connect right into no matter where I go. I can just roll up to the skatepark or a set of jumps and instantly make friends with other riders.

BMX Road Trip, the #IdahoSkateparkTour, and Building a Better Bike Park

SPS! I’m not into BMX / trials biking myself, but I have a bunch of friends who are. They’re the sort of people that love spending their spare time digging up dirt in the woods not minding the rain is there a little bit of that in you?

Most definitely, I have been doing that since I was a kid. Creating dirt jumps is one of my favorite art forms. It’s like large scale, interactive, ceramic sculpture. Of course, the main motivation is the experience of doing the jumps once they are finished, but anyone who has a passion for creating jumps or trails will put their own artistic touch into the way the lips are shaped, or how the line twists through the woods. There’s also a community aspect to it, getting together with a group of friends and working long hours to create something that you all can enjoy.

SPS! You’ve talked passionately about the idea of combining permaculture with bike parks and really want to make it happen. Could you tell us a bit more about your vision for the Permaculture Bike Park?

Once I started learning more about water harvesting earthworks through permaculture, it changed the way I looked at building dirt jumps. Anyone who is an experienced trail builder thinks about drainage, but through permaculture eyes I started thinking about how all that water could be directed towards growing plants, to help mitigate the environmental damage that is caused by all that digging. Having trees around the jumps also happens to make the riding more enjoyable. Public bike parks are becoming more and more common, and I think that is a very good thing, given all the positive impacts that riding BMX can have a on a child’s life.

The sport of BMX is a gateway to a lifelong love of cycling. Talk to anyone who is riding a road or mountain bike in their 30s, and most of the time you find out that they started on a BMX bike as a kid. So, I think building more bike parks and providing the youth with a welcoming invitation to the sport of BMX is a great way to ensure that more people will be riding bikes in the future. I’ve been to a lot of public bike parks in my travels, and unfortunately, most of them are quite poorly built, and nearly all of them just look like bare dirt lots. Knowing what I do about building jumps, along with my knowledge in permaculture, I see a huge opportunity to create a much better bike park. To start with, permaculture design can be used to organize the cycling community around getting the parks built, to help make those connections and create those positive relationships that are necessary when working with public agencies to even get the idea of a bike park off the ground. When it finally gets to the point of designing and building the park, permaculture design can be utilized to take a more holistic view of how the visitors will interact with the park, and how the park itself will interact with the community around it. Another very important aspect, is making connections in the local cycling community and providing resources to trusted individuals to ensure that the jumps and riding surfaces continue to be well maintained. I’ve seen too many bike parks that are damaged to the point of being unsafe, because there was never any maintenance program set in place. By using permaculture design, we can better ensure that the park will actually be useful, fun, and safe for the riders, as well as a benefit for the neighborhoods around it. Instead of some forgotten mounds in a dirt lot, we could build a beautiful forest garden that is a draw for both cyclists and the general public. On top of the parks being a great place for children to gain a love of cycling, it would also be an incredible opportunity to educate the public about how permaculture can be used to create abundance out of damaged landscapes. I think that well beyond the possibilities of the permaculture bike park, there is a huge potential to improve the design and operation of public parks and public space as a whole.

The Future

SPS! Permaculture is a big part of Solarpunk and is certainly a real world origin point for it’s aesthetic. In your experience, what do people in the permaculture community think about new technologies?

I think there is quite a wide range of opinions on the subject. There is certainly an element that is trying to move away from technology as much as possible, but there are also those who fully embrace it, and everything in between. One of the principles of permaculture is to use biological solutions before technological. So for example, you would use a constructed wetland to treat and clean your grey water instead of some mechanical means of filtration. The biological solutions are almost always easier, cheaper, and more effective, plus by adding another biological element into a system, you are increasing the diversity, and therefore the resiliency of that system. However, that doesn’t mean technology is out of the question. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to reverse the damage that our technological society has caused, and ironically some of that same technology is the best and quickest way to start doing that work. An excavator can be used to mine the tar sands, but it can also be used to create water harvesting earthworks that will improve the hydrology of a site for thousands of years. So, I think it is important when considering a new technology to look at the problem it is trying to solve, and strongly consider whether nature has already come up with a solution to that problem. Also, what are the inputs required to create that technology, and what are the outputs of using it? Can we partner with biology to find a solution to that same problem that requires a much lower input of energy and materials, while providing a number of beneficial outputs that might not be produced by a purely technological solution? There are certainly situations in which the best solution in technological, but I also feel that on a planet with finite resources, there is a real danger to the idea that all of our problems will eventually be solved through technological innovation. Technological systems almost always require outside inputs to continue functioning, and inevitably have a finite life span, while biological systems become more resilient with time, utilize the inexhaustible resource of sunlight as their primary input, and have existed on this planet for billions of years.

SPS! In his essay ‘Political Dimensions of Solarpunk’ Andrew Dana Hudson proposed the slogan “Move quietly and plant things” as a counterpoint to silicon valley’s “move fast and break things”. What do you think technology’s role will be in the abundant future we are all hoping for and what does it need to do differently from today?

An early vision of the solarpunk aesthetic, by Imperial Boy. Via MissOlivaLouise

I think technology has a huge role to play in helping us understand the problems we are faced with, as well as in helping us do the work necessary to transform our world in preparation for that abundant future. However, once we have built a world where all the necessities of life are provided by an abundant biological system right outside our front door, I think that many of the technologies we see as indispensable today will simply fade into obscurity. Why would everyone want their own electric car when they don’t have a need to drive every day? Would we need complicated medical equipment when everybody’s food is so nutritious and of such high quality that hardly anyone gets sick anymore? Technology is incredible when it comes to helping us communicate and gather information, and because of this I think it will continue to play a huge role in our social and intellectual lives. The problems come about when we try to use technology to deal with the biological problems of being an animal living within an ecological system. Nature has long ago perfected ways in which to feed us, clothe us, shelter us, and give us clean water and clean air. Somewhere along the line we decided that it was better to use technology to do these things, and so we started ignoring the importance of the ecological systems that were supporting us. We can’t continue to do this and hope to have a positive future.

SPS! Our Tumblr’s tagline is “At once a vision of the future, a thoughtful provocation, and an achievable lifestyle. In progress…” Do you think if everything humanity need to do, gets done, is there reason to be optimistic about the future?

Optimism is the only option in my opinion. It is certainly important to take a critical look at our situation and identify challenges, but only so much that we are aware and understand them clearly. If we focus on the challenges we will be more reluctant to act, and action is desperately needed in our world right now. A phrase that has been repeating in my mind for quite some time now is, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” To me, it means that we could sit around all day and find flaws in our designs, or in our plans for improving our situation, but we can’t let that stop us from doing the work necessary to at least move us a little bit closer to our goals. Even if we do a lot of work for very little improvement, we are still better off than if we did nothing, and we are in a better position to start from the next time. The problems facing us are so numerous and so massive, that it is easy to get discouraged and start thinking that the abundant, equitable, and peaceful society we would like to live in is so far away that it becomes impossible to reach. We have to remain optimistic that we have the power to improve our society as a whole by making small improvements in our own lives. We all have to find some way in which we can contribute and just get to work, even if we make mistakes along the way. All of these small hopeful acts will build on top of one another until one day we look around and see that although the world is not perfect, it is much, much better off than it once was.

Send Jesse to the ELI

The first time I ever heard the word permaculture was back in 2011, during a short introductory workshop. That day, a whole new world of ideas opened up to me, an entirely different way of looking at the people and environments around me. I saw that permaculture held the tools to create a better future, the possibility to teach us how to live on this Earth in a way that benefits not only ourselves and our communities, but all the rest of the natural world as well, all of our relatives here on this planet that is our home. My life was changed forever by this moment, and since then I have dedicated my life to learning more about permaculture and sharing this knowledge with others, in the hopes that they might have a similar life changing moment and join in the work of creating a positive future for humanity and the planet.

In the time since then, I have taken two permaculture design courses and various other workshops, gained experience and skills through many hours of volunteer work at permaculture farms and natural building projects, and dove head first into the world of permaculture homesteading by joining the Ant Village community at Wheaton Labs in Montana. Throughout all of this I have pursued my mission of sharing permaculture with the world by talking with people and hosting small workshops, but primarily by creating videos about my experiences and sharing them on the One Heart Fire Youtube channel. I have also started to build a right livelihood by doing permaculture design projects and installations for friends and family, turning my knowledge and energy into real soil, water, and permanent food sources for my clients.

The Ecological Landscaper Immersion Course: http://www.permacultureskillscenter.org/copy-of-ecological-landscaper-immer

Jesse’s GoFundMe Campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/sendjessetotheeli

Jesse’s Youtube Channel: Search “Oneheartfire” or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpTOy6AFv_Qqr9J8n50f71Q

Jesse’s Patreon, which supports the youtube channel: https://www.patreon.com/jessegrimes

In Part 1 we talked Permaculture, Ant Village at Wheaton Labs and Standing Rock.

[newcatwords]

climate change solutions traps

if you're like me, you like to learn about different climate change solutions. everyone's got an idea! solar panels, electric cars, algae, geogengineering, forced depopulation (who do they think will be ordering and carrying out this forced depopulation?), primitivism, socialist revolution, anarchism, prepperism, voting in the candidates you want, smashing stores, wind farms, carbon capture, fusion, nuclear, mass transit, bioswales, conservation (national parks, etc.), spiritual awakening, values change, moving to space, planting trees, rewilding, bike lanes, permaculture, increased indigenous stewardship of land, increased urbanization, de-growth, de-industrialization, anti-extractivism, veganism, changing consumption patterns, helping pass laws, investor activism, suing fossil fuel companies, divestment, and more. i do not list these to mock them! in an ideal world, i'd want a lot of those! but i am just a small connection-less individual in a quite rural part of the world...i feel so powerless... but at least i can keep learning about climate change solutions in case i come across one i believe in and also can do!

so that's how it happened. that's how i ended up spending time thinking about "how to solve climate change." it's a very strange intellectual exercise. it's a question at the global scale (climate change is a planetary problem), yet most people do not have power at a global scale. not even close! it also doesn't have an actor - who is going to do the solution in question? policymakers? the plan is to vote in policymakers who will then do the right thing? ...in today's dystopia?

the reader might ask, "so what's YOUR plan then?" to which i reply: i'm not a global actor. in fact i don't think there are any global actors. all these perfect policy solutions? i don't think there exists a force in the world that can pull the levers that some people want pulled (the prime example here is "forced depopulation"...who exactly do they think is going to do this and how would it go?). i wish that we were on the cusp of global revolution, but comrades, i don't think we are! it's kind of like the war in ukraine: for nearly all people on earth, there is nothing they can do to help stop that war. admitting that is not admitting defeat, it's just dealing with the world as it is. (apologies if you're in a position to help end the war in ukraine! strength to you! i wish for safe skies for everyone and an end to this awful war!!)

so even though i still love learning about climate change solutions, it's more of an addiction than anything else. maybe the next one i read about will be THE ONE! then i can support that policy and know exactly what to push for (i guess?). i call it playing fantasy policymaker. and i am trying to stop doing it! XD

[aaallliiieee]

Hi friends, here are some goals I have for my life: ☀️🌱🌻

- be skinny and tan and blonde, but in a casual down to earth hippie girl kind of way (no makeup, loose clothes, still looks pretty)

- have a capsule wardrobe full of sustainable, lightweight, earth tone basic clothing, either handmade or bought second hand, and a variety of scarves/jewelry/accessories; only wear comfy clothes but make it look stylish and put together, not slobby (no bras!! but tastefully)

- buy a van and drive it around the country, going to various national parks and natural landscapes etc, hiking/camping/biking/kayaking, exploring the country and making videos and recording music and writing poems/stories/essays and making art and selling handmade goods at festivals and farmers markets; first van just needs a bed and some basics, maybe a tapestry on the ceiling and some hooks to hang things from the ceilings/walls, but no need for the whole fancy ~camper build~ etc... after a few years I'll probably come up with my optimal layout design, and I'll start saving money to buy an electric van and do the whole thing, and then take M on adventures with me for a more comfortable camping experience lol

- eventually when I'm ready to settle down I want to buy land out in the country (I'll scope out the perfect spot on my travels) and start a homestead, solar panels/recycled water/earthship/off grid type stuff; two versions of this future, one is to start an entire community with a permaculture farm and artist residencies/hosting guests for ecotourism etc, the other is to just have my own little cabin out in the mountains somewhere where I can have a garden and chickens and cats and raise our kids and write books/make art and maybe have a little store in the small downtown area of the nearest cute lil town/city, but just in general the goal is to live in nature without social pressure

- also considering the possibility of being an ayahuasca guide, incorporating that into the homestead concept in some way (potentially growing the ayahuasca plants in a greenhouse??)

- other activities I want to do: work at a ski resort, be a white water rafting guide; be a guide for backcountry camping/hiking/general outdoor recreation/park ranger activities; artist residencies at national parks; go to meditation retreats, yoga retreats, wholehearted gatherings etc; visit monasteries (Buddhist, Benedictine) and nudist camps; continue modeling for artists; learn to surf and do a handstand/backbend; rollerblade; teach workshops for creative expression/art techniques/improvisational dance/functional movement training; write about philosophy and cultural criticism; write poems and stories; make art/music/crafts; get a master's degree and teach at colleges; publish books and submit to journals/contests; have a garden and a library and a room for making things;

- idk this list goes on and on the point is I keep getting hung up on points 1&2 (and also I'm addicted to weed so I've been avoiding everything for the past 5 years) but for whatever reason I'm always like "ok first we'll get skinny and beautiful and then do everything else" but no I'm 24 and realistically I'm at the peak of my physical condition here in this lifetime so just exercise and meditate and go outside every day and you'll be fine lol take care of everything else and when you stop feeling so shitty inside you'll automatically start glowing from the outside ~~

🍃🌼

[eco-nnect]

The Top 5 Vegan-Friendly Cities

Living in any of these will make you forget you’re even vegan.

The rank has been determined by looking into the cities where delicious vegan restaurants with innovative dishes are growing, along with how easy it is to find plant-based options.

Sydney, Australia

The Harbour City with a mighty vegan culture. There is no doubt that the Bondi beach health-conscious surfing culture has now crept its way into every aspect of dining in Sydney as well. So it ranks as our number one for its ease in finding a vegan menu in almost every restaurant you go to. Nonetheless, curious chefs and lunch spots have turned completely plant-based, so head to Yellow for a fine bistro experience. Or are you having dumpling cravings? Try Bodhi for CBD infused yum cha or Gigi’s Pizzeria for dairy free margheritas. For farm to table goodness don’t miss out on Acre Eatery.

2. Los Angeles, USA

The vanguard city in the US is the destination for vegan chefs and novel cuisines. Attracting creatives for decades this city is now setting the standard for health-conscious living and eating. Where trekking Runyon Canyon every morning and being a yogi is the absolute norm, of course being vegan has become the natural progression. Meet The Butcher’s Daughter the vegetable slaughterhouse or pop into Gracias Madre for a vegan taco, head to Crossroads to indulge in recipes you won’t even realise are vegan or stop by Flower Child and Café Gratitude for a quick and easy lunch. There are plenty of options in LA, so pick and choose depending on your mood.

3. Ubud, Bali

For anyone who’s been to the island of Gods it won’t come to a surprise to find it on this list. From Zest, to Moksa to Alchemy, and The Seeds of Life, the choice of vegan restaurants is endless. Each with its own creative mastery of vegan cuisine, playing with spices and textures to enhance vegan dining. Most locales even boasting farm to table produce with food forests and permaculture to complement their kitchens��which on a tropical island means plenty of choice! If you live in Bali you’ll be spoilt by the wonderful array of pulled “pork” jack fruit and coconut ice-creams, as a tourist you’ll think you’ve tip-toed into the future of dining.

4. Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The young hub of Europe. Where everyone rides a bike and chilling in a park is an everyday occurrence. Leading Europe in vegan options and meat-less junk food its list of vegan dining is one not to miss! From michelin starred vegetarian restaurant Vermeer, to easy salad and lunch spots: Venkel and SOIL to full out impossible fast food: Vegan Junk Food Bar and Deer Mama. The students and youth of Amsterdam have spoken, and the city listened. Eating consciously here is easy.

5. Tel Aviv, Israel

A major hub for agrofood tech, Tel Aviv is also a leader in vegan cuisine. For years Israeli cuisine has enamoured vegans with its array of hummus, falafels, tahini, bulgur salads, yet its budding vegan scene is showing a flare of middle-eastern influence and creativity. The spices and flavours paired with fresh produce from farms close to the city can turn a trip to Tel Aviv into a vegan culinary adventure. There is a spot for every type of vegan, from more traditional recipes like Meshek Barzilay to conscious superfood cafés like Anastasia and Bana, and trendy 416.

[criticalbread]

Solarpunk Action Week!

Our plans for SPAW so far are: ==Buy some more herbs and berries from our local nursery to plant in the garden! We went yesterday and picked up rosemary, mint (its evil to be contained in a pot), lemon balm, and dill, as well as a dwarf thornless clumping raspberry bush! So stoked to put these bad boys in the ground/in the raised beds and to be able to cook with fresh, dry them come autumn, and make teas C: ==Pick up litter along the bike paths I walk in the neighborhood nearly every day. ==Walk with Eagan down to the nature park nearby and pick up litter along the way there. ==Start to tackle the “Help Me :(” bag of clothes that need buttons sewn back on, rehemming, or general maintenance. I’ve been ignoring them too long :U ==Look up a tutorial for making a simple hose irrigation system for the garden proper. We really hope to find perhaps an old used rubber hose or something on craigslist to reuse for this project and really improve our efficiency when it comes to water usage. ==Look up free manure and/or compost and/or mulch from around the community to use in the garden and raised beds! I’ve been doing a free permaculture course when time and energy permit and learning about the damage tilling does to soil, so I’m very interested in converting to a no-dig method and possibly over the next couple years creating a tiny food forest around our two apple trees. ==Seed clover around the planted rows in the garden / around the apple trees as nitrogen fixers. Also plant some true comphrey to make use of as green fertilizer later and improve movement of nutrients in the soil from deep up to shallower soil. ==This is after SPAW but on March 22nd there’s a Queer Clothing Exchange here in Portland so I’m going to take a lot of the clothes I don’t wear anymore to add to the pool! ==Put a couple books in the little mini library box in the neighborhood. I already slipped a Tamora Pierce novel in there with the hopes of introducing some of the local pre-teens :’)  ==Gonna donate money to the local food cupboard since I don’t think I’ll have physical/mental energy to try and work with Food Not Bombs this week. ==Fix up the bike I bought on craigslist a couple months ago?? She’s a lovely vintage Nishiki and I adore her but the pedals squeak and click. Fixing it up will mean being able to bike to my new job (!!!!! NEW JOB YALL!!!) ==Also now that I have a job I’m thinking I might join the IWW??? ==Last time I was in at the health clinic where I go for Chiro and massage, I joked about setting up a How To Make Sauerkraut At Home tutorial for them all and the massage therapist got really stoked. We had been talking about barter economy in small towns and how we think it needs to come back into other communities so he was like, “If you teach us how to make sauerkraut, maybe we can see about paying you back in care!” So, you know. Trading cabbage punching for massage is my dream. I want to message him and look in to if we can make that happen! Everyone should make sauerkraut, it’s so easy and fun and delicious!

I know there is a lot here and we might not be able to get to everything, but I’m super excited for Action Week and just feel so optimistic! Especially now that I’ve got an income again :””) Let’s get out there, y’all!

[Image Description: A close up view of a cardboard tray sitting on a wooden deck. The tray is brimming with herbs such as a tiny mint, tall feathery dill, spiky rosemary, and broad leathery borage leaves. Next to the tray is a larger dark green pot holding a clumping raspberry plant. Its long, spindly canes grow up out of a profusion of light green leaves and new growth at the base. There is a sliver of finger covering the lens in the top left corner because I was very excited to take this picture and not paying attention. Oops!]

[luckymortal]

A naturally-evolved "pubic food forest" that I often talk about in my classes, presentations, tours and articles at Lillie House. This site is also one of the models for our "Mighty Hedgerow." This bit of bike trail between a river, a parking lot and a church, was a favorite foraging spot for us for years. We would go and fill large containers throughout the season, with blackberries, black raspberries, elderberries, grapes, wild onions, large-seeded edible grasses, mushrooms, mulberries, milkweed pods, garlic mustard, sweet rocket, walnuts, acorns, and our first tastes of some things like aronia berries, highbush cranberry (the foul kind!) wild strawberries and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. There were also some wild pears and apples along the trail, though we didn't have much use for the msotly-buggy fruit. Often, we were not the only ones there foraging! For me, this site that produced so much food, with no formal maintenance, remains the model for what a public food forest should be like. It did not require a large group of volunteers, a big grant, a complex organization with long monthly meetings, or fancy expensive equipment to maintain. It only needed some occasional, informal pruning, and for the deer and squirrels to come fertilize it now and then. It proves the Permaculture idea that we need to design sites to support people, not to design unnecessary people structures to support land maintenance.... And it was a beautiful place to "go shopping!" #Permaculture #forestgardening #foodforest https://www.instagram.com/p/BotyRlXAAGU/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=y7ctvp4wv4mj

[vanfolkvicfolk-blog]

VicFolk, meet the Belle Miners: a female trio from Australia/Canada that exudes dense harmonies, clever lyrics and a liberating, joyous sound. We talked with Felicia Harding (also of local band Fortune Killers) about her growing project with Jaime Jackett and Marina Avros.

Short and Sweet:

1)What words best describe you?

Hopeful & Harmonious!

2)What do you love spending your time on, besides music?

Permaculture, pottery, yoga and communing with nature.

3)What words best describe your community (who you hang with)?

Bird Nerds, other musicians and creatives!

4)What are the top 3 things you place emphasis on in the music biz?

Integrity, skill, courage.

5)Where do you live and what places do you love to haunt in that neighborhood?

I live on Fort St. I love Picnic, Bubby Rose’s Bakery and Beacon Hill Park.

6)What are three words (positive or negative!) that would describe Victoria to you?

Healthy, bicycles, wet (haha)!

7)Where are you taking the rest of the Belle Miners while they’re in town to show off Victoria’s digs?

Jaime enters the room declaring “Pleeeeeeease take me to Habit. Please, please, please” (so there’s that)! Also, Felicia plans to take the group to Cafe Bliss, Origin Bakery and Hawk & Hen.

8)What do you think makes Victoria unique from other cities?

Victoria is more eco-concious as a whole. You can ride your bike basically anywhere and get there faster than driving!

Getting to know you more:

1)Have you lived here all of your life? If so, what defines Victoria as “Home” for you? If not, when did Victoria first feel like “Home” for you?

I am lucky enough to be able to say yes, I have lived here (basically) all of my life! My family moved here when I was 4. I’d say the oceans, fresh lush greenery and flowers make it home. The landscapes are always a welcomed sight when arriving home from a long tour. I like to take a deep breath when I get off the plane and feel myself instantly hydrate!

2)Why do you love being an entrepreneur in this town? What makes it rewarding?

Victoria is full of creative people and creative businesses. I feel supported and inspired by this community! Victoria is excited to hear that you’re an artist and entrepreneur. I love creating shared experiences and memories with people.

3)What are some life lessons you’ve learned working as an indie artist and entrepreneur?

Working alone is impossible unless you have oodles of cash and an endless supply of inner chi. The people on your team are the single most important aspect of your career and goals. You need team mates who can go to bat for you, help you accomplish the things you don’t understand or haven’t learnt yet, and to back you up when shit goes down. You can polish your instrument playing and singing all you like (and you should), but nothing is as important as the people on your team. Bandmates, managers, publicists, makeup goddesses (like Erin Bradley!)…all of them…make sure they’re on your side and then nurture those relationships!!

Enter the full Belle Miners trio for the last questions:

4)How is Victoria a supportive community for indie artists and musicians? Or does Victoria have some things to learn in this category?

Victoria loves the arts and music in particular. Over the last few years, we’ve seen this city thrive with festivals, events and venues. We especially have Atomique productions and The Zone to thank for that! There is a definite feeling of community and collaboration here amongst the musicians…something that is noticeably lacking in some other Canadian cities we’ve lived.

5)Anything exciting coming up for you as a musician?

Belle Miners are touring Australia for the fourth time!!!! This time with publicity and an amazing album… www.belleminers.com

A Canadian tour is coming in October and we are so excited to announce those dates once they’re ready to show off!

(Felicia’s other band, Fortune Killers, is also playing a show with Fake Shark at Capitol Ballroom in Victoria on December 16th!)

6)What do you miss most about home when on tour? What do you most look forward to doing when you get off tour?

Jaime says: Being a complete dag and hanging out with my man and cooking my own beautiful food just the way I like it. Marina pipes in: My Dog Ember! Felicia: Yep, hangin’ with my man and my two little kitties! Plus, playing keys and rocking out with Fortune Killers! 😉

Don’t miss the Fortune Killers and Fake Shark at the Capitol Ballroom: https://www.ticketweb.ca/event/fake-shark-fortune-killers-capital-ballroom-formerly-sugar-nightclub-tickets/7778935

The Belle Miners are also playing a highly secretive show in town December 7. Maybe look them up to see if you can sneak in 😉 www.belleminers.com

[laraehrlich-blog]

Original content owned & copyrighted by Green Global Travel.

Located off the coast of Teide National Park in the center. In the north, you’ll find the capital, Santa Cruz. The island’s south side is more popular with travelers because it’s both sunnier and warmer, with quite a few RED MORE: The 30 Best Exotic Islands to Visit

is Tenerife?

to Get to Tenerife

Brief History of Tenerife

Best Things to Do in North Tenerife

Best Things to Do in South Tenerife

Tenerife Mountains image by Monique Stokman from Pixabay

is Tenerife?

The volcanic Canary Islands are located in the North tlantic Ocean off the coast of frica. But where exactly is Tenerife?

The Spanish-owned archipelago is located around 60 miles west of Morocco, and Tenerife sits right in the center of the group of seven islands.

You’ll find Tenerife just west of Gran Canaria, which is the third largest island in the Canaries at 600 square miles.  bit further to the east lies Fuerteventura, the second largest island at 640 square miles.

Flights from the RED MORE: 10 Eco-Friendly European Islands (World Travel Bucket List)

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

to Get to Tenerife

Tenerife is the only Canary Island blessed with two airports, making air travel the easiest and fastest way to get there.

Most international visitors come via flights to Tenerife south, which is serviced by Reina Sofía. This is the more modern of the island’s two airports, located just outside of Costa deje.

Flights to Tenerife north land at Los Rodeos irport, which is located near La Laguna and Santa Cruz. This airport primarily receives traffic from mainland RED MORE: The 20 Best Caribbean Islands to Visit

Brief History of Tenerife

You can date Tenerife’s recorded history back to around 200 BC. t this time the Canary Islands were home to aboriginal inhabitants, known as the Guanches. who were of North frican origin.

They were said to have an almost King Juan Carlos I took the Spanish throne. He and his wife, Queen Sofia, reigned as King and Queen of Spain from 1975 until the king’s abdication in 2014.

Southern Tenerife’s airport is still named after Queen Sofia. nd today, tourism is back in full swing and stands as the island’s largest and most profitable industry.

RED MORE: Things to Do in Portugal for Nature Lovers

  Things to Do in Northern Tenerife

Loro Parque Parrot, image by marbus79 from Pixabay

1. Loro Parque

Widely recognized as one of the finest Loro Parque began as something of a giant aviary for exotic Parrots. It has since been expanded to house rare and merican Humane has given Loro Parque its seal of approval for its commitment to animal safety and well-being. It’s the first time the 100-year-old NGO has ever given approval for a standard zoo in Europe.

The zoo is also a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Loro Parque has been involved with over 80 conservation projects, contributing more than $10 million towards wildlife conservation. 

RED MORE: The Best Environmental & nimal Charities to Donate To

Mount Teide image by Jordi Martos from Pixabay

2. Teide National Park

Teide National Park is one of Tenerife’s two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the island’s most visited natural wonders. The park is home to Spain’s tallest peak, Mount Teide, an RED MORE: 20 Tallest Mountains in the World

San Cristóbal de La Laguna image by nina056 from Pixabay

3. San Cristóbal de La Laguna

Tenerife’s second UNESCO World Heritage Site is the historical center of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Considered to be the island’s cultural capital, it was at one time the actual capital before that role was taken over by Santa Cruz.

La Laguna was founded in the 15th century and is home to many important early buildings, including several beautiful churches.

One example is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of La Laguna, which houses the remains of the city’s founder, lonso Fernandez de Luga. La Laguna also plays host to the largest Holy Week festival in the Canary Islands.

The city is home to the Canary Islands’ oldest university, University of La Laguna, which was founded in the early 1700s. Due to the presence of college students, there’s a great deal of energetic nightlife options available in the city.

RED MORE: The 20 Best Festivals in the World

Museum of Nature and Man image by neufal54 from Pixabay

4. The Museum of Nature and Man

Paying a visit to the Museum of Nature and Man in Santa Cruz allows you to dive deeper into the history of Tenerife and the other Canary Islands.

Housed in the Old Civil Hospital, the RED MORE: 10 ncient rchaeological Sites (World Travel Bucket List)

Image by Noelia Secret from Pixabay

5. Jardín Botánico of Puerto de la Cruz

lso known as the La Orotava cclimatisation Gardens, the botanical garden (or Jardín Botánico) of Puerto de la Cruz was conceived by King Charles III of Spain.

It was his desire to introduce exotic plants from regions like RED MORE: What is Permaculture Gardening? n Intro to Permaculture Design

Pyramids of Guimar, Tenerife image by M W from Pixabay

6. The Pyramids of Guimar

series of six pyramids on Tenerife have created a lot of debate over the years as to when they were constructed, and by whom. Built from lava stone, they share a resemblance to the pyramids found in RED MORE: The 16 Best Mayan Ruins to Explore

Trail image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

7. Bosque de Esperanza

One of the island’s largest forested areas, Bosque de Esperanza offers wonderful hiking and mountain biking opportunities.

There are also narrow mountain roads that lack the copious traffic often found in southern Tenerife.

The hiking trails are well marked, and some will take you to viewpoints where you can enjoy stunning views of Mount Teide, the coastline, and La Laguna below.

The forest itself offers a robust mixture of endemic pines, cypress, and eucalyptus trees, which stay lusg and green all year round.

RED MORE: 20 Biggest Forests in the World

Masca Trail, by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

8. Masca Valley

The Masca Valley is home to another one of Tenerife’s most notable hikes.

The Masca Trail hike, from Masca Village to the sea, takes around three hours to complete. It leads you through a volcanic landscape of strange rock formations and caves.

When you reach the end of the trail you can return the way you came. But many hikers choose to catch a boat transfer to the nearby resort town of Los Gigantes. The town is known for its towering cliffs, which reach heights of atound 2,800 feet.

If you choose this option and you’re traveling during peak summer season, make sure to pre-book your boat transfer. This assures your spot, so you aren’t forced to hike all the way back to Masca Village!

RED MORE: The World’s Best Hiking Trails (World Travel Bucket List)

Cueva del Viento or Cave of the Wind by Eladio nxo Fernández Manso via CC-2.0

9. Cueva del Viento

Cueva del Viento (or Cave of the Wind) is Europe’s most grand lava tube system. It’s also one of the world’s most complex.

Reaching over 10 miles into the earth, the cave system is said to have been created from Pico Viejo volcanic eruptions. Visitors outfitted with sturdy RED MORE: 10 Famous Underground Caves (World Travel Bucket List)

  Best Things to Do in Southern Tenerife

Siam Park in Southern Tenerife by stephen jones via CC BY 2.0

10. Siam Park

Located in the Southern Tenerife town of Costa deje, Siam Park is one of Europe’s grandest water parks.

The water park is home to the world’s longest lazy RED MORE: The 13 Most Beautiful National Parks in Thailand

Playa de las méricas by Brian Mullender via CC 2.0

11. Playa de las méricas

Southern Tenerife’s largest tourist resort, Playa de las méricas is where all the area’s action and nightlife can be found.

Head to Veronica’s Strip for a wide array of nightclubs and bars, or soak up the sun at one of the area’s numerous beaches.

Some of the beaches are natural, featuring the iconic black volcanic sand Tenerife is known for, while others are man made and use sand imported from frica. The most notable beaches include Playa de El Bobo, Playa Honda, and of course Playa de las méricas.

lso on offer are water activities like jet-skiing, RED MORE: The Ultimate Beach Vacation Packing List

Playa del Duque User: Mulleflupp at wikivoyage shared via CC BY-S 3.0

12. Playa del Duque

Located in Costa deje, Playa del Duque is a man made beach that offers imported golden Sahara sand.

Its westward facing position makes this a perfect location to catch a Canary Island sunset. The seaside promenade makes for lovely early morning or evening walks.

During the day, plenty of sun loungers and umbrellas are available to rent. Just off the beach you’ll find an array of fine dining restaurants and a luxury shopping center.

Playa del Duque is easily one of Tenerife’s most beautiful and most visited beaches, but be aware that it can get crowded during peak season. 

RED MORE: The 50 Best Travel Shoes 

Kite Surfing in Southern Tenerife, image by Erdmann-Crew from Pixabay

13. El Medáno

Home to less touristy beaches, the town of El Medáno ranks alongside places like kitesurfing championships.

Near the center of the town, you’ll find beaches that are a little more suitable for swimming. Some of Tenerife’s largest natural beaches, including Playa Grande and Playa La Tejita, are also farily close by.

More popular with locals rather than tourists, Playa Grande is best visited during low tide.

RED MORE: The Beautiful Beaches of Coron, Palawan

14. Reserva mbiental

One of the top-rated natural attractions in southern Tenerife, this quiet little nature reserve is located in San Miguel de bona. 

The morning guided hikes are best booked in advance, and take you on a one-hour journey through a pristine slice of Tenerife as it might have looked before the Spanish arrived. The boat ride across the small lake is as tranquil and serene as it is picturesque.

Departing from the Sandos San Blas Hotel, the tour also includes an excellent museum with an overview of the island’s past, including a cool “time tunnel.” long the way you’ll meet costumed actors who bring the RED MORE: 10 Living History Museums in the US

Southern Grey Shrike Per-nders Olsson (used with permission) via CC BY-S 3.0

15. Montaña de Ifara y Los Riscos

Those really looking to get off the beaten path and escape the tourist crowds can try a bit of hiking in the Ifara and Los Riscos

Megan Jerrard is an ustralian Journalist and the founder and Senior Editor of Mapping Megan, an award-winning travel blog bringing you the latest in adventure travel from all over the globe. Her husband Mike is the merican naturalist and wildlife photographer behind Waking Up Wild, a website dedicated to opening your eyes to the wild & natural world.

The post 15 Things to Do in Tenerife (Canary Islands) appeared first on Green Global Travel.

[mrhenryharrell]

2017 RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUSTAINABLE LIVING FAIR – Rensselaer, NY

Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline (SNYFGP) the People of Albany United for Sustainable Energy (PAUSE/350.org) and the Sierra Club Hudson-Mohawk Group are organizing the largest indoor/outdoor Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Fair ever held in the Capital Region. The Fair will occur on Saturday, October 28 from 10 – 4 pm at Doane Stuart School 199 Washington Ave. Rensselaer, NY.

Building off its success last year, the 2017 Renewable Energy will expand to include a Bike Expo and exhibits about how we can break free from fossil fuel dependency and live sustainably.

SNYFGP, PAUSE and the SIERRA CLUB are seeking exhibitors and displays for residential, commercial or community solar, wind and geothermal energy, insulation and other energy efficiency products and services. Earth-friendly and sustainably sourced products and crafts are desired too, as are cycling and energy-related vendors.  To register for this Fair, go to: http://stopnypipeline.org/ events/2017-renewable-energy-fair/

The sponsors expect to have at least forty exhibitors, both for profit and non-profit, along with Fair door prizes, and special offers for attendees. Food and drink will also be available. Admission and parking are free.

Some of the exhibits the sponsors anticipate include electric vehicles you can ride in… a solar boat… cell phone chargers powered by the sun… solar heat pumps… NYS climate change info… a color printout of actual property wind production… ways to pay electric bills via renewable energy… a workshop about investing in green energy funds… information on conservation, sustainability and how to lower your carbon footprint…  details about a SUNY Renewable Energy Degree Program… and more!

There will also be a children’s “Break Free From Fossil Fuels” Project Fair, a tour of Doane Stuart’s gorgeous “green roof”, exhibits on composting, hydro-farming and permaculture, sustainably sourced products and crafts, educational exhibits and storytelling.

Register for the fair at: http://stopnypipeline.org/ events/2017-renewable-energy-f air/. The charge for an exhibitor is $125 per table and $20 for a table for non-profits. Applicants should apply and pay by October 1.

Fair sponsors will be acknowledged in the Fair Program Booklet that will be given to attendees and to the public afterwards. This booklet will have links to many renewable energy and environmentally friendly resources.

Sponsors will be acknowledged in SNYFGP, PAUSE and SIERRA CLUB public communications, the Renewable Energy Fair Facebook Event Page, the SNYFGP, PAUSE and SIERRA CLUB Hudson-Mohawk Group Facebook and web pages.

In addition, if one wishes to assist the sponsors by selling booklet advertisements, posting flyers, handing out flyers, planting lawn signs and/or working on the day of the Fair, contact Bob Connors or Becky Meier at: 518-781-4686, or becky@stopnypipeline.org or Tina Lieberman at: tlieberm1@gmail.com

2017 RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUSTAINABLE LIVING FAIR – Rensselaer, NY posted first on Green Energy Times

[skuditpress]

Episode #35: Kollibri terre Sonneblume on the Failures of Farming and the Necessity of Wildtending

Episode #35 of the Ground Shots Podcast features a conversation with Kollibri terre Sonneblume, recorded in rural southern New Mexico last month in his outdoor kitchen, surrounded by friendly feral cats.

I visited with Kollibri last month, where he is currently living, gardening and writing. He gave me a few of his books to read through, and after I read much of them, we got together to record this conversation. His books and zines are well written, thought out and researched and touch on topics like colonialism, history, plants, agriculture, ethnobotany, politics and more.

Kollibri terre Sonnenblume is a writer, photographer, tree hugger, animal lover, and dissident. Past experiences include urban bike farmer, Indymedia activist, and music critic. Kollibri holds a BA in “Writing Fiction & Non-fiction” from the St. Olaf Paracollege in Northfield, Minnesota.

In this conversation with Kollibri, we talk about:

the pros and con's of permaculture

wild-tending as not just using knowledge from the past but adapting to a changing world

some connections between patriarchy, organized religion and slavery

the blurry line between gatherer-hunter life-ways and small scale agriculture

horticulture vs. agriculture

some history of agriculture, the negative impacts of agriculture on health and culture

Kollibri's various books and zines on farming, wild-tending, ‘invasive’ plants, and place-based travel

questioning victorian ideas of gatherer-hunter culture and the transition to agriculture

the importance of an interdisciplinary approach and looking at things from many angles, avoiding 'silo'ing when possible

the importance of practicing small scale agriculture with the fragmented ecology and culture we have right now

the racist origins of wilderness, national parks and public lands, and the continued racism in these institutions or ideas

what to expect from Kollibri's new podcast 'Voices For Nature and Peace'

Links:

Kollibri’s website: Macska Moksha Press, where you can buy his books, read his latest articles

Kollibri on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kollibri.terre.sonnenblume

Kollibri on instagram: @kollibri1969

One of Kollibri’s latest articles: A Question of Identity: How Much Does Queerness Matter in a Crisis?

Download the free pdf zine “The Troubles of Invasive Plants'“ here

‘The One Straw Revolution’ by Masanobu Fukuoka, mentioned in the podcast

Support the podcast on Patreon to contribute to our grassroots self-funding of this project. 

Support the Ground Shots Project with a one time donation via Paypal at: paypal.me/petitfawn

 Our website with backlog of episodes, plant profiles, travelogue and more: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com 

Our Instagram page @goldenberries

Join the Ground Shots Podcast Facebook Group to discuss the episodes

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the Ground Shots Project

Theme music: 'Sweat and Splinters' by Mother Marrow

Interstitial Music: ‘Thank You for Treating Me Like a Melody Drawn in the Air’ by B.E.N. and Fay Petree

Hosted by: Kelly Moody

Produced by: Kelly Moody and Opia Creative

[tripstations]

Saving the planet: our top 5 eco-friendly hotels around the world

By Thomas Ryves on Aug 18, 2019 in Accommodation, Africa, Asia, Ecuador, Featured, Hotels, Malaysia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, Regions, Resorts, South Africa, South America, Thailand, Worldwide

With environmental awareness an increasing concern across the globe, especially when it comes to hot topics such as global warming and plastic waste, luxury hotels are also increasingly doing their bit for the planet, with guests encouraged to play their part during their holiday. Ditching plastic water bottles for reusable non-plastic ones is just the tip of the (rapidly-melting) iceberg: these five hotels push the boat out when it comes to eco-friendliness – without stinting on luxury and style.

The Brando, Tahiti

Marlon Brando fell in love with Tahiti while filming Mutiny on the Bounty in the 1960s, and ended up marrying his Tahitian co-star and owning the beautiful private island of Tetiaroa, which is made up of 12 motus, or islets, surrounded by aquamarine waters. The Brando is the culmination of his lifelong vision for a sustainable luxury hotel on his very own slice of paradise – while keeping it a paradise, and its stunning setting pristine.

Alongside offering superior luxury in Polynesian-style thatched villas, set on their own patch of white-sand beach, the hotel’s eco-friendly initiatives include an air conditioning system that comes from cold seawater from the ocean bed, and alternative energy sources such as solar power and coconut oil, alongside sustainable cuisine featuring fresh fruit and vegetables from the organic gardens. Guests can enjoy tours on land and sea with naturalist guides and biologists to discover more about the local environment.

The Six Senses Yao Noi, Thailand

The Six Senses Yao Noi sits on an island between Phuket and Krabi, surrounded by jagged limestone peaks, and is a prime example of offering Robinson Crusoe-style luxury alongside environmental protection. The Six Senses brand has always had a focus on sustainability but has recently upped its game with policies such as banning toxic sunscreens, which damage coral reefs, and providing eco-friendly alternatives, and has selected products that use plant-based or fully compostable packaging.

At the Six Senses Yao Noi, as well as swimming in your own infinity pool and unwinding in the holistic spa, you can enjoy farm-to-table cuisine with a difference – you can even collect your own fresh eggs for breakfast in the morning from the hotel’s chicken farm, whose chickens spend their days listening to jazz music (!).

Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Mashpi Lodge has a stunning setting, perched on a hilltop surrounded by protected cloud forest in Ecuador, and is one of National Geographic’s Unique Lodges of the World. This eco-lodge offers guests the chance to immerse themselves in their surroundings and learn about the importance of protecting rapidly-disappearing unique natural environments such as these.

Guests young and old can enjoy can enjoy excursions to waterfalls and thrilling rides on the Sky Bike high above the rainforest canopy, while children can take part in a Mashpi Ranger Adventure, and go walking in the forest with a naturalist guide, finding out about local wildlife and birdlife from monkeys and pumas to tree frogs and tropical birds. Hands-on experiences include using tree leaves to imitate bird calls and joining biologists in the lab for interactive learning activities.

The Datai Langkawi, Malaysia

The Datai Langkawi is not only a supremely luxurious and stylish hotel, set amongst ancient rainforest and by Datai Bay, which is considered to be one of the world’s best beaches, but employs exemplary eco-friendly initiatives. It has its own recycling, upcycling and bottling plants, a permaculture garden growing herbs, spices, fruit and vegetables, and a Fish for the Future scheme which involves building artificial reefs that are monitored by marine biologists, engaging local fishermen and communities. The hotel is also cultivating a coral nursery, whose corals are planted back in the ocean.

The Datai even has innovative uses for its waste. Currently, almost 8o% of its waste is diverted from landfill and is used in creative ways wherever possible, such as making stepping stones for walking trails out of crushed glass and shredded plastic, and it is set to achieve its aim of ‘zero waste to landfill’ by the end of 2019.

Cheetah Plains, South Africa

Cheetah Plains is an exclusive eco-luxe safari lodge in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve near Kruger National Park, which has sustainability and environmental awareness at its heart while offering a rewarding wildlife-spotting experience, beautiful accommodation and impressive hospitality.

The lodge operates completely off the grid, using solar power, and also uses water recycling systems, while its customised electric zero-emission Land Cruisers are smooth and almost silent, allowing you to concentrate on seeing wildlife, and their unobtrusive nature ensures a premium safari experience as well as an eco-friendly one. There are plenty of ways guest can learn more about the exceptional wildlife and landscapes on the doorstep, from immersive walking safaris to a bespoke children’s safari programme. After a busy day exploring, you can relax in style by the pool.

Thomas Ryves is Marketing Director at Exsus Travel. Exsus Travel specialises in creating the very best luxury tailor-made holidays, honeymoons and family adventures in over 80 destinations worldwide.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

The post Saving the planet: our top 5 eco-friendly hotels around the world appeared first on Tripstations.

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[sweetlyhopefulangel]

New Video Reveals a Bicycle Bridge that Doubles as a Roof in Utrecht

NEXT Architects are known for their fascinating bridges like the Lucky Knot, and now they have designed a bridge that doubles as the roof of a school. The Dafne Schippers bridge opened to the public last year. It is located in the city of Utrecht, and it spans 110 meters across the Amsterdam-Rhine canal. The dream of the cyclists came true when a number of countries like Denmark and the Netherlands paid more attention to “Bridges and Passageways Only for Bikes”.

Designed by NEXT Architects and Rudy Uytenhaak + Partners Architekten along with Arup and Bureau B+B, this bridge in Utrecht integrates the cycle and pedestrian track with the school, the park, and a lush green artificial hill. It is suspended, 9 meters above the water, between two asymmetrical towers on the two sides of the Amsterdam-Rhine canal. On the side of the Leidsche Rijn, the tower becomes a landmark for the city, while the one on the side of the school is reduced to match the scale of the trees. Additionally, cyclists and pedestrians get panoramic views of the canal when they use the Dafne Schippers Bridge. This cohesive scheme will save time for over 7000 cyclists.

The bridge connects and works seamlessly with the school and the public park to form an integrated and efficient design. On the side of the school, the bridge creates a unique shed for the students to study in. The bridge’s position on the southern side of the school makes space for recreational areas on the northern side, towards the park. The east side of the school is made narrow, creating a private recreational space and a seemingly natural entrance. Then, it widens by the water surface, complementing the park and creating an enclosed playground for the students.

The school’s roof garden plays three significant roles in the design. It is an essential element that connects all the different programs it caters to and complements the green space surrounding the school. Moreover, it provides the school with plenty of extra space. The permaculture garden on the roof of the gym also becomes a necessary buffer space between the cycle track and the school.

“In one fluid movement, the cycle route, park, and school are brought together to form a cohesive whole of infrastructure, architecture, and landscape,” says Marijn Schenk of NEXT architects.

[nofomoartworld]

Ecovention Europe: Art to Transform Ecologies, 1957-2017 (part 2)

As promised, here’s a follow-up of Monday’s first foray into Ecovention Europe: Art to Transform Ecologies, 1957-2017 which you can currently visit at De Domijnen in Sittard (NL). The exhibition gathers the work of over 40 artists who, through small scale interventions, attempt to bring a creative answer to the numerous environmental crises European ecosystems are going through.

Today’s short selection will focus on artistic attempts (many of them successful) to restore environmental damage:

Nils Norman, The Gerrard Winstanley Radical Gardening Space Reclamation Mobile Field Center and Weather Station (European Chapter), 2000. Installation view at Museum De Domijnen. Photo by Bert Janssen

Nils Norman, The Gerrard Winstanley Radical Gardening Space Reclamation Mobile Field Center and Weather Station (European Chapter), 2000

Nils Norman designed a bike trailer to travel between parks, playgrounds, schools and public squares. Once parked, the trailer opens to reveal a small photocopier, a library, a small weather station as well as a solar panel. The library consists of books on DIY culture, permaculture, urban gardening, energy systems, utopias and issues of gentrification.

The mobile library encourages people to photocopy the chapters in the books that interest them and implement the ideas found in the publications.

The bike is named after Gerrard Winstanley, the leader of “the Diggers”, a group of Protestant radicals in 17th Century England who tried to defy the enclosure of common land by private interests: occupying it en masse, pulling down hedges, digging it up and cultivating it for food.

Agnes Denes, Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule – 11,000 trees 11,000 People 400 Years (Triptych), 1992-1996, Courtesy of Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York

Agnes Denes, Tree Mountain in 2013. Photo by Strata Suomi

Tree Mountain is a monumental reclamation project located in Ylöjärvi, Finland. The project was officially announced by the Finnish government at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in l992 as Finland’s contribution to help alleviate the world’s ecological stress. The huge mountain was planted with eleven thousand trees by eleven thousand people from all over the world, eventually creating the first man-made virgin forest.

People who planted the trees received certificates acknowledging them as custodians of the trees. The certificate is an inheritable document valid for twenty or more generations in the future. Situated on top of an aquifer known as Finland’s purest source, Tree Mountain preserves the precious resources for centuries to come.

Agnes Denes conceived the project in the early 1980s as a mark of humanity’s commitment to the future ecological, social and cultural life on the planet.

Vera Thaens, Roof Runoff Purifying System. Photo: Bert Janssen

Vera Thaens installed a biological water purification station in Sittard. Her Roof Runoff Purifying System uses different types of plants to filter and clean rainwater, making it ideal for drinking. The water plants were selected for their specific ability to remove toxic substances. Some extract nitrates and nitrites from the rainwater. Others can even get rid of hormones from wastewater (something that chemical wastewater treatment plants can’t always achieve.)

The idea of ​​purifying drinking water with plants is nothing new. German scientist Käthe Seidel prototyped the system back in the 1950s. She seems to have been an amazing person. When asked why her ingenious and wastewater purification system never took off, she answered:

“Men always reach for technology, for development. They insist it will bring us to higher levels of progress. They haven’t the patience to work with slow-growing plants, nor do they understand natural cycles as women do. They see my work as farming, not engineering, so they go away and return to their machinery.”

Marjetica Potrc and Ooze (Eva Pfannes & Sylvain Hartenberg, Source de Friche, 2012

The site of Source de Friche in Brussels used to be a Shell Oil industrial site, where rainwater and ground water had accumulated in a large depression. Although the site had been decontaminated, the water remained polluted. The project highlighted and sped up the self-regenerative power of nature by processing the polluted water through a constructed wetland, a system that uses existing and new helophyte plants to filter the water. Although the water was purified, it still did not meet all European regulations for drinking water for humans, so the artists labelled it as water “of drinkable quality exclusively for non-humans”.

Rebecca Chesney, I’m blue, you’re yellow, Everton park, Liverpool, 2012

As a result of her research into habitats that help support local populations of bees and other insects, Rebecca Chesney was commissioned to realise the planting of two acres of meadow on Everton Park in Liverpool. One acre was made entirely of blue flowering species, the other acre of yellow ones. Each acre was one solid block of colour.

Rebecca Chesney, I’m blue, you’re yellow, Everton park, Liverpool, 2017

The artist recently went to see the meadows. They were in their 6th summer and quite different from when they were first planted. They have changed gradually over the years and are now mixed with loads of other species coming in.

Lois Weinberger, Das über die Planzen/ist eins mit Ihnen (What is Beyond Plants is at One with Them), documenta 10, 1997. Photo: 34 magazin

For the 1997 edition of documenta, Lois Weinberger planted a garden amongst the railway tracks of Kassel’s central station. The plants mixed native vegetation with ruderal plants the artist had collected in Central and Eastern Europe, during and after the collapse of communism. These nomadic survivors, ‘foreign immigrants’ to German soil, flourished amongst the transit lines of ‘Old Europe’, subverting any human projection of territorial sovereignty, or fixed borders, and still do so today.

Weinberger views this continuous botanical blending as a metaphor for social processes such as global migration. “The way a society deals with its plants tells us a lot about itself”, he once said.

Lois Weinberger, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin 1994

Lois Weinberger, Gebiet Wien (Area Vienna), 1988

Much of Weinberger’s work investigates Gilles Clément’s idea of the Third Landscape (the space left over by man to nature alone.) Weinberger’s gardens are not looked after. They are left to evolve, expand, be taken over by weeds and grow into unruly little landscapes.

Moirika Reker, Fruta a Mão (Urban Orchards – Pick Your (City) Fruit), 2014-ongoing. Photo via interact

When learning that most of the fruit trees adorning Portugal’s city streets were ornamental and too bitter to eat, Moirika Reker decided that these spaces could grow edible fruits instead. She sought a European Culture Foundation grant to develop “Fruta à mão” (Urban Orchards – Pick Your (City) Fruit). She focused her efforts on transforming part of the park Quinta dos Lilases in Lisbon into a public orchard. The urban orchard would be cared for, maintained and harvested by the community. The idea is to bring attention to the possibility of participation in one’s own nourishment, addressing issues related to food security, urban sustainability and aesthetic fruition of the city.

Despite pretending to be working on implementing Reker’s proposal, the city had its landscape architect design a 3000m2 orchard instead.

Hop! Couple more images from the exhibition:

Jean-Francois Paquay, Edible Environment. Photo: Bert Janssen

Installation view of Ecovention at Museum De Domijnen, September 2017. Photo by Bert Janssen

Once again, i’m going to recommend the catalogue because it’s that good. You can get it online at BOL if you live in The Netherlands. The rest of us can buy it on Amazon.

Ecovention Europe, art to transform ecologies, 1957 – 2017 remains open at Museum Hedendaagse Kunst De Domijnen in Sittard (NL) 7th January 2018

Previously: Ecovention Europe: Art to Transform Ecologies, 1957-2017 (part 1.)

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[cyncker-blog]

7 Reality Checks on Tiny House Living…and why we designed the Tiny+ Life.

There’s a not so tiny revolution sweeping the country for tiny house living. People can’t seem to get enough of these magical mini modulars. Clearly they trigger a deep desire for ‘the simple life’… as they did for us.  While less is more,  the underbelly rarely discussed, is that the design is way too tiny for the required stuff of life.  Missing in the tiny  house 'reality' videos are packs of toilet paper (who buys a 3 pack? ) linens, blankets, luggage, tools, sports, hobby equipment...all suddenly superfluous!  I say this not because I want the movement to die but rather to thrive.  It order to save it from becoming a passing trend  the design shortcomings need a bit of attention.  

My husband and I are early adopters of the concept and lived for 5 years ( 8 months a year) in a 170 sq. feet Airstream. Sharing allowed us a mere 85 sq. ft. each. We loved and learned but as a designer there was no way to make it really work without tiny tweaking. 

Here’s our hard lessons learned, a shot of reality into the fantasy...and  somethings  to consider if you are thinking of making the dream real.  For us,  these lessons have led us to a Tiny+ Life.

1) A repackaged and rebranded design of the RV...it's simply a compact designed home that many build to travel..   The only difference? The tiny house you design and build with 4-season insulation vs. 3-season insulation of a typical RV.  However, tiny houses lack much of the highly engineered design benefits of the RV, making an RV superior for years rocking the roads.

2) A tiny house is prefect for one.  The majority of tiny house videos and articles are about a single person living a single life.  Fact is the majority of people will not always be alone, even if they choose to remain single.  Lovers, family & friends come and go....unless you are a social outcast or a hermit. The space can only accommodate visitors only for a night or two before the tiny house instantly transforms into a sardine can.  

3) The living room.  In both tiny houses and small RV’s  living rooms do not accommodate the couch as we know it.  Because of a lack of width to both, narrow upright couches are great for active sitting and conversation but fail miserably when you need to disappear into the stuffed couch after a hard day, sick day or movie night. This is no small issue and it is only slightly solved by using a hammock or a lounge chair outside your space to stretch out, weather permitting (the storage of the lounge chair we will discuss shortly), or by retreating to your bed.

4) Your bed.  In a tiny house, unlike an RV, the bed room is typically a loft.  People love the idea of this cozy space but here’s reality... getting in takes a bit of strength to lift yourself up from a ladder. Getting out and down the ladder at night when nature calls (or when nature screams) can be dangerous as your haste may mean a fall. If there are two of you in this space, which requires head care anyway, it’s much trickier. Changing sheets is no easy feat from the ladder or you are on the bed to do a job that most of us hate to do with two feet on the floor. This becomes one irritating chore...week in and week out.

5) On the Move.  We parked our tiny house in a park that charged for water, septic and electric.  We shared internet with friends who lived in a house near by and paid them with dinners. It’s not cheap living and while solar is a great option, water, septic and the internet are not expenses that can be overlooked.  If you aren’t in a designated spot for mobile units you are boon docking, and this is not often an easy, legal or permanent solution.  Hidden fact is that tiny house dwellers are often freeloading on others who have a house, driveway, backyard, garage... who do have mortgages and pay taxes. 

6) Tiny houses are excellent for tiny living training, but so is a dorm room. After 5 years of living in our tiny house even with the benefit of our Tiny BAG, we opted for selling and buying a spacious, 600 sq. ft. one bed, one bath condo in CO as a rental property and place to stay when we visit our CO family. Our condo is cramped quarters to most, but of course we are trained to appreciate space and know how to keep the clutter of life out of our lives.  Don’t spend the money imagining that a tiny house is for you without first experiencing life in a studio apartment the size you want to build.

7) And now for stuff ...the big elephant in the room.  Along with the aforementioned items, where are the winter coats and boots,  backpacks, bikes, lounge chairs and cooler?  In reality videos, just moving in to a tiny house has you suddenly shunning it all.

RV living is a get away home, all your gear is back in the garage or basement and you pack up what you need for your trip. There is simply no way to go without critical gear of living without sacrificing a good life.  The fact is that tiny houses require putting the stuff of life in a rental space or a family or friends garage.  It’s extra square footage required so the tiny house movement should be honest to point to additional space you will need.  

We solved our stuff problem by custom designing a 14’ X 7’  box trailer... what we call “The Tiny BAG…the Basement, Attic, Garage”.   

It holds all the stuff mentioned above and  includes a food pantry, large solar cooker, grill, cleaning supplies, desk, copier, books, old picture albums/letters and important papers, off-season clothes, outdoor torches,  large folding table for dinner parties, games and emergency equipment.

In 2013 a 500 year flood hit the Boulder CO area. The site we had traditionally parked for 4 of our 5 years was completely devastated. Had we been there we would have had about 10 minutes to pull out and we would have taken our Tiny BAG and sacrificed our Airstream as everything of real value was in our Tiny BAG. 

As designers/builders, certified in permaculture and committed to tiny living, we have come to this conclusion. Our 12-acre homestead in Vermont, which we left behind to go to Boulder after the crash, needs more people. After all we learned about tiny living, we have designed and hope to develop a Tiny+ Life co-homestead. Members will own a ¼ acre for their tiny home (mobile or not) and garden, while sharing the benefits of common land for additional farming and animals, a barn for common storage space, a common house to provide needed additional space for socializing, parties and guests. Shared tools, farm equipment, knowledge and fun…all to insure that the tiny house is complete with a tiny+ life. After graduating from the school of hard knocks  we believe this is ticket to enjoy the best of what 'tiny' offers, while living large, smart and sustainable! 

[karingudino]

The Fig Collectors | East Bay Express

We pedal our bikes by means of a grey industrial neighborhood in San Rafael, previous warehouses, parking tons, delivery containers and auto retailers. Automobiles roar by as we cease beside a tree hanging over a sequence hyperlink fence. Beneath our toes are the remnants of the yr’s crop—splattered figs.

click on to enlarge

Images courtesy of Alastair Bland

OPPORTUNE: Fig bushes make their properties virtually wherever. This wild San Rafael tree grew inside a wall.

It is November, and there aren’t any fruits to style at the moment, however Maria and I’ve had them earlier than—massive black figs full of candy raspberry pulp—and at the moment we have come for one thing higher: the tree’s wooden. With a pair of rose cutters, I take a number of two-foot department ends and drop them into my bike pannier.

Turning to my girlfriend, I quip a favourite tagline to outings like these: “We could not have any figs to take house, however at the least we’ve the genes.”

At my house in South Sebastopol, I minimize the wooden into six-inch sections and stick them into pots of moist backyard soil. Inside weeks, they will sprout roots and leaves—replicate bushes being born. Rooting figs is a simple course of; cloning for dummies. Ultimately, actual genetic copies of the San Rafael tree will likely be rising in my yard orchard, together with a couple of dozen different fig varieties.

Individuals have been doing this similar factor for millennia. A local of the Previous World, the widespread fig originated someplace within the Center East, and people have cultivated it because the agricultural crack of daylight. Merchants dispersed the species north into the Caspian basin, eastward into Asia and west to Africa and Europe. Figs arrived in North America with the Spaniards, who, together with their weapons and cannons, packed alongside their favourite varieties, and the bushes discovered their approach to the West Coast with the missionaries. For a lot of many years thereafter, fig bushes grew within the gardens of Catholic mission church buildings and on small farms.

However Ficus carica has escaped the confines of California’s agriculture trade. Accelerated by birds which eat the fruit and disperse their seeds, figs have gone wild and turn out to be a infamous invasive pest. Within the Sacramento River valley, they’ve shaped dense thickets alongside the banks of the river, smothering native plant communities. Conservation teams and businesses have tried with restricted success to eradicate figs in a number of state parks.

However for one more neighborhood of individuals, the invasive bushes have created a playground for discovery. Driving alongside rural roads or bushwhacking by means of riverbed fig jungles, hobbyist fig growers at the moment are tapping this useful resource for undiscovered treasures. In recent times they’ve discovered distinctive edible fruit on wild seedlings rising nowhere else. Propagated from cuttings in house gardens and marketed through on-line buying and selling platforms, these new, genetically distinctive varieties have attained star stature and are discovering their means into non-public fig collections nationwide. The Yolo Bypass fig was found a number of years in the past in its namesake flood management channel close to Sacramento and has turn out to be a prized collector’s merchandise on Figbid.com. So have new varieties comparable to Belmont’s Magnificence, discovered rising alongside a cliff within the Sierra Nevada foothills; Holy Smokes, first collected from a Santa Barbara churchyard; and a colourful plethora of others from Lake Shasta to San Diego.

Sonoma County permaculture instructor and edible plant collector John Valenzuela found a wild fig tree close to the Tiburon peninsula whereas driving a bicycle about 20 years in the past. In the course of the subsequent fall fruiting season, he had his first style of its jet-black figs.

“I used to be blown away by their magnificence, inside and outside, their measurement, their taste, and simply the miracle of the tree being in that spot—you needed to wade throughout a salty tidal ditch subsequent to the freeway alongside a fence line,” he remembers. “That was such a magical discover.”

Valenzuela started distributing cuttings of the tree, and he retains potted copies of his personal on the Hidden Forest Nursery, the place he works. Right here, Valenzuela grows about 20 fig varieties.

However Valenzuela’s assortment is eclipsed by others. In Napa, Aaron Nelson has about 50 totally different fig bushes. Close to Occidental, Gary Pennington has experimented with roughly 200 varieties, offered or discarded many, and now has about 80. A grower close to the Delta city of Isleton, maybe recognized greatest by his social media deal with “Figaholics,” has an orchard of greater than 300 varieties. One Santa Barbara fig hunter, Eric Durtschi, has grown and evaluated roughly 800 varieties, many first collected from wild seedling bushes.

Tons of extra collectors, linked through social media, are assembling intensive fig libraries throughout the continent, from Vancouver Island to Florida, from the Gulf Coast to the Nice Lakes. With correct seasonal care, most varieties will produce high-quality edible figs nearly wherever within the Earth’s mid-to-lower latitudes. Fig growers take pleasure in ripe summer season fruits in such boreal areas as British Columbia and even Sweden.

However California is a really particular place for fig fanatics. That is as a result of, inside america, it is solely right here that Ficus carica grows wild. This took place by means of a string of occasions starting within the late nineteenth century, when farmers of the San Joaquin Valley imported a fig from Western Turkey, close to Smyrna. A yellow-skinned selection often known as the Sari Lop, it was planted in massive groves across the Fresno space. After a number of years, growers noticed a disappointing sample: Every July, their Sari Lop figs swelled to the scale of a walnut, then shriveled and dropped with out ever ripening.

By a number of expeditions to the japanese Mediterranean to research native cultivation strategies, america Division of Agriculture recognized and solved the issue: Sure figs—Sari Lop amongst them—won’t ripen except pollinated by a selected species of wasp, Blastophaga psenes, a miniscule insect native to Western Eurasia. So, the USDA imported the fig wasp to California, in addition to the hermaphroditic caprifig bushes important to the insect’s life cycle. The trade promptly took off, the primary profitable crop of Sari Lop figs hit the market in the summertime of 1899, and the range—renamed domestically the Calimyrna—grew to become the state’s signature business cultivar alongside the black mission, whose fruits ripen with out pollination.

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source https://fikiss.net/the-fig-collectors-east-bay-express/ The Fig Collectors | East Bay Express published first on https://fikiss.net/ from Karin Gudino https://karingudino.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-fig-collectors-east-bay-express.html

[blackpjensen]

Get to Know Kyle Lukes

Kyle Lukes represents the new millennial breed of landscape architect steeped in electronic imaging and formulations including blog posts, Pinterest and Flipboards combined with old-fashioned print inspirations, personal site visits and training conferences. Another millennial stand-out is his global and environmental sway on all projects he tackles. For nearly a decade Lukes has moved up the ranks at Akron, Ohio-based Environmental Design Group (formerly Floyd Browne Group) from land planner to landscape architect.

Lukes earned his bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is an avid outdoorsman whose exploits include gardening, farming, railroading, hiking and biking with his wife, Tamara, and 4-year-old daughter, Audrianna, along the Towpath Trail. Lukes has an affinity for the trail, serving as an associate board member of the Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition, comprised of young professionals working on various volunteer and trail improvement projects along this historic recreational artery of Northeast Ohio.

Year company was founded: 1984

Business motto: Every project has the potential to create a positive impact on the communities we serve.

Proudest moment in the landscape business: I find pride in solving client’s stresses and problems. When I can creatively problem solve, and the project is built on time and within budget, I’m always happiest. The Boettler Park Mitigation Wetland restoration project in Green, Ohio, was and continues to be a very proud moment for me. Our client, the Akron Canton Regional Airport, was required to clear habitat for aviation safety. This clearing impacted wetlands, and the airport was required to compensate for these impacts by creating new wetlands elsewhere. Boettler Park was chosen since it was in the same community and watershed as the airport and provided a wonderful native landscape addition to the park. Eleven acres of wetland, upland meadow and woodland buffer were restored at the park with more than 32,500 trees and shrubs planted.

The Bridgestone Technical Center includes a rain garden

Biggest business challenge: Getting my clients to see beyond their project scope. If a client says they want to build a trail, a parking lot or a park, I’m thinking beyond that and trying to integrate a more global perspective so the project site will make the best impact. I take a deeper dive into their current issues to tease out the greatest project potential, and by doing this, I’m able to assist my clients in looking at the project from a different perspective.

By example, when we go through a cost benefit analysis on a project that doesn’t necessarily have green infrastructure or stormwater management practices built in, our team will take their ideas and plans and maximize their value beyond what they initially thought because we know that, eventually, a stormwater management plan will need to be addressed, and if we can attempt to build that in during project inception, we’re saving our client’s money, time and resources.

Best sources of landscape design/build inspiration: As a millennial, I see how our generational workforce is becoming the future of business, and we’re changing that landscape (pun is intended!). From the myriad of applications like Pinterest and FlipBoard that provide great inspiration for innovative design, the internet makes finding inspiration a lot easier. I balance the internet against magazines, trade publications, site visits (even on vacations), conferences and training, as well as blog posts and white papers to find my inspiration. Of course, I also rely on my coworkers, and I don’t limit myself. I find that diversified viewpoints bring a lot of success to my job.

Ian McHarg was one of the first landscape architects that began to graphically show the system think of design, and I must respect and admire how he began to revolutionize our industry. Piet Oudolf is another great inspiration by using a naturalistic approach and prioritizing the seasonal cycles of a plant over a decorative flower.

Kyle Lukes is also proud of the work he did for the Boettler Park Mitigation Wetland restoration

Favorite plant or plant combination: My favorite plant combination is fastened to a four-season interest because I believe landscape plants are the skin to any project. Yellow twig dogwood is a great plant for all four seasons, and I use it often in my designs because the bright yellow stems on the younger growth provide striking winter color. White spring flowers are followed by white fruit, and it thrives in moist situations and does well in most Ohio weather.

Monday morning motivation: My daughter waking me up before my alarm goes off saying, “It’s morning time, Daddy. Time to get up!” What more could you want? But beyond that, the diversity of the projects I get to work on, and the problems I get to solve brings me a lot of satisfaction, which makes Mondays a little more manageable.

Business worry that keeps me up most at night: Trying to balance what I’d like to invest in a project and the ability to provide what’s realistic for the client. For me, every single project is important, and I always want to do more, but time and budget sometimes limits how far I can take it. When trying to balance all the elements of good landscape design, I always strive to deliver the project on time and within budget.

Landscape design mentor: Peter Bain, who is a permaculture specialist, develops agricultural systems based on natural, ecological principles. These systems are designed to be resistant and self-sufficient. He can approach landscape design from a totally different perspective than how I was trained. While he’s not a landscape architect, he understands how natural systems work, and he builds his vision into a work of balanced composition. His ideas of sustainable human elements synthesized from agriculture, ecology and forestry create solutions that are applicable in the landscape industry.

Japanese garden

Favorite business book: “The Restoration Economy” by Storm Cunningham was a pretty impactful read because he talks about the emergence of the restorative development and details how our world is demonstrating how restoration is making residential, commercial and public space more healthy and friendly. I’m a big believer in this.

Landscape design/install project that makes you smile every time you drive past it: The Bridgestone Technical Center of North America in Akron, Ohio, was very impactful for me because the project preserved and enhanced the natural character of the site and was executed in a way that allowed me to work directly with the contractor. I designed a Japanesestyle garden, which fit perfectly into the building aesthetics. The whole project was executed in a way that embraced the Bridgestone Corporations “One Team, One Planet” philosophy of sustainability, and it fit perfectly into my vision of thoughtful and environmentally conscious design.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to be doing the same thing I’m doing now because I love what I do. I haven’t thought into the future, but if I can continue to work on projects that have a positive impact on people, places and the environment, I’ll be happy.

Connect with Kyle Lukes and Environmental Design Group:

Blog: environmentaldesigngroup.com

Facebook: EnvironmentalDesignGroup

Twitter: @ENVDESIGNGROUP

LinkedIn: environmental-design-group

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