Getting Back to Nature

News to Me: Heirloom Vegetable Varieties

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:52:38 -0400

News to Me: Heirloom Vegetable Varieties:

With the end of season sales starting for garden seeds, it’s a good time to be buying heirloom or open pollinated seeds. Unfortunately, the big name seed companies aren’t always very good at labeling their product as hybrids or heirlooms. The aim of this article is to try to list the commonly…

Dandelion Growing Info: How To Grow And Harvest Dandelions

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:35:42 -0400

Dandelion Growing Info: How To Grow And Harvest Dandelions

By Heather Rhoades

dandelion leaves Image by lcm1863We freely admit that it may be a little odd to have an article about how to grow dandelions. After all, most gardeners consider dandelions a weed and are looking for information on how to remove it from their garden. But, once you get to know a little more about this nutritious plant, you may find yourself also wondering how to grow and harvest dandelion plants for yourself. Why You Should Be Growing Dandelion Greens While dandelions can be a nuisance in the lawn, they are also a surprising source of nutrients. Dandelion greens contain vitamin C, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamin, riboflavin, beta carotene and fiber. They are actually more nutritious than most of the fruits and vegetables you can buy in the grocery store. It is also touted as being beneficial to your liver, kidneys, blood and digestion. Not to mention that it supposedly helps with acne, weight-loss, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It is nearly a perfect food. How To Grow Dandelions At a very basic level, you don’t need to do much to grow dandelions. Chances are there is a whole yard full of them near where you live, perhaps even right outside your door. But it is likely that the dandelion plants growing in your lawn are Common Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale subsp. vulgare). This is the most common variety of dandelion, but there are thousands of varieties and cultivars to be found around the world. Common dandelion has all the health benefits mentioned above, but they do tend to be a bit more bitter than some of the other varieties of dandelion you can buy. Some “gourmet” varieties of dandelion include: French Dandelion a.k.a Vert de Montmagny Dandelion Amélioré à Coeur Plein Dandelion Pissenlit Coeur Plein Ameliore Dandelion Improved Broad Leaved Dandelion Arlington Dandelion Improved Thick-Leaved Dandelion a.k.a Dandelion Ameliore Dandelions are by nature a very bitter green, but there are some steps you can take to reduce how bitter it is. First, grow a less bitter variety such as the ones listed above. The right variety can make dandelion greens taste much better than the wild variety growing in your yard. Second, try growing dandelions in the shade. This will blanch the leaves some and will result in a less bitter leaf. Alternately, you can manually blanch the dandelion leaves by covering the plants a few days before you are ready to harvest. The third thing you can do to reduce bitterness is to harvest dandelion leaves early. Young leaves will be less bitter than more mature leaves. You can keep your dandelions from becoming invasive in your yard by either choosing a less invasive variety (yes, they exist) or by making sure that the plant never goes to seed and therefore cannot spread its seeds throughout the neighborhood. Harvesting Dandelions Much like other greens, dandelions can be harvested either as a “head” by removing the entire plant when mature (starting to flower) at harvest or as a leaf, which means that you would remove only some of the young leaves or the whole head when the plant is still young. Both ways are acceptable and which you choose will be based on your preference. Another benefit of growing dandelions is the fact that it is a perennial. After you harvest the plant it will grow back the same season and year after year. Never harvest dandelions from a location that is near a road or has been treated with pesticides or other chemicals.

(via [2009-03-30] Stay-tab chainmail)

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:01:36 -0400

(via [2009-03-30] Stay-tab chainmail)

DIY steam distillation

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:51:05 -0400

This is a cool trick for improvising a condenser when you don’t have access to proper equipment. It could be used for simple distillation (say, to purify water), or, in the slightly more elaborate set-up pictured here, steam distillation (say, to extract essential oils from plants). I would add that this is not my idea, originally, although I may have been the first to recognize the unique shape of the so-called “schoolhouse” lamp globe as highly amenable for impromptu condenser service, since it comes with a readymade “drip tip” where condensate can accumulate. My version, shown in the diagram, requires a stainless steel pot with an integral strainer (constructed such that there is some distance between the pot bottom and the strainer bottom when the strainer is in place), a “schoolhouse” style glass lamp globe which is of greater diameter than the pot, and a stainless steel or glass receiving vessel. Consumables are water, ice, and plant material to be extracted.

To use, assemble the apparatus, entirely, from the bottom up, before applying heat. First, set the pot on the heat source and fill with purified water to a level just below the strainer bottom when it is in place. Then insert the strainer, and fill it with the material to be extracted, for instance rose petals or rosemary sprigs. Then clear a space in the center of the strainer to set the receiving vessel. Next, position the glass lamp shade on top of the pot as shown, checking that the “drip tip” is centered over the receiving vessel. Then fill the condenser with as much ice as it can hold. It is not necessary to add water to the condenser, as the ice will melt during the distillation to make ice water at 0C. Finally, turn on the heat and establish a slow simmer. It is necessary to lift the condenser every so often to check on the progress of the distillation; this is fine, just try to minimize the amount of time the condenser is removed, and watch out for steam burns when you remove it.

The idea is gently to boil the water in the bottom of the pot, producing steam which passes through your organic material, where it collects volatile compounds before rising to the top of the pot. There, it encounters the cold outer surface of the glass lampshade and recondenses with its extracted volatiles. Condensate flows down the surface of the lampshade and accumulates at its lowest point, from which it drips into the receiving flask. Depending on the material you extract and the particular extraction conditions, the contents of the receiving flask may form a cloudy emulsion or separate oil-and-water layers. The latter is preferable, of course, as it allows much easier separation of extracted products from distillate water.

I have performed a couple of these home steam distillations using the similar improvised apparatus shown in the photos below. I chose to use a clear Pyrex “Flameware” saucepan instead of a stainless steel pot because I wanted to be able to watch and photograph the distillation process without removing the condenser. This visibility is not essential, and greater capacity can be achieved with the stainless-steel pot setup outlined above simply because of the ready availability of much larger vessels in stainless steel than in Pyrex. These “Flameware” pots are not manufactured anymore; I bought a used one from eBay especially for this purpose. Because no integral strainer was available for the glass pot, I chose a slightly different arrangement using a homemade aluminum stand that sits down in the bottom of the pot and keeps the receiving vessel centered above the level of the boiling water. This system requires that the organic material be mixed in with the boiling water, which may or may not work as well as an apparatus that exposes the organic material to steam only. Finally, because I could find no handy glass receiving vessel which was both narrow and short enough to fit the pot and stand I had assembled, I was forced to cut one from a beer bottle using conventional bottle-cutting techniques.

These photos were taken during an extraction of rosemary sprigs. The rosemary in question was cut from a large bush growing in my parents’ flowerbed in south Austin. The green “leaves” were manually stripped from the cut rosemary sprigs while wearing gloves, and collected in the bowl of a food processor. Aboue 1L of green material was thus collected, which was reduced to about 500 mL after pulverizing as finely as possible in the food processor. The resulting damp green powder was transferred to the Pyrex saucepan positioned on my kitchen stove, and the receiving vessel stand nestled into it until the stand was resting firmly on the bottom of the pot. Bought distilled water was added to a level just below the top of the receiving vessel stand, and the receiving vessel put in place. Lastly, the glass lamp shade was set into the open mouth of the saucepan and filled with ice. Maximum heat was applied from the stove to bring the stillpot mixture to a boil, which was then reduced to maintain a slow simmer.

The distillation was run long enough to fill the receiving flask three times. The first two of these fractions showed significant cloudiness indicating the presence of volatile organic compounds in emulsion. The third was clear, indicating that the material had been more-or-less exhausted. The resulting rosemary essence smelled so strongly that it was almost unpleasant. Just a drop or two is all that is necessary to scent towels, laundry, soap, etc. Using the same apparatus, I have performed similar steam extractions of orange peel and rose petals. Neither were as effective as rosemary, at least as measured by the strength of the scent of the resulting distillate. The rose petals in question, however, were storebought and not very fragrant to begin with; I’ve heard that commercial lines are commonly bred to reduce fragrance because this also prolongs shelf life. I suspect wild-type, highly fragrant rose petals would produce a useful and strong-smelling distillate.

Self-Disinfecting Toilet Brush — DIY

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:01:08 -0400

Self-Disinfecting Toilet Brush — DIY :

Step 1 — Disassemble the comb carrier

Grip the nut at the bottom of the comb carrier with a pair of pliers, and loosen the assembly by turning the handle on the lid. It should come apart easily.
Only the conical sheet metal lid is retained. The “filter,” tie rod, handle, and retaining nut can be repurposed, recycled, or discarded.

Edit Step 2 — Cut handle and install dowel screw

Choose a location on the toilet brush handle such that:
- The bristles hang at least an inch above the bottom of the jar when the lid is in place.
- There’s enough handle left above the cut to be useful.
Cut the handle using a small miter or razor saw.
Drill 3/16” holes about 1” into each half of the cut brush handle.
Thread the dowel screw into one of the holes as far as it will go with finger pressure.

Edit Step 3 — Assemble brush

Add a split lock washer, and a flat washer, in that order, to the threaded-in dowel screw.
Slip the conical metal lid over the dowel screw, with the cone opening toward the brush bristles, and away from the brush pommel.
The hole in the metal lid may or may not be wide enough to pass the dowel screw. If not, expand it slightly using a the drill and an appropriate bit.
On the other side of the lid, add the other flat washer, and the other split washer, again in that order, and direct the free threads of the screw into the hole in the other half of the brush handle.
Twist the two halves of the handle to tighten the dowel screw on both sides of the lid. The split lock washers should be fully compressed against the flat washers.

Edit Step 4 — Use it!

Prepare disinfectant by diluting per the label directions.
Fill the jar no higher than 3 inches from the top.
Insert the brush and verify that the lid closes properly.

I built two of these three years ago and they’re both still in great shape.

Yes, you can buy a toilet brush and caddy that has this general form, but I’ve never seen one with a canister actually designed to hold liquid disinfectant. Mostly the manufactured caddies are supposed to hide the brush when it’s not being used, and are therefore opaque. I wanted a clear canister so that no one using the brush or moving the caddy would be surprised by the fact that it’s full of liquid.

The Uses for Water After Cooking Pasta

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:01:06 -0400

Water Plants
- Save the water after boiling pasta to water the plants or flowers outside. Keep the watering can nearby when cooking and dump the water in after use. Water the plants as needed. Let the water cool to room temperature before watering flowers to avoid wilting the petals.
Wash Dishes
- Dump the leftover water into a bucket or plugged sink to wash the dishes in after the meal. Add dish soap to a moist sponge and rinse off the soap with the recycled pasta water. You will achieve the same results as using water out of the faucet.
Pasta Sauce
- Cook the pasta first before you make the sauce. If the homemade pasta sauce recipe asks for water, reuse the water from the boiled pasta and add it to the sauce. The flavor will not be altered since you will be consuming the pasta with the sauce together during the meal.
Boil Vegetables
- If you need to boil vegetables for a side dish, reuse the water from the pasta. After you remove the pasta, bring the water to a boil again and add carrots or other mixed vegetables to the water. Boil for the recommended time.
Dog Water
- After you remove the pasta, let the water cool to room temperature. Pour the water into a dog bowl and let your dog drink it. This is not to replace completely fresh water for your animal, but puts this water to good use and will not harm your animal. The water will appear slightly milky due to the residual pasta that was boiled.

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Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:36:47 -0400

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funkychunkyart:

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allcreatures: An elk rescues a drowning marmot at Pocatello...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

allcreatures:

An elk rescues a drowning marmot at Pocatello Zoo, Idaho. Keepers were worried when they noticed Shooter, a four-year-old elk, turning his nose up at his water. They looked on baffled as the moose tried to dip his hooves in his drinking trough - before trying to dunk his entire head in the water. But they were amazed when they saw 12-foot-tall Shooter lift his head out of the water - clutching a tiny marmot - a large ground squirrel - between his jaws. They looked on as Shooter gently nudged the rodent with his hoof, to make sure it was alive - before calmly watching it run off into the bushes.

Photo

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:01:05 -0400

homemadecrap: DIY Birdfeeder via esprit cabane

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

homemadecrap:

DIY Birdfeeder via esprit cabane

genius-idea: Via: P.S. I made this.

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:02:06 -0400

genius-idea:

Via: P.S. I made this.

kateoplis: The Magnificent Manta Rays of the Maldives

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:01:06 -0400

kateoplis:

The Magnificent Manta Rays of the Maldives

sustainable-sam: Photograph by Brian Skerry Right Whales...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

sustainable-sam:

Photograph by Brian Skerry

Right Whales Return to New Zealand After a Century
“With the increase in numbers observed around the Auckland Islands over the last decade, we think that some individuals are re-discovering the former primary habitat around the mainland of New Zealand,” researcher Scott Baker tells The New Zealand Herald.

depressingfacts: msnbc: Photos!!! Give us turtle...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

depressingfacts:

msnbc:

Photos!!! Give us turtle photos!!!

Best tweet yet.

cesselejour: I think I might just add this to my bucket list.

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:02:05 -0400

cesselejour:

I think I might just add this to my bucket list.

animalworld: Why Do HORSES Sleep Standing Up? (by Request)Equus...

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

animalworld:

Why Do HORSES Sleep Standing Up? (by Request)
Equus Ferus Caballus
“Siesta” ©-GreenA-

Though it’s not biologically required, horses do most of their sleeping standing up. Their legs can lock in place, enabling them to fall asleep without falling over. Because they are prey animals, horses often don’t feel comfortable sleeping on the ground, and most of their sleeping is done during the day rather than at night when the predators are out hunting.

Horses have straight backs, so they cannot get up quickly. If a predator were to come while a horse was on the ground, they might not be able to get up fast enough to get away. However, horses do occasionally take short naps laying down during the day. This helps them to rest their legs. You can sometimes find a horse stretched out on its side, asleep in the sun, or laying on the ground with its legs folded under. When horses are in groups, they will often take turns ‘guarding’ each other as they rest, with one horse standing up near the sleeping horse. This behavior would help to keep a wild horse from being attacked during a nap.

So, if you see a horse lying down (like the one pictured above), you can be sure that the animal is feeling pretty secure in its surroundings.

Fact Source: http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/info/hq_sleepstandingup.html

Other photos you may like:

Spanish Andalusian Stallion

Przewalski’s Horse

World’s SMALLEST Horse

Lovely Horse Portrait

I always used to catch my horse sleeping on the ground. It was so cute watching him sleepishly/sluggishly get up. Sometimes he would let me sit next to him and I would just pet his neck. He really was a sweetheart!

Photo

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

brandbrian: 50 Ways To Help http://www.50waystohelp.com/ This...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:09:05 -0400

brandbrian:

50 Ways To Help

http://www.50waystohelp.com/

This website gives 50 ways to help Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in order to become more sustainable.

The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?:

It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers treated for it. The tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007—from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling—a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children, well ahead of physical disabilities like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, for which the federal programs were created.

A large survey of randomly selected adults, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted between 2001 and 2003, found that an astonishing 46 percent met criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for having had at least one mental illness within four broad categories at some time in their lives. The categories were “anxiety disorders,” including, among other subcategories, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); “mood disorders,” including major depression and bipolar disorders; “impulse-control disorders,” including various behavioral problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and “substance use disorders,” including alcohol and drug abuse. Most met criteria for more than one diagnosis. Of a subgroup affected within the previous year, a third were under treatment—up from a fifth in a similar survey ten years earlier.

Nowadays treatment by medical doctors nearly always means psychoactive drugs, that is, drugs that affect the mental state. In fact, most psychiatrists treat only with drugs, and refer patients to psychologists or social workers if they believe psychotherapy is also warranted. The shift from “talk therapy” to drugs as the dominant mode of treatment coincides with the emergence over the past four decades of the theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs. That theory became broadly accepted, by the media and the public as well as by the medical profession, after Prozac came to market in 1987 and was intensively promoted as a corrective for a deficiency of serotonin in the brain. The number of people treated for depression tripled in the following ten years, and about 10 percent of Americans over age six now take antidepressants. The increased use of drugs to treat psychosis is even more dramatic. The new generation of antipsychotics, such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, and Seroquel, has replaced cholesterol-lowering agents as the top-selling class of drugs in the US.

What is going on here? Is the prevalence of mental illness really that high and still climbing? Particularly if these disorders are biologically determined and not a result of environmental influences, is it plausible to suppose that such an increase is real? Or are we learning to recognize and diagnose mental disorders that were always there? On the other hand, are we simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one? And what about the drugs that are now the mainstay of treatment? Do they work? If they do, shouldn’t we expect the prevalence of mental illness to be declining, not rising?

onlyideal: Soil-less sky farming: rooftop hydroponics on NYC...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:00:05 -0400

onlyideal:

Soil-less sky farming: rooftop hydroponics on NYC restaurant

Nutrient-embedded-water solar-power-pumped for 3 minutes every 12 minutes.

Getting Back to Nature

News to Me: Heirloom Vegetable Varieties

Dandelion Growing Info: How To Grow And Harvest Dandelions

Dandelion Growing Info: How To Grow And Harvest Dandelions

(via [2009-03-30] Stay-tab chainmail)

DIY steam distillation

Self-Disinfecting Toilet Brush — DIY

Step 1 — Disassemble the comb carrier

Edit Step 2 — Cut handle and install dowel screw

Edit Step 3 — Assemble brush

Edit Step 4 — Use it!

The Uses for Water After Cooking Pasta

Water Plants

Wash Dishes

Pasta Sauce

Boil Vegetables

Dog Water

Like Us on Facebook

allcreatures: An elk rescues a drowning marmot at Pocatello...

Photo

homemadecrap: DIY Birdfeeder via esprit cabane

genius-idea: Via: P.S. I made this.

kateoplis: The Magnificent Manta Rays of the Maldives

sustainable-sam: Photograph by Brian Skerry Right Whales...

Right Whales Return to New Zealand After a Century

depressingfacts: msnbc: Photos!!! Give us turtle...

cesselejour: I think I might just add this to my bucket list.

animalworld: Why Do HORSES Sleep Standing Up? (by Request)Equus...

Photo

brandbrian: 50 Ways To Help http://www.50waystohelp.com/ This...

The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?

onlyideal: Soil-less sky farming: rooftop hydroponics on NYC...