8 Vegetables That You Can Regrow Again And Again.

There’s this greenhouse not too far from my house that I fell in love with when I went for the first time last year. It’s so crowded, but all of the plants are very healthy and pest-free. They have 50+ year old cacti and a ton of exotic plants.

@eternity-in-your-eyes this is just amazing! I don’t know if I’d be able to leave a place like that once I have entered haha thank you for the submission as I could only imagine having a greenhouse like that some day.

Basil, How To Grow More Than You Can Eat - Gardening at 58 North

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Things I learned today #6

You can buy a single basil plant for around $5 or less, and take cuttings forever. Basil is an amazing plant and can be used for a lot of things! Including pesto, which you can make at home with a morter and pestal! (https://youtu.be/6-dOZezSwwM)

Giethoorn in Netherlands has no roads or any modern transportation at all, only canals. Well, and 176 bridges too. Tourists have to leave their cars outside of the village and travel here by foot or boat by. So you can probably imagine how peaceful it is here.

Solarpunk winters

As we observe the winter solstice, my thoughts have turned to how solarpunks approach winter. As the days turn dark and cold, how does a society dependent on the sun continue to prosper? Finland If…

[Shameless self-promotion]

As we observe the winter solstice, my thoughts have turned to how solarpunks approach winter. As the days turn dark and cold, how does a society dependent on the sun continue to prosper?

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i’ve long waited your arrival; welcome*

A fully transparent solar cell that could make every window and screen a power source

Researchers at Michigan State University have created a fully transparent solar concentrator, which could turn any window or sheet of glass (like your smartphone’s screen) into a photovoltaic solar cell. Unlike other “transparent” solar cells that we’ve reported on in the past, this one really is transparent, as you can see in the photos throughout this story. According to Richard Lunt, who led the research, the team are confident that the transparent solar panels can be efficiently deployed in a wide range of settings, from “tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e-reader.”

The Leatherdos is a hair clip that doubles as a multi-tool that combines 5 different tools in a tiny hair clip: screw-drivers, a wrench, a trolley coin, a ruler, and a cutting edge.

—->http://odditymall.com/leatherdos-is-a-hair-clip-multi-tool

How an island turned around their climate catastrophe

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/you_are_stealing_our_future_greta

Democracy Now!

You Are Stealing Our Future: Greta Thunberg, 15, Condemns the World’s Inaction on Climate Change

Fifteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N. plenary last night in Katowice, Poland, condemning global inacti

Insect Hotels

Over 30% of solitary bee species are wood nesters, some spending up to nine months of their lives as larvae incubating in forest deadfall. Ladybugs hibernate over winter in stacks of twigs, and other beneficial creatures – like wasps, lizards, moths, hedgehogs, beetles, and dragonflies – love to find little nooks and crannies to hide from predators and the elements, at any time of year.

An insect hotel is ideally placed in a sheltered location, but still in the sunlight. Ants sometimes eat bee larvae, so a solitary bee hotel is best placed off of the ground. Often, a wire mesh is placed on the outside to prevent bird predation. Ideally, the surrounding area should host flowering and insectary plants, to provide food for the guests!

These natural habitats are often missing from a domestic or overly-landscaped garden, and are absolutely vital to the health of your plants, local life web, and for the pollination of your garden. Designing for your native wildlife is crucial for a long-term healthy, productive, and sustainable space. Good, ecologically-minded design also minimises the amount of work you have to do: for example, I find that when I practice companion planting with insectary Apiaceae-family plants, I never have an aphid problem, because predatory beetles abound, and they eat problematic insects before they get established. Creating balanced ecosystems is a form of biological pest control.

An insect hotel is easily made from twigs, wood, tiles, pinecones, bricks, bark, grass, and other natural or salvaged materials. The form can differ, depending on what sort of creatures you would like to attract, and your aesthetics, but it should basically be designed from a “bug’s eye” view of the world: research what your local species are and what they require in terms of a habitat, and then create it for them in a manner that appeals to your eye.

These are also excellent projects for kids: they are fun and easy to make, interesting to observe, and help foster an early understanding of biology and ecology.

#DIY #bees #insects #entomology #biomimicry #permaculture #kids #art

Pre-made insect hotels: North America / Europe

Images:

B. Alter - Royal Bank of Canada New Wild Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show

sav-überlingen.de

Sissi de Kroon, flickr.com

Insect hotel in Hoofddorf, Holland. Bob Daamen, flickr.com

Cheshire Wildlife Trust, cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk

Kevin Smith and Lisa Lee Benjamin. floragrubb.com

Inspiration Green Article on Insect Hotels