Orlando Couple Fights For Front Yard Gardens

Just over a year ago, Jason and Jennifer Helvenston were ordered to destroy their 25 x 25 micro-irrigated front yard veggie garden on their own property or else pay $500 per day in fines.

That deadline of November 7th, 2012 and a second one in January 2013 came and went. The couple never budged - they toiled on despite the threat of burdensome fines, tiresome hearings and harassment from city workers of Orlando, Florida. The couple asked everyone to join them in an online campaign called "Plant a Seed, Change the Law" that included free seeds.

Jason had said: "They will take our house before they take our Patriot Garden." The city had demanded they uproot and replace with appropriate ground cover (grass) for aesthetics' sake. In other words, there was no law in place restricting them.

 

The Helvenstons had written: "All we want to do is use our property peacefully to grow our own food. The Constitution protects our property rights from arbitrary invasions like this. Help us tell our leaders “Hands off our food!” by planting your own Patriot Garden in your front yard." In a slick move, the city then created a Green Works Task Force in an attempt to compromise, and perhaps blanket the town in new sets of rules. Orlando Sentinel reports that Orlando is finally changing its ordinances to allow front yard gardens. Gardens do not have to hit the road or move to the backyard any longer.

On Monday, City Council pre-approved rules for veggie gardens on up to 60% of a front yard (water conservation cited as the reasoning), set back 3 feet from property line, screened in with fencing or shrubbery and not in public right-of-way. Sentinel reports that the Helvenstons were happy for the allowance of edible gardens but displeased with the strings attached. Jennifer said, "Our garden is not only our food source, but our way of life."

The city's first attempt at compromise was so ridiculous, it was basically also a ban on gardens. On their blog, the couple writes: The Orlando City Council will be voting on a new City Landscape Ordinance that will include edible landscape. We will be asking to speak at both meetings but hope to have a Victory Celebration after the final vote. -First Reading will be during the November 25th meeting that starts at 2pm -FINAL Reading and Vote will be during the December 9th meeting that starts at 2pm So, it looks like December 9th will be the true date to watch on this issue.

They make note, that they did work with the city's created task force numerous times to come to an agreement and that there will be some restrictions on their property rights. Instead of allowing sustainable gardening under already applicable laws, the city has dissected and complicated the issue.

Orlando acted aggressively in the absence of law - now it appears there will be regulations regarding how people grow from here on out. The Helvenstons' goal, however, is for people to be able to grow their own food on their own property. This is just the beginning for them as they plan on taking their efforts towards more community gardens in the city. They are making sure the city is putting their actions in alignment with its own mission statement aspiring to be the "Greenest City in America": To inspire and facilitate the development of a well-planned, diverse, and sustainable community to make Orlando more livable for its citizens, businesses and visitors.

Unfortunately, this influential victory arrives just a bit too late for another Florida couple who had been in the same boat. Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll were compelled to uproot their 17-year-old garden or face fines of $1500 per month. Miami Shores refused to leave them alone. They had previously been able to harvest 80% of their year's food supply with the garden. With the help of Institute for Justice, they are now filing suit against Miami Shores.

By By Heather Callaghan, Natural Blaze;

HUMANS ARE FREE

9 Healing Herbs For A Natural Medicine Cabinet: Grow Your Own Healing Herb Garden

Natural Society
Instead of filling your medicine cabinet with a bunch of questionable pharmaceutical drugs that keep Big Pharma in business, why don’t you just grow your own inexpensive, natural healing herbs at home? This way, you’ll have your very own healing garden to keep doctor visits to a minimum, and you can sleep soundly knowing that you’re capable of taking your health into your own hands.
Herbs are usually quite hearty as plants, and you can grow them in smaller spaces. These herbs can be grown outdoors or in containers on your patio. You can even grow them in your own kitchen if you prefer to keep your ‘natural medicine cabinet’ indoors.
Here are 9 amazing healing herbs any novice gardener can grow.

• 1. Basil – Basil has numerous medicinal uses, from acting as a natural anti-inflammatory to reducing flatulence, and nausea. It also has mild antiseptic properties and can boost appetite. Basil can also be used ground up as a salve for minor cuts and scrapes. This plant is an annual,however, so you will need to replant it every year. Check out some health benefits of basil here.

• 2. Ginkgo Biloba – Ginkgo Biloba is the herb to keep your brain sharp as a tack. It aids in mental alertness while fighting viral and respiratory infections. It has been called a living fossil with a plant heritage that goes back more than 270 million years. Both the stem and leaves can be used for their medicinal qualities.

• 3. Ma-huang – This Chinese herb is wonderful for boosting mood and reducing fatigue. It has also been known to aid in weight loss due to appetite suppression.

• 4. Red Clover – A wonderful herb that relieves both arthritis symptoms and headaches, red clover has also been used to treat menopausal symptoms due to its isoflavones compounds. It is a perennial with beautiful pink bursts for flowers.

• 5. German Chomomile – This herb can provide relief from constipation, anxiety and sleeplessness. It lowers stress and reduces heartburn. An easy-to-grow plant, chamomile can help treat stress without the need for anti-depressants or sleeping pills. Check out other chamomile benefits here.

• 6. Lemon Balm – Since most disease is eventually an outgrowth of stress, Lemon Balm is also included in this list as a great stress-reducer. Harnessing medicinal uses, lemon balm is a calming herb that has been used since the Middle Ages. It eases pain, promotes good sleep and can give someone an appetite back if they’ve lost their desire to eat. It can also treat some venomous insect bites and stings.

• 7. Feverfew – A perennial plant that has been used in European folk remedies for centuries, this flower lives up to its name by reducing a fever. It is a wonderful herb for migraines as well. It’s said that chewing on the leaves can reduce the symptoms of arthritis.

• 8. Parsley – This herb promotes energy and improves blood circulation. It is good for the stomach, fights kidney infections, bladder ailments, flatulence, and help with bad breath or even anemia. Parsley is also a diuretic. It has to be replanted every two years since it is a biennial. >Parsley Health Benefits<

• 9. Dong Quai – This Chinese herb can help to restore hormonal balance in the body and improves menstruation. It aids in recovery from childbirth and supports women throughout their pregnancy. It also aids in nerve pain, headache relief, and strengthening the blood for those who suffer form heart conditions. Dong Qaui, meaning ‘return to order’, is in the same family as parsley and carrots.

Source: http://naturalsociety.com/grow-9-healing-herbs-natural-medicine-cabinet/

Top tips for making your garden wildlife-friendly

From cutting chemicals to simply adding water, there are plenty of ways to turn your fledgling 'home for nature' into a 'des-res'

A garden pond will host a whole range of different species. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/ Ashley Cooper/Corbis


"It used to be 'splat, splat, splat', but now I barely need to clean my visor!" This has been the experience of a motorcycling friend, noticing the long-term decline in the number of insects he encounters while on his bike. It may be anecdotal, but it mirrors the wealth of scientific data revealing the inexorable erosion of so much of Britain's wildlife.

There are many reasons for these declines, and combatting them requires action on many fronts, from ensuring the right political policies are in place to help farmers look after the countryside, to protecting the rarest habitats and their wildlife on nature reserves.

Much of this falls to nature conservation charities such as the RSPB, but it is increasingly recognised that gardens also have an important role to play for a whole host of threatened wildlife, from hedgehogs to house sparrows to toads. It means we can all play an active role in giving nature a home.

In case you think this is about letting your garden become weed-strewn and "wild" – think again. A neat, tended garden can – with care and thought – be just as good for wildlife. Nor is it about setting aside a little corner. It is quite possible to do things throughout your garden that help wildlife without compromising everything else you want your garden to be.

Each of Britain's thousands of species of garden wildlife has a particular set of ecological requirements. And, if we pare it back to basics, there are two simple things that will have an immediate impact:

Planting the gaps

Every garden probably has an area that is a "plant desert", be it patio or decking, bare fence or wall, shed or garage roof. Adding greenery to any of those areas will help.

Just add water

A birdbath will do as a starter, but if you can expand that to a pond, so much the better. It will host a whole range of different creatures, as well as providing a place for many land animals to drink and bathe.

For maximum effect, the following steps will turn your fledgling "home for nature" into a des-res:

Plant perfection

While almost all plants will do some good for wildlife, they vary in their value. Try to grow those that just can't stop giving, be it in pollen, nectar, seeds, berries, or tasty foliage. There are all sorts of gorgeous garden plants that do exactly that.

Spatial diversity

That's just a posh term for offering different rooms for different guests. Aim to provide a rich mix of "wildlife real estate" including trees, shrubs and flower-rich borders, creating everything from damp, shady retreats to glorious sun-baked hotspots. And if you have a lawn, why not allow some of it to grow long? It can look great, especially when creatively dissected and outlined by mown pathways.

Cut the chemicals

When I say chemicals, I really mean insecticides and herbicides. Anything that removes links in the food chain will have a damaging knock-on effect all along it.

Glorious decadence

The basis of garden fertility and of much of the web of life is when plants decay, be it wood, bark, leaves or flowers. Compost heaps, log piles, leaf litter and bark mulches all provide warm, damp, food-filled hideaways for a whole host of creatures.

Supplementary food

We humans keep the harvest from most of the landscape for our own needs, so it is no wonder many birds turn to us for a bit of supplementary help at bird tables and feeders – for them it can be a lifeline throughout the year.

Keeping the planet in mind

You don't want to undo your efforts by using peat-based compost or too much water, damaging wildlife-rich habitats in the process. Understanding your environmental impact beyond the garden fence is vital.

Do some – or ideally all – of these simple steps and you really will be building homes for nature. For more inspiration and to share your successes and ideas, go to the RSPB's Giving Nature a Home website.

• Adrian Thomas is an RSPB nature reserve manager and author of the award-winning book Gardening for Wildlife

Lasagna gardening: A sustainable and no-till method of gardening

by: Michael Ravensthorpe

(NaturalNews) Lasagna gardening is a method of gardening that requires no tilling or weeding from the gardener, yet produces rich and fluffy soil. Also called 'sheet composting,' lasagna gardening involves building layers and layers of organic matter in a designated area of the garden, waiting until they compost, and then utilizing the fertile soil that is produced to grow plants. Aside from being convenient and physically undemanding, this type of gardening is beloved by gardeners because it is environmentally-friendly; rather than throwing your biodegradable waste into the trash, you're using it to enrich your garden's soil.

Creating the first and subsequent layers

To begin your lasagna garden, you need to create your first layer. Acquire some brown corrugated cardboard, or several newspaper layers, and place them wherever you want your garden to be (this could be on a weed patch, on a patch of grass, etc.). Then, once the cardboard or newspaper is in place, water it. This will start the process of decomposition, since the wet layer will gradually sink into the earth, both suffocating the grass and weeds below it and attracting earthworms that loosen the soil by tunneling through it.

Once your first layer is composted, you can start to add layers of real compost. This could include leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit scraps, grass clippings, manure, teabags, seaweed, shredded newspaper or junk mail (most paper is biodegradable), peat moss, and garden matter. However, it is best not to just dump everything atop your first layer. Doing this will probably make your lasagna garden indistinguishable from an ordinary compost heap. Instead, alternate between the browns (e.g. peat, shredded newspaper, fall leaves) and greens (e.g. grass and garden cuttings, vegetable peels). Ideally, the brown layers should be twice as deep as the green layers, since brown layers are usually comprised of material that is 'thinner' than the green layers, and thus biodegrade more quickly. However, it is not important if this rule is broken; as long as you organize your lasagna garden into layers of some kind, you'll get good results.

You can stop adding new layers to your lasagna garden once the compost heal reaches a height of around two feet. After you've achieved this height, you can wait until the compost heap shrinks in size - this will probably happen much quicker than you expect. Once the compost heap has shrunk to a nice layer of fertile earth, you are able to start planting.

Planting

If your garden's first layer consisted of cardboard, your hands (or, if you prefer, shovel) will pierce through the decomposed card and expose a layer of rich, fluffy soil underneath. This is where you should plant your plants or sow your seeds. If you need to cut a hole out of the cardboard to make way for the plants or saplings, that is fine.

Now that your lasagna garden is established, you can care for it using the traditional methods of weeding and watering. Some gardeners like to continue adding unobtrusive layers of compost (ideally straw, grass cuttings, or leaves) to their garden to ensure the living conditions for its plants and insects remain rich and moist for a long time, thereby creating the ideal conditions for growing nutritious, organic produce.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.motherearthnews.com
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/lasagna-gardening.html
http://www.canada.com

About the author:
Michael Ravensthorpe is an independent writer from the United Kingdom whose research interests include nutrition, alternative medicine, and bushcraft. He is the creator of the website Spiritfoods, through which he helps to promote the world's healthiest foods, whether they be established superfruits such as mangosteen or lesser-known health supplements like brewer's yeast.

Michael is also the creator of the companion site Spiritcures, which details his research into the best home remedies for common medical conditions such as poison ivy rashes.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/index_1_1_1.html

SUSTAINABLE LIVING : OUTDOOR SHELTERS

An Earthen House Built by Hand

It's very very important to know you can provide things for yourself

Build your own house grow your own food

Make your own medicine.

Walking his talk, Greg Crawford shows the magical wattle-and-cob house 

he built with hand tools using local materials: alder trees in 

the surrounding forest, and clay from what 

later became the house floor.

Building his house was an "experiment in intuitive architecture 

using common sense while "letting the building evolve, 

change and grow on its own." 

 

I see natural building, especially using cob, as a practical solution for our future situation. As we face societal collapse, people are banding together and moving outside the cities to start new lives for themselves. Building a new house out of cob and natural materials is a practical solution for shelter in the coming years.




OUTDOOR SHELTERS ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS  ... VIDEO ARCHIVE