Family grows 7000 pounds of organic food per year on a tenth of an acre, supplying 90 percent of their diet… They spend less than $2 per day per person on other kitchen staples and make over $20,000 a year selling excess produce Fifteen minutes from downtown Los Angeles, just 100 feet away from a major freeway, a small city lot was transformed into a mini paradise. A fifth acre lot, minus the house, garage and driveway, the family has converted the remaining tenth of an acre into a tiny food forest that produces 7000 pounds of food per year with no synthetic fertilizers. What’s the secret to their abundance? Permaculture methods that mimic Mother Nature to create nutrient-and-bacteria-rich soil. Conventional agriculture methods strip nutrients from the soil until the land becomes barren and desertified . Permaculture not only does not strip the soil, it regenerates it , says permaculture guru Toby Hemenwa y. When Jules Dervaes moved to his Pasadena home in the 1985, there was no soil, only adobe-like clay. He and his family spent years bringing the earth back to life with rock dust, chicken and goat manure, fermented compost and effective microorganisms. The Dervaes’s haven’t […]
Latest Articles
Using Candy and Jam to Protect Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest
Takeaways: Luiz Henrique Lopes Ferreira is a 22-year-old who makes and sells candies, jam and liqueurs from more than a hundred varieties of local...
These Upcycled Bricks Filter Pollution from Rainwater Runoff
Takeaways: AquiPor Technologies have created bricks that absorb runoff water and pollution from rainwater runoff.
The runoff management prevents particle pollution from reaching rivers...
The Secret to Saving Mountain Gorillas
Takeaways: 40 years ago, the population of mountain gorillas was listed as 'critically endangered'; now there are over 1000 gorillas.
One of the reasons...
Recycling Partnership Plans to Collect a Billion Pounds of Recyclables Each Year
Takeaways: The Recycling Partnership has successfully diverted more than 770 million pounds of waste from landfills.
They started in 2014 and have helped communities...
Minimass Is a 3D-Printed Solution to a Problem
Takeaways: Minimass is a 3D printed concrete beam that aims to reduce the carbon footprint in the construction industry.
This can reduce the amount...
France Produces Offshore Wind Power For the First Time
Takeaways: The Saint-Naizaire offshore wind farm in western France has produced the first megawatt-hours from French offshore wind.
France is expected to have 50...