Iyarkaiodu Naam - One with Nature

The earthbag system was invented by an Iranian, Nader Khalili, as sustainable, affordable and earthquake-proof housing. The bags combined with barbed wire give the house incredible strength compared with other types of eco-building.  Earth bag construction

This  list of pest-repelling plants  includes plants known for their ability to repel  insects ,  nematodes , and other  pests . They may be used in  companion planting  for  pest control  in  agricultural  and  garden  situations, and in households. More ...

Ideas to grow trellis... http://fortheloveofskinny.com/2012/05/17/recycled-tire-trellis/

Old rear projection TV’s use what is called a fresnel lens for their screens, and these lenses can be used to make one hell of a powerful  solar cooker. Not only can these lens cook food but they can also start fire, boil water and even melt metal. What is best of all is you can find one of these lenses free, just look on Craigslist and you will find most people just give them away just to get them out of their house. So all you have to do is go pick it up and spend a few bucks on some wood for a frame and your good to go. Below are a few good videos to show you how to find one and make a frame and to see what they can do in action. I know I’ll be picking up a free rear projection TV as soon as I find one. further read...

Things needed: 1. Cow Dung 2. Cow Urine 3. Green Leaves 4. Some Straw Allot a 4 x 10 area under the shade. And make sandwich of layers of cow dung, soil, green leaves and a little straw mixed with cow urine.Keep adding layers of each of these and sprinkle little bit of water in the evening. After 15 days dig 3 or 4 holes and add earthworm to it.  Allow 2 months for this sandwich to decompose and the compost will be ready. http://facebook.com/EyarkaiOduNaam

Instead of creating compost separately and then adding them on the land, you can do on the spot composting to save time directly onto the plants or on the farming beds. All the things that are used for preparing the compost can be used here. Refer to the video http://youtu.be/28aOA6Wzhn4. 1. Basically pluck all the plants, grass that are not needed on the bed and put them back on the bed. Add dried leaves, twigs as well. 2. Top it with a layer of cow dung. 3. Sow the grains or you can dig small holes to put ginger, turmeric or small saplings. 4. Cover it will a thin layer of straw. 5. Water it to wet the surface.

Double Digging 1. Take a 6ft x 4ft region and divide them into 6 equal  parts. 2. Take the top soil from box 1 and place it outside 3. Region on the ground from where the color of the soil changes is the sub soil (around a feet deep). 3.Dig & loosen the sub soil arnd a ft. 4. Now add a layer of green leaves dipped in dilluted cow dung on the sub soil 5. Next add a layer of saw dust or shredded coconut waste. 6. Add a layer of compost and now this reaches the top. 7. Now remove the top soil from box 2 and cover the top of box 1. 8. Finally use the top soil that was kept outside and add it on top of Box 6 9. Now level the bed and start planting the vegatables that you want. 10. Add the nitrogen fixing plants to this bed as well. 11. Add some green leaves on top and some straw and water the bed. 12. You can cover it with a roof on top for creepers. Now go plant your own vegetables and eat healthy... :) http://facebook.com/IyarkaiOduNaam

The spiral herb garden everyone loves! Details here:  http://hmt.lk/13IChrZ By The Micro Gardener

How to make a decorative pond from old tires..

செலவில்லாமல் உயிர்சூழலை உருவாக்கும் உயிர்வேலிகள் : ( இந்த மாத தொழில் நுட்பம் பகுதியில் நாம் பார்க்கவிருக்கும் பகுதி ) நன்றி : வானகம் இரண்டாம் மாத இதழ் ஜூலை - ஆகஸ்ட் http://vanagamvattam.blogspot.in/ கட்டுரைகள் : (  https://www.facebook.com/iampraveenmailme  ) இரா. வெற்றிமாறன், வானகம் இயற்கை நேசித்து இயற்கை விவாசாயத்தையும் மண்ணையும், கலாச்சாரத்தையும் காக்கும் விவசாயிகளே! வருமுன் காப்போம் என்கிற நம் முன்னோர்களுடைய ஞான கருத்தை ஏற்று வருகிற மழைக் காலத்தில் கிடைக்கும் உயிர் நீரான மழை நீரால் பலனடைய சில முன் நடவடிக்கைகளைப் மேற்கொள்வோம். அவைகளில் சிலவற்றைப் பார்ப்போம். வேலியே பயிரை மேயலாமா? என்பது முதுமொழி. ஆனால் வேலியே விவசாயினுடைய பொருளாதாரத்தை மேய்கிறது என்பது புதுமொழியாக உருவாகி வருகிறது. ஐயா நம்மாழ்வார் அவர்கள் இயற்கை வழி விவசாயத்தின் பயன்களை உணர்ந்து ஆர்வமாய் இணைபவர்களுக்கு முதலில் கூறுவது செலவில்லாத வேளாண்முறை திட்டங்களை கையாள வேண்டும் என்பதுதான். இன்று இயற்கைவழி விவசாயம் செய்ய விரும்பும் பெரும்பாலோனோருக்கு பெரும் பொருளாதார விரையத்தைக் ஏற்படுத்துவதில் முதன்மையானது பாதுகாப்ப

Many soil scientists insist an ancient Amerindian agrarian society will soon make a huge impact on the modern world. They say once the intricacies and formulation of the society’s “terra preta” (dark earth) is unlocked, the benefits will help stop environmental degradation and bring fertility to depleted soils. Developing and developed nations will benefit. Orellana The story goes that in 1542, while exploring the Amazon Basin near Ecuador in search of El Dorado, Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana began checking the area around one of the Amazon’s largest rivers, the Rio Negro. While he never found the legendary City of Gold, upon his return to Spain, Orellana reported the jungle area held an ancient civilization — a farming people, many villages and even massive, walled cities. Later explorers and missionaries were unable to confirm Orellana’s reports. They said the cities weren’t there and only hunter-gatherer tribes roamed the jungles. Orellana’s claims were dismissed

Feel like you need more inspiration,. hear from the farmers directly.

Simple and easy way to create bio-gas

Curious about forest gardens? A simple forest garden contains three layers: trees, shrubs, and ground plants. For the adventurous gardener, a deluxe forest garden can contain as many as seven tiers of vegetation. A bountiful forest garden can produce plenty of food — you just need to take a page from mother nature’s book.  It’s time to look at forest garden design. A simple forest garden contains three layers: trees, shrubs, and ground plants. But for those who like to take advantage of every planting opportunity, a deluxe forest garden can contain as many as seven tiers of vegetation. As the illustration below shows, a seven-layered forest garden contains tall trees, low trees, shrubs, herbs, ground covers, vines, and root crops. More info http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/designing-a-forest-garden-the-seven-story-garden/

Green Manure Green undecomposed material used as manure is called green manure. It is obtained in two ways: by growing green manure crops or by collecting green leaf (along with twigs) from plants grown in wastelands, field bunds and forest. Green manuring is growing in the field plants usually belonging to leguminous family and incorporating into the soil after sufficient growth. The plants that are grown for green manure known as green manure crops. The most important green manure crops are sunnhemp, dhaincha,  pillipesara, clusterbeans and  Sesbania rostrata. For more information visit http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/org_farm/orgfarm_green%20manure.html

Steps to prepare Meen Amilam 1. Take equal quantity of Fish Waste and Naatu Sakkarai (Jaggery). 2. Mix the above two materials in a Pot or a Plastic container and close it air tight. 3. Leave it for 21 days 4. On the 22nd day Meen Amilam is ready for use.(it looks like Honey) Usage Mix 30ml of this portion prepared above with 10litres of water and spray it on the plants. This acts both as fertilizer and pest repellent. http://youtu.be/JoSL9uRQ9AI

Growing Chow-Chow (Squash Chyote) Chow-chow or Squash Chyote (Sechium edule) belongs to Cucurbitaceae family. It is a very popular vegetable in this region and both sweet and hot recipes are made out of this. Unlike other vegetables, this vegetable does not have a seed. Instead few fruits have single germ, which the farmers call as "tongue". Generally to raise this crop, the usual practice is t o sow fruits with this tongue, in the soil. Many of these fruits sown do not germinate due to rottening. One day, out of curiosity, I removed the germ from the fruit carefully with a knife. Then I placed the germ in a cup and filled half the cup with water. The water in the cup was changed daily. To my surprise, within 3-4 days, several roots were formed and the creeper was also coming up. It was kept in the cup for another 4-5 days during which the water was changed. Now, it was ready for planting in the soil. By following this method, the vegetable can be used for cooking after rem

Where one plant helps the other, to work in harmony with nature. Learn and plant a 3 Sisters Garden, an old fashioned, but very effective farming technique. Like strip mining, modern agribusiness is based on yields extra cted from the land regardless of the environmental cost. This Native American garden, which was actually a form of small-scale farming, made the land richer. A 3 sisters garden can be planted on a smaller scale and grown in a raised bed as well. Plant the corn first. When the corn reaches 5 inches in height, plant the pole beans. About a week later, plant your squash seeds. The corn supports the beans, the beans provide nitrogen and the squash keeps moisture in and shades out the weeds. Harmony. READ:  http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/native-american-gardening-zm0z13fmzsto%20.aspx

An increase in weed growth indicates better soil health. But, weeds are considered as competitors  to plants and there is a tendency to remove, throw or burn them. Owing to their longer  decomposition time, wee ds are often destroyed. However, with increasing awareness on organic way of farming, weeds are increasingly being used for making organic manure. Weed as Fertilizer I tried a method which could convert weeds to organic form within 15 days. The method is as follows: Collected about 25 kg weed from my farm land, wastelands, roadsides etc. Then mixed them with 200gm jaggery, 200 gm salt, 200 gm. tamarind in 100 lit of water and left to decompose in a drum for 15 days. This mixture was rotated once in every three days. In 15 days the mixture was emanating a bad odour and was then converted to liquid form. When this liquid manure was used for vegetable crops, the growth was very luxurious. Though this indicated that the manure had high nutrient content, but still I wanted to know

Generally 45-48 plants are planted in one acre area. But, here a new method of planting was tried out, way back in 1960, which accommodates around 120 trees in one acre of land.  Zigzag pattern of Coconut plantation In this zigzag method of planting, each plant is spaced at a distance of 15 feet within a row. Two rows are spaced 15 ft followed by a third row  which is spaced at 30 ft. Plants in each row is planted at the mid point of the two trees of the previous row, thus making it a zigzag pattern. Due to this pattern, the distance between the trees between two rows comes to 16.77 ft. The 30 ft distance left after every two rows, helps the canopy to spread. This way of planting has not affected the light or air that passes through the plantation and zero cultivation has been adopted. Growing of intercrops such as banana and cocoa has also been possible during the initial years. With an yield of 80 nuts from each tree, it has been possible to harvest 9600 coconuts annually. In the

Let's talk dirty. I mean  real  dirty -- like sludge and scum dirty. If you think I'm referring to your last boyfriend, however, you're wrong. I'm talking about the complex, bacterial interactions that take place deep within the bowels of your septic tank.  This typically isn't something the average homeowner likes to think about, but if you ignore the health of your septic system, you're going to find yourself up a certain kind of creek (quite literally) without a paddle. One of the best over-the-counter septic tank activators is made by  Rid-X , and their website has a fascinating and succinct explanation of how septic systems operate: "The septic tank holds wastewater from the home until solid debris settles at the bottom of the tank (the sludge layer) and lighter waste, such as oil, rises to the top to form the scum layer. Between the two layers lies clarified water, which flows into an outlet pipe and is gradually dissipated through a drain field. B