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Irrigation secrets of the ancients

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Irrigation
Don’t hestitate, irrigate

The newest techniques for conserving water in the garden are actually more than a thousand years old.

American Indians survived for centuries in the desert by harvesting rainwater to grow crops. And while today’s water supply may not be as scarce, gardeners still can tap into ancient water-saving strategies to make the most of every drop.

“Trends in water conservation are becoming more accepted because people are realizing water resources are limited,” says Joel Glanzberg, a designer with an environmental planning firm in Santa Fe. Glanzberg, who has written about water-harvesting traditions in the Southwest, says these systems can offer today’s gardeners lessons in conservation.

Dryland farmers, for instance, needed to collect moisture and hold on to it for as long as possible. The two main techniques used were to sink the planting areas and to mulch with rock.

The Zuni in New Mexico used sunken beds called waffle gardens for growing high-value crops like tobacco and chiles. Modern kitchen gardens can benefit from this prehistoric technology.

“Waffle gardens work just like a waffle, with the plants placed where the syrup would go,”

Glanzberg says. Ground-level berms surround each 2-foot-square planting area. The berms are several inches high and built with unamended soil. The depressions catch and hold water close to the plant’s roots.

White light-emitting diodes

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Highly-efficient, cost-effective white light-emitting diodes (WLED) can replace inefficient, polluting kerosene lamps common in the developing world, and in off-grid situations, saving tens of billions of dollars per year worldwide, according to a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

Evan Mills, of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, notes in an article in the May 27, 2005 issue of the journal Science that more than 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity, and many others have only intermittent access. As a result, those who can afford illumination when it’s dark rely on lamps that burn kerosene, diesel, propane, or biomass-based fuels.

Aitec 6 Nichia LED Tactical Flashlight - 3x 'AAA'White LED flashlight with batteries. BUY FROM AMAZON

Tree-house Magic

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Tree house
Put a house in your tree

Winston Churchill and John Lennon had one. Mohammad Al Fayed, David Beckham and the Duchess of Northumberland have one. So do Jonathan Ross and David Attenborough. Now Chelsea footballer John Terry and TV presenter Eamonn Holmes want one.

We’re talking tree-houses, the new way of returning to your childhood. And they’re not being built just for the kids any more. Grown-ups are taking to them, too, in a bid to wind down from their increasingly stressful lives. Peter Nelson’s Seattle-based company TreeHouse Workshop has built more than 60 treehouses in the last six years, many of them for adults. The world’s largest treehouse builder, Scotland-based TreeHouse Co., fields “far more enquiries from the States than from all other countries combined,” says president John Harris, whose company will build more than 150 treehouses this year, up from 40 in 2000 and three in 1996.

In the past five years, home offices, libraries, guest rooms, even entire houses have increasingly begun migrating skyward, aided by a tightknit cadre of treehouse architects, carpenters, arborists and engineers who build treehouses full time.

The Woodland Way – Book review

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The Woodland Way is one of those rare books that bridges the gap between the theory of conservation and its practice, and does it well. It sets out author Ben Law’s thesis and original vision for sustainable woodland management in Britain. It is an inspiring book in its practicality and “do-ability”.

The Woodland Way: A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland ManagementThe Woodland Way: A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland Management – Buy it from Amazon US

The Woodland Way: A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland Management – Buy it from Amazon UK

(NOTE: WOODLAND WANTED – PREFERABLY IN UK – CARPENTER WANTS 2 ACRES TO TURN INTO SUSTAINABLE HIDE-OUT. WRITE TO JULIENNE@OFF-GRID.NET)

The author, writes from the heart and has a very deep commitment to practical sustainability. In fact he lives in his own woodlands, ‘Prickly Nut Wood’ in Lodsworth, UK

Barter

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barter
Bartering food for drink in Santa Cruz

Barter is a way of surviving economically outside the system. Here are some links to sites which facilitate bartering. Barterer beware – some of the sites are more interested in their fee than your satisfaction. Bartercard, one of the bigger middlemen, has had a lot of bad publicity after some if its members ended up with thousands of barter dollars they were unable to spend.


Barter Exchange Guide

The guide explains how a business can use barter to increase material
flows and covers the benefits of barter, the different types of barter, and what
to look for in a barter exchange firm, among other topics.
 
International Barter Alliance
Claims to be the world’s largest barter marketplace.
 

Right to Roam the UK Wilderness

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The Ramblers’ Association will be leading five huge guided walks next weekend to take advantage of new rights of access in the UK. The detailed routes are at the end of this story.

The new “Freedom to Roam” over mountain, moor, heath and downland — will soon apply across England and Wales. This Saturday, several regions win their freedom, opening up long miles of Northumbria, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, plus every inch of Welsh access land, to walkers. The southeast, the Peak District, the northwest and the West Country have already gone live, while Devon, Cornwall, the Midlands and the east of England will follow later this year. That adds up to 5,000 square miles of new views you could never explore before.

Is this a Wind-up?

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Surely you can’t buy a neat-looking AM, FM and short-wave radio/torch that works without battery or mains power for less than $40 (£30)?

Well, you can now thanks to a rugged new American unit — the Eton Grundig FR200 (buy it at the end of this story). Its just the latest in a long line of self-powered radios, spawned by the Freeplay Foundation’s attempts to bring communications to remote 3rd world villages.

After witnessing a desperate need for alternative energy sources amidst the world’s poorest communities, the Freeplay Foundation was founded in 1998 by the Freeplay Energy Group.

PINK VOLKSWAGEN CARAVELLE

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A quick reader poll found the VW Caravelle, diesel model, is the off-grid vehicle of choice.

The Caravelle is the much-evolved successor to the classic VW camper van or Microbus, and it’s more comfortable, faster, better-equipped and generally more refined than ever before. It might not look trendy on the beach at Newquay, but it’s a larger, functional alternative to more car-like MPVs such as VW’s own Sharan. And you can always paint it pink and fill it up with bio-fuel.

The Caravelle can’t compare to older Vee-Dub vans – iconic in their own way – in coolness, and it won’t have the same impact on the school run as more car-like MPVs (Sharan, Galaxy, Voyager, Espace etc.), but it does exactly what it says on the tin, and for that fundamental honesty, we applaud it.

I Feel Free re-release

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Classic Rock band Cream have re-released their hit song “I Feel Free” after 35 years. Its not exactly an anthem for the off-grid life, but it certainly expresses one major part of the philosophy.

Cream – Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals) and Ginger Baker (drums) – formed in 1966 and dispanded in 1968. In a little over two years, they released four groundbreaking albums and secured worldwide acclaim and success with their unique take on electrified blues. Cream sold 35 million albums and last played together in 1993 when they were inaugurated into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. They produced some of the most enduring rock anthems including I Feel Free, Sunshine of Your Love, Strange Brew and Crossroads.

Hear the track – http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Clapton/_/I+Feel+Free

Buy the album: I Feel Free - Ultimate CreamI Feel Free – Ultimate Cream — from Amazon

I Feel Free – US version – from Amazon

UK MUSIC FESTIVALS 2005

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Here is a listing of all paid-for festivals until the end of July.

We will be listing Free festivals in a separate article later this month, and also will be listing other eco-political outdoor events across Europe shortly.

Holmfirth Festival
Thursday 5 May until Sunday 8 May 2005
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire – MAP
Cost: £48 / £42(concs) / £16 (12-16yrs). Day tickets: £15 – £25 / £10 – £23 (concs) / £8 – £10 (12-16yrs)

Southport Weekender
Friday 6 May until Sunday 8 May 2005
Southport, Merseyside – MAP
Cost: around £110 per person (sharing a chalet)

Annual Cannabis March & Festival
Saturday 7 May 2005
Brixton, London – MAP
Cost: FREE

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