Permaculture Tips and Tricks

Welcome to Permaculture Tips and Tricks - please post your tips here

Chickens for newbies

Submitted by selwyn on Fri, 05/03/2013 - 11:01am.

Check out this cool video for newbie chicken owners at http://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

She does a really nice job of summarizing how to get started with chickens.  I can't vouch for her feed but it certainly looks like it might be worth trying.

 

Read more

Solar Cooking Tips

Submitted by jnazak on Thu, 01/10/2013 - 3:21pm.

The solar oven is sort of like a crock pot that needs no electricity! You can slow-cook all sorts of dishes in it -- meat, fish, vegetables, rice. You can also bake cookies and bread. But the solar oven is good for more than cooking. You can use it to pasteurize water. You only need to heat the water to 65 C (149 F) for 15-20 minutes in order to kill pathogens. And you can use the solar oven to sterilize tools, washcloths, and other small items.

Read more

Use the Sun To Heat Water for Washing

Submitted by jnazak on Wed, 01/09/2013 - 12:17pm.

Using a large, thin-walled black pot, you can have hot water in a couple of hours on a sunny day, even without a solar oven. (And with the solar oven, it is even quicker.) Water-heating is one of the most energy-expensive functions of a home, so it is worthwhile to use the sun's free clean energy to heat up water for washing your dishes. You can also employ this method for hand-washing small batches of laundry, and for shaving, washing your face and such. Thin-walled black pots (as well as solar ovens) are available from the Global Sun Oven company, sunoven.com

Read more

The Sunny Side of Cooking solar cookbook now available

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Tue, 01/08/2013 - 9:17pm.

What if there was a year-round method of cooking that was low cost, powered by sunlight, non-polluting, and easy to do even in college dorms, apartment balconies and off-the-grid locations?

There is: solar cooking. Permaculture author and teacher Lisa Rayner has written “The Sunny Side of Cooking: Solar cooking and other ecologically friendly cooking methods for the 21st century” as a practical, easy-to-follow guide for beginning and experienced solar cooks.

Read more

Controlling mites and lice on chickens

Submitted by selwyn on Tue, 01/08/2013 - 8:51pm.

This is one way to control mites and lice on chickens. The chickes can be reinfected by wild birds visiting your coop. They are easy to get rid of. Buy (any pet store including HEB or any online pet store) a spay bottle of Adams Flea mist. Give each bird a spray of Adams on their vent and under each wing. Treat all the birds in your flock at once. Repeat in two weeks.

Read more

Cleanup small oil spill

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 12:15pm.

If you ever have an oil spill or really anything that isn’t an elemental poison (lead, mercury, cadmium, etc.) in an area near where you’re growing food drench it with molasses and water or, if it’s a large area, spread dry molasses and water it in. It will boost the soil biota which will break the oil down into its basic, harmless elements. In your case you could mix it with the cat litter or sawdust that you use to soak up the oil and it will render it harmless pretty quickly.

Read more

Observe from your hammock

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 3:51pm.

Spend lots of time in the shade in your hammock! You can really get a good sense for how nature does things..

Read more

Chicken Tractor

Submitted by selwyn on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 3:50pm.

Build a chicken tractor for your yard so you can direct the efforts of your chickens.  It keeps them safe and you can get them to clean up areas of weeds or other vegetation by positioning the chicken tractor.

What's a Chicken Tractor?

Thoughts?

Read more

Spend lots of time in the hammock....

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Sun, 07/12/2009 - 6:08pm.

Observing is a key principle of Permaculture. I've found that the best observing is done from a hammock. Spend as much time as possible in the hammock!

Read more

Use a clothes line instead of your dryer

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Sun, 07/12/2009 - 6:05pm.

Hanging your clothes to dry on the clothes line has many benefits - for starters, it saves energy, money, and time.

It's especially good in the summer to keep your  house from being heated up by the dryer.

Read more