Top Natural Painkillers

Thank You Healthful Living San Diego

Solar Energy Spill

Thank You The Mind Unleashed

Glenwood Springs Saturday Farmer's Market Starting!

The first market of the 2014 season will be June 28th Saturday in the Rite_Aid parking lot!! Expecting a light run of early season fruits as the frosts this spring affected the supply but not the fantastic flavor of freshly picked produce. Spring greens, alfalfa clover and wildflower honey, Plum Daisy's award winning organic jams and home made breads including wheat, foccochias, and cinnamon raisin.

This is just a partial listing, updates to continue coming.....stop by and check us out for yourselves!

GLENWOOD SPRINGS FARMER'S MARKET

DIY Solar Food Dehydrator

Cool solar food dehydrator for the Do-It-Yourselfer. Click on the link below for step-by-step instructions.

RunnerDuck Resources

Children's Learning Gardens Needs Your Help!

Thank You Growing Food Forward

Planting in the Forest Garden

Come learn to plant vegetables with your children! Fat City Farmers offers one hour workshops for families at the Roaring Fork High School garden.

 

We will tour the greenhouse and garden, show children how to plant in the forest garden, share gardening tips, harvest something to taste and read a garden story. Please bring your water bottle and sun hats. All ages, all people welcome. Se habla español.
 

Come to any one workshop or all, the next 4 Saturdays: May 31, June 7, June 14, June 21
9:30-10:30 or 10:45-11:45
 

$5 donation to the youth gardening program, or free or whatever you can afford.
 

A forest garden (http://www.beaconfoodforest.org/ ) is a permaculture model that plants trees, berries, perennial herbs, and annual vegetables in a mix so that they each will grow optimally. It mimics a natural woodland.
People who come for a workshop orientation are welcome to adopt an area of the forest garden for their own use to plant and harvest what they wish in that area. It is essentially a community garden, and there is no charge. We want people to plant and use the space.
Call Illène: 274-1622 for more information

Introducing the Altaeros BAT: The Next Generation of Wind Power

Altaeros Energies is announcing the first planned commercial demonstration of its BAT (Buoyant Airborne Turbine) product in partnership with the Alaska Energy Authority. The Alaska project will deploy the BAT at a height of 1,000 feet above ground, a height that will break the world record for the highest wind turbine in the world. Altaeros has designed the BAT to generate consistent, low cost energy for the remote power and microgrid market, including remote and island communities; oil & gas, mining, agriculture, and telecommunication firms; disaster relief organizations; and military bases. The BAT uses a helium-filled, inflatable shell to lift to high altitudes where winds are stronger and more consistent than those reached by traditional tower-mounted turbines. High strength tethers hold the BAT steady and send electricity down to the ground. The lifting technology is adapted from aerostats, industrial cousins of blimps, which have lifted heavy communications equipment into the air for decades. To learn more, visit www.altaerosenergies.com.

How To Construct a Living Fence

Thank You Grow Food, Not Lawns

This French gardener is inserting dormant willow whips into the ground and weaving the tops into a lattice. They will root come spring and this will become a free living fence.

Inspiration

Thank You Clean Energy Collective

Clean Energy Workshop

Clean Energy Workshop, Carbondale, Colorado

 How close are we to achieving our clean energy goals? Share in our clean energy accomplishments to date and join us in creating the plan for the future.

Wednesday, March 16, 2014 at the Carbondale Branch Library

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Awesome Simple Gardening Idea

"This worked well for me for many years - it's a simple, weed-free way to grow lettuce, spinach and even radishes. Take a 2 cubic feet bag of potting soil (I used Miracle Grow), rumple it around quite a bit to loose the soil, poke quite a few holes in the back side for drainage, then lay the bag on a smooth surface that will allow drainage and not get too hot, and cut out the top, leaving about a 4 or 5 inch border all around. Lightly rake through the soil to even it out and loosen it even more, then carefully, and evenly sprinkle the seeds around. I put my salad green seeds in an old spice bottle with large shaker holes, added some cornmeal, shook it all up to mix well and sprinkled them out of it. I put the cornmeal in there to allow me to see that I had covered the soil evenly. If doing radish seeds or spinach, just make lines the depth mentioned on the seed pack, plant the seeds and cover appropriately. For salad greens I sprinkled a lite covering of soil over the cornmeal and seeds and then spray-misted to water them in. I put my bags on metal sawhorses and grates to make them waist level. This kept the bags off the hot concrete and I didn't have to bend over when cutting my salad. When harvesting, just use a pair of scissors and cut what you need - don't pull the plants out. Same goes for spinach - they will grow back almost magically overnight, and you can't tell where you cut. Spray mist the seeds and plantlings at first when watering, until they are established, then you can water more vigorously as the plants mature. You will probably need to water more often, since the depth of the bags are not as deep as a regular in-ground garden. I just kept mine moist, but not sopping wet." Ashley Rasmussen.

Whole Earth Summit

Conversations with 42 Global Leaders

 

Why join? Though our hearts know another world is possible, it’s not necessarily easy to create the regenerative culture we dream of. Whether in our own backyards, communities at large (or even within ourselves), how do we actually create the world we want? Join this first time gathering of extraordinary activists and on-the-ground leaders as they share what they’re up to, why it’s important, and what you can do about it in your own life. Gain valuable insights and inspiration to be a more dynamic, community-oriented, and effective change-maker. A whole earth is calling us…

• What if everything we did created a world that benefited all life?
• Do you consider yourself an agent of change with a desire to make a difference?
• How can you be a strong collaborator who connects the dots in your own community?
• How can your local projects ripple throughout the landscape and shake up the status quo?
• Do you want to be so awesomely inspired so that you’ve got to take your next leap?

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds, and .......?

• By Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins
  Organic Consumers Association, February 14, 2014
  
  

  "It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray." - Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

When the honeybees, our most important food pollinators, started dropping like proverbial flies, scientists scrambled to identify their killer (or killers). Attention eventually turned to the increased use of a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. Scientists now believe at least some of these pesticides play a major role in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the ongoing demise of honeybee colonies.

Who makes the neonicotinoids? Syngenta, Bayer CropSciences and Dow Agrosciences.

Who's using them, and for what purpose? Companies like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow Agrosciences . . . in the herbicides and pesticides and seeds they sell to farmers who grow genetically engineered crops. Crops that eventually end up in our food, or in the feed used to fatten up animals in factory farms-animals we slaughter for food.

We need bees in order to grow food, or at least some of it. Yet the food-GMO food, drenched in neonics-we are growing is killing the bees.

It's not just the bees that are dying. Butterfly and bird populations are in decline, too. And it's not just the neonicotinoids that are to blame. Other herbicides and pesticides, especially Monsanto's Roundup, used to grow GMO crops-and also used to contain (kill) weeds in cities and home gardens-are decimating pollinators, fish and wildlife, and some would argue, humans, too.

As consumers ask more and more questions about the impact of GMO foods and crops on our health and environment, we're making smarter choices about the foods we choose to eat. Does my child's cereal contain sugar from genetically engineered beets? Did that steak on my dinner plate come from an animal raised on a factory farm, and fed a diet of Roundup-ready GMO corn, canola, soy or cotton seed?

But we need to look at the bigger picture, too. That means calling for an end to the use of Monsanto's Roundup in urban areas, on our lawns, roadways, schoolyards and parks.  It means paying close attention to the seeds and garden plants we buy for our home gardens.

It means asking ourselves what can we do to pressure Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, and Dupont's customers, both rural and urban, into understanding that their widespread, reckless use of neonics and other toxins is destroying our food, soil, water, air and wildlife? And that organic, sustainable, non-chemical alternatives exist?

It means asking ourselves, how do we force food manufacturers to stop using these poison-drenched GMO crops in their processed food products? How do we get through to the politicians who protect the interests (profits) of pesticide and junk food makers, at the expense of all else? Before it's too late?

We do it by making intelligent and ethical buying decisions. By boycotting the corporations who refuse to hear us. But voting out the politicians who sell us out to the industry lobbyists who fund their political campaigns.

We do it by all of the above. Over and over again.

Bee Week of Action just the bee-ginning

February 16 marks the end of a national Bee Week of Action. This week, more than 27,000 activists, coast to coast, delivered valentine cards to managers of Home Depot and Lowe's stores, and handed out bee education leaflets to store customers.

The actions, organized by Friends of the Earth, the Organic Consumers Association and 10 other groups, focused on pressing Home Depot and Lowe's to stop selling garden plants pre-treated with neonicotinoids. OCA and our allies also collected more than 650,000 signatures on petitions to Home Depot and Lowe's, and sent letters to the CEOs of both companies. Home Depot responded this week, saying that it is "working on" a policy to address neonics. We're hopeful, that with enough pressure, Home Depot and Lowe's will take these killers off their shelves and promote organic alternatives.

Our goal this week was to draw attention to the plight of honeybees, the damage caused by neonics, and the fact that consumers-most of them unknowingly-contribute to the problem when they purchase plants that may attract bees, only to kill them.

It's a strong campaign. One that OCA is committed to supporting until Home Depot and Lowe's end the sales of bee-killing plants.

But the problem is bigger than bees. The use of neonics isn't limited to garden plants. Neonics aren't the only toxins killing bees. And bees aren't the only victims of agribusiness's chemical assault on the environment.

As the bees go, so goes our food  CONTINUE AT SOURCE

8 Ways Real Families on Real Budgets Can Afford Organic Food

Feb 04, 2014 12:34 am   Posted by Robyn O'Brien

“Organic” is a loaded term.  For some, it conjures up ideas of lifestyles of the rich and famous, and for others, it is a food play.

“Organic” is an adjective used to describe food that has been grown without the use of certain artificial ingredients: things like high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial growth hormones and genetically engineered ingredients. By law, none of these things are allowed in the production of “organic” food.

But all of these ingredients are new to our food supply, introduced in the last 30 years, which is why we now call food that doesn’t contain them “organic.”  In Europe and other parts of the world, they take a different approach, simply calling food “food” and labeling the foods that contain the genetically engineered ingredients as “GM food” and simply not using ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, genetically engineered ingredients and artificial growth hormones given that no long-term human health studies have been conducted on what the impact of eating these foods might be on a pregnant mom or a child with allergies.
But with so many Americans struggling to pay bills, talking about “organic” foods, produced without the use of all kinds of additives and ingredients, can often sound like a luxury that few can afford.
Why is it so expensive?  Because right now, at the federal level, we’ve got an uneven playing field.  Farmers that choose to grow food, genetically engineered to be saturated in chemicals, receive financial aid called “subsidies.”  They also get marketing support and crop insurance.  While farmers growing things organically, don’t, making their products more costly to produce.

Clean and safe food is a right that should be afforded to all Americans, not just those in certain zip codes, especially since it’s our tax dollars going into the farming programs.  With organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the President’s Cancer Panel encouraging us to reduce our exposure to all kinds of ingredients now found in our food supply that weren’t there when we were kids, the best way to do that is to buy organic.  And until that is the affordable choice for all Americans, not just those in certain socioeconomic brackets, we have our work cut out for us in reforming the financing of our food system.

The bottom line is that all Americans should all be able to feed our families foods that are free-from additives not used in foods in other countries and those that are increasingly being shown to cause harm.

So here are a few tips for those who want to start buying organic food but don’t want to pay the high price:

1. Go Orgo-Generic: Major grocery store chains like Safeway and Kroger, and big box food retailers like Costco and even Wal-Mart, now carry their own organic foods. And all foods labeled “USDA organic” are created equal, no matter where you find them. No need to upscale your grocery store when Wal-Mart gets it done.
2. Buy Frozen: Frozen foods (like strawberries and fish) are cheaper than those that are delivered fresh. So if the prices on fresh produce are eye-popping, cruise on over to the frozen food aisle for a discount.  CONTINUE AT SOURCE

Growing Your Own Vegetables Without Pesticides

If you ever want to grow your Vegetables Organically, you will need to read this. One of the things you need to do is to select plants for your garden that will help control insect pests.
 

Certain plants contain properties that either invite beneficial insects or repel harmful insects. Beneficial insects prey on pests that cause damage in the garden. Ladybugs and praying mantis are good examples of beneficial bugs.
 

Using plants for pest control not only cuts down on your workload, but it also reduces or eliminates the amount of insecticides that you use in your garden. And fewer insecticides means more good bugs, which in turn means help in controlling bad bugs.
 

It is important that you experiment to find out what works best for your situation. With this thought in mind, it also helps to choose plants that are native to your area. This way beneficial insects will already know what to look for.

ARTEMISIA - This plant produces a strong antiseptic, although not unpleasant aroma that repels most insects. Planted as a border, it can also deter small animals.
BASIL -The oils in basil are said to repel thrips, flies and mosquitoes. I plant basil along side my tomatoes for larger, tastier tomatoes. Bee Balm - I love this plant because it attracts bees to my garden. It is another plant that you can grow with your tomatoes.
 

BORAGE - This plant is a real gem in the garden. It repels tomato horn worms and cabbage worms and attracts beneficial bees and wasps. Borage also adds trace elements to the soil.
 

CATNIP - This plant repels just about everything. You can use it to keep away flea beetles, aphids, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, ants, and weevils.
 

CHIVES - Chives are one of my favorite herbs. You can plant chives to repel Japanese beetles and carrot rust flies. It has also been said that chives will help prevent scab when planted among apple trees.
 

CHRYSANTHEMUMS - When I do use an insecticide I use one made from chrysanthemums called pyrethrum. This all-natural pesticide can help control things like roaches, ticks, silverfish, lice, fleas, bedbugs, and I like to use it to control ants in certain parts of the garden. In the garden white flowering chrysanthemums are said to drive away Japanese beetles and C. coccineum, commonly known as Painted Daisy, kills root nematodes.
 

DAHLIAS - Dahlias repel nematodes and the blooms are great for adding bold splashes of color to flower borders and fresh arrangements.
 

DILL - I always find a place for this plant in my garden. Dill is best planted with cucumbers and onions. During the cool season It can be planted with lettuce. Dill attracts hoverflies and predatory wasps, and its foliage is used as food by swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. Tomato hornworms are also attracted to dill, so if you plant it at a distance, you can help draw these destructive insects away from your tomatoes. Dill repels aphids and spider mites. Sprinkling Dill leaves on squash plants tend to repel squash bugs.
 

GARLIC - In addition to its great taste and health benefits, garlic planted near roses repels aphids. It also deters codling moths, Japanese beetles, root maggots, snails, and carrot root fly. When planted alongside Onions, they also deter moles and mice.
 

HYSSOP - This is another one of my favorite plants. Hyssop is great for attracting honeybees to the garden.
Lavender - Lavender is a favorite among many beneficial insects and also repels fleas and moths.
 

MARIGOLDS - The marigold is probably the most well known plant for repelling insects. French marigolds repel whiteflies and kill bad nematodes. Mexican marigolds are said to offend a host of destructive insects and wild rabbits as well. If you choose marigolds for your garden they must be scented to work as a repellant. And while this plant drives away many bad bugs, it also attracts spider mites and snails--which are good.
 

NASTURTIUMS- I plant nasturtiums with my tomatoes and cucumbers as a way to fight off wooly aphids, white flies, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles. The flowers, especially the yellow blooming varieties, act as a trap for aphids.
 

PETUNIAS - They are great to look at, and repel asparagus beetles, leaf hoppers, a range of aphids, tomato worms, and a good many other pests.
 

SUNFLOWERS - I use sunflowers as a way to draw aphids away from my other plants. Ants move their colonies onto sunflowers. The sunflowers are tough enough that they suffer no damage.

If interested in Farm Grown Fresh Heirloom Seeds, we offer a 55 Variety Heirloom Seed Package that is Non GMO, all individually packaged, and then put in a 10 x 14 silver mylar bag. There are 22,000 Seeds in the package, with a 90-93% germination rate. The package is priced reasonably at $50, and if you purchase before end of January, you get a FREE 10 Variety Heirloom Herb Seed package as a bonus.

If interested, you can email Danny at danny@theseedguy.com and I will email you a Paypal link to pay thru. You can also purchase this Seed package on our website http://theseedguy.com/13-the-55-variety-heirloom-seed-package.html

If you LIKE US on our Facebook page, you will be on our List for more great Gardening Articles and New Seed Offerings. Thank you and God Bless You and Your Family. https://www.facebook.com/theseedguy

Call for Vendors, Glenwood Springs

Call for Vendors for Health & Wellness Expo

Glenwood Springs, CO - Vendor and sponsorship applications are currently being accepted for the third annual Health & Wellness Expo in Glenwood Springs.  The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at Ramada Inn & Suites.

The Health & Wellness Expo is being produced locally in hopes of providing information and education about integrative health and preventative wellness solutions that are available throughout the valley.  The event will feature more than 30 educational vendor booths, informative speakers and interactive activities for all ages.

For more information about this event or to obtain a booth vendor application, visit www.healthandwellnessexpogws.com.

Solar Evolution

Thank You Clean Energy Collective

How Solar Energy Works

How Solar Energy Works, cool primer from, honest view of problems and benefits and potentials Hank and SciShow

Carbondale Community Food Co-op

Carbondale Community Food Co-op

Source: Carbondale Community Food Co-op

"The Carbondale Community Food Co-op is dedicated to providing as many local, natural options as possible for our community's health as well as supplying other popular organic products and bulk foods right here in our town."

"We are a member-owned natural food co-op-- everyone is welcome to shop! Support local food and the local economy!"

RFWellness loves this Carbondale, Colorado resource be sure to visit the newsletter and read the "Consider Becoming a Member" information at the bottom of the page.

Check out the Facebook page here: Carbondale Community Food Co-op

Check out the Newsletter here: Newsletter

Innovative Solar Grills - The Solution To Intermittent Sun and Able To Cook at 450F For 25 Hours Straight

SOURCE: :Prevent Disease

The newest generation of solar grills can store heat for longer cooking times and hotter temperatures while reducing the problem of intermittent sun. Based on technology developed by MIT professor David Wilson, the grills generate cooking temperatures of 450F, and offer up to 25 hours of straight cooking time without any energy but the sun.

Cooking with a solar grill is probably the greenest method of preparing your food. It is also one of the most easily accessible forms of solar power.

A solar grill or oven is a device that harnesses sunlight to create heat energy. It doesn’t use any fuel, and it doesn’t cost a thing to operate it. It can help slow down the deforestation and desertification caused by harvesting natural resources which are used in conventional fuel production.

In theory, no more trees would be cut to be used for making charcoal, if everyone switched to using solar ovens. And, while the use of a solar oven is not always feasible, new concepts can open up many doors and new possibilities.

Extended Cooking Times Storing Latent Heat

Wilson’s technology harnesses the power of our brightest star and stores latent heat using a Fresnel lens to harness the sun’s energy to melt down a container of Lithium Nitrate. The Lithium Nitrate acts as a battery storing thermal energy for 25 hours at a time. The heat is then released as convection for outdoor cooking.

Some solar ovens convert the light they gather into heat by using darker colored materials. This is based on the fact that the color black absorbs more light than any other color, and turns it into heat. The more efficient the grill, the faster and longer the cooking time will be.

By trapping heat inside, the grill isolates the air within the cooking area, separating it out from the cooler outside air. This is accomplished through the Fresnel lens allowing light to enter, but once the light has turned into heat, the barrier traps the heat inside the grill.

Sustainable Cooking

 The grill could both alleviate the well-known environmental impact of traditional charcoal grilling, and also offer a cleaner, greener and more socially sustainable cooking option in the developing world:

The design is to be deployed in developing countries as an alternative source for cooking. Wilson originally came up for the idea during his time spent in Nigeria. While there he noticed a large set of problems linked to practice of cooking with firewood.

Of course this design is unlikely to excite the purists who are addicted to the taste of hickory. But then with the American design expected to feature a hybrid solar/propane heating system, and with wood chips for propane grilling commonly available, there should be ways to get a little smoke in your food without the need to burn up the planet.

A group of MIT students are working with the technology to develop a prototype solar grill. Derek Ham, Eric Uva, and Theodora Vardouli are conducting a study through their multi-disciplinary course "iTeams," short for "Innovation Teams", to determine the interest in such a concept and then hopefully launch a business to manufacture and distribute the grills.

If all goes well, in a couple years we just be giving solar grills as presents on Father’s Day and enjoying sun-kissed instead of char-broiled even after the sun goes down.

Marco Torres is a research specialist, writer and consumer advocate for healthy lifestyles. He holds degrees in Public Health and Environmental Science and is a professional speaker on topics such as disease prevention, environmental toxins and health policy.