This section of the website aims to be a 'one stop shop' for all the technical information you need as a producer. Much of the information is put together by the Producer Support team, but we are well aware others are doing great work also so we have put links to this.
We are currently putting the finishing touches to our log in area. Therefore members only content will be shown but you cannot download - just email us with your membership number and we will send you a copy.
We always welcome your feedback so if you can't find the information
your after or you have a update for us please let us know and contact us here.
Municode is the nation's largest, most experienced codifier. We provide a wealth of legal, editorial, and publishing services for public and private sector customers. . .
All your city's codes, right at your fingertips.
At Municode, our goal is to provide you with the easy access
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About Us - BackYard Chickens Community: BackYardChickens is the result of years of collective learning and fun rolled up into the best resource for raising your own backyard flock.
Over the past few years there has been a resurgence in people who want to be more “green”, more self-sufficient, and take part in the “grow local” movement. A handful of egg-laying hens in a relatively small yard allows people to participate in these trends without having to move or change their lifestyle. BackYardChickens.com promotes the green, self-sufficient, and grow-local movements by educating people on how to raise chickens properly.
BYC is managed by Rob Ludlow, co-author of the books Raising Chickens for Dummies & Building Chicken Coops for Dummies.
The vast amount of content and the vibrant community is the result of
over 14 years of contributions by tens of thousands of people and the
dedication of the world’s best group of moderators. You can read a more
detailed journal of events regarding to the history of BYC by clicking: History Of BackYardChickens
Welcome
to TheCityChicken.com.
It's
a web site to encourage city folks to take the plunge into
poultry!
You can have chickens...It's
easy!
I created this website to inspire people who have been
wanting to
keep some chickens in their
backyard
The is a list of some of the top resources for Permaculture on the
internet. If you have suggestions for more resources use our contact
form and let me know.
A L Thebo et al 2014 Environ. Res. Lett. 9 114002 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114002
Global assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands
Abstract
The role of urban agriculture in global food security is a topic of increasing discussion. Existing research on urban and peri-urban agriculture consists largely of case studies that frequently use disparate definitions of urban and peri-urban agriculture depending on the local context and study objectives. This lack of consistency makes quantification of the extent of this practice at the global scale difficult. This study instead integrates global data on croplands and urban extents using spatial overlay analysis to estimate the global area of urban and peri-urban irrigated and rainfed croplands. The global area of urban irrigated croplands was estimated at about 24 Mha (11.0 percent of all irrigated croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.48. The global area of urban rainfed croplands found was approximately 44 Mha (4.7 percent of all rainfed croplands) with a cropping intensity of 1.03. These values were derived from the MIRCA2000 Maximum Monthly Cropped Area Grids for irrigated and rainfed crops and therefore their sum does not necessarily represent the total urban cropland area when the maximum extent of irrigated and rainfed croplands occurs in different months. Further analysis of croplands within 20 km of urban extents show that 60 and 35 percent of, respectively, all irrigated and rainfed croplands fall within this distance range.
Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/ERL/9/114002/mmedia
Keywords: urban croplands, spatial analysis, food security, irrigated croplands, rainfed
My tree got so heavy it broke! 60 pounds of Papaya on the ground. Placed in a paper bag in a dark closet they will ripen in about a week. Also there are several restaurants here in Seminole Heights that will buy anything grown locally. I sold 50 pounds and ate the rest, giving some to neighbors too!
Surprisingly, the Wal-Mart "truck anything to anywhere" model is dying. They are beta testing local produce suppliers in St Pete now, and there is another new super Wal-Mart under construction on Hillsborough and 19th! Seems like Urban Agriculture is finally starting be recognized, so please continue sharing these resources
The permaculture garden of Faith House Florida: The Faith House Florida permaculture garden is a beautiful sight to behold. With Tropicana Field, Interstates 275 and 375 in sight, the natural garden is a welcome change of scenery.
On October 10, 2010, a group of 73 volunteers came together to set up a vegetable garden at Faith House Florida to provide vegetables to the residents by transforming a vacant lot into a green oasis.
The garden was designed around permaculture principles using water conservation techniques, recycled organic matter and without chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
Now the garden flourishes and has become a permaculture and gardening demonstration site for the community, attracting visitors and students. It provides premium fresh vegetables and fruit to Faith House Florida residents.
Thirty-two hens are happy to eat the kitchen and garden leftovers and return the favor with an abundance of fresh eggs and valuable manure for the compost pile, creating an effective natural food loop.
Date: October 17, 2014 at 10:15:35 AM EDT Subject: Mayor's Neighborhood University - Accepting Applications for 2015!
Good-morning Tampa and Happy gorgeous Friday! What a beautiful Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce day…hope you are enjoying!
In January 2015, we will be kicking-off the fourth Mayor's Neighborhood University (MNU) and are currently accepting applications up until November 20, 2014. This is a great way to get a front row seat to Mayor Bob Buckhorn' s Administration and get involved with other like-minded community leaders. There are two requirements: you must reside within the City of Tampa limits and be at least 18 years old. For more information on the program and to apply, please visit www.tampagov.net/MayorsNeighborhoodUniversity. Please be sure to also check out the photos on the Mayor's Neighborhood University Facebook page to give you an idea of what you would experience.
Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see YOU in a future MNU class. Have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather!
To generate power by walking, place the cut-to-fit SolePower insole in any shoe. SolePower insoles meet podiatrist recommendations for size and comfort. The insoles are all-weather and water resistant.
Members and Memberships | Seminole Heights Community Gardens: Members and Memberships
Seminole Heights Community Garden has been growing for over 5 years now!
The Garden at 407 Violet is a temporary location generously donated to us by Linda Ketley of Seminole Heights. We are looking to create permanent locations throughout Seminole Heights as satellite gardens and what we hope could be a large enough location to provide a fresh market of locally grown, organic food. We have secured an additional location at 6011 N Highland Avenue and we are working to build good soil by the Fall to kick of a fantastic growing season in the Spring of 2015.
Become a member
Our leadership team
Amy Espinosa Secretary, Seminole Heights Community Gardens
Hi Kelley
Something that we have in Australia is Land for Wildlife. In some states, this is run by not-for-profits (http://www.qmdc.org.au/biodiversity-pests/land-for-wildlife.html) and in others, it's a government initiative (http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/community-programs/land-for-wildlife, http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/management/off-reserve-conservation/land-for-wildlife). In all cases, it's a non-binding "membership" whereby the land owners agree to manage for biodiversity values (including protecting vegetation) and they become part of a community that receives a sign for their front gate, regular newsletters and (depending on the organisation in their areas) events etc. They also get an assessment of what's on their properties and free advice on possible management actions. Again, depending on their local organisation, there can be a "next step" where the organisation can help fund part of projects to fence off sensitive areas etc.
My organisation finds it works well as there are many people - farmers, graziers, those on lifestyle acreage - who do want to protect vegetation, they just don't want something binding that might impact on sales price. However, speaking for QMDC, if we put money toward, for example, a fencing project, that comes with maintenance requirements.
Good luck.
Prior to 2006, the City of Tampa maintained their stormwater inventory as hard copy stormwater Atlas pages. Since June of 2005, the University of South Florida (University) and the City of Tampa (City) have worked together to develop a comprehensive citywide GIS stormwater asset inventory utilizing atlas pages, as-built documents and other available data sources. Having completed the citywide GIS inventory, the University and City will work together to field verify stormwater assets, collect data for specific locations within the City where asset information were either rmissing or incorrect (i.e. due to recent construction), improve overall quality of the data, prepare data for incorporation into the City's enterprise data management system, and assist City staff with protocol development and training to ensure that City employees can take over responsibility for data maintenance and updates.
Composting is copying a natural process that recycles organic material - like food and yard waste - into a nutrient-rich additive for our soil. Composting at home can improve your lawn and garden, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill and reduce your household garbage by a third.
Thus, with help from family and friends and a ton of internet research, Garden Pool was born. What was once a yawning cement hole was transformed into an incredibly prolific closed-loop ecosystem, growing everything from broccoli and sweet potatoes to sorghum and wheat, with chickens, tilapia, algae, and duckweed all interacting symbiotically to provide enough food to feed a family of five.
Within a year, Garden Pool had slashed up to three-quarters of the McClungs’ monthly grocery bill (they still buy things like cooking oil and coffee and, well, one can’t eat tilapia every day). Within five years, it’d spawned an active community of Garden Pool advocates – and Garden Pools – across the country and the world.
The time was right for a 3-day open space learning workshop in Shanghai with diverse group of corporate, community, NGO, education folks. This included a full day of open space with overnight time. Implementation began on Day 2 including an NGO CEO calling her husband and a staff to come to check out the OS room setup so they're ready to do one in-house!
Surprises (especially for participants) included: Competitors in work and professional lives fully engaged in deep dialogue together rather than holding back and observing; Providing positive feedback to fellow participants in the pre-work and practice; Open Space Technology was perceived as yet another tool, yet through this OSLW, several of them commented this is related to how to live their lives. What really moved people is authentic participation not the facilitation technology.
Several participants went out and did Open Space within the first week after the program
* Corporate CEO led an OS after a Zen trip with 20+ executives on Life and Wisdom. Now looking to do other work for her companies.
* Open Space with a client in a tiny room. The OSLW members were consulted (on line) as to how to make the room open spacy for the event.
* Open Space with school children in their summer camp.
Self-organized communities of practice started and continued after the OSLW: Action learning; facilitator's club; volunteering for NGO education; Learning/Practice partnership for OST formed; discussions on WeChat (like Facebook) were continued and co-facilitation opportunities offered;
And 7 volunteered to translate Chris Corrigan's book "The Tao of Holding Space" into simplified Chinese!
Partcipant's comments:
- Open Space is a meeting facilitation tool that evoke passion and responsibility - the art of facilitation where you need to be fully present and totally invisible
- Be aware of what is opening up and what is closing down in the process
- A meeting that breathes is a group with vitality
- Trust the inner wisdom of the group and shine because it is open
- The real space to open up may not be physical space but inner space. Physical space is limited after all. Inner space is not bounded by time or space. We own the freedom to open up in this respect.
- A good facilitator for Open Space should be able to do three things:
1. Brain losing a sense of judgement of what is good and what is bad
2. Minimum talking time
3. No intervention out of worry or control
- I experienced "Less is More". The facilitator can achieve with minimum intervention.
-- Gail West, ICA 3F, No. 12, Lane 5, Tien Mou W Rd Taipei, Taiwan 111 Ph) 8862) 2871-3150 email) icataiw@gmail.com Skype) gwestica www.icatw.com
The most important difference that researchers found was that organic foods contain a much higher amount of antioxidants than conventional crops. Antioxidants prevent oxidation in the body which combats certain diseases and cancers. An Environmental Working Group press release noted that:
“consumers who switch to organic fruits, vegetables, and cereals would get 20 to 40 percent more antioxidants. That’s the equivalent of about two extra portions of fruit and vegetables a day, with no increase in caloric intake.”
Shoppers often argue that organic foods are too pricey to purchase for an everyday diet. Well, if they contain more nutrition per serving, then the body would require less servings per meal. Logic indicates that by comparing price based on nutritional value rather than amount, shoppers can spend about the same if not less with organics.
Now the downside of eating organic foods is they contain less pesticides. Oh wait…thats right, pesticides are extremely harmful to the body! Researchers found that conventionally grown foods are three to four times more likely to contain pesticide residues. The study indicated that:
“While crops harvested from organically managed fields sometimes contain pesticide residues, the levels are usually 10-fold to 100-fold lower in organic food”
The Edible Education Project, Inc.: Explore
The Edible Education Project, Inc. is a local food system consulting firm dedicated to helping individuals, institutions, and public agencies plan, develop, and operate farm to school and farm to plate food systems based on sound ecological practices and community well-being.
I'm doing research cataloging case studies of major private property stormwater/green infrastructure incentive programs in the US (read more here: http://www.metroplanning.org/news/article/6903) and using those case studies to assess the factors that make these programs successful or not as an effort to develop guidelines for other municipalities/utilities who are creating similar programs. I have a long list of case study programs already (to be put into a blog series shortly and ultimately a report), but I'm wondering if anyone knows of either similar research or exemplary case studies.
USF Graduate Creates a Healing Combination - University of South Florida: Billington is the first USF student to graduate with a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree in engineering, combining the two related but disparate disciplines of medicine and engineering. She is poised to become a leader for the next generation of physician scientists.
A dual program now bringing next generation leadership. . .
The GIS systems must include all the ecological, economic, environmental and educational "sources and sinks," and a defined method for developing combinations and concentrating these combinations. http://www.starsusa.org/homestead/files/DEGREE.htm
Sent from my new iPod
Begin forwarded message:
From: "'Weaver, Eric' eweaver@usf.edu [starsusaorg]" <starsusaorg@yahoogroups.com> Date: May 30, 2014 4:57:14 PM EDT To: "Eisseb"; Anwahs; Cc: STARS MINUTES; Subject:[starsusaorg] RE: Thank-you!!!! was a success!!! Reply-To:
Hi
This is going to sound weird!
But imagine for a second everything is perfect!
You got EVERYTHING!
After spending a rather enjoyable few days at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting in Tampa where there were some great talks on agent-based modeling, GIS and many other topics which I find interesting, along with catching up with some old friends and meeting new ones, its now time to head back up North.
However, before jumping on the plane, I thought it would be intersing to look at the twitter traffic of the event (especially how there so many talks on using social media for geographical research). That being said, before showing the Twitter networks associated with the conference, one issue that was common among the conversion outside of the sessions was the lack of wifi access at the conference which accounts for small numbers of tweets durring the events but also one could argue people were more interested in the talks than that of tweeting. With that being said, within this analysis we show below we collected data using the #aag2014 and the @theAAG to explore the Twitter conversation.
The image below shows the # hashtag network from the conference with the biggest cluster being #aag2014 and associated words (click here to see a high solution image)
IFOAM launches Food Security Campaign | IFOAM: Industrial agriculture is a root cause of lack of food availability due to its reliance on foreign aid, external agricultural inputs and food imports that require a cash economy. Industrial agriculture is not about feeding the world but maximizing profits by producing commodities for whichever global market pays the most. This is the reason why one billion people in the developing world are chronically hungry and why over a billion people in developed countries are obese and suffering diet related diseases. Both are preventable. This is why IFOAM's 'People before Commodities' campaign has been launched at the United Nations World Food Security meeting in Rome to help put the needs of people back at the centre of our food and farming systems and policies.
Wow, I couldn't have said it Better myself...
Thanks Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. e;-)
Binghamton Neighborhood Project | Science-based solutions to real-world problems in our community: An explosion of basic scientific research relevant to the human condition has taken place over the last few decades, including an integration among disciplines that is ultimately rooted in evolutionary theory. This newly derived knowledge can provide new solutions to a wide range of practical problems. In fact, never before have basic and applied research contributed so strongly to each other.
We call this a “whole university/whole city” approach to community based
research and action. The “whole university” part is a network of
faculty and students who represent all academic disciplines and are
adept at working with each other. The “whole city” part is a network of
community partners representing all sectors of the city, including the Mayor’s Office and City Council, the Binghamton City School District, The United Way of Broome County,
the faith community, neighborhood associations, and residents
themselves. Problems are not studied in isolation but in a holistic
fashion that contributes to basic scientific knowledge in addition to
real-world solutions. We enjoy engaging our city partners in the “big
questions” at the same time that we work together to improve the quality
of life in a practical sense.
4 parks- 20 FRUIT TREES are being planted in CITY OF TAMPA parks!!! Al Lopez Park Rowlett Park Gadsden Park South Riverwalk
Can you make it out to celebrate with us and help plant the trees?
This is a day of celebration for the city of Tampa in support of
growing our food! These will be public food, and is a great opportunity
to be used as a learning tool.
The city said these are "trial"
community orchards, and they would be open to more of them, if these
ones are a success! Lets make it a great event. And PLEASE write to the
mayor, city council and the Parks and Rec Dept to let them know what a
great idea it is and to show your support.
Once I get your name I will email the list of names to "Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful" to add you all to the list of volunteers.
Thank you to all the donors that are making all of this possible, and those that put in so much time to this project Each One Teach One: Organics
Zac Goldsmith :: The Constant Economy: Since the industrial revolution, our economies have grown at the
expense of the natural world. But as pressure mounts on the earth’s finite
resources, we can no longer pretend that business-as-usual is a realistic option.
One way or another we will have to change. The longer we delay, the more our societies
will be at the mercy of events and the harsher the eventual adjustments.
There is an alternative: a constant economy. A constant economy is one in which
resources are valued not wasted, where food is grown sustainably and goods are built
to last. It is a system whose energy security is based on the use of renewable sources,
and where strong communities are valued as a country’s most effective hedge
against social, economic and environmental instability. The constant economy operates
at the human scale and, above all, it recognizes nature’s limits.
Most of the foods we grow are annuals: Each winter, they disappear
and must be replanted in the spring. A bountiful garden of delicious
organic food is worth the work of planning and planting, but smart
gardeners also curate a few perennials, which come back year after year
with little maintenance required. Here are some classic perennials to
plant now for harvest next summer.
Artichokes are the edible flower buds of a bushy plant in the thistle
family. Best suited for moist, light soils and full sun, artichoke
plants grow larger each year, eventually producing several plump buds a
year. They don’t do well in dry soils, so mulch and compost well, and
give the roots plenty of water. If you have cold winters (zones 6-7),
cut the plant back in fall and cover it with a layer of straw.
Asparagus shoots are one of spring’s first delights, poking out of
cool soils alongside other perennials like tulips and crocus. But
they’re a long-term investment: The first year, you won’t harvest
asparagus at all, and each year you must leave plenty of shoots behind,
letting them flower and grow into the next year’s harvest.
3. Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)
The latest culinary darling, sunchokes are tubers grown from a
flowering, towering relative of the sunflower. They’ve got a nutty
flavor and are delicious roasted or in soups. Plant a single sunchoke in
the fall or early spring, and it’ll grow into a hearty plant with
multiple tubers to dig up. Remember to always leave a few in the ground
for next year — and give it plenty of space, because this plant is a
hardy native that can invade your yard with its sunny, food-producing
blooms.
4. Alliums
Garlic,
onions and chives are all able to survive cold winters from their roots
buried under the soil. Plant garlic and onion cloves, sets or seed in
the fall, and they’ll push up green shoots in the spring; leave a few
behind each year, and they’ll flower, seed themselves and divide their
own bulbs to create the next year’s crop.
5. Radicchio and Chicory
Ever chopped off a lettuce plant in summer, only to find it growing
back the following spring? Some leafy greens are able to regrow from a
root — an advantage for gardeners who’ll have robust greens growing
quite early in spring. Raddichio and other chicory relatives are good
bets, but as most of us grow several types of lettuce and mesclun greens
mixes, you never know what might come back. Instead of pulling up your
roots, cut the plant back at the soil surface, cover the bed with straw
through the winter, and see what pops up in spring.
Economic Laggards Face Pending Extinction: Initiatives like Conscious Capitalism, Benefit Corporations, and Sr
Richard Brandson’s, The B Team consist of businesses that are advocates
for making profits while also improving the world.
Like all successful business ventures, these movements have been
started by entrepreneurs – not economists. Left brained academics and
bureaucrats continue to value the study of finance, business, and
economics over the humanities, anthropology and other explorations of
human behavior. Both are important, however it is in exactly those
understudied fields – where empathy lies – that entrepreneurs and brands
are finding their motivation and quickly re-shaping our world economy.
A Sustainable Brands articleposted by Company Man Studios after hosting my talk for Ad 2 Tampa Bay on Tuesday names this movement the ”The CVS Effect” and in it, Claire Sommer
details how Apple, Disney and Chipotle have been making “decisions that
buck the bottom-line mantra” following the CVS announcement that they
would be removing tobacco products from their shelves.
GMOs Are Killing Our Lady Bugs, Attacking Biodiversity: If you want to save the lady bugs, don’t spray pesticides or herbicides on your plants. If you buy lady bugs commercially to disperse in your garden, you also need to provide them ample food by having lady-bug friendly plants (dill, fennel, dandelion, coriander, Hairy vetch, yarrow, butterfly weed) that they can dine on when they are done overwintering. You can also mix brewer’s yeast with a little sugar, honey, and warm water to offer them a respite before they start munching on the insects that would munch on the crops you’ve planted.
How to Make a Farm Hack Forum Post | Farm Hack: How to Make a Farm Hack Forum Post
Farm Hack aims to nurture the development, documentation, and manufacture of farm tools for resilient agriculture. We exist as an infrastructure, providing an online platform for community-based sharing and collaborative research. Individuals and organizations, non-profits and businesses alike, are invited to participate and represent themselves.
This same community exists offline in the form of meet-ups, workshops, and build events. We promote local embodiments of Farm Hack wherever interested parties seek to rally under the banner of open-source farm tool development and skill-sharing. We believe that greater knowledge sharing will lead to improved tools, skills and biological insight to achieve our goals with elegance. Open-source seeds, breeds and technology are the fastest way to accelerate the innovation and adaptation.
As a result we are focused on attracting into our community not only farmers but those with other relevant skill-sets: engineers, roboticists, designers, architects, fabricators, programmers, hackers. It is those that live to build and make things work that are the key allies to turn ideas into tools and then into finished products.
By documenting, sharing and improving farm tools, we can improve the productivity of sustainable farming. The result will be healthy land, abundance of fresh food, and invigorated local manufacturing.
Farm Hack is a participatory and cumulative project that is as strong as we make it together. We invite you to join.
Farm Hack is an independent 501c3 and was incubated and launched by NYFC. Special thanks to our our founding members and partners!
Method for converting internet messages for publishing
Abstract
A method of converting internet messages is provided. A first message database is provided on a first computer which is coupled to the Internet and accessible by users thereof. Internet messages from an Internet discussion forum such as a standard e-mail users group, message forum or newsgroup database can be transferred from the first database to a more specialized forum in a second database on a second computer, also coupled to the Internet, utilizing a protocol provided on the second computer. The messages can be edited and revised for further discussion and eventual publishing as a book, web page or other known publishing format.
