720 links, page updated November 18, 2005.
Enterprise
Eco business directory site of 2,000 green business links.
In Business, the magazine for sustainable businesses and communities, "where sustainable goals and small business team up." Can order a free copy online, has online tables of contents, and some of the articles are available for free on line. The makings of a renewable energy revolution.
Appalachia Science in the Public Interest, Fr. Fritsch, who's interview is linked in Crossroads, works here. A rural sustainable living program, has two appropriate technology demonstration projects with low cost buildings, composting toilets, alternative "home grown" energy research. Publishes excellent technical reports on how to build a solar cooker, compost heap, do recycling, farm forests, some of which are on the website (click on technical reports). Looks like they're doing excellent, practical work.
On-line seminars in sustainable economics, at the Communications for a Sustainable Future site.
Farmer Direct Marketing, from the US Department of Agriculture.
Farmer Direct Marketing Publications.
Farmer Direct Marketing Newsletter, June-July 1999,
How to build a wood fired oven and start a home bakery. Being a tried and true method of getting together our daily bread and having some loaves to sell.
Adobe Oven Page, how one family built an abode oven, step by step.
Alternative Technology Association, Australian site. Publishes booklets on how to build your own wind generator, low voltage appliances, and other subjects.
Institute for Local Self Reliance, from raising fish in a basement to organizing a community cooperative.
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, sustainable farming information center from the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Sustainable agriculture organizations and publications.
Farmer Direct Marketing online newsletter, from the US Department of Agriculture.
Country Home Magazine simple living and homesteading.
How to start a food buying club, from Natural Life magazine.
Virtual Library on Micro-credit. Find out the latest news on micro-enterprise and micro-credit activities that enable people to help themselves.
Justpeace Front Page about Co-ops many links, Catholic connections.
Co-op Month Home Page, from the National Cooperative Month Planning Committee, activities, history, and links.
Wedge Community Co-op, a Minnesota cooperation.
Frontier Natural Products Co-op, a co-op supplying co-ops
Breedlove Dehydrated Foods, a nonprofit organization in Lubbock, Texas that provides low cost food to charities for use in hunger relief projects (US and international). It owns its own state-of-the-art processing facility, that has provided over 28 million pounds of dehydrated vegetables (mostly potatoes and carrots) since 1994. It is the first full-scale, non-profit facility of its kind in the world. It processes 100,000 pounds of food per day, or enough dehydrated product for about 450,000 one cup servings. They can package 850,000 servings per day, and provide several blends including rice, TVP, onions, potatoes, carrots. One million servings can be provided at a cost of about 3.1 cents per one cup serving. This is a MUST SEE and TELL all your friends. Funds to operate the plant come from donations, processing fees for non-profit agencies, and some retail sales to the public. No government funds are involved.
Lehman's Non-electric Catalog, from the Kidron, Ohio company that supplies the Amish, everything you need to live without electricity.
Working at home, page of links about starting your own business, including how to avoid the various scams in this microenterprise area.
Ecomall, a gateway for businesses offering eco-friendly products via the internet.
Pike Place Market. What has 9 acres, 9 million annual visitors, 100 farmers, 150 craftspeople, 300 commercial businesspeople, and 50 performers? Pike Place Market in Seattle. It's also home to a number of senior citizens. Read this beautiful and informative site and find out about this important public market, and then ask yourself if your city doesn't need such a place of economic opportunity.
American Farmland Trust is working to stop the loss of productive farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthier environment. In particular, see the Farmland Information Library, big piles of information, very big piles. Excellent online resource.
Farmland Fund of PCC Natural Markets, an 8 store chain of markets in the Puget Sound, Washington area. Their Farmland Fund is a non-profit organization that raises money to buy threatened land and put it into organic food production.
A Guide to North American Fairs, dates, links, vendors
Solar baking under the Sonoran Sun, a group of women in Sonora, Mexico, start a bakery using a solar oven.
The Mondragon Cooperatives of Spain, English home page. The Mondragon cooperatives consist of 120 different enterprises, more than 40,000 worker owners. See Mondragon: A better way to go to work? in the June 2000 Oklahoma City Catholic Worker.
Ithaca Hours Online, access to information on starting up a local currency system to support your local economy. Yes, it's legal, no it's not counterfeiting (you aren't issuing US dollars, you are creating a local alternative currency).
San Diego Women's Bean Project, a small business providing homeless and low-income women with economic opportunity.
Community Supported Agriculture Business Management Series, from Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, extensive on-line manual.
TenThousand Villages, providing income to people in Third World villages by marketing their products, a Fair Trade project.
Commercial applications of mini-farming, microenterprises and market gardens. Applications and target enterprises.
WWW Virtual Library on Microcredit, high quality access, links, data, via the Global Development Research Center
Small Farms and their economic and social importance. Plus piles of access to resources, info, and links.
Growing for Market, online presence of a hardcopy publication from Kansas, not much online info, but some interesting print publications and it looks like the publication itself is a keeper. Virtual Farm Tours, interesting link page to site offering tours of successful small farms. Followup has links relating to stories in the publication.
Economics of Transition from State-Capitalist to Cooperative Enterprises, academic paper considering the cooperative as a model for newly liberating economies.
National Cooperative Bank. Has information about coops, including a start-up guide to cooperative business enterprise.
Sustainable Business News, weekly email newsletter for environmentally conscious businesses.
Would you like ground spinal cord with that? Salon.com expose of the fast food industry. You might be surprised what goes into a corporate franchise fast food burger.
Green Money, online access to socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities, businesses, and services.
Cleaner Production, on-line access to environmental resources for manufacturers and industry folks.
Local Exchange Trading Systems, invent your own local monetary system back by local goods and services.
Environment
Global Environment Outlook 3 , from the United Nations Environment Program. Sure to be controversial, this "Geo 3" report gives the latest snapshot of how the big picture looks for planet Earth, and the news is not good. You can buy the book here, or read a lot of it online via adobe acrobat files.
International Society for Ecological Economics, website of academic society, has info about research, publications, and conferences in the field.
Flying, page where you can calculate the environmental cost of your airplane trip.
Jetstream Analyses and Forecasts, world maps of high altitude winds. Find out where the fallout will go from a nuclear war anywhere on earth. Hint: fallout from explosions in India and Pakistan will go over China, Japan, and the US.
Choose Climate, interactive site where you can see the consequences of environmental choices.
The Great Climate Flip Flop, from Atlantic Monthly. Global warming? Global cooling? The evidence is mounting that the earth's climate is characterized by abrupt changes. Personally, I think the situation is much more complicated than either the global warmers or the anti global warmers would like for us to believe.
Scorecard, enter your zip code, find out what pollutants are being released in your neighborhood and who is doing the polluting.
The Battle of Seattle page at the Co-intelligence Institute's site. Probably the best collection of links and articles on the subject I've seen, plenty of information, but not so much that it isn't digestible. A must read is Hawken's take on the event.
Bio-democracy & the Organic Consumers Association, a clearinghouse for information and grassroots technical assistance in support of sustainable organic agriculture and the dangers of corporate control of agriculture.
Climate change and impact on US water supplies, extensive bibliography of peer reviewed literature.
US Global Climate Change Information Office, government site offering a lot of access to climate issues. In particular, see Consequences, their on-line publication on the effects of climate change on human populations.
Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, subscribe or review the archives of a weekly email on environmental issues.
Unwelcome Neighbors: Civil Rights and the Environment, a series from the Times-Picayune (Louisiana) News. The plain truth is: poor neighborhoods tend to have polluting industrial neighbors, negatively impacting all who live there.
The Fraying Web of Life, on-line summary (in html and pdf formats) of a report to be released in September 2000 by the UN Development Program, the World Bank (!!!!), and the World Resources Institute. In the last century: + half of the worlds wetlands were lost, + forest habitat is being lost at the rate of 130 square kilometers per year, + soil degradation has affected 2/3rds of the world's agricultural lands (in the last 50 years!).
Earth Share, mega access site sponsored by a coalition of the US leading environmental and conservation organizations. Lots of practical info, networking, and news is here.
A paler shade of green, essay critiquing corporation-style "sustainability" pr tactics.
Ecologia, Ecologists Linked for Organizing Grassroots Initiatives and Action, offices in the US and many of the former Soviet Empire countries, founded to assist environmentalists in the old Soviet Empire countries with information and technology transfer.
Ecology at About.com, with the usual thoroughness you expect from an About.com guide, a good place to get started with environmentalism on the web.
International Center for Bio-saline Agriculture, The mandate of the Center is to develop sustainable management systems to irrigate food and forage crops and greening plants with saline water and to provide a resource of salt-tolerant plants for socio-economic development in the arid and semi-arid areas and salt affected areas of the Islamic world and elsewhere, located in Dubai..
Center for Ecological Pollution Prevention, composting toilets, graywater and waste management systems.
The Busy Person's Guide to Greener Living, eco-tips, action alerts, shopping, original content plus links and resources. Well-organized.
Inform, "strategies for a better environment," practical ways of living and doing business that are environmentally sustainable.
Environment and Sustainable Living, interesting collection of links relating to the various practicalities of a sustainable living household. Some original content about the basics of sustainable living.
Graduate Program in Earth Literacy, offered by the College of St. Mary in the Woods in Indiana. Affiliated with the Sisters of Providence and their White Violet Eco-justice Center linked in the Spirituality section this issue.
Marianist Environmental Education, from the Catholic religious order of the same name, caring for 100 acres in an ecologically sound manner, offers educational programs and service learning projects.
Christians Respecting Earth and the Environment. A project of the justice and peace commission of the Brisbane (Australia) Catholic Diocese.
Earth on Edge, website for the PBS Bill Moyers' report of the same name, examining the six major ecosystems that we depend upon: agriculture, forest, grasslands, coastal areas, freshwater, urban.
Ecology and Society, a peer reviewed on-line electronic journal.
Pesticide Action Network, includes a database, action updates, problems, worldwide focus.
Environmental Quotations, academic site with big piles of quotes arranged by subject.
Bat Conservation International, all kinds of bat stuff, including a batcam. (No Robin however.)
Housing
The Last Straw, a quarterly journal of straw bale construction and natural building.
Sustainable Building Sourcebook, from a to z, access and information.
Lighthook's strawbale house page. Information and links.
Surfin' Strawbale Links List, aptly described as "The List" to pursue straw bale building.
Cob Cottage, information about this low-tech building technology.
Down to earth building bee, building solutions for sustainable communities.
What is cob? Basic info, plus beautiful pictures, of hand sculpted homes.
Skillful Means information about straw bale construction and sustainable building practices from an experienced architectural and construction firm. Check out their What's New? page for information about their "mission to Mongolia," where one of the firm's principles is teaching straw bale construction. If you think a strawbale house would look tacky, check out the photos on this page of beautiful strawbale homes.
Sustainable Architecture, Building, and Culture links and content for ecological building.
Sustainable Home Ownership Initiative of the National Consumer Law Center, one of the nation's leading experts on low-income consumer issues. The Home Ownership Initiative researches and exposes predatory lending practices typically found in low income areas, and helps people understand their rights and options.
Timber Framers Guild, timber framing is a centuries old construction technique using large beams (8" x 8" or larger).
National Affordable Housing Network, has plans for affordable houses suitable for construction by volunteers, homeowners, or contractors, featuring R-40 walls and R-60 insulation in the attic, high performance heating systems (annual heating cost of one of these homes in Duluth, Minnesota was only $128!) Construction is explained and sequenced so that it is easy for untrained people to be guided in the work.
Straw Locator, do you need 500 straw bales to build your dream house? Or do you have a field full of straw bales to sell? This is a clearinghouse for people looking to buy straw bales, people with bales to sell, and people who will haul them around.
The Eco Design Experience, 6 week course offered in Arizona in conjunction with the San Francisco Institute of Architecture on designing ecologically sound dwellings. Courses combine construction and class work for an effective presentation. Director is Dr. Phil Hawes, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and the architect for Biosphere 2. The class syllabus seems very comprehensive.
The Co-housing Network, a type of collaborative housing featuring private dwellings surrounding one or more larger common buildings. A good on-line library of articles on the subject, access, connections, there may be one forming in your area. Adaptable to a variety of "intentions" in starting such a community.
Cob Web II, great access to cob building resources. Great pictures, look what you can make with mud, straw, and stones.
Cob Works, instruction, accommodation, construction. Visit this beautiful location on Mayne Island in British Columbia and discover the beauty of cob construction. Site has nice explanations with beautiful pictures of the many creative possibilities using cob construction.
Gypsy Farm, a natural building resource center. Follow the adventures of the Newberry family as they construct a "super-adobe" home in Georgia, a technique based on Nader Kalili's work at Cal-Earth.
New Zealand Ecovillages and Community Housing project, teaching low income people skills to construct affordable housing, providing land and resources for such projects, and initiating eco-villages.
Day Creek, access to cordwood building information, has on-line forums relating to alternative house building and construction techniques. Build a house for $12/square foot, a cord wood house in Wisconsin. Day Creek Journal, follow the Mason family as they build their own cordwood home.
Our Earthship, a family is building an "earthship" dwelling and are posting pictures of their progress, together with comments and information
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, green roofs help regulate the inside temperature of a building, clean up air pollution, provide beauty, sound insulation, and food production.
Project Echo, creating low cost, sustainable building technologies that are disaster resistant (particularly tornadoes and earthquakes).
Straw Bale Central, clearinghouse for information and techniques.
Robert Bolman's Natural Building and Social Justice Page, with a description of the strawbale/cob house his is building, plus information about his slide show presentations in the US Northwest.
California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture, a beautiful site with lots of information and pictures.
Hartworks, books and videos about alternative living.
50 strawbale house plans, interesting, innovative, beautiful.
Sustainable architecture, building, and culture, content and links, lots of resources here.
Earthship.org, access to all things earthship-ish, from the creators of the concept..
Earthship Landing: a pictorial history, chronicles an Earthship housing project near Durango, Colorado. Take the virtual tour for panoramic views. Lots of pictures, from all stages from the beginning of construction to the finished home. The site is very interesting.
Home Improvement, from Better Homes and Gardens, plumbing, carpentry, wiring, masonry and concrete, Energy Conservation in the Home.
Insulation Basics, from Nova Scotia Power (they should know up there!).
Home Solutions basic info about various housing/construction issues. Frequently Asked Questions about insulation and other home energy issues, from a South Carolina utility company.
Family
Mother's Home, a site with interesting info, craft ideas, instructions,etc., for mothers with kids at home. See Home Made Supplies, with recipes for play dough, goop, clay, paste, finger paints, etc.
Family Crafts, with the usual About.com thoroughness, info and links on stuff families can make together. Bead projects, painting, decopage, dioramas, you name it, it's here.
Speaking of Education, transcript of a speech at a National Catholic Rural Conference meeting, 1946.
7 keys to a Christian Home, early publication of the National Catholic Rural Conference.
16 rules about choosing which debt to pay first, many families are heavily indebted, and sometimes financial circumstances limit people's ability to pay such debts. These rules help to prioritize debt so that the most important bills are paid first.
La Leche League, world's foremost authorities on breast-feeding.
The NFP Files, get the facts, learn the biological truths about your own body, understand why tens of millions of families are using this practical and effective and non-invasive method of family planning.
What is Natural Family Planning? No pills, chemicals, or abortafacients. Calls for deep communication between married partners.
Homesteading on a 21st century ark, a Christian family shares their beliefs on homesteading and simple living, plus some thoughts on the practicalities thereof.
Parenting Humor, family stress test, what planet are you from, name that famous mom quiz, great family humor.
The benefits of gardening with kids, teach the kids about life, science, and share quality time.
Frugal Baby Care, by Pat Veretto, About.com guide to Frugal Living. Discussion, suggestions, and links.
50+ great websites for parents and kids, from the American Library Association.
Couple to Couple League, information about natural family planning.
Kinder-art, over 650 different free art and craft lessons, for grades K-12, plus early childhood. Need to know how to make paper mache, flour paste? Here are the instructions. Plus many more.
Let's Try Paper Mache!, articles and links about paper mache craft and art.
The Diaper Pin, everything you need to know about using cloth diapers.
Consumer Addiction, from one of the most loving and sensible women on the internet, Pat Vereto, About.com guide to Frugal Living.
Going Green, tips to help you manage a "Greener" house and lifestyle.
Growing
No till, mulch based market gardening, excellent page describing the progress of this farm towards no till gardening. Practical info.
Native Seeds, non profit organization preserving the seeds of varieties of plants traditionally used by Native Americans. "Ancient seeds for modern needs."
Natural Perspective, online directory of plant images and descriptions, organized by scientific taxonomy (species/families, etc.)
Organic Research, online community for organic farmers, research, discussion, organic farm locator.
Plant Database, a compilation of gardener's wisdom on 2500+ plants, has 2900+ plant photos.
Grain Amaranth, from Rodale Research Center, academic paper on amaranth grown for grain.
Herb, Medicinal Plant, Wild Flower pictures and info on medicinal uses. Special focus on the wild herbs of Tennessee.
The Chicken, from the Yale program of Agrarian Studies, online access to "all things chicken", plus a conference on the "biological, social, cultural and industrial history of the chicken from neolithic middens to mcnuggets."
Sorghum for Syrup, from the University of Wisconsin, basic cultivation details. A page from the Alternative Field Crops Manual, with details of more than 40 crops, ranging from lentils to sunflowers and most points between.
Windowbox.com, commercial site offering everything that a container gardener needs, good place to get ideas, also has free resources, Ask the Experts.
Gardening without irrigation (Or not much anyway), online text of the complete book.
Resource Center on Urban Agriculture and Forestry, policy, links, full on line text of several useful publications.
Planting a Three Sisters Garden, from Native American Technology and Art.
Learning from Ancestors, another article about Three Sisters gardening.
I Can Garden!, great resource with newsletter and discussion boards for gardening info.
Permaculture, agriculture, gardening link page
Resources for tropical agriculture, from a Christian research and missions organization,
The hydroponic home(made) garden, sponsored by a commercial enterprise, information and design considerations, discusses components and has some diagrams.
Container Gardening in the City, promoting the "wading pool" system as the ultimate low-tech cheap container for city gardening. Step by step instructions, project initiated by people of faith to help the urban poor.
Chris' Hydroponics Home Page, by a University of Florida horticulture student, pictures and descriptions of his homemade hydroponics system.
Hydroponics Links, from a guy who seems to be working on growing a 75' long tomato plant.
Irish-Eyes, a guide to growing potatoes and garlic, on a commercial site offering seed potatoes and other items of interest to those who would grow spuds in their backyards.
Grow your own yeast, the tiniest garden plants!
Growing your own food, access, links, catalogs, publications.
Heirloom Seeds, offers a selection of non-hybrid seeds.
Redwood City Seed Company, alternative seed company founded in 1971, offers old-fashioned open-pollinated vegetables, herb seeds, and medicinal plants, including many endangered species cultivars. Check out their hot pepper growing tips...
Urban Agriculture Notes, by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture. Urban farming is a way that poor people can better their lives by making their own bootstraps to pull themselves up with. This page is full of articles and reports about them that's doin'. The world's urban population is growing at twice the rate of total population growth; by 2025 urban population will be 5.34 billion, half of whom will be living in Asian cities. 800 million people today practice urban agriculture, growing 10% of the world's food supply (UN figures). Urban and Periurban small and medium-sized enterprise development for sustainable vegetable production and marketing systems a study of experiences in Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines.
GardenGuides, a great on-line source for all kinds of information about growing vegetables and flowers.
Community Supported Agriculture of North America, the University of Massachusetts Extension.
American Community Gardening Association, "greening America's communities". Has a database of questions and answers related to community gardening and horticulture.
Homeless Garden Project, located in Santa Cruz, California, founded in 1990, offers a 3 year job-training and transitional employment program for homeless and marginalized people. Operates a commercial organic garden cultivating at 3 sites in the area.
Center for Rural Affairs a non-profit organization serving and advocating for America's family farms and rural communities for 25 years. Emphasis is on sustainable agriculture.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a California site helping put farmers directly in contact with people buying food for home consumption, has FAQS about sustainable agriculture.
National Agricultural Library, of the US Department of Agriculture. Access to big piles of information.
Kazarie Worm Farm What's a compost heap without red worms? Not much. Recommended to me by a friend. Prices look good.
Ecology Action, if you buy or read only one book on organic gardening, it should be "How to grow more vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries and other crops than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine," published by Ecology Action. This explains the biointensive method of organic gardening, developed by John Jeavons, and is derived from the work of Alan Chadwick, whose work was based on the methods of the French market gardeners of a century ago (they managed to raise lettuce 9 months a year around Paris). What is the biointensive food-raising method? Double-dug raised beds, companion planting, intensive planting, composting, a whole gardening method. They have an on-going demonstration project in California where the methods are continually tested and data is collected. They anticipate raising an equivalent of 300 bushels of wheat per acre (they are closing in fast on this goal, note that most dry land wheat farmers in Oklahoma achieve annual yields of 30 to 40 bushels per acre).
Sustainable Agriculture, from the Virtual World Wide Web Library, one of the best directories on the web (not the largest or the most comprehensive, but the sites are high quality). 25 categories of info relating to sustainable agriculture.
Agriculture, from the Virtual WWW Library, access to all things agricultural.
Oklahoma Draft Horse and Mule Association, newsletters, links to breeders.
Wild Ones Natural Landscaping Handbook, subtitled, How to naturally landscape without aggravating neighbors and city officials. Creating a water garden, planting a prairie, creating a woodland.
Companion Planting, a great guide to companion planting as a way to control insect pests in the garden.
Vegetable Companion Chart, besides insect control, many vegetables benefit by growing "in company" with others. This is a guide to increasing yield and quality through companion planting. It also indicates which plants are "bad companions" and should not be planted in close proximity.
Home Gardening, on-line free encyclopedia.
Organic Farming and Marketing, from the USDA Economic Research Service, links, access, online documents, news.
Midwest Organic and Sustainable Educational Resources (MOSES), "Our mission is to help agriculture make the transition to a sustainable organic system of farming that is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just, through information, education, research, and integrating the broader community into this effort." Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, the largest organic ag meeting in the nation, March 16-17, 2001 at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse.
Rapeseed: a new oilseed crop for the United States,
All About Sprouts, from a professional organization of sprout growers, piles of information on growing and consuming edible sprouts. How to grow sprouts.
Practical Farmers of Iowa, promoting farming systems that are profitable, ecologically sound, and good for families and communities. Farming practices and on-farm research.
Edible Landscaping, online catalog of edible perennials and trees.
Oregon Tilth, a non-profit research and educational organization certifying organic growers, retailers, and processors. Lots of resources and links.
Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs, she may not have every garden-related catalog in the nation listed & linked if they have a website, but she is sure trying.
A thriving mini farm in the city, at the new Ecology Action biointensive growing site, home of John Jeavons and the How to Grow More Vegetables crowd. Bountiful Gardens, supplying non hybrid organically grown seeds, associated with the Ecology Action folks.
Intergarden, big site, lots of connections, networks, on all things sustainable farming and organic gardening.
Mini-farms, raised bed agriculture, market gardening, mini farming, mini ranching,
Square Foot Gardening Project, sponsored by Washington State Cooperative Extension in Pierce County, helping gardeners maximize the nutrition from their home gardens.
City Farms, from Journey to Forever, one of the top tier sites for urban agriculture, especially for beginners.
Soil and Health Library, on-line texts of long-out-of-print classics. See especially Farmers of Forty Centuries, a 1911 study of agricultural practices in China, Japan, and Korea.
Urban Homestead, from Suite101.com, articles and links relating to self-sufficient, ecologically sound living in the city. Offers discussion area. Free registration with suite101.com offers additional resources, including email notification of new content.
Henriette's Herbal Homepage, big piles of information on medicinal and culinary herbs, including Herb Faqs (growing, harvesting, using), classic herbal texts. Nice site, well organized, good info.
All you need to know about soil amendments, benefits of composting, includes chart for calculating how much compost you need per 100 square feet.
Planters Pallette Articles, collection of articles by professional gardeners are various design and plant selection issues, Vegetables add unique look.
Plants and Horticulture, from the UK's Countrylovers site. Articles and links, business and organization directory. Exotic salad crops to grow at home, practical details about some lesser-known but hardy growing salad crops. Designing and planting a knot garden (planting your herbs in decorative geometrical patterns).
Lost crops of the Incas, with potential for worldwide cultivation, complete online text of a 1989 book.
Knot Herbs, commercial site, information on knot gardens, nice pictures. Plant descriptions, gardening tips.
Leaf for Life, green leaves for the people, the land, the future, information about leaf crops, library, faqs, all you need to know about 983 plants with edible leaves. 16 favorites, taste, nutrition, sustainability. See also 50 Honorable Mentions.
Permaculture Magazine, solutions for sustainable living, online presence of a UK print magazine, has a number of on-line articles.
Article on how to grow and harvest a traditional European mix of salad greens.
Salad Burnet , an ancient perennial salad crop, popular in England, forgotten in most of America. Plant some in your garden.
Gardening 101 , index of articles from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about how to make a garden starting with bare ground.
Growing fruit crops in containers , from Florida Extension, everything you need to know to grow a fruit tree in a pot.
The Rhubarb Compendium , everything you ever wanted to know about growing, propagating, harvesting, and cooking rhubarb.
Kitchen Gardener Online, internet presence of a print magazine, has lots of online articles and tips, including Brewing Compost Tea, one of the best online descriptions I have found of this.
Organic gardening tips and links, nice page with interesting articles and links. See especially Easy Edible Landscaping.
Growing herbs for the home gardener, from North Carolina Extension, growing requirements, propagation, and uses for annual and perennial herbs.
The Weekend Gardener, practical horticulture for busy people. In particular, see Growguide Online, which in four easy steps will tell you what you need to plant each week for a succession of food, based on your average frost dates. Also has lots of seed starting info.
Forest Gardening
Forest Edge Garden Project , describes our Oklahoma City "forest edge garden" activities, we presently have 105 different varieties of edible or useful plants on our property. Garden Diary, weekly entries chronicling our garden activities.
How to landscape with edible plants. Nice article describing the basic elements and suggesting some practical and beautiful possibilities.
Djanbung Gardens, five acre permaculture demonstration site in Australia.
Permaculture techniques for food cultivation, basic list of permaculture concepts and elements, illustrated with photographs.
Constructing the Food Forest Orchard, basic methods and considerations, some examples of plant associations.
Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, workshops and info in Colorado, has an online "tour" with text and pictures of their forest garden, located at 7,000 feet above sea level, and are among the most mature such plantings in North America. A person can spend a lot of time here and learn lots of info about developing a forest garden, just by looking at the pictures. High quality text too.
Forest Gardening, a basic page of info, discusses the seven layers of a forest garden -- (1) canopy trees, (2) smaller trees and large shrubs, (3) smaller shrubs, (4) herbaceous perennials, (5) ground covers, (6) vines and climbers, (7) tubers.
Another basic one page intro to forest gardening.
Edible Landscaping, forest gardening as an anarchist plot, database listing details of numerous edible perennial crops. One of the best sources in terms of easy to use, practical growing and using tips.
Plants for a Future, details on 7,000 useful plants, UK site.
Permaculture: a beginner's guide, a short introduction to the forest gardening and permaculture..
Permaculture Design Bites, short articles about the basics of permaculture design.
Fruit Trees, good site on selecting and planting.
Leaves to Live By: Perennial Leaf Vegetables, good choices for lazy gardeners.
Edible landscaping and gardening, lots of info, coupled with revolutionary thoughts as to how growing one's own food can be a liberating experience from corporate domination. Good plant lists and details.
Edible Landscaping, from About.com, nice index of pages with descriptions of edible perennial plants.
International Center for Research and Training in Sea Buckthorn, portal to the world of sea buckthorn cultivation. Not many details on this site, but lots of links, not all of which work. Located in China.
COMPOST
Master Composter, lots and lots of information, plus access to local "Master Composter" programs. Reproducible handouts on composting and worm composting.
Compost Resource Page, all kinds of info about composting, including Compost Poetry!
The Humanure Handbook, complete online text of the definitive handbook on composting human manure.
Compost Science, a quarterly peer reviewed journal focusing on management techniques to improve large scale compost systems, with an emphasis on using composted materials.
Making and using compost, from the University of Missouri Extension Department.
Garden Compost, from the extension department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Wood and Wire Three Bin Turning Compost Bin, from the Extension Department of the University of Arkansas, plans for making compost on the fast track.
Composting Resources, from Texas A&M Extension, including resources for larger scale composting in commercial operations.
Worm Digest, everything you ever needed to know about vermicomposting (composting with worms).
Compost Resource Page, includes an on-line forum, and many articles. (Add some links from this page to the special focus section.)
Home Composting Forum, general info, troubleshooting, education, and archives.
Composting, from the spectacular Journey to Forever site. Excellent practical information. Vermicomposting.
As the Worm Turns, or how I learned to start vermicomposting and love the worm. Nice article about beginning adventures in worm composting.
Compost, another nice little page about composting.
Energy and Transportation
The Energy and Transportation Links have been moved to our new sister site page at Alternative Renewable Energy, they've also been nicely categorized by subject for easier access. New alternative energy sites will be added to that page.
Converting an engine to run on alternative fuel such as alcohol or vegetable oil, discussion thread from last year about some of the details and options.
Green LA, Los Angeles residents can voluntarily agree to pay 6% extra on their electric bill, with the funds used to subsidize the purchase of electricity generated by renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) This electricity tends to cost a bit more than power generated by fossil fuel plants, but the price of the fossil fuel plant doesn't include the cost of the pollution. As of November 1999, 20,000 households had signed up for the program. This program is designed to allow consumers to encourage alternative non-polluting energy markets to create new productive enterprises to provide such renewable energy.
PV Power, from the Dept. of Energy, a set of detailed pages about generating your own power with solar cells.
Electricity-free Refrigeration, here are do-it-yourself plans for building an absorption refrigerator that does not use electricity.
Bio-energy List Archives, searchable, this is one of the lists I archive.
WIRE - the Worldwide Information System for Renewable Energy, sponsored by the German government (site is in English, however), tons of resources (click on "guest access" or do a free registration which allows more options (such as providing information to the database).
International information on renewal energy, Geothermal, Biomass, Waste, Hydro, Solar, Wind, PV
Build a solar power generator for less than $300, enough power for a small TV, or radio, cassette player, small fan, blender.
Veggie Van, OK, you take any kind of vegetable oil (used frying oil from restaurants is fine), mix it with a bit of methanol and lye, and you get glycerin soap and BIODIESEL. Pour the biodiesel into any diesel engine, and it will work fine (no modifications to the engine are necessary), and the exhaust smells like french fries. These people drove all over the country in a biodiesel powered van, and wrote a book about it. You can buy the book here, and or read for free about the wonderful world of bio-diesel.
Carbohydrate Economy Clearing House, from the Institute for Local Self Reliance, making fuels (and other industrial projects) from veggies and other carbohydrates.
Phyllis, a database on the composition of biomass and waste. If you need the details, they are here.
Mr. Solar great access to information about living "off-the-electrical-grid". Has numerous articles about all facets of alternative energy.
Build your own generator using a lawnmower engine and an automobile alternator. No kidding, detailed plans, built it yourself.
Renewables for Sustainable Village Power Program access to information about local and village electrical power programs not dependent upon importing electricity from a grid.
Methane Production, detailed discussion by someone who's done it (that is, produced methane gas from manure and chopped plant matter. Can be a substitute for natural gas or propane
Making your own fuel alcohol, hydrogen gas, and methane.
The full costs of the car, from Car-free Ottawa, an accounting of the real costs of auto ownership, including the externalities our economic system allows us to avoid.
Solar Energy International, renewable energy education and sustainable development. Among other activities, they offer on-line classes in designing a PV (photo-voltaic) energy system.
Do it yourself automotive LPG conversion, convert your car to run on propane or methane. Complete on-line text of the book.
Green Energy News, covering clean, renewable, and efficient energy for transportation, home, and business.
Solar Frost, a European start cooperative offering solar refrigeration and cooling technology.
Carbohydrate Economy E-bulletin, December 2000, monthly publication chronicling developments in alternative economic development, from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. See also Healthy Building Network, safer & ecologically superior building materials, Waste to Wealth, community development through reuse and recycling,
Alternative Energy Links, from Frugal Living at About.com, lots of links to all aspects of alternative energy.
Earth Saving Tips, from Earth Share, lots of practical ideas for saving energy and living a green lifestyle.
Fuel Economy, from the US Department of Energy, on-line access to fuel economy statistics for vehicles sold in the US. See Driving More Efficiently for tips on fuel economy.
Energy in the 21st Century: the return of Geopolitics?, "Experience in mature oil regions suggests that conventional oil production could peak between 2010 and 2020. Production outside OPEC Middle East would start to decline before OPEC Middle East production, implying a greater reliance on Middle East supply." Detailed report on the world petroleum supply, from the Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development, which is sponsored by 30 nations, mostly the developed West.
Biodiesel research and the University of Missouri, bibliography, some on-line academic papers.
National Biodiesel Board, all the news that fit to print about all things biodiesel.
Biodiesel, a do it yourselfer shows how he makes biodiesel from used fryer oil, lots of pictures.
International Solar Energy Society, membership society, global outreach.
Central Vermont Solar & Wind, commercial site, but it offers a great overview of what is involved with getting off the grid. Easy to understand, which is something when we're talking about alternative energy. Their packages run $500 to $25,000, and all are "hybrid", featuring wind and solar generating capacity.
Utility Connection, links to nearly 4,000 electrical, gas, water, and waste water utilities.
Preserving and Processing
Syrup Makers, access to major information on making syrup from sorghum and from sugar cane.
Canning and preserving the harvest, on-line forum with extensive archives and links.
The Complete Guide to Home Canning, from Mississippi Extension. Selection, use and care of canning equipment.
Beer and Brewing, from the Virtual World Wide Web Library, high quality access to home brewing. Thank God for yeast, without them we wouldn't have beer or cheese or bread, and how can we have civilization without beer, cheese and bread?
Anthony's Root Beer Barrel, make your own, information and links.
Beer at Home, recipes, instructions, equipment, and supplies for making beer and soft drinks at home.
Ketel's Root Beer Worship Center, recipes and instructions on brewing your own root beer.
Beer and Home Brewing, from About.com, with its usual thoroughness, offers comprehensive access.
Food Safety and Preservation, from two food and nutrition scientists. Much information about home preservation and food safety.
Jar Cakes, an old tradition. Better than junk food, you betcha.
Making your own cheese, from the publishers of Countryside Magazine (established 1917).
Home Canning Magazine is a great resource, good information, links, and an extensive discussion forum.
Save the pumpkins! Great and tasty ideas for eating and preserving pumpkins.
Home canning tips (www.home-canning.com/tips.html), lots of good information on home preservation.
Freezers & Freezing Food, from Pat Veretto at Frugal Living About.com. Buying and operating a freezer efficiently, and food freezing tips.
Making cheese from powdered milk, from Natural Meals in Minutes, on the Gentle Spirit site.
Stretching your food dollar with grains and beans, from Natural Meals in Minutes, make your own honey maple nut cereal.
Small scale oil seed processing, from Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, a complete on-line manual. On-line publications, from ATTRA, much good accurate info can be found here.
Home Canning guide,. Comprehensive explanations for home preservation, from Florida Cooperative Extension.
The Complete Guide to Home Canning, from Mississippi Cooperative Extension.
Home Food Preserving, Suite 101 portal site, lots of links and articles.
Homecanning.com, from the makers of Ball canning jars. How to's, plus recipes.
Cooking and Eating
Frozen Assets, cook for a day, eat for a month, homesite of the busy Frozen Assets (2000+ members) discussion group devoted to planning menus, having one or more "cook days" during a month when a lot of food is cooked and then frozen for quick eating later.
Food Network, 20,000 recipes, tips, cooking 101. Lots of info here.
All About Pressure Cookers, here's the basic info. From the Fabulous Foods Online Cooking School
Wild Food, great site on foraging.
Home Grown Food, a local food guide centered on Boone, North Carolina.
Foraging, big list of links regarding eating and finding wild foods, recipes, harvesting, making wild wines, etc.
Edible Plants, "dining on the wild." Has a survival tip and plant of the month.
Dandelion Recipes, from my good online friend, Pat Veretto, the About.com guide to Frugal Living. It's got recipes for dandelions, plus additional links to other dandelion info.
Dandelion Wine 2 recipes for dandelion wine.
Soup Recipe.com, it may not actually have all the world's recipes for soups, but this site is working on it. Searchable, soup of the day, resources and more.
Culinary Herb FAQ, everything you ever wanted to know about every culinary herb -- growing, harvesting, preserving, using.
In Season, all about using and cooking locally grown, seasonal produce.
International Dutch Oven Society, history, recipes, cookbooks.
Solar cooking and water pasteurization email listserv, has archives of messages.
Canned Food Recipes, from the industry "Canned Food Alliance", a selection of nutritional recipes using canned foods (this site will be useful to low income people and those running emergency food pantries.) Recipes are searchable, and an email newsletter is available.
Soyfoods.com access to information about and recipes using soybeans.
Veggie Heaven, practical recipes and cooking tips for meatless dining.
Veggies Unite, more online information about meatless dining.
Saroj's Cookbook, opening up the diverse worlds of Indian cooking. Check out the "Bachelors' Dishes".
Southern Food at the Mining Company, although now I think it's calling itself About. Great links and resources for home cooking. More than 1000 crock pot recipes. (Crock pot recipes typically work well in solar cookers.
US Soyfoods Directory, lots of info and recipes about using the humble soybean.
Solar Ovens are Wonderful, a nice page from a woman who has been cooking dinner with a solar oven for six years.
Crockpot Cooking, a great way to save money on meals.
Crock Pot Recipes Index, huge collection of great recipes. Remember, most crockpot recipes can be adapted easily for solar cooking.
Christmas Recipes from one of those most useful places you find on the internet, the Southern US Cuisine pages at the Mining Company.
The Dinner Co-op Page. What's a dinner co-op? People who get together and cook and eat together. This page has recipes (including a downloadable cookbook), and over 3000 links. Cooking is rotated on a 3 week schedule, and costs are shared. This program was designed originally by grad students, but can be adapted for many different situations.
Sun ovens are wonderful!, the basics of solar cooking with pictures and links. With recipes.
Thrifty Meals, from the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, click on the link to download in adobe acrobat format.
Dutch oven dinners, from Gentle Spirit magazine, can also be made in a crockpot.
Frozen Assets: cook for a day, eat for a month, links, recipes, cooking plans, comprehensive access to the OAMC world.
Scheffler's Community Solar Cooker, a description with diagrams of a large solar cooker suitable for use by an entire village. Pictures of the construction of such a cooker at the Baha'i Vocational Institute for Rural Women in India.
Southern Food, by Diana Rattray at About.com. If you like good slow food, this is one of the best places to look for recipes. Crockpot meals, casseroles, budget dinners, even if you don't know how to spell "y'all" (much lest pronounce it properly in its various variations), this page will be a useful treasure. Y'all all go see it now, you hear? " Offers a great weekly email newsletter.
Cookbook and Recipe Links, page with links to a lot of on-line cookbooks
Better Baking, comprehensive site on baking.
Robin Hood Flour, from a Canadian milling company, tips and recipes, discussion forum, about baking.
Food Storage Cooking School, from Utah State University Extension, cooking with bulk foods and typical food storage items.
Tamara's Solar Cooking Pages, interesting intro to solar cooking, including some detailed plans with drawings for a solar box cooker.
The Solar Cooking Funnel, a solar cooker shaped like a funnel, with a large mason jar as the cooking container. More details on the solar funnel, some improvements, and a discussion of a "Save Heat" cooker (non-electric crockpot). From Brigham Young University.
Community (whole systems)
Distributism and Catholic Social Teaching, a collection of articles by my good friend John Medaille of Dallas, Texas, regarding distributism and the practical application of the Church's social teachings to economic issues.
Thoughts in the Presence of Fear, Wendell Berry's post Sept 11th essay that has been reprinted in 76 countries. This is his call to a "peaceable economy."
The Idea of a Local Economy, by Wendell Berry, in depth critique of globalization and consumerism.
Turn the Tide, a program from the Center for the New American Dream, inviting people to make nine changes in their lives that contribute to a better environment. The Nine Actions.
Village Earth, a consortium for village based development. Offers an extensive of 1,050 of the best books on village level and do it yourself technologies, available on CD ROM or microfiche, 150,000 pages of text. Has online searchable access to the Appropriate Technology Sourcebook, which reviews the 1050 books in the AT Library.
Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri at Columbia. There be heroes of the revolution here doing important work on rural issues, consolidation in the food industry, local food networks, and etc.
Family Homesteading Advocate, info and support for all aspects of family homesteading. Also offers some products for sale.
Agrarian Studies, at Yale. Who woulda thought that Yale would have an agrarian studies program. Interdisciplinary.
Pulling Apart, a state by state study details how the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us has widened over the last 20 years. Links is to a report summary and has access to the full report.
The Home Place, a sustainable living demonstration center
World Grain Update, World grain harvest this year will fall 54 million tons short of annual consumption. The balance will be made up by drawing on stocks of grain carried over from previous years. This year's harvest is projected at 1,841 million tons, with consumption estimated at 1,895 million tons. Last year's shortfall was 34 million tons. The world's reserve stocks of grain are at their lowest levels in 20 years - amounting to only 22% of annual consumption.
Oklahoma Sustainability Network, online access to a growing group of Oklahomans who are finding and publicizing sustainable alternatives. Don't miss its first ever statewide conference, May 10, 2002, at the OSU OKC campus on North Portland.
Oklahoma Use Less Stuff Campaign, from the Oklahoma Dept. of Environmental Quality, excellent online access to downloadable materials.
Cherokee Heritage Center, preserving and promoting Cherokee history and culture.
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, an information center operation by the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Provides technical assistance to farmers, Extension agents, market gardeners, and others with an interest in agriculture. Extensive online library of reports giving practical details of sustainable commercial agriculture.
American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy promotes energy efficiency as a way of bolstering the common good (including economic prosperity), lots of resources, including a home energy consumption guide, ratings of energy efficiency of appliances, legislative and tax alerts.
Positive Futures Network, working to build a more just and sustainable world.
New Urban Agenda, highlighting progress along the road to sustainability, reports from them that's doin'.
Corporate Agriculture Research Project, monitors corporate agri-business and supports alternatives. Has a regular email newsletter, Agribusiness Examiner, and a new services, Agbiz Tiller. Dares to talk about justice and the small farmer and farm worker.
Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society, academic group studying the relationship between human values and agriculture systems.
Community Development Society, a professional organization, has on-line journal with abstracts of articles, other resources.
Real Wealth, the Genuine Progress Indicator as an alternative to the GDP or GNP as measures of economic well being.
Bread for the World, see their Action Alert for this month.
Community Food Security Coalition, information, action, networking.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers public policy, sustainable agriculture, community supported agriculture.
14 essays on food security, from the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food Research and Action Center New data show sharp increase in food insecurity in the US. Report
Eco-Village Information Service links to people and places of sustainable living.
Community Food Security Coalition. Food security is where all people have nutritionally adequate, culturally acceptable diet at all times through local non-emergency sources. Has a number of publications, access to federal money for urban agriculture (community gardens and etc.)
Institute for Food and Development Policy, working to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger. http://www.foodfirst.org
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, some really good articles in its Resource section on globalization and agriculture. The institute is working to create environmentally and economically sustainable communities.
The Farm, founded in 1971 on 1700 acres (a little more than 2.5 square miles, in Summertown, Tennessee. Now they have a school offering immersion experiences at their Eco-Village Training Center including natural building techniques (strawbale, cob, post and beam framing), solar electricity installation, permaculture. Students are a mix of people who pay tuition and people from disadvantaged populations attending via a social justice scholarship (most of whom come from the surrounding 8 state area). See also the Global Village/Institute for Appropriate Technology, chartered in 1974, to research environmentally friendly new technologies.
Global Ecovillage Network, linking ecovillages and related projects. Global Ecovillage Network Newsletter, downloadable in PDF, 44 pages, reporting news about sustainable communities throughout the world. What is an eco-village? With guided tour. Try their Community Sustainability Assessment Audit .
Columbia's Model City, established in the 1970s on Columbia's "llanos" (think plains), Gaviotas is a model eco-village that is working for its people and generating new ideas, and new applications of old ideas, to benefit the common good everywhere.
Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe, Egyptian site, organization building capacities in the direction of sustainable development. On-line newsletters.
Estonian Sustainable Development Database, On-line library of materials (in both English and Estonian), primarily targeted at non-profits and government planners.
Green Power Hong Kong, hundreds of articles about green power issues in Hong Kong, China, and throughout the world, in Chinese, has a summary page in English.
Findhorn Ecovillage Page, the Findhorn intentional community was founded in 1962 in Scotland. This is one of the better ecovillage sites, and does a good job explaining the basics of renewable energy, sustainable economics, local food production (they farm 25 acres which supplies about half the food of the 312 residents).
People Centered Development Forum, an international alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to creating just and sustainable human societies through voluntary action. Life After Capitalism. See also When corporations rule the world, which shows how our corporate economy betrays the free market and violates freedom.
Center for the New American Dream, in the last 50 years, Americans have used more resources than all of the people who have ever lived on this planet since God created us. Comprehensive access to information helping people and organizations reduce consumption.
Journey to Forever, this link was hard to categorize. It's got piles of practical info on just about all things sustainable, yet it also chronicles a journey by LAND from Hong Kong to Capetown, South Africa (talk about an adventure!) The journey hasn't started yet, apparently, but in the meantime they have created a really great site that I am only beginning to scratch the surfaces of. I may have to start handing out stars so I can give five big ones to this site.
Consolidation in food retailing and dairy, Implications for farmers and consumers in a global food system, a National Farmers Union report, by Dr. William Heffernan and Dr. Mary Hendrickson of the University of Missouri at Columbia's Department of Rural Sociology, pdf file. NU Home
The Last Farm Crisis, from the Nation Magazine, chronicling the demise of the family farmer.
The E.F. Schumacher Society, the "small is beautiful" folks. On-line publications, in particular, see Ewes Jackson's Call for a revolution in agriculture.
The Mad Farmer Liberation Front Manifesto, a poem by Wendell Berry.
The Heifer Project, provides small livestock (bees, chickens, goats, rabbits, ducks, buffalo, llamas, pigs, geese, sheep, heifer, plus trees) to third world villages. The people receiving the livestock agree to give some of the offspring to their neighbors. Catalog ,
Redefining Progress, community indicators movement, working to redefine the measuring of progress. Measure Ecological Footprint and see the impact of your lifestyle on nature. See also Indicators for measuring progress towards sustainability.
Dancing Rabbit Eco-village, a work in progress in northeast Missouri, has lots of nice details about what they are doing and where they are going, How to build a rainwater catchment cistern,
Intentional Communities, a website serving the growing communities movement -- ecovillages, Co-housing, community land trusts, communes, urban housing cooperatives and etc. What's true about intentional communities: dispelling the myths, publishes a hardcopy Communities Directory with listings for over 600 intentional communities, has an on-line directory of ICs with websites.
European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions, providing information and support for implementing sustainable development and business practices. Sustainable Development Online, databases and access to online SD material..
Hutterite Society, a review of the book, has some basic info about Hutterite history and lifestyle.
Community Design, index of articles about sensibly designed communities and urban spaces.
The Obsolescent Village Reborn, predicts that villages will outlast the cities.
Amish Heartland, on-line access to the Ohio Amish.
The Green Center, non-profit educational organization that has evolved from the New Alchemy Institute, a pioneering effort in sustainable rural and urban living. Has on-line resources plus offers reprints of classic New Alchemy texts.
City Repair, local Portland, Oregon group that is working to build a resilient, environmentally conscious, sustainable city.
Center for Environment and Society, at the University of Essex in the UK, a trans-disciplinary academic research center, reports on results of practical applications of sustainable living.
Mutual Aid, the anarchist classic by Peter Kropotkin, an alternative to "survival of the fittest".
Responsible Shopping, spend your money wisely and with your eyes open. Know who you are supporting with your dollars and what they are up to behind your back. Stop financing your own destruction! From the Co-op America folks (who are Good People.)
The new Cuban agriculture is oriented towards what we Americans call organic or sustainable agriculture. Here's another article from Canada's City Farmer site.
Spirituality
Evangelical Poverty and the Healing of Nations, essay by your Bettertimes webservant on the connection between world peace and the way we live.
Earth Ministry, faith based (non Catholic) organization helping believers connect their spirituality with the natural world, creation, and environmental stewardship. Extensive church activity resources.
Rural Life Manifesto, 1939 document of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.
Catholic Blessings, for farms and rural activities, from the National Catholic Rural Life Conference
Rural Life Prayerbook, from the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, a large archive of prayers.
Pope Pius XII on rural life, 1946 speech to an Italian association of farmers.
For this we stand, speech at the 1946 meeting of the National Catholic Rural Conference.
Standing on both feet: the rural homestead, a necessity, Late 1940s publication of the National Catholic Rural Conference.
Partnership with God, speech to farmers by the Bishop of Fargo at the 1941 Eucharistic Congress.
View an icon of Dorothy Day ... View an icon of Archbishop Oscar Romero
Pope Affirms Right to Food, a Vatican Information Service story.
The Chesterton Page , a cyberplace for counter-cultural Catholics (and others with similar interests), flowing from an on-going conversation among readers of the Caelum et Terra magazine (1991-96), those participating are generally interested in low-tech, agrarian culture, and the apostolate of beauty.
Promote Real Economic Democracy, Pope John Paul II to the Central Institute of Co-operative Banks, June 1998
We Cannot Be Resigned to World Poverty, Pope John Paul II, full text of the Angelus homily of the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, Sept. 27, 1998. "Where are we with our commitment?. . . In the stark contrast between insensitive rich and the poor in need of everything, God is on the latter's side. We cannot resign ourselves to the immoral spectacle of a world in which there are still people who die of hunger, who are homeless, who lack the most elementary education, who cannot find work an who are unable to receive the necessary treatment when they are ill."
Prayer of the Holy Father for the Jubilee Year
Farming Communes, article by Dorothy Day from the February 1944 Catholic Worker,
Defines personalism as the realization that one "cannot find satisfaction in this life unless he reckons that there is only God and himself." Discusses the difficulties of farming communes and the need to establish the communal aspects of Christianity. Dorothy Day writes, asking a question of Peter Maurin: " 'Do you ever become discouraged when you see our failures?' I asked Peter. 'No, because I know how deep-rooted the evil is. I am a radical and know that we must get down to the roots of the evil.' And the gentle smile he turned on me was as though he said, 'Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps and follow peace with all men.' "
The Story of the Lettuce Workers, article by Dorothy Day from the May 1940 Catholic Worker about a speaking/organizing tour of the west coast. Tells of many meetings and talks around San Francisco. Recalls the union busting and violence against lettuce workers near Salinas. Laments the lack of leaders to bring Catholic social teaching to the workers. Wants "fellow travelers with the poor and dispossessed," who will spread the Gospel, recognizing that the poor are "creatures of body and soul."
On Pilgrimage, Dorothy Day's column from the February 1974 Catholic Worker. Reflects on a number of economic themes: the building of churches; problems with the IRS; why they are not tax-exempt; personalist/anarchist writers and projects; Ade Bethune's Community Corporation in Rhode Island. Extols all forms of mutual aid.
Letter on Hospices, by Dorothy Day from the January 1948 Catholic Worker. Describes how Catholic Worker houses are run and the struggles with living the ideal of Christian love. Reflects on reconciling freedom and order. Maintains the primacy of the spiritual. Gives her positions on cooperation, house leadership, handling money, and the relation of the Catholic Worker to the hierarchy. Concludes by emphasizing the little way and voluntary poverty. YES, you too could start a Catholic Worker House. We did.
Ecumenical Rosary, a new devotion that uses Rosary beads, the miracles of Christ, and prayers that both Protestants and Catholics can be comfortable praying.
A Vision of Peace and Worship, from the Society of St. John, a "narrative of a Catholic City for our times." The Catholic City: One body in Christ, by Tom Storck, from their on-line library. This article discusses the challenges that the traditional American attitudes of individualism and Puritanism pose for such a community.
Web of Creation, transforming faith-based communities for a sustainable world. Lots of online resources for spirituality and ecology, including advocacy, solidarity, lifestyle, liturgy, prayer, and worship.
What do the simple folk do? , Dorothy Day tries to answer the question " How can we believe in a Transcendent God when the Immanent God seems so powerless within time, when demonic forces seem to be let loose?" Points to examples of transcendence in human experience: hope for happiness in intentional communities and love of neighbor, the word of God, miracles, bearing the suffering of others, martyrdom, and delight in loving God.
Poverty is to care and not to care, Dorothy Day reflects on the struggle to achieve voluntary poverty in small steps and for a lifetime. Notes that even honorable work involves taxes used for war. Condemns advertising for increasing desires often leading people to poverty.
On Pilgrimage, 1948, Dorothy Day's regular column in the Catholic Worker, pacifism, distributism, the history of the movement.
Flight from the City, May 1953, by Dorothy Day in the NY Catholic Worker. Celebrates 30 years of "back to the land" advocacy.
Catholic Conservation Center, informing people about ecology, environmental justice, and the stewardship of creation in light of the teachings of the Bible and the Catholic tradition. Has an extensive section of quotes from the Bible and Catholic popes and bishops and councils. In particular, see Ecology Conversion, a statement by Pope John Paul II in January 2001 on this subject.
We must be custodians of nature, John Paul II on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Agricultural World.
Environmental Justice Program, US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Renewing the Earth, statement of the US Bishops.
Ecology and Religion, from the Columban Fathers, their main ecology page has other interesting links.
Colombia River Pastoral Letter,. From the 12 Catholic bishops of the US northwest and southwest Canada.
National Ecology Commission, of the Secular Franciscan Order.
White Violet Center for Eco Justice, the Sisters of Providence, St. Mary in the Woods, Indiana, have turned their mother house into an eco-justice center, featuring a Community Supported Agriculture program in which neighbors can buy shares in the organically grown vegetables and fruits grown by the sisters. They have also built a straw bale retreat house. All of their cropland is state-certified organic. Their site is beautiful, and has lots of interesting, well-written details about their projects and activities.
Mary's Gardens, a garden devoted to plants traditionally associated with Mary. Lots of material here, including plant lists.
Crafting and Making
Make Stuff, great place to go for easy instructions for making many different things. LOTS of stuff here. Also annoying banner ads, but oh well.
Soap making threads, from the Countryside discussion forum.
Native Tech, online information sources regarding the technology and art of Native Americans.Weaving, cordage, painting, pottery, games, foods, plants, beads, featherwork, tools.
Home Depot Project Index, I know, it's a big box store, but their website has lots of practical information on home improvement projects. "Fix it, build it, install it, grow it."
Useful Crafts -- basic info for knitting, weaving, hooking rugs, crocheting, soap making, candlemaking, rug making, cross stitch. From one of my more favorite frugal places on the web, Pat Veretto's Frugal Living page at About.com
Root cellar homepage at Walton Feed
Root cellars from Maryland Extension
Missouri Alternatives Center , several troves of interesting information.
How a chain saw works, from the How Stuff Works website, a comprehensive look at chain saws.
The Texas Guide to Rainwater Harvesting, from the Texas Water Development Board, downloadable in Adobe Acrobat pdf format. Just about everything you need to know.
Harvesting rainwater, access, sources, building code/public health issues.
The Brick Oven Page, from the Masonry Heater Association, domestic, commercial, sourdough,
Nicaraguan Outdoor Masonry ovens
Ovencrafters, some basics and instructions for baking in masonry ovens.
Haybox cooking, how to make a crockpot that doesn't require electricity. From the Center for Alternative Technology in the United Kingdom. Great info here, more tip sheets, access.
Herbal Salve Recipes, make them yourself in your own kitchen, grow your own herbs.
Plastic bags, a long list -- and getting longer -- of recycling uses for plastic bags, a plentiful resource in modern society.
Recycling links from them that's doin about how to do it.
Alternative Technology Internet Links, lots of information.
Homemade with love -- gifts from the kitchen, from the southern food pages at the Mining Company.
How Stuff Works hundreds of reports describing how out technology works.
Centre for Alternative Technology, "Europe's foremost eco-centre." Educational group, offers publications and research (some online at the site), demonstration projects.
Natural homemade cleaners, recipes made from common ingredients.
Lindsay Books, a great publisher of incredible how-to books, need to know how to build a machine shop from scratch? It's here, as is detailed information about running vehicles on producer gas. Good fast service, we've ordered several of their titles.
The Bag Bed, this project was awarded a price from the American Plastics Council as the most unusual recycling idea for plastic grocery bags. This site shows you have to weave the bags into a fabric and then turn the fabric into a warm sleeping bag/bed for homeless people. It takes about 1,000 used plastic bags to make a bed/sleeping bag, but it is warm and comfortable. Or so the site says. Lots of pictures, easy instructions.
EcoGenics, research & development in alternative energy and building systems, has manuals (not online, for sale) on alternative fuels production (methane, alcohol, producer), solar energy, and other alternative building subjects, including building closed loop ecosystems, based on their actual experiences..
How Things Work, a very big pile of information explaining how things work. Many things.
Crafts & Hobbies, from Pat Veretto, About.com Frugal Living guide, great collection of fun and useful things to do.
A solar windowbox air heater, make it yourself to fit your own windows. We are interested in any feedback from readers who have built something like this, as it is on our list of projects to do.
The Society of Primitive Technology, nonprofit org dedicated to the research, practice, and teaching of primitive technology. Lots of interesting content here, in particular, see Building a house on limited means, "the elimination of all that is unnecessary to build a dream," how 2 people with a household income of $10,000/year built their own home. This should be taught in high schools, but it will never happen, 'cause it is too sensible, and too threatening to the housing and mortgage corporations.
Brad's Draft Resources, links to harness makers and other draft animal resources.
B.W. McNair and Son, commercial supplier of draft animal and steam powered farm equipment.
Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion, "where your past is our present," annual get-together of owners and afficionados of classic 19th and early 20th century farm equipment. Exhibits of draft animal, steam and early gas powered farm equipment, including threshers.
Southeast Old Thresher's Reunion, steam, gas, and antique farm equipment.
National Threshers Association, annual event featuring 40+ working steam engines powering sawmills, threshers, and etc.
Oklahoma Steam Threshers Association, located in Pawnee, Oklahoma, sponsoring the "March of Machines," antique tractors and cars, steam threshers, horse drawn farm equipment.
Grain Harvesting, a page of information about the history of grain harvesting, from hand reaping through the invention of the modern "combine", with particular attention to the McCormick Reaper, from the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
Hand Papermaking, how to make your own paper. Sources of fiber and pulp.
Popular Science, on-line presence of the hardcopy magazine, lots of fun info and features.
Thickos guide to distilling alcohol. Lots of details, step by step instructions.
WINDMILLS
Windmills, there is a lot of information here about historic and modern windmills and their uses. I got sidetracked by this site for more than an hour when I stumbled across it. Did you know that windmills were a primary energy source for flour milling during the colonial era of the US? Every farm neighborhood had one or more.
Windmills and how they work, nice little page explaining windmills, has diagrams and pictures.
Windmill design and construction, "windmills were works of art, no two were ever alike," history, design, milling.
Mills of the 18th & 19th centuries in Camden County, North Carolina, nice site describing early windmills in this area of the US.
Simple Living
Flight from the City, an experiment in creative living on the land, complete online text of the 1933 book by a man who left the city for a small homestead in the 1920s. "His books served as guideposts for many anguished wage-slaves who saw his book as a guiding light toward financial security, even survival, during the Great Depression. More, Ralph Borsodi was an amazingly intelligent social critic whose view cut through to the very heart of the contradictions and problems of industrial civilization."
Path to Freedom, a family of 5 in Pasadena, California, who are practicing urban agriculture on their typical lot in an older neighborhood (house was built in 1917). They started in 1985, there are great before and after pictures of their urban homestead. See also their statistics page from which much of this info is gathered. Lots of resources and links, plus pictures of their gardens. They have 3,900 square feet under cultivation (1300 sq ft of this is in containers) on a 55' 132' lot, which is about 8700 square feet; the house is 1500 sq feet and the garage/driveway is 1300 sq ft. From April 20 to November 20 of 2001, they harvested 2054 pounds of food plus 313 ears of corn. Path to Freedom Ezine, regular updates on their activities.
Simple Living, from Inner Explorations, a Catholic contemplative spirituality site profiled above in Spirituality.
Seeds of Simplicity, organizing and educating for voluntary simplicity, tools for children, adults, and community.
Domestic Church, click on the Stewardship link for information about the prudent and frugal lifestyle.
Alternatives for Simple Living, equips people of faith to live justly, challenge consumerism, and celebrate responsibly.
Simple Living, the Journal of Voluntary Simplicity,
Alternatives for Simple Living, sponsors a "Whose birthday is it anyway" campaign at Christmas, provides bulk brochures at cheap prices, customized for various religious groups, regarding this theme; will mail you a nice and informative Resource Guide via the post office.
Voluntary Simplicity, a page from Duane Elgin, author, Toward a way of life that is outwardly simple, inwardly rich, excerpts from the book..
Living Gently Quarterly, a magazine promoting voluntary simple and frugal lifestyles.
Simple Living Network Tools and living examples, more than 3000 pages of information.
Simple Living big page with piles of links on simplicity, frugal living, environmental issues.
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, in Occidental, California, an intentional community offering courses in (among other things) sustainable living.
Alternatives for Simple Living, non-profit organization that equips people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly, and celebrate responsibly.
Affluenza, test your consumption quotient and find out if you have affluenza. Tips for simplifying your life, ten ideas. This is a delightful site from PBS based on their show of the same name.
Houston Simplicity Circles, brief explanation of the Simplicity Circle concept, offers networking and access for local Houston area efforts: " What is a simplicity circle? Simplicity circles are support and study groups where we help each other live deliberately. We discuss what is most important to us and what steps we must take to fit it into our lives. It's called a circle because there's no boss." Plus simplicity movement links.
Countrylovers, connecting people with Britain's countryside. All things country in the UK. Great stuff here.
30 ways to get sustainable at home, simple, accessible, easy to understand.
The Good Life Center, "advancing Helen and Scott Nearing's commitment to social justice and simple living, and preserving their last hand-built home." Helen and Scott lived for 60 years "on the land" in New England, building their own dwellings, growing their own food, seeking justice and simple living. Their writings and example have been very influential in my own life. Their garden still grows at their last homestead, Forest Farm, on Penobscott Bay in Maine. Scott died at age 100 in 1983, and Helen at age 91 in 1995. Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them..
50 reasons to reduce or eliminate mowing, posted in the non-mowing coalition Yahoo discussion group.
Disaster Response
They ask their mothers, "Where is the cereal?" -- in vain, as they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, and breathe their last in their mothers' arms. Lamentations 2:12
Nuclear War Survival Skills, I know, it seems like an oxymoron, but with India and Pakistan rattling nuclear sabers, this classic text may come in handy. Has details, plans, and construction sequences for improvised fallout shelter, a fallout meter (which you can make from stuff you find in your home), and improvised ventilation systems. My advice is to print the entire book or buy it. Fallout from an all out nuclear war in south Asia between India and Pakistan will blanket the continental United States, and depending on how long it takes for the fallout to get here, this could mean lethal levels of radioactivity.
Food and Water Supplies, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, suggesting for home scale disaster preparedness. "If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm or other disaster ever strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water and electricity for days, or even weeks. By taking a little time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family."
Red Cross, Capital Area (Florida), great source of on line disaster prep info, especially for hurricanes.
Seven habits of personal, family, and community resilience, what it takes to make it through the daily challenges and opportunities of life.
Relief Web, from the UN, access to complete humanitarian crises.
Federal Emergency Management Agency, bottom line, natural disasters have caused increasing amounts of damage and loss of human life during the 1990s. The prognosis is: things are going to get worse. Access to disaster mitigation and response information.
Red Cross World Disaster Report, summaries and highlights from the just-released 1999 report. Last year was the worst disaster year on record, tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of millions of people uprooted and displaced by disasters. They expect a decade of increasing deaths and damage from disasters.
ReliefWeb from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
AlertNet, a news and communications service from the Reuter Foundation for the emergency relief community, has press releases from leading relief agencies, expert analyses, reviews of key issues and events, jobs noticeboard. Has a focus page on Kosovo.
American Radio Relay League, access to all things amateur/ham radio. During emergencies and disasters, ham radio operators serve the common good by providing free communications networks to assist in recovery.
Emergency Settlement Project, a study of refugee camps.
Millennium Salons an on-line library of practical information concerning what to do about this problem. Non-crazy, creating resilient communities.
Center for international disaster information
Stormwatch Project, proper preparations for disasters have the effect of mitigating the damage they cause. The site offers content and access for civil society organizations, particularly fraternal lodges and sisterhoods, to help them develop local sustainable and resilient networks. Offers a sample process that local groups can implement to assess their hazards and prepare responsibly.
Foot and Mouth Disease, a guide for people planning to visit the United Kingdom.
Shelter in place guidelines, from the Central Florida Regional Council. Chances are very good that your nice residential neighborhood lies in the potential footprint of a deadly chemical accident. This government site has suggestions for what you should do if your neighborhood is threatened by such an event. Rural areas aren't exempt; look no further than your local farmers cooperative to find a large tank of ammonia whose catastrophic release would create a deadly cloud bigger than most small towns.
Blast Mapper, type in the address or zip code of the closest potential target for a nuclear bomb, and find out what happens in your neighborhood. Air and ground burst, 1 and 20 megaton bombs. Maybe this is information you don't want to know, but if you're in a 100% kill zone, perhaps you should understand your risks.
The American Civil Defense Association, non-profit org promoting community and family preparedness and resilience.
Frugality
The Budget Decorator, very nice site with lots of free high quality info. Offers an online six week cyber learning experience in budget decorating, with personal instruction via email, for $15 tuition. Every month a new free project is posted, they are archived on the site. This month's free project is "exterior decorating on a budget." Has kids' pages. The webcrafter of this site must be a very interesting woman.
Miserly Moms, website of Jonni McCory, author of "Miserly Moms: Living on one income in a two income economy." Site promotes book, but also has lots of high quality, free resources: recipes, tips, budget calculators, home schooling.
Budget Calculator, go through four steps that identify your expenses and income, and then it automatically calculates your household budget.
Online Budget Guide, from a Christian website, enter your annual income, your taxes, and your tithe, then it gives you a sample budget fitting all the typical household expenditures into your after tax/after tithe income. Has other budget/economic calculators, including a mortgage prepayment calculator that shows you how much money you can save by paying off your mortgage OR student loan faster than required by making extra principle payments with each monthly payment.
What's it worth to reduce my spending? Calculate the financial effect of reducing various categories of your personal expenditures.
Frugal and Single, Frugal and single -- how to save money even though you're single, another great article by Pat Veretto, frugalista extraordinaire.
The Frugal Life, asks the question: are we living to work or working to live? Lots of resources, offers an email newsletter.
Frugal Moms, "live better for less," free email newsletters and discussion lists, book reviews holiday idea base, "the frugal kitchen", kids information, stuff for beginners.
The 20th century homemaker, conservative Christian site with a lot of practical details on frugal and simple household management.
Wacky Uses, alternative uses for common household products. Did you know you could use jello to style your hair? Mostly mentions brand names, but generics could be used, saving even more money.
Frugal Living at About.com, we've featured this link before, but it is so good we're mentioning it again. Lots of resources, great articles and links. I can't believe it's a plastic bag! It's amazing what you can do with a plastic bag and a crochet hook. One Income Living, resources for families living on one income.
Frugal Living at About.com, formerly the Mining Company. Excellent access, and a weekly email report.
The Underground Railroad to Financial Freedom, discusses the hidden costs of "two income living".
Frugal Living Newsletter weekly email, has good stuff.
One Income Living index page of links from the frugal living pages at the mining company.
One Income Living in a Two Income World has good ideas for avoiding affluenza. Step by step instructions for frugality and simple living,
The Frugal Life, are you working to live or living to work? Has on-line newsletter.
The Underground Railroad to Financial Freedom 19 page report on frugal living as a substitute for "double income" families.
The Dollar Stretcher, "living better for less", a weekly resource for simple living.
Message Forum at the Frugal Living corner of the Mining Company internet community. Post a question, find an answer.
Three Quarters of a Gallon, from Pat Veretto, About.com guide to Frugal Living, about the recent trend of decreasing the amount of product in packaged goods while keeping the price the same. Pat maintains one of the internet's best resources on frugal living, I have learned a lot from her and the links and articles at her pages.
Myths that keep Americans in the hole, discusses the common messages of modern society that encourage consumer addiction, overspending, and debt.
From Country to City, what's a country gal gonna do once she moves to the city? No huge gardens, no woodpiles -- maybe so, but still there are plenty of opportunities for frugality. From Pat Veretto, About.com guide to Frugal Living (one of the best frugal sites in the known universe). Plus, the every-growing list of things you can do with a plastic bag.
How much is a ton of interest? Learn how much a mortgage can really cost you -- and how you can save the big bucks on the total price of a mortgaged house. For a $100,000 house, you will need to earn $400,000 to net $300,000 to make your payments, providing $200,000 in profit to the mortgage lender -- twice the value of your house! ("Mortgage" is derived from 2 Latin words that translate as "death grip". Now you know why it's called a mortgage.)
What to do when your income drops, from North Dakota State University Extension Service. Tips, ideas, strategies, resources for managing an abrupt loss of income.
Favorite Frugal Living Pages, at Pat Vereto's Frugal Living pages at About.com. A list of readers' favorites.
Miscellaneous
Weights and Measures Conversion Factors, how to convert acres to hectares, BTUs to kilowatts, etc.
Wilderness Living, couldn't quite decide which category this site should be in so it landed here. Lots of info and links about low tech wilderness living, including foraging, medicinal plants, etc.
Grasshopper management, without using pesticides, from the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas supersite of practical information.
The Homestead School, We are nurturing a relationship with Bruce and Barbara of the Homestead School in far northeast Oklahoma County. This is their winter letter, announcing their workshop schedule for the year 2001. They live in on a sustainable five acre farm, which is not connected to the electrical, natural gas, sewer, or city water line. They have 350 watts of solar cell generating power, and 1,000 watts (peak) wind generating capacity. They have solar water and air heating, an organic garden, electric bicycles, a battery-powered lawn tractor, and cook on a woodburning stove. Bruce also bakes a very tasty mixed grain loaf of bread. Here is their January letter. They are not on-line, to contact them send them a letter at the address on their letter, or call their phone number. Homestead Workershops RMW
Oklahoma Cooperative Extension, one of the fundamental influences in my life via 4-H. Lots of access to resources, publications. See Pete's Electronic Archive and Resource Library, for on-line publications.
The Dead Media Project, no it's not an archive for fans of the Grateful Dead, rather, it is a compendium of information (and a project to collect more) about "dead media" -- such as that mimeograph machine in the back closet, or the old thermo-fax copiers, or the written ideographs of the Mayans and the quipu knotted cords of the Incas. A fascinating page I stumbled on while searching for information on a "gelatin hectographic duplicator".
Pioneer life in days gone by, a personal page with reports on what life was like in pioneer days.
Environmental Resource Guide, from Earth Share, a very big pile of information and access.
The Old Farmer's Almanac, online access to traditional wisdom and weather forecasts, gardening tips and other almanac-ish stuff.
Gentle Spirit, online presence of a hardcopy magazine that is kind of like Mother Earth News used to be, with a spiritual component (Christian). Has quite a bit of on-line material, including how-to stuff
TopoZone.com, on line source for viewing (free) or downloading( ($) topo maps anywhere in the US. Fun site to check out your neighborhood.
Outlook Maps, from the Climate Prediction Center of the US government, charts regarding weather outlooks for up to 13 months in the future, for the US.
Sewing and Fabric Arts
Sewing, from About.com, withits typical thoroughness, lots of info and articles, such as Sewing for Charity.
Food Security
The Food Trust, Philadelphia non profit improving the supply of affordable and nutritious food in the mid Atlantic region. They operate farmers' markets every week from June through November throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Food demonstrations, nutrition education, and health screenings are available at their markets.
Oklahoma Food, the newest Better Times site, supporting the growing of a local food system in Oklahoma.
Factory Farm Project, comprehensive access to the issues involved with factory farms and CAFO (confined animal feeding operations).
Sustainable Farming Connection, very comprehensive site, lots of info and links
Food First, from the Institute for Food and Development Policy, tracking food security issues around the world. Ten reasons why biotechnology will not ensure food security, protect the environment, or reduce poverty in the developing world. On the benefits of small farms. See also 12 myths about hunger. Bottom line: there's enough food produced under current conditions to provide everybody with 4.3 pounds of food a day -- 2.5 pounds of grains/beans/nuts, a pound of fruits and vegetables, and a pound of milk, meat, and eggs, enough food to make most of us fat.
World Food Program, of the United Nations Organization, on line access to a lot of hunger data -- one in seven people in this world are malnourished and at risk of starvation.
America's Second Harvest, the nation's premier food security organization.
Sustainable Agriculture, at the Center for Environment and Society, University of Essex, UK. Has reports of a new study by the Center that reports evidence of crop yield increases after introduction of sustainable farming practices, studied projects worldwide.
Garbage and Waste
Biocycle, published since 1960, this magazine is devoted to news and info about recycling trash into usable products. Four years of issues have a table of contents available, and in each issue some articles can be read online.
National Onsite Water Recycling Association, professional organization of folks interested in onsite waste water recycling. Has info on managing a septic tank, links, newsletter.
Home use of gray water, article discusses pros and cons of recycling your own gray water (wash water) for uses such as toilet flushing and plant irrigation.
The internet consumer recycling guide, good links, plus the world's shortest recycling guide, easy to understand, basic, covers all the bases. Remember, if you don't buy recycled products, you aren't recycling.
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, keeping nicad batteries out of the waste stream.
Recycle City, fun and informative site from the EPA
Recyclers World, a world wide trading site for information related to secondary or recyclable commodities, by-products, used & surplus items or materials.
Reduce Garbage, Eliminate Landfills, a very nice personal page with lots of ideas about how to "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost, Sell, Donate, Collect... Just don't throw it out! Saving our earth starts with YOU!!!" Has an interesting "boot camp" section to help newbies get up to speed and analyze their trash habits.
Garbage and Recycling, Explorer Club kids page from the EPA.
Ten things you can do with a cardboard box, also from Journey to Forever.
Dumpster Diving, from Pat Veretto, About.com guide to Frugal Living. Your humble webservant is a veteran dumpster diver, and the thing I always say about it is this: "The hardest thing about dumpster diving is getting into the dumpster the first time." Talk about amazing things that some people throw away!
Zero Waste Alliance, an alliance of businesses, governments, universities, and other such organizations exploring zero waste as a means of cutting costs and protecting the environment.
Sewage Sludge homepage, get the real "scoop" on what's coming out of our sewage treatment plants.
Email Listservs ...
Cherokee Small Farming, sharing small farm information with Cherokees and others.
Market Farming, small to large scale, organic, sustainable, transitional & conventional. 2002 Archives, Old Archives
Free Range Poultry, discussion group for small farmers.
Wild Edibles, Yahoo group. Discussions concerning wild edible plants, animals, mushrooms; including identification, recipes, folklore, etc.
New Okie Pioneers, homesteading, back to the land, in north Texas and Oklahoma.
Living off the grid, alternative energy, alternative shelter, aquaculture, closed loop systems.
Homesteading, nice friendly informative hangout for back to the landers.
Third World Energy, off grid, low tech situations.
Grassroots Information Coordinating Center, one stop shopping for breaking news on infrastructure issues worldwide. I read here regularly. Not actually a mailing list, rather a bulletin board, but you can enable the system to send you each posting in email.
misc.consumers.frugal-living , Usenet board.
Soil, mulch, compost forum, on-line billboard of discussion.
Click to subscribe to bettertimesFamily Farm Agriculture
Winter Wheat in Northern Europe According to the Fukuoka-Bonfils Method, which is to say no till, all organic. Instead of planting 350 wheat plants per square meter, which is a common commercial agriculture spacing, this method sows 3 or 4 plants per square meter. Conventional wheat will have 1 to 3 ears of kernels per plant, this spacing produces 100 to 150, and they have 2 to 3 times the commercial kernels per ear. This is sown into a carpet of perennial clover.
Small Farmers' Journal, serving small family farmers and craftmanship in agriculture, has online articles, faqs. Directions for the farm culture of fruits and vegetables, market gardening ideas from a 1902 publication, "How the Farm Pays."
Capitalist pigs: the wealth of nations and the wealth of farmers, by John Medaille, examines the manipulation of pork prices by "hog factories" that drive real farmers out of business without any benefit to the public and with much subsidy from the public purse.
Free Range Poultry, online basics plus discussion group.
Back 40 Books nice selection of books in an online store about small farm issues and resources.
Southern Region, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, includes Oklahoma info plus general info about sustainable agriculture.
Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Poteau, working farm, research, demonstration projects, on-line information.
Overstreet Kerr Historical Farm, showing casing late 19th and early 20th century farm life and technology. Preserves heirloom livestock and plants. Near Keota.
Composting reduces fuel and labor costs on family farms, from Bio-cycle magazine, case studies of how composting has benefited family farms.
S&S Aqua Farm, a working farm in the Missouri, Ozarks, using a low-cost organic growing system combining hydroponics with aquaculture; they call it bioponics.
Small Tractor FAQ, what you need to know to select, buy, and operate a small tractor.
Small farms -- from the spectacular Journey to Forever site, great information, access, resources.
University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension, an honorable example of the usual thoroughness and practicality a person expects when they visit the internet presence of a state extension service.
The Land Institute, a research institute and farm in Salina, Kansas, seeking to create a "food producing prairie" featuring mixtures of perennial grasses and other plants.
On a Green Mountain, With Masanobu Fukuoka, Sensei of Natural Farming, worldwide, the loss of topsoil is a looming crisis. To a large extent, the world thus far has been able to substitute fossil fuel fertilizers for the loss in fertility due to topsoil depletion. But fossil fuels are themselves finite, so it behooves humanity to seek a new path of agriculture. Masanobu is a "no-till" agriculturist, working with the land, never plowing and thus preserving topsoil and natural fertility. He says: "The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings." Article archived at the Seedballs site, which promotes an innovative way of natural farming pioneered by Masanobu: making seedballs to encourage germination of food producing plants.
Sustainable Agriculture Faqs, the faqs page actually seems to be missing, but there is a nice essay on sustainable agriculture in Canada.
Sustainable Farming Association of Central Minnesota, ensuring a future for family farms with ecologically and environmentally sound "best practices".
Permanent Raised Bed Gardening, online publication, for market and home gardeners. Lots of details, pictures, step by step instructions.
Commercial Sites
Eco Mall, a place to help save the earth while you spend your money. Online directory of green businesses and products.
Mary Appelhof's site for Worm Composting Resources, sells books and manuals on vermicomposting, including clever buttons and bumper stickers, "Worms Eat My Garbage," has materials for school projects using worms to compost lunchroom leftovers.
Mother Earth News , online presence of the commercial magazine. MEN is not the publication of old, its much more slick these days. Still, it has interesting and useful info.
Countryside and Small Stock Journal , "promoting self reliance and simple life style through home food production, gardening" and etc. 83 years young, lots of good info here.
Organic Gardening Magazine , another venerable journal that isn't what it used to be. Very slick looking these days (too slick for my taste), and they are OK with using plastic for mulch. But we still subscribe to it. Old habits die hard, and there is some good info in it.
Home Food Preserver's Magazine, this looks interesting, we're thinking about subscribing, unfortunately, the site has no content other than lists of recipes keyed to back issues of the magazine. The recipe list is impressive, however.
Source: http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/alllinks.htmIntentional One
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