Bart open source

Building Open Source Ecologies

Technology is a crazy thing. We are born into a world full of technologies. There’s no escaping it, technology is everywhere. The Question Concerning Technology What is this thing, technology? In 1949 — just years before the world’s first nuclear power plant opening in the USSR — a German philosopher named Martin Heidegger reflected deeply on [...]

The Future of Organic Infographic | http://bit.ly/RtAGjT

Consumers Must Demand Organic Food

Organic food sales in the United States increased from approximately $1 billion in 1990, to $11 billion in 2004, to $27 billion in 2012 (Nutrition Business Journal). Although the annual growth rate for organic food sales fell from the double-digit range in 2008 as the U.S. economy slowed, its 7.4-percent growth rate in 2012 was more than [...]

Gotham Greens NYC urban farm

World’s 8 Most Inspiring Urban Farms

With all the media surrounding industrial agriculture and its corresponding technologies — including GMO crops, pesticides, and fertilizers — it might be easy to lose sight of the fact that many people around the world are working hard to create alternative ways to meet our growing food needs in ways that actually reduce our impact [...]

http://aquaponicslibrary.20megsfree.com/aeroponics.jpg

DIY Aeroponics

This posts offers a collection of our preliminary research on integrating aeroponics into our existing DIY home aquaponic system in California and our future DIY net-zero vertical aquaponic forest in Indonesia. If you are curious to build a system of your own, use the designs in these videos as inspirations and to help understand the mechanics behind the soil-less [...]

Rooftop by night, our rooftop community center will transform into a live music venue that serves locally brewed beers

Sneak Peek at the Future of Farming

We are thrilled to announce the newest member of the FarmXchange team — renowned Architectural Designer, Brandon Martella. Brandon graduated from the Barch New School of Architecture and Design in 2012 and is currently working for RNT Architects, a licensed firm in San Diego. He is interested in designing architecture that performs and enjoys creating meaningful [...]

plasticized metal chains

Do NOT Mix Metal & Aquaponics

Two weeks ago, we noticed that Oscar (tilapia/organic fertilizer producer) started breathing laboriously, almost like he was gasping for air. We learned this is probably a symptom of hard-metal poisoning that is probably caused by our use of metal or iron chains AND a metal shelf for our closed-loop system… Yes, we are rookies. At least, we [...]

120 mm live within 50 miles of a nuclear site

Food Security Lessons from Japan

Monday marks the two year anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Shortly after the nuclear disaster, Honolulu author, Kyle Datta, urged readers residing in Hawai’i to produce and consume more local food. His message concerning food security is [...]

willie

Small Farmer vs. Big Biotech

Listen to this NPR Morning Addition: (8:26 mins podcast) Farmer’s Fight With Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court. The U.S. High Court is expected to announce it’s decision in Bowman v. Monsanto any day now. The Federal Circuit ruled against the 75 year old independent farmer, Bowman, who was sued by Monsanto for saving and replanting genetically-modified [...]

Aquaponics DIY manual infographic

DIY Aquaponics

This post features a collection of instructional videos on building and operating your own aquaponic system. After completing our home aquaponic  grow experiment, we plan to build larger DIY net-zero vertical aquaponic towers in Indonesia. If you are curious to build a system of your own, use the designs in these videos as inspirations and to help understand the [...]

Who said GMO Salmon is OK to Consume?

US FDA Quietly Approves Frankenfish

Over the holidays, US FDA quietly approved “frankenfish” engineered by a biotech company called AquaBounty to contain genes from two species, causing the hybrid species to grow 2x as large and 2x as fast as normal salmon. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, worries whether the genetically altered fish will hurt naturally occurring wild fish populations by [...]

Phalaenopsis Orchid How To

Orchids are gorgeous but needy plants for the home & office…

Briefly, on the Phalaenopsis Crchids. They brighten your office when properly cared for. But to a first-timer, these plants are annoyingly elusive. Watch this 8 minute video about Phalaenopsis Orchid Care by Matt’s Garden. Matt offers a flowery overview of sunlight, water, fertilizer, potting medium, blooming cycles, mysting, and general care of your soon-to-be blooming orchid. ~~~Happy, [...]

SuziesFarm.com

Online communities sustain local organic farms in Southern California

Brief exchange with the Marketeer for Suzie’s Farm @ the Hillcrest farmers’ market regarding Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and FarmXchange’s mission to interconnect small farmers. Here is are a few segments of the exchange: ~~~Happy, Healthy, Safe Farming, Eating, Living~~~