Solarpunk Farming

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Food sovereignty is a matter of life and death in Gaza, where Israel has been deliberately destroying Palestinians’ ability to sustain themselves.

For Yousef Abu Rabee, from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, farming ran in his blood. He had been doing it from a very young age, the 24-year-old said with pride when interviewed by The Electronic Intifada in September.

But over the past year, many farmers in Gaza like Abu Rabee have had to abandon their land, crops and way of life due to Israeli bombing and evacuation orders. Instead of producing their own food, they, like everyone else in Gaza, have become dependent on the little humanitarian aid allowed in as Israel deliberately destroys Palestinians’ self-sufficiency.

I stumbled on this brief article while looking through this solarpunk blog. On the farm I worked at growing up, all but one of our greenhouses were plastic stretched over a metal frame. We replaced the plastic fairly often (I'm not sure how often - I know I helped do it more than once, but probably not for the same greenhouse) due to sun and wind damage. The old plastic was pretty useless at that point unless you needed a dropcloth with some cracks in it, so it usually went in the dumpster and then to our local landfill.

It sounds like these folks soaked some sort of fabric in beeswax, and I'm curious how well that holds up. Certainly it'll need replacing at some point, but so did the plastic, and at least the textile and wax can be composted eventually. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Researchers around the country are exploring agrivoltaics, or co-locating solar generation with agriculture in a mutually beneficial way. Projects range from growing tomatoes in California to wild blueberries in Maine, with varying levels of success.

Acciona regional manager Kyle Charpie said that sheep grazing appears an especially promising form of agrivoltaics, and one that the company is likely to continue exploring globally. Solar operators need to keep vegetation controlled, and sheep are a more effective and ecological way to do it than mechanized mowing. Acciona has long had a sheep agrivoltaic operation in Portugal, Charpie noted, and two projects in Texas are underway.

A Deep Winter Greenhouse (DWG) is a greenhouse designed to limit the amount of fossil fuel it takes to grow crops during cold winters. DWGs are passive-solar greenhouses that rely on energy from the sun to heat the building instead of more traditional heating sources.

There are a few important aspects of the design that make this possible. DWGs are built in an east-west position, with a glazing wall that faces south. This wall can be specially angled, depending on latitude, to get the most possible solar energy on the coldest day of the year. The sun heats the air inside which is blown underground with a fan and stored in a thermal mass made of rock or soil. This heated thermal mass acts as a heat battery and stores heat for when it is needed at night.

DWGs in can be used to grow crops that thrive with minimal light, providing year-round production capacity for small-scale farmers and gardeners. Crops well-suited to DWG production include a variety of lettuces, herbs, brassicas, Asian greens and sprouts.

Additional resources on building underground greenhouses can be found here (especially at the bottom of the article!)

This article really highlights to me how critical infrastructure is to achieving a sustainable food system. There are plenty of people growing food in an ecologically mindful manner, but they're so atomized that they need to do everything themselves. And the infrastructure is so centralized that you're forced into the industrial model if you want to go beyond the farmer market level. We need more meat lockers, local grain mills, oil pressers, etc. to build out regional food production networks.

Hi there, my chicken has a swelling on her cheek and it's causing her some distress can anyone please advise me?

I saw the need for a community dedicated to hydroponics, and there hasn't been one on the fediverse from what I've seen.
So, I just created one 🤷

In my opinion, it fits perfectly to Solarpunk. Why?

• It's very ecologically sustainable. Compared to soil, it barely needs water and fertilizer
• It's as simple, or high-tech as you want. There's everything between just a simple reused wine bottle on your window top with the Kratky technique and a high tech aeroponic tower with smart home integration and grow lights.
• It's great for the plants and the people. In hydroponics, you get way less pests and therefore need barely any pesticides, and plants grow faster. You can grow them on your balcony or very small spaces like I do and can even enable city farming with that, making locally sourced fresh veggies very simple.
• It's perfect for people who don't have a green thumb. It's a completely different approach to growing plants.
• It's a lot of fun
• And much more

There are many different types of hydroponics, like:

• "Classic" hydroponics, like deep water culture, nutrient film technique, etc.
• Semi-hydroponics with hydroton or other inert media
• Aeroponics, which sprays the nutrient solution on the roots, which are growing into the air
• Aquaponics, where the plants grow basically on fish poop
• And many more

Every technique is welcome!

Come over at !hydroponics@slrpnk.net and feel free to subscribe and post!

For those of you who are doing hydroponics, what do you think of this system? Is it a good system for a beginner on a budget? Or is there a better system?

Did you know that simply digging a slight ditch can completely change the health of a landscape?

In modern landscaping, any sort of hole or ditch is considered a “dangerous tripping hazard,” “unsightly,” or “a waste of space,” so everything is smoothed out. If you go to most cities and farms, the only non-flat places are designed to carry water away from cities, rather than hold onto it.

This thought process can not only increase overland flooding and wash away topsoil, but it also gives water no place to sit and be absorbed into the soil. Without any water capture gradually trickling into the soil and creating an underground reservoir, the landscape becomes less drought resistant and more susceptible to wildfires.

The permaculture techniques to correct this have many names and methods, including:

• Demi-lunes / Half - moons / Semi-circular bunds
• Eyebrow terraces / banquettes
• Negarim
• Contour bunds
• Micro basins
• Planting pits / Zai pits / Chololo pits
• Swales

They might be different shapes and use slightly different methods, but they all do all work the same on a basic level. The idea is to dig or build a shape that will slowdown and/or catch some of the movement of water. This can make the soil more absorbent (dry and hardened soil does not absorb water as easily) which promotes healthy microbiome of the soil.

Even if the water dries out visibly during the dry season, underground, they could be making a huge difference.

It is not new science, but instead something many cultures around the world have a long history with, but many modern farming practices(mostly to make it farming machine friendly) and development flatten everything out. If people changed this point of view, it could change our landscapes.

In cities, they look like a slight ditch in front of a house, or a creek in a greenspace.

(Image Sources: Image 1 | Image 2)

For other landscapes, it could be just slight indents in un-farmable areas, or ditches dug around farm perimeters.

They do not have to be very deep, and often do not need any fancy equipment to dig(most just take a shovel), but they can do amazing things.

In the process of reversing landscape desertification, it is proving drastically helpful. As the underground water reserves build, so does the vegetation.

(Image Source: Just Dig It. An example of demi-lunes / half-moons)

More Info:

• https://youtu.be/RPJ9T4yAEGs
• https://youtu.be/CG4-u1q1x3Y

Vergenoegd Winery(South Africa) is handling pests using a unique solution; ducks. These ducks enable the winery to be pesticide-free.

Video: https://youtu.be/H6Ehoxu9QY8

The reason for this is that ducks love to eat all sorts of garden pests: including slugs, snails, mosquitoes, ants, and more.

"You may also be wondering: Why ducks and not chickens? While it’s true that chickens can help to keep bugs at a low in your garden, they also have a habit of being a little less delicate around garden plants than ducks do. Chickens love fresh greenery and will be more than happy to eat your homegrown lettuce, whereas ducks will focus less on your hard work and more on the bugs in your yard." | The Spruce

Similarly to the winery, ducks are also often employed to help with rice paddies. The ducks not only help with pests and fertilization, but their paddling helps both aerate the water and kick up mud(the increased oxygen and decreased light can cut down on algae or weed growth).

As an added benefit, the eggs and/or meat can be eaten. I know that will upset many of you but the added financial benefit of that is further incentivizing farmers to switch from herbicides and pesticides, to ducks.

"Another study done by Practical Action2 concluded that the duck-rice farming technology led to several socio-economic and environmental benefits. The ducks were introduced into the rice fields 10-20 days after rice was planted until the flowering stages. The study also found out that this form of farming was better in rice production than others as it led to decreased production costs, high yields achievement, had benefits for the environment and led to increased income. Further, it’s stated that 20% higher yields can be achieved with the use of this system, 50% increase in income can be achieved as well as enhanced food security through the consumption of duck meat." | Permaculture Research Institute

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ISdo-b7Lk

(Image Source)

It seems like the most efficient and sustainable way to garden but I don't know enough about what plants benefit each other and how.

(Image Source)

For food forests, you do what you can to use edible plant life to mimic the ecosystems of a wild forest.

“A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature.” | Project Food Forest

If done right, this system will…

• Promote a healthy soil microbiome
• Increase carbon-capture (no-till)
• Prevent erosion
• Retain water

And more.

Personally, I suggest using as many perennials to your area as you can so you don't have to replant everything every year.

Here are some perennial examples that are for my specific area:

(⚠ means you may want to container garden them to prevent spread)

• 🥬Lovage (celery alternative)
• 🥗 Bloody Dock (chard alternative)
• 🥗 Good King Henry (spinach alternative)
• 🥔 Jerusalem Artichoke (root vegetable)
• 🥗 Sea Kale
• 🧅 Chives ⚠
• 🥝Hardi-Kiwi
• 🍓Wild strawberries
• Raspberries ⚠
• Wild blueberries
• Red or Black Currants
• Haskap/Honeyberries
• 🍇Valiant or Bluebell Grapes
• Rhubarb
• Saskatoons
• Pembina Plums
• 🍒Evans (sour) cherries
• Manchurian Apricots
• 🍎 Hardi-Mac Apples

More Info on Food Forests:

• https://youtu.be/Q_m_0UPOzuI
• https://youtu.be/6GJFL0MD9fc
• https://youtu.be/mdi_9o92XcU

Super tasty 😊

If you want an easy way to help your local pollinators, then consider building a water station! Many plants and crops rely on pollinators, so the more you attract and help, the healthier your garden will be (for example: "“Bee pollination improves crop quality, shelf life and commercial value.”)

For a basic one, you will need:

• Tray or dish
• Rocks
• Water

The tray or dish is to hold everything, and the rocks are to give the pollinators something safe to land on. Without the rocks, you will likely end up with drowned bees. Due to evaporation, you may have to fill the dish once or more a day.

HOWEVER, although that is the most common method, there is another one that I prefer that was taught to me by local beekeepers. They use a refilling dog bowl instead of a dish, so it doesn't have to be filled as often.

(Image Source)

While this was advice from beekeepers, the watering stations are not limited to honeybees; you may see all sorts of native pollinators visiting.

If you can't buy a refilling bowl, here is a tutorial on how to DIY one.

No matter what you choose, though, the pollinators will appreciate it! I do suggest putting the water in shade to limit possible algae growth.