@ecoTrain Sustainable and Off-Grid Living Curation: 24 March 2022

@rukeros

Time to get our hands dirty! | Eco-build update

We're late! Rains are already upon us and our hands are becoming harder to keep warm as temperatures are rapidly falling. The ideal time for working with cob has already passed and we're just beginning. But we're not giving up! We will press on despite the adversity, and today we will share with you our progress with the mud we've been adding to our build these last week. This post has taken a long time to be produced since its really hard to pick up our phones while our hands are dripping mud all over the place.

First task was to dig out our "pool" where we would mix the mud with straw to create cob. The soil was the same we removed from where we are building which had a nice proportion of clay and sand since we are by a stream.

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@stortebeker

Stone Dragon in the California Desert

This is a collection of posts I wrote during the first step of what promises to be a long ongoing project in the desert of Southern California. So it the property called Stone Turtle or Stone Dragon? Still to be decided? Does it even matter? In any case, this series is likely to get many additional posts...

Okay, I know, I could not help myself, I just had to do it: pack some more tires with dirt, so I could write a post about it. And why not, right? Gotta get my kicks some way... However, the more interesting question remains: WHY??? How did this happen? And is there a story behind it all?

A Story Yet to Be Told

It's no easy to explain how I got here onto this property on the edge of the country, literally a stone's throw from the infamous border fence. It is somehow connected to the Subaru Driving Adventure back in June, as well as to some fabulous and amazing plans I'm dreaming up with some friends in Los Angeles. The latter might in fact turn into something truly spectacular, so don't despair if you feel I've abandoned posting on Hive. If things go well, all this should be caught up on with some audiovisual treats. Until then... here is this benign post about tires.

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@solominer

Mason and Carpenter bees visiting flowers - Macro video

The last few weeks the weather has been warming up, bringing out all the local pollinators. Many plants are waking up as well, my Blueberry bushes should be flowering pretty soon. But for the moment my Kale plants are the ones they are the most attracted to. These plants were started last year and dropped many seeds starting new plants, now those plants are forming flowers and dropping their own seeds. But before that can happen the flowers need to be pollenated and that is where these bees come into play. A female Mason bee can be seen in the below image, its fuzzy underside is where it stores pollen to use in building their homes.

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@rayt2

Recycling And Our Existence

Plastic is becoming a threat to our health and the environment with every passing day, despite our efforts to get rid of it. Thousands of tons of plastic is generated every year in the world, which is a threat to the environment and people. Plastic is carcinogenic, it causes cancer. It contains toxins that can cause cancer.

Do you have any idea about how much plastic waste is generated every year, which is dumped in the sewer and toilets, as medical waste, in diapers, sanitary pads, and other forms of waste into the atmosphere?

There are different plastic materials that should be non-chlorinated, which causes less harm to people. The plastic should be thick enough so that the plastic particles do not enter the stomachs of people so easily. BPA free plastic does not harm people to a great extent, so we should opt for BPA-free plastic as much as possible. I have no doubt whatsoever, the speed at which we are using plastic will accumulate 15 billion tones of plastic waste worldwide by the end of 2022. It will take hundreds of years to clear it.

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@taniqnam

Eco-Friendly Living - The marine environment is deteriorating over time.

Today, I'd like to discuss a rather frustrating topic in modern life: environmental pollution, particularly in the marine environment. The environment is severely polluted in the global context, particularly in developing countries. Environmental protection is one of the most important issues that people worldwide, particularly in Vietnam, are concerned about. The remarkable development of the marine economy is the expansion of tourism and marine services and at-sea fishing, which has resulted in population concentration. The process of urbanization in coastal areas promotes increased pollution, such as increased wastewater, solid waste, and non-biodegradable garbage, which negatively impacts the marine environment. This morning, I went for a jog on the beach near my university school. On the golden sands, I came across a horrifying. Domestic waste flows from the sewer to the sea. It smelled so bad that I almost puked. Not only that but domestic waste is dumped in the wrong place and spread on the sand.

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@samstonehill

Fig grafting & camper van wedding

We have just returned from the wedding of Sabrina's brother in Nimes which was quite an adventure because rather than paying for a hotel we rented a camper van and tested out how it felt living in there as a family. But before I tell you about that I want to continue on from my last post by telling you about fig grafting.

We have this fig tree in our courtyard which produces a dark black/purple variety and we would like to attach a different lighter variety to the top of the tree.

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@papa-pepper

REUSING RECLAIMED MATERIALS - BUILDING BUILD - DAY 1

I ended up with a lean-to on our property, and decided to turn it into a larger building. These photos are from the first day of the expansion. We're really looking forward to the additional storage space. Thankfully, I've got a good pile of eager helpers too. The metal was reclaimed from some barns that were about to be bulldozed, so we are blessed that we obtained it. Enjoy the photos!

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@candak

Another Garden same Heaven

This flower garden is from my aunt's house (Mother's sister). Iam at her Home. I've gone because they're sick from while so me and my visited here to see her. While roaming at her house i saw they give a particular space to the gardens for flowers different, for fruit plants different. It is so well decorated that the flowers are covered with a grass line from all sides and there are many types of flowers in the middle.nad from upside it all covers with LED lights. By which lights the were giving such a beautiful pleasure while looking them. All are planted by my aunt and uncle. There's no magical hands. But still they give them such a beautiful place and look.
Here I'm gonna tell you about the flowers. However this will not gonna enough but I'll try my best. I will try to tell as much as I know.

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@rayt2

Are We Doing Enough To Save Our Environment?

Pollution has adversely affected our environment. Humans have exploited natural resources since ancient times. Environmental pollution has become a danger not only to the lives of humans but also to animals. Widespread pollution is the major factor in harming the health of human beings.

Man has exploited natural resources to get material pleasure. Weak natural resources are seriously affecting our climate and making it vulnerable. The depletion of the ozone layer, along with global warming, is adversely affecting the environment on a large scale. This is the right time to stop the exploitation of the natural resources of man and to make a significant contribution towards compensating for the loss caused to mother earth. Steps should be taken to reduce pollution in the environment, and environmentally friendly practices should be implemented. Adopting environmentally-friendly measures is very important to save the earth, which is causing an environmental crisis.

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@anyelina93

Antarctic coral reefs, a wonder of nature more important than we thought.

Global warming has made it possible to access areas at the South Pole that were previously impossible, and in the process has presented humanity with the unique opportunity to see a vibrant ecosystem with a multitude of life forms new to science.

Hello dear friends of Ecotrain, today I want to bring you a short article with some images and a video about a world very little known to humans, the coral reefs under the Antarctic ice sheet, really a sample of the power of life to thrive in any environment, and we will talk a little about the implications of these discoveries.

The existence of some types of coral formations and reef-like life forms in the tropics beneath the Antarctic ice sheets has been known for several years, yet scientists still find it hard to believe that a magical world of vibrant life exists at depths of more than 200 meters and temperatures of minus 15 degrees Celsius.

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@phoenixwren

Energy Saving Tips

Hello again, environmentally-minded friends! Today I've got some energy-saving tips for you.

My city's electric company has just switched to time-of-use pricing on our electric bills, so that means that energy will cost more or less depending on what time of day we use it. This is due partly to when renewables make the most energy (here, the prevailing factor isn't the solar panels but rather the windmills, which apparently make the most energy at night!), and partly due to when the highest demand is (the afternoon on weekdays).

Even if your power company doesn't use time-of-day pricing, you can help reduce the need for fossil fuels by timing your heaviest usage at night/early morning/weekends, because power companies have to have a capacity to meet their highest demand, which is usually the afternoon on weekdays as that's when business and factories are all open and running, and in the summer, air conditioners are running (ergo, if you look at that image, summer pricing being more expensive). So they have to burn enough fuel to meet that heavy load on a summer afternoon at the peak of demand. If everyone uses less power during that time, the demand is lower, so they burn less fuel. It's also helpful to avoid rolling blackouts when the power grid is overloaded.

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@flemingfarm

Hives, Bee Order, Chicks, Grilling - Friday

There was a tiny bit of rain in the gauge yesterday morning from a few passing cells overnight but it wasn't enough the wet the path to the tub, just enough to wet the deck. It was not quite cold enough to freeze as I think the rains happened not long before I got up.

I was looking at ordering bees but needed to dive into the hives to see if I had any bees left after Winter. I did not. So I pried them al open and dug through the frames cleaning some as I went. A number of frames have to be scrubbed and cleaned before reuse. As I was prying some of the wax from the frame it popped off and left the perfect hexagons.

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@papa-pepper

One Homesteading Tool I DON'T WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT

Homesteading can be tough. Especially when you are starting from scratch. That said, a few things can make the lifestyle easier, and in this video I talk about one homesteading tool I do not want to live without. It makes a big difference for me, and I'm sure it would be a helpful tool for most of you out there too. Enjoy the show!

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@trucklife-family

Spring Equinox - Lessons In Balance And Letting Go!

I love to celebrate the changing of the seasons and one way in which I do that, is to celebrate the Celtic Festivals. The festivals that are connected to the land I was born and raised on. They are a part of my roots and celebrating them, just feels right.

Today is the Spring Equinox and my plan in celebrating it, was to attend an empow circle (i.e. empowering circle) which has been created by our collective. It really is a chance for all of us to come together and empower one another.

If we are to change the world in which we live in, we first need to empower ourselves, so that we can then go on to help empower others. The circle lasted for three hours. With a creative writing circle first, followed by Biodanza and then a vision circle.

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@rayt2

Garden In Your Home Takes Care of Environment

While fulfilling our needs, we have ruined the natural environment so much, that we have reached such a stage where each of us will have to take the matter into our own hands. We are suffering from climatic chaos and will have to face the consequences, so why not each one of us contributes to saving our environment? We can see some cities have already reached the stage of drying up, and somewhere there is a disaster like a flood. So what is the way out? It's in your own hands.

In most undeveloped countries, we see mountains of garbage, but are we doing enough for our future or just adding to it unknowingly?

Somewhere there is an earthquake because we are unaware of what we're doing to our environment. Despite all this, we have not stopped exploiting nature. You may have tried many times to save electricity or water on your own, but you must have assumed that your efforts would have no effect on the environment.

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