Greensulate – Insulation from Mushrooms

In the very cool but very warm plant product category this week, we have Greensulate – a low-cost, rigid insulating board made from mushroom spores.

“The insulation is created by pouring a mixture of insulating particles, hydrogen peroxide, starch, and water into a panel mold. Mushroom cells are then injected into the mold, where they digest the starch producing a tightly meshed network of insulating particles and mycelium. The end result is an organic composite board that has a competitive R-Value a measurement of resistance to heat flow and can serve as a firewall.” (Thanks Sustainable Times)

Spores from oyster mushrooms are used in the board which according to David Blume can be grown on distillers grains. Another part of link in the permacultural chain? Corn – alcohol – distillers grains – oyster mushrooms – earthworms – castings – and insulation board? I may have to get one of these NZ oyster mushroom kits for Christmas.

Watch the video Stop Global Warming by Growing Styrofoam with Fungi on YouTube.com.

Read Environmentally Friendly Organic Insulation Uses Mushroom Spores at ScienceDaily.com

Image: Oyster mushrooms by the lovely maggihc @ Dog Hill Kitchen

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Make Your Own Herbal Multi-Vitamins

Treasure! I’ve just been sorting out some old books and this piece of paper dropped out of it. A recipe for herbal health capsules given to me about 20 years ago.

All the ingredients are pretty easy to get. I have most of them in my garden or cupboard and I’ll sprout some alfalfa especially for it. Watercress and kelp usually aren’t a problem to find in NZ. Considering good quality multi-vitamins cost about NZ$40 a month right now, I’m really keen to give this a go. This should only cost me the gelatine caps, or if I wanted to cut it down even further, use one of my husband’s cigarette papers to wrap it up in to swallow (not half as bad as it sounds).

88888 Disclaimer: I haven’t tried this, I don’t vouch for it. I am not a trained nutritionist, doctor, or herbalist. But since these are all things I would eat anyway, I’m willing to give it ago. 88888

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Food not Lawns – Heather C. Flores

Heather Flores is a green garden goddess. She has a vision – for lawns to give way to gardens and those gardens to feed and sustain communities. And she’s written down the blueprint for this garden revolution in Food not Lawns: How turn your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighbourhood into a Community.

Food not Lawns starts by putting you in the right headspace, a good non-preachy ‘why you should’. Flores then kicks into a really sound overview of the practical elements – how to gain ground, the water cycle, the living soil, plants, polycultures and seed stewardship. All this in a really friendly, engaging style. Then we go beyond the garden, reaching out into the community and working together, for and with the next generation.

More review and lots of links after the jump…

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What’s in a name?: Binomial Nomenclature

AKA….Plant names 101

For the love of god, why?????

It’s probably the last thing anyone wants to learn about plants – their Latin binomial. I’m not geeky enough to say that it’s fun and exciting, but it does have three stellar things going for it:

1) It will also save you time and energy when talking about plants, because you know the other person is talking about the same plant,

2) You’ll learn so much more about plant relationships,

3) It might just save your life – don’t go eating plants if you don’t know what they are!

Taxonomy, binomials, and how to write plant names after the jump…
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Drink tea

I drink a lot of tea. It doesn’t seem so next to my British in-laws who seem to constantly sip sugary, milky gumboot tea. But nearly all my fluid intake consists of pots of aromatic gorgeous brews of green or white teas, florally-infused blacks or herbal concoctions. Plants all brewed in water, imparting nutrients, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants into my diet.

For years I’ve been assaulted with messages from the media about how I should be drinking far more pure water, and how drinking tea is bad for girls because it strips away iron from the body, or how tea is so dehydrating because of all the caffeine.

Researchers at Kings College London have thankfully said “poppycock!” to the aforementioned bologne. After reviewing numerous studies on the benefits of drinking tea, they’ve concluded that tea is a superior drink.

Dr Ruxton said: “Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it’s got two things going for it.”

As for caffeine in teas being dehydrating, the research team says:

“Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid.”

I am starting to make my own blends but my favourite source of fine, fine tea is Wellington’s t Leaf T They’re delish!

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Rocket Farming

I may have inadvertently started the potentially great Kapiti Coast rocket (Eruca sativa) weed problem. And I have mixed feelings about it. We simply don’t need any more weeds around this place. But I’m always happy when things self sow, it’s the way things are meant to happen.

The rocket came from certified-organic stock, and I first planted it 2 years ago. It’s been self-seeding regularly which has been fabulous, growing all year round. Now it has started growing in my lawn, proving that it doesn’t need great soil to do well. It’s frost-resistant and drought-tolerant. It does go to seed quickly though.

Many years ago my interest in lettuce waned. It was simply a case of over-use. I was uninspired by salady greeny leafy things until a relative newcomer rocketed into my world and rocked it! Rocket – I love your peppery flavour, the zest you bring into my life. You’re a match made in heaven with tomatoes and you are out of this world with haloumi.

The flowers are really pretty and are a tasty garnish or addition to salads. And a little reading at Plants for a Future suggests that the seeds could make a mustard alternative. The seed yields a semi-drying oil which is a substitute for rapeseed oil. It can also be used for lighting, burning with very little soot. The powdered seed has antibacterial properties.

I love it rocket – it’s one of those plants that deliver on flavour, attractiveness, medicinal and industrial properties. It’s a plant I’ll be nurturing in my garden for a longtime to come.

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Mulching is sweet

Mulching has got to be my favourite gardening chore. Not only does it smother weeds, thus facilitating the end of one of my least favourite jobs (weeding…I have kikuyu grass, I hate weeding), but is also satisfying some serious chocolate craving. I’m using cocoa husks to mulch my garden and I’m loving it!

I think my plants will too. Cocoa shell mulch contains 2.5% Nitrogen, 1% Phosphate, and 3% Potash.

Cocoa husks, pea straw, the terrors of kikuyu and great reasons to mulch after the jump…

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Call to Spades! Start Somewhere – Start Anywhere

I’ve been gardening now on and off for almost 25 years. Mainly off. This isn’t through a lack of desire to grow healthy food or beautiful flowers. I dream of this a lot. I’m full of wonderful ideas and a huge library of books and bookmarks. I’ve got plenty of seed, a few good tools and lots of land to work my magic on.

You know why I don’t live in the new Eden? One – I’m pretty lazy. Two – I keep being scared off getting started gardening. I’m constantly bombarded with messages:

— You have to plan properly

— You have to get the soil right

— You have to wait until the right time

— You have to have the right tool / spray / fertiliser / method

Well, too frickin bad Mr You-have-to, I’m going all Whatever on you.
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We’re Coming…. 

.....and this is what we're going to do when we get here.


Thanks Wordle!
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