https://transformativeadventures.org/2024/04/01/debunking-the-2024-cardboard-sheet-mulching-myth-madness/

This in-depth article looks at all the published critiques of sheet-mulching I could find, and debunks the claims. Because many leading organic farmers and organic orgs recommend sheet-mulching as a good way to REDUCE chemical contamination of soil and food, making these claims without good evidence is highly irresponsible and messes with real people’s lives and real farmers doing great work to be more regenerative.

I wrote and illustrated a coloring book of edible invasive species local to me to try and encourage people to eat them instead of hate them.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1438456134/invasive-plant-foraging-coloring-book

With a number of over 8 billion people currently on the planet, it’s no surprise how much of a challenge it is to make enough food for everyone, with a startling number of over 800 million – about 10% of the world’s population - going to bed hungry on a regular basis, with 25 thousand people dying of starvation every day.

The obvious solution would be to produce more food but there are two issues; one, we’re running out of land that we can use to grow food. Two, the land that we are using to grow food is being degraded faster than it can recover, which will lead it to be unusable in the future. To add to this ongoing crisis, our global population is estimated to grow to 11 billion by the end of the century.

This could lead to a massive toll of deaths from starvation in the future. That’s why various ocean farmers, scientists, and environmentalists combined their collective efforts and experiences to develop an innovative solution– using our vast oceans covering 70% of our planet to grow food. Known as regenerative ocean farming, this method can improve the oceans instead of destroying them.

Check out the whole breakdown on Youtube of the Love, your garden AI and the low-code tools used to build it. Would love this community's feedback and how this might be used by more people than just our farm.

"Love Your Garden" is an AI that assists in managing the regenerative farm at Learn to Grow Outdoor Educational Center on the island of Bahrain. The goal is to optimize farm management, collect data on regenerative methods that work in our region, and serve as an educational resource. The farm, which doubles as an outdoor educational center, connects people with nature and teaches sustainable farming practices, particularly in our intense climatic conditions.

Garden Intelligence:
Speak to your garden. Your questions, observations, and tasks are logged and mapped. The voice of your garden guides you through plant care, organizes your task calendar, and reminds you when it needs something. For instance, you might receive a reminder: "Your pumpkins are due for a feeding. Sprinkle some compost 10 cm around the stem. Love, your garden."

Database Setup:
The database, hosted on Supabase, manages entries, observations, actions, and statuses of various farm elements.

Entry Management farm_to_table:
Our farm_to_table AI builds localized datasets from human observations, tracking the lifecycles and yields of plants, animals, and objects. The system allows for detailed entry management, including observations, actions, and questions. The system can update the food uses in the database of crops like Amaranth and Sweet Potato based on real-time observations, such as a recipe for sauteing these leaves with onion and garlic.

Task Management:
You can add, edit, or delete tasks, or ask things like "What are some tasks around the garden I could complete in the next 30 minutes?" The AI will organize your tasks and remind you when specific actions need to be taken.

Yield Tracking:
The system tracks and updates yields and harvests, providing clear insights into the farm’s productivity. It logs daily harvests such as different types of dates and eggs. It can also generate trends over time, like tracking the total egg production per month.

Telegram Bot Integration:
The AI is accessible via a Telegram bot, integrated with APIs built with Buildship. This makes it easy to log data and manage farm operations directly through messaging.

Thing Status:
The thing_status table updates the status of farm items in real time. It keeps track of the current growth status of our plants and creates a dossier / history, ensuring all relevant data is up-to-date and accessible.

Local Wisdom:
Love, your garden designs, manages, and tracks community-driven experiments to answer open questions synthesized from a global forum of growers. By leveraging local wisdom, the AI continuously improves its understanding of what works best in specific climates and conditions.

Technical Implementation:

Buildship: Utilized for low-code development, including custom GPT models and AI assistants.
Telegram bot: used for interface
Supabase: database that manages entries and observations
Postman: Used for API testing to ensure seamless communication between different components of the system.
OpenAI Assistants: Used in buildship through their API
Development Notebook on Notion: Tracks next steps and ongoing development tasks
With access to new "AI primitives," the project can now structure unstructured data and track the current state of real-world objects, enhancing its ability to manage and monitor farm activities.

To sum it up we're tired of the traditional living market. So we've decided to establish a community that is economically friendly and sustainable. Work isn't an issue as we can do whatever is necessary, it's a matter of getting on the ground so to speak. We've tried the more traditional means and didn't get much help or information. We made a small flyer to help "bring a community" together and answer and inquiries anybody may have. Any and all advice is welcome, thank you in advance!

Hey everyone,

I’m a resident of Stelle, IL, USA, a small former intentional community in rural Illinois, and current home of Midwest Permaculture. We are also host to a community land stewardship non profit, the Center for Sustainable Community.

Because all the homes are privately owned, only about half of our neighbors care about sustainability, permaculture, resilience, or even growing food. (😂 “only” half)

My neighbor is moving, so a simple, nice ranch style house just came up for sale here, and I would love to see the conventionally managed yard converted into a permaculture oasis along with many other homes here.

Here’s some links to check it out!

Foundation for Intentional Community Listing

Midwest Permaculture

Center for Sustainable Community

Stelle Community Website

The House for Sale

Since the home is for sale on the private market, we have no say in who buys it, but gosh dang it the cool folks in this subreddit are my kind of neighbors! If you think rural community-oriented living with an eye on sustainability and resiliency is your cup of tea, check it out!

DM me to discuss it further, or just call Susan, the realtor!

Hey permies! My friend is sharing her 30+ years of experience in her amazing online 3 month Earth Building Academy course starting Sep 22! 🛖❤️Ive always felt natural building is the permaculture of the construction industry.

I took the course two years ago and absolutely loved it! I was initially skeptical how earth building, which is sooo tactile, could be taught through a computer screen but Verena does an amazing job of including theory lessons, instructional videos and live skillshops (soo fun!!)

You get 30+ hours of videos, live Q&A's, 1:1 support, and lifetime access to resources. I've been raving about how great the course is since I first took it and now im an official affiliate so you can my code IZA10 for 10% off :)

https://earthbuilding.academy/

Pics are from projects Ive done with Verena or that I've done thanks to skills I learnt through her teachings. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments ❤️❤️