Reenita's Wisdom

The Week in Water brings you the latest news in blue living from around the web.

Gizmodo highlights this nifty Black + Blum eau good bottle that purifies water with charcoal.  It doesn’t say how long it takes to clean the water, but it takes at least four hours to reduce the amount of chlorine.

Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock.com

A whale shark was pulled ashore in Pakistan and the meat was sold for $18,000 (USD).  Shark fishing is illegal in Pakistan, but the sale of whale meat is not.  Reports says the shark died of natural causes and was found ten days before.  Photos and the video below show the whale shark was still whole when cranes lifted it out of the water.  I’m wondering how fermented that meat was.

The wandering albatross is experiencing a boost from climate change.  These birds spend their entire lives at sea, only going ashore to lay an egg and raise the chick.  The increase in forage may be short-lived, though.

Denton city council has placed a moratorium on new drilling permits while they look at whether they should require recycling of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing.

While Texas is trying to protect our limited water supplies, Australia has way too much (in some places).

A rooftop garden in Chicago.

Out with the new and in with the old – old-fashioned waterwheels are being updated and brought back into use.

Wandering albatross photo via Shutterstock

You’ve heard about the great potential of sustainable agriculture for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, healthier food, and healthier farmers. But maybe there isn’t an easy way for you to get fresh, organic produce nearby. It’s often because farmers are busy managing the farm, which they should, and don’t have the ability to do much marketing to urban customers. One of the biggest issues inhibiting the growth of a stronger, more resilient local food system is the urban-rural divide. There isn’t enough communication between the two worlds, so there’s a bit of a knowledge gap in how to facilitate effective and ethical business and marketing.

CSA Program

Fortunately, a solution called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was introduced a few years ago. It’s a direct marketing program that allows farmers to sell boxes of food directly to you, either by delivery drop-off or pick-up. Farmers receive steady income, and you receive fresh, organic produce each week. Thus far, all organic farms that want to participate in CSA’s need to set up their own membership and delivery program, or join a cooperative. CSA’s have helped small farms to thrive despite the difficult entryway to local markets.

Silicone Valley comes to the rescue

CSA’s sound like the perfect solution, but the system has its drawbacks. The burden of marketing and distribution is on the farmer, and the website can be a little challenging to navigate. Now, there are a few Silicon Valley start-ups utilizing the digital platform to make it even easier for you to get fresh, local, organic produce straight from your farmer.

The San Francisco startup Farmigo is essentially an online database of CSA subscription offers from local producers. The difference is Farmigo facilitates the business and marketing transactions between farmers and customers. Local producers work with Farmigo to sort out the details of their offer – the particular subscription and payment policy, delivery schedules, and drop-off locations. Farmigo then relays this information to the interested customer, and the deal is done. Producers can focus more of their time on effective and sustainable production, and customers have another platform for buying organic food directly from the farm. Farmigo is super intuitive, easy to use, and the interface looks great.

The Silicon Valley startup Real Time Farms LLC is building an online database of farms, their people, their story, and their growing practices, so you can quickly and easily find out how your produce was grown. So far, the site has information for a few hundred farms, and is actively growing its database.

Good Eggs, Inc. aims to create “a product and company to serve and grow local food systems.” They want to strengthen the connections between people who grow, prepare, serve, and eat delicious locally-produced food. They’re still in research phase, but you can sign up for early access to their products and services.

Local Food Resilience

These are just some of the latest innovations helping to strengthen community ties and create the foundation that will allow local, sustainable agriculture to truly flourish. Most organic producers are small operations, so they don’t produce the volume of food that’s found in most grocery stores. Bridging the gap between farmers and consumers is essential to growing a sustainable food economy. When consumers become more intimate with and knowledgeable about the source of their food, there’s more accountability on both sides.

Direct marketing programs help to increase farm income and expand regional food markets. They’re crucial to helping this movement grow. A 2011 study from the USDA reported that marketing of local foods, via both direct and intermediated channels, grossed $4.8 billion in 2008.

[Photo from Shutterstock]

More from GLI:

1. Support Your Farmers by Eating Locally
2. Celebrate the Taste of Summer with Love Your Farmers Market Contest
3. The Farmers’ Market, A Meeting Place for Localvores

For a while I fed our backyard gals feed store varieties of feed. I thought for sure the bag of food had some magical properties that sustained our girls and kept them producing gorgeous, tasty eggs. After learning about the dangers of GMOs though I had to take a look at what was being fed to our poultry darlings. Some research showed not only could our chickens be sustained mostly on scraps and free ranging, but that feed could be made easily and cost-efficiently.

You can make your own chicken feed to save money and avoid GMO ingredients.

Backyard chicken

Chicken’s Dietary Needs

Chickens are simple creatures but their dietary needs are not too different from ours, well, except for the grit and oyster shells. Chickens need protein, most of which can be made up by allowing your girls to free range. Think of all the juicy bugs hiding in the backyard, not to mention the benefit of keeping those creepy crawlies out of your home. They also need carbs which come from grains and produce. That’s right, your lovelies benefit from fruits and veggies so stop off and give them some kitchen refuge before hitting the compost heap and toss them your melons rinds for a special treat.

{cc photo courtesy of on StevenW. Flickr)

Feeding a chicken

Ingredients for Chicken Feed

If you’re like me the idea of making your own chicken feed might have seemed mysterious at first. It’s silly since I made my dog’s food for years so why was chicken feed so mystical? With the help of Greener Pastures Chickens, I found one of the best chicken feed recipes using items already found in most health conscious kitchen. Corn, wheat, various seeds and lentils are the base for the simple recipe. Barley, flax, groat and millet may be the way you start your day but it’s also what’s needed for your chickens to rise and shine as well. Some of the more obscure items needed for the health of your chickens are granite grit and oyster shells which can be ordered online or through your local feed store. If you have a farmer friend with chickens you might be able to strike up a deal for a small bag. Also, try to avoid GMO corn by purchasing through local farms where you can talk to the growers to see if life in a lab was ever a part of their seed’s existence.

{cc photo courtesy of niallkennedy on Flickr}

Mealworms

Let Your Girls Get Buggy…

Or wormy. In the wild, poultry live on insects, plants and berries because they are foragers. Backyard chickens naturally want to do the same. While some chicken farmers raise earthworms, meal worms and other insects for their girls, you can also buy these snacks to supplement the tasty finds the girls will eat in the garden. Even if you’re miles from a feed store, your local pet store offers meal worms for their reptile-loving clientele. Unearthing some moist soil is sure to offer a few tasty earthworms your chickens will happily devour. You can also offer flowers as a special treat to chickens. The girls are sure to enjoy marigolds which will also give an even deeper golden color to their yolks. Make sure the flowers are chicken safe and then offer them instead of throwing the bouquet in the compost.

{cc photo courtesy of Randy Cox on Flickr}

Do you have backyard chickens? What do you feed your girls and what is their favorite treat?

More from GLI:

1. Chicken Fat Biodiesel Prevents Fuel Filter Clogs
2. How to Make Compost Tea
3. How To Make Sour Cream