Grow The Change

19/08/2016

"I believe that every home must have a garden. After turning my tiny back yard into a food forest, I pestered the uMngeni Municipality for eight years to allow me to use a vacant plot, which residents used as a dumping site in Mpophomeni Township, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa to create a food garden. I thought that if I could turn this bit of unloved ground into a flourishing garden, I would be able to inspire others to do the same in their backyards. At first people wondered what was going on, but many already knew me, so they were not really surprised. Within a couple of months, with the help of community volunteers we created an abundant garden based on permaculture principles. Permaculture gardens can do many things to uplift a community. I would like to address the issues my community faces in a practical and sustainable way - to see them understand the importance of nature and caring for the environment where they live in their daily lives, every day. I can help them save money, water, energy and give them opportunities to earn money out of waste and gardening. One of the privileges of being a farmer is to be up when the sun rises. I often sit on the bench my brother made me admiring the veggies and enjoying the quiet." -Ntombenhle Metabo, South Africa.

07/08/2016

I love this image.
The Hart tree in the Redwood Mountain Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, California. Photo: Jack Tumen. via Avantgardens

05/08/2016

"...Inspired by the uplifting pictures I started to create a small herbs bed in our backyard. Gardening wasn’t a new thing to me. I spent my childhood in a very small village in the western part of Austria. My mother grew up on a farm in Thailand and is the kind of person who prefers plants way over people. Consequently as a kid my main occupation was digging in the soil all by myself and creating my own miniature gardens with wild flowers and some peas. Although I fled the narrowness of the green valleys of the Ausserfern (which by the way translates into “beyond faraway”) at the age of 19, I took my love for plants with me. Every place I occupied for a longer time turned into a green jungle."

HER[Story) : Maria Geir, In love with Permaculture - Women Who Farm

My life could have been very different. The first 29 years it seemed like I was meant to be a career woman. I had been an IT Transformation Consultant, I was an aspiring project manager in an international banking group and my whole world was focused on performance, image and success. In my little s...

05/08/2016

"Women farmers across the world play an important role in the conservation and care of crop diversity. The maintenance of crop diversity is central to food security, nutritional diversity, health, and cultural traditions for rural communities globally. In the Andean highlands, smallholder women farmers use local knowledge and skills transmitted through generations to select and conserve seeds of traditional crop varieties. Andean women farmers protect biodiversity through their seed saving practices, sustainable agricultural practices, and unique culinary uses of different crops."

Women Farmers are Guardians of Crop Diversity in the Andes - Women Who Farm

Women farmers across the world play an important role in the conservation and care of crop diversity. The maintenance of crop diversity is central to food security, nutritional diversity, health, and cultural traditions for rural communities globally. In the Andean highlands, smallholder women farme...

22/08/2015

On Rooftops of Paris, Expect Green Roofs and Solar Panels - Grow The Change

The new French law, which requires renewable energy or plants on all new commercial buildings, is the first of its kind at the national level. Green rooftops will soon be sprouting up across France, thanks to a new law passed … Read More

12/07/2015

KARITAINA, Greece (AP) — Ilias Mathes has protection against bank closures, capital controls and the slashing of his pension: 10 goats, some hens and a vegetable patch. If Greece’s financial crisis deepens, as many believe it must, he can feed … Read More

15/05/2015

French MPs propose forcing supermarkets to hand over all unsold food to charity - Grow The Change

Group of French MPs want to make it compulsory for all big supermarkets to donate all unsold but still edible food to charities By Henry Samuel, Paris www.telegraph.co.uk A group of French MPs has tabled a draft law to make … Read More

03/04/2015

France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels - Grow The Change

A new law recently passed in France mandates that all new buildings that are built in commercial zones in France must be partially covered in either plants or solar panels. Green roofs, as they are called, have an isolating effect which … Read More

12/03/2015

6 Reasons To Start Composting Today - Grow The Change

Did you know that there are places in North America where recycling and composting are part in parcel of their city wide public waste programs? If you are not one of the lucky ones living in these places, the good … Read More

28/02/2015

This tiny home in the woods of Finland is the brainchild of architect Robin Falck. Falck’s design aesthetic is minimalist. He prefers to focus on making a good design better by subtracting elements, rather than adding new ones. Nido (Italian for “bird’s nest”) is the direct result of that.

This tiny home in the woods of Finland is the brainchild of architect Robin Falck. Falck’s design aesthetic is minimalist. He prefers to focus on making a good design better by subtracting elements, rather than adding new ones. Nido (Italian for … Read More

26/02/2015

Reptile Biologist Explains That Tortoises Are Affectionate Despite Their Tough Exteriors

Tortoises enjoy tactile sensations; rubbing, scratching, that kind of thing. So when we go in there with them and we’re engaging with them – we’ll kind of rub their shell, scratch their head a bit and when we do that, they extend that neck out and they’ll look like they’re enjoying it a little bit and that’s just something we do to interact with the tortoises on a daily basis.

25/02/2015

Stunning Tiny New Zealand Beach Home | Grow The Change

23 Feb 2015 Stunning Tiny New Zealand Beach Home by Dave | posted in: Tiny Homes | 0 Via ccca.co.nz. On the shore of an idyllic white sanded beach in New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula rests an elegant hut. Closed up, the rough macrocarpa-cladding blends into the landscape and perches quietly on the…