Easy Measures We Should All Take To Save Water:

• Use a water retention device on our toilets or simply put a couple of bricks in the cistern to displace water.
• Buy a water butt for watering the garden and washing your car
• Take a shower not a bath
• Buy an aerated shower head
• Re-use bath water or washing up water on the garden or for washing the car
• Consider having a recycle tank installed - this takes the water going down the drain of the kitchen sink, dish washer, bath or shower etc. This water is then used to flush the toilets rather than using fresh drinkable water.

Easy Measures to Reduce Harmful Chemicals We Put Into Our Water:

• Use an ecologically friendly toilet cleaner
• Use an ecologically friendly dish washer detergent
• Do not flush female sanitary products
• Support No-Till Farming in your area
• Use an environmentally friendly weed killer (or vinegar which works very well on patios)
• Wash the car with environmentally friendly detergents
• Have your cars checked regularly for leaks, if it is leaking get it fixed!
• Dispose of chemicals and hazardous substances correctly. For example motor oil needs to be taken to your local recycling or disposal centre to be processed.

None of these methods to reduce your impact on our water supply are new. They have all been suggested before and many of them are becoming common practice. Some of these ideas need to be taken up not only by the public but governments too.

All new housing should be built with recycle tanks to re-use water for flushing the toilets. Another point that needs to be addressed is why do we continue to allow companies to sell incredibly toxic products which know are going to end up in our water cycle!?!

It all seems like common sense but when it comes to our environment it seems an air of apathy, laziness and ignorance continues to prevail! Please help break this vicious circle by just doing a couple of easy things on this list.

Well for those of you out there who are searching for ways of stretching those landscaping and decorating budgets this is a good place to start! I will be adding contributions from our visitors to this section so we can build a wealth of budget stretching knowledge.

Gardening on a Budget
Growing from Cuttings:
If you have friends who are keen gardeners (or who have lots of money and buy really nice plants) it is often the case that they won’t mind giving you a few cuttings which you can start at home. Cuttings take half the time to become established compared to seed germination. For best results choose a thick non flowering stem and cut just below a join where a leaf is sprouting. Plant in potting soil and keep moist in an area with lots of sunlight. When the roots fill the pot you can plant the cutting outside.

Use What You Already Have:
You need to start looking at the contents of your garden with different eyes and see the potential of everything.
Examples…
1. Old wooden garden furniture can be sanded down and painted - you don’t have to buy a new set.
2. If you have a patio but want something different you could reshape the patio and the lawn around it. Then you avoid the cost of new slabs and laying them. Let your imagination run wild and see what you can re-use.
3. Shrubs and small trees can be moved to a better area with more light where they will thrive or used to create more privacy.

DIY:
It is unlikely that you will be able to do all of the work yourself but if you plan your work in stages and hire a few local teenagers to do the donkey work you can make a big saving.

Plan Ahead:
Create a garden plan and stick to it when you go to buy supplies for your garden take the plan and a list of what you need and stick to it. Most budgets are ruined by impulse purchases.

Shop Around:
If you are looking for one of the more expensive items for your garden plan shop around and get the most for your money. There are many mail order sites and most garden centres have their own websites, many with price lists.

Remember only use “cheap items” when they are not critical to your plan and if you consider the quality to be acceptable. Buying plants from a cheaper provider may not be cheaper if you have to replace them all in a year’s time!

Decorating on a Budget
New Look Kitchens for Less - The only thing stopping you from having a kitchen you love is your creativity and the fear to get stuck in! You do not have to spend thousands on a kitchen re-model all it takes is a little imagination, patience and a bit of hard work!

New Cabinets - so you want new kitchen cabinets but you can’t afford it well for a start is it just the colour you don’t like or is it the design its self? The cheapest way to breathe new life into those cabinets is to paint them. If you are adamant that they need to go you could just replace the doors and front of the drawers. Again you may not need to buy these if you or someone you know is pretty good at wood working. Hardware stores stock the door and drawer pulls you need and you can re-use the original hinges. Even better once you have removed the fronts of the drawers and cupboard doors you can use these to mark out the size of the new doors and the holes that need to be drilled for the original hinges.

There are so many combinations of paint, pulls and varnishes you can create a look all of your own!

Re-Use Old Curtains - So you have painted your kitchen a vibrant colour but your old curtains clash, your first thought is to go and buy new ones… Stop right there! Why not dye them a complimentary colour and re-use those curtains? Or perhaps just re-use the lining and stitch new fabric onto the lining.

Use Your Imagination - Most of us have years of titbits hiding away why not get those out and give them a new lease of life as ornaments. You could also find wonderful bits and pieces to complement the particular style you have chosen. For example if you are creating an Italian feel oils, pastas and even jars of olives could create a great new feel to your kitchen.
I hope you enjoyed my budget stretching ideas, please feel free to comment or to contribute you own ideas for others to share. info@envirokind.com

The simplest way to make a saving on fuel is to check tyre pressures are correct and air filters are clean.

Precision tillage and No-Till methods of land preparation are also very good ways to cut tractor work and, therefore, fuel and maintenance bills (see our article on No-Till land prep).

Green Houses & Poly Tunnels:

If you own green houses or poly tunnels here are a few tips to make them as energy efficient as possible without spending large amounts of money.

• Check seals – replace or perhaps use a silicone jelly for a cheap and easy repair
• Patch holes
• Having thermostats recalibrated 1 degree higher than necessary could waste up 10-15% of annual energy usage – so turn them down
• If you use fan heaters simply cleaning the blades of the fan blades will return them to their original capacity
• Make sure all draft excluders and fan seals are fitted correctly
• Regularly maintain equipment to get the full potential of its use
• Installing extra layers of polyethylene covering can reduce costs significantly as it will reduce the amount of heat that escapes
• Use thermal blankets at night to retain heat from sunlight - this could half you nightly heating costs

Agricultural Waste Minimisation:

Farmers who muck spread with their slurry can produce far more productive and fertile slurry with the simple and cost effective application of Penergetic-P.

Regular application over a period of three months will have fantastic results.
The fertiliser produced will be non caustic (will not burn crops) and rich in clay humus complexes. The Penergetic Slurry treatment is available from our site and prices start from £114.39 for a 10kg pack which is only £1.28 a day (90 days of treatment)! This small investment will save money as you will not require nearly as much nitrogen fertiliser. You will no longer need to use all the high cost and non effective slurry treatments currently on the market.

Waste minimisation is a fantastic way to significantly reduce costs. Not only does it utilise what would normally have to be disposed of but it eliminates the cost of disposal itself. Field composting is a good way to utilise harvest waste and replenish soil nutrients. By allowing organic debris to start decomposing you are promoting earth worms which will aerate the soil, replenish nutrients and provide better drainage.

To further enhance the benefits why not try Penergetic K in conjunction with your field harvesting to speed up and enhance decomposition and return as many nutrients to the soil as possible. Any arable farmer worth his salt knows rich productive soil is worth its weight in gold!

If you have any ideas or methods that you use to help save money we would love to hear them and would like to add them to this article or perhaps write another with contributed money saving methods for agriculture. 
Please email info@envirokind.com

What is No Till?
No Till is a land preparation method for arable farming that does not require ploughing. Tilling is the traditional method of ploughing and seed planting. No Till is the process of seed planting without tilling (ploughing).

The plant debris from a previously harvested crop is left to decompose protecting the soil from erosion and keeping the nutrients locked in. This also encourages worms to start building an underground network of burrows. Specialised equipment is used for seed planting which does not disturb the ground nearly as much as traditional practices.  

How is it better for the Environment and Farmers?

If you are a farmer reading this you will probably be thinking about the initial cost of a No Till seed planter rather than the benefits to the environment and I would not blame you! However there are real monetary savings to be made. No-Till requires far less tractor work which means less fuel, less maintenance and more time to be used elsewhere on the farm. You may even be able to apply for a subsidy or tax break depending on your local government. Another benefit is the substantial decrease in the need to use fertilisers and other additives as the soil will retain far more nutrients. As ploughing kills worms you can expect far better drainage and aeration as well as higher nutrient retention. All of the fore-mentioned should contribute to a greater crop yield.

Benefits to the environment:

• Less erosion
• Less nitrates leached into streams and rivers
• Better bio-diversity
• More sustainable farming.

As the ground is less disturbed and the debris and residue of previous harvests are left on the ground to decompose the resulting land is far less venerable to erosion. The main benefits of less erosion are better quality top soil and less sediment and fertiliser end up in rivers and streams.

Another benefit of leaving harvesting waste to decompose is that it provides a habitat for wildlife such as field mice which in turn encourage predators and creates much more bio-diversity.

Farming using No-Till is simply a much more sustainable method of arable farming which should be supported by local governments, our water suppliers and Wild Life Conservationists.

So what can we do to use our water resources better?

There are ten simple ways that we can all follow:

• When washing dishes by hand, don’t let the water run while rinsing. If you have a double sink, fill one sink with wash water and the other with rinse water.
• Keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of running the tap each time you want a cold drink. In this way, every drop goes down you and not the drain.
• When gardening minimize evaporation by watering during the early morning hours or in the evening, when temperatures are cooler and winds are lighter.
• Collect the water you use for rinsing fruit and vegetables and reuse it to water your houseplants.
• Time your shower to keep it under 5 minutes. You’ll save up to 3,785 litres a month.
• Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save 15 litres a minute. That’s 757 gallons a week for a family of four.
• Insulate hot water pipes so you don’t have to run as much water to get hot water to the tap.
• Install water softening systems only when necessary. Save water and salt by running the minimum number of regenerations necessary to maintain water softness or install an Aquakat which improves the taste, vitality and quality of the water.
• Wash clothes only when you have a full load and save up to 2271 litres each month.
• Do one thing each day that will save water. Even if savings are small, every drop counts.

From bronze scrap to ash and dust for brick making, we have always recycled our natural resources. Paper recycling actually started in the UK in 1921 but it was not until the 1970’s that recycling techniques really took off.

Some items like paper can only be recycled with the inclusion of some raw wood fibres, while others like aluminum, can be recycled over and over again without the addition of new raw material. Indeed, recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy cost of producing new aluminum.

Today with the excessive use of packaging, more waste is being generated and we need to look at new ways to recycle this to reduce the enormous and negative impact it is having on the environment. Statistics show that around 20% of the waste in our kitchen bins is actually just packaging and that every person in England now produces seven times their own weight in waste a year.

Although by 2005/6 25% of our household waste was either recycled or composted, the 2010 target of reducing landfill waste to 11.2 million tonnes, is a huge undertaking and we are all responsible for reaching it. Today, every person in England is recycling enough to fill nine wheelie bins. While this is equivalent to taking 3.5 million cars off UK roads, it is just the start.

So what are the easiest ways that we can help the environment by recycling – and keep those fines at bay?

1. Re-use envelopes by purchasing sticky labels
2. Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposables.
3. Rather than use supermarket plastic bags, invest in some proper shopping bags or a “bag for life” – and reuse any plastic bags that you are given
4. Use cloths rather than disposable kitchen roll
5. Compost as much of your kitchen and garden waste as possible – contact your local council or water company to see if they have any offers on compost bins
6. Recycle your ink print cartridges
7. Join a toy library and give old toys to other families.
8. Take all your cans to a Save-a-Can bank
9. Start a waste paper pile and use this paper to print off non important documents
10. Make sure your office operates a recycling policy

So what should you eat to make up those 1600 calories?

When it comes to eating up the 1600 calories, the first area of consideration must be to make sure that you are eating enough carbohydrate, fat (yes, fat) protein, vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy. The key to eating good food is variety. Don’t follow a strict diet or even give up the foods that you love – just balance them so you eat all the necessary nutrients.

• Carbohydrates should make up about 50 - 55% of your daily calories
• Limit the amount of fat you eat down to 30% of your daily calories
• Protein should make up about 15-20% of your daily calories
• Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day – and these soon add up during the day

A good way to make sure you are eating the very best food is to look into its nutrient density. This is a measure of the amount a nutrients a particular food contains in comparison to the number of calories. The more nutrients it has in relationship to its calorific value, the more nutrient dense it is and the better it is for you.  The George Mateljan Foundation has identified 130 nutrient dense, affordable and accessible foods that should be regulars in your daily diet.

They include:

• Strawberries
• Peanuts
• Broccoli
• Pineapple
• Potatoes
• Honey
• Chicken

So why is it important to eat good food? A report has shown that a diet of bad food is estimated to be a factor in the development of 33% of cancers. The risk is lower for those who eat vegetables, fruits and starchy foods.

Food to limit or avoid is anything with excessive saturated fats.  This type of fat is found in meat, full fat milk and cheese and in some vegetable oils. Excessive amounts can increase the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood which can lead to heart disease. Too much salt in the diet can also lead to a variety of health problems such as kidney disease and strokes. So make sure to limit the amount you add to your cooking and dinner plate.

When you decide on what you are going to eat, make sure you eat only when you are physically hungry and stop when you are full. If you are looking to lose some weight, actually stop just before this feeling at the end of the meal.

It’s always best to eat out less, have fewer take-aways and cook at home more. But if you have to eat on the run, then don’t dismiss all fast food outlets. If you are careful, you can still eat healthily and keep within the 1600 calorie limit. For example, pop into a Subways and take advantage of their low fat and healthy options. Or limit yourself to a hamburger at MacDonald’s for only 280 calories. Just don’t add fries or a milkshake.

Many forms of organic farming have been used for thousands of years – even before the ancient Egyptians. And these all used organic, highly efficient farming techniques that were developed to suit their environment. And today, traditional organic methods of growing rice, corn and wheat can produce higher yields rather than undertake monoculture according to International journal, Nature. Research has shown that farmers in countries such as India, Kenya and Brazil can double or triple yields by simply switching to organic traditional methods of farming (Essex University).

And the benefits are even more long lasting. According to Dr. Christos Vasilikiotis of the University of California, Berkeley, chemically intensive farming takes its toll on the land and the pollution it generates. “Organic farming methods continually increase soil fertility and prevent loss of topsoil to erosion, while conventional methods have the opposite effect,” he says. He further maintains that “only a conversion to organic farming will allow us to maintain and even increase current crop yields.”

For poorer countries the benefits of organic farming are even more wide reaching. By practicing organic farming there is no reliance on expensive pesticides and fertilizers, giving farmers an economic advantage. In fact, because of the high demand for organic food and insufficient supply, organic products generate more income for those organic farmers who make the move to this form of farming.

But modern day organic farmers do not have to forgo the benefits of modern technology. There are products that are safe to use within an organic farming environment and are still cost effective. The Penergetic range of products work with nature to improve every element of organic agriculture from soil fertility to root development and disease resistance. And the range is highly cost effective using the smallest amounts of natural ingredients.

One of the biggest problems facing the dairy farmer today, along with complying with all the regulations around the production of high quality milk, is how to handle, store and dispose of slurry and straw based manure.

Those with above ground slurry stores or lagoons often encounter trouble with crusting and thickening of the slurry, in some cases, and we all have seen it, grass and corn grows out of the crusted slurry. The trouble starts when time comes to spread the manure. How do we get it to a consistency that the vacuum tanker can handle? It is liquid at the bottom but the crust has to be dealt with.

There are many and varied ways in which farmers have tried to solve this struggle over the years. (1) JCB or drag lines are employed, (2) contractors stir the tank for days to mix the slurry to a liquid consistency, (3) jetting systems have been installed, at great expense, to keep the slurry on the move and in extreme cases (surely apocryphal) dynamite (4) has been used.

Slurry can also be treated using (5) solidification/stabilisation or (6) centrifuging and even treated in (7) drying beds or lagoon fields. There are now (8) reverse osmosis treatment plant where the slurry is processed until is separated into three entities - dry matter, slurry liquid and crystal clear liquid. Similarly, (9) polymer technology has been used for efficient liquid-solid separation.

However, alll these methods are time consuming and expensive in financial and labour terms.

Additionally, the quality of the resultant slurry is not as good as it should be as during the storage and handling processes nitrogen is lost to the atmosphere in the form of ammonia gas.

The solution is to keep the slurry on the move whilst in store, while locking in the nitrogen. This can this be achieved without mechanical input using (10) Envirokind Slurry Treatment.

Without using bacteria, enzymes or chemicals the Treatment oxygenates the slurry, keeps it moving by continuous bubbling, ensuring that it remains liquid and, at the same time converting ammonia to the slow-release fertiliser, ammonium nitrate, increasing the nitrogen value of the resultant slurry.

Not only does this save time and money in handling the slurry, but it also reduces the artificial fertiliser input costs, as less nitrogen has to be purchased.

An additional, and sometimes a very important point, is that the smells are dramatically reduced so no more complaints from the neighbours or from the local Environmental Agency.

By studying traditional agriculture, planners and developers can avoid making environmental, cultural and socio-economic strategic mistakes. This ensures that decisions are sensitive to the environment and a range of processes and needs.

More importantly, traditional farming techniques that date back to ancient times can guide us with ecological farming activities. Without the input of technological and mainly chemical solutions, traditional agriculture can balance the deficiencies of modern agriculture. Moreover it can guide us in the development of stable and sustainable systems with the use of local resources and human and animal energy.

Finally we can learn from their mistakes of over farming, soil erosion, tree felling and over grazing. Indeed, some believe whole civilizations such as the Indus Valley people disappeared due to these reasons.

Ancient Egyptian Agriculture

The ancient Egyptians depended totally on the Nile River. Indeed, the Nile Valley was Egypt – a thin ribbon of fertile land hemmed in by sandy desert. The Egyptians became highly competent agriculturalists, understanding their environment and utilizing their skills in engineering and mathematics to maximize their yields.

Most Egyptians farmed the land and seldom went hungry. They grew and ate a variety of crops such as barley, wheat, fruit and vegetables. Dates, figs, leeks, onions, garlic, cucumber, beans and lettuce were grown and eaten by all groups in society.

Scribes forecast the quality of the harvest by measuring the level of the Nile’s water. The level of water largely determined the harvest. In a land with little or no rainfall, accurate land surveying was regarded as highly important.

The quest for agricultural efficiency was the responsibility of the engineers. They studied mathematics, interpreted the seasons and annual growth cycle and calculated that the year at 365 days. Of great importance, they developed dykes, dams and irrigation channels especially at El Fayum. These constructions curbed harmful flooding and provided controllable water supplies to all. Irrigation was largely carried out using the basin system. The cultivated ground was divided into huge areas made into basins by the construction of solid enclosing walls and when the Nile was in flood, waster was diverted into the basins by canals. From each basin, which might cover up to 17000 hectares, water was channelled into outlying areas. In gardens and orchards, water was hand lifted until the invention of the shaduf. 

The Shaduf is a simple but effective device for irrigation and has been used in Egypt for 3,500 years. Water is drawn from the Nile or one of its canals into a bucket attached to a weighted pole. The weight lifts the full basket which can then be easily emptied into a tank built at a higher level. From the tank, water is channelled through smaller canals to irrigate land some distance from the river. The canals slope downwards using the power of gravity.

Today, Egyptian farmers or fellah still use many of the tools developed by the ancients thousands of years ago. About 6 out of 10 Egyptians still till the soil or raise animals in the same fashion. The plough was introduced to Egypt about 4,500 years ago. Indeed, a pharaoh looking at a present day field might think he was in his own time.

Mayan Agriculture

Between 300 and 850, the Maya built many cities such as Copan, Piedras and Uaxactun. Scholars believed that only priests and officials lived in these cities and the people lived in clearings in the jungle operating a form of slash and burn agriculture. However excavations suggest that actually the cities were divided into sections or family compounds with each having a plot of farmland around its buildings. Crop rotation was utilized to ensure that soil was not exhausted. A range of crops were grown such as maize (the staple diet), beans, root crops, sweet potatoes and several types of fruit.

Sumerian Agriculture

The Sumerians established the first settled civilization based on agriculture and trade. They were the first people to understand the principles of scientific agriculture – the relationship between seeds, soil, water and the annual cycle of the weather. Barley, their chief crop, was used as a form of money and they cultivated flax, lentils, peas, wheat and vetch. To improve their agriculture Sumerian engineers constructed damns and canals. Silt from the river fertilized the land which yielded two crops a year. The Sumerians took a great interest in mathematics, probably out of the necessity to survey the land. They based their number systems on units of 60 and passed on to present times the 60 minute hour and the 360 degree circle.

Indus Valley Agriculture

Over 4,500 years ago, in present day Pakistan, the Indus Valley people lived in an area covering over 1 million square metres. In those days, the Valley was much more fertile than it is today. Some believe this is down to climate change, others believe it is the farming techniques and lifestyle of the people that resulted in them disappearing without trace after 1,000 years.

So what did these civilizations have in common?

• They knew their neighbourhood – soil types, fertility levels and land use categories are known by the older members of communities and passed onto the younger members.
• Crops were sown that were correct for that particular site and could tolerate the conditions and were resistant to specific diseases. There was a reliance upon local crop varieties and the use of wild plans and animals for consumption
• The understanding of water conversation and management and the recycling of nutrients.