Dry area family gardening in Mexico (Fabio RUIZ / Colotlán y sus árboles)

Sincere thanks to Fabio RUIZ for authorizing me to use some photos of a family garden in Colotlan, located in the northern extremity of the Mexican state of Jalisco.

On Fabio’s blog :

http://colotlan.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/otros-cultivos-en-el-huerto-familiar/

you will find these photos of brocoli, lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus, Andropogon citratus), seedlings of radishes, small pepper or chili piquin (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) and zucchinis (calabacitas).

They show that even in dry areas people can grow their own fresh food.

See also :  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107914&id=1214065827

2010-12-15 Family garden in Colotlan : brocoli (Photo Fabio RUIZ)

2010-12-15 Family garden in Colotlan : lemon grass with cardboard protection against drought (Photo Fabio RUIZ)

2010-12-15 Family garden in Colotlan : radish seedlings (Photo Fabio RUIZ)

2010-12-15 Family garden in Colotlan : small pepper (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) - (Photo Fabio RUIZ)

2010-12-15 Family garden in Colotlan : zucchini plant started flowering (Photo Fabio RUIZ)

Are bio-fuels an opportunity for small-scale farming? (ILEIA)

Read at :

http://ileia.leisa.info/phorum-3.4.8a/read.php?f=1&i=4464&t=4464

Can family farmers benefit from bio-fuels?

Author:  FM Editorial team (—.kpn.net)
Date:   16-Dec-2010 10:42

With the world’s reserves of oil going down, governments and companies have started looking for alternatives. A global market for bio-fuels has been developing during the past ten years, which was one of the factors that contributed to the sharp increase in food prices in 2008. Since then, the cultivation of crops for bio-fuels, such as jatropha, has been a hot topic in the international development debate. Are bio-fuels an opportunity for small-scale farming?

Read the view from Flemming Nielsen and Mariann Bassey in Farming Matters magazine, Volume 26 – Number 4 – Partnership for learning (page 28-29) or copy/paste the following link into your browser: http://tinyurl.com/2urunay

Farming Matters (ILEIA)

Partnerships for learning

When talking about small-scale family farming, many different people and organisations can be labeled as “stakeholders”. But what do they learn from each other? And how do they learn to work together to make agriculture more sustainable? These are some of the questions that we addressed in this issue – Partnerships for learning.

The December issue of Farming Matters includes a theme overview by Steve Sherwood, where he discusses some interesting theoretical perspectives on learning, knowledge and social change.

In addition, we include the opinions of Francisco Caporal, General Training Coordinator at the Ministry of Agrarian Development in Brazil, and of Arjen Wals, Professor of Social Learning and Sustainable Development at Wageningen University. And we interviewed Percy Schmeiser: you can read about his lawsuit against Monsanto, the legal difficulties that he and his wife got into, and the reasons why they decided to continue fighting.

(continued) : http://ileia.leisa.info/index.php?url=magazine-details.tpl&p[readOnly]=1&p[_id]=252326