The Edible Garden

Alys Fowler attempts to avoid shop-bought fruit and vegetables and live off her own home-grown produce. It's no easy task because Alys doesn't want to turn her garden into an allotment, so she's growing her fruit and vegetables among her flowers.

Alys will focus on different foods and show how anyone can grow, cook and eat from their own garden - even if they live in a city.

Grow Your Own Drugs (Season 2)

Grow Your Own Drugs is a British television documentary series, first broadcast on BBC Two, exploring the many remedies which can be provided by plants. James Wong, an ethnobotanist, presents the series and takes the view that people should start making their own remedies in order to save money and feel healthier plus providing simple remedies to everyday ailments. 

See also: Season 1 (Fruit - Flowers - Trees - Herbs - Roots - Vegetables)

Season 2

Episode 1: Garden Herbs



Episode 2: Incredible Edibles



Episode 3: Exotic Plants



Episode 4: Petals



Episode 5: Shrubs & Trees



Episode 6: Wild Plants

What If Cannabis Cured Cancer (Full Movie)

Could the chemicals found in marijuana prevent and even heal several deadly cancers? Could the tumor regulating properties of cannabinoids someday replace the debilitating drugs, chemotherapy, and radiation that harms as often as it heals? Discover the truth about this ancient medicine as world renowned scientists in the field of cannabinoid research explain and illustrate their truly mind-blowing discoveries.

"What If Cannabis Cured Cancer summarizes the remarkable research findings of recent years about the cancer-protective effects of novel compounds in marijuana. Most medical doctors are not aware of this information and its implications for prevention and treatment. If we need more evidence that our current policy on cannabis is counterproductive and foolish, here it is."

Facebook: Plant Of Renown

See also:
Leaf: The Power Of Medicinal Cannabis
Marijuna - Cannabis - Hemp: The Trillion Dollar Plant 
When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do 
Run From The Cure

Zaytuna Farm Tour (Part 2)

Zaytuna Farm, home of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, is a demonstration site and education center in the village of The Channon in NSW Australia. The property is 66 acres/27 hectares of ex beef cattle/ex dairy farm land with a boundary on the Terrania Creek. It was first purchased in 2001 and has since been under constant development and evolution as a demonstration site of permaculture design and land use and operating as an education centre.

'Last year we took some time out to make a Zaytuna Farm Video Tour for you all. The positive comments, both on our site and on YouTube, along with additional questions, encouraged us to make another! This new video, shot 11-12 months after the original video, is twice as long and covers several aspects of the farm — some we hadn’t covered before, and some we had, but now with additional aspects and details. You’ll see Geoff talking about natural buildings, cattle laneways, and how to keep goats parasite free. Geoff will take you through the entire plant nursery process at Zaytuna Farm, from seeds and potting through to actually planting a tree. You’ll see food forests at various stages of development, a new purpose-built fish pond that will soon be in production, and much more.

Mixed throughout is footage that shows some of the diversity of plants and wildlife you can see at Zaytuna Farm — a permaculture paradise that’s far removed from the worn out old cattle property it used to be only ten years ago. This farm inspires me with what is possible with sensible permaculture design — i.e. when doing our best to cooperate with unchangeable natural laws. Beauty and diversity don’t have to be found only in ‘parks’, ‘reserves’ and wilderness areas — it can be found right where we live and work. I hope you’ll see that our gardens, streetscapes and farms can also all be full of life and beauty and can contribute to not only our own mental and physical health, but the health and well-being of the biosphere as a whole.' Geoff Lawton

See also: Zaytuna Farm Tour Part 1

Website: Permaculture Research Institute

Marijuna - Cannabis - Hemp: The Trillion Dollar Plant

The Union

The basic point of this documentary is to present the facts about Marijuana. It focuses less on the BC market and more on the reasons why marijuana should be viewed in the same light as alcohol and tobacco. It argues for the legalization of marijuana. The argument is compelling and factual with many legitimate sources.

Grass: The History of Marijuna

This film explores the history of the American government's official policy on marijuana in the 20th century. Rising with xenophobia with Mexican immigration and their taste for smoking marijuana, we see the establishment of a wrong headed federal drug policy as a crime issue as opposed to a public health approach. Fueled by prejudice, hysterical propaganda and political opportunism undeterred by voices of reason on the subject, we follow the story of a costly and futile crusade against a substance with debatable ill effects that has damaged basic civil liberties.

The Trillion Dollar Plant



See also: When We Grow & Leaf: The Power of Medicinal Cannabis

The Many Uses Of Hemp

This video takes you on a quick tour of the many uses of hemp and offers a little bit of history. The first drafts of the American Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. It was eventually banned in the US not because of any potential that it could be abused as a drug, because commercially grown hemp does not have THC as marijuana does but because it's a major threat to corporations.

We are familiar with hemp used in textiles, but did you know it is also being used to manufacture bricks and building materials like chipboard? And fuel...and plastic? And it makes a great nutritional supplement? Did you know hemp makes up to 4 times as much pulp as trees for paper production? There are thousands of uses for hemp and the time has come for the U.S. government to legalize the growing of hemp so that we may benefit economically from this truly amazing plant.

See also:

- Hemp can save the world

- If we grow...this is what we can do

- Understanding the hemp plant and its 50.000 uses and benefits

Graham Hancock: War On Consciousness

Graham Hancock tells the story of his 24-year relationship with cannabis brought to an abrupt halt in 2011 after an encounter with ayahuasca, the sacred visionary brew of the Amazon. Along the way he explores the mystery of death, the problem of consciousness, and the implications for the human future of a society that wages total war on true cognitive liberty.

Graham Hancock is the author of 'The Sign and the Seal', 'Fingerprints of the Gods', 'Keeper of Genesis', 'Heaven's Mirror', 'Supernatural' and other bestselling investigations of historical mysteries.

His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and have sold over five million copies worldwide. His public lectures and broadcasts, including two major TV series, 'Quest for the Lost Civilisation', and 'Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age', have further established his reputation as an unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity's past.

Sergei Boutenko: Wild Edibles

Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

Herbalism Basics

This is a series of 6 YouTube videos explaining the basic principals of making various herbal preperations.

Video 1: Infusion



Video 2: Decoction



Video 3: Tincture



Video 4: Infused oil



Video 5: Ointment



Video 6: Cream

Fantastic Fungi

An excerpt from the feature documentary by Louie Schwartzberg following notable mycologist, Paul Stamets, as he discusses the important role mushrooms play in the survival and health of the earth and human species.

See also: Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

How To Be A Gardener (BBC)

Season 1 - Website: How to be a gardener

Episode 1: Know Your Plot

You wouldn’t dream of moving into a house without taking a look at the area. It’s the same in a garden. Before you can grow anything, you need to know what sort of conditions you have. Then you can choose plants that are suited to them. There really is no need to waste money on plants that will hate your environment. You’ll need to know what sort of soil you have, how much light there is and the prevailing weather conditions. Is it a windy site, a particularly cold one, or is it sunny and sheltered?

Episode 2: Understand Plants

Think of your garden as a theatrical production. It's all right - you don't need any artistic training. You are aiming for a variety show that lasts a long time, offers year-round interest and alleviates boredom. The way to achieve this is to use a wide range of plants: from trees and shrubs to climbers, perennials, annuals and bulbs. What's the difference between them, and what can each of them bring to your garden?



Episode 3: Planting Schemes And Themes

Once you’ve understood the different types of plant and what they can do, you can tackle the job of putting them all together in a garden - working out which ones will look best where, and how they will complement each other. There are lots of different planting styles, from cottage gardens to prairie gardens, tropical borders to bog gardens. And there are ways to use shapes, textures and colours to create different effects. Soft pastels or vibrant shades?



Episode 4: Practical Planting

When you know what plants you want, and which of them will be happy growing together, it’s tempting to rush off to the garden centre, go mad with the plastic, then come back and chuck them all in. Not a good idea, is it? You’ve done it before and half of them have died. So before you take the plunge, make sure that your soil is well cultivated and enriched. This module will tell you how to get your garden ready for plants, and it will also explain what sort of plants you should look for in the nursery or garden centre; what makes a good one, and which ones you should avoid. 

Episode 5: Caring For Your Garden

Once your plants are growing you will need to keep them happy. How do you do this, and what sort of tools will you need? Plants need water and food, but when and in what sort of quantities? This module explains the cultivation techniques necessary to keep your plants in fine fettle. Don’t worry; you won’t have to be a slave to them, just a good mother. And when it comes to pruning don’t shake in your shoes. There are simple basic steps you can take to ensure you cut the right stem, at the right time, in the right place.



Episode 6: Problem Solving

However good a gardener you are, there are always outside agencies that do their best to prevent you succeeding. That’s life. Weeds will invade your beds and borders, pests will fly in to nibble leaves and suck sap, and diseases will spread death and destruction in their wake. But grow your plants well, and know what steps to take when you spot a weed, a pest or disease, and you can stay one step ahead. Whether you are an organic gardener like me, or use chemicals wisely, making sure that the right product is used in the right place, the important thing is that you achieve a working relationship with nature and still enjoy your garden.



Episode 7: The Productive Garden

Growing flowers is wonderfully fulfilling. Growing fruit and vegetables is wonderfully filling. To pick and eat your own crops is a great thrill. You know they have been well grown; you know they are fresh and you know that, just like your own baby, they are the best in the world! Here you can discover just how to cultivate your own fruit and vegetables – and you don’t need a big garden to do so. Edible crops can be squeezed into the tiniest of plots.You’ll be surprised at how good some of them look – it’s a shame to pick them really!



Episode 8: The Gardening Year

The garden never stops moving, and no garden is ever finished. It follows, then, that the gardener is always gardening – even though to some the winter seems to be the closed season. But year-round gardening has its rewards. You can ensure that there is always something to cheer you up in the way of flowers, and always more things to plant and existing features to keep up to scratch. Not all these tasks are chores. Many of them will keep you in touch with the earth and things that grow, which is what 'how to be a gardener' is all about.

Edible Wild Plants: Video Field Guide

Video Field Guide to 100 Useful Wild Herbs.

Zaytuna Farm Tour (Part 1)

Zaytuna Farm, home of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, is a demonstration site and education center in the village of The Channon in NSW Australia. The property is 66 acres/27 hectares of ex beef cattle/ex dairy farm land with a boundary on the Terrania Creek. It was first purchased in 2001 and has since been under constant development and evolution as a demonstration site of permaculture design and land use and operating as an education centre. 

Website: Permaculture Research Institute

See also: Zaytuna Farm Tour Part 2

Mother Trees Connect The Forest

In this real-life model of forest resilience and regeneration, Professor Suzanne Simard shows that all trees in a forest ecosystem are interconnected, with the largest, oldest, "mother trees" serving as hubs. The underground exchange of nutrients increases the survival of younger trees linked into the network of old trees. Amazingly, we find that in a forest, 1+1 equals more than 2.

Mike Adams: GMO Foods Alter Organ Functions

The Health Ranger, Mike Adams, explains how studies in cell research have demonstrated the mechanism by which micro RNA from genetically engineered foods may alter organ function in humans.

Hemp Can Save The World

Nutiva, ELEVATE, The Luminaries, Aishah and Clayton Joseph Scott have teamed up for part 2 of ELEVATE's Solution Series. This series is intended to mix music, information, and education to bring awareness to globally significant issues and their solutions. Nutiva has been helping better the planet through the distribution of high quality sustainable products out to the world. This video was made to show all the benefits of Hemp and how it could help our land, our economy, and our human family. It's time to seed the future with Hemp!

See also: When we grow...This is what we can do.

The longest & most educational hemp/cannabis documentary

Grow Your Own Drugs With James Wong

Season 1

Many people think of plants as purely ornamental, something to brighten up back gardens and window boxes, but in this six-part series, ethnobotanist James Wong demonstrates how to transform familiar plants into simple natural remedies that could help ease the symptoms of minor everyday ailments, as well as how to make some pampering beauty treatments.

Episode 1: Fruit

In this opening episode, James reveals that there is more to some fruit than just the nutritional value. He uses figs to relieve constipation, hops for a good night's sleep, turns kiwis and papayas into a soothing face mask and uses goji berries in a soup that could help feed a cold - and all from things that might be found in any fruit bowl. This week's recipes.

Episode 2: Flowers

In the second episode of this six-part series exploring plant-based natural remedies and beauty treatments, ethnobotanist James Wong turns the spotlight on flowers. He reveals the historical use of marigolds, violas and elderflowers as ways to help relieve the symptoms of everyday ailments such as sore throats, acne and eczema. Sufferers of each of these, who are keen to find a natural solution to their health problems, try out James's remedies. This week's recipes.

 

Episode 3: Trees

Third episode of the six-part series exploring plant-based natural remedies and beauty treatments. Ethnobotanist James Wong focuses on trees. His recipes for natural tree remedies include a soothing gel for varicose veins made from conkers, a fragrant cologne made from pine, a lotion to tackle head lice and a traditional tea which could help improve memory function. It is a fascinating mix of gardening, science and history, and the volunteers who try James's remedies find out if they can actually help. This week's recipes.

Episode 4: Herbs
This week's recipes. 

   

Episode 5: Roots
This week's recipes. 

   

Episode 6: Vegetables 

This week's recipes. 

   

Bonus: Christmas Special



See also: Season 2

When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do

"When We Grow...This Is What We Can Do" is an educational documentary concerning the facts about cannabis. In this feature length documentary we explore everything there is, from industrial hemp to medicinal cannabis use, from the origins of cannabis prohibition to the legality of growing equipment.

How To Make Dye From Plants

Sasha Duerr uses just about anything to dye clothing: from kitchen waste (coffee grounds, avocado pits and onion skins) to invasive "weeds" (wild fennel, oxalis) to the leaves, fruit or petals of nearly any tree or plant (maple, pear, cherry, fig, acorn, fern, dahlia, poppy, lavender, etc).

Inspired by permaculture, Duerr believes in a slower approach to textile dying- she founded the Permacouture Institute to help advance Slow Textiles- both as a way to respect the environment, but also because she believes that plant-based color is more beautiful, and truly alive.

Book: The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes



Learn how a southern New Mexico gardener makes dye from plants that he grows in his garden.

Woodlands TV 

Part 1

Experiments with dyes using evidence from scraps of material found at archaological sites from the Saxon period. Using natural products from woods and woodlands such as madder, weld, woad, barks from alder buckthorn birch, and walnut, and wild plants such as yarrow Jennie James shows the varieties of colours that can be achieved. Other techniques to produce different colours include overdyeing, and the use of a mordant such as alum. Much of the research is inspired by the books about dyes by Jenny Dean.

Part 2

Dyeing with natural dyes. The madder plant (Rubia tinctoria) is a useful root for dyeing, producing a deep red colour. The roots are brown but after soaking and simmering become dark red and the shades of colour can then softened using modifiers such as wood ash water. In a woodland setting, Jennie James from the East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership (ESAMP) shows what these plants look like and discusses how to use them, along with the use of iron pyrites. She also looks at the importance of temperature in dyeing. The last of our three programmes on dyeing in woodlands using plants and barks, such as woad, weld, and alder buckthorn.

Part 3

Forest Plants for Dyeing and Dyeing Wool, Alder buckthorn bark, woad and weld can all be used for dyeing. Jennie James from the East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership (ESAMP) shows what these plants look like and the sort of colours they produce. A variety of different dyeing techniques such as overdyeing or using a mordant can then be applied to get different colours. When dyeing with woad , stale urine used to be used although nowadays spectralite is used instead. Jennie also has some woad seeds and a woad ball.

Playlist: Dyeing Yarn

Sugar - Aspartame - Stevia

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

In a special event hosted by the County Office of Education on March 24, 2011, Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program at UCSF, speaks about the role of sugar and the contribution of biochemical, neural, hormonal, and genetic influences in the expression of the current obesity epidemic both in children and adults.

Big Sugar: Sweet, White & Deadly

Documentary about Big Sugar, from it's early days with ties to slavery to modern times with it's detrimental effects on the everglades and political ties. This is both part 1 and part 2. Written & Directed by: Brian McKenna. Produced by Galafilm in 2005.



Aspartame: Sweet Misery, A Poisoned World

If a product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and composed of natural ingredients, would you assume it is safe to consume? If the same product is an artificial sweetener, would you assume it helps control your weight? Millions of people use aspartame, the artificial sweetener known as NutraSweet, with these assumptions in mind.
Aspartame can be found in thousands of products. However, aspartame's tainted history of approval and potentially toxic ingredients cast serious doubt on the safety of this sugar substitute. Furthermore, aspartame may actually increase your appetite (Farber 52).
While the FDA approval may signal the green light for safe consumption, 85 percent of all complaints registered with the FDA are for adverse reactions to aspartame, including five reported deaths. A closer look at the unscientific studies, suspicious approval methods, and its harmful ingredients, reveal the hidden dangers of this artificial sweetener. In reality, aspartame poses a public health threat. 

Stevia Sweetener

Website: SteviaSweetener

Stevia: Growing, Drying and Making Extract