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The Homestead At Denison University
The Homestead at Denison University (Granville, Ohio) is a student-run intentional community with a focus on environmental sustainability and voluntary simplicity. Founded in 1977 under the guiding vision of biology professor Dr. Robert W. Alrutz, it is an evolving experiment in learning through living. Membership is limited to twelve full-time students of Denison University per semester. These students (referred to as “Homesteaders” or “Homies”) represent a variety of ages, backgrounds, and academic majors. Description In its core values and activities, The Homestead has much in common with intentional communities like Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (Missouri)Sandhill Farm(Missouri), anCobb Hill CoHousing(Vermont). It differs from these communities in its direct connection to a liberal arts college, and its lack of long-term residents. As all Homesteaders are students, their residencies last from one semester to three years. The Homestead differs dramatically from typical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Granville, Ohio
Granville is a Village (United States)#Ohio, village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is east of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, the state capital, and west of Newark, Ohio, Newark, the county seat. Granville is home to Denison University. The village has a number of historic buildings, including Greek Revival structures like the Avery-Hunter House, Avery Downer House, St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Granville, Ohio), St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1837) and others. The Buxton Inn (1812), the Granville Inn (1924), Bancroft House (1834) and Bryn Du Mansion are local landmarks. History Pre-Columbian cultures Granville is the location of the prehistoric Alligator Effigy Mound, built by the indigenous people of the Fort Ancient culture, between 800 and 1200 Common Era, CE, more than four hundred years before European contact. It may be an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photovoltaic System
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct current, direct to alternating current, as well as photovoltaic mounting system, mounting, solar cable, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an rechargeable battery, integrated battery. PV systems convert light directly into electricity, and are not to be confused with other solar technologies, such as concentrated solar power or Solar thermal energy, solar thermal, used for heating and cooling. A solar array only encompasses the ensemble of solar panels, the visible part of the PV system, and does not include all the other hardw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird, and a younger male may be called a cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called a hen and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. Humans now keep chickens primarily as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) and as pets. Traditionally they were also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places. Chickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion , up from more than 19 billion in 2011. There are more chickens in the world than any other bird. There are numerous cultural references to chickens – in myth, folklore and religion, and in language and literature. Genetic studies have pointed to mult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beekeeping
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. Beekeepers (or apiarists) keep bees to collect honey and other products of the hive: beeswax, propolis, bee pollen, and royal jelly. Pollination of crops, raising queens, and production of package bees for sale are other sources of beekeeping income. Bee hives are kept in an apiary or "bee yard". The keeping of bees by humans, primarily for honey production, began around 10,000 years ago. Georgia is known as the "cradle of beekeeping" and the oldest honey ever found comes from that country. The 5,500-year-old honey was unearthed from the grave of a noblewoman during archaeological excavations in 2003 near the town Borjomi. Ceramic jars found in the grave contained several types of honey, including linden and flower honey. Domestication of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose. A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller non-commercial scale and may emphasize berry shrubs in preference to fruit trees. Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mown grass or bare soil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy. Most modern commercial orchards are planted for a single variety of fruit. While the importance of introducing biodiversity is recognized in forest plantations, it would seem to be beneficial to introduce some genetic diversity in orchard plantations as well by interspersing other trees through the orchard. Genetic diversity in an orchard would p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organic Garden
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to organic gardening and farming: Organic farming – alternative agricultural system that relies on fertilizers of organic origin such as compost, manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. In general, organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. Organic farming and gardening systems and approaches * Biodynamic farming * Biodynamic gardening * Climate-friendly gardening * Forest gardening * History of organic farming * Organic farming * Organic gardening (Organic horticulture) *Organic lawn management * Permaculture * Square foot gardening * Synergistic gardening * System of Rice Intensification * Vegan organic gardening * Wildlife gardeni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earthship
An Earthship is a style of architecture developed in the late 20th century to early 21st century by architect Mike Reynolds (architect), Michael Reynolds. Earthships are designed to behave as Passive solar building design, passive solar earth shelters made of both natural and Upcycling, upcycled materials such as earth-packed Steel-belted radial, tires. Earthships may feature a variety of amenities and aesthetics, and are designed to withstand the extreme temperatures of a desert, managing to stay close to 70 °F (21 °C) regardless of outside weather conditions. Earthship communities were originally built in the desert of northern New Mexico, near the Rio Grande, and the style has spread to small pockets of communities around the globe, in some cases in spite of legal opposition to its construction and adoption. Reynolds developed the Earthship design after moving to New Mexico and completing his degree in architecture, intending them to be "off-the-grid-ready" homes, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Straw-bale Construction
Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye and oats straw) as structural elements, building insulation, or both. This construction method is commonly used in natural building or "brown" construction projects. Research has shown that straw-bale construction is a sustainable method for building, from the standpoint of both materials and energy needed for heating and cooling. Advantages of straw-bale construction over conventional building systems include the renewable nature of straw, cost, easy availability, naturally fire-retardant and high insulation value. Disadvantages include susceptibility to rot, difficulty of obtaining insurance coverage, and high space requirements for the straw itself. Research has been done using moisture probes placed within the straw wall in which 7 of 8 locations had moisture contents of less than 20%. This is a moisture level that does not aid in the breakdown of the straw. However, proper const ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passive Solar
In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices. The key to designing a passive solar building is to best take advantage of the local climate performing an accurate site analysis. Elements to be considered include window placement and size, and glazing type, thermal insulation, thermal mass, and shading. Passive solar design techniques can be applied most easily to new buildings, but existing buildings can be adapted or "retrofitted". Passive energy gain ''Passive solar'' technologies use sunlight without active mechanical systems (as contrasted to ''active solar'', which uses thermal collectors). Such technologies convert sunlight into usable heat (in water, air, and thermal mass), cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stove
A stove or range is a device that burns fuel or uses electricity to generate heat inside or on top of the apparatus, to be used for general warming or cooking. It has evolved highly over time, with cast-iron and induction versions being developed. Stoves can be powered with many fuels, such as electricity, gasoline, wood, and coal. Due to concerns about air pollution, efforts have been made to improve stove design. Pellet stoves are a type of clean-burning stove. Air-tight stoves are another type that burn the wood more completely and therefore, reduce the amount of the combustion by-products. Another method of reducing air pollution is through the addition of a device to clean the exhaust gas, for example, a filter or afterburner. Research and development on safer and less emission releasing stoves is continuously evolving. Etymology The term "stove" is derived from the Old English word ''stofa'', indicating any individual enclosed space or room; "stove" may sometimes still ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-the-grid
Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical grid, but can also include other utilities like water, gas, and sewer systems, and can scale from residential homes to small communities. Off-the-grid living allows for buildings and people to be self-sufficient, which is advantageous in isolated locations where normal utilities cannot reach and is attractive to those who want to reduce environmental impact and cost of living. Generally, an off-grid building must be able to supply energy and potable water for itself, as well as manage food, waste and wastewater. Energy Energy for electrical power and heating can be generated on-site with renewable energy sources such as solar (particularly with photovoltaics), wind, or micro hydro. Additional forms of energy include biomass, commonly in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intentional Community
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision, and typically share responsibilities and property. This way of life is sometimes characterized as an " alternative lifestyle". Intentional communities can be seen as social experiments or communal experiments. The multitude of intentional communities includes collective households, cohousing communities, coliving, ecovillages, monasteries, survivalist retreats, kibbutzim, hutterites, ashrams, and housing cooperatives. History Ashrams are likely the earliest intentional communities founded around 1500 BCE, while Buddhist monasteries appeared around 500 BCE. Pythagoras founded an intellectual vegetarian commune in about 525 BCE in southern Italy. Hundreds of modern intentional communities were formed across ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
