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This is the first in a series of Food Cube Tests: Can you name the food in each cube?

For information about the source of these cubes (it’s a big poster that is available for around $770 US Dollars), see below.

This is the first in a series of Food Cube Tests: Can you name the food in each cube?

Saplings and very young trees are susceptible to damage in ways older, bigger trees are not vulnerable to. An old-time method of dealing with this is shielding trees behind a layer of white paint.

Insect damage to trees, sunscald, cracked, damaged bark on the young saplings and trees can all be minimized with white paint.

Orchards do this, and so do tree farms. The main purpose isn’t insects; it’s preventing the cracking and splitting that can happen to tender new bark.

Once that bark is split, then disease, insects and fungus can get in.

What it does for insects is show where the infestations are more easily. Insects show up better against a white surface than bark. Some borers are also inhibited from making their home in the white trees. I could also imagine birds and other predators could more easily see insects walking over white bark and find them easier meals.

Painting with white is controversial, however, especially if the wrong paint is used, because it can harm a tree.

So what to use? Water-based latex paint, diluted at one gallon of latex mixed with 4-5 quarts of water. However, more latex is better against borers and thirds of the two listed ingredients plus joint compound is reported to be good against sunscald.

Everyone loves the concept of being self-sufficient and being able to cultivate and grow one’s food. However, it is not that simple and easy to have a self-sustaining lifestyle, especially when there are instant and processed foods in every corner of the city. But an inspiring way of living that the Dervaes family is showing to people makes it interesting for others. At present, the family of four yields around 6,000lbs (approximately 2,720kg) of organic food a year on their 1/10 acre plot.

Their house is in Pasadena, California and it is a sweet dwelling for their three kids and all their cultivated vegetable and fruits plus their animals. Finding land for sustainable living can certainly be a challenge, but this family has managed just that. It even gets better.

They are able to save a big amount of money with their lifestyle and they get extra income from selling their crops to restaurants. That’s about $20,000 annually!

These 6,000 pounds of produced foods on only 1/10-acre of land every year, it’s undeniable that they are an incredible family!

The family is able to grow around four hundred types of fruits, berries, vegetables, and even herbs. This vegetarian family also takes good care of ducks, hens, small goats and little rabbits for eggs, dairy milk and compost.

This urban farmhouse does not just dwell merely on foods; they also do their best to conserve energy by making use of solar panels. Using solar panels is one way in which you can be energy savvy, and try to keep bills to a minimum. If purchasing solar panels is unattainable for you then you might like to try other ways to save money. These include trying out an energy comparison site to see if you could be better off elsewhere. The family does not have to worry about high energy consumption and they only spend around $12 for the whole year! And how about spending on gas? Deaves family brew theirs! They use biodiesel from used oil from restaurants. They use a processor that will turn used vegetable oil into biodiesel gas!

How all these things started?

In mid-1980’s, Jules Dervaes purchased a house and lot in Northwest Pasadena needed a lot of restoration. He was really desperate to live a simple country lifestyle that made him decide to start with growing their own vegatables. This did not make them satisfied so they thought to become more self-reliant and be able to create less impact to the environment.

Growing and Preserving Food

Hence, they grow their own food and also started to preserve food. Making their own bread, butter, cheese and yogurt also made them more self-sustaining.

Water Conservation

And for water conservation, they use low-flush toilets. If this is something you are not familiar with, it might be in your best interest to look at a site like https://toiletreviewer.com/best-dual-flush-toilets/. At least this way, you can understand how saving money through an everyday item like a toilet could make all the difference. You can also look into solar-powered shower, as they also reuse water. For conserve moisture for their plants, they make use of mulch and they use clay pot for plant irrigation. Imagine, this system made them conserve at least 50% of water!

Energy Conservation

The family uses energy-efficient appliances and for their lighting, they have olive oil lamps and home-produced beeswax candles. They also opted to have manual appliances such as toaster, blender, and a pedal-powered grinder. They are able to save big on their gas because they make use of brewed biodiesel. And if they can, they also use a bike or just commute.

Simple Living

With this modest country way of living, they are really mindful of whatever they consume, hence, they have learnt to reuse and recycle, spot for pre-loved items instead purchasing new ones and if possible they also use. Their cleansers, roll-ons, toothpastes and all other cleaning goods are all home-produced and made out of natural substances which makes them nontoxic. For their medicines, they make use of herbs, for their hair, they know how cut theirs and whatever DIY that they can do, they use it!

Aside from just living this life themselves, the family loves to teach people that urban homestead is sustainable. They are making a recording of their means and practices online for at least a decade now to show to people how they start this way of living. They have an updated blog, they also arrange events and even workshops for others to learn basic skills on how to have sustainable homestead.

It is really a fantastic and remarkable lifestyle. The Urban Homestead tells us that it is not just a fanciful model – it is actually a very manageable way of living even if you are in a very busy and highly modern city. You can start a few steps at a time.

“Top 5 Biopics” is a part of an ongoing series, The B-Roll, written by Alex Reid

The biopic is an art form that has faded from popularity in the past ten years. A biographical film usually focuses on a single important figure and by sticking to a documentary style of using archive footage and interviews, or fully recreating events with professional actors. When done right, a biopic can suck you into the world of this figure, perhaps exposing you to a whole new school of thought. With Straight Outta Compton coming soon, focusing on N.W.A in the late 80’s, I thought I’d share the Top 5 Biopics Of All Time.

5. The King’s Speech

The King’s Speech was an absolute smash hit in 2010, and for very good reason. Focusing on a little known struggle of a very public figure, director Tom Hooper shows us the more personal side of King George VI as he tries to muster the courage to deliver a nationwide speech to rouse the people of Great Britain and lift their spirits as they head into war. With understated cinematography and a script that reeks simplicity but style, the King’s Speech will be one to remember for years to come.

4. Frost/Nixon

You might wonder how you could possibly make a full feature length film about a single interview, but director Ron Howard presents the raw tension and pressure put upon David Frost as he broke the exclusive interview that would shake American politics to the core and end a presidency. The film is primarily composed of riveting conversations, thickly layered with underlying subtext, and as each question is asked, the stakes raise higher and higher.

3. Downfall

It’s an unhealthy trend that in the cinematic universe those who focus upon major world events tend to focus on the winning side, “History is told by the victors”. Not the case with the German film, “Downfall” which focuses solely upon Hitler’s last hours in his bunker. After the first half an hour the film rarely strays from the claustrophobic bunker as the sanity of those that were so convinced their regime would succeed gently edge towards suicide. Remarkable in that it refuses to demonize a man so often demonized, Downfall is one to watch, simply so that you can understand an alternative perspective.

2. The Elephant Man

David Lynch, better known for his mind bending visuals and disturbing imagery took on the task of portraying the tortured John Merrick and the woes in which he partook. An unrelenting and cynical look at how society would rather mock than care for someone who is disadvantaged, David Lynch makes excellent use of his creepy imagery to exacerbate the pain of these tortured souls.

1. The Social Network

It doesn’t get much better than David Fincher. The man exudes style and tone in such an exorbitant way that it seems strange that he would take on a biopic about the controversial character of the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but through a pulsing score by the ever talented Trent Reznor and a performance that will never be forgotten by Jesse Eisenberg, David Fincher managed to achieve a well measured an objective look at what sudden wealth and fame can do to someone who never expected it.

By Alex Reid

Buytvshirtsonline, a UK-based clothing company, has published the results of an analysis of data they collected asking thousands of people what they thought of colors, or how people perceived colors of clothes.

The company’s conclusions:

Color might be more important than you think. Partly because you have seconds to make a first impression on people, and that impression might have lasting effect.

These fashion experts advocate a fascism in black: Serious, reliable and solid. It can be worn on interviews and first dates and almost everywhere.

Pink, on the far other end of the perception spectrum, is seen as fluffy, frivolous, and maybe even lacking intelligence. You might wear pink on a very different occasion, or maybe you would wear it on a job interview or first date.

The above images: 1) confidence 2) intelligence 3) preference 4) arrogance

Black is the color of confidence, followed by red, blue and white (which was roughly half as favored to inspire confidence as black). Purple and pink were about half of what white was. Then green, yellow, brown and, at the bottom for confidence, orange.

Orange and brown were strongly discriminated against when considering colors for a first date.

But men and women thought differently: To dress sexy, more than half of women said they’d wear red, but only 28 percent of men.

And 56 percent of men like to see women in red. Women like men in blue or black, though (48 percent and 66 percent).

Red, though, is even more complicated still. It’s the color associated with arrogance, followed by orange and yellow. White is the LEAST arrogant color, according to people.

And red is not associated with intelligence very often. Still more intelligent than pink though, a very unintelligent color, according to those asked.

For intelligence, again black was on top, followed by blue then white. Green, purple, brown and red didn’t do as bad as yellow, orange and pink.

In essense, then, the company offered a list of occasions and the color to wear for them. Every occasion: black. However, that can’t be all there is to it, because I hate it when a woman wears black. Men look good in black, yes, but its incredibly boring when a person wears the same color always, at least as far as I think.