A Japanese Company Is Building The World's First Autonomous Farm

                                                                 

All those farmers out there: you might want to think about switching careers (or looking forward to retirement), because Spread, a company based in Kyoto, Japan, says it wants to make the world's first fully autonomous farm within the next two years. The firm hasn't gone into huge amounts of detail about its plans, but the technology is reportedly in place to make its ambitions a reality by 2017.
 
Koji Morisada from Spread explained to reporters this week that robots will take care of almost every aspect of the farm's operations, from watering the seeds to harvesting the crops. That crop will be nothing but lettuce to begin with - an area the company already has an extensive amount of experience in - and it's expected that some 30,000 heads of lettuce could be produced every day once the farm is fully operational.

Humble human beings are still going to be required for one important task, however: planting the seeds. 

The grounds of the farm will cover 4,400 square metres (around 47,360 square feet), with lettuce growing on shelves stacked from the floor to the ceiling. One of the big benefits of having robots running the operation instead of humans is there's no need to facilitate so much elbow room. And that means more lettuce space. 

Spread hopes that its robot-run farm will cut down on energy usage as well as personnel costs. A growing number of businesses in Japan are looking to robots to fill gaps in the labour workforce and boost its economy. Unlike human beings, they're able to work around the clock and don't even ask for any monetary reward at the end of the day. 

According to Spread, the pesticide-free lettuce produced by its new project will have more beta carotene than other farm-grown lettuce. Beta carotene is a well-known antioxidant and helps the body produce vitamin A (it's also the pigment that gives carrots their orange colouring). Even if you have philosophical qualms about robots growing your food, it should be very good for your body, at least. 

While farms run entirely by robots are still some way off, the industry as a whole has embraced new technologies that can replace the role of human farmers in completing mundane, labourious, and even dangerous tasks. We've previously reported on the ways in which autonomy can boost production, and Spread will be hoping its robot-run lettuce farm will set the trend for similar projects in the coming years. 

"In the future it will be difficult to steadily secure food using only conventional agriculture due to the rapid growth in population and other changes," says Spread's CEO Shinji Inada. "We believe our mission is to create innovations that can address the changing times based on the agricultural technology and skills that have been inherited from previous eras and take on an important role that will connect us to the next generation."

By David Nield

With many thanks to Science Alert 


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Air Bonsai Lets You Make Your Own Floating Tree

                                                                          

Owners are affectionate about the upkeep of their bonsai plants. After all, they require a continual source of maintenance in order for them to look their best.

However, Hoshinchu has taken their hobby for indoor gardening to the next level by introducing the Air Bonsai project on Kickstarter. This labor of love, which adds another dimension to plant care, has been met with a wealth of support already.

Each Air Bonsai is made up of two separate pieces: a levitating piece called the “little star “and an “energy base.” Both are equipped with like-charged magnets, allowing the plant container to repel upward from the base.

Visit the Air Bonsai’s Kickstarter page for more info and to pledge a donation.

By Jonathan Luk
  
                                                                   

With many thanks to Highsnobiety 

Some related posts:

Water Lilies: Beautiful Blooms On The Water
Keukenhof: The Garden of Europe
Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island - Canada
The Socatra Dragon Blood Tree
Sri Lanka’s Sirilak Garden: History And Spices
The Bomarzo Monster Park
A Tree That Grows 40 Kinds Of Fruit  
Wollemi Pines: Secret Plantation In Blue Mountains To Ensure Species' Survival
A Japanese Company Is Building The World's First Autonomous Farm

Water Lilies: Beautiful Blooms On The Water

                                                                   

Now will the water lilies stain the lake
With cups of yellow, chalices of cream,
Set in their saucer leaves of olive-green
On greener ware, motionless, opaque.


So wrote acclaimed English columnist and writer, Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) in The Garden. Poets, novelists, painters and historians have often eulogised the waterlily, at its colourful best in this country now that summer is here. In public parks and botanic gardens and in water features in city courtyards, waterlilies are blooming in creams, pinks, purples, reds and yellows.

Among the loveliest water gardens you will find anywhere in the world are those at Longstock Park, in the English county of Hampshire,(above). 

There, in the serene lakes and ponds, waterlilies thrive with other bog garden species and statuesque damp-loving trees like the swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum).

                                                                    

While most waterlilies flower during the day, the night blooming, scented species were cherished in Indian Mughal gardens for viewing on balmy moonlit evenings. You can see them flowering at Saheliyon-ki-Bari, known as the Garden of the Maidens, in Udaipur, in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. This renowned garden was built by the King from 1710 to welcome his future bride who arrived with forty-eight young women attendants. Located on the banks of Fateh Sagar Lake, it is a green retreat that contrasts with the dry landscape of Rajasthan.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a painter of light. He planted his garden at Giverny, an hour north of Paris, to respond to the changing light and would paint the same subject at different times of the day. He convinced local authorities to allow him to divert a local river to create a lake and planted it with waterlilies, which he painted on huge canvasses, now displayed in galleries around the world.

                                                                   

                                                           

                                                                       
Named for the Greek deity Nymph, the waterlily (Nymphaea spp.) is a genus of about 50 species, both evergreen and deciduous. Along with the fabulous, giant Victoria amazonica, the water lily is a member of the Nymphaeceae family of eight genera of aquatic plants. And in Australia you can see the Blue Nile waterlily (N. caerulea), among others, at the 42ha Royal Botanic Gardens in Adelaide, in the Victoria House, purpose-built for Victoria amazonica, which flowers amidst leaves that can support up to 60kg.

Among the species used today to create hybrids, the white N. alba is deciduous and frost hardy, and bears fragrant semi-double blooms. N. lotus has fragrant, cream blooms that open at night, closing at midday, while the white N. odorata is native to north and tropical America and bears fragrant blooms some 12cm in diameter. Nymphaea nouchali is native to southern Asia and North Australia; in India it is used in fragrance production.

You can buy these aquatic species in containers, or by mail order, bare rooted. Plant them in an aquatic mix or compost-rich soil, in hessian-lined baskets (to prevent soil from drifting away), or in plastic pots: place stones at the base of your chosen receptacle to help it keep stable. Firm the soil down well, as, once submerged, air is dispelled from the container, causing the soil level to drop. Cover with gravel so that your soil does not wash away. Place the baskets or pots onto bricks, to allow the leaves to remain on the water surface, or, if the plant is leafless, just below the surface. Gradually remove the bricks as the plants send out roots to anchor in the base of your water feature.

While water lilies rarely attract pests nor suffer from diseases, they can be attacked by aphids, and the so-called China Mark Moth. This small brown moth lays its eggs on the underside of floating leaves, until its larvae cuts pieces out of the leaves in just a fortnightly cycle. You can remove the larvae, if you see them soon enough, and spray the foliage with a an environmentally-safe insecticide. As all water plants are greedy, feed with a slow release fertiliser.

Waterlilies are both beautiful and useful. Apart from their good looks, waterlilies oxygenate the water and crowd out non-beneficial algae, which consume sunlight and nutrients, while their leaves shade and protect fish.

Prunings
• I received a terrific present just before Christmas. A small packet arrived in the post; inside was a cloth bag containing the evocatively named Baa Baa Brew. It’s a 100 per cent natural liquid fertiliser made from natural sheep manure. Following the instructions I placed the bag in a bucket of water, left it for two days, then poured the solution onto my pots of orchids and buxus. A second brew was made with the same bag. Another great solution for those gardening in small spaces. baabaabrew.com.au 

• It’s time to water your summer vegetables with a weak solution of fertiliser each week, so that they will grow quickly, to ensure sweetness, particularly among the leaf vegetables.

• The Botanic Gardens, Adelaide are open daily from 7.15am weekdays, 9.00am weekends and public holidays. Free guided walks of the Gardens start at 10.30am, seven days a week.

• Monet’s garden at Giverny in France, is open from April 1 to November 1. giverny.org

By Holly Kerr Forsyth

With Many thanks to The Australian

                                                                  

 

Picture credit for Claude Monet's painting: Wiki

Some related posts:

Keukenhof: The Garden of Europe

Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island - Canada

The Socatra Dragon Blood Tree
The Bomarzo Monster Park
A Tree That Grows 40 Kinds Of Fruit  
Wollemi Pines: Secret Plantation In Blue Mountains To Ensure Species' Survival
Air Bonsai Lets You Make Your Own Floating Tree
A Japanese Company Is Building The World's First Autonomous Farm

                                                                     

Sri Lanka’s Sirilak Garden: History And Spices

                                                                       

Spices. The word conjures up thoughts of mystery and magic, of exotic locations and great adventure. Spices have been important for centuries as medicinal potions, in perfumes, in cooking, and even as poisons.

The history of the spice trade is long and evocative, shrouded in drama and danger. It is a tale of great daring and exploration to unknown, distant places — and of great reward.
The spice trade dates back to the Middle Ages (AD700-1000), when it was controlled by Muslim ­merchants.

By the 16th century it had become the most important commercial enterprise of the old world, equivalent perhaps to the gold rush in 19th-century Australia or the thirst for oil today.

The voyages of the Venetian Marco Polo to China in the 13th century, of Vasco da Gama to India and Christopher Columbus in the 15th century, and of Ferdinand Magellan in the early 16th century were quests for routes to facilitate the spice trade.

Trade along the spice route was dominated by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the Dutch in the 17th century and by the British in the 18th and 19th ­centuries. Spices are produced from the buds, seeds, berries and bark of a plant; the leafy parts become herbs.

Crucial today as flavouring for a great range of cuisines from different parts of the world, spices should be kept in airtight jars, away from light and heat, to preserve their all-important aroma and flavour.

Many of the spices we use today are derived from species native to Sri Lanka, many of which are grown in the Sirilak Spice and Herbal Garden at Matale in central Sri Lanka, 38km north of the ancient capital of Kandy. No chemicals are used in the garden, we were assured.

All the plants are helpfully marked and a pamphlet gives you instructions for growing and use. Our guide, Kamil Jayalth, explains that the garden follows the ayurvedic system of holistic medicine.

A Sanskrit word meaning “science of life”, ayurveda is said to be the oldest system of holistic medicine in the world, dating back more than 7000 years. “Ayurveda is a traditional system of healing with plants and herbs to improve various functions including respiration, ­circulations and digestion,” Jayalth says.

Among several dozen different species in the garden, the indigenous cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), part of the laurel family, grows to about 10m in height. The bark from this tree is dried to provide the spice. “Take bark off by taking the branch; massage the branch, then it rolls off like a cigar,” Jayalth explains.

Pure oil of cinnamon, which is extracted from the aromatic inner bark of the tree, is used to assist in the relief of tinnitus. “Put two drops on a cotton bud,” advises Jayalth. “Or put on pillow.” Gargle with a few drops in a small amount of water for a sore throat.

Chocolate is produced at Matale from two crops of cocoa annually. The potassium-rich pods, pulled by hand, are opened and the nuts sun-dried, roasted and crushed to make chocolate and cocoa butter.

                                                                         

Turmeric (Curcuma domestica), which grows wild in large clumps of bright green canna-like leaves along the sides of the road as you wind from the plains of India to the high country of Darjeeling in the Himalayan region, is cultivated at Matale.

A member of the ginger family, turmeric is important in curries: the bright orange ­rhizomes are harvested once the foliage has died down.

Turmeric, I am told “is very good for anti-cancer and joints”.

Another member of the ginger family, cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), is native to regions in the East, including Sri Lanka, and is used in curries.

Important in a country where mosquitoes thrive, ­citronella oil is extracted from the foliage of a Sri Lankan species of grass, Cymbopogon spp., and is used worldwide as an insect repellent and disinfectant. ­Application of the oil ­directly on the skin can stop itching after an insect bite.

The fragrance of the curry plant, Helichrysum italicum — a member of the Asteraceae, or daisy, family — hangs in the air throughout Sri Lanka.

The oil extracted from the yellow blossom is said to reduce joint inflammation and skin rashes. Despite its common name, it is a mixture of spices, rather than this plant, that is used in preparing curries.

The aloe, Alovera saponaria, is used to alleviate sunburn. “Also, our beauty cream uses it with white rose, jasmine, cucumber and avocado,” according to Jayalth.

We take vanilla for granted, although it was unknown to the world until about 500 years ago. A green fleshy pod, with no flavour or aroma, is harvested from the climbing orchid Vanilla planifolia and must be cured over a three-month period by heating, which activates an enzyme that provides the flavour.

The black pods are then left to dry in the sun for a further month. Vanilla is native to Mexico, although it is now cultivated in Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and India.

If you buy the richly scented vanilla as the pod rather than as the liquid extract, split it open to reveal the tiny seeds. Scrape the seeds and mix with a little sugar before using to flavour sweet treats. Then enjoy!

                                                                  

Holly Kerr Forsyth attained a PhD in 19th and 20th-century gardens. @hollykerforsyth

With many thanks to The Australian 

Some related posts:
Air Bonsai Lets You Make Your Own Floating Tree
Water Lilies: Beautiful Blooms On The Water
Keukenhof: The Garden of Europe
Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island - Canada
The Socatra Dragon Blood Tree
The Bomarzo Monster Park
A Tree That Grows 40 Kinds Of Fruit  
Wollemi Pines: Secret Plantation In Blue Mountains To Ensure Species' Survival
Jamie Oliver: How Being A Special-needs Student Changed My Life
How Non-French Chefs Are Saving French Food
Britain Is A Nation Of Skilled Chefs But 1 in 10 Can't Cook, BBC Good Food Survey Finds
Manuka Honey - The Only Healthy Honey
Eating Mediterranean Foods Could Prolong A Healthy Brain For 5 Extra Years
A Japanese Company Is Building The World's First Autonomous Farm