We, the Seven Veils Sanctuary Community, affirm our commitment to protect and enhance the environment through our teaching, research, service, and administrative operations. We seek to foster a community that sustains ecological systems and educates for environmental awareness, local action, and global thinking. We seek to make environmentally sound practices a core value of the College. Our fundamental principles are to:

• Incorporate environmental concerns as a significant priority in decision making.
• Seek alternative practices and procedures to minimize negative impacts on the environment.
• Conserve natural resources and restore environmental quality.
• Protect the biodiversity of our region and serve as a living library and habitat for local species.

Passing the gift along is an important part of our philosophy--recipients pass on resources to help others get started. Through training combined with gifts, this organization helps individuals make a better life for themselves and their communities. Our aquaculture system  is just one example of the way we respond when individuals come to them for help and guidance.

Small farming is an endangered species in our country, and this is just where we like to concentrate our efforts.

Fish farming, for example,  Alison had seen a great idea in Canada--an indoor aquaculture system. She proposed it, and now, 18  families are successfully farming fish indoors. A simple filter cleans and circulates the water while chayote plants, ginger, and duckweed add oxygen and food. Aquaculture, aquaponics, recirculating aquaculture, pond liners, fish farming, fish farms

RecirculateAquaSys

• Back Home Magazine - Do-it-yourself, self-reliant living.
• Cottage Living - Guide for cottage, cabin and recreational property owners. Read cottage related articles, get your cottage questions answered and link to a host of related cottage and cabin sites.
• Countrylife.net - Portal to simple living with links to herbs, homesteading, home dairy, and livestock.
• CountryRoads Network - An information resource for America's rural population, providing links to valuable sites about farming, health, travel, recreation, investing, cooking, news, cars and trucks, and religion.
• Countryside Magazine - Selected articles from the printed magazine for readers seeking voluntary simplicity and greater self-reliance with emphasis on home food production. Gardening, cooking, food preservation, and livestock. Has an active forum.
• Down on the farm - Includes farmer Jocelyn Hainsworth's diary, reports, pictures and essays on farm life from CBC News.
• Internet Hay Exchange - Free International hay listing service for the US and Canada.
• Kountry Life - An interactive country and rural living site with discussion forums, photo gallery, articles, how-to information, humor, sounds, and recipes.
• Log and Timber Style - The magazine for log and timber frame homes, building, log cabins, architecture, design, decorating, real estate and rustic furniture.
• Our Country Haven - Forum for old-fashioned tips for home business and frugal living.
• ProgressiveFarmer.com - Forums and news for farmers and people involved in rural issues.
• Rural Index - A guide to rural, countryside and environmental websites in UK, designed for those who live, work in or value the rural way of life.
• Rural Living Canada - A concise directory of Canadian non-urban lifestyle information, news and websites.
• Self Reliant Living - Information, articles and links related to living simply, permaculture, homesteading, self sufficiency, natural living, and homeschooling.
• Self-Sufficiency in Style - Homesteading, hobby farming and survivalism, essays in simple living.
• Soil and Health Library - A free how-to and encouragement resource for self-supporters with little cash, for non-domineering environmentalists, and folks frustrated with urbanity.
• Straw Bale Building - Service and training contact information.
• The Urban Rancher - The Texas A&M University site dedicated to improving rural living with information on natural resources, rural life, and the urban-rural interface.
• Yonder Way - For the small farmer, homesteader, or country family. Articles, a bulletin board, and links for homesteading and small farm resources.

1. Organic Gardening - Plant list, soil management practices, and cultivation hints.
   -- http://www.organic-gardening.net   Home: Gardening: Organic   (41)

    

2. The Veggie Lady - Organic Gardening Advice - Includes advice, monthly planting guide, pest and disease control, featured plants.
   -- http://www.theveggielady.com   Home: Gardening: Organic   (41)

    

3. PlanTea Organic Fertilizer - Organic fertilizer in convenient tea bags for houseplants. Offers UpBeet Gardener newsletter with organic gardening tips, resources, and unique recipes.
   -- http://www.plantea.com/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Fertilizers and Soil Additives   (8)

    

4. Greenfire Gardening Supplies - Hydroponic and organic gardeners' supplies for both commercial growers and hobbyists.
   -- http://www.greenfire.net/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Hydroponics   (6)

    

5. The Gardener's Network - Articles on many gardening topics, from growing guides and lawn care to organic gardening and seedstarting. Some jokes, games, and clipart as well.
   -- http://gardenersnet.com/   Home: Gardening: FAQs, Help, and Tutorials   (5)

    

6. Organic Matters - Unique and handmade gardening products.
   -- http://www.organicmattersgardening.com/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Garden Shops   (5)

    

7. Gardening Places - Directory of gardening websites, including seeds, catalogs, greenhouses, tools, nurseries, flowers, vegetables, organic supplies.
   -- http://www.gardeningplaces.com/   Home: Gardening: Directories   (2)

    

8. Making Organic Compost with the HDRA - A guide to making compost by the HDRA, Europe's largest organic gardening organisation. Dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food.
   -- http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/gh_comp.php   Home: Gardening: Soil and Additives: Compost   (3)

    

9. Organic Kitchen - Organic foods resource with links to foods, restaurants, markets, farms, vineyards, gardening, recipes and health.
   -- http://www.organickitchen.com/   Business: Food and Related Products: Organic   (2)

    

10. ManyTracks - Information about homesteading, organic gardening, self-sufficiency, seed saving, solar energy and recumbent bicycles.
    -- http://www.manytracks.com/   Home: Rural Living: Homesteading   (2)

     

11. The Organic Gardening Catalogue - Official catalogue of the HDRA offers seeds, fertilisers, composts, pest controls, weed controls, tools and books.
    -- http://www.organiccatalog.com/   Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: Business and Economy: Shopping: Home and Garden: Gardens   (4)

     

12. Square Foot Gardening - Organic Gardening - UK - Cultural information, trail gardens, plant spacings and related articles.
    -- http://www.organicgarden.org.uk/SqFt/   Home: Gardening: Intensive Planting   (1)

     

13. HDRA Hampshire Group (Organic Gardening) - Listings for meetings and events, sources of organic items, links, potato information, recipes, hints and articles.
    -- http://www.hhdra.org.uk/   Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: Recreation and Sports: Home and Garden: Gardening: Organisations: Organic   (3)

     

14. Organic Authority - Ezine featuring articles and interviews about organic food and gardening, with recipes and descriptions of health benefits.
    -- http://www.organicauthority.com   Society: Issues: Environment: Food and Drink: Organic Food   (2)

     

15. Seeds of Italy - Speciality Italian seeds including herbs, salad, brassica, and other vegetables. Includes organic seeds, and gardening equipment.
    -- http://www.seedsofitaly.sagenet.co.uk/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Plants: Seeds   (2)

     

16. Long Beach Organic - Promotes sustainable organic gardening practices and local food production in an urban environment. Community gardens on formerly vacant lots, and a nursery offering organic fruit, vegetable and flower plants.
    -- http://longbeachorganic.org   Home: Gardening: Gardens: Community   (1)

     

17. Gardening as an Anarchist Plot - California organic gardener shares his experiences and tips for companion and container planting, herbs and vegetables, and a number of other interesting topics.
    -- http://www.rain.org/~philfear/garden.html   Home: Gardening: Gardens: Personal   (1)

     

18. Extremely Green Gardening Company - Online source for organic gardening products including fertilizers, biological pest control, soil test kits.
    -- http://www.extremelygreen.com   Home: Gardening: Soil and Additives: Fertilizers   (1)

     

19. Vegetable Gardening @ The Vegetable Patch - Resources for organic vegetable gardening and growing fruit.
    -- http://members.optusnet.com.au/gavin_paula/index.htm   Home: Gardening: Plants: Vegetables   (1)

     

20. Minifarms Network - Ken Hargesheimer teaches organic, biointensive, raised bed and market gardening, mini-farming, and ranching worldwide. Includes articles, books, programs, suggested applications, tools, and methods.
    -- http://www.minifarms.com/   Science: Agriculture: Sustainable Agriculture: Organic Farming: Biointensive Culture   (2)

     

21. 3ABN: Three Angels Broadcasting Network - Television and radio programming on cable and satellite includes gospel music, vegetarian cuisine, weight loss, exercise, organic gardening, and Christian lifestyle topics.
    -- http://www.3abn.org   Arts: Television: Networks   (1 match)

     

22. Henry Doubleday Research Association. - The HDRA researches and promotes organic gardening in the UK.
    -- http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/   Science: Agriculture: Horticulture   (1)

     

23. Buglogical Control Systems - Natural beneficial insects and information to control pests, and disease without using poisonous chemicals and insecticide in your organic gardening, farming and greenhouse.
    -- http://www.buglogical.com   Business: Agriculture and Forestry: Biologicals   (1)

     

24. Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation - Health organization providing information about healthy lifestyles, ecology, sound nutrition, alternative medicine, farming, and organic gardening.
    -- http://www.price-pottenger.org/   Health: Nutrition: Organizations   (1)

     

25. WaterWise Gardening Software - Software for drought tolerant plants that incorporates organic gardening practices and pest control.
    -- http://www.thewaterwisegarden.com/   Home: Gardening: Software   (1)

     

26. The Edible Schoolyard - A non-profit program located on over one acre of land on the campus of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California. The focus is on organic gardening, cooking, and coursework related to both.
    -- http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/   Home: Gardening: Kids Gardening   (1)

     

27. Austin Organic Gardeners - Membership and meeting schedule, listing of local farmer's markets and growers, Austin area planting guide, and organic gardening news and information.
    -- http://www.main.org/aog/   Regional: North America: United States: Texas: Localities: A: Austin: Science and Environment: Gardening   (2)

     

28. Organic Rose Gardening in NC - Lists over 100 Old Garden and English roses with pictures and information on organic gardening.
    -- http://www.amypadgett.com/Roses.htm   Home: Gardening: Plants: Shrubs: Roses: FAQs, Help, and Tutorials   (1)

     

29. Organic Gardening Resources - Reviews of non-commercial resources on organic gardening.
    -- http://www.organicgardeningresources.com   Home: Gardening: Organic   (41)

     

30. The Urban Farming Source Book - Gardening supplies specifically geared towards indoor and organic gardening.
    -- http://www.wormsway.com/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Fertilizers and Soil Additives   (8)

     

31. GTG Hydroponics - Provides a wide variety of indoor gardening supplies, grow lights, organic fertilizers, as well as advanced climate and carbon dioxide controllers. Online forum and FAQ.
    -- http://www.gtghydroponics.com/   Shopping: Home and Garden: Hydroponics   (6)

     

32. Garden-guide.net - Horticultural consultant offers a wide variety of garden tips, tricks, and information. Includes articles on organic gardening, lawncare, gardening with kids, garden calendar, and buying advice.
    -- http://www.garden-guide.net   Home: Gardening: FAQs, Help, and Tutorials   (5)

     

33. Plant It Earth.com - Order grow lights, hydroponics, organic gardening for indoor plants.
    -- http://www.plantitearth.com   Shopping: Home and Garden: Garden Shops   (5)

     

34. Earth and Table - Provides annotated links to many gardening resources, mainly in the areas of organic gardening and sustainable agriculture.
    -- http://www.earthandtable.com/   Home: Gardening: Directories   (2)

     

35. The Compost Heap - Resources for composting, recycling, and organic gardening.
    -- http://www.silverlf.com/barrick/   Home: Gardening: Soil and Additives: Compost   (3)

     

36. Rosaly's Garden - Selling organic gardening videos, books and pictures. Organic gardening tips.
    -- http://www.rosalysgarden.com   Business: Food and Related Products: Organic   (2)

     

37. Houston Homestead - Links for many aspects of country living from organic gardening to farm animals. Features "Homemaker's Corner."
    -- http://members.aol.com/denise1227/page/homestead.htm   Home: Rural Living: Homesteading   (2)

     

38. The Organic Gardening Catalogue - A joint venture between the HDRA and Chase Organics. Vegetable, herb and flower seeds. On-line shopping, or request a mail-order catalogue.
    -- http://www.organiccatalog.com/   Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: Business and Economy: Shopping: Home and Garden: Gardens: Plants: Seeds   (2)

     

39. Somerset Organic Gardeners - Organic gardening club for gardeners interested in green gardening in the area of Taunton, Somerset. Includes details of meetings and contacts.
    -- http://www.sogweb.btinternet.co.uk/   Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: Recreation and Sports: Home and Garden: Gardening: Organisations: Organic   (3)

     

40. Food Not Lawns - Information regarding permaculture, organic gardening, and kinship gardening.
    -- http://www.foodnotlawns.com/   Society: Issues: Environment: Food and Drink: Organic Food   (2

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   Imagine that you could, without cost, extend your garden out over the surrounding countryside--perhaps to include the meadow next door, even as far as the eye can see. Imagine, too, that while doing so you could incorporate only the picturesque areas, editing out all the rest. No doubt this does sound like a fantasy. But the fact is, you can have all of this if you learn to employ the Japanese art of shakkei, that is "borrowing scenery."

The name may be exotic, but the techniques involved are quite simple. Essentially, what the scenery borrowers do is to select the view that they admire, frame it, and then include in the garden elements that blur the distinction between here and there.

This is a case where the frame is every bit as important as the picture, for the way in which you capture the view has much to do with making it seem an integral part of your own landscape.

The Japanese, for example, often use hedges to frame a view, but when borrowing scenery they never use a formal hedge. Instead, they use an irregular screen composed of a mixture of different shrubs or trees. The reason for this is that they want the hedge to be unobtrusive. A perfectly clipped rampart of yew will funnel the vision most effectively, but it's liable to catch and hold the eye in the process, keeping the viewer from enjoying the vista.

Another trick of borrowing scenery is to use a frame that suggests a connection between garden and view. For a view of a pine wood, for example, you should consider planting a frame of pine trees. Prune away the lower limbs so that you see the view through the trunks of your own little grove, and you'll feel as though you are already in that wood (see below).

establishing links

The second step in taking possession of a view is to include features within the garden that echo the distant scenery. I saw this trick used to great effect in a garden in Sun Valley, Idaho. The garden itself was just a path that wound among clusters of aspen trees along the flank of a grassy foothill. But everywhere you came upon a view, the owners had set up jagged pinnacles of native granite. Your eye skipped from these "peaks" to the mountain peaks beyond, and you seemed to fly through the whole mountain range.

The Japanese clip evergreen shrubs into rounded mounds to mimic the swells of tree-covered hills, Likewise, they'll set a gnarled dwarf tree to one side of a view to suggest that you aren't just looking at the peak, you are there at the tree-line. Planting your garden with the flora of the region can also link it to the vista. I've landscaped my tiny front yard with tall, tousled grasses and New England meadow flowers to bond it with the neglected (but picturesque) hay field that sweeps up to the state school across the street.

water features

A water feature is the obvious link to include in a garden on the water's edge. Recently I visited a garden on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The swimming pool that sat between house and bay was asymmetric and rounded in profile, lined with dark gray, and edged with a recessed drain so that it seemed as if water was continually welling up and out of it. Who could tell where pool ended and bay began?

Establishing links between garden and view is useful for expanding and enriching your landscape. It also roots your creation into its setting.