Avocado beauty soap formula

This is a nutritious fruit grown in Kenya for local consumption and export. It can be eaten whole in addition to being made into milk shake .Avocado beauty soap is yet another possible value added product in high demand and can be made in times of glut to as per the formula below. 

Requirements for avocado beauty soap formula

10 parts fruit paste

5 parts water

1 part silicate

2 parts caustic soda

5 parts coconut oil

Perfume

1 teaspoon formalin (preservative)

Mould for shaping

Gloves for hands protection

Colour (oil based)

Goggles for protection of the eyes

A mask for covering the nose and the mouth

The order of mixing ingredients in avocado beauty soap formula is 5 parts water: 1 part silicate: 2 parts caustic soda: 10 parts fruit paste: 5 parts coconut oil, for best product

Peel well ripe fruit, remove seeds and mash into a smooth paste. Sieve and put aside. Measure 5 parts of water, 1part silicate and mix in a plastic bowl. Add 2 parts of caustic soda and stir until it dissolves. Measure 10 parts of the fruit paste; mix with 5 parts of coconut oil. Add a little perfume and 1teaspoon of formalin to the paste.


Mix the fruit paste mixture with caustic soda mixture to complete the formula and stir thoroughly. Put the avocado beauty soap mixture in moulds for shaping and shake to remove air bubbles. The product is ready for use after 24 hours. Pack, label and market. 

Plant pest/disease control and management in organic farming

The overall objective of the natural agriculture system is to provide long-term benefits to the people and their environment.

1. Biological disease control: naturally derived fungicides used in organic farming includes

a)      Bacteria Bacillus Subtilis-these are naturally occurring bacteria which was isolated from the soil and is applied either as a foliar plant feed, seed treatment, or directly to the soil.

      How it works to control the pathogens

·        Colonies of B. subtillis takes up space on the roots leaving less area for occupation by disease pathogens.

·        Feeds on plant exudates which also serve as food for disease pathogens, depriving of their major food source, inhibiting their ability to thrive and reproduce.

·        Combats pathogenic fungi through the production of a chemical that inhibits the growth of harmful organisms. 

2. Manufactured Fungicides: Fungicides allowed for use in organic farming include Bordeaux mixture, copper hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate for control of fungi.
3. Some naturally derived pesticides are not allowed in organic farming and this includes nicotine, sulfate, arsenic and strychnine.
4. Compost tea contains a mix of beneficial microbes which may attack or out do certain plant pathogens, but variability among formulation and preparation methods may contribute to inconsistent results or even dangerous growth of toxic microbes in compost teas.
5. Soil-less growth media like peat moss which is sterilized beforehand is used to control the plant disease organisms in organic farming.More information The East African

Charcoal Briquettes Making Technology for Green Business

Fuel briquettes are blocks of compressed coal dust, charcoal dust, sawdust, wood chips or biomass, and are used as a fuel in stoves and boilers. Charcoal is not like clay. Charcoal is a material without plasticity and can not be mold into shape without adding a binding material. The technology of forming charcoal dust into briquettes,requires a binding material to be  added to the charcoal dust and then pressure is applied  to form fuel briquettes.

Charcoal Briquettes making Training Session

Briquettes Machine

Fuel briquettes for use in your own home cooking
You can  save money by making fuel briquettes for use in your own home cooking  in addition to generating income by selling excess briquettes to your neighborhood. Making fuel briquettes can be a sustainable green business since most of the raw materials used in the technology are almost free. Your customers will be happy to buy cheap,  clean fuel . Your neighborhood will be happy with your green business for helping keep their environment clean.

Biomass as Renewable Energy Source
Biomass as a renewable energy source is defined as biological material from living, or recently living organisms. In many countries, people are growing crops and keeping animals. The waste from crops and animals are biomass material that can be used in making fuel briquettes. Agricultural waste materials such as rice husk, coffee husk, coir pith, jute sticks, bagasse (sugarcane waste), groundnut shells, sawdust, mustard stalks, cotton stalks, maize/corn, wheat husk, cattle waste, grass, dry leaves and cassava can all be used in making fuel briquettes.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/gvepinternational/16545204658/in/set-72157650739343097


Green Briquettes: Fuel for Stoves and Boilers
Fuel briquettes are blocks of compressed coal dust, charcoal dust, sawdust, wood chips or biomass, and are used as fuel briquettes in stoves and boiler

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gvepinternational/16545204658/in/set-72157650739343097
s. Smokeless charcoal briquettes are made from carbonized or pyrolysed materials. Fuel Briquettes made from materials that have not been carbonized are a bit smoky.

1.Green recipes for charcoal briquettes making technology

i) 10 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 0.3 kg cassava starch

2. Green recipes for charcoal briquettes making technology

i) 40 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 4 kg saw dust

iii) 2.5 starch

iv) 1 kg calcium carbonate

3. Green Recipes for  Charcoal Briquettes making technology

i) 100 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 3 kg sodium nitrate

iii) 3 kg sodium borate

iv) 2 kg calcium carbonate/whiting

v) 7 kg wheat starch

4. Green recipes for  charcoal briquettes making technology

i) 10 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 5 kg saw dust

iii) 1 kg cassava starch

iv) 0.5 kg limestone

5. Green recipes for charcoal briquettes making technology

i) 10 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 5 kg saw dust

iii) 0.5 kg cassava starch

iv) 0.5 kg limestone

v) 5 kg sandy soil

6. Green recipes for charcoal briquettes making technology

i) 10 kg charcoal dust/fines

ii) 5 kg saw dust

Iii) 1 kg mashed newsprint/pulp

Finished Charcoal Briquettes Set to Dry

General product Characteristics 
Moisture: 7.1%-7.8%
Volatile Matter: 13.0%-13.5%
Fixed Carbon: 81.0%-83.0%
Ash: 3.7%-7.7%
Sulfur: 0.0%
Calorific(heating) Value: 7,100-7,300 kcal/kg
Density: 970kg/m3

The best green mixture for  charcoal briquettes making technology is the one that after testing works for you.

Success story of a Kenyan youth savings and credit co-operative society

Excecutive committee

Gatundu young traders’ savings and credit co-operative society is an organization founded by the youth for the youth. Their guiding slogan is ‘’Youth have all it takes to succeed as long as they unite’’. Gatundu young traders’ savings and credit co-operative society registered with the Kenya  ministry of cooperative Development and Marketing Reg Number C/S 12020 in February 2009 and the membership was 20 by then. To date Gatundu Young traders Savings and credit co-operative society has 200 members and a capital base of 2.5 million. The members get loans which they pay at a youth friendly interest rate.  45% of the loans are used in agriculture investment contributing to national food security. The Savings and credit co-operative society headquarters are located in Gatundu Town of Kiambu County in central Kenya region.

Members in a training session

This savings and credit co-operative society was started as a solution to the discrimination of the youth in kenya by the established financial institutions. The founder member Jonn Njoroge Munyua is the current chairman of Gatundu Young Traders savings and credit co-operative society and the vision bearer.  Njoroge is also the Managing Director of smart works Traders Company dealing with detergents chemicals in Gatundu town,in addition to being the secretary to original youth pioneers group based at kimunyu location Gatundu District. His leadership dates back ten years when he was elected the chairman of Vision Youth Group at the age of 30 years. Having grown up on the farm, he was introduced to farming by his parents who were good farmers. He developed interest in farming, worked on the family farm while young and latter on inherited piece of land.

He learnt about many profitable enterprises and technologies during agricultural trainings by agriculture extension officers, among which he started implementing installation of energy saving stoves services, manufacture of liquid detergents and making of fireless cookers for sale. Full of passion John Njoroge Munyua visited a bank seeking a loan for the projects implementation .He got a rude shock on realizing the bank required security/collateral which he didn’t have. The youth never got discouraged but conceived the idea of forming a revolving fund group consisting of young people, shared a few friends who supported the idea. The revolving fund group held its first meeting in June 2008 and latter registered as Gatundu young traders saving and credit co-operative society.  John Njoroge got his first loan from the revolving fund group which he used boost energy stoves installation services and detergents chemicals projects. The projects continue to flourish to this date greatly contributing to environmental conservation and community livelihood improvement.

Gatundu Young traders savings and credit co-operative society has grown tremendously and in the year 2010 and 2011 it was honored as the best organization in capacity building to the members, and best sustained and improved savings and credit co-operative society in Gatundu District respectively.In 2012 Gatundu young traders savings and credit organization has managed to roll their first M-pesa project which will generate income for the organization. Gatundu young traders’ savings and credit co-operative society is solely working with the members’ contribution and the funds are insufficient to meet all the requirements. The young traders are making efforts to pursue the Youth Development Enterprise Fund, a Kenya Government fund for assistance in overcoming inadequacy in a the working capital. The youth savings and credit co-operative society is a role model to many young traders and is therefore calling for any relevant support from like minded organizations and individuals, who have the objective of improving the livelihoods of the youth in Kenya. Glory to God on High and long live GYTS organization.

Pests’ management strategies under organic farming

These management strategies consist of methods for prevention of attacks by insects, mites and vertebrates like birds, from reaching damaging levels in organically grown crops.

1.      Crop rotation: Prevents build up of harmful insects and diseases by providing different plant hosts. It also helps a variety of natural predators to survive which helps in pests’ control.

2.      Nutrient management: Good nutrient management enables plants to grow vigorously and resist pest attack

3.      sanitation: Good sanitation removes pests habitats such as crop debris

4.      Beneficial organisms: Provision of habitats for beneficial organisms. This can be done by reducing the use of pesticides that kills the beneficial insects.

5.      selection of resistant varieties which have inbuilt prevention or tolerance of attack

6.      Crop protection using physical barriers such as row covers

7.      Crop diversification through companion planting or establishment of poly-cultures .An example is planting main crop with garlic or onions as they are repellants due to their strong smell.

8.      Biological pests’ control: This involves the use of beneficial organisms to reduce plant pests’ population in organic farming. Examples of beneficial insects includes lady birds, praying mantis, lace wings, pirate bugs, parasitic wasps and predatory mites which are effective for controlling other mites.

9.      Use of naturally occurring pesticides. NB: Synthetic substances are prohibited in organic farming. Pesticides with different mode of action should be rotated to minimize development of pesticides resistance. Naturally derived pesticides allowed for use on organic farming includes:-

·        Bacillus thuringiensis( a bacterial toxin)

·        Pyrethrum(chrysanthemum extract)

·        Spinosad (a bacterial metabolite)

·        Neem ( a tree extract)

·        Rotenone ( a legume root extract)

Synthetic pesticides allowed for use in organic farming includes insect pests control soaps, horticultural oils for insect management depending where the plant is are exported. European Union, America and Asiahave different standards. Read

http://www.organicfarmermagazine.org/biopesticides-safe-for-eu-imports/

Beginner's Guide to Oyster Mushroom Cultivation at Home

Oyster mushroom cultivation it's easy and fun! 

1. Some of the Most Important Cultivated Oyster Mushroom Species
2. Preparing the Chamber and Tools Needed for Oyster Mushroom Cultivation

3. Compost Making for Oyster Mushrooms
4. Compost Heat Treatment and Inoculation
5. Incubation, Fruitbody Development and Harvest
6. Oyster Mushroom Culture Pests
7. How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms on Logs

How to make your own MUSHROOM SPAWN 
Mushroom spawn for sale

Species belonging to Pleurotus spp. (Basidiomycetes) resemble wood inhabiting mushrooms presenting wood-rotting abilities, degrading wood as saprophytes or facultative parasites growing on living or dead wood substrata on which produce a white rot. Pleurotus is more likely growing on deciduous trees and is rather rare on conifers.
Fruitbody morphological aspect: oyster shelf like cap 5-15(20) cm in diam of flesh like consistency with an eccentric-lateral stem of fibrous consistency. The cap color is variable, ranging from a species to another, and may be: white, cream, yellow, pink, reddish, grey, brown or dark grey.
Totally, there are known more than 20 worldwide well known oyster mush-room species.
Growing oyster mushrooms at home is very easy (known as the easiest to cultivate from all cultivated species). It grows on a wide range of substrates such as: paper, straw, leaves, and cotton residues, sawdust, etc which are rather present in rural areas. 
Oyster mushrooms are rich in proteins (about 10-30%, fat, vitamins, miner-als, etc), they have a therapeutic effect with a major impact on human health (0% cholesterol, polysaccharides with antitumoral, anti-inflamatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-oxidant and immunomodulating effects). In addition they are delicious and worldwide famous.

Fig. 1.  Pleurotus fruitbodies (Photo credits: www.google.com)

If you like this post, please share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter!

MUSHROOMES CLUB UPDATES IN YOUR INBOX FOLLOW ME

6. Oyster Mushroom Culture Pests

Here I will briefly summarize some of the most important things to keep in mind when starting the oyster mushroom cultivation process:

• Excessive humidity damages and undermines the mushroom mycelium.
• Heat treatment failure leads to substrate infection with competing molds, bacteria or insects. 
• Low intensity light or the lack of light in the grow room during fruitbody formation results in inhibition of fungal growth and development
• Excessive temperature (grater than 35 °C / 95 F) inhibits and destroys mycelium
• Excessive concentration of carbon dioxide in the grow room inhibits the development of mycelium
• Substrate inoculation with a low quantity of mycelium increases the risk of infection by competing organisms for the same nutrients, increases the incubation time, and decreases the mushroom crop. 

Pests may be divided into two categories: pathogens and competitors. Pathogens are fewer than competitors and have a devastating effect on the mushroom culture. They are: molds, bacteria, viruses, or insects. Competitors refer to those pests that cause competition with the inoculated oyster mushrooms mycelium for the same type of nutrients found in the compost. However, not all contaminants are considered pests. There are certain bacteria or fungi that are rather important for oyster mushroom mycelium development and have a direct effect on the mushroom crop. Such organisms belong to the following genera: Humicola, Torula, Actinomyces, Streptomyces, and some species of Pseudomonas or Bacillus). For this reason it is recommended to pasteurized the substrate (80-85 °C / 176-185 F) and not to sterilize it. In addition, through sterilization the substrate is predisposed to infection at a higher rate through exposure to air. 

Here I will briefly present you some of the most common pests:

A. Trichoderma viridae (the green mold)
It is very common and appears as green masses of moldy areas infecting the substrate partly or integrally. It is characterized by a rapid growth and acts as a parasite on the oyster mushroom mycelium and may inhibit the occurence of mushoom pinheads or mushroom fruitbody development. It was shown that T. viridae prefers a more acidic substratum (4-6 pH) and this is also the reason why you should use gypsum in your substrate formula. Trichoderma spores stick to anything, therefore insects when occur may function as a contamination vector that can spread the local contamination to the whole mass of substratum.

Fig. 30. Trichoderma viride

(Photo credits: www. biogardenorganic.com) 

Note: Substratum contamination may occur also when using infected mushroom mycelium at inoculation. This is why, your mycelium should be bought from a clean source that you trust. 

Correct heat treatment of the substrate, clean grow room before incubation pahse, reduce moisture level in the grow room during incubation, reduce carbon dioxid level in the grow room by frequent ventilation (if possible), use clean tools, use gypsum at an optimal rate. 

Note: If Trichoderma occures in the substrate take the bag outside of the grow room and lower the substrate pH by adding baking soda or salt.

B. Contamination because of insects (nematods, flies, mites, etc)
Mainly the flies are insects able to invade the mushroom culture and infect it with various pathogens. They are attracted by the smell of the decomposing substrate. Flies are laying eggs near mycelium while hatched larvae consume it. 

What can you do against flies, nematods or mites?

• Add a mesh at each window, this will have good results in preventing flies entering the grow room;
• Use UV lights, the blue color will attract insects;
• Apply a proper heat treatment to the substrate (if not, possibly you will see mites walking in the substrate)
• Avoid excess moisture in the substrate (if not, you will see nematods developing in your substrate)
• Use clean tools during mushroom cultivation

Fig. 31. The common mushroom culture fly (Lycoriella spp.)
(Photo credits: www.google.com)

Fig. 32. Nematod
(Photo credits: www.google.com)

Fig. 33. Mites (Tyrophagus putrescentiae)
(Photo credits: www.google.com)  

C. Other mushroom species (e.g., Coprinus spp.)
This mushroom belongs to the family of Coprinaceae and is characterized by a characteristic outline with the cap when mature disolving and turning into a black ink. This mushroom may be quite often seen growing into the substrate destinated for oyster mushroom cultivation. The causes may be the lack of oxygen into the substratum due to the lack of porosity or lack of gypsum in the substrate. The latter situation rises the pH in the substratum offering ideal conditions for species of Coprinus to develop. 

Note: There are several species of Coprinus that may appear in the substratum: edible (C. comatus, C. atramentarius, etc) or non-edible (C. micaceus) or even toxic. If you encounter them in your substrate i highly recommend you the following: do not eat them!

Fig. 34. Coprinus spp. growing among Pleurotus fruitbodies(Photo credits: www.google.com)  

Few Words about Oyster Mushroom Production

On the market there are many excellent strains; however, is hard to know which one is the best as long as you do not make a mushroom strain evaluation. Productivity depends on a complex of factors (microclimate conditions, type of substrate used, mushroom species, strain, etc) some of them difficult to take into account. In a next course we intend to discuss in detail what factors influence productivity and how can they be controlled. 

Fig. 29.  Fruitbodies of Pleurotus eryngii (nameko)
(Photo credits: www.google.com)

What can you do with waste material used in mushroom production?
The remnants may be used for animal feed, as an organic fertilizer for soil or simply as fuel for fire. 

Find Out More!

1. Some of the Most Important Cultivated Oyster Mushroom Species
2. Preparing the Chamber and Tools Needed for Oyster Mushroom Cultivation

3. Compost Making for Oyster Mushrooms
4. Compost Heat Treatment and Inoculation
5. Incubation, Fruitbody Development and Harvest
6. Oyster Mushroom Culture Pests
7. How to Grow Oyster Mushrooms on Logs

MUSHROOMES CLUB UPDATES IN YOUR INBOX FOLLOW ME