1Goals, non-goals, and target audience

This is about survival, but not hardcore survival.

This is about practical 21st century food sovereignty.

This is not about:

  • survival in the wilderness
  • isolating ourselves from the rest of the world
  • rejecting technology

We assume these about the reader:

  • The reader knows some basic chemistry.
  • The reader lives in a crowded city.
  • The reader has limited starting capital of no more than USD 10,000 or IDR 100,000,000 in 2018 currencies.

2Tentative plans

2.1TODO Estimate costs, expenses, incomes, and return. Study the feasibility of 10-square-meter potted garden.

2.1.1TODO Find the most profitable plants. Find the plants with the highest ROI.

High price, but what is the ROI?

What? ROI in dollars? ROI is unitless. Does the writer know what he/she is talking about? https://www.diynetwork.com/made-and-remade/make-it/top-10-value-veggies-to-plant

http://www.infoagribisnis.com/2018/06/tanaman-pertanian-yang-paling-menguntungkan/

Tanaman paling cuan?

Some Japanese mushrooms?

Growing and selling bamboo for construction materials or decorations?

pumpkin matures in 108 days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytMpE6fubSQ

caisim, pakcoy

  1. Legal study of selling cannabis

    1. Related laws

    2. <2018-10-11> My opinion

      I haven't read UU narkotika. I think it's too risky for an Indonesian citizen to sell cannabis, even indirectly.

    3. Hypothetical case studies

      • X is an Indonesian citizen.
      • X stays (resides) in Indonesia.

      What are the consequences of these cases?

      1. An Indonesian citizen owning a cannabis farm outside Indonesia

        • X plants cannabis in another country whose law allows farming cannabis.

      2. An Indonesian citizen owning a foreign company that sells cannabis

        • X owns a foreign company that sells cannabis. X doesn't sell it himself; his company sells it. The company resides in a country that allows selling cannabis.
        • The company is a private limited liability company.

        Does the Indonesian law consider X as an accessory/accomplice?

      3. An Indonesian citizen buying some shares of an American cannabis company

  2. infopangan.jakarta.go.id: Sayur apa yang paling mahal di pasar di Jakarta?

2.1.2Other people's stories

  • https://ekonomi.kompas.com/read/2016/11/22/073100926/bertani.di.kota.bisa.raup.omzet.puluhan.juta.rupiah.
    • 2008
    • Diah Meidiantie, warga Bekasi, Jawa Barat
    • 3500 m2
    • kangkung, bayam hijau, bayam merah, pakcoy, dan caisim
    • "memasarkan langsung hasil kebunnya ke supermarket terdekat; […] sayuran organiknya dihargai Rp 8.000–10.000 per kilogram"
    • "Dalam sepekan Mei bisa memasok sayuran sebanyak tiga kali ke supermarket itu. Dalam satu kali kirim, dia bisa menyediakan setiap 25-60 kilogram sayuran per jenis."
    • "omzet Rp 14-30 juta per bulan, dengan keuntungan bersih sekitar Rp 7-15 juta"
    • "[…] modalnya pun sangat terjangkau, sekitar Rp 7,5 juta untuk membayar dua karyawan, serta membeli pupuk dan benih […]"
  • Urban Farmer Curtis Stone's "THIS IS HOW MY FARM WORKS! - $100K on a quarter acre" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbHwAfHQA9M
    • 1/4 acre (1000 m2).
    • gross revenue: USD 100,000 per year.
    • 2 people working full-time.
    • highest ROI: salad greens, microgreens, cherry tomatoes.
    • 50-foot bed produces USD 16,000 revenue per season.
    • five criteria of profitable crops:
      • popularity (high demand)
      • days to maturity (60 days or less); not any of these: corn, cabbage, onion, potato, garlic, winter squash
      • high yield (at least 1/2 pound per foot width in bed; expect 25 pounds from 50 sq. ft. bed)
      • high price point (USD 4 per pound, or more); not any of these: corn, winter squash
      • long seasonality (at least 8 months in a year); not any of these: melons

2.2TODO Buy plant pots/containers.

I'm thinking of rectangular drainable prismatic plant pots because they are affordable, practical, space-efficient, and movable.

Should we use grow bags? Trash bins? Meal boxes?

Should we use used plastic bags (those supermarket ones), punch some holes in it?

Downsides:

  • The bag may topple.
  • Sunlight degrades polymers.

Supplier comparison:

Description Unit price IDR URL

2.2.1Suppliers/shops/stores in Jakarta Barat

2.2.2Bahan-bahan yang memang dirancang untuk menampung media tanam

  • pot
  • growing bag / polybag / plastik polybag

2.2.3Alternatif seandainya pot mahal, beli ini/cari bekas, lalu bolongi/potong sendiri

  • murah parah
    • dus bekas (gelas-gelas air kemasan, mie instan)
    • tas/bag, plastik sampah, kantong plastik
  • ember, baskom
  • kotak (kotak makan)
  • kaleng biskuit (leach metals into the soil?)
  • keranjang; besek/keranjang berlubang; tudung saji
  • no
    • kardus, cardboard (bisa rusak kena hujan)
      • di-wax, tahan air? tapi dibolongin?
    • potongan botol/gelas air kemasan (terlalu kecil)
    • bentuk sendiri dari akrilik lembaran glodok (repot)
    • gabus/polystyrene; flammable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene
  • tote bag

2.3TODO procedure

  • Sow in a week of calm weather.

2.4How do plants know when to flower?

2.5TODO Sekop tanah dari taman; cari bekas bakaran rumput, kotoran, dan daun kering

2.6Komunitas

Di Jakarta Barat ada komunitas urban farming Jakarta. Namanya "Jakarta berkebun".

Pipa paralon/PVC dan bekas botol plastik. https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2018/03/13/16432981/berkat-urban-farming-warga-cempaka-putih-tinggal-petik-sayuran-dan-buahan

2.7Tricky shit

virtual office dan PKP (perusahaan kena pajak) http://izin.co.id/indonesia-business-tips/2018/10/10/5-tips-memilih-virtual-office-sesuai-dengan-kebutuhan-anda/

2.8Pasar tradisional

2.9Cerita orang

2.10TODO Buy seeds.

Supplier comparison:

  • Google search "toko bibit jakarta"
  • Tokopedia search "bibit"

2.11TODO Buy or obtain soils / growing media.

2.12TODO Set up compost bin. Compost some leftover foods, fallen leaves, your urine.

The compost bin must be closed/sealed/lidded while not being attended. It must not be left open. This is to prevent cats, rats, and flies from messing around and spreading diseases.

It stinks, doesn't it? But https://www.dummies.com/home-garden/green-living/aerobic-versus-anaerobic-composting/ says "A well-constructed compost pile doesn’t smell bad."

Is it ok to dump shit (human feces) into the compost bin?

Are these trustworthy?

What are the major chemical reactions in composting?

Does composting release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?

2.13Hazards of composting: explosions, fires, diseases

2.13.1TODO Compare compost bin, bag, and pole for urban farming

3Business plan and feasibility analysis

3.1Nutrient cycle steady-state self-sufficiency analysis: how much bok choy can my shit alone grow?

Formula:

  • Closed loop nutrient cycle assumption: how much you eat every day = the amount of plant mass your shit is going to grow.
  • Nutrient conservation assumption: energy from sunlight + the mass of your shit = the mass of your daily food. We can derive this from the conservation of energy. We assume that sunlight is unlimited.
    • For example, if you eat 100 grams of bok choy and 100 grams of garlic every day, then your daily shit is enough to feed 100 grams of bok choy and 100 grams of garlic every day.

4Using science to clarify what sustainability is

4.1Understanding some botany

4.1.1Terms, jargons, ontologies, taxonomies, classifications, differences, groupings

Botany is the study of plants.

A plant is … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant

Most plants photosynthesize.

A vegetable is an edible plant.

A fruit is to a plant as an egg is to a chicken.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_fertility

Plant anatomy

Plant physiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_physiology

  1. Cotyledons: monocots vs dicots

    I think monocots are harvestable sooner.

  2. Softwood vs hardwood

  3. Gymnosperm (naked-seed) vs angiosperm (bottled-seed)

  4. Evergreen vs deciduous

    Deciduous ("tending to fall off") trees shed leaves in autumn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deciduous

    Evergreen trees have some leaves through winter.

  5. Vegetable vs herb vs bush vs grass

  6. Bean vs lentil vs nut vs pulse vs legume vs pea

  7. Fruit vs berry vs accessory fruit

4.1.2Nutrient cycle

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_cycle
  • 1967 Bormann & Likens article "Nutrient cycling" pdf https://www.esf.edu/cue/documents/Bormann-Likens_Nutrient-Cycling_1967_000.pdf
    • "Sedimentary cycles are less perfect and more easily disrupted by man than carbon and nitrogen cycles."
    • "The terrestrial ecosystem participates in the various larger biogeochemical cycles of the earth through a system of inputs and outputs. Biogeochemical input in forest or field ecosystems may be derived from three major sources: geologic, meteorologic, and biologic."
  • Understanding watersheds predicts water flow. Water flow predicts sediments (silts) and mineral accumulation.
  • Weathering (sunlight, rain, wind, and lithotrophs (rock-eaters)) releases nutrients from minerals.

  1. Thinking of a plant as a system of interacting chemical processes

    We can think reductionistically:

    • The input is sunlight, carbon dioxide, nitrogen/nitrates, magnesium, water, and some other trace elements.
    • The output is mostly solid hydrocarbon polymers (lignins, celluloses, starches, fibers, sugars, carbohydrates) and gaseous oxygen.
    • The variables are temperature.

  2. Carbon cycle variants and plant resilience: C3, C4, and CAM plants

    Most plants are C3 plants. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/photosynthesis-in-plants/photorespiration--c3-c4-cam-plants/a/c3-c4-and-cam-plants-agriculture

4.1.3What is soil, and how does it form?

  1. Checking topsoil quality

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsoil#Evaluation

4.1.4Minimum soil depth for growing beans?

4.1.5Plant physiology, homeostasis, limiting factor

4.2Understanding some agriculture

4.2.1Pests and weeds

4.3Understanding some ecology and nutrient cycle

4.3.1Sustainability is about biogeochemical cycles.

  • We assume that the amount of matter on Earth is finite and constant.

4.3.2Carbon cycle

  • Breath
  • Fart
  • Shit

4.3.3Nitrogen cycle

4.3.4Phosphorus cycle

  • Shit contains phosphorus
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus_cycle
    • "[…] the atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movement of phosphorus, because phosphorus and phosphorus-based compounds are usually solids […]"
    • "On the land, phosphorus gradually becomes less available to plants over thousands of years, because it is slowly lost in runoff."
    • "Humans have greatly influenced the phosphorus cycle by mining phosphorus, converting it to fertilizer, and by shipping fertilizer and products around the globe."
      • "excessive amounts of nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, are detrimental to aquatic ecosystems."
      • "Waters are enriched in phosphorus from farms' run-off, and from effluent that is inadequately treated before it is discharged to waters."
  • Where there is algal bloom, there is a high level of phosphorus.

4.3.5Natrium cycle

4.3.6Kalium cycle

4.3.7Water cycle

4.4The cause of unsustainability is our breaking of the Earth's chemical cycles.

We are part of the Earth nutrient/biogeochemical cycle.

4.5Quantitative botanichemistry

4.5.1How much water does a plant need?

  1. For each 264 g carbon dioxide and 108 g water (and how many photons?), photosynthesis produces 180 g glucose and 192 g oxygen?

    • The reaction: 6 CO2 + 6 H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2
    • Atomic mass units:
      • H 1
      • C 12
      • O 16
      • CO2 44
      • H2O 18
      • C6H12O6 180
      • O2 32
    • This is oversimplified. What about the molybdenums and phosphates?

5Growing the vegetables we eat

5.1Theory

5.1.1Plants don't need soil. Plants need nutrients.

5.1.2What triggers germination/sprouting?

Germination is sprouting.

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germination
    • "Seed germination depends on both internal and external conditions. The most important external factors include right temperature, water, oxygen or air and sometimes light or darkness."

The factors determining germination:

  • moisture (not soaking)

Germination doesn't require light. Growing requires light.

Search the Internet:

  • plant germination database
  • seed germination database
  • seed information database

5.1.3How much area do we require to feed a person?

Assume:

  • A vegetable requires an area of 20 x 20 cm2.
  • A vegetable grows from seed to harvestable in 9 months.

5.1.4What vegetables we are going to eat? How much?

Most vegetables grow from seed to harvest in less than 9 months.

http://www.askaprepper.com/top-10-foods-grow-survival/

Hydroponic kit?

  • Carbohydrate bulk / staple food?
    • Rice? Wild rice?
    • Cucumber?
    • Eggplant?
    • Papaya?
    • Corn?
    • Potato
    • Tomato
  • beans? lentils? nuts?
    • mung bean / kacang hijau
    • green bean / buncis / Phaseolus vulgaris
    • peanut
  • Brassica
    • Pak coy
    • Cai sim
    • Broccoli
    • Cauliflower?
    • Doesn't taste good?
      • Cabbage?
  • Berries?
    • Strawberry?
    • Cherry?
    • Plum?
  • Seasonings, spices, herbs, bumbu, rempah-rempah
  • industrial
    • rapeseed
    • rubber
  • trees?
    • beringin
  • wood, construction
    • jati?
  • Leaves
    • Lettuce?
    • Celery?
  • fruits
    • durian
    • nangka
    • jeruk bali
    • Banana? Plantain?

5.1.5What triggers flowering and fruiting? Are there juvenile (not-yet-fertile) and adult (fertile) plants?

5.1.6Beans (lentils?) capture nitrogen from air and store it in their roots.

5.1.7Cycles, mainly nutrient cycles

  1. Carbon cycle

  2. Nitrogen cycle

  3. Water cycle

5.1.8Urine is a good source of nitrates for the plants?

5.1.9Mulching

  1. What is a mulch; what is it made of

    A mulch is a thin cover over the topsoil.

    A mulch can be made of:

  2. Why mulch; the purpose; denying wind-borne weed seeds

    A mulch prevents wind-borne weed seeds from landing and germinating, but doesn't prevent the seeds buried in the topsoil from germinating.

    A mulch also prevents topsoil erosion.

    A mulch can be penetrated from below but not from top.

    Should you remove old mulch? This article basically says it depends.

5.1.10Climate and growing season

  • Tropical climate has dry season and rainy season.
  • Four-season climate has spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
  • A greenhouse is a climate-controlled environment.
  • <2018-10-09> Weather is unpredictable nowadays.

5.1.11These plants assume grassland biomes?

5.2Options for beginners

5.2.1Raised-bed garden

"How to Grow Lettuce in Containers - Complete Growing Guide" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZJD4lu9vOY 50 lettuces in a pot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_irrigation

Spray the pot, don't inundate it. Inundation leaches (washes away) nutrients.

5.2.3Composting food leftovers

But what about chicken and cow hormones and antibiotics leaching into the soil, and taken up by the plants that we eat?

5.2.4Hydroponic kit

5.2.5Yard (often unfeasible in crowded cities such as Jakarta where land price varies from IDR 2,000,000 to 50,000,000, per m2)

How long do you get IDR 10,000,000 from one-square-meter garden?

  • Someone gets IDR 400,000 per week from a 300 m2 land (source). That is IDR 20,800,000 per year. That is absurdly low IDR 69,333 per m2-year.

5.2.6Buy a truck, van, box-mobile, lorry, or mini-bus, and plant on vehicle rooftop or load

5.3Designing/planning the schema of the data that we want to collect / the experiments we want to do, and how we are going to store it

  • tables in org-mode files seem ideal
  • CSV files: easy setup, but can't put comments
  • SQL database: cumbersome setup, but can put comments

5.4Building the infrastructure

Raised-bed garden?

5.5Don't grow rice yourself. It doesn't make sense economically. You can't beat the government's economy of scale.

5.6Growing garlics and leeks

5.6.1Garlic vs leek vs onion vs shallot vs bombay onion

5.7Growing beans (kacang hijau, buncis, ercis?)

6Growing low-maintenance cash crops

6.1Can winter vegetables also grow in tropical climates?

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/top-10-winter-vegetables

6.2"5 Vegetables that are too EASY to GROW in the Garden"

video:

  • beans
  • Asian greens
  • zucchini
  • carrots
  • radish

Botany vs agriculture vs horticulture vs agribusiness/agrobusiness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agribusiness

6.4How are we going to sell our surplus vegetable production? Where is Jakarta farmer's market?

6.5What vegetables thrive in continuous sunlight?

Tomato doesn't.

6.6What

This is from a game. Does it apply to real life? https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/499pm8/real_most_profitable_crop_list/

Jakarta farmer's market? Jakarta seed market?

Plants, from the easiest to grow:

  • pioneer species, grasses, bamboo
  • vegetables
  • rhizomes
  • difficult: fruit-bearing trees, dicots, tall plants

Evolution, fruit, edibility https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43056h/eli5did_plants_like_fruits_and_vegetables_evolve/ https://www.quora.com/Why-do-fruits-taste-good-if-plants-are-intended-to-survive https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/science/biology/photosynthesis/light-dark-reactions

wartime gardening:

7Growing the farm: scaling out the garden into a farm

7.1horticulture

7.2hydroponics

7.3<2018-09-28> Establish low-operation permaculture.

7.3.1TODO Feasibility study

  1. Typical Indonesian mainstream agriculture crop yields in tons per hectare-year

    1. TODO OECD-FAO data https://data.oecd.org/agroutput/crop-production.htm

  2. TODO Crop yields: permaculture vs mainstream

  3. TODO What plants grow fast, have low maintenance, and have high economic value? It doesn't have to be edible.

    Which of these?

    name
    carrot
    cucumber
    celery
    potato

    Others?

7.3.2What

Permaculture: weed ecology Ecology engineering Ecology vs ecosystem? https://articles.extension.org/pages/18529/an-ecological-understanding-of-weeds

China reverse desertification video: Watch This New Technology in China That Converts Desert Into Productive Land Rich With Crops - YouTube

Kemandirian. Self-reliance. Independence. No money, but lots of assets.

  • Buy a land.
  • Establish permaculture/do-nothing-farming.

Peta nilai tanah BPN

7.3.3Shitology (What is the formal name?)

  1. What is the nutritional value of our shit?

  2. How do we recycle our shit? How do we return our shit to nature, so that plants can take it up, but without contaminating our drinking water?

7.3.4Technofarming contrary to my beliefs

In farming, I want us to invest more in ecological engineering than in computers. I think these companies go against my beliefs.

7.4Secure the land; prevent landslide and soil liquefaction

7.5<2018-10-07> Build roads, towns, houses, and cities.

A house should be movable.

7.6Check hazards before building

  • Lighting
  • Earthquake
  • Soil liquefaction
  • Tsunami
  • Flooding

7.7Undergraduate Agricultural Engineering curriculum / Kurikulum S1 Teknik Pertanian

7.8Singapore rooftop urban farming

8Profiting from the farm

8.1How to sell?

https://extension.psu.edu/fruit-and-vegetable-marketing-for-small-scale-and-part-time-growers

8.2Can a plant get too old to be sold?

8.3What plants should we grow?

8.3.1First, grow what you eat.

8.3.2Then, grow the plants with the highest ROI (return on investment).

8.4Planting process standard

  • The only thing we want to measure: ROI.
  • Record the date of sowing.
  • Record the date of harvest.
  • Record all transactions.
  • Accounting per species.

9Secure the food for the family (at least 5 people)

9.1Some reasoning

  • Establish the ability to feed the people depending on labor and independent from rupiah.
  • Obtain personal/group sovereignty by securing the ability to live by depending only on nature
  • 9.1.1Why(56w~1m)

9.1.1Why

Those who can survive on their own have power over those who can't.

Everyone needs food. Those who control food control the society.

You can always sell food (convert food into money). The inverse isn't always true: you can't always buy food (convert money into food).

Nature feeds those who work.

Nature accepts labor as payment. Nature doesn't accept money.

10Cooking chicken breast

Every Way to Cook a Chicken Breast (32 Methods) | Bon Appétit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyaxDWLe6A4

11Theoretical musings, probably impractical

11.1Growing plants in carbon dioxide atmosphere

Plants can absorb carbon monoxide too. 1974 article http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/b74-236#.W7ziEZ9fikA

Plants can also absorb some poisonous gases. "A NASA study explains how to purify air with house plants" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPNYdSZRSdg

11.2We are merely part of the Earth's nutrient cycle.

12One-time non-contractual sales of vegetables?

According to "Our 6 Step Secret to Growing 10+ FOOT Tall Tomatoes ….Organically!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02JxU49a1F4:

  • Nitrogen (nitrate?) induces growth.
  • Phosphorus (phosphate?) induces flowering.
  • Pick ripe fruits as early as possible. Don't let ripe fruits hang on the tree.
  • Don't let the tomato plant grow sideways.

13Bionic plants

13.1Photosynthesis efficiency

14Cyanobacteria; coastal bacteria/algae bloom due to agricultural nutrient runoff to the sea

15Communities

15.1Internet people who do similar things

16English-Indonesian translations

16.1sustainable = berkelanjutan

16.2roy g biv = mejikuhibiniu

16.3germination = pengecambahan

17Sustainability: carbon balance, water balance

17.1Can we get a carbon credit for farming? Can we be paid to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide?

18Growing a forest

19Bonsai fruit trees / Tabulampot (tanaman buah dalam pot)

20Growing media

21Photovoltaics, solar cells

21.1All-oxide photovoltaics

22Big end goal: aquaponic/aeroponic skyscraper? Vertical farming?

23Explaining chemical reactions, using electron excited states and quantum mechanics?

24Concerns: Deconstructing an old house requires proper asbestos removal.

25High-volume high-throughput composting?

25.1Earthworm

25.2Frass (insect poop)

26Where to sell?

https://www.pasarkomoditasjakarta.co.id/ tidak lengkap.

27Azeotropes are why things aren't always separable by distillation

28Avoid farmed Norwegian salmon.

29Use bamboo instead of wood for constructing? But which bamboo species? Where do we get the seeds?

30Growing potatos carefreely

31Achieving energy independence?

32Chickens

33Sustainable city concept

  • Food produced locally and sustainably in vertical farm.
    • Fertilized by the city-dwellers' excretions.
      • Public health hazard. Someone could poison the sewage, and kill the entire city after the next harvest.
  • Electric power generated locally and distributedly.
  • Wastes are recycled.

34Gardening with engineering mindset; when engineers garden

35Growing citrus indoors

  • How to Grow Citrus Trees Indoors EASY! - Complete growing guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eTnJ-MeM1c
    • 10 years from seed to fruit
    • require bees to pollinate
    • some dwarf variants only need 1-2 years from seed to fruit

36Toko Buah Jakarta

  • consignment / konsinyasi / titip jual.

36.1How much does it sell?

Assume:

  • The grocery serves a 500 m x 500 m area.
  • There is 1 person per 100 m2.
  • Everyone eats 15 grams of bokchoy everyday (100 grams of bok choy everyweek).

Therefore:

  • The grocery serves 2,500 people.
  • The grocery sells 37.5 kg of bok choy everyday.
    • This seems off. I doubt they sell that much.

37<2018-10-19> Misleading clickbait?

38Companion planting, "Garden Planner" application

39Manipulating the biogeochemical cycle

39.1Stage 1: Submit to Earth

  • This is before the Haber process was invented.

39.2Stage 2: Humans uses energy to push limiting nutrients, but not enough to transmute matter

  • This is after the Haber-Bosch process was invented, but before nuclear transmutation is commonplace.
  • <2018-10-27> We are at this stage.

39.3Stage 3: Humans uses nuclear energy to transmute matter

  • If we can build a Dyson sphere, then we can make as much nitrogen, phosphorus, and molybdenum as we want.

40One key to sustainability: Cities and buildings must be built with nutrient cycle in mind.

41The key to sustainability is reversing entropy.

  • We mix shit, soap, and whatnot in sewage. The sewage has higher entropy than each constituents.
  • To save the world, we need technology to separate/decompose the sewage into compounds that participates in the Earth's biogeochemical cycle.
  • Given enough energy (the sun should be enough), we can break all chemical bonds.

42Open-source houses?

43Food is cheap. It's the transport (fossil fuel) that is expensive.

44Jakarta hydrology

  • Ciliwung river.

44.1Hydrology jargon

  • River flows from mountain to sea.
    • Water flows from high place to low place.
      • Due to Earth's gravity.
  • Drainage basin.
  • River basin.
  • Watershed.

44.1.1Indonesian hydrology jargon

English Bahasa Indonesia
hulu upstream
hilir downstream
muara
DAS (daerah aliran sungai)
river sungai
anak sungai

45Harvesting potato is too much hassle; messy digging

46Polyculture, beneficial weeds, companion planting

47Limiting factors for operation

  • shit (feces and urine), in grams
  • land area (assuming verticality 1), in square meters
  • human labor for harvesting, in man-hours
  • I assume that sunlight, water, and minerals not a limiting factor, because I live in Jakarta, a city in tropical climate near the equator.

48Other

48.1Soylent, or, don't bother with farming.

48.2The goal of the company is to degrow cities, transform landscape, close the nutrient cycle (prevent runoff to the sea)

48.3What

Verticality is the number of stories (floors).

https://www.maximumyield.com/definition/3259/nutrient-feeding-schedule

https://www.maximumyield.com/what-exactly-makes-a-fertilizer-sustainable/2/3431

https://www.google.co.id/amp/jogja.tribunnews.com/amp/2018/02/24/budidaya-anggrek-tidak-hanya-untuk-dijual-tapi-bisa-juga-disewakan

Dendrobium spatulata

Labor time requirement analysis

Harvesting (cutting) 1 bok choy plant takes 15 seconds. Cleaning 1 bok choy plant takes 15 seconds. 30 second labor per harvest 1 harvest per 60 days 240 plants = 2 hour harvest labor Of 60 days, about 40 are working days, so there are about 300 working hours in 60 days.

Don't put meat in compost pile because it attracts dogs and rats.

Peraturan kompos

48.4Low-tech local food generation economically beats hi-tech remote farm as long as transportation is expensive enough (until there are self-driving sun-powered vehicles).

How much does it cost to transport vegetables from a suburb farm to a city grocery?

48.5<2018-10-09> Naive newbie botanist assumption: Just spread seeds, and everything will grow by itself.

48.6Old content

  • How many square meters of land do we have?
  • How many grams of green pea does a square meter of land yield?
  • How much space does a chicken need?
  • How much food does a chicken need every day?

Combine animal husbandry / ranching and permaculture to make low-operation organic chicken farm?

48.7Seaweed

Nori is edible seaweed species of the red algae genus Pyropia (Wikipedia). Porphyra is known as nori in Japan (Wikipedia again). What? Which is right? Phycology is the study of algae. It turns out nori cultivation is hard. Chickens are more complex organisms than algae, but why is raising algae harder than raising chickens?

48.8What

Solar furnace fresnel lens Focused sunlight melts metal

http://www.flannelguyroi.com/gardening-costs-400-square-feet-spade/

Jakarta community garden / urban farming

Carbon fixing Light cycle Dark cycle Plant metabolism Plant doesn't need UV (ultraviolet) light, but some UV light is good? Plant can absorb 680 nm red light? https://uvhero.com/do-plants-need-uv-light/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_light

Day length triggers flowering.

Green leaves require magnesium?

Carotenes photosynthesize without magnesium?

If land is too expensive, we can put soil on the back of a truck.

Problems:

  • It may be illegal to drive a pickup truck with a garden in the truck's cargo bed. Things may fall from the cargo bed to the road.
  • Can the plants withstand 2 hours of constant 150 km/h wind?
  • Traffic accidents.

We can buy a used truck or a new truck.

48.9Intensive gardening

"5 Tips How to Grow a Ton of Turmeric in Just 3 Square Feet Garden Bed" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFHQir72ams

"Growing Potatoes the Lazy Way" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk0vhqSarYU

48.10Pests?

48.11Velomobiles

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2012/10/electric-velomobiles.html

49Nutrient cycle assumption

  • We assume that the number of atoms in your body is practically constant (fluctuates insignificantly).
  • If so, then, in the long run, what you excrete is just enough to fertilize what you eat.

50Hypothesis: Rain won't kill cabai if the growing medium doesn't retain water.

51"Does an electric field affect plant growth?"

52<2018-08-12> Harga barang-barang di Toko Buah Jakarta

  • Rupiah per kg (harga maksimal, campur-campur merek)
    • Kacang kapri import 99000
    • Timun 29500
    • Terong 18800
    • Pare 25000
    • Kyuri 36800
    • Tomat ceri 50000
    • Tomat 45000
    • Edamame 18500 promo
    • Wortel super 15900
    • Brokoli impor 58000
    • Lettuce head 22500
    • Lobak 20500
    • Bayam 17000
    • Kailan 70000
    • Pakcoy 70000
      • gimana ceritanya 1 kg pakcoy bisa lebih mahal daripada 1 kg daging ayam (60000)?
      • bisa tajir gw jualan pakcoy kalo bisa laku di harga segini; normalnya 10-20 ribu
    • Siomak 22500
    • Kumak 16000
    • Caisim 20000
    • Sawi pahit 14500
    • Sayur DIL 21000
    • Kismis 160000
    • Pisang 18000
    • Kacang hijau 32000
  • Pengamatan saya tentang suppliers
    • Frida Agro murah
    • BIF
    • Kiosayur
    • Farm IOA, Cipanas, Cianjur
    • dOriginal, Cipanas, Cianjur
    • JiRi farm hydroponic/organic mahal

53Mineralogy?

Intro to mineralogy "Analytical techniques for elemental analysis of minerals"

Geology

http://tanamanhiasdaun.com/formula-nutrisi-hidroponik-untuk-tanaman-sayur-dan-buah/

54What

https://alamtani.com/jenis-cabe/

  • Cabai hijau adalah cabai merah yang masih muda.

Plant database Vegetable database

<2019-05-23> Unburied pineapple core invites rats.

Grocery-store pineapples are raw.1 Ripe pineapple cores are sweet?

55How should we farm in cities?

The key to farming is to understand ecology, some botany (plant physiology and pathology), and nutrient cycle.

We should care more about phosphate run-off. Phosphates are vital and non-renewable, like fossil fuel. The bad news is that there is no cycle bringing back the phosphates from the sea to the land, unlike water with its hydrologic cycle.

Rob Greenfield grows and forages everything he eats, but he admits that it takes a lot of time.2

56How much do cows eat?

A 700-kg cow consumes about 70 kg of pasture every day?3

  1. https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-people-eat-the-pineapples-core↩

  2. "He Has To Grow Or Forage Everything He Eats For 1 Year!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNan4akhgo↩

  3. https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/40456/how-do-large-herbivores-get-enough-protein↩