permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Cultured food, protein from microbes? Food from stem cells (meat, but
sources from real meat), chlorella, spirulina (algae)?

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-03-11/when-agriculture-stops-working-a-guide-to-growing-food-in-the-age-of-climate-destabilization-and-civilization-collapse
That essay and the comments that followed are some of the best prepared
information on this particular subject I have ever seen. It is on the
cutting edge and so important. Serious climate change and resulting
alteration of food production is just around the corner.

Nutritional or food yeast is a gourmet food and full of protein. The
Japanese have been culturing spirulina and chlorella for
years...."chlorella spaghetti". Those are two of the best and I am sure
there are many others. Food yeast is a staple in my diet.Yellow corn grits
+ food yeast + olive oil + herb/veg-seasoned salt + garlic, quite a dish.

Fascinating. 3D printer cranking out bioreactors. Used bioreactors could be
recycled into new ones (melted down, composted, etc,).
Grow algae on plates/sheets. Harvest by hand by scraping it off. Possible
contamination issues from airborne spores but if that can be controlled. On
a moon base, translucent plastic solar igloos with water channels forming
the dome growing algae; the green color would allow more solar heat to be
absorbed. Harvest? I wonder if heat thermo syphoning through the tubes
would cause currents that might carry the algae to a harvest point. Maybe
other species of edible aquatic plants could be developed that would be
large enough to float in water thus making harvest easier/cleaner as
opposed to common algae saturating the liquid. Totally off the wall
uninformed/unresearched  idea. Another option, recycling human waste into
food products. Still better in the plant/fungi realm: mushrooms, easy to
propagate and grow, growth medium can be recycled, nutritious and
medicinal; sprouts from seeds and beans, growth medium can be recycled in
the case of those needing soil otherwise, just water and light in the case
of seeds: wheat and barley grass, alfalfa, brocolli, radish, etc., in soil:
sunflower, buckwheat and more. Gourmet food. How about hydroponics and
aquaponics (this is where recycling human waste enters the picture:
bioreact the urine and feces then when pathologically safe use the product
as fertilizer in soil medium, liquified in aquaculture and aquaponics: grow
fruit trees.
There is already a lot of research and experimentation on all these methods
and many are in use for serious production. Recycling basic plant nutrients
will be important, conserving phosphorous, nitrogen, potash and trace
minerals (super important, nutrient dense, mineral rich food). Caloric
content of foods will be important especially in a raw vegan diet wherein
you are needing calories in the form of sugars (i.e. raspberries) and oil
(i.e. avocadoes). This comment on the essay is first rate and deals with
nutritional issues: And there is culturing meat in petri dishes too :-) The
comment:
Walter Haugen "It will be interesting to see the recommendations. Here are
mine: 1) Staple crops - Think potatoes as well as alternative grains. Think
kilocalorie value and complex of vitamins rather than protein. People need
less protein than they think. Think sunchokes as a default crop. Native to
North American and they grow like weeds and can be left in the ground all
winter and harvested as needed. The stalks stick up through the snow. Grow
lots of dry beans. I live in a maritime climate and I still get plenty of
dry beans. Kidneys and cannellinis are especially good.2) Think
semi-permanent grain. I grow wheat and triticale multiple years in a row
because I just till the ground again after harvest. The grain that drops
reseeds. This is still an annual grain but on the same piece of ground.
Steven Jones and Wes Jackson (and their fellow researchers) are working on
perennial grains but they are still "twenty years out." Semi-permanent
wheat is an interim step.3) Eat more vegetables and do less cooking. The
saying, "Cook like an Italian rather than a French person" means less
preparation of better ingredients rather than complicated sauces.4) Do your
own experiments. I currently grow 30 kinds of potatoes, 2 of which I
developed myself using Burbank's seedball method. I am also working on 2
corn varieties that grow well in our maritime climate. The genetics are not
that difficult to understand. A high school biology course, observation and
experimentation are all you need.5) Most of all, get off your duff and
actually DO something. Sitting at your computer and reading articles is
just a preliminary step. Take your knowledge and actually put it into
practice. There are a few of us beyond organic, small-scale farmers out
there but not enough. You will have to grow at least some of your own food
soon enough and farming is a skilled profession. Start now."

But with no moving parts? I was thinking of a Stirling engine powering a
wiper blade that could harvest algae grown on some kind of plate or simply
solar photovoltaics powering an efficient motor operating  harvest
machinery. I really wonder about thermosyphoning in a growth chamber
creating currents that would move plant material ready for harvest to a
collection point. ?

What about a closed loop cycling nutrients and micronutrients within
a food production - food consumption system? The only potential loss might
be water as moisture in air and energy as heat, most of which could be
recycled. In the case of a moon or mars base you would possibly have a
ready supply of the needed minerals; leaving water, atmospheric gases and
light as the remaining components necessary for plant growth and thus
sustenance of human life in such a living system.

I like the idea of growing sprouts harvested early or grown into semi
mature plants, cut-and-come-again also (there's your production method with
no moving parts, maximum production per unit volume) in trays or containers
of some sort either in standalone system or in an aquaculture or aquaponic
system because this represents a prime food source producing maximum
nutrition with plenty of potential for recycling spent components (roots,
growth medium). Plant disease and food sanitation issues would have to be
controlled carefully. One idea: grow sprouts from seeds then after harvest
clean/sanitize the growth chamber by growing algae, feeding on any plant
residues left behind. No idea whether this could be done in a sanitary way.
Another futuristic idea: culture a semi-transparent membrane out of
microbe, plant or fungal tissue to become container walls OR culture
material from these sources that could feed a 3D printer making growth
chambers or containers for sprouts and other plants, all of which could be
recycled. Algae, bacteria, fungi, fungal slime, all could become food with
diverse nutritional properties. Culture material to make a lattice for a 3D
printer on which edible plant or fungal materials could be cultured with
all components edible. You would be surprised at the resulting flavor from
combining various herbs, condiments, oils and foodstuffs during cooking. A
single distinct strong pecan flavor emerged yesterday when I cooked tempeh
cubes in olive oil, hot red pepper, cinnamon, cumin, chinese black rice
seasoning vinegar, Bragg's liquid amino broth and a little tamari soy
sauce. This process could be simplified and applied to dishes served at
mealtime for flavor variation of high quality, all without using some
synthetic food additive to achieve same result.
Also: grow soya beans,  process and culture them into tofu and tempeh
(contains edible fungi), miso, natto and other culinary delights. Also grow
known varieties of edible seaweed in the appropriate environment. Kelp can
be used to bioremediate nutrient rich waste in solution; same with duckweed
which can become a high protein human food and fertilizer. There's a major
part of your waste recycling system in a nice neat package with a diversity
of uses and outputs.