CBC Maritimes

Human urine and wood ash could be the ultimate sustainable fertilizer for crops for these tomatoes

The last spike in oil prices boosted the price of agricultural fertilizers - and that sent many farmers on the search for a new source of nutrients for their crops. Well, apparently, we've been throwing away two prime alternative nutrients for a long, long time.

Surendra Pradhan,a research student in Environmental Science at the University of Kuopio in Finland explained that a combination of human urine and wood ash is more effective - and much cheaper and more sustainable for the soil - than chemical fertilizers.

On the phone-in : Jim Lindner pioneered many of the techniques now commonly used for videotape restoration, and has overseen the video restoration of such collections as the NBC News Archive, The Library of Congress, The Metropolitan Opera, and The Andy Warhol Foundation. When he's not summering in the Maritimes, he works with Media Matters in New York. He provided advice on your how to make sure your personal audio-visual collection survives to be enjoyed in the future - whether it's childhood photos, slides, favourite cassette mix tapes and that outrageous wedding reception on VHS. He also had some cautionary words for anyone who thinks that if they have material in digital format, it'll be secure and accessible forever.