Category: Growing organic

sharing an apple

One of the advantages of keeping chicken is their nutrient supply in the form of poop.  Twice a week I gather their extrudences (new word?) in a 5 gallon bucket and head to the apple orchard to gift a lucky tree.  This morning, as I was about to upturn the bucket at the base of my favorite apple tree (it provides the best apples), I noticed a little fellow (sex assumed) hard at work on a fallen delicacy.  There were a couple of wasps also participating at the meal but they flew off as I neared Read more [...]

summer time and tomato

Real summer for me is when the tomato plants begin producing.  In the past this was well before July 4th.  This year I planted my tomato plants early but an unexpected frost devastated them and this set me back several weeks.  So, it was only on July 4th that I was able to pick ripe tomatoes. For the first time in several years I have been able to grow squash.  In past years the squash plants appeared to flourish and bore flowers and began producing little squash and then overnight were Read more [...]

wanting to trust – concerns about honey

We think of honey as nutritious and pure, but it ain't necessarily so.  Most of us want to trust others, and then we get burned and keep our guards up and become cynical.   Recently my emotions oscillated back and forth and I still don't know where I come out. I produced just under 5 gallons of honey last year, which should have been sufficient to carry me through the winter and spring until my next honey harvesting sessions.  But it tasted so good and so many wanted a bottle that I ran out Read more [...]

an improvised bug dispatcher, growing squash and figs

I have never had much luck with squash.   A clan of squash vine borers benignly observe my squash growing efforts and, just when the squash begins its dash for the finish line, they take up residence in the base of the stem of the squash plant, chew away, and the vine keels over.  In previous years I noticed mating stink bugs in the vicinity of the squash plants before their demise and, guilt by association, when I spotted them this morning, I quickly fashioned by bug dispatcher.  My bug dispatcher Read more [...]

remediation

This is not about environmental remediation, just correcting a few deficiencies in my nu trac environment. Bees When I split the hive a few weeks ago by taking bees and frames from hive 1 and creating a new hive 2, I noticed that hive 1 had no brood and apparently no queen.  In addition to the new queen I purchased for hive 2, I ordered a second queen for hive 1.  The second queen and several attendants arrived in a queen's cage last Friday from an Alabama beekeeper. After again confirming Read more [...]

observation and analysis

I used to think observation was the key talent.  On trips through the Kruger game reserve in South Africa my siblings and I competed to spot the lion, cheetah, leopard or unusual game first.  On a river boat trip through north Australia we competed to be the first in the launch to spot the saltwater crocs ("salties") lazing on the banks.  And for such contests a sharp eye was all that was needed. But in my interactions with nature, observing the discordant object is only the first step.  Understanding Read more [...]

tomato planting time

I made a false start about a month ago, when the daily temperatures were in the 80's, and put out a dozen small tomato plants, most of which succumbed to an unexpected frost.  So I waited a while and in the past week have begun setting out the plants.  I try to rotate to avoid soil borne disease, though the area I have just planted was used for tomatoes for the first time last year.  It is on the top of a small rise along the edge where the ground slopes down, running South to North so it has Read more [...]

growing oyster mushrooms

The oyster mushroom is one of the easiest to grow.  Available free on the internet is a +300 page handbook on oyster mushroom cultivation which has as its central premise that: "Mushroom cultivation has been evaluated as an effective means for poverty alleviation in developing countries due to its possibility of low cost production, high profit and quick return".  A handy insight into mushroom growing around the world. I purchased grain spawn grey dove oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) in February Read more [...]

contour ditch construction

My land slopes and since I rely entirely on rainwater for irrigation, I catch the rain however I can - in storage tanks or directly into the ground with contour ditches.  Contour ditches are similar to swales - built on contour or dead level survey lines to intercept and hold water and to let it infiltrate the ground, therefore they are not compacted or sealed.  While a ditch is narrow, a swale can be broader like a basin and, according to the permaculture bible by Bill Mollison, trees are essential Read more [...]

hand watering

All my irrigation is from harvested rainwater.  I used to pump the water from the main storage tanks to an elevated tank near the growing area but since this tank was only  a few feet off the ground and the water was moved by gravity, it trickled slowly from a hose.  And so I gave up and installed water lines and bubblers and let the water do its own thing at its own pace.  An unsatisfactory result, since I wouldn't notice when individual bubblers clogged and, more importantly, I missed out on Read more [...]