Category: Growing organic

summerizing the coop

Before I get to the coop, a quick update on my "Spring activity" journal.  I mentioned that pokeweed is an unwelcome visitor, difficult to extricate because of its long thick taproot.  In permaculture "the problem is the solution" and it occurred to me that the taproot, like that of comfrey was performing a valuable function mining minerals two or more feet below the surface.  But this seemed inadequate justification for its presence until I noticed that it, and it alone, has been attacked and Read more [...]

something new every day

I learn new things every day.  If I was an attorney I would be studying up on the impact of new legislation and recently decided cases.  An accountant - the impact of new GAAP and the merging with international standards; a business executive - new moves by competitors as they strive for competitive advantage.  For me, my classroom is observing what's going on around me. In my post of February 23 I noted that one of twelve muscadines (grape vines) I transplanted did not survive and I provided Read more [...]

spring activity

We have had a warm March to date here (latitude N34 22'52"), 50 miles north of Atlanta, with several days breaking 80 F. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of growing activity. My Kiowa blackberry has begun to flower and the American elderberry I bought last year, which looked anemic throughout the year, is leafing strongly.     Some of the blueberries are in flower - most of my blueberries are rabbiteyes, which have a lower chill requirement than the highbush variety. Read more [...]

corn origins

I received a gift from west coast visitors - Floriani Red Flint Corn. The accompanying information mentions it is a staple polenta corn and family heirloom grown for many years in the Valsugana Valley of Italy. The uninitiated would assume this corn originated in Italy, but it did not. I am enjoying snippets from "1491" by Charles Mann which describes the Americas before Columbus. As we know, the corn kernels we eat grow on a corn cob. It is also apparent that a corn cob cannot self seed - Read more [...]

neem oil – a remedy for chickens

I have been intrigued with neem oil for some time. Something exotic about it. When I first planted tomatoes in north Georgia four years ago, and they were overwhelmed by aphids, neem came to my rescue. Aphids were never a problem again, not because of the neem but my voracious ladybug population. (This week I have been collecting my overwintering ladybug guests and ushering them out to their workplace in my vegetable garden). My second recourse to neem was a couple years ago when the stinkbugs arrived. Read more [...]

permaculture trending – comfrey

I like the pragmatic and intellectual underpinnings of permaculture. On the intellectual side, I am reading and enjoying Holmgren's "Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability", at the quasi pragmatic/theoretical level I enjoyed Hemenway's and Whitecraft's books on permaculture in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively, and for a hands on approach, of course the two books by Holzer. And some of the suggestions have rubbed off. Polyculture and biodiversity are not new to organic Read more [...]

horse manure control test

My two main nutrition inputs are leaf bags from my neighbors, which I pick up in the fall, and horse manure (well rotted/decomposed) from the stables.  I have read articles about manure loaded with chemicals which wreaked havoc in growers' plots.  I have not experienced this problem but, to put this concern behind me, I ran a simple test. I took two empty 32oz yogurt containers, drilled holes in the bottoms for drainage, and filled one 50% with recently collected manure and the other with compost.  Read more [...]

responsibility to animals

I had a good time at the Georgia Organics annual conference - its 15th and my 7th.  The Friday workshops and farm visit and the Saturday educational sessions were excellent and the two keynote speakers have national repute and lived up to expectations.  At my breakfast table on Friday morning was an organic livestock farmer.  I asked him a question which was triggered by the assistance I am providing to two ailing chickens:  "What do you do when one of your animals get sick?"  His answer was Read more [...]

the beginnings of spring

The next couple of days I shall be at the Georgia Organics annual conference held this year in Columbus GA, south of Atlanta. This shall be my 5th year of attendance - my first few years I learned a lot and with each year there is less new information but I enjoy meeting other growers and learning from them. I was torn between doing a permaculture design course or the conference and have not ruled out a PDC for the future. Shiitake mushrooms I picked about 15 mushrooms today.  Just as well Read more [...]

chicken synergies

The chicken are still doing well.  Six hens from my former neighbor (4 hybrids, 1 Ameraucana, 1 ISA brown) and 8 youngsters ( 2 Buff Orpingtons (1 of which is a rooster called "Buffy"), 2 Golden Comets, 2 New Jersey Giants and 2 Speckled Sussex).  No casualties, though one of the hybrids walks with a noticeable limp and is now called "Gimpy".  The two dominant hens are the Ameraucana and the ISA brown, which curiously are also among the smallest.  The two largest hens, the New Jersey Giants, Read more [...]