Back From Vacation

Picture of the Garden early in the day before being weeded.

Another patch of weeds

A Picture of the Corn after cultivation and weeding

We had the chance to take a break from it all by going to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  It was a nice trip, but the sad part is that we came back to very dry conditions.  We also came back to a garden that was full of weeds.  The good news is that we were able to tackle the weeds fairly quickly using our favorite tools: the wheel cultivator and the stirrup hoe.  Taking advantage of the dry conditions of the soil, I made several passed with the cultivator.  This helped remove most of the small weeds and loosen the soil around the larger weeds.  I then passed the stirrup hoe through the loosened soil.  This loosened up the remainder of the larger weeds.  I then raked the weeds to the edge of the garden, so that they could be placed into the compost pile.

A mostly Cultivated portion of the garden. The Wheel Cultivator is out of gas at this point (At least the operator of the weed Cultivator was out of gas)

I tried again to use the collinnear hoe, but I must be doing something wrong with that.  I can’t seem to get mine to work well.
The one positive is that the weeds will be turned into compost later on.  This compost will turn a negative into a positive.  The weeds were stealing nutrients from the soil and the desired plants, but the weeds will return those nutrients back to the garden in the form of the compost.  I actually tried something new with the weeds.  I placed the big weeds into the cold frame and I will keep it closed.  This way, the weeds will cook faster.  It is just a hunch, but I will try it and see what happens.

I also took time to plant some pumpkin seeds and some popcorn.  The popcorn is a new crop for us this year.  I used a heirloom open pollinated variety.  This way we can save the seeds for next year.  I have been trying to use open-pollinated and heirloom varieties more and more.   I figure that I can save seeds for the future, therefore saving a bit of money down the road (assuming that the varieties are as good as the hybrids that we have used in the past.)  I planted most heirloom varieties as either new crops or as backup crops to ones that we have tended to rely upon in the past.

I often like to link to related articles as I go along.  Hopefully these provide you with more information than what I can touch upon in any particular post.  I also figure that this is a way to help out other bloggers that post good content.  I follow farm on a regular basis.

Related articles

• The difference between open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid seeds (thrivefarm.wordpress.com)
• Organic GMO-Free Corn – From WI Farms (wholefoodandmore.net)
• 4 Reasons Why Heirloom Seeds Should Have a Superiority Complex (livingseedcompany.wordpress.com)
• The Beauty of Heirloom Seeds (eatdrinkbetter.com)
• Heirloom Plants. Fruits, Veggies and Flowers (nicolebrait.com)

Elite Eight

Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables on an organic farm in Capay, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is another list that honors the NCAA college basketball tournament known as March Madness.

As the teams are down to the Elite Eight, I decided to come up with an Elite Eight list to complement our Sweet Sixteen list of Vegetables.

So what would be a good list of Eight Things?  How about the Elite Eight Reasons to go Organic, GMO free and all natural with farming/ homesteading?  So here goes:

1. Organic farming and gardening is better for the environment in many ways.  The first is that there is a focus on conservation.  I am not a naturalist nor a “tree hugger,” but rather I believe that God gave us a great planet, which we need to protect and respect.  Organic and natural farming tends to placeconservation in the forefront.  Compost is recycling at its basis.
2.  Organically grown foods contain fewer harmful chemicals than conventionally grown foods. In a conventional system, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and glyphosate (Round Up) are sprayed to increase production in various ways. These chemicals can be taken up by the plants and then eaten by the consumer resulting in toxin buildup within the body.
3. I would make a case that growing thing organically actually gains in yield over time. This is due to the better soil structure and the better ecosystem. By continuously amending the soil with organic matter, the earthworms and other organisms flourish. This can make to yield as good or better than a conventional system. The health of the soil leads to good health within the plants leading to reduced disease and fewer pest problems in the long run. Healthy plants, like healthy people,
   are better suited to fight off disease and pests.
4.  I will again cite Dr. Don Huber in regard to some research that is ongoing about potential problems with the use of Genetically Modified Corn, soybeans and now alfalfa.
   

   Predatory Polistes wasp looking for bollworms or other caterpillars on a cotton plant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)n insecticide is utilized.

5.  The reduction of chemicals that are relied upon for insect and pest control will allow natural processes to take hold. For most every pest that invades a garden or crop, there is at least one predator. These predators can be killed along with the pest when an insecticide is applied.  If natural cycles are allowed to run their course, predators will find area that their prey are thriving in.  A lot of prey, will ultimately lead to a lot of predators, which will reduce the population of the pest.
6. Though this point may be disputed, I believe that naturally grown foods contain more nutrients. I also believe that these nutrients are much easier for our bodies to utilize. This means that even a naturally grown vegetable or crop that is lower in nutrients will actually provide more usable nutrients, thus making it more nutritious for the body.
7. I would love to do a study on this one: Animals will eat naturally grown crops with more vigor. This means less stress to the animal and perhaps greater yields. Perhaps one day I will be able to do a study in this subject. The study would have to control just about every other variable other than the feed in order to be valid.
8. Finally, there is simply a self-satisfaction that goes along with producing your own food naturally.
   

   Growth of organic farmland since the year 2000 Development of organically managed land by world regions since 2000 Data: http://www.organic-world.net

   Something that I found very interesting is the chart above.  This chart shows that North America is not growing as much in Organic farmland, yet the world is.  We often look to other countries for many other things, why not look at others as the lead for this trend.  We need to figure this out, before it is too late.

Handling Manure

Well this may end up being an interesting topic as we delve into waste management.  On the other hand, it may just stink plain and simple.

I am not going to cover the actual disposal as this is not too hard to figure out.  Manure should be spread back onto fields, crops, pasture, or used in the garden.

I am assuming a homestead or small scale farm.  The most often utilized management system is likely to be a manure pack.  I this system, bedding is spread out and then the animals eliminate on it.  As the amount of manure increases, more bedding is added.  I think of it basically as a compost pile.  Joel Salatin, who runs Polyface  Farm (I believe is the name of his farm) has a great idea for aerating the manure pack.  He suggests putting down grain, preferably corn, underneath the first layer of straw.  Then Cows are placed into the barn and allowed to build up a manure pack.  Once the manure pack/ compost pile is built up, Joel places pigs into the barn.  Apparently, the pigs can smell the corn and will root through the manure pack to eat the corn.  This turns the manure pack over, which effectively aerates the “compost pile.”

What I have done this year is first applied straw for bedding.  Our cows promptly ate the straw.  So we basically had a very thin bedding layer of straw.  Since it was Autumn, we added some leaves.  We found that we had to strategically place straw where the cows would stand as they eat.  This allowed the manure to fall onto the straw, starting a straw/ manure pack.  The straw and leaves formed the base of the compost pile concept.  As the manure built up, we slowly added more straw to the top of the manure.  I recently spent some time with a manure shovel and turned the pack by hand.  This was some backbreaking (or at least mildly back injuring) work.

I then spread some more straw out to form the beginning of the next layer.  I had actually placed straw down prior to turning the pile, which allowed the manure to go on top of the straw once again. I spread it out more around the barn to form a larger manure pack in the majority of the barn.  With a concrete floor, our barn has very poor footing without the manure pack.  Our cows are spending the majority of their time out in the lush grass right now, but we will need to bring them into the barn soon to either calve or to assess the calves once they are born.  More on that to follow I am sure.

So this is the strategy thus far.  Eventually we will need to spread the manure/ compost out onto the fields of pastures.  We are relying on this to provide the bulk of our fertilizer.  However, we will not have enough from only three cows and their calves.

We also plan to purchase some organic fertilizer to apply to the fields after our first cutting this year.  Of course, we hope to get soil samples taken as well, but time seems to be getting away from us.