Onwards and Upwards, As My Dad Would Say!
17 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
I’ve combined Rediscovering Permaculture and The Deadly Nightshade into one blog…you can find it here…
Tell everyone about it and come visit me. Click on the cute little sun in the header to subscribe to an RSS feed that will deliver any new posts straight to your inbox!
And if you could…spread the word!
See you there!
Making a List – Checking it Twice
31 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
I just read an interesting article, “7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won’t Eat Them”.
Tomatoes and potatoes have now moved to the top of the “I’ll be growing this” list.
I don’t use a lot of canned tomatoes, but I do have several recipes that would benefit from me canning my own tomatoes in jars and avoiding that leaching issue. In particular, I will need to find a recipe for Italian style tomatoes (chopped tomatoes, with garlic and spices) and also something that mimics the Rotel tomatoes with green chiles (excellent w/melted cheese on nachos).
I imagine I can find something in either the Ball Book of Home Preserving or a neat, kitschy recipe in Canning for a New Generation.
And seeing apples on the list makes me think of my poor, bug-riddled apple tree. It’s a Granny Smith apple tree (my favorite) and I’m determined this year to rid it of the pests (naturally) and enjoy apples, really enjoy them, for the first time since I planted it eight years ago.
It is a shame we cannot trust the food system in our country, but it seems that, in the pursuit of expediency and profit, many of our foods are produced in ways that counter their potential benefits.
Read the article…it will get you to thinking!
Justice Is Not Only Blind – But Immune to Common Sense
27 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
I just ran across this newsbite, and while over four months old, it still has me incensed. A man is facing over $5,000 in possible fines for growing too many vegetables on his 2-acre tract. And this is after he stopped production, requested re-zoning, and was successful in doing so.
I know justice is blind…but really, does it have to be stupid beyond compare as well?
Organic vegetables, happy neighbors and willing farmer’s market customers…and the county is pursuing charges against him?
Put bluntly, someone needs to remove their heads from their nether regions…
Bioswales – Making Rain Work for You
23 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
I learned a while back that our property was built over the site of an old creek. This made a stunning amount of sense to me, since every time we receive a truly heavy rain (usually in the spring) the water runs from the front ditch through a low spot between our house and the neighbors to teh north, under a section of our side fence, along a length of raised planters, curls around the maple tree, barrels along the front of our shed and then turns into a section of other raised beds before rushing out the back fence to inundate our neighbor’s yard to the west. It will settle there, submerging half of their yard in water during the wet season.
As for the flooded areas of ours, well, the ground will often have several inches of water sitting there, for days at a time, a boggy mess to mow and to deal with.
I planted a willow tree, hoping it would literally act like a vacuum hose and suck the water up. I think it did help, somewhat, but there is still such a massive amount of water coming through, that something needs to be done. At its peak, it can be five feet across and a good foot deep, that’s a LOT of water!
A bioswale is essentially a shallow ditch filled with substrate (such as rock) that guides the water and controls its flow, allowing you to better define where you need the water to go. You can also use a bioswale as a means of storing water, simply by digging a deep, rounded hole that will encourage the water to settle and be captured in one spot.
I found an excellent site that describes how bioswales work, and the different kinds of bioswales, along with the positives and negatives of each design. You can find it here.
And the very first picture shown…
Is exactly what I envision for my yard…with the exception of one thing. I will be planting water-loving plants in those rocks.
Nearest to the entrance, where the water first comes through and before it drains down into the rest of the yard, it would probably be a good place to plant another Asian pear tree, I already have two, but I could certainly use another. Another tree that loves water is the peach tree. I have one, but I could certainly use another!
I plan to plant a succession of smaller plants through the areas that will remain boggy. These include pussy willow, water iris, and possibly even cranberries. I found a great article here on tips for the home gardener to use to successfully grow them.
I will also be incorporating two other aspects to the bioswale…
1. A small reservoir of water that will enter a section of our chicken coop, allowing the chickens access to fresh rain water, but not inundating their entire yard with it.
2. Greywater from our kitchen in the warm months. This is a maybe, since I need significant assistance from my studious and overworked husband (he’s a full time student and full-time worker) for this aspect. What I envision is a type of valve that we can turn ‘on’ in the summer months and ‘off’ in the winter. When ‘on’ the greywater from our sink would drain out of our house into a cistern and be cleansed with plants such as reeds, water hyacinth, iris and duckweed. You can learn more about good cleansing plants here.
Eventually the water would flow to the reservoir for the chickens, ensuring they have fresh-flowing water during the warm months of the year.
That’s my vision for it anyway. We will see what happens (or doesn’t happen) when the ground thaws!
Mushroom Miracles
20 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
And no, I’m not talking about the psychedelic ones, folks.
My DH just shared with me a fascinating TED talk by Paul Stamets. For those not familiar with TED, I highly recommend it, the talks are varied, interesting and often funny, and always very educational.
Paul Stamets talk is titled Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World and it blew my mind.
Here is a short bio on Paul:
Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets seeks to rescue the study of mushrooms from forest gourmets and psychedelic warlords. The focus of Stamets’ research is the Northwest’s native fungal genome, mycelium, but along the way he has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.
There are cosmic implications as well. Stamets believes we could terraform other worlds in our galaxy by sowing a mix of fungal spores and other seeds to create an ecological footprint on a new planet.
In any case, he describes in the talk how he used oyster mushrooms to revive dead oil-soaked soil. Which led me to wonder if the mushrooms would still be edible…
Hmmm…
How Much Energy Are YOU Using?
19 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
For those of you who reside in the Midwest, here is a handy little site that will help you calculate your energy usage and estimates what the annual carbon footprint of your home is. That one was a real eye-opener for me!
It also gives some great suggestions on how you can save money and energy by upgrading your heating and cooling or installing a new water heater, et cetera.
Our heating and cooling system is original to our house, which means its 20 years old. We could save several hundred dollars and reduce our carbon footprint significantly by replacing it.
We also have several windows which are original with the house and need to be replaced. One in particular, the one in our bathroom, actually grows ice on the inside of it during the winter – leak much, ya think?
Whether or not you are a Missouri Gas Energy user, I would still suggest you check out the site and go through it. Or check with your own gas provider and see if they have a similar site. It could provide you with important tips on how to start saving energy and reducing your bills right away.
The “Threat” of Cats and Dogs on the Environment
17 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
I attended a Introduction to Permaculture class this past Saturday and the question came up of cats harming the environment by killing the native birds.
I guess I really have a problem with this. I’ve seen how fast birds breed, and I’ve also seen how many birds (and other creatures) my white cat Einstein (also know as the Great White Murderer) kills each year.
I raised my hand and objected to the vilification of cats, although it does often extend to dogs as well. “My pets fulfill multiple purposes.” I argued, “They are our companions, yes, but they are also excellent at reducing food waste (scraps), protecting our property from two-legged invaders (people are scared to death of our big dog), and usually disposing of any four-legged invaders. I don’t have problems with rodents or even full-grown rabbits eating my crops because the cat hunts them and the larger dog will eat them.”
The instructor didn’t have the time (we were behind schedule) or the inclination to argue the point with me, so we moved on.
But it really bothered me. So I started doing some research. I wanted to see if cats are really the scourge on the ecosystem or not. Of course, I found a great deal of links that all say the same thing, they kill the native bird population.
I’ve done the body count on my property…it’s 90% robin kills, which I believe is non-native. Which really makes me question the native birdist claims.
Here are some interesting things I found in my search…
Ecosystems are fragile at Mr. Barlow’s blog. This includes before and after photos of human interference on an island. The human interference included killing the feral cats on the island to ‘save’ the native bird population. It um…didn’t work.
Parachuting Cats Into Borneo is an interesting, if short, read on how humans sprayed DDT, which caused a chain of events of animal die-offs that finally resulted in a surge in the rat population. So they stopped spraying the DDT (which had through the food chain eventually killed off the cats who had been controlling the rats) and parachuted cats into Borneo. Holy cow, now that’s extreme.
And I found this excerpt when I did a search for ‘cats good for ecosystem’ -
Tiger’s disappearance left more than a big hole in our hearts. His disappearance left a hole in our backyard ecosystem. During the 13 years he lived with us, we knew he caught an occasional rabbit or bird and made life hell for chipmunks. We had no idea just how many rabbits and chipmunks he hunted down. We do now.
We now recognize Tiger’s impact on the ecosystem because we have been overrun by a biblical plague of rabbits and chipmunks that are eating certain perennials (rudbeckia, coreopsis) right down to the ground. New creeping roses quickly became a favorite. To save some of our plants, I put plastic netting around a metal fence because the latter wasn’t tight enough to keep the rabbits and chipmunks out. Mostly it’s the rabbits that are at fault.
Cats and dogs have been around a long time. Why deny them their instincts? Especially when, as you can see from the last account above, they keep down the varmint population quite admirably.
Each of my pets is neutered. They are also either feral and rehabilitated (my white cat), strays (my black cat), or adopted from shelters (my dogs). They aren’t fancy breeds, all of them are mutts.
Their fur adds to my compost (through brushing and adding up in a vacuum bag that is then composted). They keep us warm in the winter. They protect us and the dogs especially are very protective of our little girl. The cats are at least exceedingly gentle, except in extreme circumstances.
And when I begin working with thermophilic composting, their manure will be added to the compost pile to further enrich our soil once it has broken down.
For us, and for our backyard ecosystem, it is a win-win. But I welcome your (constructive) comments on this post, nonetheless. What do you think?
One Small Life at a Time
13 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
Permaculture has three core principles attached to it:
- Care of earth
- Care of self
- Share the excess
I am reminded of the ‘care of earth’ for this next entry.
My husband Dave works for an insulation company while going to school full-time. The other day he was up in an attic finishing up for the day when he heard a friendly little tweeting and a bird flew up in through the open hole and began bopping about the attic.
Dave looked at the tiny bird, and at the small hole it had come in through and was instantly concerned that the bird would become disoriented and not be able to make his way back out. He called his boss who said, “Yeah, but don’t worry. In this cold weather, it’ll be dead in a day or so and then we just need to find its body and get rid of it so it doesn’t stink the attic up.”
My husband hates to see this happen. Even more than me, he believes that every animal should have it’s chance at life, and not just be randomly killed by humans. He goes out of his way to protect everything from spiders and snakes to cute little birds – so the answer was obvious, somehow he needed to get that little bird out of there.
It was flying about in a panicked state, zooming here and there, obviously afraid of him. Dave closed his eyes, relaxed his mind, and as the bird flew by, caught it in mid-flight like some Jedi master.
Go Dave!
It was a tiny thing and Dave was over the moon, he even got the homeowner to take a picture of the little guy, who continued to tweet non-stop in Dave’s hand.
"Please don't eat me...please don't eat me...oh, please don't eat me!"
Afterward, Dave released it and it flew into a nearby tree and really tweeted an earful.
So, why the point of this post?
For me it is a reminder that my husband holds every life precious…from the house centipedes that occasionally cross our floors (and I’ve learned not to try and kill) to the errant bird who flies into an area he does not belong in.
When we think about becoming self-sustaining, when we consider our impact on the environment and buy a Prius instead of a Hummer, when we learn to compost and recycle – all these things move us along a greener path. But it is the little things as well, like saving a little bird. Things that may seem insignificant…at least to us.
Just something to think about.
p.s. No matter how green I get, though…ants, cockroaches, and mice…are hereby on notice. Come in my house and you will die. Just saying!
Not Ready for Your Own Beehive?
12 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
Not exactly ready for your own beehive? That’s okay, not everyone is.
Even I have my doubts, which I hope will be vanquished during the Beekeeping I and Beekeeping II courses I will be taking in mid-to-late February. I have a fear of several things…that our 1/3 acre plot of land in suburbia is simply too close to neighbors to risk putting in a beehive…or that I will lose my cool when surrounded by a crap-ton of little buggers who could seriously hurt me.
My mom has regaled me far too often with a story from her childhood when she tripped and fell into a next of bees, was swarmed and stung countless times, and rushed to the hospital in anaphilactic (sp?) shock and nearly died.
“They told me that if I was ever stung again, I could go into shock and die if I didn’t get to a hospital in time. So if you put in a beehive, I’m not visiting!”
Wow Mom, that is so tempting, so tempting!
Okay, so now that I’ve terrorized you into visions of swarming bees with stingers of death – let’s talk about mason bees.
Mason bees do not live in hives and the queens are solitary. Often referred to as wood bees, since they often make their nests in wood stumps, they are excellent pollinators and even less likely to sting you. I mean you have to really interfere with this puppies for them to give up the sting and jab you.
Here is what Wikipedia had to say on the subject:
Unlike honey bees (Apis), they are solitary; every female is fertile and makes her own nest, and there are no worker bees for these species. Solitary bees produce neither honey nor beeswax. They are immune from acarine and Varroa mites, but have their own unique parasites, pests and diseases.
Most mason bees live in holes and can be attracted by drilling short holes in a block of wood. They are excellent spring season pollinators and, since they have no honey to defend, will only sting if squeezed or stepped on. As such, they make excellent garden “pets”, since they both pollinate the plants and are safe for children and pets.
So if you don’t mind not having the honey and beeswax, and all the collecting and care that goes into that, consider attracting mason bees. Instructables has some great ideas on how to build some bee houses out of old wood. Put those in your yard and before you know it, you will have your own private pollinators ensuring that your plants have the best advantages around!
Dreaming of Spring
11 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
The snow is piled high (well, high for us), it is a white winterland outside, and I’m dreaming of spring.
This is the time of year to plan, learn, and purchase seeds for the growing season that will begin sooner than I realize, although not as quickly as I would like!
But when it comes to planning, here is an event that might kickstart your growing season:
Hello sustainability folks!
In 2010, Sustainability Action Network grew in pleasing ways. For one thing, our membership increased for the third year in a row, so we have scheduled our Annual Meeting in a larger venue than before, the Eldridge Hotel in Lawrence. We also have a great speaker this year, Dan Nagengast, Director of the Kansas Rural Center.Everyone is welcome, member or not, at 7:00pm on Friday, 21 January, in the All American Room of the Eldridge Hotel. It is at 701 Massachusetts St. in Lawrence.
If you are unfamiliar with Sustainability Action, the Annual Meeting will be a great opportunity to mingle and learn about our accomplishments over the past three years, and our plans for the coming year. We focus on positive solutions that will transition to a relocalized economy-ecology. Our three years of effort recently culminated in gaining 501(C)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS, and we are now poised to launch tangible projects – renewable energy workshops, permaculture certification, a land consortium for local growers, and more.
With that in mind, the focus of Dan’s talk will be energy depletion and rising energy costs, reducing fossil-energy agriculture inputs, and transitioning to a local food system economy. In working toward our goals, Sustainability Action has sometimes collaborated with the Kansas Rural Center, which under Dan’s leadership has championed similar causes for many years.
So please come enjoy some food, refreshment, and insights, and pass the word to any others who may share our vision for a sustainable future. Please RSVP to Michael Morley at <morlinc@sunflower.com> so we can gauge how many are coming.
I need to check my calendar and see if I can attend but it sounds like it could be of interest – and not just for the home gardener. I hope to see you there!
