The national news do repeated stories tonight about how fish is mislabeled and sold falsely. It is not simply the pricing that is an issue, it is the source, the manner in how the fish was raised and the pesticides that were used in the process that is the most frightening for me. There is a break down in all aspects of our food supply system.
The Victory Garden Program was one of the most popular programs in the war period, and extension agents developed programs to provide seed, fertilizer, and simple gardening tools for victory gardeners. An estimated 15 million families planted victory gardens in 1942, and in 1943 some 20 million victory gardens produced more than 40 percent of the vegetables grown for that year's fresh consumption.
I found that bit of information mind blowing. 40 percent of the food was fresh and local.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Soil, minerals and health
For centuries the fertilizer used to grow crop were tightly related to farming animals. The soil was feed by the roaming of these animals or the distribution of their manure is they were housed or penned up for part of the year. Now that principle is ignored by corporate farming industry. The results are being linked to the increase of diseases humans are now experiencing and the lower nutrient values of field crops and the health of our meat that is consumed. Tied to this thought is research that suggests that prepared feed, even high quality feeds, do not match the diverse minerals animals get from eating grass and weeds in open fields.
Our food supply needs to be reorganized in a way that honors the traditions that protect the soil, raise healthy animals and plant foods. All of this research shows me that the more I can eat out of my garden, the better my health will be.
Busy Fall Gardening
A couple weeks ago I had some branches and leaves from ornamental bushes in the yard mulched up. I put them under the apple trees along with oyster shells and steer manure. Then I cover the base each espalier tree along my back fence with a burlap bag anchored with rocks. That is an extra step I take because I am gardening with chickens. Yes, I let my chickens roam the yard a few hours each day and it makes me joyful to watch them but it is also added work for me. So far, this method has work very well and I hope it holds though the winter months. I have checked with Micheal Phillips's book THE APPLE GROWER and I have a few other will chores to do this fall besides picking my apples. Interestingly this Sunday's NYT has an article about different ways to transform an apple by treating it more like a potato. All of them quite unexpected and will quickly be explored by me.
The apples are beginning to fall of the limbs so it is time for me to check and see what needs to be harvested. I have large flat boxes saved for winter storage that I carting from my visited to Costco.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Wealth Pile in Front of the House
When I was in high school the local parish priest taught religion class one day a week. He was Irish and had the one in a life time trip overseas to his ancestral home land. Father Denis enjoyed reliving this trip with my junior year class in great detail. When he went on to explain that each rural home had a large pile of manure in the front or side yard. We all looked shocked and feel pity for such backward people. Then he explain that they considered it their wealth pile. It fertilized their field and made them prosperous.
Any small truck farmer today and all urban gardeners like myself knows that recycling of kitchen food scabs, chicken manure and mulch from the leaves and wood chips are the answer to successful gardening.
The large wheat fields of today are the possible with petroleum. What happens to this landscape without the subsidies of fossil fuel industry? What happens as the world demands out paces the resource for this type of fertilizer?
There is a strangeness to this landscape. There is little sign that humans life in this part of the country. The field meets the roadway without a fence or a weed. The view from a hill top can reach 25 miles and there maybe one building to be seen. Where are the people that plant this field, where do they live? Do they walk the land or touch the wheat heads?
I think like big banks, big fields have a short life cycle, they are unsustainable.
 | |||
| Where is the farmhouse, where is wealth pile? |
Any small truck farmer today and all urban gardeners like myself knows that recycling of kitchen food scabs, chicken manure and mulch from the leaves and wood chips are the answer to successful gardening.
The large wheat fields of today are the possible with petroleum. What happens to this landscape without the subsidies of fossil fuel industry? What happens as the world demands out paces the resource for this type of fertilizer?
There is a strangeness to this landscape. There is little sign that humans life in this part of the country. The field meets the roadway without a fence or a weed. The view from a hill top can reach 25 miles and there maybe one building to be seen. Where are the people that plant this field, where do they live? Do they walk the land or touch the wheat heads?
I think like big banks, big fields have a short life cycle, they are unsustainable.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Ground Cherries
All of my small berry type fruit did very well in this year with the rainy cool spring. The surprise for me this year as been how much the ground cherries produced. I put had one plant in the ground and and it spread and flatten out as if it was a pancake. I found all this tiny paper covered fruit laying under the plant and realized they were all ripe and sweet waiting for me to harvest them.
Next year I will probably plant ground cherries in a raised bed and may even lay a burlap sack around the base of the plant to make things easier later in the season, keeping the fruit from the soil and the slugs. I will also try either a tomatoes cage or a rope system to keep the branches off the ground. Last night I throw a few into our lettuce catch all salad and they were lovely surprises to bite into. So far, I have preferred to eat my small fresh with out the work of baking or the addition of sugar.
Next year I will probably plant ground cherries in a raised bed and may even lay a burlap sack around the base of the plant to make things easier later in the season, keeping the fruit from the soil and the slugs. I will also try either a tomatoes cage or a rope system to keep the branches off the ground. Last night I throw a few into our lettuce catch all salad and they were lovely surprises to bite into. So far, I have preferred to eat my small fresh with out the work of baking or the addition of sugar.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Potato Harvest
Since the subject harvesting potatoes is important enough for artists like Breton, Pissarro and Millet to create paintings around the event I guess I can share some stories about my experiences yesterday. I harvested most of my potatoes from one 12 by 15 foot bed I had.
Now, to begin with it has to be understood that my vegetable gardening is a personal style not written about as standard method of gardening. I allow my chickens to walk though this bed, stop and scratch this area at will and occasionally uproot a potato. Of course, I have been eating these gems that have been exposed in the last couple months as a matter of course.
In the morning, I used the shovel for a while, then sat on a small stool with a hand trowel. I pulled the plants and weeds making one pile for them and another pile of the potatoes. I was joined by Autumn, one of my chickens. She quickly discovered the newly exposed earth meant it was easy to see worms. Autumn was my companion for most of an hour and rapidly sensed my repeated patterns of movement. She would occasionally do a few energetic two step moves but mostly she let me do the hard work. As I progressed across the bed, I started to look for worms as much as potatoes, that is called bonding with a chicken!
The surprising thought about digging potatoes is how the grocery store bags all the same size so neatly. Potatoes come in sizes ranging from the size of a grape to grapefruit. What happens to the odd size potatoes in the commercial world? I knew in the morning how I was going to fix those grape size tubers. By noon I had two piles of mostly red potatoes and a few whites.
Later in the afternoon, John joined in the fun as we both sat near a wash tub in the middle of the yard. I placed a cloth of screen near us so as scrubbed the dirty off we could make new piles according to size. I encouraged John to only do the really big potatoes. All during this time, John is questioning when will this job be ended and I answered him by asking what was on his schedule later. Those little grape potatoes were of special interest to me as I reached into the wash tub of dirty water. As the pile of the screen grew I felt I had done this job many times before or at less it was implanted in my Irish veins.
Last night for dinner we had tiny potatoes with sea salt, rosemary and olive oil. Those little gems made John smile with pride.
Now, to begin with it has to be understood that my vegetable gardening is a personal style not written about as standard method of gardening. I allow my chickens to walk though this bed, stop and scratch this area at will and occasionally uproot a potato. Of course, I have been eating these gems that have been exposed in the last couple months as a matter of course.
In the morning, I used the shovel for a while, then sat on a small stool with a hand trowel. I pulled the plants and weeds making one pile for them and another pile of the potatoes. I was joined by Autumn, one of my chickens. She quickly discovered the newly exposed earth meant it was easy to see worms. Autumn was my companion for most of an hour and rapidly sensed my repeated patterns of movement. She would occasionally do a few energetic two step moves but mostly she let me do the hard work. As I progressed across the bed, I started to look for worms as much as potatoes, that is called bonding with a chicken!
The surprising thought about digging potatoes is how the grocery store bags all the same size so neatly. Potatoes come in sizes ranging from the size of a grape to grapefruit. What happens to the odd size potatoes in the commercial world? I knew in the morning how I was going to fix those grape size tubers. By noon I had two piles of mostly red potatoes and a few whites.
Later in the afternoon, John joined in the fun as we both sat near a wash tub in the middle of the yard. I placed a cloth of screen near us so as scrubbed the dirty off we could make new piles according to size. I encouraged John to only do the really big potatoes. All during this time, John is questioning when will this job be ended and I answered him by asking what was on his schedule later. Those little grape potatoes were of special interest to me as I reached into the wash tub of dirty water. As the pile of the screen grew I felt I had done this job many times before or at less it was implanted in my Irish veins.
Last night for dinner we had tiny potatoes with sea salt, rosemary and olive oil. Those little gems made John smile with pride.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Have to relearn
If one is retired in these days the pension plan somehow has to be protected from the stock market, has to be earning more than interest to live off of and can not be the income from of the value of real estate. A simple life style has already being adopted by most Americans but new ways will continue to be found as it the economy worsens.
The little book I received four years ago about a WWII English Vegetable Garden I then viewed a charming thing. Now I look at it was a bible for today's life that should be in print for all Americans, maybe for all Europeans also.
The debt bubble has enveloped Greece, Ireland and Portugal and most likely will suck in Belgium, Spain and Italy in the process. There is absolutely no way a financial crisis can be avoided and it’s already been in this stage of failure for two years. No country can bailout these six without destroying themselves. Can 21 nations find $4 to $6 trillion to bail out the six? We do not think so, and we have said this from the beginning. Fragile isn’t the word for it, neither is contagion. The operative phrase is object failure.
The little book I received four years ago about a WWII English Vegetable Garden I then viewed a charming thing. Now I look at it was a bible for today's life that should be in print for all Americans, maybe for all Europeans also.
The debt bubble has enveloped Greece, Ireland and Portugal and most likely will suck in Belgium, Spain and Italy in the process. There is absolutely no way a financial crisis can be avoided and it’s already been in this stage of failure for two years. No country can bailout these six without destroying themselves. Can 21 nations find $4 to $6 trillion to bail out the six? We do not think so, and we have said this from the beginning. Fragile isn’t the word for it, neither is contagion. The operative phrase is object failure.
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