Heirloom Seeds

I have read enough and tasted enough heirloom grown vegetables to know there is a huge difference in taste than those that are not. This year we've planted basic Roma tomato's along with cherry tomato's, but we also planted five heirloom varieties. I am anxious to see them and taste them...

I have been surrounded by farming my entire life. My family is from Nebraska, where we farmed hundreds of acres of wheat, milo and alfalfa. I remember as a young boy traveling back to Nebraska during the summers and my folks dropping me off at the homestead and saddling over to Estes Park, CO for time alone. My sister and I would stare at each other thinking; "As soon as I can, I am going to knock your block off" Sure enough, we did, then we settled in to farm-life. Up at 5am for and a snack and out to the Combine. In at 7:30am for breakfast. Back out for more harvesting, in for dinner at noon. Back out for harvesting and then in for supper at around 6:00pm. Hard living, but good living.

Once on the west coast we settled in Salinas and I worked in the fields for many, many summers moving sprinkler pipe in the fields. Lettuce, onion, cauliflower, sugar beets, broccoli... we grew many of the staples for large produce houses. Foxy Lettuce, Bunny, T&A... Antle... Getting dirty, planting seeds, watering the fields and harvesting has been apart me longer than I have been on this earth.

So, to grow food in your backyard is smart, honorable, healthy and, well.... just good for you. Plus it doesn't get any better. So, I want to grow food that when planted - on my table, people not only notice the difference they want it for themselves and go off and become gardeners themselves.

Which brings me back to heirloom seeds. Find them, plant them and enjoy them. Here are some links to various seeds companies...

www.surviveandthrivesupply.com

www.heirloomseeds.com

rareseeds.com

I would push you to the last one... if I was shoved up against a wall and told to eat a tomato from Safeway.

One 4th of July Tip...

My tomatos were going nuts. I had purchased those spherical upside down funnel wire mesh holder-upper, but realized quickly, these things are not going to do the job. So, off I motor to Navlets a local nursery and begin looking over the wares as it relates to tomato supports. The choices were...

Super expensive, powder coated funnel wire meshes - $27/ea and come in a variety of colors.

1" x 1" redwood stakes in a pack of 6 - $6.99 per pack.

Bamboo articulating fencing, which is really cool, but again is $16.99/ea.

I settled on 1 x 6 bamboo posts - loose, which were $1.49/ea. I bought six of them and used some wire at home to knit them together. I personally think this is the least expensive way to go and the coolest. In order to drive them in deep, I actually used a steel foundation stake and drove it into the ground, then came in a drove the bamboo. It worked perfectly and I got out of there for under $10.00. It supports 4 tomato plants - currently, but is now infinitely expandable and can travel in any direction.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Tilipia Alert

I was just reading to buy Tilipia from USA breeders. There are tons of breeders of Tilapia in the USA and quite honestly, I don't think you could get them from overseas anyway, they would never clear customs. That being said, I would look into some of the advertisers on the side of this blog and check them out. One of them, Lochow, has numerous fish to choose from and many ideas on pond construction and style.

Creepy...

Besides the fact our chickens have been free to roam the garden since 8 am ( it is now close to 11), they have eaten every spider along "Spooky" fence there is. Yes, we have one of those. You know, the fence that is slightly rotten on the bottom and has spider webs everywhere. Well one of the chickens pulled out a Woolly Mammoth of spiders. It was the size of the chicken. They all wrestled for it ultimately tearing the spider from limb to limb and devouring it in no-time at all. While this a creepy, nothing compares to this...

http://www.duncraft.com/Feeders-Houses-Baths-Foods-W117C202.aspx?gclid=CPvt8aeLupsCFRFMagodmhgHAA

Why do we insist on having talking Avatars, are people too creepy? Too expensive? Too large a file? I think this is Animatronic hell. "Hi buy my bird feeders and they will attract pterodactyls and then you won't sleep cause you'll be thinking about my talking head" ( you need to read this with one tone and a little herky-jerky). Why do people think this is cool? Let's think of the market. Outdoorsy people, farmer-like, gardners, possibly older.... 35+ Do we (me included) think this is a sell?

Anyway, I think my point is... chickens are incredible pest control. I have read where farms no longer have flea problems due to chickens...really this is all too cool. Manure, pest control, food and fun. My Aussie is fun, but leaves a lot of poopy to haul, that is worthless and sheds everywhere. Thank goodness he is scary, cause it keeps the creepy door to door sales people from peddling their $100 a pint citrus colon cleanser.

Tilapia and more... and more and more....

Something to keep in mind when stocking tilapia.... they reproduce like rabbits. You will need a place to keep the fingerlings and, if you like, sell them. Here is another article by an author from the Philippines.

The "food fish of the 21st century." That is how Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons, president of the World Aquaculture Society, called tilapia. After carps and salmonids, tilapia is now the third most important fish around the world and is considered the single most important aquaculture product.

"Historically, the introduction of the first tilapia species, the Mozambique tilapia, in the Philippines in 1950 was initially not well-accepted by the industry because of the lack of appropriate culture techniques," said Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, the executive director of the Laguna-based Philippine Council for Aquaculture and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

"Growth of the fish in ponds was stunted with too much breeding and overpopulation," added the man who popularized tilapia consumption in the country. "The small size and dark color of the fish did not also appeal to local consumers."

The coming of the Nile tilapia in the 1970s improved the acceptance of tilapia in the Philippines because of its lighter color and faster growth compared to the earlier-introduced tilapia. "The development of technologies for the improved breeding and culture of the fish and its affordable price are the main reasons why the tilapia is now the fish of the masses," Dr. Guerrero pointed out.

He found out that tilapias are among the easiest and most profitable fish to farm. "The tilapia has good attributes that make it suitable for aquaculture," he said. "It matures early, breeds readily and is a hardy fish."

The Philippines now ranks fourth among the top ten largest tilapia producers in the world -- after China, Egypt and Thailand. Other top producing countries, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are Indonesia, Uganda, Mexico, Tanzania, Kenya, and Sri Lanka.

While most people raise tilapia in cages in lakes, and rivers, the fish can also be grown in ponds, according to the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc. based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur.

"The size of the pond should be determined by the number of fish you want to raise," said Roy C. Alimoane, the MBRLC director. "A good guide is 2-3 mature fish per square meter of water surface. The depth of the pond should be one meter with water not less than three-fourths meter deep." The water should be managed so that it will not flow continuously through the pond.

Before stocking the pond with tilapia, it must be drained thoroughly and weeds and unwanted fish that may be present are removed. The pond is allowed to dry up until it cracks before refilling with fresh, clean water.

As the pond is newly constructed, it is highly recommended that the pond be fertilized. "Apply fertilizer one week before stocking it with tilapia fingerlings," Alimoane said. "Apply chicken manure on the pond bottom with water depth of about 6 centimeters at the rate of one kilo for every 10 square meters." Pond fertilization is done once a month to insure good production of algae.

Farmers are advised to buy their first supply of tilapia fingerlings from a reliable fishpond owner. "If fingerlings are unavailable, you need about 20-30 pairs of good breeders to start reproducing in your tilapia pond of 10 by 20 feet," Alimoane said.

"Stock the pond either early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the water temperature is low in order to avoid weakening of the fish," he said. "Allow the water in the pond to mix gradually with the water in the fish container before putting the fish into the pond."

In maintaining the pond and providing care for the tilapia, here are some pointers from MBRLC:

* Feed daily during morning and afternoon at one portion of the pond. Supplement feeds with fine rice bran, bread crumbs, earthworms, termites, and others at an initial rate of 5% of the total body weight of the fish.

* Maintain the natural fish food by adding more fertilizer. Place chicken droppings in sacks and suspend in the water at every corner of the pond. Put 2.5 kg of chicken manure per bag.

* Maintain a water level depth of 1-1.5 meters. Gradually remove excess fingerlings after the third month of stocking. Retain six fingerlings per square meter. (As another source of income, you can sell those excess fingerlings to other farmers in the area.)

* Plant kangkong and gabi at one portion to provide shade for the fish during hot weather and to serve as growing media for natural fish food. Water lily also provides shade. However, do not totally cover the pond with plants as this will interfere with the natural food production process.

* Prevent seepages and leakages by patching them with mud. Clear the pond dikes of weeds. Check the gates occasionally to prevent entry of other fish species and avoid loss of stock. If your home lot is easily flooded, place stones around the top of dikes to prevent the escape of fish if the water overflows.

* Plant trees within the sources of water to maintain the flow. Protect the riverbeds from toxic waste water and pesticides and avoid dumping of garbage. In addition, plant trees and grasses near the dike to avoid erosion.

"Tilapia is here to stay in the country," said Dr. Guerrero. "Its farming should be further promoted in upland and coastal areas of the country where fisheries production will be adversely affected by climate change."

To make tilapia available to all Filipinos, certain problems like the lack of quality fingerlings in areas like the Visayas and Mindanao and the need for extension services to fish farmers must be solved first.

"The establishment of more private hatcheries and the pushing of a national extension program will definitely help," he said.

Good tips and it should be understood, you need a climate where warmer summers exist and not so freezing winters occur.

Omnivore's Dilemma

A friend of mine - we'll call him "Joe"... recommended a book. While I will avoid appearing like the Oprah's Book Club although you can call me the "Chicken Whisper"..., I think this could be a good recommendation. I have also read a few reviews and this seems to be right up our ally... Here is a quick review written by Beverly Crumpacker (I hate chuckling over some one's name - but Crumpacker slays me - what is the derivation of this name? Crumpacker? Was it Crumbpacker? Did it have to do with some one's job in Elizabethan England?) I digress...
"We've lost touch with the natural loops of farming, in which livestock and crops are connected in mutually beneficial circles. Pollan discusses the alternatives to industrial farming, but these two long (and occasionally self-indulgent) sections lack the focus and intensity -- the anger beneath the surface -- of the first. He spends a week at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley, a farm that works with nature, rather than despite it. Salatin calls himself a grass farmer, though his farm produces cows, chickens, eggs and corn. But everything begins with the grass: The cows nibble at it at the precise moment when it's at its sweetest and are moved from pasture to pasture to keep the grass at its best height. Their droppings fertilize the grass, and the cycle is under way. There's a kind of lyrical symmetry to everything that happens on this farm. Even the final slaughtering of chickens is done quickly and humanely, in the open air. It isn't pleasant, but compared to the way cattle are fattened and slaughtered in meat industry feedlots and slaughterhouses, it is remarkably reasonable."

Carbon Storage

So Han Solo was frozen in carbonite - I think..

I am sure there is some Star Wars freak that actually has the chemical chain to replicate this.... Anyway, As I was rambling through the web this morning I read an article from Purdue University on carbon storage in Chestnut Trees.

Move over, "The Christmas Song." Chestnuts are doing more than roasting on an open fire—they are doing their part to help save the world.

A recent Purdue University study reveals that chestnut trees may help reduce the amount of carbon in the environment.Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, discovered that the American chestnut tree grows faster and absorbs more carbon than other hardwood trees.“The American chestnut is an incredibly fast-growing tree,” says Jacobs. “Generally the faster a tree grows, the more carbon it is able to sequester. And when these trees are harvested and processed, the carbon can be stored in the hardwood products for decades, maybe longer.” Jacobs compared the American chestnut with the black walnut, northern red oak, the quaking aspen, red pine and white pine in four sites in southwestern Wisconsin. In nearly every case, he found that the American chestnut grew faster—with as much as three times more aboveground biomass—and absorbed more carbon than the others, says reports by Purdue University.“Each tree has about the same percentage of its biomass made up of carbon, but the fact that the American chestnut grows faster and larger means it stores more carbon in a shorter amount of time,” says Jacobs.There are few chestnut trees in America; however, after a fungus-induced blight crippled many of the trees in their natural zone about 50 years ago. But new efforts to hybridize the remaining American chestnuts with blight-resistant Chinese chestnuts have resulted in a chestnut tree that is about 94 percent American chestnut with the protection found in Chinese species, say experts at the University.Jacobs says the hybridized trees could be ready to plant in the next 10 years. Since trees absorb about one-sixth of the carbon emitted globally each year, Jacobs says increasing the number of chestnut trees could make a considerable difference in slowing climate change.“This is not the only answer,” Jacobs says. “We need to rely less on fossil fuels and develop alternate forms of energy, but increasing the number of American chestnuts, which store more carbon, can help slow the release of carbon into the atmosphere.”

So really, our environment has all the answers, we just need to use them.

Inaugural Urban Suburban Farmer Post

This blog is dedicated to getting off the grid... we will discuss and banter about, gardening, wells, small hobby farms, solar, wind-energy, foraging in the yard for food... you name it, we'll talk about it.

I don't know who's home this is and don't care... But WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA! Forget your lawn and grow food!