The first thing I saw this morning when I looked out the living room window was this pileated woodpecker. This is the closest it's been to our house. We've seen him before.
~
News headlines:
1. 95 year old receives high school diploma, 77 years after Great Depression closed her school.
2. GM's last two Hummers roll off the line - loved by some but also targeted for gas-guzzling ways.
3. Five weeks of LA oil spill continues, destroys wetlands and marshes - So far, those responsible have been unsuccessful in plugging the leak a mile under water. Birds and fisheries are threatened - The livelyhoods, lifestyles, and retirement of many shrimpers and those whose fishing shacks were not destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are being destroyed as the leak continues.
~
Amber loves trying new things in the kitchen. This is the second time she fried some corn tortillas for chips. Warm chips with salsa and add to that grilled beef hot dogs and sauerkraut along with fresh strawberry pie and you've got a lunch perfect for our family. Yummo!
Today I went outside and took photos all around the house. This is how the sky looked.
We didn't have a drop of rain besides early this morning.
We had a good break from gardening and yes, we are paying for it. The carrots are finally up, but the weeds are terrible. Actually, what we're seeing a lot in our new garden this year is thorns - the kind that beetles like to eat and rye seedlings since it was a rye field. Underneath all that is clover. It's too bad we didn't finish tilling back in April because it was a lot easier to till then as it was drier and the rye was smaller.
Saturday I finally got some Round-Up on the pesky thorns.
My mind keeps dreaming and the garden keeps getting bigger. Had we tilled back in April, it wouldn't look like this.
Today I decided to have about 10 steps of grass between each small row of garden. That was planned while tilling. I would like to plant strawberries, sometime this year. And I've still got more potatoes, cucumbers, and pole beans to plant. Zach gave me some food for thought and that was to run a patch vertical instead of horizontal like the rest. I like that idea for the strawberry patch. The reason everything is planted this way is because it's slightly on a hill and this is the best way to plant to avoid erosion. I can't see why it would hurt to plant the strawberries going the opposite way. That means more weed eating, then mowing, then tilling. That's the steps we took to get to this place and it involves a several day span. Notice how tall the rye is.
It was dark when we came in and everybody had eaten and showered. Then I did some research online about the amount of seed potatoes we need. I came across this Irish potatoes article. For every person that eats 75-100 pounds of potatoes, you need 15 pounds of seed potatoes. Take 15 x 7 and you come up with 105 pounds. According to this report, I'm right on with the amount we're planting!!! But that's eating a L.O.T. of potatoes, just like the Irish.
We've concluded that we will plant them all and g.i.v.e. to our poor and elderly neighbors. This is God's garden and we're going to share with others. My prayer is that we can win them to the Lord. And the best way to do that is to become friends first. I can tell you that we've done a really poor job in the several years we've lived here. I believe this is God's way of telling us to reach out more.
I am borrowing a book from the library The New Organic Grower's FOUR-SEASON HARVEST by Eliot Coleman. In reading that, I just learned that ducks are a much better garden friend than chickens and guineas.
I found this info from poultry keeper.com:
Ducks.
Well for a start, ducks do not scratch at the ground like chickens do so they can be allowed everywhere in the garden. They will however eat some young / tender plants so it is best to keep them out until all of your plants are well established. In the vegetable garden they will eat crops like spinach, chard, lettuce, French beans, cabbage and cauliflower not to mention any ripe fruit that they can reach so it is best to either net these, fence them off or don't allow them in when growing these. The great news is ducks are VERY efficient exterminators of slugs and snails. Just a few ducks will clean up an area of these garden pests in no time at all. If you can get a few ducks to go over the garden (or allotment) before planting and again after turning the soil over, they will give your plants a great start. Remember though - don't use slug pellets or you could end up poisoning your ducks. When the weather is wet, or there is wet mud around, it is best to keep them out unless you want them to make a bigger mess. It is also worth keeping them away from ornamental ponds if there is any soil around the edge as they will soon turn it to mud. They will however mop up undesirable insects and larvae (such as mosquito larvae), and clean water in ponds so that it is beneficial for fish (like duck weed that is so aptly named).
Chickens
Chickens are a different kettle of fish to the broad billed exterminators. They will scratch the ground and create dust baths indiscriminately so it is wise to allow them into specific areas of the garden but not onto the vegetable plot during the growing season. If you limit the number of chickens and the time they are allowed out, this can greatly help smaller areas recover a little from the constant scratching of the chickens. If you have a reasonable size area without too many flower beds then a few chickens could comfortably stay in the garden without causing too much damage. Chickens are not as efficient at exterminating garden pests but will do a pretty good job none the less and allowing them at least some free ranging will do wonders for their health and their eggs which in turn will help us, the consumers.
Mother earth news shares that Indian Runner ducks are the best foragers for your garden, gobbling hordes of pesky bugs every day.
This information on ducks is interesting. We were wanting to get guineas, but we may just change our minds!
No comments:
Post a Comment