Organic Gardening at The White House

Digging up grass! Step one to any garden going onto your lawn....



What an amazing sight: the first lady out there digging up the White House lawn to put in an organic victory garden. Digging up grass that's well established is hard work. Of course, I'm waiting for the pictures from after the ground-breaking ceremony. I'm sure the staff got in there and prepared the raised bed soil properly. For an 1100 sq. ft. garden, it takes some work. Unless you're looking to get exercise, like I am, just bring in the damn tiller. Here's the NY Times story on the White House garden. I'll keep an eye out for the follow up. I can't think of anything better for the organic food movement to have happen than the President pulling weeds.

I'm terracing my way up the little hill side now. I prefer it, as I can have better drainage near the terrace walls, and plant a better variety of things in a smaller area. I take my time with a little shovel and a big ice scraper, and I cut the hillside out in a brick, which I flip over and rake level.



But this will be the last time I bust my butt turning that former grass patch. My disability limits me, but I always was a lazy gardener. That's why I like to read Mort Mather's organic gardening articles. Once you're established, no-till is the way to go. I just layer on new compost every year, maybe poke it a little with a pitch fork.

Funny, our seeds and starter trays showed up today, and I've been planting this afternoon, watching birds show up so fat with eggs that they won't fly away when I go out there. I got a chance to think back over the years, all the gardening I've done in different places like the mountains near LA, Hawaii, and now here in Zone 5a. All the years of advocating organic agriculture (my organic gardening web site was one of the first), and here we are, a first lady starting an organic food garden on the White House lawn.

Amazing.

Organic no-till agriculture will save the world!

A story in the Christian Science Monitor about no-till organic agriculture caught my eye:

New way to farm boosts climate, too

Once I've established my raised or terraced beds (a muddy job that I'm currently devoting a couple of hours a day on--as much as my arthritis will allow), I follow an organic no-till method on a micro-scale. This is my first year up here in zone 5, but the parts of the garden that I didn't make into a cold frame were covered in leaves. This fall, I'll plant a cover crop that I can just knock down, use as mulch, or rake away. I'm a little worried about seeds becoming weeds in my planting area, but I figure using Mort's method of weed control (water, rake, wait, repeat) will help. Plus, I'll be adding manure and compost on top of last years soil, so that will help too.

If a cover crop is too much work, I recommend just covering your whole garden in layers of manure and straw. The worms will do a lot of the "tilling" for you, coming up to get the decomposing organic matter which they eat as they tunnel back down, leaving pathways for water to get deep into the spongy soil they leave behind.

In this article, the guys who developed the tractor attachment discovered the process by accident, as doing this kind of thing on a large scale is a whole different animal than what we small scale home gardeners have been doing for a long time now. As far as reducing one's carbon footprint goes, gardening at home is hard to beat. The only oil used is to get the seeds and manure to my house. No tractors. No trucks full of food. Just a big garden full of fresh vegies waiting for me to go out and pick! And, it forces me to do my garden yoga exercises!

It is good to see these farmers doing their best to help the world, though. The fact that this method stops runoff and topsoil erosion is enough to make me want to support it. The carbon sequestering is a bonus!

Eat Your Organic Vegetables

My friend Mort Mather grows organic vegetables for his son's southern Maine restaurant. Mort and his wife Barbara do a lot of eating. Who wouldn't? Delicious organic food is central to their lives. And yet they are slim and fit, and will probably live to be a hundred.

In his recent post, How to Lose Weight to his Happy Blog, Mort explains his theory of eating well, and staying fit.

Our theory is that if the body is not getting something it needs, it will send out a signal asking for more food until the deficient nutrient is ingested. Since our body is not specific in its request we just keep eating. Actually we have found that we sometimes crave something that we figure our body needs, but it is safer to just provide the body with complex food regularly.

Complex food includes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and honey or maple syrup instead of sugar. I'm guessing they avoid high fructose corn syrup.

Investing in an Organic Pest Control System

This summer, our slightly inclined backyard will become a terraced, raised bed, intensive organic garden, producing enough food to keep our family, and friends, in fresh produce as early as mid-spring, through the summer, and into next winter. The small area I managed to build up when we moved in in August will be quadrupled, or more if you count the pumpkin patch I'm planning. I'm already making arrangements to get a load of manure dumped right onto the snow, as I've seen the local corn farmers doing already.

Of course, this sudden transformation of yard will be a beacon to the local insect population, especially if any of my plants are weakened by cold weather, drought, or nutrient deficiency. I'll try to protect them, plant them at the right time, water if I have to, and make sure I've put enough manure and compost in the soil to keep them healthy. But if you grow it, the bugs will come try to eat it.

So, this winter, I've been investing in a locally integrated and organic pest control system: birds. I've spent about $10 so far on suet and seeds (avoiding thistle, which the finches love, but often pass whole, leading to more weeds to pull). The most numerous species by far are the intelligent state bird of Maine and Massachusetts, the Black-capped Chickadee. They are voracious insect eaters in summer, when I will stop providing suet for their protein source. The Chickadees especially love mosquitoes, which won't really hurt plants, but do hurt the gardener.

Birds are an elegant solution to pest control, but humans, of course, screw up the system. Pesticides are bad news for many reasons, not the least of which is that they harm bird populations. When I was young, I had an organic epiphany when I saw dead lady bugs that would have eaten the aphids we were trying to kill with the stuff that killed the lady bugs. Now I wonder why anyone would want to spray a synthetic, petroleum derived chemical that depletes bird populations in order to kill the bugs that the birds would eat: yet another interminable succession of absurdities.

Other birds that will provide organic pest control in our garden include the American Goldfinch, the slate-colored Juncos, the Blue Jays, the White-breasted Nuthatch, the Northern Cardinals, and various sparrows. I'll still put out some black oil sunflower seeds (maybe even plant some black oil sunflowers) to keep them all hanging around, but if they want some protein, they'll have to eat my bugs.

Think Local, Buy Local

One of the great things about moving to the central leatherstocking region of New York (we're near Cooperstown) is great, local, fresh food, like the local eggs that we love so much that Robin sent a card to the lady who gathers them. We buy those eggs, and lots of other terrific fresh, local, organic food at It's All Good Grocery in Cherry Valley.

I grew up in rural Arkansas. We had a big garden, a horse, a cow sometimes, pigs most of the time (and seeing how smart they are is a big reason I don't eat pork anymore, but that's another post for another day). Of all the great food we get from Cindy, Terry, and Bill, it's the eggs I love the most. They carry local eggs from several different places, but we really love Coralee's...

In these hard times, when people are tightening their belts, staying home to eat more meals, I sure hope that small, local organic groceries become more popular. Eating out is so expensive that you could eat all organic, if you cooked at home, for the same money as a dinner out would cost. In these times of concern for sustainability and a green economy, remember that all of those concerns are already being addressed by your local organic, natural, and sustainable grocery.

Sustainable Agriculture in an Obama Administration

With the selection of Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, I expect Monsanto to be well represented in the highest echelons of Obama's administration. But there are a lot of positions left to fill at the USDA, and we can help make sure that at least a few of them are filled by champions of the sustainable food movement.

At Food Democracy Now, you can make a stink by signing their petition to:

...get serious about sustainable change at the USDA. As a result, here at Food Democracy Now! we’ve come up with a list of twelve candidates for Under Secretary positions at the USDA. And we’re calling them the Sustainable Dozen.

Then you can tell your friends through an easy interface with chat, blogs, email, social networking, and bookmarking sites.

As someone who now has been eating from a zone 5 victory garden since August (now cold framed and more of a life support system for suspended animation), my dedication to sustainable food is a matter of record. I've had an organic gardening site at supak.com since 1996. Many of my clients have been, or are, into sustainable agriculture, including a sustainable organic Kona coffee farm on the big island of Hawaii. I've spent my life studying how important this topic is.

If we don't start making our food more sustainable, we will pay a huge price. From crop failures due to monoculture to seed diversity to erosion, pollution, loss of soil tilth, and greenhouse gases due to lack of composting and dependence on fossil fuels, sustainable food is a serious topic that is often denied or short-changed in a very bi-partisan fashion in this country. Industrial agriculture interests are well represented by high paid lobbyists to both political parties, and only a movement like the one that swept Obama into power will make them pay attention to the seriousness of this subject at this time.

So, please, sign the petition, and then tell your friends and readers. If you love to eat as much as I do, you'll do it now!

Organic Garden of Fruit on Maui Hawaii

When it's cold and snowy here in upstate NY, I like to think about Hawaii to stay warm. I make a nice cup of organic Kona coffee, and I pull up all my Hawaiian friends' blogs, and cozy up around the warm pictures.


In this latest post by my friend Cherie, who runs a Hawaiian Bed and Breakfast on Maui, she mentions feeding her guests from Alaska fresh organic fruit from the garden surrounding her historic Hawaii accommodations. If you book before Christmas, Cherie is offering a snow bird special of 8% off her already inexpensive Maui lodging.

Mmmmm. Snow bird special. Ahhhgggghhhh. (/homer)

Here's a picture of Cherie with her papayas. She also grows organic cherimoyas and lilikoi, or passion fruit. I first met Cherie when we were living on Maui, in the late 90's. Every time I see a picture of her place, I'm amazed at the results of her years of hard work! Can't wait to visit again someday!

Soil Conditioners Could Pose Asbestos Hazard

When we hear the word "asbestos" we often think back on the controversy of the late 1970’s when it became common knowledge that asbestos was indeed a human health hazard. Asbestos however, is still a relevant hazard today in a number of different capacities. While most asbestos containing products were banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, unfortunately it still exists in hundreds of older products as well as in trace amounts in newly manufactured products. Among new products that may still contain asbestos are soil retention enhancers, particularly vermiculite.

Vermiculite is mined from natural deposits across the globe and has a myriad of uses not only for commercial and private gardening, but also as an insulation compound. Vermiculite forms over millions of years due to the weathering of the mineral, biotite. Unfortunately, former biotite deposits are often in close proximity to deposits of diopside, which upon being subjected to the same weathering and age conditions becomes asbestos.

In Libby, MT one particularly mine shipped hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite across the country. However, they were not the only manufacturers of vermiculite to ship asbestos with their products. Many other manufacturers were doing the same thing before EPA testing and regulations finally forced them to limit the amount of residual asbestos dust in the vermiculite.

Today, most vermiculite is safe. However, that is not to say it cannot contain asbestos. Vermiculite which is accompanied by a great deal of dust likely has residual asbestos in its contents and should be used with caution. Current EPA regulations ban products which contain 1% or more asbestos. Unfortunately even products containing less that 1% asbestos are still extremely hazardous, particularly when in loose dust form as vermiculite often is manufactured.

It is no surprise then that hundreds of the Libby mine’s employees and residents of the town were diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that is known only to be caused by asbestos exposure. Options for mesothelioma treatment are limited, so many of these residents were able to secure financial compensation for their families through litigation. Mesothelioma incidence is also known to be high in commercial gardeners and other occupations which deal with large amounts of loose vermiculite.

Fortunately, exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite can be avoided if consumers follow simple precautions. Note the appearance of the vermiculite. If it seems to carry a great deal of residual dust, dispose of it outdoors. Most manufacturers of vermiculite mark their products packaging with "Non Dusty" labels. These refined granules are often slightly more expensive but they are certainly the safest.

References:
Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Asbestos Materials Ban.1989
Consumer Product Safety Commission. Asbestos Consumer Products.

Organic Coffee from Kona Hawaii

Back in 1998, when we were living on the Hawaiian Island of Maui, I was contacted by an organic Kona coffee farmer about helping him sell his coffee beans. I helped him with his web sites (he also sells organic fertilizer) and sold his coffee for years, until he sold the farm and retired to Oregon a few years ago.

Last month, I got an email from Mike, who bought Dr. Faust's farm and rehabilitated it into a sustainable and USDA certified organic Kona coffee farm. One of the things I did to help Mike get higher search engine rankings for his sites was encourage him to publish his journal from the two year ordeal of rejuvenating an organic Hawaiian coffee farm, which he has done at his Organic Kona Coffee Farming Blog. Going back through the posts, it was fun and exhausting to see how much work it was to restore the coffee trees, establish organic weed controls, install all the processing, drying, sorting, and roasting equipment for the coffee beans. Anyone interested in sustainable and organic agriculture should check it out.

And don't forget to purchase organic Kona coffee beans. Mark Twain said it was the best coffee on earth, and it's hard to disagree with him! I'm just finishing a cup now! It's the only coffee I don't have to put sugar in!

Oh, and be sure to Digg the site, and Digg the Blog too!

Grey Water and Sustainable Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is a holistic approach to growing plants that takes all aspects of the ecosystem into consideration. Though the phenomenon of using grey water is just starting to catch on with organic gardeners, it use can create even more sustainability through its implementation and regular use.

Organic gardening is an activity that more and more people are getting involved in each year. For some gardeners it is a passion that stretches far beyond just growing fruits and vegetables. Imagine being able to get more out of the water that you use on a daily basis in your kitchen, for instance, and being able to use that water to support your organic growing.

This kind of sustainability is at the core level of the rationale behind organic gardening, so it behooves organic gardeners and growers to consider using gray water in the irrigation of organic gardens.

What is grey water?

Grey water is water that is used in sinks and showers that does not contain solid waste. Although the water has been used once, collection of grey water can be very beneficial and helps to ensure that water is not being wasted. If collected and used properly, grey water can help to conserve water and save money for the organic gardener.

Is it safe for plants?

Grey water can be very beneficial to plants, as long as there are no harsh soaps or chemicals being used in the sinks or bathtubs where the water is being collected. Using natural, biodegradable and organic soaps and cleaners will ensure that you don’t contaminate your produce.

The use of grey water in gardens can be great for plants, as many of the body’s natural oils and dead skin cells help to add more organic material to the water itself, helping to provide additional benefits to the plants without additional work.

How is grey water collected?

Collecting grey water can be done with some minor adjustments to your current plumbing. The water that drains from your sinks or bathtubs is rerouted to a collection tank outside of your home. Generally speaking, sinks are the easiest sources from which you can collect grey water; rerouting the plumbing is far easier from sinks than bath tubs and showers.

The water is moved through pipes to a collection tank, from which you can use the water in your gardening applications. Over time, you will collect a good amount of water that’s full of extra organic material that will benefit your produce and help contribute to the sustainability of your gardening in general.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of Customized Girl discount coupons. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

The Organic Gardening Guru is Taking Questions

My friend Mort Mather is taking organic gardening questions, at least for the winter, over at his Happy Blog. Mort was president of the Maine Organic Gardening Association, and grows an awesome garden that supplies his son's southern Maine restaurant.

A Foot of Snow in One Day!

What the hell was that? A little "welcome to upstate New York" snowstorm caught all but the old-timers off guard up here in the "snow pocket" as I now hear it's called. I was out there in the pouring snow, the wettest snow I ever saw, building a make-shift cold frame around half the garden with what I had laying around (green maple branches are very flexible).

And everything lived! Seriously, this cold frame gardening is a great way to extend the season! I couldn't believe it got down to 22 degrees, stayed below freezing for hours, and yet the spinach, arugula, lettuce, collards, miner's lettuce, and even a few of the peas are still showing signs of life. And it's all so delicious. Obviously, when I've read that cold weather makes these vegies taste better, they weren't kidding!

We went three days with no power. The first night we could sure tell why, when we first thought we heard gun shots in the woods, and we realized it was limbs breaking under the weight of all that snow. I don't envy those power workers out there clearing all those miles of electric lines.

Now that the snow has mostly melted, even the late planted side with only baby kale, spinach and collards still shows signs of life, albeit stunted.

28 Degrees and There's Still Lettuce

All you old snowbirds will have to forgive my wonder at growing food through frost. We felt a little like we were stealing from mother nature, planting a fall garden on Aug. 15 in zone five. We started having light frosts in September, with each frost getting a little worse. We'd just stretch plastic over the garden as they started to get heavier and lasting longer.

Last night it dropped below freezing before midnight, and it was below freezing until 9 am. We covered, but when I uncovered just before 9, everything was pretty crispy under there.

And yet, here it is at 2 pm, 64 degrees out there, and even a few of the peas (which dont get covered) are hanging in there, though none are showing signs of blooming, and their growth is obviously stunted.

But the lettuce (black seeded simpson) is going crazy, as is the spinach, collards (which could probably live through a blizzard), miner's lettuce, and a few other cold hardy greens. I don't even see many locals with anything growing now, although I'm sure you're out there, sneaking in those last few treats before the tundra takes over!

4 frosts now and everything's fine!

This morning was the fourth frost we had up here (zone 5, near Cooperstown NY), and all of these cold weather vegies did just fine. The low was 29 degrees, so it wasn't really a hard freeze. Looks like it was only below freezing for a few hours.

The spinach actually seems to like the frosts. It positively glows as it melts away. The collards definitely love the cold. What's left of the peas (that the deer didn't eat) are doing well as well.

So, we're really impressed with the quality of the plants. We got the seed from Johnny's Selected Seeds, an employee owned company in Maine. They have an excellent selection of organic seeds.

I forgot how much I love fall gardens! Every frosty morning I feel like I'm stealing something from nature by not losing any of these plants!

Fall Garden Deer Delicasies

It is so nice to have a vegetable garden again. After years of living in the concrete jungle of the LA Suburbs, with very little soil, we moved to upstate NY this summer just in time to get this little fall garden in.

The snow peas are a real treat for the deer, who ate half of them before I admitted I was way out of practice on this, and asked the Wizard of Wells, organic gardening writer Mort Mather, what to do. His special deer spray recipie is one gallon of water, two tablespoons of hot sauce, and one tablespoon of biodegradeable soap. Sprayed them on the peas, lost a few more the next night, but that was it. I have a funny image of a little deer running to the nearest water hole with his stinging tongue hanging out!

I'd been sprinkling cayenne pepper on the spinach to keep the rabbits away, and as you can see from the picture, that's been working fine. Also found some stuff called liquid fence, which has petrified eggs--stinks to high heaven--and works well. A little expensive, though (the owners left a bottle), and I don't know if I want to develop a home-made recipe for that!

We also scatter our hair around the perimeter. I urinate around the yard occasionally, and I've hung chimes all around the place. Any other suggestions for keepin' the critters out?

I have ignored this poor little blog for too long! Until last year, I was working full time as a stage technician in Los Angeles, living in the suburbs with very little land for gardening, and even less time.

A diagnosis of osteoarthritis has put an end my days of heavy lifting, and so, I'm no longer a stage technician. I have to get a lot help with the gardening, but it's good easy exercise, and it helps me to get out and stretch a little.

We moved to the east coast to live more cheaply, and to be near family. I planted a fall garden in the middle of August up here in zone 5, and it's coming along nicely. We'll be eating spinach and lettuce soon, and if we don't get too hard of a frost, we'll be eating collards and snow peas in a few weeks.

My old buddy Mort Mather, an organic gardener and philosopher, has a new web site and blog. My friend Cherie Attix, owner and operator of the Hale Hookipa Inn Maui Bed and Breakfast (which features an awesome organic garden) has started writing a blog as well. She calls it Ho'okipa Aikane, or "home sharing friend." I'm looking forward to reading both of their posts!

Much more to come, including pictures!

PANNA: Pesticides Linked to Frog Mutations: Here's a big surprise. Pesticides are linked to frog mutations. Wow.

Look, my wife and I are big fans of frogs. We even have a web site with frog posters, books, toys, and other frog related stuff. We think these amphibians are our canaries in the coal mines. These mutations are proving that the pesticides we dump on our farm land and yards are running off into our water supply, which the new big-business controlled Supreme Court will soon make easier to do by changing the reach of the clean water act.

It is quickly becoming clear that the only way to combat these global corporate polluters and suburban lawn junkies is to go organic. Make your yard organic. Encourage organic agriculture by purchasing organic food and products whenever you can. Since our government and big business community care more about short term profit than the long term viability of our land and agriculture, then we have to change things from the ground up. Literally.

If I was eating dinner in a certain southern Maine restaurant right now, not only would I be eating some of the freshest, local, often organic food, I'd be talking to my good friend and organic gardening guru Mort Mather (who's son, Joshua, runs Joshua's Bar and Grill in Wells). Instead, I'll be taking my son to baseball practice this week, where I'll try to avoid the Fox News brainwash victim, who I wish would just read this. But the organic news I wanted to report is more little thing we can all do to increase awareness of, and demand for, organic food.

When you go in a restaurant, like, oh, I don't know, a certain fine dining establishment near Cooperstown New York, ask what they have that's organic or local (or both). Any food service operation should have to answer that question everyday. If you're going to be hiring, oh, just off the top of my head, say, southern California caterers or Hudson Valley caterers, you should ask them to plan your event using as much fresh, local, organic food as they possibly can. Be willing to pay extra. Make sure other dining patrons or party goers hear you when you ask if they have anything organic on the menu.

If more people did this, you'd start seeing the word "organic" on the menu, or catering choices. Even in the ritziest places in Hawaii or California.

PANNA: Share the Love with Flower Workers

I've been a big supporter of pesticide-free and organic flower production for years. One of my Search Engineering clients, Hana Flowers, an on-line florist in Hawaii, grows pesticide free in Hawaii. Each flower is hand-picked, hand-washed in a bio-degradeable solution, and hand-packed in wet paper before being shipped anywhere in the world.

If you'd like to go even further, I recommend you read this article about flower workers and what you can do to help them. The Pesticide Action Network of North America has a program to help you purchase fair trade chocolate and organically grown flowers.

Warm up any room for the holidays with a tropical bouquet of Hawaiian flowers. Hana Flowers, of Maui Hawaii, grows pesticide-free flowers which are hand-picked, hand-washed in bio-degradeable soap, and hand-packed in damp paper, then shipped directly to you from Hawaii.

Considering that flowers are usually grown in third world countries, where they - and the workers - are coated in dangerous pesticides, shopping for your holiday flowers from Hana flowers makes sense for your health, the health of floral workers, and the health of the environment. Please vote with your dollars by purchasing these high-quality, earth-friendly tropical flowers for your holiday bouquet.