God Says Go Green

Ok, not exactly but a growing number of religious leaders are urging their flocks to lifestyles of more deliberate stewardship. Grist has the top 15. Nice to see a good number of Catholics representin'. Who says all that guilt cant be put to good use!

Family greening

SFgate has a great article (if brief) on transitioning to "the crunchy life" with the least amount of stress. Read it. Especially if you have kids. I have known for several years the direction I wanted my life to head, but I always considered the change to be a burden, after all who wants to be different. The addition of two children to the mix last year changed things a bit, I still have the desire, but do I have the ability? Can enough of a change come soon enough to to satisfy where I believe that I personally or we as a family should be? How do I best communicate these motives without seeming like a crazy person?

Advice is always welcome.

Ask and ye shall recieve

No sooner did I pose the same connundrum in Onestraw's blog post than I recieved a quick and helpful response from Mr. Straw himself (actually he shares his real name with a poet, which is really cool...but I digress)

I got the answers I needed, in the form of a link to Fedco seeds. How I missed these guys before is beyond me, for some reason they didn't show up in any searches, unless I actually looked for "Fedco Seed" Bottom line: fantastic selection, I was able to find everything on my list I still had remaining, like 70 and 90 day corn, potatoes, onion sets, early cabbage.

And as if that wasn't enough, last night I stumbled upon my wife thumbing through our new (well, new to us) copy of Gaia's Graden. She handed it to me with the section on keyhole gardens open and said, lets do this instead. I was floored, despite her professed lack of artistic capability, she has a finely tuned eye for the asthetic, it makes itself know in demands for symetry and order. I was able to manage a concession for the herb and perennial area so that I could maintain a more wild feel, but I would have never guessed she would be inclined to abandon the orderly rectangular "banks" of raised beds for keyhole mounds. I'm stoked. Now I have to get out the graph paper and the compass and come up with square footage estimates...and retool the layout in the Jeavons book.

potatoes and timing

onestraw reminded me that I hadn't ordered potato seed yet either. The problem is actually 2fold. First, I calculated the actual number of days in the ground I need according to the 100 sq ft plan in How to Grow... based on frost dates and things are going to be tight. Jeavons says that the plan is for people with 6 months of growing season, which is just a touch more than we get here in zone 5. Not enough for me to say"Well, I just have to forgo one of the succession phases" But its just enough to make it ...tight. It means the zone devoted to early salad crops like peas, lettuce, carrots, radishes, broccoli etc get about 55 days, which thanks to the wonder of genetic diversity is doable if using some of the heirloom seed stocks available...like my favorite Alaska Peas. Back to the matter at hand if I am to follow them with the late crop of corn, then potatoes get a window of 65 days. (Which by the way is exactly what Jeavons suggests).

So bottom line is I need to find some good seed potatoes that grow to maturity in 65 days. Unfortunately most online sources do not list days to maturity, only "early" "late season" etc. Second, is finding a quantity that is cost effective. I need about 10 lbs and a lot of the sources offer 2.5 lbs which at 4 quantities costs the same as the 20 or 50 lbs quantities being offered. And not to be too picky but I need a potato that keeps well, with only two adults and 1 eight year old we will not go through them too quickly. Why not plant less? two reasons. First, having more on hand means we will eat more home grown produce, and I will get to cook more, and share more with friends and family. Second, ego. I haven't actually declared as such but I am going for a poundage goal. 100 lbs from 100 square feet. I think its a reasonable goal given my level of experience. For comparison, Path To Freedom averages @ 1.5 lbs per square foot of garden space based on their advertised statistics. They also have a ridiculously long growing season and waaaaaay more experience.

Any suggestions?


PS:

Jeeze, how could I forget this one, I got some vine cuttings from our soon to be adopted daughter's great aunt. Great productive vines, the ever popular northern staple Concord. My father the amatuer winemaker was less than enthused with the variety, but as a lover of grape juice and jam, I could not be happier. I took the cuttings based on the Cornell Extension guide, but I'm still nervous, I know grapes are pretty reliable rooters from cuttings, but this is my first time propagating in this manner, so there is always some apprehension I suppose. If these take off I might try a hardy table variety like Himrod or Niagra next year. I don't have the space to do any large scale production for wine grapes, which is no real big loss, we're not far from Western New York's wine country which spans from somewhere near Rochester all the way out to Fredonia, which is where my Dad goes for his big juice buckets every year. I'm so excited, even though I know It will not be of age to bear fruit for at least 3 years. Given the space and number of vines I have I should be able to get around 14 quarts of juice once the vines are in full swing per year. Not enough to sell or live off of, but nice for the occasional treat.

more waiting

If you can't tell, its snowing again. I know our last frost free date is not for two months, I know I cant start planting seed until march 19th, but it doesn't make shoveling any less annoying.

What really grinds my gears is the stretches of 40 degree weather in between, this winter we've had more green...well brownish green, than white. Seems to me that a cold frame could be pretty productive, so long as it can survive the dips down to 0 degreesF for the occasional day or two.

GREEN BEAN DREAMS: The Activist Gene

GREEN BEAN DREAMS: The Activist Gene

a very poingnant discussion. What makes some people more receptive to a message which demands change and other people prone to defensiveness? I wish I knew. Lord knows we'd probably all feel a lot less inner turmoil if we could figure this one out.

another trip around the sun

so why does it matter that this is the 30th for me? who knows.

in other news, the mint and valerian appear to be behaving as I hoped. Growth has slowed but the plants appear to be healthy. That ought to buy me some time before spring when I can get them in the ground.

Its 80 in my office right now and 34 outside. I could go on for hours about the badness of our building's hvac system...but I wont.

what the growing harvest looks like...on pause

march 19th, I did the math and march 19 is 6 weeks before our last frost date. Since I'll be following the Grow Biointensive method this year (no sense in needlessly reinventing the wheel all the time) I have to wait till then to start seeding. Which is actually a lot earlier than I have in the past. It will be interesting to see how soon my first harvest is. In the past I had to wait until august, as I usually did not put anything in the ground until around memorial day.

In the meantime I am searching for material to make flats out of I have some scrap wood but of course...not in any useful dimension. I was going to make some frames for the raised beds but it has gotten hideously cold...like ice cream truck in antartica cold. No chance of warming up the compost pile cold. frozen...like a boulder...grrr.

Path to Freedom is really making me jealous, with their spring blossoms and birds and all kinds of wonderful sunny things I wont be seeing for months. If you are looking out the window at snow, clicking that link might make you want to move.

Onestraw Is seriously expanding his operations this year. Best of luck there!

BTW am I the only one who has not seen the 11th hour? when is it coming to video?

The 3 R's of the future

We are all familiar by now with the 3 R's of conservation as commonly employed: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse (all though in priority the last two should switch). For the longest time they have been quoted over and over as the solution to our growing ills.

I have 3 R's of my own that I think get closer to the root of our situation.

Redefine: Progress. The greatest achievements of humanity were not the result of conquest. Vast empires and nations crumble, today's marvel is passe tomorrow. True victory comes from the combined will of the people. The self actualization of a society comes when all its members can share in its triumph. Progress built on exploitation is a house built on sand. Parasitic systems by definition are unstable. Cancer grows until it kills the host or is killed. If we redefine our habits as both figuratively and literally often cancerous we must come face to face with our the choices that affect our survival in this world.Only then will we understand if we are making progress or more problems.

Reconnect: We are a disenfrancised people living in a disconnected world. Reconnect with our families, our traditions, our communities, our environment. We cannot change our ways if we do not know there is a problem. We cannot know there is a problem if we do not listen. Listen to the meek and brazen alike, listen to friend and enemy equally. Listen to the earth itself. Listen, don't judge. Listen, and learn.

Reclaim: our lives. Where does our food come from? Where do our clothes, tv's, baubbles, come from? What is the real cost when we measure the benefit to ourselves against the criteria of the first two R's. Whom does our work benefit? How do our own lives measure against the religion or philosophy we claim to espouse? What obstacles stand in the way of living the life we truly dream of. To whom or what do we depend on? The Slave Master depends on his chattel to maintain his position. Who is truly free in that system: No one. Reclaim your money, your time, your life.

Our world is dancing closer to the edge of a major change. Which direction it takes is entirely dependent upon us.

Its your move.

book review: sort of

First a confession: Since I (a mere two posts down) began the paper chase of wondering why we work so much and buy so much stuff we dont need, I took a look in the mirror and noticed the bookshelf behind me. I have lots of books, I buy them and I hang on to them, almost compulsively. I love having them at hand so I can reread whenever I want, and I love lending them out to friends so we can talk about them afterwards. I haven't actually been in a public library in several years, so yesterday I walked across the street from my office to the central branch of the county library system...yes, I work a few yards from the second largest library in the area, and me, an avowed book junkie, had never been in it.

So I figured I would try to find a few items on my amazon list and maybe get a free fix. So I got myself a library card and checked out Permaculture:One and the One Straw Revolution. I only got a chance to start Permaculture: One, but I tore through One Straw Revolution with reckless abandon so onward we go.

Firstly, the translator notes that there are certain terms or phrases which will require footnoting as the work was originally written in Japanese. I would argue that the barrier to translation is not necessarily a matter of linguistics but of culture. Mr. Fukuoka cannot, nor should he try, to separate his Buddhist outlook on live with his explanation of what he calls natural farming. Certainly anyone interested in the state of the world could read this book and benefit, but there are most definitely areas where he puts his ideas into words that would be lost without some knowledge of Buddhist concepts.

Second it is important to bear in mind the setting of this book. Mr. Fukuoka is clearly a rebel in a culture of conformity. The turning point of his discovery of natural farming (and some might argue a buddhist enlightenment as well) centers in Japan just after WWII. As such there was significant pressure on Japan as a nation to westernize, perhaps even moreso than the late 1800's when Japan forcibly abandoned the traditional castes in favor of a mercantile culture. In the United States, the war had ended and industry was looking for an outlet to continue its frantic level of production. In agriculture this took shape as the so called Green Revolution, where farmers saw miraculous short term gains from using petroleum derived fertilizer, and herbicide and pesticide made in factories originally producing poison gas weapons. During the war Japan understood the need to maximize crop production from their limited land resources, and following the war as a de facto vassal of the US, felt industrial pressure to continue using chemical treatments of the land and crops.

Fukuoka was a botanist by training originally and encountered an existential crisis early in his career. While some might argue that his lashing out at industrial agriculture was part and parcel of a rejection of his previous life, I believe it goes deeper than this. What appears at the center of his ethos is the buddhist notion of no mind. That to truly see things as they are, (if we are capable of seeing them at all) we must first discard the lenses through which we see and judge. Science, as he encountered it was less concerned with true dedicated study, and more concerned with confirming notions which they found acceptable, believable or profitable.

Fukuoka continuously rails against accepted notions of what makes an effective agricultural program. He deals rather causticly with his fellow farmers who blindly accept whatever the local research boards profess to be the next great advance, locking them in a cycle of dependence and depletion.

It would be disingenuous to say that he rejects science, indeed he may actually have restored it. His methods are derived from careful observation of natural activities in nature, rather than in a lab. Built into this is the advice to anyone who chooses to adopt natural methods that there are a great number of variables. He does not write a perscription to be followed militantly but instead shows a path where the farmer can discover natural farming. To truly farm naturally one must stop concerning one's self with the mechanics of when to sow what, to apply what, and to truly feel the pulse of the land. Restore balance and work with rather than against nature. In order to appreciate the cycle of the seasons, the ebb and flow of certain crop growths, insect manifestations, etc. he posits the necessity of observing with clear eyes. We cannot let our egos get in the way of our discovery.

Fukuoka extends this buddhist notion of ego destruction to every aspect of life. Observing the music of the stream, and poetry born from the land, he has rejected material notions of maximizing profit and tells a story of a rather bad ordeal with a "natural foods" supplier he was previously selling to. Despite being thousands of miles away and decades ago, I'm sure this saga continues to play out across america today. Farming for commercial profit is detrimental to both the farm and the farmer, as well as society at large. In fact, as Fukuoka once again draws from his well of buddhist experience, the three are not really separate at all.

Thusly he urges a mass conversion to agrarian life. While he does not offer a prescription for natural farming, his method is itself a prescription to heal a dying land, a dying way of life, and a dying society. I could not help but be moved by these pages. Being what might be described as a Zen Catholic, I found myself repeatedly nodding in agreement as the author illuminated certain ideas that I felt but could never describe. In my case (even with my admittedly salad bar predilection towards religion) Fukuoka clearly preaches to the choir. If I can contribute anything to the discussion of this book it is this.

Science conducted separate from nature is not science
Farming conducted separate from nature is not farming
Life conducted separate from nature is not life.


Even with my verbose tendencies I could never hope to truly do this book justice. Read it for yourself if you haven't already.

Growing Challenge update

Well the expriment worked with the Aerogarden. No need to buy more grow plugs, just trim a piece off a piece of sea sponge you have lying around, drop a few seeds in and let the process begin anew. The Hyssop, Lemon balm and chamomile are all sprouted (in that order). So there is no concern about the larger texture of the sponge not providing sufficient capilary action to reach some very...very...annoyingly tiny seeds.

I'm still using the nutrient tablets that originally came with the kit but when that runs out I may try wastewater from the fishtank. Then maybe I can feel a little less guilty about still keeping a fishtank. The effectiveness of the water remains to be seen. N is easy to measure, but I haven't really looked for P and K test kits. There's no harm in topping the garden off with a little tank water and seeing how it does I suppose. Since most of the seedlings will barely have more than a taproot before I start moving them to flats and weather cooperating begin hardening them off I don't think a nutrient deficit will show. Once summer is in full swing I will try to grow a full lifecycle of an annual or two just to see the results...stay tuned.

The valerian, lavender, and mint are doing well in their new soil "apartments" a little too well in fact, The valerian is going to take over the counter. Its pretty obvious the light from the hood spills out in very sufficient quantities to keep adjacent plants growing well in a dim kitchen on the north side of a NY home. I may end up bringing the valerian and the mint to work and put them in my office window until spring.

Compost pile is still frozen...grrr. Wrapped a tarp around the lattice box frame, hopefully the slight thaw we had will be enough to trap some heat and restart the biological activity. Why is it you always end up with the best rinds, peels, "lettuce butts" etc, when the pile is running slow?

I guess phil saw his shadow so we have six more weeks of winter...or rather people a little further south have six more weeks of winter, I'd love to have only six weeks left....sigh.