Kelp Kelp and more Kelp

As I have commented on before we use a lot of kelp around here. One of the biggest reasons I mention it so frequently is that I strongly espouse it as a supplement for livestock. Since I saw the improvements in my animals after beginning to use kelp, I can't help but talk about it over and over.
So this year for the first time we will add it to our garden AND to our pasture. We purchase kelp normally in 50ish pound bags for about $34 dollars each. Feeding 16 sheep and 3 smaller cows uses about a bag per month---maybe leaning towards a bag and a half depending on the weather and their time of life (young, old, pregnant etc). Yes, it cost more than regular minerals---but it works way way way better.
Yesterday I went to visit my "supplier" -- Beatty Fertilizer in Cleveland Tennessee to make my pasture and garden purchases. It is pretty far away and I have to drive 45 minutes one way to get there. That works out better than what I used to do: pay an extra $150 dollars to have a 500 pound minimum of products shipped to me from a supplier in VA (which I then had to find places to store the large quantities). Besides, Mr Beatty is very nice and helps me with information about his OMRI certified and non certified organic products. He also tells me of the different ways of using the products --which can be interesting sometimes. (did you know they feed blood meal to cows? YUK!) Another point in his favor is that he has always remembered me---very flattering (blush :-)
So, while I was there, I purchased a couple of bags of kelp for my animals, some for my garden, some liquid kelp to spray on my pasture and a couple bags of green sand for the garden. Elliot Coleman, Gene Logsdon and other organic gurus recommend green sand-- which I have never tried. Though after all I have learned I would like to use it in my pasture too (another day, another dollar).
Recently I budgeted for a 30 gallon pull behind sprayer to use in my pasture. My little john deere tractor/mower will pull the sprayer and it's pto will drive a small pump that sucks up the goodies in the tank and applies them to the yard/garden/pasture for me. It was a bit pricey but since the only other sprayer I own holds one gallon (think of that in terms of spraying 6.5 acres) I think it will be worth it. Besides now with this new tool, not only can I spray kelp on my pasture this early spring but also humic acid if I want or manure/compost tea this summer, molasses to feed quick "sugar" to the grasses and raise their brix level, more kelp---why the possibilities are endless.
We have tackled many ideas about how to improve our soil in our pasture and after much reading have decided that spraying the kelp or teas will potentially do as much good as some other spreadable things--- worm castings, aged compost, green sand and other organic bagged amendments---but for a bit less cost. That is the only thing about being "organic" or "sustainable"----it can be costly. And not only that, but a lot of it is difficult to locate in pasture size amounts (think worm castings here). Supposedly studies show that in just a year, spraying compost tea only will produce noticeable tilth improvements in soil---which is exactly what we need. I don't remember how many times but it was more than once but less than say....5. And then, if you do it every year you should see very very noticeable improvements after three years. So here's to year one and my new sprayer.
Here's a little information on kelp if your interested.

Soil Health-- part 2

Now as I get ready to sow my seeds and plant my vegetables, I first need to do a soil test. I actually have a previous idea as to the general health of the soil in my garden but with in the month a sample will be taken, along with those of all our pastures, and sent off to be tested by and organic soil testing company. We will plant in our garden (the best soil on our property) but will wait to do our test at the end of Feb. We added amendments to our pastures last fall and need to wait at least 6 months before re testing. No sense in sending two packages. And just so you know---there is a difference in soil testing companies. If you send your soil samples to say.....your local ag guy to have them tested, more than likely you will get back a sample that is based on inorganic inputs--- NPK inputs. "Modern" agriculture has a tendency to think in NPK instead of micro and macro nutrients, biomass and soil health in general. Here is a link to companies that do soil testing based on organic inputs: Attra soil testing list
Also you can contact Countryside Naturals. They work with a testing company that is very nice--they can send you a form to fill out for that company and tell you all about it. They can also supply you with organic inputs for your soil and animal health. We have done business with Countryside Naturals and really like them.
Now disregarding the fact that I have been a long time organic fanatic when it comes to my property there are now studies coming out that show that inorganic, high nitrogen fertilizers are damaging our soils and tying up our nutrients.
I now understand not all soil is created equal but not that many years ago I would have said something like "yes, I know, there's clay and loam and sand and .....they all need compost to keep them healthy and get nice tilth" But that's not exactly what I mean. I am speaking of soil that is full of abundant health. Teaming with worms and microbes and the organic good health of minerals. Calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and all the trace nutrients that we need in our food are in there-- and hopefully working in balance. Because believe it or not---grass can grow even if the soil is low or lacking in some elements. Legumes can grow if the soil is lacking in some elements. Weeds (not the proverbial enemy we think of them as) will grow when elements are lacking.
The best way to "add" trace minerals and overall good health back to your soil is through rebuilding and organic inputs. Manure is an input that everyone thinks of but studies are showing that cover crops are actually as good and in some cases better than manure. Cover crops can do a lot of different things for you. They can break up tough hard soil with their roots (studies put alfalfa anywhere from 4 feet to almost 50 feet deep), they can add nitrogen in the case of legumes, and they can add much needed organic matter. Cover crops aren't just for garden areas either, they are for pastures too. We have hard compacted soil in about half our pastures so we are trying to get deep rooted plants going to help us out. It can take a while, especially when you work out of pocket and without tractors like we do---but we can see improvement every year. When you plant a crop that sends deep roots down to open the soil for rain and oxygen to get in there, then you plant a crop like buckwheat or rye to turn over (or let your animals eat it down) it adds organic matter. With that cycle you are creating the perfect environment for worms. Worms are THE BEST thing you can ever do for you soil. The clincher is though, you can't just add worms----you have to create nice conditions for them to come to you. Kind of like the old Kevin Costner movie about the baseball stadium "build it and they will come". When they do come--watch out! That's when the soil building really begins. Worms take something we consider great---like manure. Eat it (yes, that is what they do) and turn it into something that is 100's of times better than it was before they got to it. God's little soil factory in one small slippery package :-) The number one thing to remember about worms: they HATE low ph soil (acid soil like we have) and they hate high nitrogen (think inorganic here) fertilizers---it burns their skin.

As I stated in my first soil health post---I know my soil lacks selenium (using that as an example). Selenium is needed in very very small amounts and you do not run down to the local store and get a bag of selenium to throw on your property like you can lime. Selenium, when added in "chemical" form is added in barely ounces per acre---very very low amounts since it is easy to get to much and cause a deadly problem. We will add ours in the form of Kelp (Thorvin, Fertrell, Sea Life etc) You can buy a bagged dried form (which is what we feed our animals) or if you look around you can find a source that offers liquid for spraying. We will use bagged in the garden area but for larger applications to our pastures we will use the liquid since it is cheaper that way. Kelp has just about every micro and macro nutrient you could ever need or think you want in it. Also, since it is a natural form---my animals can eat as much as they want (within reason of course) and any "excess" for that day is excreted by them to help my soil. So referencing back to yesterdays post, my animals will slowly build the selenium up in the soil for me (and them) and over time they shouldn't need supplementary shots.
Over time the micro and macro nutrients will come up in my soils and be in the carrots that I eat which is my main concern. If you are aspiring to eat local then this is something that concerns you greatly. Our modern diet with food from across the country and across the world---evens out the "bumps" of our nutrition. BUT if you do actually become successful at eating local and growing most of your food----you are only going to get the nutrients that are in your local soil. So, using my original selenium example: if your area has no or is low in selenium---you might not get the amount you need to stay healthy. Selenium is a huge part of our immune system--proven over and over by studies. And that is just one of the many many nutrients in our soil---imagine.

Here are a few things I would like to link for your interest. Most have something to do with soil, animal, human health or how they all work together. One I can't link is the book Better Soil by Gene Logsdon. If you can a hold of it --it is very good. A compost book like the one by the Rodale institute is also a benefit. I know everyone "knows" how to make compost---but sometimes having the general information on carbon ratios etc is useful. These are just starting points there are many many places and books to find information about these topics.

Benefits of Biodiverse Pasture Forage
Some compost crops --- there are many more on line and in books.
Diverse information on soils, plants etc
And some worm information : Here and Here

Oh yes, one added thing: A new study shows that planting buckwheat twice in the summer (cut at about 5 weeks to kill it before it self seeds, then reseed) then fall oats or rye (tilled under the next spring) suppresses almost all weed growth and creates wonderful tilth. This would be great for raised beds or small garden rows or blocks that you are trying to build up.

An Update

Well, I haven't posted in a number of days so since it is raining (hard) here this morning I thought I would play a quick game of catch up. So here is a fast run down of what has been occurring since the first weekend of the new year.

1. Our digital camera got thrown away--on purpose. We have had so many problems with it that I just couldn't stand it any more. So until I get a new one within the next month there will be no pictures :-( sorry about that.

2. We have fenced our garden area of about 3/4 of an acre. That took 2 days of my husband, my son AND me to put in the corner posts and 7 foot T posts. Then another two days for my son and me to finish the corner bracing and pull the livestock fence. We wasted some fence and just pulled straight across where the gate will go. I would like my husband to make me a gate for my garden out of metal, something that looks like branches or vines have gone crazy on it. I know exactly how I want it to look but we need time and we have to order the metal from the metal yard. So for a while we will have to go in through the orchard pasture gate---trudge through that pasture--- and then go through another gate into the garden area.
Generally that wouldn't be bad except I have put the cows and the rams in there to "poop" in all the leaves that were dumped--instant compost (almost). So I have to go in everyday to feed and water them.
They are really really enjoying being there too-- the first day the cows ran around jumping (yes, jumping), bucking and kicking in the leaves and bellowing (deep and low and dangerous sounding) and throwing the leaves up with their heads and horns. Hilarious! You could really tell they were having fun. (And people wonder about confinement cattle HUMPH!)

3. I moved 25 peonies bushes from inside the garden to outside the garden fence and dug up two 5 gallon buckets of iris rhizomes also. Each of my peonies is a different variety and 10 of them had rusted tags that I could not read the name on it anymore so this spring I will have to try and figure out who is who---which will probably fail.
I haven't decided where to plant the iris' yet---but it is irrelevant since we have had rain since the day I lifted them up. Which by the way is not a complaint----we had so little rain last year that I swore I wouldn't say one thing even if I had to trudge through it all winter. Anyways I will get the iris' planted some time soon and when they bloom this summer I will take a picture (with my new camera). They are all different colors and they look very pretty when they bloom. I caught a picture of some of my lambs last year in front of them though you can't see them really well---since of course the picture was of the sheep not the flowers. It's the pic at the top.

4. My son and I have mulched just about every plant and bed on my property with the leaves the city dumped here for us (click the label "mulch/compost" on the side bar if you don't know about this subject)

5. I am almost finished with the lace shawl knitting project I started. With the advent of Christmas and relatives, New Years and then fencing it has had a bit of a crimp in how quickly it has progressed but I am nearing the end.

6. Last but not least I have most of my seeds ordered (any that need starting in the next month or two---which is most) and have transplanted my asparagus starts to a larger pot where they are now putting up multiple stems. I could have a mini dinner with them right now :-)
Out of the original 25 seeds potted up---I have had 23 that actually sprouted. Not to bad. I have more seeds but started with just those as I wasn't sure how well they would do---not having grown asparagus from seed before. It was easy though and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Which I will since I have most of a package left still.

That's all folks---hope things are going well for every one else too.

Potatoes

Well I ordered my potatoes the other day. Hopefully I have picked the correct time to have them shipped to me. I actually bumped it up by 3 weeks since the weather has been so odd the last couple of years. I don't want to plant them too late and hit the hottest driest spells while they are trying to make the most spuds for me. After much debate on where to order from I finally settled on Milky Ranch since they had a large selection that I could order from one place. They are the new owners of Ronniger's Potatoes.
I think we have decided to plant them in the many many leaves we received this year from the city that I blogged about. We probably received about....75 dump truck loads over all. About. Hard to tell for sure. They just kept on coming and coming so we don't really know. But we have a lot of leaves. I am still trying to decide if I might need to add a little bitty bit of lime to the leaves for the potatoes. I know that potatoes are better off with an acidic environment but they don't want to be super acidic. So how do you test leaves I am wondering? I might just have to play it by ear with that issue. I don't know if I will be neat and tidy and make all the leaves into rows to plant or if we will just go out there and start planting. Probably rows--much easier to keep track of what is where and keep varieties separated.
Anyways I ordered this year the following varieties:
all blue, all red (aka cranberry red), austrian crescent, blossom, caribe, french fingerling, german butterball, huckleberry, ndc4069-4 (only one pound of this one) and purple peruvian. Most of these are older potato varieties. Some of them are newer--does ndc4069-4 give itself away on that account? Some we have grown before and some we have not. Overall I bought 31 pounds of seed potatoes. How much will I get at the end of the season? Good question-- and an answer to it will be supplied at the end of the summer of 2007. When we harvest all of our bounty of potatoes we will store most, some will be canned for addition to quick soups on busy nights AND I also thought about drying some of them this time. Does anyone else dry their potatoes? I didn't know if I would like them that way---not that I have never had a processed meal that had them in it. I might try a small amount if I harvest enough potatoes. You never know if you will have a good harvest or not. We do have voles---so I imagine we will loose a few to them. (The dog and cat seem to keep them down pretty well though which is good.) Then of course you have this screwy weather we have all been having. I hope they do well.
I didn't order any russets, which I do like, because supposedly they don't do well here in Georgia. I don't know why they don't do well but I found that out when I was looking for new data on last frost dates. Most of which need to be updated terribly bad. Our last frost date hasn't been the middle to end of April since I can ever remember.

For an interesting little history on potatoes (and their use in powdered wigs many years ago) go Here.

Another composting update

So now I can officially call myself the liberator of leaves. The city has actually dumped over 20 dump truck loads on my property since first coming on 11/29. On only two days did we not get any leaves---one rain day and of course Sunday. Yes, we are starting to loose sight of the lawn and garden area now BUT I am not going to tell them to stop. For two reasons---one is that I hate to see the leaves go to the dump and two: I will regret not having all I can get once they break down into the much smaller piles of crumbly good stuff they will eventually be. Believe it or not they are hot and steamy out there too. Surprise to us. Which is hard to believe since we have never been good at getting quick hot compost piles. We have always had slow cool ones. One difference I can attribute to it though is that they seem to be the perfect moisture, something I rarely seem able to accomplish in my other piles. Another thing is the shear volume of material. I read somewhere once that to make good compost, good hot compost, good quick hot compost (sorry couldn't help myself) that you needed to have a pile at least 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 or 5 feet tall. That, they said, was one of the biggest problems most people had besides not layering well enough. Well, we haven't layered anything with the leaves yet and they are steaming away out there so maybe that was our problem all along: SIZE. Of course now we need to find a good source of nitrogen to mix in and I read in my Rodale book on compost making that about 6 to 7 pounds of human hair has as much nitrogen as 100 to 200 pounds of manure. Wow! Amazing. And just think how easy it will be to carry comparatively! Of course I have a hair place about a mile and 1/2 from me that I am sure will let me pick up their hair clippings---they will think I am a fruitcake but.....I need nitrogen! I think I will probably wear gloves while spreading the hair though---I have to admit I have a bit of a yuk factor about touching some one's hair (some un known someone I mean). I laugh at that thought too since the beauticians don't have a problem touching the hair. And of course I would imagine that they would have a "yuk" factor in regards to touching sheep or cow poo--- which I have absolutely no problem with at all. LOL funny how we get used to certain things. Now do you suppose a septic guy gets used to his job? Hmmm....
I had some good pics to upload to show our mountains of leaves but.....alas our camera doth not worketh.
The same ole same ole as far as that goes. Someday I will acquire a new camera that maybe will not only take a better picture but will have either a rechargeable battery or will work with the chip reader I have. Or will just work in general sometimes. That subject I am sure is for another day.

For my own personal reminder (and friends and family that read our post) here are some of the things we accomplished this weekend:
1. Shifted 30 bales of hay out of one side of the garage to make way for the 4 (yes, four---lucky us) round bales we have been able to acquire. For those of you not in the know on this subject we had a SERIOUS drought this year across much of the country and hay is a precious commodity right now. VERY difficult to find in our area--most of ours has come in from Kentucky since everyone was sold out back in September (or didn't even sell any this year). Our neighbors have sent over half their herd to the auction and they have 250 acres compared to our 6.5 acres. This particular hay comes from a work friend of my husband's (luckily he has more hay than animals and doesn't usually sell it) I think we now have enough hay to make it until March (maybe). The writer winces thinking of this.
2. dug up the rest of the over grown shrubs and poison ivy from the side of the driveway with the tractor borrowed from husband's work and prepped it for retaining walls. Looks good too except its all dirt right now.
3. dug up and removed those wretched, slanting, cracking, dangerously irregular cement stairs coming off the drive to the front door. Of course for a while it will be easiest for everyone to come in through the garage until the new stairs go in along with the driveway retaining wall and new sidewalk. All visitors and family alike will have to drag by all the hay in the garage---- but at least they won't have to climb the hill of dirt.
4. Smoothed all the dirt that was taken from the driveway transformation and put in another area to level it out---we smoothed it by hand since the tractor couldn't get it all the way.
5. Dug out a couple of overgrown shrubs and wild muscadines from the area mentioned in #4.
6. Finally we did some xmas shopping---and boy were we tired! Almost to tired to enjoy our kung pao chicken and twice cooked pork at our favorite oriental restaurant (family owned).

Things we didn't get finished this weekend: One billion and counting :-)

Oh I forgot to.....

I have had a number of replies, both email and other, about yesterdays post on grass fed or grain. Of course everyone agreed with me :-) That would probably be because most people tend only to read those blogs that are similar to their own leanings. Kind of like choosing friends like yourself-- I mean who wants friends your always mad at?
Anyways-- one thing I did forget to mention/post about was Joel Salatin in that article. I thought of it after I had shut down that night and wanted to come back and put it in. Since he is one of the original people to outspokenly advocate grass fed/pasture raised he definitely deserves to be mentioned. More than likely most of you have heard of him. Just in case someone hasn't though you take a look at his web site Polyface farm. For those of you who have heard of him---did you know that at one time he tried to do a bit of blogging? Obviously--he couldn't commit the time to it but the one post that I read is very interesting and here it is: Polyface Farm Blog
By the way Joel Salatin has an "open farm policy". Anyone can call, get directions and stop by his farm. I think if anyone doubts the ability for cattle and other animals to be sustainable pasture raised---that would be a good place to direct them to view for themselves.

AND an update: I "got" 3 (yes three) more dump struck loads of leaves yesterday!!! Now I have a whopping HUGE pile out there. My son has moved in and now has a buried fortress underneath said pile. Whoopee----let me do an Indian dance since this is the easiest amount of collecting of mulch I have ever done in my entire life! Yes, in my entire life. My shoulders appreciate it too :-)

Buffet Style

Here is an update on the post from Nov. 27, 2006 "Garden Mulch and other digressions" As I had mentioned in that post I needed to dump out the leaves from their plastic bags. That way I wouldn't have to worry about small plastic bits inadvertently getting eaten by the sheep. Once I started dumping the leaves--they all lined up to do the leaf buffet. In this picture the black sheep closest is the original bag ripper culprit. Also note two are not doing the buffet. Guess they decided they were full while I went to get the camera or maybe they were worried about buffet germs.
The second picture is of all the leaves in my front yard since yesterday evening. Doesn't look like much in the picture but it is quite a large amount. My local town has decided this year they would help me in my quest for more leaves and are emptying their dump truck in my front yard. 3 loads so far in this picture, but rain has come so I will have to wait for more. I like to think they are doing it because I am nice or have influence but in reality----I live closer than all the other places they dump. But hey---works for me. I might just come out of this not only with enough to do my garden but to mulch all my shrubs and flowers too. My son isn't going to like it as well as I when he finds out he is the "volunteer" to move all of it :-)

Garden mulch and other digressions

Here are some pictures of part of our garden area we will use next year to plant all our vegetables. Originally when we first moved here we put beds in this area and planted all the plants I brought from our other home (peonies, roses and clematis). The areas up by the house were you normally would put flowering plants were overgrown with shrubs, weeds and poison ivy. We have cleaned up most of it around the house, driveway and backyard in the 3 summers we have been here but still have a bit to do-- in between the million other things we need to accomplish. We will move the last of the plants out of here this winter and hopefully be ready to plant peas and other cold lovers by early early spring. When we put in the plants I originally brought with me we also tilled and put in 4 rows (about 100' long) of lavender plants--all purchased as liners so they weren't very expensive. Unfortunately 3 summers were all we got from them. I am not disappointed at all, they were wonderful to pick and have in the house and I would plant them again --but three summers of Georgia weather were all they could stand since it is usually so rainy and humid here. By this summer all were pretty much dead. Most died last year since we had so much rain-- unlike this summer which was dry dry dry and they would have lived lived lived.
Anyways we have started collecting leaves from our own and others yards for mulch and fertilizer. The bags are from the leaves we collect from other people throwing them away--I am definitely not finished collecting but Thanksgiving side tracked me. I have mixed feelings about people bagging leaves. On the one hand it makes it extremely easy for me to drive up and throw them in my car or truck, but on the other hand---the use of plastic bags to throw away a completely beneficial product bothers me. At first I laid all our leaves from our maples and the bagged leaves we collected on top of the beds that are there in nice NEAT rows. I wanted to try and smother out the grass that had grown into the beds with our lack of care from the end of the summer. BUT when I put temporary fencing around the area and let in the sheep to graze---they messed it all up (bad goats) hence the disorganized look to it. As a matter of fact---one ewe found an open bag and decided "hey--there's some good munchies in here" and proceeded to teach the others that not only the open bags but the closed ones too had good stuff. So now none of the bags are reusable (we reuse them for our trash if they are in o.k. shape---you know: recycle as much as you can) The sheep have pawed all of them open, even the untied ones, and proceeded to dig through and eat what trimmings they found and liked. They just "pop" a hole into it with their hoof and then gingerly dig around to find what they want. No, I am not worried about them finding something poisonous in there, though at first I did worry they might accidentally eat the plastic--which thankfully hasn't happened. Later today or tomorrow I will make a point of emptying all the bags and getting rid of them though--just in case.
The sheep have done a great job of eating down most of the grass and of course "fertilizing" it for me. The cows are adding their leftovers to this project too of course---I just have to bring it in instead of them helpfully depositing it there for me like the sheep are :-) The soil in this area of our property was one of the best but is still not very fertile or well drained in spots. We have added leaves and compost every year we have been here but we need to take a soil sample to decide exactly what and how much of other amendments we may need---kelp will be one we definitely use since we love it. We are pretty sure not only will the soil test say we desperately need lime but we may also be low in selenium and some other minerals. We have had our pastures tested (but never this area of the property) so we imagine it will be similar anyways. I am so convinced of the benefit of yearly soil testing and it's impact on animal health that I will blog about that when we retest everything in Feb.
My goal---BIG ONE---is to can/freeze most all of the veggies we eat next year. We have canned, frozen, and dried our produce before, but mostly the basics. You know--the standard tomato sauce, grean beans, applesauce----but not an entire years worth or the whole cornucopia of produce. I understand some things will have to be grown under cold frames to eat during the year or that we will have to "root cellar" them but.... we will see how this works out. It is a lofty goal (for me personally) and maybe by blogging I will stick with it since others will be expecting to see how this worked out. Hopefully I will be able to fill our pantry with a years worth of better tasting food. If nothing else we will have more healthy produce for part of the year, even if I end up not able grow/store enough to eat for the entire year. Other people do it so I am sure I will eventually be able to accomplish this---practice makes perfect they always say. The problem will be the days when its already 85 degrees at 8 in the morning---that's when the lofty goals have a tendency to get thrown to the wayside :-)