country n news-its green here

COUNTRY N NEWS-ITS GREEN HERE

this spring i went to a talk on how to conserve
water really conserve water from a gentleman
who raised organic foods on just rainwater
he sold his produce to the general public

so
i incorporated some of his ideas
i dug deep trenches between my beds
filled them with lots of native hardwood mulch
and leaves your leaves youall gave me

then
i had all these 4 inch pvc pipes i had recovered
from the dumpster at habitat of humanity
saving them from a lifetime in the city dump

i then hooked them together
put a elbow joint on one end
drilled holes on the lowest side
put a drain sleeve over it to keep out dirt
put a cap on the top end
put a cap on the lower end
leveled it in the bed
buried it 12 inches deep
total feet of pvc in a bed is 24 feet
total volume is 30 gallons

i then buried it

then when it stopped raining two months ago
i started watering the beds via this pipe system
running in 30 gallons at a time mixed with
johns recipe with fish emulsion seaweed and molasses
i also used lots of mulch i used again your leaves

so far this hotter than hell summer
my purple hull peas have remained green growing and productive
my spring tomatoes are still alive although production has slowed
my bed of peppers bell sweet banana jalepeno poblano egg plant
and basil look good and are producing
my bed of okra is green and growing and producing lots of okra
my fall tomatoes have grown 3 times in size since hs and i planted them
my malabar spinach it just loves the heat add a little water
it grows like crazy

so it seems this water conservation method seems to be working
i use a quarter of the water that i use with my drip system
i still have despite the no rain for weeks about 3/4 of
my irrigation water left

this is a method thats used in real dry areas and desert areas

well i can tell you now
from
our country n experience
it works well in central texas
it saves a ton of water

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-the green monster

COUNTRY N NEWS-THE GREEN MONSTER

i knew he was there somewhere
as i could see his damage
he
ate all the leaves off some of my tomato vines
ate all he flowers the potential tomatoes
left a stalk a green one that looked like a tornado
had came through and ripped off all the leaves and flowers
it looked like the vegetation where the oil field has
leaked oil or salt water onto the land
just sticks in the air

i read where you could see them at night if you
have a uv light
it said they can have some florescence
i have tried in the past but it didnt seem to work

they seemed to match a curled up tomato leaf so well
it is hard to see them
they barely move like a sloth i guess
doing tons of destruction

now if you leave them alone
theyll devour most of the tomato plant
and
will turn into this beautiful moth called
the sphinx moth
note there is some confusion online of what the moth looks like
i never watch to see what they turned into

texasbutterflyranch.com

now im a nature loving guy
but im sorry my tomatoes come first

now they start out real small like inchworm size
then they get real big like this one
then even bigger than this
like your worst nightmare

so now enter into the picture
ok i sometimes compromise
the ??cowitch vine
a native vine that grows wild
it has small black fruit with small flowers that
bees go crazy over
i have it transplanted onto my arbor
to provide shade on the west side of the house
since it requires no water or care
it so happens that this tomato worm scientific name
maduca quinquemaculata
also likes to eat the ??cowitch vine

so when i find these dudes
i take them into my palm
with a glove of course

i think
chickens
or
vine

if the tomato worm is lucky
i chose
the vine

life here at the country n is life or death

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-teaching it forward

COUNTRY N NEWS-TEACHING IT FORWARD

there are three things that you dont want to ask me about
unless you want to know more than you want to know

its
alzheimers disease
rainwater collection
organic gardening

i will go on and on on these topics

so
i got an email from the daughter of a friend
she was moving back into austin to start
graduate school at ut

she wanted to know more about organic gardening
would i mind if she came out and worked in
my garden before her graduate school started
in late july

i emailed back
of course i dont mind
just bring your ears

now
its hotter than hades around here in texas
so i told her
it will have to be in the morning
when it gets too hot we will have to stop working
in the garden
she agreed to the limitation

so i saved up a lot of my work for the day we would work
in the garden

i started day one
by doing a 4 hour tour

first the boggy creek farm in austin
a city farm in east austin
one of the original organic farms in the area
the owner carol ann stopped her busy morning
talking to us about how she prepped her soil
and took care of it
a lot of education was given by her

as i told the student hb
when you see our place the country n garden
you will find that i do a lot of what she does
i learned from the best

from there we went to the  springdale farm a nearby
organic farm
then
from there
we went to the natural gardener
an organic best in the south plant nursery thats located in austin
the owner john dromgoole is the god of organics
in austin

i easily lectured her on the different plants
showing her the xeric plants that we planted
went through their amazing veggie garden
explaining that what she sees me do in my garden the
next day
was learned talking to their veggie garden expert

we then went inside touring the multiple organic products
that are sold there
also noting these are available at most good nurseries in
this area

so the next day
i decided to do my tomato bed
for my fall tomatoes
two of the tomatoes we were to plant were from cuttings
i took from my spring tomatoes
putting the cuttings directly into 1 gal pots using
the ladybug vortex potting soil
the other ones we bought at the natural gardener the day before
now this time of year the selection is not always good
you just have to take what you can get

so
lecturing as i went
this bed was last years fall crop
we raked off the bed so it was even

we added 4 inches of my organic chicken made compost
we added an organic fertilizer i used ladybugs 8-2-4
we added a dusting of cottonseed meal
we added a soaking of humates and a soaking of molasses
we added a dusting of green sand

the fertilizer provides nitrogen for several weeks gradually
the cottonseed meal provides a quicker access to a nitrogen source
the molasses provides a food source to the bacteria and fungi
that grow in the soil
the humates are the juice that helps this all work better
the green sand provides iron and other minerals into the soil

as we worked i explained maybe in too much detail
why each of things were being used
why the non organic way is not good for the soil
plus its what the natural gardener does to their garden
they know best

then
i buried 5 gallon buckets with holes in the bottom
and
holes 10 inches on the side
to keep the roots when they go deep to have access to water
we also partially filled the buckets with compost
so when they were filled with water
a compost tea would leak down into the roots

then
i taught her how to plant tomatoes
burying them deep into the soil
placing a tbsp of earthworm castings with its nitrogen
and minerals to give the new tomato a big boost
then watering it in well with sea weed
that stimulates root growth

the tomatoes have doubled in size in one week time

a collar of paper was wrapped around the base of the plant
to prevent the cutworm from coming through and
chopping down our new plants

then
this was all covered with a 3 in layer of your leaves
to keep in moisture

since it hotter than hades
we then added this shade cloth which blocks 60% of the
hot suns rays
we will leave this in place until the weather cools off

i think i taught her a lot about organic gardening
she got her hands dirty
yes she took off her gloves some
and
got some dirt under her nails
its good for you you know

we then took a tour of our place
showing her all the native xeric plants that are planted here
all the plantings that have been done
to block the sun
to allow the sun in during the winter when the leaves fall off
our complete rainwater system
our solar system
our honeybees

so
i hope that during these two days
thats she got infected with
the organic gardening bug
maybe the rainwater virus

again
after working with her
i do have hope for the future
we are leaving our earth in good hands

i like the millennials

thanks hb

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-locusts

COUNTRY N NEWS-LOCUSTS

a few years ago it felt like we were having a swarm of locusts
here at the country n
like those described in the bible
like those you see on tv in africa

there were grasshoppers everywhere
if you walked by our barn which has metal siding on it
they would jump and hit the metal siding
making this twinging sound that seemed to follow
you as you walked down the back side of the barn
an eerie sound that really gave you a feeling of how
bad the infestation was of these varmints

if there was a plant on the property
they were eating it
leaves and sometimes the bark off the limbs

they ate all the figs and all the fig leaves off the fig tree
they ate the oranges the leaves and the bark off the orange bush
they ate all the tomatoes and its leaves
ate all the okra
ate all the peppers even the jalapenos
ate the leaves off the oaks
ate even paint on some folks houses
ate anything they could

now the chickens and guineas enjoyed the grasshoppers
they feasted on them all day long
giving us what i called grasshopper eggs

in the early morning while it was still cool i would walk
down to the garden
which was surrounded by the chicken run
shake all my tomatoes and run the grasshoppers slowed some
by the morning coolness
straight into the path of 15 waiting chickens
a morning frenzy and feast occurred
take that i said

this place that summer looked like when the terrible
hail storm and ? tornado came through our place
trees without leaves
a partially destroyed garden

so that summer
i declared a war on grasshoppers

now folks in town dont notice this infestation like we do
since we are surrounded 360 degrees by ranch land
prime real estate for these armies of grasshoppers

so here is my prime weapon against these invading armies
its called nolo bait
here is how it works
there is a fungus placed on some type of product that looks like
tiny wood shavings
when the grasshoopers eat this stuff
the fungus goes to their brains and kills them
then
those stupid grasshoppers eat those dead ones
then
the fungus in the dead ones infects the cannibalistic grasshoppers brains
these hoppers die
the cycle continues exponentially over time

now i treat by putting this stuff out using my seed spreader around
the perimeter of the one acre my house sits on
and
fairly heavy in my garden
i do this as soon as i see a lot of small grasshoppers
the time arrived this week
so i spread out this stuff
then
i will repeat an application in 1 month

this is an acceptable organic method of killing them

then
i start the every morning roundup of the hoppers in my garden
scaring them into the beaks of the awaiting chickens
man those chicks love grasshoppers

then
we let out our chickens and our grasshopper eating machine guineas
into the surrounding pastures

that plus anytime i can catch one in my hand
i feed it to the chickens
its like sharks going after fish bait on shark week
or
i just throw them against the metal wall of our barn
feels good when i do both

so each summer i do this and get fairly good control of the hoppers
much better than some of my neighbors who take a less organic
approach

ill do anything to save my tomatoes

now i get this nolo bait online
from amazon since i can get a bigger bag at a cheaper price

many local nurseries have it but its usually in a smaller bag

my war against grasshoppers
i think i am generally winning it each year

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-first honey, firewheel

COUNTRY N NEWS-FIRST HONEY, FIREWHEEL

this week i told my wife she
its time

we got our topbar hive a year ago
filled it with a nuch of bees
and
waited

so this week i decided its time to check the bees
after donning my full bee suit
so the bees wouldnt get me
but i didnt have a suit for poor bouncer-see yesterdays blog

so i smoked them real good
that calms them down
although this time i think it just made them madder

as i was working through the different combs
i realized that they didnt have enough honey for me
to be robbing from them

now robbing isnt the right word
i provide them a safe place to live
for rent they are suppose to pay me in honey
a fair exchange i think
but
as a young hive they arent quite ready to pay up

but
as i was working my way through the hive
there was a small comb that they had built in front
of a bigger comb
it was about a fourth the size of the full comb

now in a topbar hive the comb isnt square like in a regular hive
its shaped like a horseshoe

so i needed to remove that extra one
lucky for me it was full of honey
so
i trimmed it off
brushed off the bees
laid it in a plastic container that my wife she was holding
placed the cover on it to keep the bees from trying to save
the honey
making my wife she a target for the bees
since she had the honey
didnt tell her that though
as
she walked away from the hive
she looked like the peanuts character pigpen
with all those bees flying around her

as she got 60 ft away she went through the gate
where mr bouncer was happily awaiting her arrival
thats when he got zapped
again read yesterdays blog

eventually the bees gave up on my wife she letting them have
their honey back
so she took it inside the house

now we havent harvested honey before
so i had went online to youtube to find a lot of videos
on how to get the honey out of the comb and processed

so i found a kiss method
keep it simply simple method
my approach to things in this life

so
i opened the plastic container
cut the comb into squares the size of a cracker
dropped them into a quart fruit jar
took a spoon and crushed the smithereens out of the comb
of course i took the spoon out and licked it real good
not wanting to waste any honey

then
i put some cheese cloth over the mouth of the jar
screwed on just the metal part of a canning lid
set that jar on top of another empty canning jar with a lid on it
then
being the duct tape person i am
i duct taped it together

then
i set them on the counter to wait
it looked like one of those sand timers that used to be used as a timer
i guess in the old days

it was exciting to see that honey as it slowly slowly slowly
dripped into the lower jar

we waited overnight
then the next day i set the complex duct taped jars in the sun
until they got warm

then
i poured the warmed honey into a small jar
for use to admire
take a taste of occasionally
treating it like a million dollar bottle of some special liqueur

ok so i dip my finger in there all the time just to get a taste
my wife she uses it on her breakfast each morning

heres hoping it lasts until we can get a bigger harvest
next month

dont you just love homesteading

this is a firewheel or indian blanket wildflower that is blanketing
our pastures right now

im sure some of their pollen is in this
country n honey

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-produce report

COUNTRY N NEWS-PRODUCE REPORT

back in early november
i got my bag of garlic bulbs i had saved from
harvesting my garlic last year at this time
its all organic
i added in a few bulbs i bought from the organic nursery
the natural gardener
just to keep more diversity in my crop

i planted around 90 bulbs in this bed
just a few weeks ago this is what the bed looked like
from past experiences i know when its time to pick them
its when the outer leaves start to turn brown

the first time i planted them here
i had read that i needed to wait until they sent up
that seedling head
i waited and waited for that head to form but it never did
so i got bulbs that were gnarly and not formed well
and had multiple small bulblets that had formed
these were not very useful

i also read that you need to let the soil dry out some
right before you harvest them
not going to happen this year with all our rain
so
i pulled a few a few weeks ago
they werent quite big enough

this last week i pulled several more
many of them had good bulbs that look like they
will be good ones
when they dry out

so i pulled all of them
most looked good
put them in my small greenhouse to dry out
when the stalks get all dried out
i will tie them together and hang them in the
garage
cutting off a bulb whenever its needed

last year i just cut the bulbs off
put them in a bag
hung it in the kitchen closet
they did ok in there
it did smell garlicky though
a smell i like

then
this year our peach crop either got damaged by the
late freeze here this spring
or
we didnt get enough freeze hours all winter
to stimulate bloom and peach production
whatever the reason
we only have peaches on one of our 7 trees
contrasting that
to so many peaches last year we couldnt keep them
all picked
the chickens ended up eating a lot of them last year
not this year
the pickings are slim

our plums which last year over produced
this year the pickings are real slim
i bet we dont even get a gallon of them this year

the trials and tribulations of farming
glad i do this for fun
and
not to make a living

i guess the old farmers went hungry sometimes

then
in mid january i planted my onion plants shown here
they are all 1015 onions
my favorite
they dont burn my eyes when i cut them
and
they taste almost sweet

i will pick them soon
i wait until the leaves or whatever you call the green things
fall over

we are at the tail end of our asparagus crop which started
producing in february
our tomatoes are slowly producing
my peppers seems to be stalled out
hopefully they will pick up growth soon
the beans and squash and cucumbers and okra and malabar spinach
black eyed peas egg plant basil are starting to grow now

our potatoes are getting close to digging up
we eat an occasional new potato
we will harvest all of them when the vines start to die back
or
when i decide i want them to eat

so
we are looking for a bountiful harvest this late spring and summer

and how is your garden growing

this is an antelope antler milkweed
i didnt know what they were until last year
they are are host plants for butterflies
so now i let them grow in my yard and pastures
this year i hope to harvest the seeds and spread them around my property
so
dont kill this weed
its needed to save the butterflies

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-kills em dead

COUNTRY N NEWS-KILLS EM DEAD

along the fence in front of the house i have made a bed
that is about 100 ft long
i brought in good soil several years ago
to make this bed that is 3 ft wide
it serves two purposes
to hold several xeric native plants that i never water
nature does that for me
after planting i covered the bed with a thick cover of
austin wod recycling native hardwood mulch
the bed is edged with a long row of limestone that was left
here by the previous owner

as our property has a slight slant towards the river
the bed also acts as a barrier to slow down any water runoff
that may occur during our texas downpours
this is called rainwater harvesting using berms or swales

so besides catching 30,000 gallons in our rainwater tanks
we also catch it with these swales or berms
also between my beds in the garden i have dug deep trenches
filled it with mulch and leaves so they are almost 2 ft deep
i calculated this will hold about 500 gallons of water
which keeps the underground soil moist during the
hot summer in my garden

now this long bed has these plants in them
texas sage  greggs mistflower  flame acanthus  jerusulem sage
texas lantana  mexican oregano  fire bush  possumhaw holly
wild arugula  lady banksia rose  pride of barbados
spineless cactus with a scattering of bluebonnets and
engelmann daisy
all providing color and flowers sometime during the year
the bees butterflies and hummingbirds love them

one problem though
is weeds
in the spring a carpet like growth of winter weeds occur
even on top of all that mulch

no roundup is used
beside being bad for the property
it would also damage these xeric plants

i have tried in the past to pull them up
an almost two day event
last year i just kept them weedeated
they go away in the hot weather only to return next winter

so i went to my handy dandy organic weed killing concoction
that is not toxic to the environment
unless you are the one getting sprayed
spray it on yourself and you instantly feel it
feels like fireant bites
it easily washes off

sprayed it on the weeds all 100 feet
and it looks like the above picture

i sprayed once in hot sunny weather
it doesnt work as well in cloudy wet weather
in a few days they look all mostly dead
then
in a week or so i repeat the spraying to get those
who survived round one

now this weed killer does not kill the deep roots
but in these winter weeds that doesnt matter
they roots die and help provide some nutrition to the soil

the recipe
1 oz of orange oil
1 tsp of dish washing soap
1 gallon of 9 or 10% pickling white vinegar

this is added to a pump sprayer
no water is added

its then sprayed on the weeds

kills em dead

be sure and rinse out the pump sprayer well since all this stuff
can damage the sprayer if left inside

the organicgreen doctor