Yes, even Cityboy Farmers need recreation! Yesterday, I took my two pals out to our neighbourhood park.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
A Walk in the Park.
Yes, even Cityboy Farmers need recreation! Yesterday, I took my two pals out to our neighbourhood park.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Compost bins for the masses (And classes).
Everyone with a yard needs a compost pile. When I lived in the city, I would see large bags filled with grasscuttings, sitting on the neighbourhood boulevards, ready for pickup and disposal. If I knew the grasscuttings were not the subjects of chemical experiments (weedkillers, roundup, herbicides and pesticides) I would have eagerly grabbed them in a mad frenzy to 'feed' my compost pile. As I mentioned in my last passage, many people do not have a compost pile because they feel it is too much work. Composting is a very easy pursuit and should be taught to children in schools. I imagine a school program that instructs and teaches by putting their lessons into practice.
Imagine a school that had a course that involved all school grades. This practical course could be broken into disciplines:
- a recycling program, where glass, metal, paper and compostible materials could be sorted and properly distributed and 're-used, and/or recycled.
- a recycling, reuse and reduce instruction and practice; this could be a fund-raiser where students 'sell' their crafts & creations made from materials, typically, destined for the landfill.
- a compost program that introduces the science of composting; the understanding of microorganisms, insects, heat, water and air to promote an efficient and fast conversion of recognizable carbon/nitrogen materials into beautiful and beneficial compost.
- a gardening program that builds a fully-functioning garden that supplies fresh herbs, grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit to the school cafeteria
- a marketing course that allows the students to raise money for various goals and projects from the marketing, PR, packaging, distribution and sale of numerous goods created from the above.
I know I was going to talk about Composting but my enthusiasm to give students and young people meaningful tools, that are directly tied into the school's curriculum and learning objectives, is a subject that's dear to my heart.
Imagine a school that had a course that involved all school grades. This practical course could be broken into disciplines:
- a recycling program, where glass, metal, paper and compostible materials could be sorted and properly distributed and 're-used, and/or recycled.
- a recycling, reuse and reduce instruction and practice; this could be a fund-raiser where students 'sell' their crafts & creations made from materials, typically, destined for the landfill.
- a compost program that introduces the science of composting; the understanding of microorganisms, insects, heat, water and air to promote an efficient and fast conversion of recognizable carbon/nitrogen materials into beautiful and beneficial compost.
- a gardening program that builds a fully-functioning garden that supplies fresh herbs, grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit to the school cafeteria
- a marketing course that allows the students to raise money for various goals and projects from the marketing, PR, packaging, distribution and sale of numerous goods created from the above.
I know I was going to talk about Composting but my enthusiasm to give students and young people meaningful tools, that are directly tied into the school's curriculum and learning objectives, is a subject that's dear to my heart.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Burning, dumping, oh no!
Our neighbour piles up all his branches and other wood debris and burns them, every Spring.
Every Autumn, numerous homeowners burn large piles of dried leaves.
I watch as billows of smoke drift across our yards, causing pets, children and me to search for clean air.
These same neighbours spend hundreds of dollars on truckloads of compost.
Is there anything peculiar with these events? Is there a better way?
Yes! These people could be producing their own 'free' compost for thier gardens and keeping our air a little cleaner. Most people associate composts with smell or pests or just think it will be too much work. I can be the first to say that on all 3 counts these are incorrect assumptions.
Compost is easy! If you have a yard, then you'll need 2 kinds of composting devices. The first kind is either a commercial, contained one which is designed for vermiculture--the growth of worms--or a larger one to hold larger, yard trimmings, leaves and small branches.
Vermiculture: All children love vermiculture! It can be done indoors in a commercially purchased bin or a large tupperware bin; or outdoors as long as the worms are insulated from the cold. All vermiculture bins need airholes at the top to allow your worms, and micro-organisms to breath.
Begin by soaking newspaper in water, to remove as much ink as possible. Avoid coloured inks and if possible choose unbleached, uninked brown paper bags. I forgot to say to 'shred' the paper first. Take the brown, shredded paper and squeeze out excess water and place it into the bottom of the bin. Then take a few cups of soil, and slightly mix it into the top layer of the paper. Add some soaked peat moss. Avoid using all soil as it will make your bin really heavy and, as worms are litter-dwellers, they prefer wet leaves or paper. The worms need some 'grit' to help their digestion; this is the reason for adding some soil.
OK! Time to add the worms! Most compost demonstration gardens sell 'red worms', or you could find them in an existing leafpile. Now they will need some food, such as: all vegetable & fruit peelings and scraps. Coffee grounds, filters, teabags, oatmeal, hair, bread and eggshells. Avoid adding meats, oils, or cooked salty foods. Cover with a brown paper bag or uninked brown cardboard; this keeps the moisture in and shields the worms from light. Every week or whenever you have scraps add them to the wormbin. Try to dig down a few inches to cover the food. Soon, you will see the food disappear. If the bin begins to smell then you either have too much uneaten food at the top and should try to bury the scraps under a few inches of paper, leaves, or or cardboard material.
In about 4 to 6 months depending how well you cared for your little 'eisenia foetida' friends, you will need to remove 3/4 of the compost and worms. Producers market this rich compost as 'Black Gold'! Your Black gold can now be used as a topdressing around your plants (keep away all dirt from touching the crown or stem of the plant as this may encourage rot, pests or disease) or placed directly onto your vegetable or garden beds. Or you can sell the BlackGold to your unconverted, leaf-burning, landfill abusing neighbours...
Ok! Time for lunch; I will add more info about outdoor composters and bins later...
Every Autumn, numerous homeowners burn large piles of dried leaves.
I watch as billows of smoke drift across our yards, causing pets, children and me to search for clean air.
These same neighbours spend hundreds of dollars on truckloads of compost.
Is there anything peculiar with these events? Is there a better way?
Yes! These people could be producing their own 'free' compost for thier gardens and keeping our air a little cleaner. Most people associate composts with smell or pests or just think it will be too much work. I can be the first to say that on all 3 counts these are incorrect assumptions.
Compost is easy! If you have a yard, then you'll need 2 kinds of composting devices. The first kind is either a commercial, contained one which is designed for vermiculture--the growth of worms--or a larger one to hold larger, yard trimmings, leaves and small branches.
Vermiculture: All children love vermiculture! It can be done indoors in a commercially purchased bin or a large tupperware bin; or outdoors as long as the worms are insulated from the cold. All vermiculture bins need airholes at the top to allow your worms, and micro-organisms to breath.
Begin by soaking newspaper in water, to remove as much ink as possible. Avoid coloured inks and if possible choose unbleached, uninked brown paper bags. I forgot to say to 'shred' the paper first. Take the brown, shredded paper and squeeze out excess water and place it into the bottom of the bin. Then take a few cups of soil, and slightly mix it into the top layer of the paper. Add some soaked peat moss. Avoid using all soil as it will make your bin really heavy and, as worms are litter-dwellers, they prefer wet leaves or paper. The worms need some 'grit' to help their digestion; this is the reason for adding some soil.
OK! Time to add the worms! Most compost demonstration gardens sell 'red worms', or you could find them in an existing leafpile. Now they will need some food, such as: all vegetable & fruit peelings and scraps. Coffee grounds, filters, teabags, oatmeal, hair, bread and eggshells. Avoid adding meats, oils, or cooked salty foods. Cover with a brown paper bag or uninked brown cardboard; this keeps the moisture in and shields the worms from light. Every week or whenever you have scraps add them to the wormbin. Try to dig down a few inches to cover the food. Soon, you will see the food disappear. If the bin begins to smell then you either have too much uneaten food at the top and should try to bury the scraps under a few inches of paper, leaves, or or cardboard material.
In about 4 to 6 months depending how well you cared for your little 'eisenia foetida' friends, you will need to remove 3/4 of the compost and worms. Producers market this rich compost as 'Black Gold'! Your Black gold can now be used as a topdressing around your plants (keep away all dirt from touching the crown or stem of the plant as this may encourage rot, pests or disease) or placed directly onto your vegetable or garden beds. Or you can sell the BlackGold to your unconverted, leaf-burning, landfill abusing neighbours...
Ok! Time for lunch; I will add more info about outdoor composters and bins later...
Friday, February 02, 2007
Choppin' wood!
In an attempt to convert myself from a 'Cityboy' to a full-fledged Country boy, I not only bought a skookum 4.5 HP chainsaw with a 20" bar but I purchased a 'spiral' steel wedge and a 5 lb. maul/axe. The wedge is a brilliant device, with a spiral twist that forces the wood apart as the wedge is pounded deeper into the wood block. It makes me feel rather competent of splitting large wood rounds. My maul is a monster of an axe, and is designed for splitting wood. Until I moved here, I did not know the difference between a chopping axe and a splitting axe.
In the summer time, I began to cut up and collect wood for our fireplace: our main source of heat. In all the previous years, we had run out of wood around January so I was determined to be fully stocked with wood this year. I cut up about 4 or 5 trees; split them and dried them.
To hold 6 months of wood, I converted the previous owner's jungle gym into a storage unit. Slowly, I filled up rows of beautifully dried maple, fir, and alder wood. In November, when the first real rain came, I found that my converted jungle gym leaked, soaking all my wood. So, I moved half of the wood under the open shed. The wind dried the wood, until it snowed and all the wood is now soaked again with the snowdrifts that covered my wood. I guess the good news is that we probably will not run out of wood this year, as the wood does not burn very fast when it is wet.
In the summer time, I began to cut up and collect wood for our fireplace: our main source of heat. In all the previous years, we had run out of wood around January so I was determined to be fully stocked with wood this year. I cut up about 4 or 5 trees; split them and dried them.
To hold 6 months of wood, I converted the previous owner's jungle gym into a storage unit. Slowly, I filled up rows of beautifully dried maple, fir, and alder wood. In November, when the first real rain came, I found that my converted jungle gym leaked, soaking all my wood. So, I moved half of the wood under the open shed. The wind dried the wood, until it snowed and all the wood is now soaked again with the snowdrifts that covered my wood. I guess the good news is that we probably will not run out of wood this year, as the wood does not burn very fast when it is wet.
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