27May 2008 by Farmer No Comments

Let It Rot: Five Guidelines For Composting

Organic Gardening, Soil & Compost
Compost is what is left over when organic matter decomposes. Organic matter can be things like vegetable scraps, leaves, mown grass and any other garden waste. This material will decompose without any assistance at all, though you can help it along and enjoy the benefits of compost faster if you wish. Because it doesn't contain a high level of essential nutrients, compost is not considered an actual fertilizer. Instead, it is treated as a soil conditioner or amendment. Compost does supply many good things to the soil. It attracts beneficial creatures like earthworms and it improves the soil composition. Cold composting is basically just making a pile and letting it sit in the bin. This takes longer than hot composting. Hot composting is when you take a shovel and turn…
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23May 2008 by Farmer No Comments

Health is a blessing that money cannot buy

Health, Healthy Eating
One of the key ingredients for a great life is good health and good health is derived from good nutrition. One part of good health is exercising right and the other is to eat right. The risk of acquiring diseases can be reduced by controlling the diet and the amount of intake of certain foods. While most of us eat for taste, we forget the nutrition value of the same. Fruits: Why Fruits? To start with, they are the most natural form of food. Most fruits contain water, fiber, proteins and vitamins that are required for our day to day life and they are fat and cholesterol free. Citrus fruits can help detoxify your body. Eating fruits directly may have a better health effect as opposed to fruit juices that…
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13May 2008 by Farmer No Comments

How To Make the Garden Soil More Acid

Soil & Compost
Lowering Soil pH Reduction of pH levels tends to be a more expensive and complicated process than increasing them. There are, however a couple of "emergency measures" which are sometimes used to good effect. These are outlined later. There are no specific chemicals which can safely be applied to the soil to make it more acid, so the acids must come from increased quantities of organic matter as they are decomposed by soil bacteria. The use of acid natured fertilizers will also help. The speed at which organic matter breaks down is affected by soil type, temperature and bacterial content, so the amounts required can only be approximated. Organic methods for lowering Soil Ph To reduce the pH by approximately 1.0 unit, use: Peat: dug into soil at the rate…
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13May 2008 by Farmer No Comments

Dog Eats Chick

Chickens, Our Homestead
Okay, dogs gotta eat. But I feed them well, I feed them 'good' dog food. I spend entirely too much money on it. Fresh chicken was not what I had in mind. We're not certain if it was the Lab or the Doberman. Heck, it could have been the cat, but one thing is certain, one is gone and there are feathers all over the yard. Poor baby chicks. Probably scared them to death.
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