If only I had known the trouble I had sown...

Organic and Ecological gardening relies heavily on an intact bio-sphere of pests and their natural predators. There are literally hundreds of insects and natural allies to become familiar with, and not just identify, but to learn their habitats and provide the conditions to attract these beneficials. In my first potato patch, while hunting down potato beetles and their voracious larvae, I squished anything that looked remotely like the larvae, only to realize later I had been destroying Lady Beetle larvae as well. The next year I saw with new eyes that every new bug I encountered was a potential ally, and began a practice of keeping a digital camera in my pocket so that I could snap a picture of unknown insects and identify them at my favorite site http://www.bugguide.net/.


I had read about the importance of keeping a wild or overgrown areas around the garden to provide habitat for beneficial insects, birds, toads and snakes. And yes, this is true, but I have learned, only in moderation, and only with specific habitat plants. I left a large strip of weeds grow up along the garden last summer, and with the worst characteristic of an organic gardener, I lazily called "habitat", and left standing. This spring, we are over-run with cutworms, and I know why. The Dart Moth, the adult form of the Cutworm, is a night flying moth that prefers to lay it's eggs in dense stands of weeds, like Lamb's Quarters, and I provided the perfect habitat.

I have not yet discovered a single beneficial that requires a habitat of standing weeds, but many are attracted by the other "real" habitat stands that we leave around the garden, consisting of Tansy, Goldenrod, and Evening Primrose. And of course, most of the flowering plants in the garden attract beneficials, like Dill or Carrot flowers. So don't let that lazy voice get the best of you and call any overgrown area of your garden that you haven't gotten around to, a "habitat".


The Cutworms are not the type I have read about, toppling Tomatoes and Beans like tiny trees. These ones prefer Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Beets, Chard, Spinach, Lettuce, and even some Radish and Turnips and one Cabbage. I have had to re-plant many of these crops, and I am blown away by the number of Cutworms in the garden this year. They hide just below the surface, and I have found and hand picked no less than 500 Cutworms from a 3,000 square foot area this spring.


Every morning I look for damage, either wilted seedlings or leaves, as they tend to take off stems above ground.

Nine times out of ten, I find one of these an inch or so below the surface near the root of the damaged plant.

I collect them, and take a rough count, to keep track of the population curve so that I know whether I am getting on top of them.

And then they are breakfast for the hens. What takes me an half-hour to collect, disappears in a matter of seconds. And then they look up for more. We let the chickens scratch over the garden in the fall, but we are looking into building chicken runs, and moving them over the garden in the spring, before planting.I'm not the only one searching out the Cutworms. Fortunately we have most of the natural enemies of the Cutworm in the garden this spring.

The Soldier Beetles are breeding like crazy (they are attracted by Comfrey and Mullein), and are a welcome site. They prey on a number of pest larvae in the soil, including Cutworms and the larval stages of Potato, Cucumber and Flea Beetles when they go under ground to pupate. In fact, there are more Soldier Beetles in the potato patch than Potato Beetles this year. Hooray!

Ground Beetles provide a similar service as the Soldier Beetles, but they are less conspicuous and often go unnoticed.

Firefly larvae also eat Cutworms, and I'm sure they are in the soil because the adults reliably emerge and light up the pasture with their flickering lights in July.

Stink bugs, another Natural Enemy, are just emerging. They also prey upon Potato Beetle larvae and were in abundance in the potato patch last year.

Tachinid Flies and Braconid Wasps are also present in the garden. Just this morning I spotted a cutworm inching along the surface of the garden, a rare occurrence in the daytime. But before I could get to it I noticed a beautiful Ichneumonid wasp (of the Braconid family) swoop down to parasitize the worm. The Cutworm curled defensively and the wasp leaped away, touching down momentarily twice. I don't know how quickly they can deliver their eggs into the worm, but it was definitely on the look out for vulnerable Cutworms such as this one.

This friendly toad was spotted earlier in the spring, most have probably retreated to the cool cover of the mulched areas of the garden by now. But they come out at night and feed on nearly anything that moves, including the night flying Dart Moth.

I hope this Garter Snake, also spotted earlier in the spring, has made a nest in the pile of logs atop a mound of sawdust next to the garden that we leave for snake habitat. Last year we hosted an Eastern Smooth Green Snake, a voracious insect eater.

And last, but not least, our garden is visited by Northern Short Tailed Shews, they also, are insect eaters, and feed on earthworms, as well as other invertebrates. And our tireless kitty prefers to feed on them.

So we have plenty of allies to help control our Cutworm infestation, but as usual, there is a lag between the population bloom of pests and the appearance of predators in sufficient numbers to control the pest. And that's where we, as gardeners, come into the picture. So for now, I will continue to scour the soil, around the problem areas, and keep counts of the number of Cutworms found in 100 square feet, and when I begin to see the numbers decreasing, I will know that my allies have found the feast.

From Coop Poop to Compost

When we muck out the barns in the spring, after a winter of layering bedding, we have a mixture of well composted manure on the bottom and fresh uncomposted manure on top. The fresh layer gets scraped off and moved into one pile, and the composted manure to another. We use the composted manure for top-dressing or working into fine seed beds. But we use the fresher manure in transplanting beds, after speeding up the decomposition process.

Fresh Chicken Manure and Bedding

This compost was at the bottom, and very rich. It is from last summer when we bedded the chicks with Poplar sawdust. It is well rotted and can be used as top-dressing, or worked into carrot, lettuce, herb, or other small seed beds. We moved it directly to the seed beds, if it is not going to be used right away, it should be covered to prevent leeching of nutrients.

This is some of the medium aged compost. The bedding was leftover wheat and rye straw from their shocks of winter grain, after they peck out all the seed heads, so it breaks down slowly.

To break down the straw compost, we begin by spreading the pile into a foot thick windrow, and tilling it a few times. This is best done when the pile is somewhat moist. Do this as early in the season as you can, and till it once a week until it begins to look like compost. If there is a lot of straw in the compost, it will naturally shed rain, minimizing leeching. But when the straw breaks down, that's when it needs to be moved onto the bed (or covered), so that the nutrients will be captured by the soil.

At least a week before you are ready to transplant, spread the compost onto the bed. This is going to be a Tomato bed, so we spread the chicken-manure-and-straw compost 2-3 inches thick. Till the compost in the soil right away, again this is done best when the soil and compost are moist, but just ready to work. Let the bed sit for a week, the worms and bacteria will continue to break down the compost, and any "hot" spots will have a chance to mellow. If the compost incorporates into the soil, as in the picture above, after a week, you are ready to plant.

Dandelion Wine: out to pasture

There's nothing like a good pasture. The grazers and chickens have all gained a bit of weight and upped the production since the pastures have come up. Penelope, the milking goat, only gets a handful of grain to keep her busy while milking, and the chickens only need about half of their winter ration of grain, to produce twice the eggs. We are able to graze, with no supplement of hay or grain from mid-May to about the end of October here.

The kids are 3 months old now, and have been trained to the electric fence, and introduced into the herd. They are slowly integrating into the herd order, which takes a few weeks, and we had to watch that the does don't bully the kids around too much for the first few days. The two specks on the left of the picture below are the kids, then the two does, and of course Pilgrim, "the big goat", and the movable chicken tractor on the right.
The chickens are also much happier on pasture, they have bugs and greens to peck all day, and I think they are healthier, being moved every day onto clean ground, than they are in the barn with heavy bedding. I even have some extra milk or whey to give them, and the five hens often lay five eggs a day. If you look closely at the hen in the center, you can see some glossy green feather tips. The Rhode Island Red heritage is starting to show on the hens as they mature. Two of them look like straight Barred Rock, and two have green tints, and the white hen has thrown to the Rhode Island White heritage of the original ISA Brown commercial hens.

Roosty shows the most coloring, with red feathers and some long green tail feathers too.

There are some excellent Dandelion patches in the hay fields, it makes great hay too, more nutrition than either the Timothy or Red Clover it was sown to. The Dandelion is in full bloom, which means it's time for Dandelion Wine! Last summer I made some Red Clover and Daisy Blossom Wine. It was good, but I think I will like the Dandelion better. I might make a straight Red Clover wine later this summer, the Daisy added a bitter to the wine.

It didn't take long to gather 6 or so quarts of Dandelion flowers. I followed a simple recipe. Pour 6 quarts boiling water over the flowers. Cover and let steep for 24 hours. Strain the flowers out, pressing the liquid through a muslin cloth. Add 3 lbs organic sugar or honey, the grated rind and juice of a lemon and an orange (I don't have fresh citrus, so I use dried orange and lemon peel, and a dozen cardamom pods), and a pound of Golden Raisins. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Dissolve one package yeast in a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar, add to the liquid mixture. Set crock or jar in a warm spot, away from drafts or direct sunlight. Cover loosely, and stir every day for three weeks. Pour into bottles, corking loosely to let excess gas escape, and store in a dark cool room. When fermentation is complete, cork tightly. Ready to enjoy in 6 months.

The golden egg

Eggs! Back on the menu! Our older layers quit mid-December, and our young flock would be ready to start laying eggs this spring. There are no other small farms around us who raise natural eggs, and instead of buying organic eggs from the grocery store, we figured we could go a few months without them. At first it challenged me in the baking department. Most of my dessert recipes call for at least one egg. But in my short life as a vegan, I ate plenty of delicious vegan cookies, so I knew it could be done. I tried my pumpkin cookie recipe without eggs, and they came out just fine, and I continued to experiment with substitutions like applesauce, and adding ingredients like poppy seed and dried blueberries, and spices such as corriander and cinnamon to give the desserts a more distinct flavor, and not just flour, sugar and fat. We missed eggs for breakfast, but oatmeal porridge is our favorite winter breakfast. After a few weeks, eggs were just a pleasant memory that we knew would reappear, like flowers and fresh greens. And the day finally came, two days in a row, an egg in the nesting box!

I cannot do justice to the flavor and savor of our fried egg breakfast this morning. The creamy texture of the yolk... yum, I love my eggs right on top of the toast.


The two hens that layed these eggs are 8 months old, we could have encouraged them to lay earlier with a light in the barn, but it is a cold time of year to start laying eggs, so we let them concentrate their feed on keeping warm and growing to full size, and knew that they would start laying when the light approaches 12 hours. There is another batch of hens just now 6 months old who should start laying eggs this month as well.

This picture was taken a few months ago, they are now grown to full size. This is our first home-incubated brood, we crossed a Plymouth Barred Rock rooster over the commercial laying hen, called Isa Brown, which is a cross between Rhode Island Red and Rhode Island White. They came out with four distinct coloring, some more attractive than others, and had the vigour of hybrid crosses.

This rooster shows the characteristics of both parents, and even has some iridescent green feathers in his tail like the Rhode Island Red. The hens that look like the Barred Rock are just that, and do not have the red and green feathers. And there is a kind of White Barred Rock hen, the one who layed the first egg, who, to be honest, is not the most attractive of the bunch and looks a bit sooty. But she is the biggest hen, and won the prize for the golden egg.

We have been feeding our chickens our own wheat and rye, without any other protein supplement. Last year we ran into problems feeding soy to our chickens, they had underdeveloped organs, and did not gain weight. After doing some research, we decided to cut the soy out of the feed. The wheat and rye are 13-14% protein, and the pullets are growing well. With this mix, we may not get an egg a day on a pure grain diet, but when they are out on pasture, the protein will be supplemented in a more digestible form. This summer we will also be growing more peas and amaranth to add to the winter ration.

So, with eggs and milk back on the menu, I am revisiting old favorite recipes with a greater appreciation. I am also glad to know first-hand that resource rich foods like dairy, eggs and meat can be incorporated as seasonal foods, with a bit of substitution and creativity in the kitchen.

A good stock

A good stock can make any meal taste gourmet. Sometimes I prefer the stock over the actual meat. I know that it is one of the most nourishing foods in my pantry, full of goodness and appetizing flavor and aroma. I pull out a bottle of stock whenever we feel a bit of a winter cold coming on, or when our digestion simply slows down due to the cold temperatures. But I also love to add stock to cooking grains like dry beans, chickpeas or barley. And of course, stock makes a delicious gravy.

There's more to stock than boiled bones. I like to add plenty of herbs, spices and vegetables to the mix. But I never salt it for fear that I will forget, and salt the dish again while cooking.

When making chicken stock I like to add 3 large carrots, a few parsnips, an onion, a bulb of garlic, and a fist full of fresh summery herbs: sage, thyme, oregano, marjoram, parsley, cilantro. I also toss in a few peppercorns.

When making beef stock, I add 3 large onions, a bulb of garlic, and some of the savory spices: a spoonful each of caraway seed, dill seed, coriander seed, a small spoon of cumin seed and peppercorns, and a few dried hot peppers (seeds included). As well as a bit of rosemary and sage.

Put your bones in a large pot and add water just to cover. I let all of the ingredients simmer for a few days on the wood stove, after all the meat and joints fall apart. Simmer long enough to cook the bones thoroughly, because you want all of the marrow and gelatin. I refresh the water level to the original amount when enough of it boils off. Some may not, but I always get a rich broth with a gelatin structure.

When using the bones of large animals you will be able to see when the marrow has been cooked out.

When my stock is ready, I skim off a majority of the fat, reserving it for other uses depending on the animal, fish out the larger bones with kitchen tongs, and filter the broth through a sieve. I pour the stock into canning jars and process them in a pressure canner. The booklet provided with my pressure canner gives the processing time as 25 minutes at 10 lbs pressure, below 10,000 ft altitude. But follow the instructions given with your own pressure canner.

After processing, when the stock is cooled to room temperature, it should be firm and gelatinous. Provided that the animal was mature and healthy. I have found that young broiler chickens do not have much gelatin or marrow in their bones, in fact, they grow so fast that their bones are easy to snap while butchering. Mature hens and older animals will make wonderful stock.

The value of quality: thriving on winter feeds

The next four months, December through March, bring our harshest temperatures and stinging wind. The average overnight temperature for January and February of 2008 was -10C, but we usually get a week-long cold snap or two, dropping to -30C overnight. And we also get a good January rain, melting the top 3 or 4 feet of snow accumulation. Winter can be harsh, and it can be a hardship to survive, but with preparation, including food storage and sheltered buildings, winter can also be a welcomed time of quiet, rest and reflection. It is a counterpoint to the almost frantic pace of a short summer.

Winter can be difficult for our animals as well, after all, chickens were originally jungle-fowl, and goats and horses were originally desert dwellers. Breeding can encourage hardy characteristics like fat coverage, thick fur or down, and high-metabolism, but encouraging these characteristics to develop requires a higher quality of feed. And even hardy animals need a well-sheltered spot in order to thrive. We have designed the barns to shelter the animals from the prevailing wind, as well as taking advantage of the warming winter sun. The hay and grain is stored in the north-west end of the barn to insulate from the wind, and the animals are on the south-east, allowing direct sunlight to warm the pens at first light, dawn being the coldest time of the night. Along with this, the goats and chickens have a low-roofed and well bedded box, inside their pens, in which to sleep. This keeps draughts off of them at night, and takes advantage of the body heat they produce, radiating it back to them.

From here, their ability to thrive is dependent on a high quality diet. Animals, like us, can only eat so much bulk in a day. North American children, who survive mostly on junk-food, have become malnourished, a term we usually only connect with starving children in Sudan and elsewhere. Likewise, if offered only low-quality feed, an animal will become malnourished, fail to thrive, and if still required to produce eggs or milk, will either quit, or do so at the cost of their lifespan.

A quality diet consists of adequate protein, rich in minerals and vitamins, and contains a source of fat as well. Most of us can tell the difference between poor and high quality foods when looking at the raw materials. Whether it is carrots, green beans or hay and grain, common senses can tell us a lot about the quality of a food: color, taste, smell, texture, crispness, etc. Green leafy hay that smells like a summer pasture is obviously better than stalky bleached dusty "hay". The green hay will not only be more appetizing, but will contain all of the essential ingredients of quality feed. A good quality wheat kernel can be distinguished from a poor one by a plump large size, golden color, and a sticky gluten center when chewed between the teeth. Those who purchase their feed, rarely have the opportunity to choose, but rather must rely upon the feed mill to make those choices. In a good grain growing season, the grain market for human consumption can become flooded, and often, high quality grains can overflow to the feed mills. But in not-so-good or even average years, all of the high-quality grains will be used for human consumption, and the leftover, low-protein, low-quality grains trickle down to the feed mills, sometimes at a high price because of a lack of supply due to failed crops.

This situation describes a portion of our motivation to grow our own grains, along with strong concerns regarding food security and the environmental and ecological costs of industrial farming and transportation of the crops. We rented a tractor to cultivate the two acres for our grain in the fall of 2007. But we planted and harvested it by hand. Most of the grain was seeded by broadcasting, but we planted a quarter-acre with a garden seeder to compare yields and coverage between these two methods. Mr. Fritillary harrowed the broadcast seed under with our horse, Pilgrim. The grains eventually started to ripen by late August. I will write more about our grain growing and harvesting, it was a difficult season for grains, with so much rain, we were both lucky and worked hard to bring in a crop at all this year.

We harvested using a combination of techniques, but mostly we harvested with a scythe. In this way, we harvested grain, straw and weeds together. These grain fields being organic, and turned from pasture the year before, the predominance of weeds were vetch and red clover, both valuable high-protein legumes. Too many of these "weeds" make it impossible for a harvester to move through the field and thresh the grain properly, but they presented no problems for our scythes, and they dried out in a matter of hours under a hot sun. The scythed wheat is stored loose in the barn, off the ground, and is almost entirely dust free.

The cured vetch and red clover add food value to the bundles of grain we feed to the chickens, they eat the greens as readily as the grain, and the mixture of greens helps to balance the calcium/phosphorous content of their feed and provides much needed Vitamin A, which can be seen by the deep yellow of their egg yolks. The chickens make quick work of the grain, served in bundles with a box underneath to catch fallen grains and heads. When they have cleaned off all of the heads, the remaining straw is put down as bedding or nesting material, and turned into compost for the garden. The wheat we grew this year is of a higher quality than I can buy from the local bulk store, or the local organic grain mill, which means that it is above 14% protein, perhaps up to 16% protein. Typical feed wheat is between 10-12%. Our high-quality grains mean that we do not need any protein supplements like soya meal (which causes thyroid problems) or linseed meal (which usually contains rancid oil residue).

These are our young pullets, hatched out this summer, from our Isa Brown hens (a common industrial laying hen from a Rhode Island Red crossed with Rhode Island White) and a Plymouth Barred Rock rooster. There are four distinct colorings: black barred, white with grey bars, white with red wing coloring, and red with white feather tips.

The oats are fed mostly to the horse, who eats them straw, chaff and all, and the goats who nibble off the grain heads, leaving the coarse straw behind. Feeding the oats with the chaff or hulls pretty much eliminates the chances of colic in either the horse or the goats. These oats are about 12% protein, but they also contain more sugars and oils than the wheat, which are necessary for the goats who are producing kids as well as keeping warm.

The winter rye was ready to harvest in early August. We planted only 1/4 acre of rye, so we harvested it with a hand sickle, and stuffed it into feed bags, stacked in the barn. The straw of rye is a high quality bedding, it was used to thatch roofs and make horse collars, etc. meaning that it does not readily break down or absorb moisture. We use the straw to bed down the goats, a foot of this underneath them makes for incredible insulation, and they can nest down into it on cold nights.

The goats also make quick work of picking off the rye heads, their nimble mouths find each and every one, leaving behind the valuable straw. Rye is similar to wheat in protein content.

Another feed crop we grew this summer: mangles or fodder beets. They grow just like beets, but much bigger, and higher in sugars and fiber. The green tops were greedily gobbled down by the goats after harvesting the roots. And the roots are stored in our cold room with the carrots and other root crops. The mangles contain some protein, but are primarily a source of energy or sugars, as well as a treat that definitely gets their appetite and digestion working.

We feed the two of them 3-4 lbs a day, chopped and lightly cooked with a tablespoon of molasses. Served warm this way, around 10 am, it provides energy in the morning after a cold night. We do not serve them the mangles first thing in the morning because the goat's ability to produce body heat comes from the digestion of fibers (ie. hay), not sugars. Goats can easily get a chill by eating concentrates (ie. grain or fodder/roots) on an empty stomach. So we give them a chance to get a good belly full of fresh leafy hay in the morning before the mangles and molasses. Pilgrim likes a bite of this too. The molasses also works as a preventive for Ketosis, a metabolic disorder of pregnant or recently kidded goats in which they do not have enough metabolized energy to cover the demands placed on their body. This is just a general definition, for more specific information about ketosis, please read about it from a credible book or website.

Here they are nose-first in the mangles, notice how Penelope's tail (the one in the front) is held straight up, showing her pleasure and appetite. You can also see in the picture the bulges they are growing, late in their pregnancy. Juniper, the little one, is growing well. She especially needs a high-quality diet since she is not only producing a kid or two, but is still growing to full maturity. She is coming along well, both of them have put on thick downy coats, are bright-eyed and have a ready appetite, and have laid down some condition, which they will need to draw upon in the first month of lactation.

Molasses mouth, licking off every last drop.

Well, don't literally put the fridge in the ditch just yet...

For a bit more motivation on the Ditch the Fridge Challenge, I will tell you all of the wonderful uses we have found for our defunct fridge and freezer...

The first fabulous use of the freezer was as a chick brooder. We turned the freezer on it's side, so that the door opened like a hatch, and the largest surface area (the side of the freezer) was now floor space for the chicks. We laid down cardboard and some coarse sawdust, installed a light bulb on the ceiling (after snipping the electrical cord to the freezer, and re-using it to splice on a light fixture). And screwed in an eye-hook on the door, and a latch, that holds the freezer door open just a bit to allow ventilation. For the first few days the chicks needed supplementary heat. We use hot water to radiate heat. I made a slip pillow to put around a 5 gallon bucket (any bucket, or pot, with a tight fitting lid that fits inside the freezer, and will not be needed again in the house, will work). The pillow around the bucket keeps the chicks from burning their selves as they warm themselves against the bucket, the same as they would under a heat-lamp. For about a week I refreshed the bucket with not quite boiling water, just to the steaming and tiny bubble phase, twice a day. As early in the morning as I could, and as late in the evening, to keep them warm over night. We had a thermometer in there and it kept at a pretty consistent 30-32C. Watching to make sure that it doesn't get too warm when a fresh bucket is installed, in which case I would open the door a bit more, and close it again when it stabilized. After a week, the chicks started making their own heat, and as the freezer is designed as an excellent insulator, their own heat was radiated back to them, and the hot water buckets were no longer needed. At two weeks I had the door open about 6 inches during the day, with a clear plastic window to keep them from hopping out, installed like a child's barrier 3/4 of the height of the opening, again to allow ventilation. By the end of three weeks, the chicks were gradually exposed to outside temperatures, and ready to be moved out of the brooder.

Encouraged by our success with the brooder, we tried it as an incubator. It was a bit harder to keep it up at 37-39C than it is to keep it at 30C, meaning boiling water changed more often. I also made the latch to close the door tight to hold heat well, and taped small sticks around what would be the top edge of the freezer, so that when the lid was closed, the rubber seal around the lid was held out enough to make ventilation gaps. And by moving the freezer-incubator to a part of the house where the temperatures fluctuates less, we were able to incubate eggs without power! The best part about using hot water as a heat source is that it is also a source of humidity. The humidity meter read at a constant 50-60%.

Now for the fridge, when we moved the young chicks outdoors, they still needed a warm place to huddle at night, so we put the fridge on it's side and took off the door. By propping the door against the fridge so that it covered 3/4 of the opening, and just left a gap for the chicks to go in and out, we had a cozy little spot for the larger chicks to keep warm at night.

Now the fridge has been measured and evaluated as a kid box. For the first two weeks of the kid's life, they cannot produce their own heat very well, and need an insulated box to keep warm. Our fridge was a small model, and is not quite adequate, but if it were a full size fridge, it would work very well as an insulated hidy-hoe for kids and lambs.

They also make convenient storage containers for potting soil or as instant raised beds for urban potato growers, etc (You will just have to work out the drainage issue). And in spring can be used as cold frames for transplants. With glass or plastic over the top, and the lid off in the daytime, they will keep plants insulated, holding the heat from the sun like a greenhouse. Just put the lid on at night to keep the frost out. Of course you can also add coffee cans or plastic bottles of hot water at night and on cloudy days to keep them growing.

Or the fridge/freezer can be turned into a big sophisticated version of my camp cooler, with a small pump running cold well water into the basin, and an overflow pipe running water away, to keep your perishables fresh.

Any other ideas?

So next time you see a defunct fridge or freezer in the ditch on big-garbage day, and you have already used up all of your own fridges and freezers for various brooders and cold-frames, you can rescue even more from landfill. And you get a free extension cord thrown into the bargain.