Life is Popping Out All Over

My goodness it’s loud in this garage!

Forty-three healthy, hungry, active chicks tend to make a considerable amount of noise.

The sounds of life . . . I love it!

Add to that sound the sound of 150 quail chicks.

Let me tell ya, it’s noisy as hell in here.

And the worms . . . let me tell you about the worms!

WORM TEA

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I just need to do it again because, quite frankly, I don’t know why any gardener would bypass this opportunity.

I just made my first batch of worm tea yesterday.  The whole process consisted of emptying out the bottom of the tote into a jar. Total elapsed time, five minutes.  I now have a quart of the best natural fertilizer known to man . . . maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

The point is, I don’t do any work with these worms.  I toss in vegetable scraps after our meals, water the whole colony a couple times each week, and then sit back and let the little squigglies do their thing.

And they have already doubled, so I have enough to start selling, or I can simply start a new colony and gather up more worm tea and worm castings.

It’s all good, and the whole process takes up the space of a plastic tote.

THANKS TO A FRIEND

A friend of ours, Ian, came over and gave us some tips on pruning our berries, grapes, and fruit trees.  Ian works with Bev down at the farm & garden center, and the guy is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about gardening.  Anyway, he helped us out, we followed his suggestions, and now we are ready for a new growing season. Thanks, Ian!

It’s nice to have friends in high places!

UPDATE . . . three new quail babies while I wrote this much…they are a day early…such is nature!

RABBIT TEA

I was feeling energetic yesterday so I also made up a batch of rabbit tea.  A couple shovels of rabbit poop in a bucket…add water…allow to steep overnight…five gallons of liquid fertilizer is the result.

NEWS FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

Evidently severe weather in Italy, Spain, and Greece has done damage to the olive crop, and that means that prices will skyrocket for olive oil about six months down the road.

I mention that only because, if you are like me and you believe in global warming, I think we are going to see quite a few stories like this one, and we will see quite a few more prices skyrocket among vegetables and fruits.

Which is one more reason to get involved with urban farming and big-time gardening.

SEATTLE

I mentioned this on Facebook but it’s worth mentioning here a well.  The city of Seattle is about to become the first major city in the United States with an edible forest in the downtown area.  Citizens will be able to walk along trails and eat nuts, berries, and fruit from the trees and bushes.

I don’t know how you feel about it, but I think this is a wonderful idea and I just wish more cities would get onboard and do something like that…it not only helps the homeless but it also moves a city that much closer to sustainability, and sustainability is something every community should be striving for.

Honestly, I don’t have much faith in the Federal Government.  I think if we’re waiting for the boys and girls in D.C. to take care of our needs, we are in a world of hurt.  What we need is more community involvement, and programs like this edible forest are the kinds of things that any town or city can do.  It just takes a devoted advocate willing to get the ball rolling.

Perhaps you are such an advocate?

AND SPEAKING OF BEING AN ADVOCATE

Does your town have a farmers market? How about a community garden?  If not, how about you taking the reins of that horse and going for a ride?  Most times, things like a farmers market or a community garden don’t exist simply because someone hasn’t taken the time to get them started.  Are you an organizer?  Are you a coordinator?  Can you take a bunch of diverse people and bring them together for a common goal?  If so, what’s holding you back?  I’m full of ideas and suggestions if you are interested in starting either of these projects.

HOW’S YOUR SOIL?

That’s not too personal a question, is it?

If you haven’t amended your soil yet then you really need to get out there and do so. Good soil means good crops.  Bad soil means meals at McDonalds.  The truth according to Bill.

Compost . . . mulch . . . rabbit poop . . . that’s all you need.

Get busy!

GOTTA GO, MORE BABIES POPPING OUT

Sorry to cut this short but babies could care less about blogging.

I’ve got work to do!

And I didn’t even mention the Urban Farming coloring book I’m almost finished with.  Wouldn’t it be amusing and rather ironic if the coloring book far outsold my five novels?

Bill