Hello Friends,
This is a followup on my previous diaries about my garden. This takes a look at some problems I've been having and then finishes with some pictures of local flowers and a couple news articles I found interesting. Click on any picture to see the largest size.
Is this just a baby fly or something more serious on my young bok choy?
Who's doing this? (bok choy)
or this? (pear tree)
Who do these guys on my fuji apple tree think they are?
I might have to introduce them to some friends of mine fifteen feet away at the red delicious tree.
This has been my major nemesis, attacking one of my navel orange trees.
The nursery I go to swears that these ants are eating scale insects. I've now sprayed them with Organicide, and after that didn't work, I sprayed with Master Nursery Pest Fighter which is 1% Petroleum Oil. I've sprayed it down multiple times with water, because I heard the ants are attracted to something sticky the scale insects make. No luck so far. You can see the parts of the leaf that are being eaten, as well as the ant in the orange flower.
Chardonnay Grape Leaf (I think)
Raspberry Leaves
Blackberry growing like crazy
[http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3617/3397051474_e0b1fe0252_b.jpg
Strawberries are better this year than ever
Crimson Red (Table) Grape Leaves. These are growing so nicely.
Not sure what this flower is, great color though.
Butterfly on Blackberry
Best picture of the day
I was gonna take more but the battery died. So I'll make this a two parter and finish it tomorrow. This is my third year gardening, and everything is going much better than previous years. I still need a lot of help and tips would be greatly appreciated.
NEWS
Aboriginal Ph.D. student's organic farming methods spreading
Watan Talu, 30, a Ph.D. student at National Chengchi University's Department of Ethnology, is also a pioneer in organic farming in the mountains of northern Taiwan's Hsinchu County, where he grew up.
Watan's "moonlighting" into farming was mainly influenced by his father, formerly a Christian clergyman who abandoned toxic fertilizers and pesticides 20 years ago for "poison-free" replacements after his wife was diagnosed with liver, colorectal and pancreatic cancer.
"The doctor who treated mother thought she was an alcoholic and had drunk too much substandard liquor, " Watan recalled.
But Watan said his father knew better than anybody else that his mother's health had not been damaged by alcohol, but that she had been exposed to too much toxic chemicals, he said...
Watan composts grass and legumes that he cuts from the mountains, as well as fallen cherry blossoms that he collects from the wild, and Chinese herbal products such as Danggui and cinnamon to turn those ingredients into enzymes.
He then dilutes those enzymes into liquid fertilizers and sprays them on his farmland, from which biologically clean crops are produced...
Watan also uses recycled grass and flower compost to feed chickens he raises in his farm, making poultry farming a by-product of his organic operations...
What pleased him most is that Atayal farmers in other villages in the mountains have begun to seek his instructions on how to produce natural enzymes with plants that Mother Nature gave them, Watan said.
Cherry blossom from Hsinchu, Taiwan
Michelle Obama Goes Organic and Brings in the Bees
Going organic in the White House was easy. Both Bubba's and W's kitchens did that with purchases from local farms and a nearby organic market. But homegrown fare, like what first lady Michelle Obama hopes to produce with her new spring vegetable garden on the South Lawn—now, that's more complicated. And not just because crops have to be planted and tended. Washington isn't really known for its population of honeybees, the buzzy bugs needed for pollination. So—you guessed it—the first-ever White House beehive has been installed.
Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter for 25 years, is now the First Beekeeper. He got the ball rolling when he told some of the East Wing staff about his hobby. "I was thinking about how cool it would be to bring bees to the White House," Brandts says. Word made it to chef Sam Kass, who asked Brandts if he could make White House honey to use in Obama family recipes. On Tuesday, Brandts brought in one of his hives and put it near the garden.
I love to see the group that our fantastic first lady spoke in front of at the groundbreaking ceremony last week.
Mrs. Michelle Obama, Tear.... Down Up.... That.... Grass!
This is really cool, the first beekeeper I love that! Oh boy but the dissent in the comment section is ugly.
The Bees are Nice
I am a hobbyist beekeeper and I beleive there needs to be more backyard beekeepers. Especially since the arise of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder. However, does any single individual actually believe that this first woman (I refuse to call her a lady) is actually going to tend this garden. Please, at least some hardworking gardner will get a good job on the whitehouse lawn.
Ugh, fucker.
USDA to provide funds for Neb. organic farming
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - There's good news for Nebraska's organic farming industry.
The state Department of Agriculture has announced that it will receive funding for certified organic producers and processors through the USDA's cost-share program.
Producers and processors can receive reimbursement for up to 75% of the costs of obtaining or renewing organic certification, up to $750. The certification must have been obtained between October 2007 and September 2008.
Nebraska was allocated $60,000, which will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications are due by April 30.
The last time the state was able to disburse funding through the program was in 2005 and 2006, when it gave out $35,000.
Crossposted at LaVidaLocavore Dot Org Come by sometime and read/write a diary about Food, Gardening, Health, Sustainable Agriculture, and so much more.