There’s plenty of folks who have an instinctive dread of spiders. But we all know that the spider’s main interest is catching and eating insects… insects that we might not want around. So we encourage spiders on our place…. we’ve got lots of them.
It is so amazing to see the work that spiders do….. very industrious creatures they are.
A friend who is a drug and alcohol counselor sent me this video below
One of the delights and also inconveniences of the US is the hodge-podge of laws and customs. Often these vary as much between states as they do between countries in Europe.
On occasion we as a people get together and hand over ‘blanket-authority’ to the federal government to consolidate laws regarding one issue or another into a set of standards determined by the Federal government. Of course, when we do this, the federal government also enforces, and regulates these laws. And the federal government being what it is, we can expect that it will not do a good job dealing with the small issues… or rather, they also focus on ‘small issues’ with blanket provisions that over-rule any objections based on individual circumstances.
Now in addition to the feds poking around.. farmers are having to deal with investigators hired by the large grocery distributors. They are on a quest to make the food supply safe by removing vegetated borderlands from farms, borderlands that might harbor wildlife and insects that might cause a ‘preception’ of problems. This of course comes down hardest on organic farmers who usually try to have some buffer lands with flowering brush and grasses that would harbor a beneficial insect population.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
I was looking some info on soil chemistry up, and going to a page of links…. I saw they had a link to a paper I wrote some years ago. It was fun seeing my whimsical piece put up with ‘The Big Boys’.
Here’s some of what they wrote about the piece… “Despite being a .com website, there is so much detail and interesting information that reading through it is well worthwhile. “
Well, thanks guys and gals. And ‘thank-you’ to all the researchers who do the important sleuthing work on soil and agrarian research. The same goes for the academics who compile and publish the results, and disseminate the knowledge that helps us produce more food while working within the parameters of soil and environmental constraints.
No one plans to fail… they just fail to plan,
Learn from the best.
I’m a big fan of ‘Growing the right stuff at the right place’. Just as a human is more comfortable and productive with the proper foods, shelter and temperature, so to will your garden grow better if you have plants and a plan appropriate to your area.
California and other ‘Mediterranean-climate’ plants will do well in most of California. If you pick the right kinds of plants, plant them in the properly amended soils, with an efficient irrigation system, you will have a landscape that is attractive, low-maintenance, easy on water and fertilizer and with few pest problems.
You can find out a lot about how to choose and plant the proper plants at the classes given by the Middlebrook Gardens people.. I highly recommend their counsel.
11/22 & 23 Designing Native Garden Workshop
Designing, Building & Managing a NativeGarden
A series of do-it-yourself classes offered by the California Native Garden Foundation.
Date/Time:
Saturday, November 22nd
4:30-6:00 Designing a California Native Garden
6:00-7:00 Discussion and Question and Answer session
Sunday, November 23rd
10:00-3:00 Garden Tour of private native gardens in San Jose
Where: The California Native Garden Foundation, and various gardens
76 Race Street, San Jose, CA 95126
Class location is hosted by Middlebrook Gardens on Saturday.
The California Native Garden Foundation offers a series of classes on how to Design, Build, and Maintain a California Native Garden yourself. These classes will introduce you, the do-it-yourself home gardener, to creating a sustainable, low-maintenance, and water conserving garden around your home.
In “Designing, Building and Managing a Native Garden” you will learn how to start visualizing your native garden, learn how to incorporate native plants, learn which native plants are right for your yard, and get many design ideas for your project. This class will be taught by Alrie Middlebrook who has more than 30 years experience as a professional landscaper and author.
The Garden Tour will feature three private gardens in the San Jose area where you see hands on how each garden reflects the natural environment around it, and learn from the designer first hand about garden styles and how each garden was constructed.
Cost:
One or more Classes and/or Garden Tour: $40 for members, $65 for non-members.Please RSVP to reserve your spot.
All proceeds go to support the work of CNGF.The purpose of the California Native Garden Foundation is to change the way Californians garden to be more sustainable.We teach Californians how to use native plants to create a garden that mimics the natural environment, saves water and energy, and creates wildlife habitat.We work with local schools to assist in the creation of native demonstration gardens, and teach young people about ecology.Please help us by joining the foundation today!
We’ve received a request for cactus fruit to be brought into Canada. We also got a request from a salsa maker to see if we could supply them with freshly diced cactus for their salsa (that’s a good idea, and I’ve been wanting to explore making our own Rivenrock Salsa). There can however be many issues to deal with in either of these ‘more advanced’ marketing strategies.
One is the fact that international shipping can involve a great deal of inspections and permits to ensure that the plants/material being moved are not infected with any noxious organisms, and also that the materials being moved are not classified as endangered species or prohibited materials. There are some instances where we’ve been able to move things into other countries with a modicum of difficulty, meaning it was difficult enough that I don’t wish to do it again unless they are a huge buyer like the ‘Sultan of Oman’ who bought from us in 2001. Other times we’ve hit endless stone walls, and finally gave up because the small rewards were not worth the great effort and months of negotiations. (It took seven months to arrange the shipment to Oman, and we had to pay fees, and permits, and back and forth e-mails with Washington DC, etc)
The other issue deals with hygienic practices in reference to slicing and dicing the cactus. We are authorized to pick cactus in the field, and place it into boxes and ship it out. But setting up a table alongside the field and dicing the cactus is not something that would be considered hygienic (in the USA). It has been suggested that I give the cactus over to a local Mexican deli to be diced. But if I give it to them, I cannot be sure the cactus I gave over is indeed the cactus I get back diced.
It is for those reasons that I contacted our local Agricultural Department for advice. This is a branch of the government set up to help people like me comply with the laws and regulations. When I have a question they are always quick to answer it and give me their input as to ‘ best practices’. Luckily I have a good working relationship with them, they come and inspect our premises a couple of times a year to make sure we have no pest outbreak, and they inspect material we have going out when it needs to be done.
To be sure, these laws and regulations are onerous, and chew up a great deal of time and effort, usually to find that the cost of the venture due to the regulations that must be satisfied is so high that the profit is so low that I’d be better off staying on the couch drinking beer. But yet, all it takes is one ‘bad bug’ entering a country to wreak havoc on a grand scale… one virus being transported in the body of a critter in an apple from another continent that emerges ready to transmit some new viral disease to an unprotected host.
So yes, I support these laws regardless of the huge costs and labor and time issues they cause… it’s one of those issues where you have to ‘consider the alternative’. And if I were want to be a Sci Fi writer, I could come up with some horrendous virus stores…. yep, I don’t want to be the guy who brought something deadly to another country.
It is in that vein that I responded back to our local officials this morning when I got their answers….
“Thank you very much for all the ‘leg work’ you do for me and others like me. Having you folks respond so well, makes it easier for me to keep on walking the path of ‘following the rules’. You make it so I know them, and know I can always ask if I have any questions. You help me to find ways to do what I need to do, so thanks!
The traceability is something I guess you don’t worry about since unlike ###### the organic certs are not an issue for you in general.
When anyone has the organic material, they should be licensed to handle it…. this is to make sure they understand the rules and the needs and don’t mix organic with non organic materials, etc. For us it’s easy since we don’t hand-it-off to anyone, and all our material is organic. But if I send our cactus to a local deli to be sliced and diced, when they give me a five gallon bucket of cactus afterwards, how do I know it is in fact my own cactus? Some people might think ‘cactus is cactus” and mix mine with another batch. I am big and happy with our organic certs. They are not easy or cheap to get, and being organically certified is very important to our branding. So I must keep these issues in mind.”
So yeah, these rules are a pain, but I’ll keep following them, and the good people at our local Government Agricultural Office do help me to know the ‘rules of the road’.
Join us for a two-day workshop: Learn how to Design, Build and Manage your Native Garden!
Designing, Building & Managing a Native Garden
A series of do-it-yourself classes offered by the California Native Garden Foundation.
Date/Time:
Saturday, September 13th
4:30-6:00 Designing a California Native Garden
6:00-7:00 Discussion and Question and Answer session
Sunday, September 14th
10:00-3:00 Garden Tour of private native gardens in San Jose
Where: The California Native Garden Foundation, and various gardens
76 Race Street, San Jose, CA 95126
The California Native Garden Foundation offers a series of classes on how to Design, Build, and Maintain a California Native Garden yourself. These classes will introduce you, the do-it-yourself home gardener, to creating a sustainable, low-maintenance, and water conserving garden around your home.
In “Designing, Building and Managing a Native Garden” you will learn how to start visualizing your native garden, learn how to incorporate native plants, learn which native plants are right for your yard, and get many design ideas for your project. This class will be taught by Alrie Middlebrook who has more than 30 years experience as a professional landscaper and author.
The Garden Tour will feature three private gardens in the San Jose area where you see hands on how each garden reflects the natural environment around it, and learn from the designer first hand about garden styles and how each garden was constructed.
Cost:
One or more Classes and/or Garden Tour: $40 for members, $65 for non-members. Please RSVP to reserve your spot.
All proceeds go to support the work of CNGF. The purpose of the California Native Garden Foundation is to influence Californians to garden more sustainably. We teach Californians how to use native plants to create a garden that mimics the natural environment, saves water and energy, creates wildlife habitat, and fits beautifully into your neighborhood. We work with local schools to assist in the creation of native demonstration gardens, and teach young people about ecology. Please help us by joining the foundation today!
For more information please contact:
The California Native Garden Foundation
76 Race Street San Jose, CA 95126
(408) 292-9993
info@cngf.org www.cngf.org
California Native Garden Foundation
76 Race St. San Jose, CA 95126, California 95126 | 408-292-9993
It’s really neat to be able to step out and pick a pepper and bring it in to cut and put into the pan with some other good foods…. yeah, I for sure do love to eat.
Bell Peppers like a good soil with plenty of sun. They should be kept on the edge of ‘always moist’. In other words, when the soil is drying out, get water back in it for these guys. But don’t leave it sopping wet all the time. Let it drain out just a bit. In the gravelly soil of the arroyo these are in, I water them once a day, but they don’t get too much because a lot would just wash through the gravel. So they get a half gallon per plant on average.
You can tell from the photos that they do like the conditions. Healthy happy plants are more resistant to disease and pests… so it is worth making the soil a bit extra good, make sure you plant and harvest when the season is right for that activity with that crop….etc. In other words, ‘A stitch in time saves nine’. It’s so much easier to keep the plants growing well in the first place than to have to fret over problems with scroungy plans that are stressed.
I have anAnt Killer we use in the house. It’s a pretty benign little chemical called Boric Acid which you can get at many pharmacies. It’s not the most dangerous thing in the world, but in the interests of self preservation in legal situations, I must encourage you to wear a rubber apron, face shield with chemical goggles, Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, Nitrile gloves, and mix the preparation behind a splash shield and under a ventilation hood… and like any chemical, you should consult the MSDS for proper protection. While you’re at it, make sure you have a properly trained EMT and QA tech to watch you, as well as a Chemical Engineer to read aloud the instructions as you mix. Make sure your chemical Fire Extinguisher is at hand also…. you just can’t be too careful you know.
A friend who knows how well this works, and has seen it in action, recently asked me for the recipe, so I enclose it here for him and others….
Boric acid ant killer recipe follows….
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
1 teaspoon Boric Acid
Bring the water and sugar to a boil and add the boric acid allowing it to dissolve into the water.
Let it cool and it will be a thin syrup.
Pour the syrup into cotton filled containers and place where ants can get to them (which is just about anywhere).
The ants will travel long distances to get the syrup, filling up on it and carrying it to the nest feeding it to the young and the queen. The boric acid is a slow acting killer to ants, you want to let the ants eat it for a couple of days so that they can feed it through the whole colony. So the formulation should not be too strong, or the ants will die before they get back to the colony and feed it to the others there.
We’ve had people telling us they could not stand to ‘feed’ the ants. Yes, sometimes the cup or saucer with this formula will be crawling with tons of ants, all lapping up the syrup excitedly, their little antennae twitching in delight as the ravenously inhale the sweet dessert you have made specially for them. Then happily, their little syrup filled grocery bags under their little ant arms, they will trot home happy as a pig in mud, eager to share the delectable syrup with their sisters and mama in the colony.
Expect to see a reduction in ants visiting the dispenser after a couple of days. On the third day the few you see are obviously adversely affected by the formula, yet… being the diligent little workers they are, they drag themselves, stumbling and halting to the feeder dish with the life-stealing syrup, their little heads fall into the syrup to fill up, just one more time, to take the syrup back to a colony on it’s last legs.
Yeah, there’s a philosophy to killing ants, and even though it is sad to kill living things, I do need to reduce their numbers to reduce the damage the ants cause to the skin of the cactus. Oddly enough, the ants are one of our greatest environmental problems we have interfering with our production of the very finest cactus. So we work diligently to keep their numbers low. We are organically certified, so we have to stick to name brands of products, so for killing ants, we have for a number of years used the ‘Safers Brand of Ant and Roach Killer’. But to tell ya the truth, I liked my old recipe printed above better. And it’s cheaper to boot! So feel free to make that recipe above, it works right fine and is environmentally responsible.
How often have you ever heard people asking “Why did God create ticks”? Now a daring and bold writer has gone out into the world asking this retorical question to some of the country’s leading scientists. And she put it into an article, go to ‘The Life Story of a Tick’ by Constance Casey for the inside scoop. You will likely find out a lot of little tidbits of tick info.
is one of the pests that causes us some problems in our cactus plantings. The adults eat the tops of the leaves, leaving holes here and there. I suspect that they also lay eggs in the plants and this causes the entire plant to die.
I looked at a number of websites that describe this insect pest, here are some of the best….
OK State University has a short articlethat also shows the insect in its larval stage where it would be described as a white worm or grub. This is the stage where they enter into plants near the ground, and tunneling through cause damage and rot to follow usually killing the entire plant.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service has among the best articles on this little critter.
Yeah, they are a pest alright. And since we are organic, about the only thing we can do is put out sticky traps of yellow. But that would only be a small percentage gain. So we’ve just suffered through it, they are a constant headache, but cause only a small percentage of damage, still, you want all the leaves to be beautiful, but such is never to be. We live in a world in which nearly half the harvest is lost to insects, diseases, animals, mismanagement, theft and confiscation. I guess I’m lucky that all we get is the occasional deer, gopher, ant, scale and cucumber beetle.
Date/Time: 
Date/Time:
The Garden Tour will feature three private gardens in the San Jose area where you see hands on how each garden reflects the natural environment around it, and learn from the designer first hand about garden styles and how each garden was constructed.
