Gardin' Guards

 We sanded...

and painted whirligig parts to vibrate the earth to deter moles and mice

...and learned about using ground eggshells to stymy slugs.

marigolds, tansy, and garlic to inhibit insect invaders,

urine, soap, human hair, and blood to discourage deer and ward off wabbits!

AND the watchful eye of a friendly scarecrow/garden goddess!

Organic Gardening

At 10:30 a group of back yard gardeners gathered in the Local Farm barn. With excavations underway we felt and smelt four different kinds of soil.
Then we put a blend of the four in pots. A little sand on the bottom for drainage and then the dirt.
After we a filled our pots we went over to a table on which Debra had three plants for us.

Monarda

Lemon Balm
Wooly Mint
Each family could take one or two of each.

After we had our plants we put a few leaves of lemon balm and mint into jugs of cold water so that by lunch we would have a cold refreshing tea.


Then we trekked out to the garden.
Debra had cold-frames set up with Mitzuna, Chamomile and Borage growing in them, we could take one or two of these as well.

Debra has cleared her garden using various methods, where the cold frames are she had kept chickens in a coop.

We put out a sheet of black plastic to kill the sod. In the plastic we poked holes and planted baby squash plants.
After that we went back to the barn and had a lovely lunch.

When we were done with lunch we went back out to the garden and planted some seeds.
A friend is raising young plants for sale and brought the back of her car full.



Dear Friends:

We have many plants for sale this season. Click on our website for a list of plants.

www.perryhillfarm.com

Perry Hill Farm grows plants very differently. Our seedlings are grown in our own compost, made from our organically fed livestock's manure instead of a sterile potting mix. Our soil is not tilled, which is better for the environment. Our produce is grown in permanent raised beds and is co-planted with mutually beneficial plants. We have a garden insectary, which is small garden plot of flowering plants designed to attract beneficial insects. Those beneficial insects devour many common garden pests. This natural approach, combined with co-planting is Perry Hill Farm's safe alternative to pesticides.

We want to make gardening easier for you. Each plant is grown in a CowPot ready to be put into the dirt. No need to pull the plant from the pot to disturb it's roots....you plant the whole thing! CowPots are made nearby in Connecticut and of course, the plants are grown right here at Perry Hill! For more information on Cow pots please see link at the bottom of this email.

Pricing:

Large six packs of plants are $4.49 each.

5" pots are $3.99 each

Our main goal for the farm is environmental stewardship, while producing organically grown food and plants. We do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers and use sustainable practices. We have signed the NOFANY farmers pledge and we are working towards our certification with the USDA. Many of the plants are open-pollinated heirloom varieties and the seeds were purchased from Turtle Tree Seeds or High Mowing seeds. All of the purchased seeds are certified organic and even some are bio-dynamically certified. A few of the plants were propagated at Perry Hill Farm.

Call or email me to arrange to pick up the plants. vharkness@perryhillfarm.com 845.877.7021

CowPots

From CowPots website:

Created by two ingenious dairy farmers, CowPots are a revolutionary pot made with 100% renewable composted cow manure. CowPots are manure-fiber based seed starter pots, which allow for unrestricted root growth creating stronger, healthier plants. These earth-friendly “pots you plant” are an exciting high-performing alternative to plastic and peat pots.

The CowPot manufacturing process removes all weeds, pathogens and odor. All that’s left is the natural fiber and goodness of manure: the perfectly plantable pot!

Please feel free to pass on this email. If you wish to not receive anymore emails from Perry Hill Farm, please let me know.

Here's to a great gardening season!
Vicki



For more Motherhouse events go to www.motherhouse.us

Organic Gardening Resources

Vicki sent this photo of our boys in their bean planting parade... and two links to organic seed sources:
HighMowingSeeds is the business started by Tom Stern of Sherman, CT who once helped Debra out on Local Farm during a break from college. The business is in Wolcott, VT.
TurtleTreeSeeds is out of a Camphill Community in Copake, NY.
Vicki plants her seedlings in cowpots from the Freund Family Farm in East Canaan, CT. Other useful links she thought we might be interested in are:
Hay Bale Gardening and no-dig-gardening. An example of another type of no dig garden....a living wall..... not your veggies but pretty to look at: is at woollypocket(She wonders if you could plant some veggies...herbs, greens in those pockets and stack. Perfect for balcony in the city or apt building.) And the NY Times just had an article on living walls at:2010/05/06/garden.
Two links about companion gardening: OrganicGardening and ghorganics
At the workshop, we separated and transplanted three plants from the mint family. Photos and links to information about their uses as herbs follow.

Lemon Balm:
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lemon_balm.htm

Here in my home garden, you can see how the plant remains fairly compact and not overly invasive.





Red Bee Balm:

oswego_tea
Here you can see how red bee balm or monarda loves to spread and fill and area.




Woolly mint::
or Apple_mint
This plant is SO prolific that I keep it confined to pots on my porch... Even so it tries to escape as you can see by this sprout coming from the drainage hole in the pot bottom!



Plants we transplanted from seedlings started in a cold frame were:

Borage is an excellent bee plant. Its leaves can be steeped in water for a cooling beverage like we did with the mint leaves. Both the flowers and new baby leaves can be used in salads.







German Chamomile: will blossom with tiny daisy-like flowers with yellow centers. These can be picked and dried for a soothing tea to help induce sleep or relieve a stomachache.




Calendula, a resinous plant that is good for the skin. Blossoms can be dried and prepared like tea for a soothing wash or merely wilted and then steeped in oil as a primary salve ingredient.


Plants we picked, washed and added to our salad were:



mitzuna, a cultivated slightly biting Asian green that is delicious raw or cooked,







and volunteer lamb's quarters that can be used like spinach.





Haven sent this link about our mystery "weed," SweetFlag or Calamus. She warns that it is considered carcinogenic.For a list of plants and prices that Vicki has for sale, check out her website PerryHillFarm.
To see Debra's favorite recipe for smoked cheese, scroll down through Care for Cows to about page 13.
Our next Old Style Life-Skills workshop will be Eggs-perience Chickens on June 12.

Organic Gardening: Peas & Cues

At Organic Gardening: Peas & Cues, a workshop in Motherhouse's Old Style Life Skills Series (OSLSS), we learned a few simple ways to start a garden from scratch, discourage garden pests, feed the soil and extend the growing season. The Workshop was at Local Farm, in Cornwall Bridge, CT.

What exactly is organic gardening? Debra Tyler, who led the workshop, said that when you garden organically you think - not only are the plants alive, the soil is alive too; and you work in harmony with Nature. The key to organic gardening is creating and keeping a healthy balance in your garden.


The soil is the basis for everything that grows in our gardens, and it is indeed alive. Feeding the soil by adding organic matter such as compost, manure, chopped leaves, and mulches insures that your plants have a good foundation for healthy growth.

At the workshop, we constructed a compost bin out of wooden pallets. Position the bin near your garden and tie the sides together. For one year fill your bin with a balanced mixture of: green stuff (high in nitrogen) to activate the heat process in your compost, such as weeds, grass cuttings, chicken manure, and table scraps; and brown stuff (high in carbon) to serve as the fiber for your compost, such as fallen leaves, dead plants, cardboard, old straw and hay.

In the following year, make another bin and fill that with green stuff and brown stuff, leaving the first bin to decompose. In the third year, start yet another bin, fill that, and so on, year after year. In the third year you will have compost for your garden in the first bin. In fact, in three years, even the wooden pallets and twine will have deteriorated. If you follow this system, you will always have compost to feed your soil.





Using a cold frame extends the growing season. This cold frame was built with 2 by 12s and 2 by 8s. When designing a cold frame, use whatever old storm windows or storm doors you can come by, which will determine the size of your cold frame. This one uses four windows set side by side. A cold frame usually has a slope to the top of the frame, and it’s best to have the low side facing south to capture as much of the sun as possible. This slope also helps rain water run off the top.



To make an "instant" garden, without digging and tilling, lay down cardboard, as you see we did at the workshop. The cardboard keeps the sun from the sod. Put layers of hay, compost, ashes.... anything you would put in your compost bin on top of the cardboard. This no-dig, no-till organic gardening method results in rich, fluffy soil with very little work from the gardener! If you start such a garden in spring or summer, you will need to add layers of compost or topsoil, so that you can plant in the garden right away.



Here we are learning how a chicken tractor can help with organic gardening. A chicken tractor is a bottomless, portable pen. By setting this wherever you need help - or want a garden - the chickens peck and scratch the soil, eating the bugs, grass, and weeds. Without a cage bottom, the chicken manure goes directly onto the ground and becomes fertilizer. The chickens are happy and by putting them in the garden, they become your personal garden helpers, so you will be happy too!


Gardening in a bale of hay? Try it! Bales that have been sitting out in the weather will give you a head start because the bales need to rot before you plant in them. Debra thinks the bales need 4 to 6 weeks out, getting wet, before planting. (You may be able to accelerate this by keeping the bales watered.) Plant young seedlings by pulling apart the bale, using a trowel, and depending on the state of the straw, put a handful of compost soil in too, then let the straw go back into place. Seeds can be planted on top if you put a layer of compost soil there first. Debra is going to plant cucumbers in these bales.


Companion planting is an age old tradition and we discussed it at the workshop. It’s a gardening technique that involves planting two or more plants near each other to derive some type of benefit. That benefit could be more vigorous growth, higher yield, repelling pests or attracting predators of common pests.



Handy items and resources for organic gardening are available on Motherhouse Market.