Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category

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Victory Garden vs Industrial Pesticides

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

A few weeks ago, ESP posted an article on the the Organic Garden at the White House (Victory Garden 2009).  Now that garden is under pressure from the pesticide lobbyists.

Refer to the following for opposing points of view:

I sent a message of support to Michelle Obama (see below for the text), using the White House Contact website to send my message. (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Community, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gardening | Comments Closed

Composting: Kitchen & Yard Scraps

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

by Sally Janover

When you compost, what goes around truly does come around.

There are many ways to compost.  You can find a wide variety of suggested methods for composting on line, in books, at gardening events and at nurseries.  If you’re just starting out, it could be confusing, sound complicated or seem too time consuming.  

I’ve been composting for many years, in many states, on large and on very small properties.  I’m a busy person, but one with an environmental conscience, so there’s no way I could not recycle my food scraps, fall leaves and other “mulchables” from my kitchen and my yard.   (more…)

Posted in Compost, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gardening | 1 Comment »

Composting: Yard Waste

Monday, April 6th, 2009

The following article was published by the Daily InterLake in October, 2008. David Brown is a health researcher from Kalispell; his blog is Nutrition Science Analyst.

See also his comment to the post:  “Composting Author Wanted.”

Fall Composting of Yard “Waste”

by David Brown

October is a month of opportunity for gardeners as well as those who appreciate beautiful lawns and landscaping. Trees preparing for winter remove nitrogen from their leaves and store the nutrient in buds and stems to reuse when warm weather returns. This causes leaves to change color and eventually detach and fall to the ground. (more…)

Posted in Compost, Gardening | Comments Closed

Composting: Author wanted

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

We have received a few queries about composting:.  Shelli at Yellow Bay wanted to know if meat could be added to compost; Keith (our Brew Master) wants to know more about vermicomposting.  And the question has come up at a few gatherings.

Is there anyone in our ESP community who could write a post about composting? You don’t really have to be an expert, you just have to have experience with the topic.  And having photos to illustrate your text really helps.

The post could describe various ways to compost, what to include (or not to include), how to ensure it gets warm enough to make good compost, how to ensure it gets adequate air and moisture, benefits of adding and encouraging worms, etc.

If you are interested, send your draft to Catherine (cat(at)essentialstuff.org — email disguised), along with how you’d like your name to appear, as the author.

If you have the expertise but don’t want to write it up, lets get together.  You describe, I’ll take notes and then write it up for you.

Posted in Compost, Gardening, Home & Ranch | 4 Comments »

Community Garden at St. Patrick’s (Ferndale)

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Introduction

by Catherine Haug

St Patrick’s Episcopal Church is planning a community garden as a mission project for the Ferndale (and larger) community.  The initial plots will not be ready for planting until next year (2010), as there are many issues to be resolved first.

Please contact Catherine if you are interested in volunteering to get this project off the ground. (more…)

Posted in Community, Community Garden, Ecology, Gardening | Comments Closed

Native Mason Bee Motels/Hotels/Condos

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Mason Bee at nest; img_0508_1_3_crop-bee; John Holbrook, MissoulaNative Mason Bees

by Catherine Haug

A wood-nesting wild bee native to the Pacific Northwest and western Montana, mason bees are gentle, non-aggressive, gregarious, busy, and quite productive.  Because they don’t have a hive to defend, they are very docile, and sting only if squeezed; but be wary if you are allergic to bee stings.

Mason Bees are also more efficient pollinators than European Honey Bees.  It takes fewer than 500 Mason Bees to pollinate an acre of fruit trees – to get that same result with Honey Bees requires up to 120,000 bees! (from a Washington State University pdf file).

Attract these bees to your yard by providing bee houses, and abundant blooming plants (preferably native).  Learn more at ESP’s Earth Day Gathering, “Pollinators and Their Habitat,” April 22, 2009, 7 PM at Clementine’s in Bigfork.

Photo Story of Mason Bee Motels, from John Holbrook

(more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Ecology, Gardening, Home & Ranch | Comments Closed

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