Archive for the ‘Home & Ranch’ Category

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Banning Battery Cages for Hens

Saturday, August 6th, 2011
Orange Yolks

Eggs with Orange Yolks

by Catherine Haug, August 6, 2011

(photo by Keith Blaylock)

I just returned from a trip to Portland and was excited to learn that the Oregon legislature passed SB 805 with overwhelming bipartisan support, and was signed into law on June 17. This law, similar to legislation proposed at the national level (see U.S. Egg Industry & HSUS Collaborate on Federal Legislation for Battery Hens) “sets comprehensive animal care standards for hens,” according to the Oregon Humane Society (2). Will our Montana legislature follow suit? (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Home & Ranch, Livestock, Shop Local | Comments Closed

Hugelkultur – Raised Bed Gardens Filled with Wood

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, July 31, 2011

Thanks to David Brown for telling me about this intriguing idea:  ‘Hugelkulture.’ From Permaculture Articles by Paul Wheaton, on Hugelkultur:

Hugelkultur [a German word] is nothing more than making raised beds filled with rotten wood. This makes for raised beds loaded with organic material, nutrients, air pockets for the roots of what you plant, etc. As the years pass, the deep soil of your bed becomes incredibly rich and loaded with soil life. As the wood shrinks, it makes more tiny air pockets – so your hugelkultur becomes sort of self tilling. The first few years, the composting process will slightly warm your soil giving you a slightly longer growing season. The woody matter helps to keep nutrient excess from passing into the ground water – and then refeeding that to your garden plants later. Plus, by holding SO much water, hugelkultur could be part of a system for growing crops in the desert with no irrigation.

Something to consider as our global climate changes and the Flathead becomes more arid.

See also Paul’s home page to check out some of his other interesting articles: Permaculture Articles by Paul Wheaton (www.RichSoil.com).

Posted in Gardening | 1 Comment »

On Composting, Mulching, Humanure, & Sewage Sludge

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

by Catherine Haug, with David Brown, July 15, 2011

Dave Brown: Sifting compost

(all photos by David Brown unless noted otherwise)

Kalispell gardener and composter David Brown has been conducting composting experiments in his yard for years.  From using a simple hole in the ground which he fills with kitchen and yard waste, to a sophisticated separating toilet, David is a wealth of ideas.

See also his earlier article, originally published in the Daily InterLake: Composting: Yard Waste (11).

(more…)

Posted in Compost, Ecology, Gardening, Home & Ranch | 1 Comment »

Gathering Summary: Cheese Making at Home, A Panel Presentation, June 15, 2011

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, June 20, 2011

(photo by C. Haug)

This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable pdf file: Gathering Summary: Cheese Making at Home, a Panel Presentation).

Presentation Topics

Panel members Fran Wade and Shelli Riedesel demonstrated the following cheese-making processes:

  • Semi-soft cheese from raw milk (Fran)
  • Cream cheese from raw milk (Fran)
  • Hard cheese from pasteurized milk (Shelli)
  • Waxing hard cheese (Shelli)

See also:

(more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gathering Summaries, Home & Ranch | Comments Closed

Recycling Wood or Briquette Ash

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, July 10 , 2011

I have a small wood stove and an old fashioned briquette barbecue, both of which generate ash. In the past I added this to my heavy-duty yard waste (twigs, branches and fir cones) to become part of the compost. But is this the best thing to do? Can ash be added to regular compost? Are there undesirable contaminants in briquette ash? What about ash from burning paper?

As a chemist, I understand that ash is high in mineral content, and as such, is quite alkaline. In fact, wood ash mixed with water produces lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) or potash (potassium hydroxide, KOH) which are used for soap making (and also to preserve cod fish as lutefisk, but I digress). If this is made a part of garden compost, can it be bad for the flowers and veggies?

Topics discussed in this article:

  • wood ash in compost and garden;
  • biochar;
  • other uses for wood ash;
  • briquette ash.

(more…)

Posted in Compost, Home & Ranch | 2 Comments »

Test for hidden poisons in compost, manure, wheat straw

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Test peas affected by herbicide in mulch (yellowing leaves)

[Cat’s NOTE: This post, by ESP gardening presenter Don Bates, concerns herbicide damage to garden crops including tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce and several other crops. The herbicide can be lurking in compost, manure and wheat straw, as well as airborne from sprays. See also my earlier post: Alert: Poisoned Soil, Compost, Manure]

by Don Bates, July 11

(all photos by Don Bates)

Given that many of our ESP community are gardeners, I thought this to be worth posting. It concerns an herbicide which is nearly ubiquitous, and so, probably off people’s radar.

(more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Compost, Gardening, Home & Ranch, Landscaping | 6 Comments »

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