Preventing Apocalypse

Dried beans like borlotti, cannellini and kidney beans, will store well and keep you fed and healthy through the winter. Not only that, they are healthy for the soil. Pulses, peas and beans, are known as nitrogen fixers. 70% of the atmosphere is nitrogen and is usually not in a form plants can access. Pulses can 'fix' nitrogen into the soil by photosynthesis, as it does with carbon, and collects on the roots for form root nodules. Soil bacteria access the root nodules to feed other plants and should be incorporated in your planting plan for next season. "Leafy greens planted after beans will thrive." This is also why you should never pull the roots out of the ground. The less disturbance of the soil the better. Simply cut the main stem just below the surface of the soil, and leave those beautiful, rich plant roots where they are. When to harvest dried beans When the pods start to form they are good to eat, but if you are growing for dried beans you need to be ...

You can add anything and everything to a bokashi bin, except liquids.  It can take fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy, fish, coffee grounds, even paper. When you get a new bokashi bucket you will also get a masher to squash the bokashi down (this is very important) and either a spray bottle of effective micro-organisms (EM) or a bokashi bran made of food industry waste product that is soaked in the EM.  With each addition to the bin, you need to squash it down with the masher. Crush it into the previous layer. Squeeze out as much air as possible.  Air is the great enemy of bokashi.  Air will create a foul-smelling, dry-retching inducing, maggot-infested hell-hole that is not usable unless you wish to have your garden infested with blow-flies and rats. ​ Because air is the enemy of bokashi, it's best not to add to the bin too often. It's best to store scraps in the kitchen and empty it once a week or if there's a hint of a smell brewing. In my first bokashi attempt I made...

Worms will break down your kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves and even shredded paper and turn it into a rich, fertile soil amendment that will produce healthy plants to feed you and your family. The juice produced is called worm tea and is rich in soil bacteria necessary to keep the soil healthy and feeds the soil biology you already have. The only things that cannot go into a worm farm are highly acidic items like citrus, onions, garlic, salt, bread, potato and meat, fish and dairy. When used in conjunction with a bokashi bucket, you have a complete system for zero food waste that will keep your garden healthy and productive.

Composting is all about putting garden waste to good use, as nature intended.  The natural world is made of compost; all soil is made of broken down leaf matter, stems, flowers and fruits fall to the ground and microbes break it down.  In our backyards the same process happens, unless we collect all this wealth and put it in the bin to be taken away. It's time to reclaim that wealth. Fast compost Usually when we do our yard work, we end up with fallen leaves and grass clippings after mowing the lawns. From now on we'll refer to the fresh grass clippings as 'greens' (nitrogen) , and the fallen leaves as 'browns' (carbon).  To begin: Place a layer of either brown or green material where your compost pile will be, Alternate green and brown layers, watering each until all are piled up, Leave the pile for four days, Turn the pile and mix all the layers together like you were mixing a cake batter Leave for 2 days Repeat steps 6 & 7 for the next 3 weeks. The pile w...