https://leereich.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Cardoon-252C-blanching.jpg 1024 749 Lee A. Reich https://leereich.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/header-home-link-247x54-2.png Lee A. Reich2014-05-22 21:48:002014-07-14 15:16:01What’s New Farmdenly?
In this early part of the growing season, I’m frequently asked, “So what new and exciting plants are you growing in the garden this year?” And just as frequently, I can’t think of anything. Not that gardening isn’t “new and exciting” every year, what with the vagaries of the weather and pests, and their interaction with planting, pruning, and soil care.
Well, this year I can think of at least four new and exciting plants I’m growing.
I actually have grown cardoon before, perhaps 25 years ago. And up until this weekend, I had no desire to ever grow it again. The plant is like a giant celery with spiny stalks that must be tied together so that they get blanched and edible. Or supposedly edible, once you removed the tough strings running down each stalk. Blanching and de-stringing was a lot of trouble, too much trouble for me considering the taste of what of the tough stalk after being cooked.
This weekend, two people at my grafting workshop digressed from grafting to wax enthusiastic over cardoon. Evidently, my problems 25 years ago were growing the wrong variety and cooking it poorly. I’m not sure if any varieties were available back then, but I was convinced to order seed of the suggested variety, Gobbo di Nizza (Hunchback of Nice), and will sow them in pots as soon as they arrive.
Once the weather warms reliably, I’ll plant out two or three small plants, giving them rich soil. Once the plants are three feet high, I’ll mound some soil or wood chips up around their bases and tie the leaves together to blanch them, then a few weeks later, cut down the four-foot-tall monsters for eating. I was told that they taste like artichoke, a close relative.
In warm winter regions, cardoon grows as a perennial. If winter’s were warm here, I’d plant cardoon even if they tasted awful. That’s because in their second year, they send up six-foot-high stalks capped with bottlebrushes of cerulean blue flowers that sit in an artichoke-y base.
I’ve also previously grown — or tried to grow — the second of this year’s N&EP (“new and exciting plants”), King Red Russian olive. It’s a variety of Russian olive, native to Afghanistan, that, instead of bearing the usual innocuous silvery green fruits, bears bright red fruits. The fruits contrast nicely with the silvery green leaves — and taste pretty good.
For some reason, King Red doesn’t like our summer weather, probably the humidity. My plant of yore grew fine until sometime in July, when it collapsed, dead. Others in the humid East have had similar experiences.
Out West, King Red, which was introduced as a conservation plant decades ago by the USDA, grows fine. Too fine, so that it is now listed as an invasive plant out there, along with regular old, green-fruited Russian olive. (Sometimes they are listed so in the East also, although they seem pretty sedate around these parts.)
I’m thinking that somewhere in the genes of King Red, which is a seed propagated variety, not a clone, might lie genes that can tolerate our summer climate. To that end, I got my hands on seeds left from a bag of imported, dried King Red fruits; I’ll sow them all and hope for the best. (I once tasted the dried fruits; they are like sweet talcum powder, enclosed within a brittle “shell.”) The fruits parade under a number of aliases: Trebizond date, lotus tree. Botanically, it’s Elaeagnus angustifolia var. orientalis.
Another fruit, Ficus Afghanistanica, or mountain fig tree, is among my N&EP. With more than a half-dozen fig varieties in my not very fig friendly climate, you’d think I had enough figs. Mountain fig tree is worth a try for its hardiness, by some accounts to well below zero degrees F. Of less importance here in the humid East is its drought tolerance, which may be related and help with its cold hardiness.
Also on the plus side, the plant has decorative leaves, similar to common fig leaves except pointed at their tips.
On the negative, there’s some question as to whether this fig needs pollination, something most fig varieties do not need. If so, a special pollinator variety would be needed as well as some means to get the pollen into the eye of each fruit at the right time. A syringe filled with pollen? Figs that need pollination normally get their pollen with the help of Blastophagus, which are tiny wasps that, laden with pollen, enter the eyes of developing fruits to lay eggs and, in so doing, inadvertently pollinate the flowers within.
The buttery pleasure of eating hickory nuts is offset by the tediousness of cracking and shelling them. That’s shagbark hickories (Carya ovata), which are native throughout eastern U.S.
Shellbark hickories (C. lacinosa) have similar nut flavor and shape, except that they are two or three times larger, so you get more bang for your buck with each nut you crack. Walking just a quarter of a mile in any direction, I’d be likely to find some shagbark hickory nuts on the ground but nary a shellbark hickory. The latter species is found mostly along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and bordering regions; nowhere, though, is it common.
So I ordered trees from Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery, and not just any old shellbark trees, but the varieties Simpson and Selbhers. Both are billed as heavy bearing and producing nuts medium to large nuts with excellent cracking qualities. Very “new and exciting;” I hope to enjoy the nuts of my labor in 5 to 10 years.


(1,3;1,4)-β- D-glucan (β-glucan) is a plant cell wall hemicellulose and a main component of endosperm cell walls. The Cellulose Synthase F family of genes is involved in the synthesis of β-glucan. In this study full-length genomic sequences of CslF6 were obtained from multiple Avena species. Three unique alleles were found in each A. sativa line. Comparisons of these alleles to diploid Avena species allowed for identification of the genomic origin of each allele. The A and D genome alleles had identical amino acid sequences while the C-genome had 13 different amino acids. Global expression of CslF6 was completed at three developmental time point and three tissue types. RNAseq technology was utilized to determine genome specific expression patterns. Differential expression of genome specific-copies of CslF6 was found at all time points tested. Lower levels of C-genome expression of CslF6 were associated with increased levels of B-glucan.
College and Department
Life Sciences; Plant and Wildlife Sciences
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Coon, Melissa A., "Characterization and Variable Expression of the CslF6 Homologs in Oat (Avena sp.)" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3750.
β-glucan, differential expression, Avena sativa, oat, cslf6


Growing Calendar for Sweet Pea Unwins Super Fragrant Mix- Seeds
Delivery: 5-7 Working Days
A superb blend of top quality varieties.
Beautiful colours, large, wavy flowers on long, strong stems all with a wonderful fragrance.
Wonderful for home and garden.
Items themselves are excellent
Good germination rates. Strong scent. Flower heads on strong straight stalks. I'm growing again next year
Sown and germination is evident - too early to give a fuller review.
See details on the size of the plants and how we deliver our various plants to you!
Our products are all grown with the utmost care and to high standards of quality. We regularly check our nursery stock to determine exactly when they will be at the optimum time for despatch.
We despatch our fresh, nursery-grown live plants (including vegetables, trees and flowers) when they are at a stage of growth ready for you, the customer, to plant on at home.
The delivery period shown on your order confirmation indicates when you can expect to receive your order and we will endeavour to despatch your plants in this period within 7-14 days
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Pack Quantity: 16x Broccoli Plants


Do Amazon Sword Plants Need Substrate?
Amazon sword plants are a type of aquatic plant that is commonly found in many aquariums. This plant is known for its hardy nature and ability to tolerate a wide range of conditions. It is also very popular due to its attractive foliage and its ability to coexist with other aquatic plants. However, many people wonder if Amazon sword plants need substrate in order to thrive in an aquarium.
The short answer is yes, Amazon sword plants do need substrate in order to do well in an aquarium. Substrate is the material that lies at the bottom of the tank and provides a place for the roots of the plants to attach and absorb nutrients. Without substrate, the Amazon sword plants will struggle to survive.
Types of Substrate
There are several types of substrate that can be used for Amazon sword plants. The most popular type is aquarium gravel, which is small pieces of gravel that can be found at most pet stores. Aquarium gravel is relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain. It also helps to keep the water clean and clear.
Another type of substrate that can be used is sand. Sand is a great choice for those who want a more natural look in their aquarium. Sand can also help to promote healthy root growth and is easier to plant roots in than gravel. However, sand can be more difficult to clean and maintain.
The depth of the substrate is also important when it comes to Amazon sword plants. The substrate should be deep enough that the roots of the plant can reach down and get the nutrients they need. Generally speaking, the substrate should be at least two inches deep. If the substrate is too shallow, the roots of the plant will not be able to get the nutrients they need.
In addition to providing a place for the roots of the Amazon sword plants to attach and absorb nutrients, the substrate can also be fertilized. Fertilizing the substrate will provide additional nutrients for the plants and help them to grow faster and healthier. Fertilizers can be added directly to the substrate or mixed in with the water.
Benefits of Substrate
Using a substrate for Amazon sword plants has many benefits. Substrate helps to provide a place for the roots to attach and absorb nutrients. It also helps to keep the water clean and clear. Additionally, substrate can help to promote healthy root growth and create a more natural look in the aquarium.
It is important to keep the substrate clean and free of debris. This can be done by regularly vacuuming the substrate and removing any dead leaves or other debris. Additionally, it is important to keep an eye on the pH levels of the water and make sure that the substrate is not becoming too acidic.
In conclusion, Amazon sword plants do need substrate in order to do well in an aquarium. Substrate provides a place for the roots to attach and absorb nutrients, helps to keep the water clean and clear, and can help to promote healthy root growth. Substrate should be at least two inches deep and should be kept clean by regularly vacuuming it and removing any dead leaves or other debris.


A search for more diversity in his cropping program on his north Queensland sugarcane farm led Bryan Granshaw to a scholarship in 2012, and a world of opportunity. The Dalbeg farmer used his scholarship to research intercropping, or a combination of two crops growing simultaneously in the same field.
“Sugarcane is a perennial crop, it’s in the ground for up to five years, so there’s an issue there with a monoculture. It’s something we’ve looked at in the past, so I wanted to try and study this and find out what I could about what other people around the world are doing with diversity in their cropping programs,” Bryan explained.
After travelling with his Nuffield colleagues through New Zealand, UK, the Netherlands, California, Mexico and Brazil, Bryan then returned to North America to drill down into his topic, with some unexpected responses!
“I found that no one knew what sugarcane was so it was a real issue trying to find anything specifically done with sugarcane on a commercial basis, so the next best thing for me was to find out what other people were doing with other crops on a commercial basis. It was really important for me to look at commercial enterprises, so I found some guys in Canada that were growing field pea and canola, and some research people that had actually put some really solid research behind it,” he explained.
Bryan says despite encountering a lack of sugarcane knowledge and experience on his travels, his studies were more about validation of concept for his own industry.
“I really wanted to understand if intercropping was just a feel-good thing or whether it could actually add value to our business and our industry. What I saw was even though I was in a different hemisphere with two different crops, the principles were still valid, so for me that was really encouraging,” he explained.
Bryan has been able to get a research project up and running with the University of Queensland to look at intercropping in sugarcane systems. While there are the obvious agronomic hurdles to overcome, Bryan believes a change in farm management is also important.
“Thinking about how we farm has to change, because we’ve been conditioned to farm in a monoculture system, so for me the challenge is adapting our management style and our skills to incorporate such a crop."
The next level to that for Bryan is displaying to the broader community as a whole the value of his industry.
“Sugarcane can really benefit from some diversity, so in five to ten years time I’d like intercropping to be common practice. I also hope that in managing our cropping systems better we can show the broader community that the sugarcane industry is a lot more beneficial than just producing sugar. For me that’s my ultimate game, to get the community as a whole to realise that the sugarcane industry is an asset and is something that can provide local energy, local fuel and something we can do domestically.”


NEWS, EVENTS, RESOURCES AND MORE
Have you ever driven past a cornfield or a dairy farm and wondered how food gets from the farm to your table? It's not as simple as you may think.
Prior to the industrial revolution, available foodstuffs were limited to local and in season items. The machinery necessary to transport food long distances without spoiling didn't exist. Today's food supply chain has been highly refined, relies on calculated logistics, and utilizes advanced machinery to keep your table full of fresh food from anywhere in the world, at any time of year.
The modern food supply chain looks something like this:
During production, farmers cultivate the fruit, vegetables, and livestock you provide your family. At this stage, Papé provides farmers the tools – like tractors and windrowers – necessary to plant, nurture, and harvest food for thousands of communities. With a little help from their Gator utility vehicles, they can easily and quickly maneuver through their property. Working on a farm requires the right pieces of equipment in order to save critical man hours while handling large yields.
Where does your food go after it leaves the farmer’s property? To processing. Here, your food is prepared, cleaned, and stored as it awaits the next steps in its journey from the farm to your dinner table. Like harvesting, processing requires several pieces of equipment like forklifts and pallet jacks that allow warehouse employees to quickly and effortlessly move the food from its spot in storage to the truck that distributes it to your local grocery store.
Food distribution has to run and be maintained like a well-oiled machine. Distribution companies trust heavy duty trucks like Kenworth from Papé to keep their products fresh in temperature controlled trailers. With the reliable Kenworth trucks and the best portable environment, distribution companies can ensure the food you put on your table is as fresh as the day it started its journey.
Once at the grocery store, Papé Material Handling equipment reduces the need for manual heavy lifting. Stores depend on this equipment to keep an even and fresh stock of goods on the shelves so you’re only buying the best. These Hyster and Yale forklifts allow your store to transport, warehouse, and display fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products for you and your family.
The right equipment makes it easier for companies to control costs at every point in the food supply chain so they can continue to provide the food that you and your family enjoy every day. Now, as you sit down for dinner tonight, you know a little bit more about how your food got from the farm to your fork. And, if you're in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, or Nevada, there's a good chance that Papé had a hand in getting it there.
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our Facebook page is Little Belly Farm and our Instagram is @littlebellyfarm
Last modified: Thu Jun 20 2019
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farms as well as residences in many cases. If you think of yourself
more as a valued guest than a customer you'll have a great experience.
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can call Lisa at 1-615-677-6645 or email@example.com
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We make no guarantee as to the quality of any produce or product from
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Homesteading necessitates diversity to avoid waste: an observation of the natural order within the created world.
The USDA has estimated that 30-40% of the food supply within the United States is wasted, usually ending up in landfills. Additionally, the average family in the U.S. produces 6,570 pounds of trash every year according to HWH Environmental.
Not only that, but the same source states that 1,200 pounds of that same trash is really compostable waste.
What are we doing? How on earth did we get here?
In order to understand how to fix the problem, I think it is important to start with how we got here. It didn’t happen overnight, and fixing it also won’t happen overnight.
By the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Industrial Revolution, begun in the mid 1700’s, was well ingrained in society. Food production was commercialized and factory production of numerous mass manufactured goods was ramping into full-swing, bringing in its wake a new era of waste.
With food cost being so low, and large quantities being readily available for the first time, it became easy for the majority of people to allow waste into their lives. Where letting food go bad and simply throwing it out was unthinkable before the industrial revolution, it became much more common place post-industrial revolution.
Composting, feeding leftover food scraps to livestock, specifically chickens and pigs, became less frequent. With food being cheap and accessible, why bother utilizing every scrap for some purpose within the home economy?
This created issues with garbage being thrown out windows and into streets, creating an environment that was ripe for pests and disease to thrive. It was a problem.
Instead of focusing on ways to mitigate waste, society, post-industrial revolution, just began looking for ways of removing said waste from public spaces. In 1839, a Dutchman began what would later turn into Waste Management when he started collecting trash for a small fee in Chicago.
Following WWII, the agriculture industry saw introduction of chemical fertilizers, a byproduct of leftover ammonium nitrate no longer needed for making explosives. Application of chemical fertilizers, while overall damaging to the land as a whole, produced such a boost in production that there was suddenly too much food.
In response to this issue, the answer again was not to look at utilization issues, but rather to begin exporting food to impoverished countries in the 1950’s and then the development of the garbage disposal in the same decade.
As a country we had officially begun the slippery slope into a mindset of convenience, consumerism and waste production. No longer did we, as a society, remember the practical no-waste methods practiced by our ancestors for generations.
We just consumed and threw away.
Patterns Within the Natural World
I think it behooves us to look at the natural patterns for waste that God designed in nature for answers on how to deal with waste.
God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.Genesis 1:31
At the very beginning of creation God looked at the vast array of His work and saw it to be good. We must always keep this in mind. Nothing God created was ever bad. It was all good.
Now, given our fallen nature, and the fallen state of our world due to Original Sin, we must also understand that nothing in this world is perfect. We make mistakes and the natural world, while still good, also bears the weight of the fall. Nothing in the world retains the original perfection.
That said, everything within nature follows God’s rhythm much more closely than we are apt to at times, which can give us clues on how we are to live. And, for our purposes specifically, in what ways nature handles waste.
First, we see it through the seasons.
Spring brings new life and new growth in all aspects of nature, from the grass and trees to the birds and animals. It is a time for renewal and beginning again, when nature seems to look forward with vigor and excitement to the beginning cycle of growth.
Summer is generally viewed as the season of production and harvest. Fruit of all types abound in the natural world. It is a time to gather and enjoy the natural glut of produce nature gives, when the young animals grow and life seems at it’s prime.
Fall is when we begin to really see nature’s recycling system come into play in a big way. With leaf fall and the dying back of this year’s growth, organic matter is provided to cover the earth like a blanket. It returns nutrients back to the soil and protects the ground and tender life from the coming winter’s cold. Though the year’s growth seems to have perished, it continues to provide a need within the natural world that promulgates growth in the following year. It isn’t wasted.
Winter is a time of rest. The trees have gone dormant and other vegetation has perished or done the same. The animals burrow into the ground to stay warm, awaiting the warmth of spring to come again.
Other ways nature handles waste.
The seasons, while providing the most obvious cyclicity and examples of utilizing everything, contain many more nuanced examples that are less glaring to the naked eye.
- Decaying matter
- Fungus and other organisms feeds on decaying plant and animal matter within the wild, returning the nutrients back to the larger system.
- Nutrient Cycles
- Nutrients contained in plant material is taken up by insects who are then eaten by birds and continues on up the food chain.
- Once the largest predator in the food chain finally dies, fungus take and break it back down into nutrients for the soil, which feeds the plants. Thus starting the cycle over.
The need for diversity.
Everything in nature feeds off of the diversity within the system. This is how the natural world functions.
You wouldn’t expect your children to assimilate all of the nutrients they need from one single type of food. The same is true for the natural world.
Pasture land naturally contains numerous plant species, all of which are necessary for that ecosystem to thrive and sustain ruminant life. Forests aren’t just made up of one kind of tree species. They contain numerous types of trees, to say nothing of the incredible diversity of the undergrowth.
You also don’t just see one kind of animal subsisting in any ecosystem within nature. There are hundreds, if not thousands of living species making up any ecosystem. Without this diversity, the natural world would collapse, because each species provides some specific need that is crucial for life to continue.
What Does This Have to do With Diversity on the Homestead?
As a disclaimer to this section…given the amount of plastic and other non-natural products that saturate the consumer markets, it is important to note that we live in a time where not everything can be recycled within the normal boundaries of the natural order. At least not quickly.
William Cobbett, in his pre-WWI book Cottage Economy, talks extensively about utilizing everything within the home including: spent brewing grains, extra milk, garden produce and the list goes on.
Shawn and Beth Daugherty also speak extensively about reducing external inputs on the homestead by utilizing ‘waste’ products to fill in the gaps.
What does this look like?
- Extra milk/whey can be fed to pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats to supplement (or, in some cases, replace) feed.
- Frost-killed garden plants act as mulch for the next year’s garden, just chop and drop!
- Egg shells are a great calcium supplement for chickens or in the garden as long as you roast and crumble them first.
- Kitchen scraps can be fed to chickens or composted for use in the garden.
- Cardboard and brown paper bags can make a weed barrier in the garden, or shred them and use as mulch.
- Old SCOBY’s can be fed to chickens as a nutrient dense feed or composted along with other kitchen scraps.
A mindset shift.
Looking at the ‘waste’ on your homestead as a way of filling input gaps requires a change in mindset. We simply cannot maintain the golden standard of production on our homesteads, namely mono-cropping and ‘mono-animaling.’
Without the various products provided from a well diversified operation, recycling of waste products becomes virtually impossible. If you don’t have livestock, you don’t have nitrogen rich manure to add fertility to your land. If you don’t have a diversity of plant life, you have increased pest and disease pressure and less produce.
We have to start looking at things differently. We can’t keep viewing our systems and our world as a wealth of resources to consume and thrown out.
If we want to live as God intended, and start acting as proper stewards of the things He has given us, we need to start watching and emulating the systems He has put in the natural world for recycling waste and reusing it in a diverse system.
Practical applications for diversified systems.
- Plant different crops, herbs, and bushes next to each other to encourage beneficial interactions (companion planting).
- Underplant herbs and flowers in an orchard to reduce pest pressure provide increased nutrient uptake (permaculture guilds).
- Raise more than one type of animal to take advantage of the grazing and browsing habits of each (pruning to maintain your land).
- Utilize animals as a way of increasing fertility within your garden and pastures via manure.
- Grow a diversity of crops within your garden to encourage healthy soil and decreased pest and disease pressure.
The list could go on indefinitely. Your only limitations are imagination and access to resources.
While eliminating all waste is virtually impossible in our consumer driven world, we can mitigate the effects on our own homesteads. By looking at the diversity within the natural world and mimicking it on our homesteads, we can start to utilize some of the ‘waste’ that would otherwise not be utilized within the system.
We’d love to hear how you are utilizing waste products on your homestead! Leave a comment below and let us know 🙂


Natural and organic merchandise are becoming a lot more and far more well-known with equally espresso and foodstuff products. Numerous buyers are consuming organic on a everyday basis, so it would only make perception that coffee is getting to be a top selection. One particular of the primary reasons that folks are preferential to natural and organic merchandise is because they are risk-free for the surroundings, and they do not use any chemical pesticides. That is precisely why it is essential to locate out what you need to have to know about ingesting a secure cup of Joe!
1 of the major benefits to drinking natural and organic espresso is simply because it is eco-friendly. The methods of organic and natural farming perform to maintain the fertility of the soil, and the crops are also developed without any poisonous pesticides or severe fertilizers. Another massive benefit that is not to be in excess of looked is that organic and natural espresso is entire of nutrition and vitamins. When you drink espresso that is accredited as a hundred% organic, it will provide you with a assortment of antioxidants. A single of the main payoffs to ingesting espresso that is complete of anti-oxidants is that it can defend your cells from injury to prevent condition and premature getting older. The bottom line is that if you want to continue to be healthy and look youthful, then natural and organic coffee far better be in your cup!
One of the main factors that natural and organic coffee is complete of anti-oxidants is simply because it is developed in fertile soil that is wealthy in nutrients. Natural and organic espresso does have caffeine, just as normal espresso does, but it is in the pure sort due to the fact there are no chemical compounds used during the processing. If you are seeking to consume decaf coffee, then it is crucial that you drink organic. One particular of the primary factors is that a lot of techniques of decaf coffee processing can include chemical compounds, which could be hazardous to you as a customer. eco coffee pods use the Swiss Water Technique, which decaffeinates espresso in a organic way with no any poisonous substances. If you are a decaf espresso drinker, it will be significantly much more useful to your overall health to consume decaf espresso that is qualified as organic. The Swiss Water Approach only uses water to eliminate any caffeine articles from the espresso beans.
In summary, it is crucial to make sure that your coffee is accredited as organic with the USDA Organic seal on any bag of coffee beans. This seal proves that the high quality elements with the coffee solution are at least ninety five% organic and natural, and they are qualified by the US Section of Agriculture. Numerous times, you will also see a label printed as Natural and organic or 100% Organic.
When you take into account how several wellness positive aspects there are in organic and natural espresso alone, it would be mad not to drink it. Organic espresso is harvested in soil that is a lot more fertile since of crop rotation, so it has far more vitamins to offer you you in your daily cup of Joe. If you want the ideal antioxidant advantages without having the use of pesticides, then pick organic and natural Java every single time!


We’re running a contest and giving away a backyard vegetable garden prize pack valued at $100 this month! Thank you to Smart Pots, Burpee, and Seeding Square for sponsoring this month’s giveaway!
One lucky winner will receive a Smart Pots Big Bag Bed Jr, a 20 gallon Smart Pot, a $25 gift card from Burpee, and a Seeding Square!
Although February can usher in some of our coldest temperatures of the year, it’s also the beginning of the planting season for many different foods! It’s also a great time to start planning your garden for the year and ordering seeds. Our free iOS, Android, & Web app makes growing food simple and I’m going to talk about some of the things you can start planting in February in Oklahoma.
This update adds 350 Burpee products to shop from like greenhouses, grow lights, and other growing supplies to our From Seed to Spoon mobile app that makes gardening & growing food simple! We’re also excited to announce we’ve negotiated a 10% discount for all of our users! Simply use the code STS2019 when checking out to receive 10% off your entire order! We also added fig and fennel to the app and more plants will […]
Dale talks about how you can start growing food in your own backyard or patio using our FREE app!
Dale had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the 2018 Thunder Plains software developer conference in Oklahoma City, OK on November 1st at the Cox Convention Center. He shared our story of why we started growing food and how we learned to code and built our app that makes growing food simple for everyone else! We released our app in January of 2018 and it was one of the top search results for […]
Bill Farris from Praire Wind Nursery joined Dale at the OKC Home + Garden show to talk about 10 different herbs that you can easily grow in your backyard or patio! We also talked about different ways we like to cook with each one as well as how you can preserve your harvest for later!
We were featured on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman this weekend! Click below to read all about how our app past over 80,000 downloads and about our new partnership with Burpee!
Thank you to the Moore Monthly for taking the time to sit down and chat with us! You can read their interview with us on their website, and you can also find our new monthly gardening column in each new episode of the Moore Monthly in 2019! http://www.mooremonthly.com/news/moore-man-turns-personal-challenges-into-wildly-popular-app
EXCITING NEWS! This update adds integration with Burpee, one of the most trusted names in seeds! You can now see varieties from their extensive catalog of seeds and plants available to purchase directly through the app. We also make it easy for you to know which variety to buy with filters that narrow the list down to your reasons for growing that food!
Composting leaves is an easy way to add nutrient rich material into your compost bin! Watch as Dale and the kids add in leaves to our compost bins and turn the compost.


100% non-chemical, electronic surfactant technology, seamlessly implemented into your irrigation system
Originating from the oil & gas industry, and trusted by Fortune 100 companies, power plants, and tens of thousands of homeowners, Flow-Tech has introduced their technology to the world of agriculture. Backed by leading university studies dozens of field trials, Flow-Tech's water treatment technology has been validated as an electronic surfactant when applied to an irrigation system. After establishing baseline data and implementing Flow-Tech, making the right adjustments to your irrigation practices are crucial.
Flow-Tech is utilized by...
With a reduced surface tension, Flow-Tech treated water is able to spread laterally and be absorbed by the soil more easily. The result includes an increased efficiency of irrigation, more plant available nutrients, and the ability to reduce overall water use.
Calcium scale is wiped away
Just as Flow-Tech is utilized in industrial and commercial scale control applications, the non-chemical technology prevents stubborn scaling and reduces the need for acid dosing.
Watch a success story.


Stanwell Chirwa is 42 years old with a history of poaching wild animals in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. He admits to killing 11 elephants, more than 20 buffalo, and kudu and eland. Farming had been his main livelihood, but poor yields and low market prices pushed him into poaching. He was arrested once, but was acquitted in court. On a second occasion, Chirwa was apprehended but managed to escape. He knew his luck would run out someday, and his family would be far worse off if he did not stop poaching.
Persistent hunger and poverty drive many small-scale farmers living near the wildlife-rich Luangwa Valley to poach. And law enforcement alone can’t stop them. It is too expensive and logistically difficult for the government to police the over 1,500 miles of park boundary to keep poachers out of the park. Animal counts across the Luangwa Valley indicate that from the 1970s to the 1990s, elephant numbers fell by more than half. More recent surveys show that wildlife has disappeared from parts of the valley where animals should occur. Researchers estimate that during the late 1990s poaching in the valley claimed the lives of 5,000 animals each year.
One day in 2008, a farm extension officer working for a company called Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) approached Chirwa and explained that COMACO worked with small-scale farmers to improve yields and increase farm prices if practices such as poaching were abandoned. The officer managed to convince Chirwa to surrender his gun and join a COMACO producer group.
Chirwa’s life is very different today. He has since handed over all of his guns and earns a good living selling his soybeans, peanuts, and honey from more than 15 beehives, making far more money than he did as a poacher. He refuses to pass on his hunting skills to his children and has helped identify 12 other hunters in his home area, convincing them to abandon hunting in favor of the opportunities COMACO offers. He is currently advising the local chief on the development of a wildlife conservation area on community land outside the established national parks.
Chirwa’s story represents the core mission of COMACO: using markets to combat poverty and hunger and to promote conservation. As one of 684 former poachers working with the organization, he is part of an exciting new trend in Zambian conservation, with farm plows replacing guns and game meat. Thousands of other farmers who once relied on snaring wildlife to meet food shortfalls have surrendered their snares. Most have achieved self-reliance in food production. For all the farmers who comply with prescribed farming practices, the company offers a premium market price for purchased commodities. Products are sold under the brand name It’s Wild! Today, COMACO is working with over 45,000 small-scale farming families, exceeding $2.4 million in sales.
Around the world, a growing number of conservationists are attempting a new approach to conservation: helping people in order to save wildlife. The basic argument is that for conservation projects to succeed, local people need to be on board. But one of the major challenges facing this new field is deciding how best to incentivize conservation at the household level. Previous attempts in Zambia relied on tourism-derived income that was channeled through community institutions. Typically, there was not enough money to have a meaningful impact on individuals in the community, or the money was used in ways that did not effectively address food security and household income. While the conservation community increasingly appreciated that food security and income must be linked with conservation results, it lacked a business model that could effectively drive and sustain these relationships. We think COMACO provides that model.
COMACO started in 2002, the product of over two decades of conservation research conducted by a team of Zambia-based conservationists working for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Our goal was to develop a strategy for protecting wildlife and habitat in the Luangwa Valley, one of Africa’s last great wildlife landscapes. It had been one of the major strongholds of the black rhino, but by the mid-1980s, illegal poaching had driven the species to extinction in the area, despite intense efforts to fight the problem with well-funded law enforcement strategies. During this time, the use of snares to poach wildlife became more common, possibly because it did not attract the attention of wildlife police officers.
It was clear to our team that not only was law enforcement alone unable to stop poaching, but efforts to use wildlife revenues to support community projects, such as the construction of schools and clinics, had generally failed to create real incentives for conservation. Thirty percent of the small farmers in the valley failed to grow enough grain to feed their families. For many, the choice was either poach wildlife to help supplement food and income, or watch their children go hungry and grow up without an education. Though private companies supporting agribusinesses operated in the areas outside Luangwa’s national parks, such companies tended to capitalize on cheap farm labor to grow cash crops, such as cotton and tobacco, and levels of food security did not significantly improve.
Somewhere in this mix of farmer plight, poaching, and uneven access to farm markets, we believed there existed a business approach that could unite farming and conservation. The plan was to run an agro-processing business that would give valley farmers a financial incentive not to degrade their land and resources.
COMACO’s strategy is to offer farmers a higher market value for their farm commodities, if produced in ways that reduce soil loss, prevent unnecessary land clearing, and decrease such coping behaviors as poaching and charcoal making. To sustain these costs, the company manufactures farm-based commodities into processed, value-added food products and markets them as healthy, organic, and fair-priced.
Perhaps we were naïve to think that COMACO could reverse the downward trends of land degradation and wildlife loss, especially where more established, well-funded development efforts had failed, but WCS’ research suggested that a business strategy targeting poor farmers was the right approach. The challenge was to convince potential investors. The first injection of operating capital came from the UN World Food Programme, in the form of free maize. COMACO offered farmers free maize to meet their food shortfalls, and, in exchange, the farmers adopted better farming practices and grew a greater variety of food crops. COMACO then promised to buy their new surplus at above average market prices. Local government authorities approved of COMACO’s approach and offered the fledgling company abandoned buildings for storing and processing commodities. These became the company’s first processing centers, later known as conservation trading centers, or CTCs. A few well-wishers helped COMACO buy some old trucks and simple food processing equipment, making the first CTC operational. Finally, the local communities partnering with COMACO provided what little infrastructure they could to help the company bulk surplus crops for dispatch to the CTC.
Results have shown that farmer behaviors toward conservation can change dramatically when guided by market incentives and supported with the right training and inputs. With the help of a network of local staff and lead farmers, who provide year-round training and support to COMACO member farmers, tens of thousands of small-scale farmers have significantly improved their yields by adopting such new skills as making compost fertilizer, using a near-zero tillage method that reduces drought risk, growing new food crop varieties, and applying cover crops and agroforestry species to increase soil nutrients. This farmer extension approach is cost-effective and helps COMACO remain financially sustainable.
The COMACO model has attracted the interest of key donors, namely the Royal Norwegian Embassy, General Mills food processing company, Lundin Foundation, and Mulago Foundation. With their help, COMACO has been able to grow from a single CTC to six in seven years, serving the market needs of over 45,000 families through 73 community trading depots where farmers bring their commodities to sell. Its operations now cover much of the Luangwa Valley ecosystem, extending over 25,000 square kilometers. Total commodity production has more than doubled over the past two years, and the 2010 harvest surplus of rice, maize, cooking beans, groundnuts, soybeans, and honey purchased by COMACO exceeded 6,000 tons.
Whether converted into value-added, processed products or simply sold as raw commodities in the open commodity market, crops that once had little value for valley farmers are now known and purchased by urban consumers throughout Zambia under the brand name It’s Wild! Consumer demand for It’s Wild! products has grown by over 100 percent annually in terms of annual sales since 2007, reaching $2.4 million in 2010. Commodity prices, in turn, have risen over twofold for most commodities since COMACO began, and farm families who grow the raw commodities for It’s Wild! products earn about 40 percent of the gross sales value of the product. Prior to COMACO, in 2000, valley farming families earned, on average, $80 per household per year. By 2009 household incomes for participating families had more than doubled. In addition, actual food production had increased by 37 percent, representing an added value of about $150 to household wealth.
Maureen Zimba tells it best. She started selling rice to COMACO three years ago and earns over $500 annually. “I do not have to worry about my son getting into trouble poaching or my daughter falling into prostitution. They are both safe in school because my husband and I can now pay their school fees.”
Farmers across Zambia have surrendered over 1,800 firearms and 70,000 snares, which they no longer need to make a living. To discourage cheating, COMACO makes it clear to communities that it will not buy their goods if they continue to poach. COMACO also offers a double premium if a community can encourage all of its known poachers to surrender their guns. These hunters are then invited to participate in a six-week training session with COMACO in which they develop skills to help them earn a better living. In these training sessions, former poachers learn carpentry, beekeeping, metalworking, and poultry husbandry. When they return home, they identify two to three other hunters who they will lead in their new craft. The group receives startup investments, tools, and other inputs from COMACO. It costs conventional law enforcement approximately $800 to arrest and put a single poacher behind prison bars. It costs COMACO only $200 to help a poacher find an alternative livelihood. Largely due to these efforts, the valley appears poised for a wildlife recovery and a real chance to expand its wildlife-based tourism. According to a long-term wildlife monitoring study of COMACO areas, over 30 percent of the species surveyed, including elephants, show statistical increases in population trends while all but two, eland and buffalo, show stable population numbers.
When COMACO began almost a decade ago, many valley farmers experienced months of hunger and despair. Today, valley farmers, with COMACO, grow a surplus of food crops like rice, maize, groundnuts, and soybeans. These farmers, many of whom once relied on World Food Programme food aid, now sell their surplus, which COMACO turns into value-added products. One such product is HEPS, or high energy protein supplement, made from maize and soybeans, which COMACO now sells to the World Food Programme to supplement nutrition for families affected by disease and poverty. Much has changed in just eight years.
By attacking the root causes of poaching in Zambia, COMACO has proven that conservation is not just good for wildlife; it can be good for people and good for business. And the farmers in Luangwa Valley have proven that, with the right market incentives, they can be good stewards of the land.


Exporters of Frozen Sweet Corn since 1995.
The Monsoon Agro Bio Pvt Ltd (MABPL) was established in 1995 to promote business dealings in Baby Corn and Sweet Corn. This involved the combined efforts of Rahul B Mhaske,a refrigeration engineer and Radha R Mhaske,a home science graduate and their family.
Rahul B.Mhaske and team MABPL were the first to Import Hybrid seeds and introduced the same to the farmers of Maharashtra State of India.
Monsoon Agro Bio Pvt Ltd (MABPL) ventured into Sweet Corn processing and integration with farmers of Maharashtra, India.
MABPL’s Frozen CORN and it’s allied Frozen Products are supplied All Over India & Exported Overseas!
Monsoon Agro Bio Pvt Ltd processes 5000MT of Sweet Corn ears to make various Frozen Sweet Corn Products:
Every journey begins with a single step. Establishing the Sweet Corn Exchange of India in 1995 was the beginning of that journey.
Sweet Corn and Baby Corn are the main Stars of our story. Today, thanks to Pune and Western Maharashtra are India’s prime growing hubs for Baby Corn and Sweet Corn.
Fresh, Frozen and Canned Sweet Corn and Baby Corn are now exported across India and Overseas.
The Corn Club Fast Food Restaurant and Store has won over many patrons since its 1999 launch.
The 2004 established MABPL continues to play a crucial role in the growth of the Indian Sweet Corn Industry.


Saturday, September 12, 2009
The garden has played out. Rudy & I took down the posts and fence today.
There's no need to leave the posts up - we're going to move it a bit next year.
Rudy is still in his air cast. He wrapped a plastic bag around it to keep it from getting dirty.
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Seven Key Messages for better livelihoods in Sudurpaschim Pradesh (Far-West Province)
RVWRMP uniquely works through 27 core Rural Municipalities and has projects in many other RMs of Sudurpaschim and Karnali (Districts of Humla and Dailekh).Many years of experience of RVWRMP working hand in hand with the local organizations has informed seven key messages for greater self-reliance.
Key message 1: Start with Joint Analysis and Planning
Water Use Master Plans (WUMP) and Livelihood Implementation Plans (LIP) are the stepping stone for local organizations to lead the preparation and implementation of projects. Joint analysis of the situation, decision making and planning at the local level builds a basis of trust among the people. The plans are aligned to the National Sanitation Master Plan. Disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures are built-into the plans.
Key Message 2. Use Practical Step-by-Step Approaches
Use the Step-by-Step approaches as self-help guides for local organizations and community groups to give the people understanding and control over their own projects. The methodology is based on participatory planning, implementation and monitoring of projects. The Step by Step implementation builds capacity and creates a strong sense of ownership of the local organizations. Rural Municipalities are copying the Step-by-Step approach because of the high success level and sustainability of the projects.
Key Message 3. Make Water Key for Development and Climate Resilience
Integrate water management in multi-purpose solutions. Value and preserve the traditions of: terracing, soil management, agro-forestry, and community forest management, hill-irrigation. Recycle domestic waste water in the home garden for year round vegetable production. Use the project developed community friendly water safety “risk assessment check lists”. The check list can be filled by illiterate Village Maintenance Workers (VMW) with reading support from his/her grandchildren.
Key Message 4: Home-grown Cooperatives for the Management of O&M funds
Use local cooperatives for managing operation and maintenance funds for water and energy. This is good for the O&M and empowers micro finance services of the cooperative. Money keeps circulating in the community to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. The cooperative is also the interface for contract-farming arrangements as well as training activities in value chain development and agro-vet services
Key Message 5. Invest in Diversified Home-Gardens
Diversified home-gardens (vegetables, spices, fruits, fodder) have an incredible impact in nutrition and food security situation of families in remote areas. High productive organic home-gardens use recycled domestic water and household waste, and bio-pesticides. The vegetables are highly appreciated in the changing diet. Excess production is sold on local markets. Home-garden groups learn through a system of Local Resource Persons and Farmer-to-Farmer extension. Additionally, upcoming agro-entrepreneurship around potential high value crops like off-season vegetables, ginger, and cardamom and forest products is supported by the Project.
Key Message 6. Build Drinking Troughs for Cattle
Women manage water within the household. Women also have to carry water for animals. Animal drinking troughs reduce the women’s drudgery. These troughs should be located close to source, reservoir or public tap stand to capture-overflow and water spills from the tap.
Key Message 7. From Open Defecation Free to Total Sanitation
Total sanitation is about the dignity of the family, community and environment. Washing platforms and elevated cement drying racks are popular additions to the water supply schemes. Out of respect for women and girls the RVWRMP works closely with Provincial Authorities, the RMs and women on awareness and action in relation to the Chhaupadi practice.


Sam Van Aken, an artist and professor at Syracuse University, uses “chip grafting” to create trees that each bear 40 different varieties of stone fruits, or fruits with pits. The grafting process involves slicing a bit of a branch with a bud from a tree of one of the varieties and inserting it into a slit in a branch on the “working tree,” then wrapping the wound with tape until it heals and the bud starts to grow into a new branch. Over several years he adds slices of branches from other varieties to the working tree. In the spring the “Tree of 40 Fruit” has blossoms in many hues of pink and purple, and in the summer it begins to bear the fruits in sequence—Van Aken says it’s both a work of art and a time line of the varieties’ blossoming and fruiting. He’s created more than a dozen of the trees that have been planted at sites such as museums around the U.S., which he sees as a way to spread diversity on a small scale.
Bonsai Tree Grows Fruit
The tree or 40 fruit is a single fruit tree that grows over 40 different types of stone fruit including peaches plums apricots nectarines cherries and almonds the idea came from just sort of a fascination with the process of grafting [Music] when I had seen it done as a child it was dr. Seuss and Frankenstein and just about everything fantastic I started traveling around Central New York in New York State to look for different varieties of stone fruit eventually I was able to find these different heirloom and antique varieties but they are very rare so it would bring them back here to my nursery graph them onto a tree so that I could continue to use them now I have a huge collection of plums and apricots [Music] through the project I’ve I’ve worked with a lot of growers and at first they didn’t understand it because they were why would you want to have a tree with that many different fruit on it you would have to go back over and over to continue to harvest all the fruit the project is for me always an art project I was really interested in the idea of a hoax in terms of you know hoax transforms reality part of the idea for the tree of 40 fruit was to plant them in locations that people would sort of stumble upon once they happen upon one of these trees they would start to question why are the leaves shaped differently why are they different colors and then in summer when you would see all of these different fruit growing on them and of course in spring when they blossom in different colors it is an artwork when I first started I just sort of crafted the branches on so each variety blossoms at a slightly different time and I had a tree that blossomed all on one side but looked dead on the other from that point I created a timeline of when all of these different varieties blossom in relationship to each other so I could essentially sculpt how the tree would blossom for each of the trees I keep a map essentially or a diagram of the tree yeah it takes a really long time I start a tree and I let it grow for about three years and at that point I can come in and start to graft on to those branches those four branches become eight the next year eight becomes 16 16 becomes 32 it’s essentially like an eight to nine year process essentially what you’re doing with this clear plastic is you’re creating a greenhouse around the graft and so what it’ll do is all that humidity helps the graft heal in the first tree it’s planted in 2011 and it has the 40 varieties but I anticipate it will be about 3 or 4 years before it’s at that peak and then peat blossom [Music] unlike any other artworks that I’ve made these things continuously evolved I think one of the reasons why I’ve been able to keep it going for so long is that every year it’s something new and when you come out here and the trees are all in blossom it’s really kind of an amazing experience plus you get fruit all summer
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I am so excited! I have been harvesting my seeds - that isn't exactly right - in the fall I cut all plants with seeds and put them in boxes in the garage. I finished in October - then it was the holidays - so now I am getting them all out of their pods etc and packaging them up. I have alot of seeds! I am so excited that I actually did it. It is my first year.
CARRONTS and BEETS take two years to get seeds from them. I covered the plants with straw and let them grow back up last spring and it worked! I have read a bunch of stuff about digging them up and replanting them. I have tried that a few times and it NEVER worked. So in 2010 I covered them with straw and in the spring they popped right up and in the fall I had seeds - WOO HOO!
CUCUMBERS - Cucumbers are a little tricky. You cut them out of the center and leave the junk stuff on them, cover with water, let them fermint and then the seeds float. Strain them out and then let them dry. I haven't done tomatoes, but I have read they are the same process.
RADISHES, BROCCOLI, BEANS, PEAS are all easy, you just let them grow till they come to a seed head, let dry and then gather.
This next year I am going to try new plants and new seeds. Planning all of that now....
I started this blog to get to know other gardeners and track my own garden's progrss. It is a wonderful way to honor the stewardship I have over my plot of ground I have been blessed with. Thanks for stopping by!


In the agriculture sector, the value of crop production is 57%, animal products 34%, forestry 6% and fisheries 3%.
By international standards, Turkey is a major producer of grain, cotton, tobacco, grapes, sunflower, pulses (chickpeas and lentils), dried fruit (hazelnuts, seedless raisins, figs, apricots), fresh fruits (apples and citrus), tomatoes, tea and small ruminants (sheep, goats).
Cereal production occupies 75% of Turkey's cropland. With a wheat production (21 million tons) and barley production (9 million tons) in 1999, Turkey is one of the world's biggest wheat and barley producers.
Besides cotton and tobacco, sugar beet is another important industrial crop (22 million tons in 1998).
Conditions in Turkey are favorable for livestock production. According to 1998 figures, there are 11 million big and 37.5 million small ruminants (29.5 million sheep, 8 million goats) in the country. Turkey also produced 756,000 tons of eggs and 486,000 tons of poultry meat in 1997.
Even though Turkey produces large quantities of cereals and has millions of cattle, productivity per unit area and per head of animal needs improvement. In 1998, average wheat yield in Turkey was 2234kg/ha., one-third of that in advanced countries (world average 2624 kg/ha).
In the same year, world average milk production per milk animal was 2028 kg, while in Turkey it was 1564 kg, one-fourth of the averages of advanced countries. These indicate the potential and the need for technology transfer and productivity improvement.
During the past decade, Turkey has emerged as a major exporter of agricultural products, both to the Middle East and other markets. Exports have tripled during this period, and were valued at more than $16 billion in 2013.
Out of the top 20 agricultural exporters, only India, China and Ukraine have higher export growth rates than Turkey during the past five years. This growth has continued into 2014, and exports during the first three-quarters of the year are up another five percent.
Turkish Agricultural Exports Diversify
While Turkey has traditionally been a significant supplier of fruit and vegetables, in recent years exports have diversified to include a wide range of products. Some key products which have seen strong growth include:
Sunflower Oil: Turkey is the world’s largest exporter of refined sunflower oil. The majority of these exports are first imported into Turkey as crude oil from Russia and Ukraine, and then refined inside and re-exported, mostly to Iraq and Syria.
Turkey’s tariffs on crude oil are considerably lower than the current 50-percent tariff on refined oil, which helps encourage further processing inside Turkey.
Tree Nuts: Turkey dominates world hazelnut trade and accounts for nearly 80 percent of global hazelnut exports. Nearly three-quarters of Turkish exports go to the European Union.
Raisins: Turkey remains the world’s largest exporter of raisins (followed by the United States), accounting for nearly one-third of total global trade. The lion’s share of these exports are to the EU-28.
Poultry: Turkish poultry exports have also been expanding in recent years (for more information see previous FAS report). In fact, Turkey is expected to be the world’s sixth-largest exporter in 2014. Almost all of these exports are shipped to other Middle East markets, especially Iraq.
Turkey has a comparative advantage over other suppliers as a result of its close proximity to these markets, its ability to supply halal product, and the fact that it supplies whole broilers, which many customer countries prefer.
Pasta: With the rapid expansion of its pasta exports, Turkey has become the world’s third-largest exporter of pasta after the EU-28 and China. Most of this pasta is going to Sub-Saharan Africa, where and Turkish pasta has largely replaced Italian pasta in many markets.
Flour: Turkish flour exports have surged, reaching almost $1 billion in 2013 and surpassing two million metric tons, making Turkey the world’s largest exporter of flour (see chart below).
While the majority of Turkish flour goes to Iraq and Syria, exports also go to Asian markets such as the Philippines and Indonesia, and exports have been rising to Sub-Saharan African markets.
In fact, flour exports to Sub-Saharan Africa have tripled in the last five years.


‘Every day should be Earth Day’: Quinn’s mission to clean up the global food system from the ground up
Since its humble beginnings from her attic three days after her first son, Quinn, was born, Quinn Snacks has been at the forefront of a growing a movement around regenerative agriculture.
Regenerative agriculture is quite simply any form of farming that aims to revitalise and regenerate the soil and the wider environment, not just minimise the impact of production. In a nutshell, practices focus on nourishing the soil, increasing farm biodiversity, improving water quality and climate resilience, capturing carbon, and restoring and regenerating the land.
Considered one of Fortune Magazine’s Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs, Lewis’ philosophy is rooted in holistic, inclusive and attainable approaches for all farmers at any stage in their journey.
“There is room for all farmers, conventional and organic, in the regenerative agriculture movement,” she said.
“You don't have to be doing it perfectly to be doing it better. As a food company, we have a social and ethical responsibility to continue to push against the status quo to create massive change within our food and ag industries – and I challenge all founders, CEOs, Board of Directors and decisionmakers to lead with the same intent.”
A mom of three boys, Lewis is committed to eliminating synthetic chemicals and pesticides from the overall supply chain, while breaking down the barriers between organic and conventional agriculture.
“There are early studies that suggest when you grow your food in a system without these inputs, but using the pillars of regenerative ag practices, you create a thriving ecosystem with stronger yields and a healthier, more nutrient-dense crop, one with higher amounts of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.
“This is not just about reducing carbon, it’s about the health of our soil, the health of our food, our gut and our mental and physical health. Human and planet health all stem from the food we eat and how it was grown.”
The importance of Earth Day
“As a company and a brand, we have a fiduciary responsibility to our planet and Earth Day is a wonderful reminder of that. I think every day should be Earth Day, but [22 April] should be marked on the calendar as something that everyone should be paying attention to,” Lewis told Bakery&Snacks.
“We are a salty snack company, so we’re a fun company, but doing a lot of good. Through the whole month of April, we’re really trying to push awareness around Earth Day and get more of our consumers involved.”
Added Lewis, “95% of our food supply depends on our topsoil to grow it [a mere 6” layer of our Earth’s crust], but in the US … soil used for crops is eroding 10 times faster than it can be replenished. This erosion can also lead up to 50% of loss in crop yields, which is pretty drastic, yet we’re expecting our soil to feed 9 billion people by 2050. So that's a big thing for us.”
She added, “We have 895 million of acres of farmland in the United States and only 9.3m of them are organic.
“We’re seeing a lot of progress getting certain pesticides and chemicals out of the system, but at Quinn, we were trying to figure out ‘what are we doing with the rest of the 99% of agriculture and how do we grow food in a way that has a measurable impact on the health of our soil, our ecosystems and communities?’ So that's something we've really taken a close look at.
“I have three boys and the idea was to get the pesticides and synthetics and herbicides out of our food system. Dave Vetter once told me you really can't do that until you create a healthy ecosystem and soil that’s thriving.
“That's where we started to learn more about crop rotation, less-to-no tillage, introducing livestock and creating this massive ecosystem that captures carbon but also provides a more nutrient-dense product and increases food security down the road.
“We are not into certifications; we’re really working to verify practices on the farms that we work with and to convert conventional over into regenerative, which for us really means how Mother Nature intended us to grow our food.”
Earlier this month, Quinn announced its participation in the Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI), a new verification programme from nonprofit Green America.
“They are very aligned with our mindset … and are now working in partnership with us and our farmers to grow ingredients more regeneratively. This is not an overnight solution – it takes decades. We’re a small company (15 people), so it requires a ton of our day-to-day to work with our growers,” said Lewis.
“Every year [our growers need to show] an improvement. If they're reducing pesticides by 60% one year, then 80% the next year and 100% the year after that, in conjunction with introducing crop rotation one year and then minimal-to-no tillage the next year, it's all about improving. SCI works with our growers so that we can really help them be and do better in their ag journey. So it's a phenomenal partnership and we're really grateful for them.”
Back to basics
When Quinn started almost 13 years ago, the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ hadn’t as yet become the buzzword it is today – although “there was a unified understanding of what it means and what companies were trying to do,” said Lewis.
“To explain what we were doing to introduce more transparency into the food system – knowing where your food is coming from; how it's grown – I used to say ‘we’re taking it back to basics’.”
Quinn may be working hard to take snacking back to its roots, but its snacks are far from basic, having invented a number of industry firsts: such as the world’s first microwave organic popcorn in a patented bag made of compostable paper with no chemical or plastic coatings; the first line of whole-grain and gluten-free pretzels; and the first and only gluten-free filled pretzel nugget, becoming the better-for-you brand leader in the overall $1.6bn pretzel category in the US.
In January, Quinn also debuted its Family Farmed Pop-at-Home, pesticide-free popcorn kernels in partnership with Steve McKaskle, a fifth-generation farmer who has been integrating regenerative farming principles for almost 30 years. While this is a new partnership for the Boulder, Colorado-based snack producer, it has been working with organic and regenerative agriculture pioneer Dave Vetter of Grain Place Foods since 2010.
Quinn's snacks have been granted the Climate Friendly status from HowGood – the world’s largest sustainability database – attributed to the top 30% of food products with low carbon emissions.


Our team will be watching the extended weather forecasts.
The forecasts have now turned very wet into early May. If that proves to be right, then new crop corn prices will likely continue higher.
Currently, US corn is 3% planted, which is 2 percentage points behind the average pace. By next Monday, US corn might be 5-6% planted, which would put it 8-9 points behind average. By April 29, US corn might be 14-15% planted, which then would be 12-13 points behind average. It is unlikely that US farmers will plant 39% of the crop in one week like they did in 2018.
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Poor air quality is an everyday problem in Delhi, but its residents, by extension the government, only seem to react when the air gets visibly poor with the city enveloped in smog and the air perceptibly toxic. That is generally during onset of the winter season that is, October and November.
A Seasonal, High Visibility Problem
It is in this period, almost like an annual ritual, that air pollution becomes a matter of public concern and conversation and then forgotten once the skies clear. “One reason why crop burning is so large in the imagination is because it is period when we have the spikes when the air is visibly polluted and the level of particulate matter rise to say 10 times the safe limits but even on a day when we can see blue skies the air is polluted, say two or three times the safe limit,” said Navroz Dubash, professor at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Over the last few years, political parties have been wading into the seasonal conversation on pollution. This has been more in the nature of a pre-emptive blame game and the inevitable strike back. Agricultural stubble burning is the main focus, the lack of effort and progress in addressing perennial or year-long sources of pollution, particularly those within Delhi’s airshed are overlooked. This fits in with the general approach, in government and outside, to tackling pollution—it is episodic and more concerned with dealing with the spikes.
Crop residue, Dubash explained, contributes to the spike in air pollution “when even the healthy start feeling unwell”. But it is far from the only or even the biggest source of pollution in National Capital Territory of Delhi. Crop burning is literally the straw the broke the camel’s back. Source apportionment studies by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2015), The Energy and Resources Institute (2018) and the Automotive Research Association of India (2018) all found that major sources of particulate matter pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) during the winter months were biomass and garbage burning in the city, vehicular emission, secondary compounds, industry, and road, construction and demolition dust. Given the episodic nature of crop burning, its share for season works out to 5 per cent—though continuous monitoring on some days it can contribute as much as 44 per cent to the city’s PM2.5 load.
This year, till now, the highest contribution of crop burning to the city’s pollution has been 19 per cent (on two days in the last fortnight that is October 10 to 26). The share has been at less than 10 per cent for 9 days going as low as 1 per cent. What is notable is that number of fires have been for the most part higher than in 2019 or 2018.
By limiting the efforts to curb pollution to crop residue burning has meant that Delhi and the national capital region have been devoting their efforts to tackling a 5 per cent problem while neglecting the 95 per cent. “If you are looking at averages then crop residue burning contributes around 5 per cent to Delhi's air pollution. But on particular days in the season, those with the highest number of fires, the contribution can be as high as 40 per cent,” said Sumit Sharma, Director, Earth Science and Climate Change Division at The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), a New Delhi-based think tank.
Crop residue burning is one part of the problem. A seasonal source of particulate matter pollution, crop residue burning is a demonstration of why environmental concerns such as air quality cannot be addressed in isolation and there are no easy or quick solutions.
The Anatomy of a Problem
Paddy was not traditionally grown in Punjab and Haryana given its high water requirement. In her study on crop residue burning in Punjab. Niti Gupta, a research analyst with the New Delhi-based think tank Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), writes that paddy requires at least 18 mm of water per day for almost 100 days compared to 500 mm required for wheat during the entire growth season.
The Green Revolution and the introduction of high yield hybrid seeds changed things. Policies began to be geared towards encouraging paddy cultivation. Punjab average rainfall is about 650 mm, of which 500 mm falls in the rainy season between July to September. But this isn’t adequate for paddy cultivation the shortfall, which researchers put at 1,100 mm per hectare, is made up by drawing groundwater. The government’s policy of providing farmers with free electricity meant that farmers could meet their water requirement for cultivating paddy.
By the 1980s, government was procuring 80 per cent of the rice produced. The assured market structure along with a minimum support policy that supported the cultivation of non-basmati high yielding varieties of rice made paddy cultivation lucrative. Its high remunerative value meant improved incomes, making the farmers of these two states relatively better off than their counterparts elsewhere. Farmers in the region shifted from a maize-wheat crop mix to wheat-paddy.
In the mid-1980s, the farmers adopted mechanised harvesting. A move that reduced the amount of time they had to spend in the fields thereby allowing them to increase land under cultivation. The area under paddy cultivation increased from 1183 thousand hectare in 1980-81 to 3103 thousand hectare in 2018-19 while the area under cultivation of crops traditionally grown in the region such as maize and pulses declined. Between 1980-81 and 2018-19 area under maize cultivation declined from 382 to 109 thousand hectares, while area under pulses declined from 341 thousand hectares in 1980-81 to 20 thousand hectares in 2016-17.
The mechanical combines used for harvesting left behind stalks with inbound roots. The stalk of the wheat crop can be cleared by allowing the livestock to feed on it, The paddy residue is burnt because its high silica content makes it unsuitable for livestock feed. But the burning did not rise to the level of a problem for air quality in the Indo-Gangetic plain.
That changed when the indiscriminate withdrawal of ground water led to a crisis. Ground water withdrawal was outpacing the recharge rate. As Gupta explained, “If the rice-wheat monoculture remains, the water table in central Punjab is expected to fall below 70 feet in 66 per cent of the area by 2023, below 100 feet in 34 per cent of the area, and much below 130 feet in 7 per cent of the area.”
The Problem of Vested Interests
The Punjab state government was staring at an ecological crisis. But given the centrality of paddy to the prosperity of the state’s farmers and their political power, the state government had to find an option that would address the water crisis without abandoning paddy cultivation.
In 2008-09, the state government introduced the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act synchronising the paddy crop with the monsoon season. Farmers could no longer cultivate paddy through the year. The decision to restrict paddy cultivation to the monsoon season was done to limit ground water usage. “The new system meant a later sowing and harvest season for paddy, and an extremely short gap between the paddy harvest and the winter sowing season. Burning became the quickest and the most viable option for clearing the land. And the unfavourable meteorological conditions of the post monsoon period meant that the burning particulates would be transported to Delhi and western Indo-Gangetic Plains,” said Vibha Dhawan, Distinguished Fellow at TERI.
The assured market structure and the MSP regime for non-basmati paddy meant that paddy continued to be a lucrative crop. Farmers are unwilling to give it up, and politicians understood the heavy electoral price they would pay if they restricted paddy cultivation. At the same time the impact on air quality could not be ignored. Faced with an emergency, the focus shifted to managing the paddy crop residue.
In 2017, the central government set up a task force on biomass management under the aegis of the NITI Aayog, the government’s think tank. The aim was to curb the practice of crop residue burning by encouraging and enabling farmers to use the residue for mulching or to sell the residue as feedstock for power generation.
As part of this effort, the Confederation of Indian Industries Foundation carried out pilot interventions across 19 villages in the Ludhiana and Patiala districts of Punjab to encourage farmers to use the paddy straw for mulching—a process by which the stalk residue is mechanically cut and then spread over the field in time disintegrating to function like manure. This process and the subsequent sowing require specialised equipment. To encourage farmers to make the shift, the central government in 2018 announced an agricultural mechanisation scheme with total fund of Rs 1,152 crore for 2018-19 and 2019-20. This money was for subsiding machines to help remove the crop stubble without burning.
The results have been mixed. Farmers point to lack of equipment—too few compared to the need. Equipment manufacturers hiked their process, making the subsidy given to farmers for buying the machinery inadequate. Seema Arora, deputy director general, CII, who was involved with the pilot interventions says resolving the crop burning problem “will require addressing the issue from the farmers’ perspective. It is more than making equipment available to farmers”. Arora points to the need to train farmers to enable them to make the changes in agricultural practice that technological interventions necessarily require. “It has to be about behaviour change and that can happen when farmers realise that investment required to move away from burning residue is yielding returns. In effect, the farmer must be prepared to deal with the change in ecosystem,” stresses Arora.
No Easy Solutions
Long-term solution will require revisiting cropping patterns. Given the problems of a receding water table, it seems clear that Punjab-Haryana farmer must move away from cultivating paddy. However, the pricing and incentives structure is not conducive to this shift. Though the government has substantially increased the minimum support price for crops such as coarse grains, maize, and pulses farmers in the region are unwilling to shift. They say that the returns are low, and cultivating paddy, despite the problems, continues make economic sense.
Dhawan says that farmers will not shift away from paddy till the other crops such as coarse grains and pulses yield higher incomes. Instead she suggests “developing and popularising an early maturing variety of rice. This will ensure that farmers have a month for harvesting, and this would reduce the need to burn stubble.”
At the same time, Dhawan says that “the government must create the necessary technological infrastructure for farmers to access the equipment necessary to shift from the practice of crop residue burning. Effectively, the government needs to approach this as an infrastructure investment akin to building roads. And finally, there is a need to invest in an ecosystem that encourages diversification of crops, focusing on those save water and improve nutrition content, and in the technological changes that will permit a more sustainable agricultural practice.”
Gill suggests creating economic value for the paddy straw, by using it as feedstock for biofuel. For Gill, the in-situ disposal of paddy straw by mulching is a waste of resource that could bring extra income to the farmers and meet fuel and energy needs.
Sumit Sharma agrees with Gill. He argues that creating economic value for the crop residue will put an end to stubble burning. He says, “we need to focus on converting the crop stubble into useful energy, so that it becomes a revenue earning option for farmers. Right now the focus is on encouraging mulching, and for that farmers incur a certain cost, so they see it as eating into their profits. The technology for ex situ utilisation is there, some pilots have been conducted but the business model to take it to scale is not there yet—who will pay for collection, how do you transport the stubble, storing and utilisation.”
Tackling crop residue burning will require a systemic and long-term effort. This includes economically viable and profitable uses for the stubble, so that farmers see it as a resource and not a nuisance. Considering the impact of burning on soil productivity and health, and human health in these communities and getting farmers in Punjab-Haryana to cultivating crops such as maize. This will require policy interventions, increased awareness, and economic opportunities.
At the same time, downwind areas that is Delhi and the national capital region have to focus on reducing the pollution load in their region as well. This will require greater focus on reducing road dust and construction and demolition dust, as well as pollution from industrial sources. As Dubash puts it, “we have to understand air pollution as 5 times 20 problem. There are 20 buckets of things and we have to address them all to solve Delhi’s air pollution problem.”
(This story has been updated. An earlier version of this story appeared in November 2019.)
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I've written about Spigelia marilandica -- a native perennial commonly called Indian pink or pinkroot -- on several occasions, and I want to share even more about the plant.
Why? It's among the top 10 plants for attracting ruby- throated hummingbirds (www.rubythroat.org) to your garden.
Pinkroot, which bears red flowers with yellow throats, is planted in several different conditions at the Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, N.C., says Adrienne Zazzara, garden curator at the nursery and its Juniper Level Botanic Garden.
The nursery's 5-acre display garden contains more than 11,000 different plants. Many of the new plants come from seed exchanges and discoveries owner Tony Avent makes during his worldwide plant searches. The gardens evaluate how plants grow best in Zone 7b, which is kissing cousin to our growing zone in Hampton Roads. The plants also are rated on their ability to peacefully co-exist with native species.
One 8-year-old pinkroot is planted in sandy soil that's had composted manure added to it, Zazzara says. It gets little sun, maybe two hours in the afternoon. When it was planted, it enjoyed full sun, but taller plants growing nearby now shade it. Every year, it grows about 18 inches tall and wide. The garden's irrigation system waters that area nightly from May through September.
Four years ago, pinkroot in a quart container was placed in a border planting. The clay-heavy soil was amended with composted soils. The border grows under full sun and gets irrigated about twice a week. Here, the pinkroot also grows 18 inches tall and wide.
Those two pinkroots are mulched with triple-shredded hardwood mulch, Zazzara says.
The third pinkroot -- Spigelia gentianoides, which forms a single stem instead of the clump that Spigelia marilandica creates -- grows in a bed raised about 4 feet. The full-sun bed is mulched with pea gravel, and the clay-heavy soil is amended with compost. The pinkroot has been there about three years, annually growing about 12 inches tall and wide. If there's no rain, it gets supplemental water twice a week.
"We haven't lost one yet," Zazzara says of pinkroot.
"I think the worst thing that could happen to it is poor drainage, especially during cold, wet winters."
If you ever get the notion to travel toward Raleigh, you can tour Plant Delights' gardens certain times of the year. This year's open houses will be held in July and September. For more details and directions and to get a catalog, call (919) 772- 4794 or visit www.plant delights.com.
Other mail-order nursery sources for pinkroot include: Heronswood, (360) 297-4172 or www.heronswood.com; Roslyn Nursery, (631) 643-9347 or www .roslynnursery.com; Singing Springs Nursery, (919) 732-9403 or www.singingspringsnursery .com; and Sunshine Farm and Gardens, (304) 497-2208 or www .sunfarm.com.
LEARN ABOUT HOSTAS. No one loves hostas more than Frank Hunyady. Most of his sloping back yard in Newport News is devoted to these shade-loving plants.
During last year's drought, Frank learned how valuable it is to plant hostas in pots, then sink those pots into the ground. Water put directly into those pots is used by the hostas and not the roots of surrounding trees.
He also puts wire mesh into the bottoms of the pots to keep voles from destroying some very valuable varieties of hostas.
You can learn more about hostas from Hunyady during a free workshop he will give at 8 a.m. Saturday at Coenen Landscape and Design, 12533 Warwick Blvd., Newport News. To register or for more information, call 930-4484.
CONTROL WHITEFLIES. Whiteflies are becoming a serious problem in the home garden, according to Eric Day with the insect identification lab at Virginia Tech. They are most often found on eggplants, tomatoes and squash.
The pests are seen in two forms: small, powdery-white adults that fly when plants are disturbed; and small, round, sedentary, greenish-yellow nymphs attached by sucking mouth parts to the undersides of leaves. They extract fluids from succulent new growth, causing plants to become weak and prone to diseases.
Whiteflies are hard to kill and are almost totally resistant to any insecticides commonly used in the home garden, Day says.
In the garden, lacewings and ladybugs prey on whiteflies, helping control the insects. Also, good air circulation around plants helps prevent serious infestations.
The best control, he says, is to avoid them. Check transplants for the presence of whiteflies, and destroy any infested plants.
Yellow sticky boards can be used to control them. Pre-made sticky boards are available at garden centers and through catalogs.
Here's how to make your own sticky boards:
* Cut standard, 22-by-28 inches, bright-yellow poster board into 7-inch squares. You also can recycle plastic containers such as margarine tubs made of bright-yellow plastic. Do not use antifreeze containers, because pets are attracted to the odor of antifreeze, which is a toxic substance to pets if ingested.


Mechanism of action
"Imidacloprid blocks the transmission of nerve impulses at the level of the receptor of the postsynaptic membrane.
Pencycuron penetrates the cuticle of the plant and inhibits the germination of the mycelium, affects the functional state of the cell and the nucleus, inhibits the biosynthesis of sterols and free fatty acids inside of the fungus, significantly reduces the contents of the transport forms of glucose"
Period of protective effect
From pests 40-60 days after emergence of sprouts; from Rhizoctonia blight and favus - during the vegetation period.
|Crop||Harmful object||Germicide consumption rate, l/t||Safety interval (treatments frequency)||Way, time, characteristics of germicide use|
|Potato||Wireworms, potato beetle, aphid - virus carriers, Rhizoctonia blight, brown scab||0,7-1,0||- (1)||Treatment of tubers before and during sowing.
Working solution consumption rate 10-20 l/t
|Common onion (from seeds)||Onion fly, tobacco thrips, neck rot, mold formation on seeds||0,1 l/kg of seeds||- (1)||Treatment of seeds before sowing|
|Active substance||Imidacloprid 140 g/l and pencycuron 150 g/l|
|Preparative form||Suspension concentrate|
|Pack size||1 l|


While it may a bit early to refer to recent warmer-than-normal temperatures as Indian Summer, weather conditions this week in much of the grain belt helped the harvest kick into high gear. But new EPA guidelines on dust and particulate matter announced recently could have legal ramifications for farmers. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is concerned the new rules could expose farmers to litigation. And he invited the head of the EPA to visit his state during the harvest to see how the new rules would affect America's farmers.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, made a decision to stop exempting farmers and ranchers from "dust and coarse particulate matter regulations." The EPA's original proposal in December 2005 included an exemption for sources of dust created from agricultural and mining practices. Despite an EPA statement that the health risks of exposure to particulate matter in rural areas are inconclusive, the agricultural and mining exemptions were removed from the final regulation last month.
Officials with the EPA and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources insist farmers won't be affected by the decision. But, Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, disagrees. He says there is no guarantee that farmers couldn't be sued for the dust they create. This week, he invited the EPA to visit his state to see first-hand what the new rules could do to American farmers. Grassley asked the EPA to make the trip before the soybean harvest ends; noting soybeans stir up more dust than corn.
While the administrator of the EPA, Stephen Johnson, accepted Grassley's invitation, no date has been set for the visit.


With the days growing shorter and cooler, autumn is an ideal time to prepare your garden for the winter ahead. There are several things you can do at this time of the year which will help ensure your plants survive the colder months ahead. A little bit of care now will help you have a beautiful blooming garden again come spring. If you are planning to sell your home in the coming months the winterization steps you take for your plants will also help you keep your yard healthy and attractive to potential buyers, even in the deepest of winter dormancy. I have compiled a list of some quick tips to help you get organized and on your way through winter preparations in your garden.
- Pruning helps remove dead or diseased branches from trees and shrub, and will allow for stronger growth within the branches that remain. Pruning is also done to help control the growth of a plant to a desired size or shape. The amount of pruning and how you prune as well as when will depend on what you are pruning. Fruit trees for example grow fruit at various times in their growing seasons. You will want to confirm when your trees bear fruit, it could be after a year of growth, during a current season’s growth or on spurs that grow after pruning. The California Native Plant Society has some great information and guidelines that can help you with more pruning tips.
- Mulching will protect your plants from the cold. A good thick layer of fresh mulch along the base of your plants will help regulate the temperature, effectively giving your plants a blanket. Be sure to remove any old mulch first as it may harbor pest eggs which could be devastating come spring. Once the first frost or close to freezing temperatures arrive, it is time to lay down the new layer of mulch. This will help maintain a steady temperature, protecting from fluctuations of freezing and melting periods. It is these changes that can cause damage to roots. Roses are vulnerable to the cold in particular. You can wrap rose bushes in a burlap mulch container to help them make it through the colder months. There is a great how to guide on this mulch idea and others from Better Homes & Gardens.
- Planting new trees and shrubs now is ideal. By planting now the will be set to lie dormant for the winter, and ready to focus new growth and energy in the spring. Most fruit trees need at least 6 hours of daylight during the growing season so be sure to plan accordingly where you will plant any new trees, being sure they will get enough direct light. You should also delay fertilizing any new plants at this time, as fertilizer will encourage continued growth and the energy needed to dormancy may be depleted too much for a plant to survive the winter.
- Some other quick tips include checking for pests regularly and make any repairs to flower beds, clean up any dead flowers or stalks as well. Avocado and Citrus trees should be watered thoroughly to help prevent them from splitting. Keep a polyspun garden fabric on hand that you can use to cover annuals from frost.
With just a little time and care you can prepare your garden to survive the winter and burst forth with a bouquet of color come spring. If you are ready to sell your home the extra steps toward winterizing your garden will give you an extra edge in attracting potential buyers as well. We at Haylen Group are here to help you with all of your real estate needs! If you are unsure what your options are, call Helen Chong at (408) 800-LIST or email at Helen@HaylenGroup.com. You can also visit us at our website for available listings and additional information.