Workshop!

I must be getting anxious about the workshop – yesterday, we had trouble with the manure portion of our load- trouble, as in we didn’t pick up any. When we got to the farm, we found they had converted from straw to sawdust. And though we could technically use it, the sawdust soaks in a lot of moisture and isn’t ideal for what we’re hoping to accomplish, SO, today we’ll check with the cow farm next door.

In the dream, everyone got to the house, but I wasn’t ready and it was snowing really hard. Yeah, typical nightmare for a true Michigander.

Other than the manure, things are beginning to pull together for the w/s and I’m excited to meet everyone and learn about their enthusiasm for backyard farming.  We’re thinking about holding a 3-pt class over the winter using Toby Hemenway’s book as our text.  I think it’s a great starting point and the book does such a wonderful job of interpreting some otherwise complex subjects.  

See you Sunday!

Composting 101

Composting is an art, but even if you’re drawing stick-figures with your homemade bin out back, the practice of composting is forgiving.  Too much carbon and the process may slow, or too much nitrogen, and the bin will stink, but either way, decomposition will still occur.  

Here are some useful tips for maximum efficiency:

• There are two main component nutrients important to building healthy compost: Carbon and Nitrogen.  You want a good ratio of much more carbon to your nitrogen (how’s that for scientific?), so if you’re adding a lot of greens (manure, fruits and veggie wastes, hay, lawn clippings) and your compost begins to smell, try adding some golds (straw, rotting wood, wood ash, paper, cardboard) to balance things out.  If your compost is not smelly and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, your ratio may be out of wack with too little nitrogen and more greens may be needed.  
• Stir your compost!  There are three forms of bacteria “decomposers” and each work at different temperatures.  If your compost begins to get too hot, the temperature will kill these valuable microbes.  Stirring not only oxygenates the humus, but the airflow will also lower temperature and allow your decomposers to get back to work.
• Keep your compost out of direct sun and keep it moist, not wet.  Think of a forest floor and try to mimic the conditions of that interior forest environment.
• Good for compost: Yard and food wastes (fruits and veggies, egg-shells), wood ash, coffee grounds, and manures from herbivores // Avoid: meats, dairy, potatoes or manures from carnivores
• Cut your compost into smaller pieces to speed up decomposition.

And remember, composting will lead to near-pH neutrality, so keeping your acids and neutrals is nice, but its not necessary to worry about it.

Soil Building Workshop in August

Join us from 11am – 1pm as we discover how soil is manufactured in nature and learn about the laws of succession in our own backyard wilderness.  The session runs Sunday, August 9th and there is no charge for this workshop.  

See you there!  In wellness, Samantha & Co.

Junk or Treasure?

When we closed on our house last week, we inherited a broken-down aluminum-frame swing-set in the backyard.  I was breaking it down earlier when my husband noticed the nicely rounded frame and said, “Do you think we could make it into a hoop house?”

Not only have we saved on gas and trash, but soon we’ll have a valuable addition to our backyard farm!

Fall Soil-building workshop

Healing Tree, in its new habitat, will hold a series of workshops extending into spring beginning with a soil-building workshop this fall.  If interested please contact us via comment.

In wellness, Samantha

Bulb cage

I thought this was a unique product fit for protecting bulbs from rodents who might otherwise make a meal of them.

Opinion page

Over the last two days, the Record Eagle has received a couple of well-written responses to the TC Planning Commission’s negative response to allowing chickens on private property within the village limit.  Bravo citizens!  

In praise of chickens

The Traverse City Planning Commission recently discussed backyard chickens. Traverse City residents should discuss community needs. I support raising chickens in my backyard for pets, eggs, fertilizer and pest control.

First, supporting local food sources reduces carbon footprints. This is as important as the fact that fresh eggs are superior to hormone-ridden factory eggs. Factory chickens are grossly housed, forced to stand in their own feces and sickened from disease. This should be the focus of concern for avian flu. Backyard chickens are part of the solution to this fear.

Chickens are great pets, giving children responsibility and joining the community together. Seattle, Wash., embraces the concept to the extent of having chicken coop tours in the city. It grants simple living, reconnecting us to our neighbors and food source.

Chickens give a natural source for pest control and fertilizer. This saves our lakes from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

There are also concerns about neighbor’s dogs and other predators. The chicken coop provides warmth and safety. Smell seems to be another concern, as it should be. Just like attending to any other animal, cleanliness is important.

Together we can build a cool, sustainable and safe community.

Kimberly Dante
Traverse City

Chickens not a problem

Really, I can’t believe that the Record-Eagle is serious in opposing a move to allow chickens within the city limits. One reason I can’t believe you’re serious is that your editorial mocks earnest citizens with a perfectly reasonable request, treating it like a joke.

Another reason I can’t believe you’re serious is that you don’t come up with one good reason to prohibit birds in our backyards. Noise? Seriously? I would much rather live next door to five chickens than two dogs. Or one leaf blower!

Smell? Again, between chickens or dogs, I’ll take the chickens. A loose chicken might make a motorist swerve? Seriously? What about cats, dogs, children and squirrels that dart out in front of our cars? Should we outlaw them too?

Yes, a dog might kill a chicken and there would be a problem; just like when a dog bites a child or kills a cat. Are you seriously going to penalize the victim? And are people really going to go to the city commission with a straight face and say that feathers flying over the fence will upset them?

I hope none of those people have bird feeders.

Christine Bazzett
Traverse City

Center Road Park

Township meeting scheduled for Tuesday to finalize the purchase of the Center Road property!

Chickens in town

Coming home to TC to roost article from the Traverse City Record Eagle.

Planning ahead

We move in two weeks and already, I’m planning raised beds for the back of the property.  Since this property has a lawn that has been “treated” for the past five years, we’ll be digging out the grass down to the soil below and filling that with our nitrogen-carbon contents to rebuild the soil to a state of ultimate health.  I’ll likely dig down four inches, then raise the bed a total of four plus eight – 10 inches for a nice rich, deep topsoil layer.  

Obviously, it’s important to consider the wood you use when building walls for a contained raised bed (recommended) – nothing treated with chemicals that could leach into your food or deter microbes from growing in the soil.  There are websites offering pre-made components, but you can just as easily create your own, keeping in mind the type of wood, metal or other materials you choose to use as a surround.  

Moving into an association will be a first for me and I must admit, a part of me is bucking the idea already, but this will be an opportunity to address the need to educate the least experienced backyard gardener.  The toughest issue for me will be the neighbors on either side of our property, spraying their lawns with broad-leafed killers and chemical fertilizers.  My garden will need to remain a safe distance from either border and will not have an immediate hedge-row to embrace it’s development.  We’ll be starting literally from the ground up.

For now, I’ll continue day-dreaming about my seed-order next spring.