September 2006 Newsletter
In this issue:
Tacoma News Tribune
The Yelm Earth Worm and
Castings Farm will be featured in the September 21st issue of the
Tacoma News Tribunes new Home and Garden section. Look for it!
Worm Tea Brewing Schedule
We will now have tea
available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. With cooling weather, it is not too late to
use tea. The microbes that you put into
the soil will go to work breaking down organic matter all fall and winter
building your soil with available plant nutrients for spring. Moreover, as you harvest your garden and
leave plants and parts of plants behind, these microbes will again speed their
decay and recycle them into your next spring’s garden. Finally, when the temperature cools, many of
these microbes simply go dormant and will wake up and go to work anytime the
temperatures allow throughout the fall, winter and spring!
Fall Garden Preparation Tips
WATER,
WATER, WATER! It has been so dry that it is important to keep perennials,
shrubs, and trees well watered until the winter rains arrive.
Cold
fall nights are a great indicator that it is time to begin winterizing the
garden for a long rest. A few basic
chores will save hours next spring, and make us all eager to begin spring
planting.
Winter Vegetable
Garden Clean Up
1.
Remove
all weeds that are flowering or have gone to seed. Don’t dig them in or put them into your compost pile or you will
be meeting them again in the spring.
Clean out spent annuals and dead- head those that are still
blooming. Clean up crops that are no
longer yielding (unless you are saving seed).
Chop up large, coarse material to incorporate back into the soil or put
into your compost pile. Any diseased
leaves or plants should not go back into the soil or into the compost
pile. Burn them or bag them for
disposal.
2.
Work
on the texture and composition of your soil.
Add organic (plant) matter to the soil.
Organic matter decomposes to produce humus, which is pure gold in your
soil. It is the environment and food
for microbial life, the workers in your soil.
When you increase organic matter you will:
- increase water holding capacity of sandy
soil
- improve the drainage of clay soil
- increase the oxygen capacity of the soil
- supply micro-nutrients
- encourage microbial activity
3.
Barefoot
Soil Earthworm Castings are the perfect addition to gardens in the fall. They add organic humus and microbial life
all at the same time. Composted manures
are best added in the fall since they have the winter to begin to break
down. Please be sure that any manures
are well composted to prevent the presence of weed seeds and pathogens. Fallen leaves can be mowed and incorporated
into garden soil too.
4.
Work
the soil gently to loosen areas that have become compacted over the
summer. This disturbs the soil
microbiology, but it does have a chance to recover by spring planting.
5.
Plant
a cover crop. Steve Solomon in Growing
Vegetables West of The Cascades recommends Crimson Clover as a good cover
crop for the Pacific Northwest, though he says that it is disappointing on very
acid or infertile soils. It can be
planted in late Sept. and into Oct., 1lb. covers 500 sq. ft. Broadcast & rake in at 1” depth. Once it flowers in April, quickly till it in
or pull it out before seeds form and it becomes woody. It can also be mowed or cut, and the root
mass hoed into the soil. It breaks down quickly.
Cover crops don’t replace all the organic matter that
previous crops have used up, but they do produce some, and their roots
condition the soil for spring planting and reduce erosion from winter
rains. In wet spring conditions, the
cover crop roots draw moisture up into the leaves and evaporate it helping to
dry out soggy soils in preparation for planting.
6.
Spray
your soil with a good worm compost tea to add the micro-organisms that make a
productive, fertile soil and assist
with over winter composting of organic matter.
Spray your compost pile to help inoculate and activate it.
- Start a compost pile. What a great time of year to collect
garden material, grass clippings, and falling leaves to add to your
compost pile. Check the Internet
for designs and ideas or buy a good book on composting.
- Plant spring bulbs. You will know when nature is waking up by the first crocus,
daffodils, and tulips, and be inspired to begin your spring gardening
- Consider having your garden soil tested. Soil fertility fluctuates throughout
the growing season each year. The quantity and availability of mineral
nutrients are altered by the addition of fertilizers, manure, compost,
mulch, and lime or sulfur, in addition to leaching. Furthermore, a large
quantity of mineral nutrients are removed from soils as a result of plant
growth and development, and the harvesting of crops. The soil test will
determine the current fertility status. It also provides the necessary
information needed to maintain the optimum fertility year after year. Contact a reliable lab and ask how to
collect a sample, how much to send, and how long the test will take. Most labs will look at available
nutrients, pH, and will include recommendations for improving your soil.
The most economical lab we have found is Basic Soil Test for Gardeners available through:
Brian Thompson, Resource Specialist
Thurston Conservation District
921 Lakeridge Way
Olympia, WA 98502
754-3588, ext. 137
Ask for Test S1BN. It will cost $15 plus shipping to lab and take about one week to be returned to you. This is a basic soil test looking at organic material, nutrients, pH, and recommended corrections for soil. Call Brian for instructions on collecting soil sample. Samples may be sent directly to lab or to Brian for shipping to lab. Brian is available for interpreting test results when they return.
Alternatively, you can contact the testing lab directly:
A & L Western Agricultural Labs
503-968-9225
10220 S.W. Nimbus Ave
Building K-9
Portland, OR 97223
- Buy and read a good organic gardening book
this winter. Understanding the
plants that you are growing and their needs is an important part of
successful gardening. We recommend
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades (Revised edition) by Steve
Solomon or The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening by Ann
Lovejoy. They were written for our
climate and soils. For container
gardening read The Bountiful Container by Rose Marie Nichols McGee
and Maggie Stuckey.
- Order seed catalogs for your winter
reading. Consider using organic
and open pollinated seeds so that you can save your own seeds for future
use. It is important to understand
that seed have a genetic code for growing in specific climates and
conditions. A seed developed and
grown in a maritime climate will do better in the PNW than a seed grown in
Arizona or California. Some
catalogues that might be of interest are:
·
Territorial Seed Co.
– Carry organic and open pollinated seeds, some heirloom. This catalogue has wonderful instructions
and information for each category of seeds.
·
Seed Savers Exchange
– Offers a dynamite catalogue and wonderful selection of seeds and is a great
organization to support.
·
Fedco Seeds – These
seeds come mostly from a farmer’s co-op and the catalog tells you where they
were grown. Organic and open pollinated
seeds are available.
·
Seeds of Change –
Organic and open pollinated seeds available
Worm
Tea Update
Jan of our office has been
doing a test in her garden over the last four weeks to see the effects of
Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings Worm Tea on a newly planted crop. She planted two rows of beets. In one, she already had fantastic soil amply
amended by our organic mixes and our Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings. In four weeks, her plants are already 1.5-2
inches high – exceptional results for soils in our area. But get this: She worm tead the other row with our regular brew left over on
Wednesday evenings, and these beets are 3 times as high!
Moral of the story: Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings combined
with proper soil amendments give exceptional results surpassing normal or even
chemical growth mediums. However, an
extra supplement of properly brewed worm tea give results so fantastic, it is
difficult to put words on them.
Why “Worm Tea” as opposed to “Compost Tea” or
“tea extracts”?
Compost by nature is
inconsistent. The composted material
varies according to season and to local weather conditions (i.e., a local wind
storm results in large amounts of wood chips, or high temperatures may inspire
homeowners and large businesses to use more chemicals on their lawns and turf
thus affecting the grass clippings), and with all the other variabilities
inherent of the compost feed stock.
Thus, the microbiology as well as the C:N ratios varies – not to mention
the effects of chemicals such as “Weed and Feed.”
Tea extracts as opposed
to aerobically brewed tea do not supply the density of microorganism
populations, and when bottled and set on the shelf go anaerobic further
decreasing populations and possibly inspiring anaerobes to develop.
Worm Tea aerobically
brewed with Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings have a consistent microbiology
species diversification and numbers because we use the same feed and the same
worms and the same process. Tests have
shown this consistency. Thus, by
following our simple brewing instructions, you will get a consistent
performance for all of your growing needs.
We had a microscope
expert come by a couple of weeks ago, and we looked at 19 hour and 50 hour
brewed teas using our recipe. The
results were amazing. Both teas were
teaming with bacteria, with the 50 hour brew showing a transition to more
protozoa. Pictures are available to
view in our Soil Depot.
And you can do it
yourself!
Introducing
the Yelm Earth Worm Compost Tea Brewing Kit
We believe this is the
easiest and most effective system for the home gardener, and it will help you
create a new level of vitality and productivity in your garden or landscape.
Easy to use and priced far below other small-scale systems, this kit will have
you brewing Worm Compost Tea like an expert in as little as twelve hours, yet
for far less per gallon than the cost of purchased Tea. It is the perfect way
to take full advantage of our Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings and extract
maximum benefit from this remarkable product.
Worm Compost Tea’s
positive effects include:
>Increased disease
reduction/resistance in plants.
>Better nutrient transfer from
soils/fertilizers to plant root systems.
>Increased active beneficial
microbial levels in soil.
>Foliar feeding of plants during
production cycle.
Actively brewed Worm
Compost Tea is also a powerful tool for home composting. Adding the Tea to
compost piles during turning rapidly accelerates the breakdown of organic
materials, and produces compost rich in beneficial microbial life. Worm Compost Tea can also be used to
stimulate garden soil during spring preparation; simply turn it into the soil
as you add any other amendments and fertilizers.
Worm Compost Tea is a
wonderful addition to any horticultural regime, and something every serious
gardener should use. It is safe, inexpensive, and more than just being
environmentally friendly, it literally helps rejuvenate the Earth. Discover for
yourself the benefits of unleashing Nature’s invisible workhorses into your
garden by the millions, and see what so many people have discovered: Worm Tea
works wonders!
Loose Ends
Why are certified organic
foods seemingly more expensive? When
making the decision to buy organics, price is sometimes an issue. It is important to note, however, that in
many cases it is not that organics are more expensive, but other food on the
market is priced artificially low. Most
traditional foods – especially those containing corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats
are – farmed on a mass scale and subsidized, sometimes heavily, by the
government. When you see organic prices
that approach conventionally raised food, check where it came from (and read
the fine print). Chances are it is from
a foreign country where wages and exchange rates give the pricing edge.
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TIP OF THE WEEK: THE MOST DANGEROUS INGREDIENTS IN CONVENTIONAL FOODS 1) Sodium nitrite -- causes cancer, found in most processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, sausage. Used to make meats appear red (a color fixer chemical). 2) Hydrogenated oils -- causes heart disease, nutritional deficiencies, general deterioration of cellular health, and much more. Found in cookies, crackers, margarine and many "manufactured" foods. Used to make oils stay in the food, extending shelf life. Sometimes also called "plastic fat." 3) Excitotoxins -- aspartame, monosodium glutamate and others (see below). These neurotoxic chemical additives directly harm nerve cells, over-exciting them to the point of cell death, according to Dr. Russell Blaylock. They're found in diet soda, canned soup, salad dressing, breakfast sausage and even many manufactured vegetarian foods. They're used to add flavor to over-processed, boring foods that have had the life cooked out of them. Source: A new book by Mike Adams, entitled "Grocery Warning" takes a scientific look at a plethora of problematic ingredients in the everyday foods we eat. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_705.cfm |
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PRODUCT PLUNDER OF
THE WEEK: PEPSI & COKE |
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QUICK WATER FACTS It takes 53 liters of
water to produce one orange. Source: Financial Times http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1593.cfm |
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Yelm Earth Worm and Castings Farm
14741 Lawrence Lake Rd SE
Yelm, WA
98597
360-894-0707
M-F 9AM-5PM
Sat 10AM-4PM
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