Pages

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The War Against Fire Ants

Here in the south is a tremendous hazard to people and crops (I'm finding): The Fire Ant.

Thus far I have learned that the enemy:
A) can survive a hard frost for a day or more.
B) Think they own the ENTIRE property and are spreading out to include the yard and garden
C) will eat lettuce roots causing the whole plant to wilt and die
D) Won't necessarily get the chance to bite you- even if you step on a mound- as long as you keep a quick pace and keep moving your feet
E) will quickly take control of a compost pile
F) are regularly invaded by the opossums who dig into the mound to eat the larvae
G) Are viscous this time of year; any little bump to their mound and they practically fly out to get at you

I will be performing regular experiments to find which natural method of Fire Ant Control and Eradication work the best for me. If you, too, live in the South and have some advice as to how to deal with these pests, I am all ears!

Ant Killer Experiment #1: Orange Oil in Hot Water

Ok. So, there's supposed to be a chemical in orange oil (d-limonene) that breaks down the wax covering the exoskeleton of fire ants. Then the insect is supposed to dehydrate to death and thus end the fire ant occupation of my yard, garden, etc.





So, I mixed 2 oz of Orange Essential Oil with 1 gallon HOT water (though not boiling- I'm testing the oil, not the temperature). 

Then, I found a mound that photographed well:

Then, I shook up the oil/water mix & poured it over the mound. In 1-2 days, the ants should be dead, never to return as the oil makes the location uninhabitable for them.



Now I get to play the waiting game. I hope it works!!!

Here's a link to an explanation of how it works:
The Dirt Doctor



Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bought some seeds...

Yesterday, in lieu of digging holes for trees since both Hubby & I are completely beat up from the task so far, we had an easy day and went to the Farmer's Co-Op



and purchased open-pollinated seeds for 200 foot rows of vegetables. We got Zucchini, Sweet Peas, Cucumbers, Eggplant, 2 varieties of Corn, Cabbage, carrots, Spinach, Okra, & Butter Beans. We PLAN to plant them by hand next week-ish. We're very much hoping that the tractor is working well enough so that he can till the dirt & I can follow behind him with the seeds and plant rows of luscious vegetables.  Although what we plan to do may not really go according to plan, we are determined to grow some fabulous produce our first time around!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Spring is here!!!

What Beautiful Weather! With the help of a dear friend and her adorable children, Hubby & I planted 3 trees yesterday and one more today! For those keeping score, thus far we've planted 2 each of 3 varieties of cherries and 2 Peach trees for a Total of 8 trees! 

Whew! Was THAT a ton of work. Digging the holes, loading up the wheelbarrow up with composted manure, walking it back across the field to the hole, filling it in, filling up 5 gallon milk jugs with water from the pond, walling back with 5 FULL gallon jugs back across the field to the hole, fill in hole partway, put soaked tree & roots in hole, fill in around the tree & roots, pour water from jugs to hole, gather up everything and move on to the next tree. I know there's probably an easier way, but it's a great work out!!! :) I can't wait until these babies are old enough to bear fruit!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Book Review: Holy Shit! Managing Manure to Save Mankind by Gene Logsdon

OK. Maybe most people don't really find "poo" a suitable topic for discussion, much less a worthwhile topic for an entire book, but when you're trying to develop a closed nutrient cycle on your land, you use all the nutrients you can to get the best yield possible and thus need to learn how.

Gene Logsdon clearly knows his shit! His book Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind is humorous, interesting, incredibly knowledgeable and thoughtful. A guide to proper manure composting, it doesn't take itself too seriously. Then again, with a topic like dung, who really COULD take themselves too seriously? Still, he gives the reader a real-life perspective on using manure to reduce the use (and thus the COST) of chemical fertilizers while rebuilding the soil for future use.

It reads easily and is understandable- even for a neophyte like me! I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning about the fertilizer value of manure and how to use it to get the best results in your garden or farm.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Garbage Ninjas

pt. 3 of 3
Continued from previous post: Through the Labyrynth

Thus began the waiting game.

OK, anyone who has ever moved knows that there is a LOT of packing and boxes involved. So for the following 2 weeks we unpacked dishes, furniture, kitchen gadgets, trinkets, and boat loads of other home stuff amassing a huge pile of used boxes, packing materials (bubble wrap, newspapers, etc.), and daily living garbage. The pile filled more than 1/2 of my  kitchen.

7-10 business days came and went without incident... and no garbage can. The rubbish pile was definitely growing to consume part of the dining room as well as 2 garbage cans outside our kitchen door. We had decided to compost our kitchen refuse as well as most of the boxes, but the pile still grew.

At the end of the 3rd week, I called the company. As kind as I could, I told the lady that I was STILL waiting to receive a trash can and wanted to know the reason for the delay. She apologized for the inconvenience and told me she'd have to contact the guy in charge of my route and would have to get back to me.

By the next morning, I realized that I had never heard back from that lady at the garbage company, so I did what anyone would do: I called back. The office apparently closes for the weekend, so I had to remember to call back Monday, which I did promptly at 8:00 am.

The girl I spoke to told me that the lady I had been speaking with is no longer part of the company and asked if she could help me. Yes! I explained that it had now been 3 ½ weeks and I still had no garbage can and what do they suggest for the mountain of garbage I have growing and taking over my house as I unpack from moving.

She took down my name and number and told me that she'd get to the bottom of this because she couldn't see how we'd gone so long without trash pick up. She told me she'd call the route supervisor and call me back. A few hours later, my phone rang and the kind trash lady let me know that there had been a shortage of trash bins, but that I should have mine by the end of the week. I thanked her, but I was still reticent to believe that company. So, I woke up and called the trash company every morning to check in and make sure everything was still set for me to get my trash bin. The rest of the week came & went... No trash bin.

I got tired of having so much garbage collecting about the place, so that Friday night, Hubby and I filled up the 2 big garbage pails we had, loaded them into my car and drove into town looking for available space in dumpsters behind grocery stores. Once we found one that wasn't locked, we unloaded all our garbage into the dumpster and went home trash-less and accomplished. We were Garbage Ninjas that night, rescuing our home from the invading hordes of rubbish. Boy do we know how to have fun, or what?

Monday, during my morning call to the trash company, the girl-who now knew me by voice and greeted me by name- told me that it was absolutely ridiculous at how long it was taking to get my trash bin to me. I agreed and insisted that since I had paid for trash services for 3 months and it was taking more then a month to get the bin to me, that I shouldn't be charged for the month I was without trash services. She agreed and credited my account. Whew! That settled, we moved on to the bin. She told me she was going to call in a few favors and see if she could get our bin to us.

That afternoon, a pickup truck meandered through the field towards the house like a shining knight pushing straight towards me on the dirt driveway. The truck stopped in front of the garden where I was working and asked if he was at the right place. I asked why and he unloaded a huge garbage bin from the back of the truck. He explained that he came from the next county over because ours was having such a hard time finding a trash bin to give to us. Then he told us when our trash collection day was and headed out. My garbage bin had arrived! …and I was trashless.

As a side note, the following trash day, we brought the bin to the street (a good 1/2 mile walk from the house) and there, in it's shining plastic-ness was another bin, waiting for us. I guess our county finally found us a trash bin and just decided to leave it by the road for us. Will wonders never cease?

Through the Labyrynth

Pt 2 of 3
Continued from previous post: The Corner of Crystal and Santa Fe

Being the damned determined city girl that I am, I altered course. The grocery shopping could wait! I HAD to see if the commissioner's office could really be so close!!! The light changed to green, I made the turn and then combed the right side of the street looking for the County Commissioner's office. Sure enough, I soon found the sign to my salvation: County Commissioner. So, I whipped my car into the parking lot, found a spot and prepared how to explain my plight to the commissioner.

I walked in the doors of a 2 story brick building to find myself in the waiting room of a medical office. ...Wait a minute! The sign specifically said "County Commissioner" out side. What the...?

Out of the corner of my eye, in the back left corner of the room I spotted a blue sheet of paper that read: Commissioner's Office. It had an arrow on it that pointed to the door on the right. So, I took a deep breath and followed the directions into a labyrinthine abyss of gray-ish white passageways and doors. Once I reached the end of the hall, there was another sign pointing the way down another corridor. At the end of that hall, there was no other sign, but I peered around the corner to find the next sign with another arrow. I followed several signs this way that lead to an elevator. Next to it was a directory that put the Commissioner's office on the second floor. So, I rode the elevator to the next floor and followed a few more signs to a bright white room that had a sheet of paper that said, "County Commissioner" on it. I went in and there was a couple of desks set up, some cubicle dividers, a couple of open doors ...and not a soul present. Where was everybody? Had I taken a wrong turn in that maze?

About the time that my head was spinning from all this, I heard someone ask if he could help me."I sure hope you can. No one else has been successful yet," I lamented. I explained about the phone call and the neighbors and the city services going to my neighbor but not me and how no one apparently knew who I had to call to get the name of the company for trash services and how needing garbage/recycling services is what began this quest in the first place.

He chuckled and admitted that it may seem "just a bit frustrating" to someone new, but that's why he had his job as commissioner: to make it easier to live in the county- especially for "new folks". So, I told him my address. He confirmed that I should, indeed, receive county services. He looked in his book of wonders (i.e. contacts, etc.) and wrote on the back of his business card all the information I needed to call to get my garbage collection set up.

I thanked him profusely. He told me that if they gave me any problems that I could call him and he would personally straighten it out for me. He knows one of the people who run the company, he explained. I could not thank him enough for the light he had shed on this dark, elusive beast called garbage pick up.

I practically floated through the halls, down the elevator and through the maze out to my car, whipped out my handy-dandy little cell phone and dialed the numbers scrolled across his card. Sure enough, it rang...

I set up my garbage services! YAY! Gave the helpful lady who answered the phone my name, address and credit card number and she told me that someone would be dropping off my garbage can in 7-10 business days (translation: up to 2 weeks). Thanks and have a great day. When I got home and checked my bank account, the funds for the garbage services had already begun their journey to the garbage company… and yes, I know the name of it.

To be continued in next post: Garbage Ninjas

The Corner of Crystal and Santa Fe

pt. 1 of 3

Before we even moved out here, we called around the township trying to set up all the services we needed for the house. Hubby, being the techno-geek that he is, tried everything to get high-speed internet set up (which, out here, translates to DSL apparently- a far cry from the cable hook-up we had in the city). So we set up our house phone and internet (which is another story), made sure we had power and water and the last thing on the list was garbage collection.

We had seen two different types of garbage collection bins along the roads and had no clue as to how to set up the trash pick up that our neighbors seemed to enjoy. So, I stopped at the neighbor's house, made introductions, and during the conversation I asked who she had garbage services through. She could not- for the life of her- remember what the name of the company was. Neither could her other next-door neighbor. We asked at church (where everyone from the neighborhood attended) and no one knew who did their trash pick up. They just knew that they paid less than $50 every 3 months via an automatic payment system and didn't even have to write a check! (Who pays out money on a regular basis and has no idea where it is going or who it is going to? But, that must be the "city" in me.) In their defense, most knew that it was either "City" or "County" that ran the trash services, but no one knew what the company name was because they had set everything up "so long ago".

We tried the direct approach: look it up on the internet and call the contact number provided. We called the city trash services and asked how we set up our account. The little lady on the phone asked where we were and I gave her our address.
"Oh no, miss. You outside the city. You gotta call the county."
"Ok, may I have their number please?"
"You outside the city. You gotta call the county."
"I understand that, but may I have the number to call the county?"
"I don't have that number. That's the county."
"Does anyone know the number I would need to call to reach the county?"
"Oh no. You need to call the county for that."

Well, after a bit more of that, (using the remainder of my patience) I thanked the lady for her help and hung up- completely frustrated. It turns out that my next door neighbor was the LAST house on the street to receive city services (which they fought to get a waiver to be included in the city limits so that their kids could attend city schools) and that the city limit sits about 1/4 mile before my property. I was sentenced to county services for the mere crime of living just a 5 minute walk outside of the official city limits.

My neighbor mentioned going down to the Courthouse/DMV/Prison/Permit Office/Hunting Office (all one location) in town and ask the officials there how to set up our trash services. Well, we needed to find out how to register our cars and get our local driving licenses anyways, so we made a trip into town to the Omnipotent Governmental Administrative Hub just behind the town square.

We went through a metal detector (which didn't appreciate the overalls I was wearing), but the guard there let me through. So, up to the counter we went and asked the nice lady how we set up our trash collection. She took our address and went to the back room to look up our location within the city and find which route we'd be on. She came back and asked if I'd called about this before.
"Yes, I tried to set it up through the phone."
"Yeah, I thought so. I talked to you a couple days ago."

Great... This was the helpful lady from the phone conversation. She suggested that I try the County Commissioner's office to find out who I would need to call to set up our garbage collection. I asked if she had the number. Of course she didn't- that's county. She did, however, know where it was. Since I had just moved into town only days before, I asked if she could give me directions.

"You go down to the corner of Crystal and Santa Fe, take a left and it'll be on the right. You know where that is, right?"
I figured I had my iPhone and it has a wonderful Maps application via which I've found minuscule locations before. I am tech savvy! I can find the corner of Crystal and Santa Fe!!!
...So, I fibbed.
"Yeah! Thanks," I heard my mouth say as I waved and headed to the car.

For the next 2 hours I drove down every back road and scoured the maps of the town and surrounding areas. There was no Crystal Street, Avenue, Road, Circle, Throughway, Row, Aisle, Boulevard, Strip, etc. Neither was there a Santa Fe. Defeated, I decided to go home, lick my wounds, regroup and then get a list together and go grocery shopping. (I know, I know: How exciting.)

En route to the grocery store, I stopped at a traffic light. Sitting there, I glanced to my left. Across the road was "Santa Fe Steak House". Steak. I could go for some steak. Mmmmm... Then the strangest idea hit me. Santa Fe! Nah. She didn't mean... Did she? I glanced to my right. There, staring back at me in all its greasy, fast food glory was "Krystal". You know, the paper thin, greasy, 1 inch square burger haven: Krystal.

I had finally found the corner of Santa Fe and Krystal- not Crystal.

To be continued in the next post: Through the Labyrynth