Author: timlester

There is risk in just about everything. As adults we should be free to evaluate these risks verses the benefits. Many of the left of politics love to use government to ban things that could cause harm. It is ironic that the same system they advocate turns against them and bans freedoms they enjoy eg. raw milk.

If you want to ban knives, guns, fast food, GMOs, vaccines, fireworks, sweeteners, Monsanto and you advocate giving power to the government, don’t be surprised when they ban raw milk, unvaccinated children, medical cannabis and others.

Stop supporting the coercion of others by advocating banning. Using political power to get things you want banned does backfire. Punish those who do wrong not everyone and use persuasion instead of coercion. Is it really that hard to understand?

 

Chickens have been domesticated for thousands of years, are kept on almost every continent around the world, and are a commodity and a mainstay of human civilization. Ducks are in a way as well, especially in certain areas- but their popularity is small in comparison. Why is that? Why do people seem to prefer chickens over ducks? Why do chickens get so much attention and ducks happen to be sort of a sideline? As a keeper of both, I ask myself this a lot- and for good reason. Here’s why.

Ducks are Healthy

Given basic good care, ducks are healthy animals. They have excellent immune systems, and are hardier in cold and even hot weather than chickens. There are some breed specific exceptions to this rule but overall, a duck will give you a lot less to worry about in terms of sickness than a chicken will over its lifetime. There are so many terrible diseases that befall chickens compared to ducks- even some diseases that have vaccinations ready and waiting should you think you need them. There are no vaccinations for ducks, as they don’t need them.

Ducks are Hardy

Ducks take cold, wet, and snow in stride. They wait out hot weather without much fuss. They seem to ENJOY those cloudy, cold, wet, windy miserable days that make chickens (and humans!) sick with annoying upper respiratory infections and other such nonsense. They will play in the snow in temperatures well below zero. When chickens are hunkering against the house with the cold north winds tossing up their light and fluffy feathers each way, ducks are out in the thick of it rooting for worms and bugs in the middle of the field. When it’s hot, a small kiddy pool of hose water keeps them happy, and if you have a pond, even better. You won’t see a pant or a complaint from a duck.

Ducks Provide Really Well

Despite what many people think, there are breeds of duck that lay better than the best laying breeds of chicken, even in the cold and snow, such as the Khaki Campbell. A duck will also lay better and longer than a chicken will. Expect an egg a day with a well laying duck for 5 years or so. Chickens typically top out at a year, and then production suffers. Duck eggs are delicious, more nutritious, and more “gourmet” than chicken eggs. Duck eggs are excellent in cooking and baking, and they’re rich and beautiful eaten fried or scrambled. Square eggs are a great novelty for kids. Ducks also taste heavenly- their flesh is all dark meat and delicious, and easy to prepare. Processing duck is a lot like chicken, and with the right equipment is also just as easy.

Ducks Live Happily with People

Domestic breeds of duck are very friendly animals and often make loving, long lived pets. With a light in a coop, ducks reliably coop up at night in a secure space and enjoy nesting in clean straw and bedding. They make excellent and gentle garden pest eradicators- as they don’t scratch or eat new plant seedlings and destroy garden beds like chickens do. They’ll leave your tomatoes alone, eating the grubs and bugs that want to eat your tomatoes. They are quiet animals and don’t crow loudly, making them good choices for inner-city birds.

Ducks are wonderful birds to have on the homestead for food, and wonderful, healthy pets. They have many advantages over chickens. Consider adding some ducks to your flock!

Soil pH varies from area to area widely. Some areas have very acidic soil or low pH (usually represented as a value of under 7 on tests), and some areas have alkaline or high pH soils (above 7). Acid soils are known as “sour” soils, and alkaline soils are known as “sweet” soils. Plants generally do best in soils that’s a balance between the two, or neutral pH soil (around a value of 7). However, some plants prefer alkaline soil and some prefer acidic soil. Depending on the general quality of your soil or if you have certain types of plants you want to grow with specific needs, you may need to correct the pH of your soil. Here are some basic tips on how to correct soil pH.

Testing your soil to know where you soil generally lies on the pH scale is a good start. You can get inexpensive kits at any garden center to test. We have a simple to use soil pH meter if you want to give it a go. If you have soil that’s alkaline and you want to lower the pH, ferrous sulfate and aluminum sulfate are the two recommended soil amendments that will help make your soil more acidic. To raise the pH of your soil, lime, or ground limestone, is recommended.

Products for adjusting soil pH differ and it’s best to stick with the recommended application directions usually available on the bag of the product.

More natural methods of correcting soil pH to a more generally plant-friendly level involve simply adding plenty of well-rotted manures and compost to the soil that you plan to grow in- and top dress with plenty of mulches that break down into the soil easily in the spring and fall around landscape ornamentals and in production beds. If your soil remains very acidic and compost isn’t helping, try adding wood ash or oyster shell.

Raised bed gardening is also another way to ensure good soil pH without a lot of work. Simply fill containers and raised beds with plenty of rotted compost and potting soil and add more at the end of each season after growing is done.

PH adjustment and correction is very important for a lot of reasons. Most notably, the pH of soil determines what nutrients plants can use and how fast they can use them. Often, there are some nutrients that become bound in soils that aren’t well balanced and plants can’t take up the nutrients they need to grow well. For example, most vegetable crops need slightly more acid soil to grow well so that they have access to the nutrients they need to quickly produce large amounts of fruit.

Sometimes the reason for adjusting pH of soil may simply be a cosmetic preference, specifically when it comes to the bloom of hydrangeas. Some hydrangeas bloom pink in acid soil, and the same type of hydrangea will bloom blue in alkaline soil. Sometimes, crafty gardeners have gotten both colors, even purple, by playing with the pH of the soil that their hydrangeas grow in. There are specific products sold that you can apply to the soil of your hydrangea if you wish to try- commonly found in garden center stores.

Soil pH is important but not difficult to correct. We hope this article helps you understand the basics better so you can grow better plants!

Eggs have a long track record of being demonized as an unhealthy food due to their fat and cholesterol levels. One large egg contains 212 milligrams of cholesterol, which is indeed a lot when compared to most other foods. However, studies have proven many times that the dietary cholesterol in eggs do not adversely affect blood cholesterol levels.

 

Although many nutrition professionals advise individuals against consuming eggs, they can actually help to raise HDL good levels of cholesterol. In a 2013 meta-analysis, researchers studied 17 reports regarding egg consumption and health. The researchers discovered that eggs generally did not have an association with either stroke or heart disease in otherwise healthy people. This may sound groundbreaking; however, this is not new data. Several older studies have already proven this point.

 

High in unique antioxidants

Eggs are high in two unique antioxidants- zeaxanthine and lutein. Both of these antioxidants are known to build in the retina of the eye and help protect against diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration. Research has proven that by supplementing your diet with an average of 1.5 egg yolks per day for 5 weeks, you can increase blood levels of lutein by 50 percent and zeaxanthine by 142 percent.

 

One of the most nutritious foods on the planet

Eggs contain high quality proteins and good fats, minerals, vitamins, and various trace nutrients. One large egg contains 5 grams of fat, 6 grams of protein, all 9 essential amino acids and only 77 calories. It is also rich in vitamins A,B12, B2, B5, selenium, phosphorus and iron. One large egg also contains 113 milligrams of choline, which is an important nutrient for brain development. When consuming eggs, make sure you can eat the yoke, which contain all the above listed nutrients.

 

A key component in healthy weight loss

Eggs score highly on a scale called the Satiety Index, which means they are capable of reducing your appetite and helping you to consume fewer calories. They also help to stabilize blood glucose levels due to their low levels of carbohydrates. A brief study that consisted of 30 obese women showed that those who ate eggs for breakfast consumed fewer calories during lunch and for the following 36 hours, compared to the study participants who consumed a bagel for breakfast.

 

In a separate study, a group of overweight women and men on calorie restricted diets were given a breakfast of 1 bagel or 2 eggs. After an 8 week period, the group who consumed eggs for breakfast experienced the following benefits:

• 16% greater reduction in body fat
• 65% more overall weight loss
• 34% reduction in waist circumference
• 61% greater reduction in body mass index

 

These benefits were experienced even though the breakfast of both groups contained the exact same number of calories. Due to their satiety factor and low calories, eggs played a major role in boosting the participants’ weight loss.

 

If any food can be classified as a true superfood, it should be eggs. Start your day off with two organically raised, free- range eggs to give your body a healthy boost of nutrients and maintain a healthy weight.

 

If you know/have children and want to increase their egg intake in a fun and interesting way try our egg cuber.

So many people worry about what is going to happen with the next generation of farming. Stress less and allow others to make up their own minds.

There are plenty of organic techniques out there and many of them are proven to make ecological and economic sense such as crop rotation, cover cropping and beneficial insects. One such technique worth mentioning is the use of compost tea which has rather remained the subject for scientific research for many decades now.  Compost tea’s contribution in bio-balancing many plant diseases has long been recognised by organic growers. The liquid derived from the compost tea is known to have bio-balancing characteristics besides stimulating plant growth. Compost tea bio-balances disease by inoculating plants with beneficial organisms. These organisms can be bacteria, fungi or yeast. They form a physical barrier against pathogens by effectively bio-balancing plant pathogens. Best of all, it doesn’t burn crops as store brought fertilisers can do so you can’t over use it. It works by restoring beneficial organisms to your soil. The bacteria, fungi or yeast present in the compost tea enhances nutrient cycle and helps plant get the most of the nutrients from soil.

Before we dig any deeper into the subject, lets discuss what tea compost is. Compost tea is a liquid derived from compost. There are many ways of preparing it, like many people prepare it by suspending compost in a barrel of water for a brief amount of time in a burlap sack. The resulting liquid is applied either as a soil or foliar fertiliser. For many people it’s not a compost tea until the extract is fermented or brewed with some type of microbial nutrient source like molasses, fish byproducts or humic acid. Compost tea is prepared ether aerated or non-aerated techniques. In aerated technique, oxygen is introduced into the compost tea by injecting air or by showering re-circulated tea over an open tank. However non-aerated teas are made by simply mixing the compost, water and other ingredients and allowing them to ferment a little without disturbance. At the end of both the methods, filtration is required before it is used as fertiliser.

There are many factors contributing to the effectiveness of compost tea for biobalancing disease. The compost used for the compost tea is either made from animal manure or from quality compost feedstock. The compost should not be more than 9 to 12 months old. At least 5 to 8 days of fermentation time should be given to the non aerated compost tea, while 24 to 48 hours of fermentation is just fine for aerated compost tea. Once compost tea is brewed (prepared), it should be applied promptly since it has got a very short shelf life. Recently a two year study at Rodale Institute and Pennsylvania State University was concluded that studied performance of aerated compost tea in stimulating crops of grapes, potatoes and pumpkin. The analysis of the compost tea showed adequate amount of beneficial organism population and safe level of human pathogens. Approximately 50% bio-balancing of powdery mildew was observed in the first year alone in grape plantation. There wasn’t any significant bio-balancing of powdery mildew observed in the Howden pumpkins in the very first year. However decrease count and size of pathogen colonies was observed from year two onwards so back into balance. It also came out in the study that compost tea offered more measurable benefits in terms of stimulating crop growth than bio-balancing disease.

Conclusion: Compost teas are a great addition if they can be aerated and a quality compost starter can be used. We don’t recommend applying to editable parts of plants due to human pathogens. We prefer to brew Microbe Brews instead as we prefer the reduced liability of producing less human pathogens. We recommend using a clean inoculum for consistency and reduced human pathogens on commercial farms.  

Having a beautiful garden can seem complicated and expensive but if you follow these steps, you will see that is something you can do with little money. Make the project design and creation of your garden. Divide the project into phases of your garden for you to go by gradually creating the garden of your dreams. Consider consulting a landscaper and get their opinion, although we can give you some tips on how to make a garden with little money.

 

To make beautiful and economic gateways for your garden, you can use cobbles, gravel, stone or concrete. If you use pieces of gravel, it is recommended to select small-less angular gravel 1/4 centimeter- and avoid rounded gravel or other stones.

 

To furnish decks and patios we suggest you choose chairs and economic tables as you can find in DIY centers or even thrift stores. The best prices for garden furniture are usually found in late summer. In another article, you will find tips on how to decorate a space.

 

To make a garden, if you have enough space you can also place a water closed loop, so you will not waste water and be more economical. In stores home improvements are available pumps and fountains that can be installed in the garden, terrace or patio.

 

Before planting grass, make sure this is appropriate to the climate of the area where you live, as it does not support well the hot, dry climates. If you live in a region with high temperatures and / or slightly moist, it will be convenient to opt for an alternative to grass. Thus, you can be useful our articles on how to choose or how to put artificial turf artificial turf.

 

You can create flowerbeds with a garden hose to achieve curved, and then install edges to define them better. You also interested to know how to care for plants in a grow bed.

 

Be advisable to enrich the soil with compost and other accessories in accordance with the advice of qualified personnel. To make it even cheaper, you can see in this article how to compost at home.

 

It is convenient to plant trees, shrubs and native or indigenous flowers in your area, as these are more likely to thrive and do not need a major commitment and investment to keep them in top condition. It is also recommended to plant evergreen trees

 

You can add torches, outdoor lamps, lights on poles or candles to create a cozy atmosphere at night. You will find here some more tips on how to illuminate terraces and gardens.

Good to see less regulation around the necks of the agriculture sector but just baby steps in reality.

 

We all know these regulations are never followed by a heap of the community but you can have your say to get them changed to more realistic and effective standards.

 

Please find the proposed changes here
.

1/ Growers Receive a Higher Percentage from Non-Fair Trade Coffee Sales
2/ Fair Trade Is Essentially a Marketing Organization
3/ Consumers Are Charged Much More for Fair Trade Coffee
4/ Growers Are Paid Very Little for Fair Trade Coffee

Solution: Buy direct traded coffee as the grower gets more profit instead of it going to these marketing organisations. http://ministrygrounds.com.au/ is a great place to buy ethical coffee especially the single origins.

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