The Homestead Times

Smudge Sticks have been a successful product for Mysterious Horizons.

As promised, we continue our look at organic farming at Mysterious Horizons Farm.

In developing Mysterious Horizons Farm into a successful organic farm, Jeff Graham has put some effort into creating value-added products.  He’s had good luck with smudge sticks.  Mysterious Horizons Farm has a varied selection of medicinal herbs as well as a lovely meditation garden.  They also offer packets of dried herbs, loose teas, and tea bags.  Value-added products create additional marketing venues and revenue for the farm.  You can have a look at the certified organic herbs and teas he offers here.

Additional products create additional opportunities, but they add to the work load as well.  Organic farming can be labor intensive.  You need to be prepared to run out with the hoe, not the RoundUp.  Jeff gets some help with agricultural interns from NMSU, and he is encouraging the university to develop programs that support sustainable agriculture.

Jeff’s farm is in southern New Mexico, in Zone 7, where winters are mild.  When I visited him in December, he was still growing a specialty lettuce mix.  The seed for the mix is somewhat pricey but you have to admit, those colors and flavors are going to make your salad that much more enticing.

Specialty mix of lettuce.

You can take a photo tour of Mysterious Horizons Farm here.

Jeff has marketed in several places throughout the state.  It was enlightening to hear him discuss the different markets he has encountered.  Customers in some areas will pay a little more for the value of certified organic produce, but in other places, he’s encountered the type of buyer who is only looking for the most they can get for the least amount of money.  He travels quite a distance sometimes to find an appropriate market.

We discussed the local market for organic produce and herbs in restaurants.  Unfortunately, our market in Las Cruces is a bit small yet to support a large number of restaurants who offer organic food products.  Products grown by traditional American agricultural methods are less expensive, making it more difficult for chefs to justify the extra cost.  One day perhaps the American consumer will demand to be served food that’s not steeped in chemicals, but for now the price difference creates a serious issue.

What I have learned from this little field trip to the organic farm is that organic farmers (not gardeners, but market farmers) have to have some serious dedication to what they are doing in order to maintain the standards and make a profit.  They are following the National Organic Program, which is daunting all by itself.  Each will also have his own personal standards to measure up to as well.  It’s a beautiful thing, though, to be able to say, “I grew this! AND it’s safe to eat.”

Organ Mtns from Mysterious Horizons Farm

I visited recently with organic farmer Jeff Graham at Mysterious Horizons Farm in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We toured the farm and he allowed me to pick his brain a bit.  He has a considerable amount of knowledge and experience with organic farming.

Mysterious Horizons Farm is situated on the west side of the valley.  The area is known for its pecan orchards.  Jeff bought his 5.9 acre property with an established pecan orchard already in place.  He farms an additional 4 acres.  He has been developing his farming interests for 13 years, and although he planned to retire as a “genteel” farmer he is working 16 hour days on the farm.

Jeff has faced a number of challenges in his farming venture.  I asked him about his organic certification: “We started off certifying 1/3 of an acre.  We filed on it as fallow ground.  Certification requires 3 years of documentation of inputs.  It had been fallow, so we were alright there.”

In order to maintain certified organic status, Mysterious Horizons Farm files a annual application.  Last year’s application was 40 pages long.  “The paperwork is onerous,” says Jeff.  Yeah, I’d say so!

One of his biggest challenges has been hiring and keeping good help.  Even the college kids are looking to earn more than what weeding and harvesting pays.  There is much need for extra help during harvest, and with weeding after it rains.  It’s harder to keep someone on for a whole growing season.

A mainstay for Mysterious Horizons Farm has been Community Supported Agriculture.  Last year they supplied a number of subscriber families with weekly organic produce and herbs.  Jeff is involved in internet sales, sales of fresh and processed herbs, pecans, and sells vegetables and herbs at the Farmers’ Market.

After reciting this considerable list of endeavors, he cautioned me to avoid trying to do everything that interests me.  Mr. Graham is narrowing his focus, putting more emphasis on fewer crops that hold more profit potential.

Of course, we all have to pay the bills, don’t we?  And that is one way that life takes over.  The other way is that sometimes we run out of time, which is my issue right now.  My own agricultural pursuits have left me little time to blog, since I’m having to reorient the greenhouse.  And so we will have to have a Part Two of this interview with Jeff Graham.  Until next time then, keep it green!

White Sage wintering over at Mysterious Horizons Farm

There’s a lot of stuff around on the Internet about how to build raised beds. Most of them seem to center on the idea of putting your garden in a wooden box frame of some sort. That’s all good and well if it fits your needs. It isn’t necessary in all cases. So before you run off to give your money to the lumberyard in exchange for the opportunity to box up your garden, let’s think for a minute about what we’re trying to do with a raised bed.

You may be trying to simply raise the bed to a height that makes things easier on your back. In that case, you will probably want to build nice tall box frames for your garden. If your purpose is to improve your soil and get better drainage, you don’t necessarily need a frame of any kind. That should be some relief to your budget

In a raised bed, the soil warms up earlier. It’s also somewhat easier and cheaper to amend your soil in a raised bed. A well developed raised bed with no box frame should be rounded on top, giving you more growing space. This model also provides excellent drainage. If you want raised beds in order to warm the soil earlier and improve drainage, a frame isn’t necessary.

Let’s look at some scenarios about why you would want a raised bed of a certain type. Let’s say you have heavy clay soil, which creates a drainage problem for your plants. First issue you have to look at is: how soon do you want to plant?

You can do a raised bed on top of the clay in a wood box frame filled with soil you’ve purchased or trucked in from a good source. That should appeal to your sense of instant gratification. I recommend that you loosen the clay soil underneath the box to a depth of at least 12 inches before you put anything on top of it. You might even want to mix in a layer of sand to help with drainage.

If you have more time and patience, build your box frame, and start composting in it. See the post entitled “The Compost Primer” if you need some guidance on this. What you should see after 3 or 4 months of this composting process, is that when you move the compost out of the frame, the soil beneath your compost has loosened up quite a bit from the moisture from your compost pile. Some nutrients from the pile have probably leached into that soil as well. You’d notice as you got to the bottom of the pile that the topsoil underneath is coming up easily with your compost.

So now what you’ve got there is righteous humus (the life blood of your soil), and the soil beneath it is easy to turn into the compost. You can take that compost and mix it into a bed elsewhere. If you have heavy clay, you’ll probably want to mix in some sand as well. You have the option of mixing soil into the compost right where it sits, although if you followed the Compost Primer instructions, your compost is in the shade. Move the frame to a sunnier location, mix your compost and soil, water it in and your raised bed is ready.

Let’s say though, that your soil drains well, but you need to improve the nutrient level because it’s sandy or somewhat rocky, with little topsoil. You can take the soil you have, amend it with your compost, and make a raised bed that will not need a lumber frame. Work in your compost and shape the bed with a rake. If your soil already drains really well, and you never have a problem with standing water, then building raised beds for the benefit of drainage is not really your issue. I wish I were so lucky.

The point is, you raise the bed by adding organic matter. This improves the quality of the soil, as well as drainage. Make a point of maintaining soil that supports life. Over time, you might begin to notice that I harp on this point incessantly. Do a little reading on topics like the Dust Bowl or how depleted soil does not really raise nutrient-rich foods, and you might begin to understand why I feel that way.

If you are starting a brand new raised bed, turning and working the soil will also raise it somewhat, as it’s probably compacted to some degree. There are simple plans all over the place for framed raised beds, so I won’t repeat them here. In fact, I’ll just give you a link to a very well done post about it. We all hope to have tidy beds and a yard as green as this when we grow up, don’t we?

I trust you’ll forgive my blatant plagiarism for the title of this post.  (I also had to plagiarize the spelling of plagiarism from dictionary.com.)  We are enduring 32 mile per hour winds here in the desert, and there is just no other word for it except blustery.  You’ve got to admit though, that on a blustery day, curling up with some A.A. Milne is a great way to pass an afternoon.  Ok, so that’s my opinion–but I’m telling you I loved Winnie the Pooh books so much as a child that I can even remember the way the pages smelled when I opened the book.  (No, don’t call anyone.  I already have a perfectly good white jacket.  Thanks so much!)

So today we’re having constant wind, blasting wind, seasonal wind, and the view is blowing dust.  I heard when I first moved to New Mexico that these are seasonal winds, but I have yet to pin down exactly to what season they belong.  I thought at one time that I could comfort myself with that information. “Hey, it’s seasonal.  It’s going to pass.”  Right, and one day it will, but not any day this week, apparently.  The winds appear whenever they feel like it, or they don’t.  They overstay their welcome in nearly every case.

Out the kitchen window, I see that I could easily have some free power, if I had only had the forethought to rig something up to the carousel clothes line.  As it spins, I attempt to catch a glimpse of the greenhouse, between flashes of the twirling blanket flitting by, which is acting as a sail for the carousel.  The greenhouse is still standing, although it is definitely dancing more than I would like.  The PVC door is bending inward with the gale.  And all this time I’ve been sweating how to pay for a ventilation fan!  No matter, it is presently empty and nearly melting down most days.  The nights are cold but yesterday it was 86 degrees in there.

I had thought to load the laundry into the car and run off to the Laundromat.  Once outside, I realized that short of covering it with rocks, I was not going to make it to the car without my clothes ending up in El Paso (or so I told myself).  Now that I have an excellent reason to wear something else tomorrow, I decided that in order to avoid going out in the wind to get groceries, it’s time to thaw out the frozen turkey scraps from Thanksgiving and make turkey soup.  And wouldn’t that be nice with some home-made bread?

All very good and well but I’m not Betty Crocker, in spite of my hippie tendencies.  I followed the recipe exactly, and I just went in to punch down the dough.  The dough is um…less than enthusiastic about rising.  It reminds me of myself when the alarm goes off at 5:30…and 5:39, and 5:48.  Well, you get the picture.

The turkey soup apparently smells good enough to coax my teenage son from his Xbox misadventures long enough to come snoop around in the kitchen.  “Whatcha cookin’?”  Well, it’s home-made turkey soup, but pray nobody asks me what’s in it.  What’s in it?  It’s soup!  That pretty much means that what’s in it is whatever was laying around when I decided to make soup.  Nope, I’m not Martha Stewart either.

I wanted some rice in the soup.  I cooked some up.  It’s too much rice, naturally.  So, I decided to do something my mother used to do with it.  I melted some butter in it and added cinnamon and sugar.  You add milk to it while it’s warm and it’s kind of like a cereal.  No, I don’t know how to make puffed rice.  I’m not Kellogg either.  So tomorrow, if I should happen to actually get out of bed before the 7th snooze alarm, I might be able to actually eat something before I run off to work.

I know what you’re thinking.  Aren’t hippie-type-back-to-the-land homesteaders suppose to be up milking a ruminant at “dark four thirty”?  Perhaps, but I freely admit that I have a mental illness that occurs only between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.  It’s something like a committee that goes off in my head and declares in the voice of a 2 year old: “You can’t make me do it!”  If they weren’t so convincing, they’d make a good alarm clock.

I have no ruminants.  I have only a clothesline that functions as a pinwheel and a lump of dough that is dysfunctional.  Move along, there’s nothing to see here.  It’s just a post about nothing.  I’m going to punch the dough anyway.  It just sounds like fun.

I recently had an opportunity to visit with a group of ladies from a local church group, who were canning apples they bought from an organic farm. Many thanks to my friend and co-worker, Chrystal, for the invitation, and also to Cindy, for welcoming me into her home.

On a Saturday morning, we met at Cindy’s house, hauling boxes of apples from the garage on the way in. Throughout the course of the morning, a half a dozen or so women participated in the quartering, cooking, saucing, and canning of apples. They worked diligently while inquiring as to the welfare of each others’ families and mutual acquaintances.

This was not a familiar scene to me. Only a few generations ago, most families kept gardens and many homemakers were involved in the preservation of food from their gardens. I’m certain that one of my grandmothers canned her own spaghetti sauce, using a passed-down recipe of undetermined age. My other grandmother, as I recall, used to make her own rhubarb pies. Sadly, I learned neither of those skills. Most women today seem to spend a great deal of their time trying to juggle providing a second (or primary) income for their families, with their many other roles. I can claim my spot in the primary income group, and consequently, have not had time to even look around for canning jars!

This being the case, I jumped at the chance to crash this little canning party, so to speak. No time was wasted during the visit. I got the distinct impression that these ladies have very busy lives and helping each other can mass quantities of Fujis was just one of many tasks to accomplish this particular Saturday. We immediately set the water to boil and began quartering apples.

The families of these women had purchased boxes of apples and pears from New Harvest Organics in Patagonia, Arizona. Someone among their group trucked them back and they were stacked in Cindy’s garage. I regret that I was not able to be there for the making of pear butter, but I resolved to get a recipe from a canning book that I was shown while I was there.

We set the jars in the sink to warm them in water, to avoid having them shatter from rapid temperature changes. We were told it’s good to use a dishwasher if you have one, to warm and clean the jars. We put the lids in gently boiling water to sterilize them and to soften the gaskets.

After quartering the apples, they were placed in an 8 quart stock pot with a few cups of water in the bottom (to keep the apples from scorching) and cooked for about 20 minutes to soften them. Then we ran them through the Saucemaster, which removes the seeds, stems and skins, which were discarded into the compost bin. (”Saucemaster” was the name imprinted on it, but they called it something else.)

The jars were filled with this applesauce. We taste-tested the apples and they were naturally so sweet that nothing really had to be added to them. Once the jars were placed in the water bath, we timed them to cook at a rolling boil for 25 minutes. Cindy was careful to mention that we want the water at a rolling boil, but not spurting out all over the place.

The hot jars were placed on towels when they were taken from the canner. The coldness of a bare countertop could have caused them to shatter. We placed the lids on them and Cindy told us that in a short while, she would turn them upside down and they would seal during cool down. The lids cannot be screwed down tight until the jars have completely cooled.

After a few boxes of apples were processed, the group dispersed to tend to various errands and chores. Some of them were going to return in a few hours, to complete the job. With a half dozen people kept busy for several hours, I can see how this would be an exhausting endeavor for one person alone!

So that is the extent of my “education” on canning, for now. I am grateful for the opportunity to help out a little, observe, and take some notes. The following Monday, I received a pretty jar of canned pears from my co-worker, extremely tasty! Of course, I could probably learn to can from a book, but this was more fun, and I will be much less intimidated by the process when I take on some canning in the future. Then too, there are the resources of the canning “giants”: BALL Complete Book of Home Preserving and Kitchen Cookbook: Home Canning and Freezing Guide (Kerr) to peruse.

Even though the FDA has approved Stevia for use only as a food supplement, and not as a food additive, consumers have taken note of the reported health benefits of Stevia.  Thus, in spite of the regulatory issues, demand for Stevia products continues to grow.  Stevia accounts for 40 percent of the sweetener market in Japan, where some artificial sweeteners that are available in the U.S are banned as unsafe.  Stevia has been used in Japan for about 30 years without reported adverse effects.  It was recently approved for use in Australia and New Zealand.  Major producers of Stevia products include China and Paraguay.  Paraguay is reported to have superior products, as it has a long history of cultivation and use.  In my research, many sources have cited Chinese products as being inferior in quality, some with mention of the presence of pathogens.

Recent news reports state that in the U.S. alone, new diabetes cases have doubled in the last 10 years.  Products catering to the health of diabetes sufferers continue to gain sales annually.  Stevia, with its claims of no calories and no side effects, has wide appeal to this population, even without government approval.  Another good thing to know is that Stevia does not cause spikes in blood sugar.  If you’ve paid close attention to the drug promoting commercials, you may have noticed that several FDA approved medications are known to cause very serious blood sugar issues.  Some of these medications are routinely appearing in a lawsuit near you, with ties to diabetes and hypoglycemia.  The proper search term will yield you a wealth of information on this subject.  With “approved” medications such as these, as well as horrendous diet habits in the U.S., we cannot look for the incidence of diabetes to decline.

Obesity is yet another issue bringing Stevia to the forefront.  Millions of dollars constantly change hands with weight loss as the desired end result.  Awareness and use of Stevia is on the rise in both the weight loss and diabetes groups.  In spite of the restrictions, people with serious concerns about the prevalence of sugar and artificial sweeteners in food products, as well as those with related health concerns, readily see the value in Stevia.  Stevia is available as a powder or liquid extract in health food stores. It can be used in raw leaf form as well, which makes it great for the homegrower.

Unprocessed Stevia also retains more of its health benefits. (It has some, unlike sugar and artificial sweeteners.)  It can be used in baking, unlike artificial sweeteners.  Stevia is heat stable up to 392 degrees Farenheit.  It will not carmelize like sugar, so it will not give the browning effect that you get
when baking with sugar.

Stevia grows as a small shrub, yeilding up to a half pound of dried leaves per plant.  We note that Stevia grows perenially in Zone11+.  This means that if your average annual minimum temperature falls below 40 degrees Farenheit (4.4C), you would be obliged to grow Stevia as an annual, which limits your annual productivity in comparison with foreign, Zone 11 growers.  However, there is an increasing concern and awareness regarding the safety of the food supply and perhaps this would create a market for organically-grown Stevia-derived products.

Kansas State University conducted field trials on Stevia, reporting that it did well under Kansas conditions, which apparently include hot winds.  They state the market potential as “moderate to high. Prices for the dried herb range from $6.50 to $36.77 per pound, dry weight.”  Well, that is quite a broad range, isn’t it?  You can download their report in pdf format at the KSU website.

Not one to be satisfied with just a few facts, I did some research.  In the course of this research, some points came up repeatedly:

• The quality of Stevia extracts will greatly affect the taste, particularly regarding the presence of a bitter after-taste.

• Most sources claim Stevia product sales gain 20-32% growth annually, and state that demand is outstripping supply.

• Sales growth in North America continues to increase, despite regulations.

• Foreign producers are stepping up their efforts to increase production, and other countries are rapidly approving the use of Stevia.

After much searching, I am not able to easily locate an American producer of Stevia.  (If you locate one, please Email me. Though they may exist, some companies will readily tell you the source country of their herbs, and others will not.  I would hope that consumers and retailers of Stevia are looking carefully into their sources.  With recent food contaminants so prevalent in the news, it would be prudent to know the source of any Stevia product you’re going to use.  The fact that contaminants are such an issue in food supplies, could by itself, produce sales of nearly matured plants to the educated, do-it-yourself consumer.

Regulations about approved use of Stevia are being challenged vehemently and world-wide, those legalities are changing almost daily.  Were the North American, federal regulators to suddenly approve Stevia as a food additive, instead of a dietary supplement, I’m certain the demand would become quite intense overnight.  Product developers are now pushing for this approval.  The retail market for sweeteners is estimated at 3.1 billion dollars, which should tell you why lobbyists for both sides are busy trying to legislate this herb to death!

A little research on the benefits versus side effects may convince you to grow this herb for home use.  World-wide, Stevia is already an important crop with massive potential.  However, competition with China, Paraguay, and Brazil may seem a little daunting to the average small grower.  I have ordered seeds, and as I like to try things for myself, I’ll experiment with this herb and see how well it grows and tastes when it’s home-produced.  I can’t help but think that others with a similar attitude might like to grow their own, which may create a market for the plants, themselves.  Stevia seeds are available here.

If you are already involved in the nutritional supplements or whole foods market, there may be an opening for you to market your own leaves in bulk for the “all natural” type consumer.  Be careful to market as a dietary supplement, and not as a food additive.

I feel compelled to make a short post as a public service announcement to a few folks that have ended up at this blog while searching for free land. There are a few companies around that are still offering to sell folks information on free land from the government. The Homestead Act of 1862 was revised in the ’70’s, so you can’t claim land that way. There are some that claim you can grab land on a mining claim, which is misleading if you’re wanting to homestead that land. Here is an excerpt from the Bureau of Land Management, the last paragraph of which should make the mining claim position more clear to interested parties.

“But, I’ve heard that I can get free land from BLM.

There is no free public land. Americans have always had to pay in cash, in military service, or in the case of homesteads, by living on and developing the land before they received title. Congress abolished homesteading in 1976 with passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which made it a national policy to retain most public lands in federal ownership. Today, BLM manages these public lands for all Americans, who enjoy numerous economic benefits from these lands, including revenue from mineral leasing, livestock grazing, forest products, rights of way, as well as recreational opportunities such as camping, hiking, hunting, and fishing.

All right, so I can’t get it for free, I’ve seen an advertisement that says I can buy low-cost land from BLM. Is that true? Will filing a mining claim enable me to buy land for about $1 an acre?

No. On the rare occasion BLM offers land for sale, it is always at fair market value, as the law requires. Fair market value is determined for each parcel by using established appraisal procedures, based on the value of comparable properties. A private advertisement may ask you to send in money for information about how to buy land for as little as $1.25 an acre. Read the ad carefully, and be cautious about sending money to the advertiser. On that very rare and unusual instance when we actually do offer land for sale, BLM will provide you accurate information free of charge. Your best source is the BLM Field Office with jurisdiction over the area you are interested in. BLM field offices announce the availability of such land through the local media. We also will post the information on BLM Colorado’s home page: www.co.blm.gov

What if I have an unpatented mining claim, then do I own the land? Will filing a mining claim enable me to buy land for about $1 an acre?

No. The General Mining Law of 1872 still provides for the location of mining claims on federal lands. A properly located and maintained mining claim affords the claimant an exclusive right to extract minerals, but having an unpatented mining claim does not provide any surface rights for non-mining activities such as the right to camp year-round, build a home, or stop others from entering the land. Since 1994, Congress has placed a moratorium on the issuance of mineral patents, and BLM is no longer accepting mineral patent applications.”

That being said, I want to mention that there are a few sparsely populated areas that have offered free lots, some with homes, to families with school-aged children.  This is because their populations have dropped low enough that they cannot get budget support for their school district.  If they get X number of dollars per student, and families with school-aged children move out, then they are losing their funding on a per child basis.  (That’s the way I understand it, and I’m no expert on school funding.) 

There are conditions that come with these offers. Sometimes you get the lot free and have to agree to build on it within a set time frame.  You’re going to have to bankroll some portion of this little adventure, be it building a home, repairing an existing one, or making improvements to the lot.  You have to agree to stay a certain length of time.  These offers are not normally made in a thriving metropolis with lots of jobs.  Ok, you get the picture, I think–do some research.  I thought the states I heard mention of in this vein were Nebraska or maybe one of the Dakotas.

Hope this is helpful!

Click here to view the BLM site that was quoted, directly.

When I first moved in to my new place, I had a lot of expenses that prohibited me spending very much money on gardening.  I quickly learned to improvise, knowing there would be nothing to plant if I had to buy supplies.  Even now, when I look at prices for some of the gardening supplies that I need, I am taken aback by the expense.

I didn’t get a refrigerator for about a month and a half, or so.  It took longer than that to get a stove.  I learned to fashion simple meals using canned meats and a propane campstove.  The tap water tasted odd to us, but before we found the nearest filtered water machine, we brought home a lot of bottled water, purchased on sale.  Soon, the tops of the bottles were cut off, holes punched in the bottom, and seeds planted in them.  The plastic trays from packaged meat became drainage trays.

We had some blinds that were ruined in one window of the house.  I cut the string out of them, then took a portion of them and cut them into 4 inch pieces.  I had to wash a little grunge off of them, and these became labels for the seedlings.  You can write on them with colored pencils.  I found this doesn’t come off with watering and doesn’t fade completely away in the sunlight either.  I found the cutting tedious, and stopped at a bowl full of them.  You could make a gazillion plant markers out of just one, but it’s sort of mind-numbing.

In the end, I paid only for soil, and sometimes seed.  The big box stores seemed to keep their seed up only for a few weeks, then they pull it all down.  When you ask them about it, they say, “It’s seasonal.”  Last time I checked, the growing season here is six months long, so I don’t know where they’re getting their information.  Anyway, the point is, if I run over to the local dollar store after the big box growing “season” is over, I can get seeds for 10 cents a packet.  Works for me!

My interest now is in growing heritage seeds though.  I have found that EverlastingSeeds.com offers a complete “garden in a can” that will plant an acre and a smaller package also.  The Garden in a Can has such a big selection, I feel I’d be wasting my time buying seed packets.  The nice thing is, the first person I talked to about it said, “I’ll split it with you!”  With all the genetically modified seed, cloned meat, and other weirdness going in our food supply, I tend to think it’s smart to invest in preserving these seeds.

Well, let’s not get me started on all of that.  I still have so much to write and so much other work to do as well.  Send me your recipes for left-over turkey!  Adios!

While browsing through the kitchen one day, I picked up my compost bucket to move it.  It was crawling with tiny red ants (we call them piss ants, don’t know what you call them).

I exclaimed to my friend who was standing nearby, “Damn!  There’s ants in the compost!”

To which Joe replied, “Yeah, I hate when ants get in my rotting stuff.”

Composting is an important way to introduce or replace essential elements into the soil.  Elements such as carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, phosphorus, potash, and trace minerals are all necessary to maintain living soil that will produce nutrients in the food you are growing.  The health of the soil will be a determining factor in pest and disease resistance as well.

Nature composts in the forms of manure, earthworm castings, and decomposing plant and animal bodies.  These things improve the structure of the soil, giving it good aeration and water retention.  This means the soil will be easier to work.  I don’t know about you, but that’s quite important to me.  Of course, you can buy compost, but making your own will save you money, and you’ll have some control over what goes into your soil.  If you’re buying organic groceries, or growing organic foods, then when you put some peelings on your compost pile, you’ll know you aren’t composting pesticides or herbicides.

There are many ways to create your own compost.  This is one of them that incorporates the necessary elements.  You want to find what works for you and still gets the job done.  You’ll probably want to keep the compost pile close enough to your kitchen that you don’t begrudge the trip to go plop it down on the pile.  You’ll not want it close enough to your house that an otherwise helpful insect becomes a pest indoors.  Don’t let bugs worry you, though.  They have their place in the breakdown of things.

So, first some basic things you want in your compost, and then we’re going to lay out how you build the pile, as well as what to put in it and what to withhold.  You want the pile to contain microbes, organic matter, manure, and soil.  The compost pile also needs moisture and air.

Organic matter includes plant and animal life, like leaves, grass, wood, garbage (careful with this), natural fiber clothes, hair, and bones.

Microorganisms which decompose or digest organic matter come along with this organic matter, with different microbial activity present on different plants, animals or what have you.  Be sure to add at least three different kinds of crops to your compost pile for microbe diversity.  The decomposition of the materials creates heat in the pile.

Soil is added because it also contains microorganisms that break down compounds, fix nitrogen from air, or tie up nitrogen surpluses.

It is a good idea to loosen the soil beneath the pile to help with drainage.  You want your first layer on the ground to be bulky.  I use refuse from cane plants, sunflower stalks, corn stalks, twigs, and small branches.  The spaces between these stalks help air flow in the pile.  Fungi will play a role in the breakdown, but you want aerobic breakdown going on in there also.

The next layer should be dry vegetation, followed by green vegetation and kitchen wastes, then manure, and finally soil.  Always cover your kitchen wastes with soil, to discourage massing of flies or what have you.  You need not worry if you have no manure, some recipes call for only dry vegetation, green vegetation and soil.  Layers should be, ideally, 1 to 2 inches thick, but you can add things at random.  The randomly built pile may take longer to decompose.

So, you continue layering in this manner, minus the “bulk” layer.  (After the first bulk layer, you can add little twigs and things without building a layer.)  You should moisten the layers as they go into the pile.  You don’t want it soggy, so water lightly.  Too little water and you’ll have decreased activity, too much and you’ll drown the aerobic microbial life.  If your compost pile gets heavy rain and waterlogged, you will have to decide if you want to cover it during downpours or spread or turn the pile to air it out somewhat.  After your compost sits for about 3 weeks, turn the pile, checking to make sure it is moist throughout.

Site your compost pile in the shade, with or without a container.  For airflow through your compost, you probably aren’t going to want a closed container.  A simple, inexpensive container can be made from chicken wire, for instance.  Under a deciduous oak tree is an ideal location, or under another deciduous tree.  Any shady place may be used, but keep your compost pile 6 feet from tree trunks, to avoid harboring insects that could be damaging to the tree.

You can speed decomposition by adding nitrogen (manure), increasing aeration by periodic turning of the pile, or breaking larger pieces of whatever the material into smaller pieces.  Biological activity is highest in spring or autumn.  I just compost year round and let it “cook” longer if some of it doesn’t decompose.  A biointensive pile such as this should be ready to use in 3 to 6 months.

Here’s some great stuff to add to your compost pile: tea bags, coffee grinds, raw peels from fruits and vegetables, grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, plants pulled from your garden after their season,

Here’s some stuff you keep out: meat products (raw or cooked), grease, cooking oil.  Put your raw peels and eggshells in there, but cooked food is not recommended.  As far as paper goes, you’ll have to make that call for yourself but consider carefully.  Do you know what’s in it?  For instance, is your newspaper printed with toxic inks?  Some papers are printed with soy-based ink.  White coffee filters have been bleached and linked to some health risks.  Brown, less “processed” filters are available, and are safer for your body and your soil.  I would consider avoiding office papers, junk mail, and old receipts as well.  Doesn’t the very smell of them indicate serious chemicals to you?  Does to me!

What about adding weeds?  Your compost may or may not be hot enough to render some weed seeds harmless.  We have a weed that grows here in mass quantities, call Silver-Leaf Nightshade.  It’s so wicked that a piece of stem 1/4 of an inch long will sprout a new plant.  Also, this nasty devil has a ridiculous taproot of something like 6 to 10 feet, with siderunners.  So know what you’re throwing in there, lest you come to regret it later.

Ok, that was fun.  Now what do you wanna do?

Nature has is its own very effective means of creating nutrient rich soil. It does, however take quite a bit of time. The desert soils where I live can be particularly challenging.  They may be low in organic matter, compacted, or even hardened deposits of calcium carbonate, called caliche.

In the matter of caliche, you will often be advised to remove it from the area in which you wish to plant, and replace it with rich soil that will drain well. This is all good and well, if you can remove all of it. Layers of caliche can be 10 feet deep or buried under surface sand.   Sometimes it is not practical to remove all the caliche.  If that be the case, you will need to create some means of drainage.  If you remove only part of it, let’s say a hole big enough to plant a tree, for instance, then you have effectively dug a sort of “clay pond” in which your tree will sit. The water will be very slow to absorb and will sit in the hole surrounding the roots of your tree, until evaporation finally relieves the situation.

One way to break up this caliche somewhat is to allow beneficial weeds to grow in your garden, or even to broadcast them over poor soil areas, turning them under later. These are plants with deeper, stronger roots than your average garden vegetable plants. Two such beneficial weeds, or companion plants are Pigweed/Amaranth, and Queen Anne’s Lace. These plants also have the added benefit of attracting beneficial insects to your garden. Amaranth will provide shelter for ground beetles, which feed on aphids. Queen Anne’s Lace attracts lacewings, which are predatory insects. The benefits of some of these plants have been recognized for these purposes, and so it is even possible to buy seed and plant some of them as a cover crop to be turned under.

Deeper penetrating roots will not only help break up the soil, giving roots more “breathing room”, but they will bring up nutrients from deeper soil that are not available to plants with shorter roots. Turning them under or composting them after they are removed, will replace some nutrients in your soil. The organic matter will break up the soil even further.

Organic matter is the life of your soil and your garden. If your soil has been farmed or gardened with chemical fertilizers excessively, you will perhaps realize that fertilizers put back into the soil only a fraction of the elements that crops take out. Trace elements, important minerals and such, are usually not replaced.  Therefore, the crops raised in this soil contain less or none of these important nutrients. Degraded soil is more prone to harbor pests, as are plants that are not in peak health due to these deficiencies.  Building soil that supports life is the point.  Not only will you reduce pest and disease, but more trace minerals and nutrients absorbed by your plants means more nutrition in your garden foods.

Raised beds are recommended for desert soils, as well as intensive gardening methods, such as those prescribed by John Jeavons.  Jeavons is the author of “How to Grow More Vegetables (Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.)”  The latest edition of his book is How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.  Developing raised beds by his methods are, at first, a bit labor intensive. In the end, the pay off is more food per square foot, less water used, and the continuous maintenance and production of living soil.  I cannot say enough to recommend his methods and his book. We can use it to follow Nature’s lead and help to provide for ourselves in abundance, while enriching the soil in the process.

Autumn is a good time to start adding what you can to your soil or compost pile. Work organic matter into your beds (or beds-to-be). Begin a new compost pile and let it “cook” over the winter. If you are just starting out, and preparing for next years’ beds, remember to dig deeply to enhance the drainage and aeration of your soil.  Soon to follow, we’ll cover some specific compost guidelines.  Be well and happy digging!