The red clover seed has sprouted, my To-Do list and Pesticides

I' m always excited to see any seed that I broadcast sprout.  The red clover is up and creating a blanket of green in my future garden.  I'm amazed to see the little bright green seedlings in the otherwise dull brown field.  The red clover will fix nitrogen back into the soil and is a bee food source.


Winter in North Alabama has been extremely mild.  We've had boat loads of rain and temperatures above freezing for most days. Purely from a farmer's point of view, I'm disappointed.  Freezing temperatures over several weeks would help control pests this coming spring and summer.


My to-do list for the rest of January and February:
Prune my fig, my red ornamental maple, and my ornamental floral bushes
Spray with a dormant oil to kill over-wintering insects and diseases
Spray with lime sulphur to backup the dormant oil
Sharpen and clean my trimmers, lawnmower and garden tools
Do a soil test.
Resist the urge to till my garden while the ground is so wet (resist, resist, resist!)
Keep my electric lawnmower charged even though I'm not using it (yet)
The urge to use my electric lawnmower to mulch is strong (I may not be able to resist this one!)
Set up my new gardens, which do not require tilling, using my compost and chicken-doo.


My Dad was a child of the 30's.  He was born January 21st, 1926, but he was educated in the 30's and 40's.  I point this out because he was a strong believer in pesticides and during this time period chemical manufacturers were turning out numerous patents for their chemicals and spending cash on the products' marketing for public use.  He used so many different pesticides when he farmed that I cannot believe he did not have any cancers.  I sometimes wonder if  Mother's cancer was caused by the environmental heavy uses of pesticides in the U.S. during this time.  


Dad eventually became a believer in organic farming: picking off bugs from the garden, turning up soil on a mild day prior to a freeze to let the winter cold kill the pests.  But I remember white dusted gardens covered in 1-naphthyl methylcarbamate, Carbayl for short, that killed any bad or good insect it touched.  The popular name for this chemical is "Sevin Dust" and it is quickly eliminated by vertebrates causing no harm, or so the literature reads.  I don't believe it.  


I try very hard to limit my use of any chemical in the garden or yard.  In 1984, the largest industrial accident in the world occurred.  It  killed 11,000 people and injured 500,000 people (yes, those zeros are correct), in Bhophal India during the production of this insecticide.  Scary.


Lime sulphur found its way on my shelf because it is used by bonsai enthusiasts to age trees by creating white deadwood.  It is painted on with a brush.  It is a pesticide that when applied carefully kills insects that overwinter on trees and in the soil surrounding the tree.  It is also an effective treatment, when carefully diluted, for mange on dogs and ringworm.   And it stinks.  All pesticides should smell like this one - rotten eggs.  The odor alone warns one to leave it alone.

The spore- forming Paenibacillus larvae

American Foulbrood is an beekeepers nightmare.  Total hive destruction is recommended.  Since my ignorance is immense, I asked my science teacher hubby if I can use the school microscope to positively identify the spore.  Here is a link to Center for Disease Control American Foulbrood spore pictures.  This is what I expect  to find under the microscope from a scraping off the inside of the top bar hive.  I'm eager for the Auburn beekeeping conference to discuss the issue with the beekeepers and experts there prior to totally burning all parts of my hive and ordering a new one for this year (or two as my beekeeping instructor told me last year, always have at least two hives so if one goes odd, you can see what the other is doing).

Top bar hive bee management You Tube link

Enjoy a top bar hive beekeeper as he 

 works with his bees.  I continue to consider how to manage the American foulbrood that infected my hive at the end of the summer and destroyed my hive.  The disease is a bacteria that can infest a hive for 40 years.  It takes fire and bleach to destroy it and terramycin to treat it before it kills the hive.  Unfortunately, the honey is not for human consumption for up to six weeks after treatment.  The suggestion is to destroy the hive, treat the underlying area and get a new hive.  This is one bad bee killer.

How Green Are You?

Some questions to help determine how green you are:
1)  You are cooking and must peel and chop onions and then flat leaf parsley to add to your dish.  Do you:

1.    Throw into your garbage the onion peels and parsley stems?
2.    Throw into your sink garbage disposal the onion peels and parsley stems?
3.    Throw into your compost bin the onion peels and parsley stems?
4.    Throw the onion peels into a freezer bag for later  use as a natural egg dye and add the parsley stems to a freezer container for a later stew/soup pot.

If you answered # 3, then you are green; if you answered # 4, you are greenest.

2)  You are cleaning kitchen counter surfaces and for your cleaner, you are using:

1. Bleach?
2. A commercial, off the shelf cleaner?
3. White vinegar and water with a dab of lemon juice?

If you answered # 3, then you are green.

3)  Newspaper can be:

1. Disposed of with the daily garbage?
2. Separated into the paper bin for recyclables?
3. Saved in bulk and donated to the local animal shelter for their use?
4. Mulched into your garden, used for craft paper, used for lining your chicken nesting boxes?

If you answered # 2, you are green; if you answered # 3, you are greener; if you answered # 4, you are greenest!  

4)  When updating your wardrobe, do you:

1. Go buy new off the shelf clothes in the latest fashion?
2. Go to the local thrift stores and find good clothes even though it may be a previous year's fashion?
3. Find something great at a thrift store and modify it to look unique for you?
4. Swap clothes with a like-minded, like-sized friend?

If you answered #2, you are green; if you answered # 3 you are greener; if you answered # 4, you are greenest.

Today is beautiful in North Alabama with a bright blue sky and plenty of sunshine.  Hope to get out and charge up my electric lawnmower and sweep out my shed and crack some hickory nuts for a hickory nut torte!

Auburn University Beekeeping Symposium

My dearest hubby and I are motoring down to Auburn University to attend a day long symposium for beekeepers.  I can't wait to hear about the honey bee's evolving role in the green movement, to get more information about Alabama's new master beekeeper program, to understand the role of bee colonies and have a sustainable backyard (bluff for me) where bees play a vital role.  Plus I get to pick the brains of some of the state's best entomologists and plant pathologists.  Can't wait.

In the meantime, I've placed my spring order for new bees and their queen.  Instead of an Italian honeybee queen, I've ordered an American hybrid called All American Queen.  I've also broken a "rule" of the local beekeeping society by ordering my bees out of state:  Draper's Bees.  We'll see.  The last ones failed to clean their hives soon enough to eliminate the cells infected with foulbrood. I'm hoping this hybrid will do a better job.  From the Draper web site, here is their description of their All American Queens:  Gentle, do not boil out of the hive when it is opened, low swarming tendency, quick build up of the hive, adapted to all weather conditions, keep a very clean, neat and orderly hive.

More spring time planning

I've decided on a rooster.  Finally, after two years I found a rooster that I'm willing to bring into our farm life.  It will be a day old chick and delivered about March 19th.  Its name will be Fred.  Fred the Rooster will actually be Fred the Roosters.  I have ordered a straight run, which means about a 50/50 mix of hens to roosters.  With the minimum run of 8, I will likely have 4 roosters and 4 hens.  This is fine since predators will take over half the new flock.  My plan is to put the young cockerel in with the 3 older hens once he is old enough to withstand their dominant personalities.  Hens without a rooster tend toward the bossy side.  At least one of the hens will take on male characteristics.  Penny, my beauty Sussex hen, is the most rooster-like.

I have accepted that roosters are necessary for the health of a flock.  Roosters will often turn away a predator, sometimes sacrificing his life for the hens.  I also plan to raise babies and then begin to encourage the best characteristics for my little farm flock.  I need quiet, friendly, egg-productive birds.

My Dad used to bring home fighting roosters and release them to forage for themselves.  This meant turning a corner of the house and coming face to spurs with the rooster attacking you and then running like crazy to escape it.  Once I had had enough.  I mean, come on, can't I go outside in peace?  So I beat that rooster until its wattle and comb were black and it was on the ground with its eyes closed.  I was certain I had killed it.  Nope, it got up and wobbled away to live another day.  I believe we finally did put it to good use by eating it (sorry to offend any vegans but it was one mean, ornery rooster!)

Anyway, my memories of roosters made me very hesitant to introduce any here at 2-Dog Farm.  Keeping my fingers crossed that Fred will be a worthy addition to our Farm.

Red Clover

The next seven days in North Alabama are to be wet, wet and more wet:  http://www.waff.com/weather.  If I can manage it between rain showers, I'm sowing red clover seed in my pasture/garden area. Clover is critical to fix nitrogen back into the soil after vegetables take it out; you can also fix nitrogen back into the soil by planting peas.  Clover is a good food source for bees.

City dwelling people feel red clover is a weed.  If one defines a weed as a plant growing in an unwanted area, say a city lawn, then that is correct - it is a weed if it is growing in a lawn of zoysia grass.  However, clover is one of the most important plants known to man.  It is a much maligned plant in recent years; however, there is an old American saying that "a man who plants clover is a king".  Without clover our soil would fail to grow healthy food for us.  All mankind would suffer.  It is an easy cover crop to grow here in the South and it is a favorite food of foraging animals like deer and cow.

Additionally, red clover is a medicinal plant for humans.  Read this article at the University of Maryland web site regarding Red Clover as alternative medicine.  If nothing else I hope you try growing some clover just for the fun of it.  It is an easy plant to grow and the clover flower while small is still very pretty.

Little Dogs who watch over you at Night

There is a new blessing in my life; who knew that my Hubby and I would ever sleep with an animal?  We are definitely getting more daring in our dotage.  My Mom and my Hubby's Mom allowed NO INSIDE ANIMALS, E-V-E-R.  It was enough to have stinky boys messing up the house; girls rock so  no stinky girls but always stinky boys!  Mike and I have had an inside dog, Brody, since our oldest daughter's sophomore year of college.  What a delight an inside pet brings to your life!  However, Brody suffered post traumatic stress disorder from a very bad leg fracture in his young "before - us" life.  He enjoys being kenneled at night and makes nary a fuss about it.  Unlike the new kid on the block, Charley, who hates being kenneled at night and makes such a big ruckus about it that we've let him out.  And it has been wonderful.  I feel so protected.  Caesar  Milan (the Dog Whisperer) says that all dogs must feel that they are working at some type of job in order to be happy.  Charley is so much more content.  He keeps watch over us and Brody each night.  He is the perfect little dog; ...well, almost.  He still has some poot and pee issues to resolve, but we're working on it.

Sewing Machines

I ordered my first computerized sewing machine before Christmas and finally received it (after Christmas!).  I am so pumped.  This is a machine that will be well used immediately.  I have aprons, pj bottoms and quilt tops to make.  Not to mention next year's gifts!

I sewed most of my clothes growing up.  Being part of a large family, we just couldn't afford to budget much for clothes.  I was signed up to take advanced sewing classes in junior high school; these classes were where you made your own patterns.  I can't wait to get started sewing again.  

Planning Spring Gardens

Today in North Alabama we have a brilliant blue sky with a bone-chilling wind.  It feels barely above freezing today.  Definitely a coat-worthy day.  Temperatures make working outside for very long difficult.  Not to worry though because I am toasty warm inside and planning my spring gardens.  I have just ordered:
Burpee's Boost Collection because it promises "best in class" for taste and nutritional oomph and

3X6 Galvanized Steel Raised Bed because tilling gardens is so in the past.  My spring gardens will all be raised beds with the wonderful compost from the chickens filling up most of the beds.

And finally I ordered two pear trees that will be planted to the side of the chicken pens and after a few years make great pear preserves for us.