Cornucopia

At Ridder Ranch in Callaway, Nebraska, even the dreariest, coldest weather can charm. Despite the fact that their visit occurred during one of the most aesthetically challenging months of the year (we all know what mud season is like), a pair of ranch visitors (a New York literary agent and her California author client) were won over by the beautiful landscape at the Ridders’ Hereford ranch.

Two years ago, Mary Ridder realized that instead of writing about agritourism, she and her family should give it a try. Through her many years working as a freelance writer reporting about the lives of her fellow Nebraskans, Mary watched farmers and ranchers develop new ways to add income to their agricultural enterprises; she spoke with consumers eager for connection with the growers and producers of their food and clothing; she met people eager to experience the novelty of rural culture, and she discovered how the needs of both rural and urban residents were mutually satisfied through agritourism.

Sue Coppens and Jim Ewald of Corn Fun Family Farm in Casco, Michigan, were city folks with no farm experience when they bought their 40 acre farm 45 minutes north of Detroit, MI. They’d initially invested in the farm thinking to subdivide it for sale as building lots. However, Sue became enamored of alpacas, so they began to consider how they could keep the farm whole and make it profitable while they saved toward their entry in the alpaca industry. One possibility was a cornfield maze. After attending a seminar on cornfield mazes in WI, they decided to give it a try.

Because agritourism is newly recognized as a viable agricultural activity in Michigan, it took a year of negotiations with their township for Sue and Jim to get a special use permit to operate an agritourist attraction on their farm.

Okay, so the kids have helped in the garden and grown lots and lots of vegetables. Now what? Besides eating all the peas as they pick them and gnawing on the carrots after the great fun of pulling them out of the ground, what’s next? Let’s take the kids one step further and show them how to get the veggies to the table. This is not about using up your over abundance of produce, but getting your kids to experiment. If your kids are like mine, they only like certain vegetables and they only like Mom to prepare them certain ways. Let’s shake their world a little and ask them to try these ideas:

There are a ton of topics to consider when developing a school garden. An internet search will give you hundreds of sites. Most tell you to form a committee. Believe me, in reality, that is not the way to get the garden underway in a timely manner! You could wait months. I chose to start with my classroom and my students and let the talk on the playground, at lunch, and on the bus direct the flow of the excitement.

Good Morning Everyone!

I'm Joy David, educator with a twist. I strive to make learning come alive for every student in my classroom. Robin has asked me to give you a window to the school garden that is being established under my guidance (although I'm sure my principal might tell you it is being established under my steam roller!). It is my pleasure and honor to do so.

By the way, no matter what time I post, I will always say "Good Morning." It is a standard practice in my classroom as well. That way if students come into class having had a less than perfect previous day, they get a chance to start over. If they have had a glorious day, they get the chance to have two! Go ahead! Have a second day! Remember I introduced myself as "educator with a twist."

Have you ever tried to cut through layers of maple roots to plant that groundcover or flowering shrub that you so diligently picked out? Have you ever found that after picking the perfect spot to plant that there is a four-inch diameter root in the middle of the hole? Well there is a better way to plant in the shade and it does not involve digging at all. After years of struggling with pick axes and shovels, I started planting on top of the soil.

The first step to my above- ground planting technique is to remove all debris from the planting area ( i.e., leaves, sticks, old mulch). Next, lay down old newspaper in the planting area. This will help reduce weeds and prevent the old tree roots from invading your planting area until the new plants are established. It is best to water the newspaper to prevent the wind from blowing it away.

The Asian Long-horned Beetle (ALHB) or Starry Sky Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) is native to China, Korea and Japan. This insect is a pest of birch, elm, hackberry, horse chestnut, maple, mountain ash, poplar, silk tree, sycamore (a.k.a. London plane tree) and willow.

Sometimes it seems as though everything is out to thwart your desire to have that beautiful, healthy, green carpet of lawn. Despite your efforts it is still patchy, brown and attacked by weeds. But don’t give up. It may not be too late.

Most gardeners don’t mind the odd weed as long as the lawn still looks pretty good. However remember that the odd weed in spring could be a large infestation by midsummer if you don’t deal with it. If you mow the lawn once a week you will remove most of the flower stems before they can set seeds. However, many of the lawn weeds grow flat and do not produce flowers on long stems, so these will still flower and set seeds no matter how often you mow. Other methods are needed to treat these weeds. Remember, the earlier you attack the weeds the better as “One year’s seeding makes for seven years weeding!”

Has anyone noticed the high cost of farm and garden implements? If you haven’t then you haven’t bought any new equipment recently. It seems like even the simplest things cost hundreds of dollars. So why not make your own or use older implements to cut your costs? I have a small garden and use a Kubota B7100 to maintain it. It’s a small 16 horse garden tractor with a pto and 3 point hitch. All of the implements I use are salvaged from junk piles and modified to work with my tractor. It’s not as hard as you might think to modify and build your own equipment.

Maybe you’ve never heard the term vermiculture; if so don’t feel bad, many experienced gardeners are unfamiliar with this organic practice. I think vermiculture is fascinating; simply put, it’s the process of composting kitchen waste with earthworms. We’re not talking about common night crawlers, but special varieties of worms such as red worms, and red wigglers.