BS, composted
Planting season is upon us and I'm busy with it.
Planted 200' of potatoes last weekend and prepared for another 50' row of corn. Tilled up two 50' rows and added some biochar and composted steer manure.
With the closure of the Hormuz and the subsequent loss of petroleum based fertilizer (20% of world supply), I anticipated a run on organic fertilizers, like steer manure.
So I went down and bought 30 bags of it to use this season and stockpile for next year.
The price had already jumped 50%. I don't know how much chicken manure has risen, but it is even more powerful than steer.
And I don't know how long it would take to switch over from industrial style farming to organic. I don't think you could just start using organic materials and fertilizers and bring a dead or lifeless soil back to life in a season.
I'm pretty sure one will not have a very good crop the first year.
Which means the world food supply is threatened with shortages.
The current US regime is sanctioning not only Russian petroleum based fertilizers, but the finished product too, grains.
Sanctions on Russian food, fertilizers, crude oil and nat gas is like shooting the world in the foot. And triggering the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran was only surpassed in stupidity by the US blockade of the entry to the strait.
We have some real mental giants (tongue firmly in cheek) running our government.
Let's hope brighter minds will prevail, real soon. But where do we find them?
Thread is open.
Comments
Good morning e1. I see that you mixed in biochar.
Where did you procure it, or did you make it yourself? I've always wanter to try mixing some into at least one of our beds. I figure I can initially mix it in between plantings using a soil auger and then redistribute it once the current crops are pulled.
No real news from here except that the head of WAYMO has publicly stated (confessed) that the care are programmed to violate the law with respect to bike lanes which makes me suspect that it is similarly programmed with respect to red zones, and no stopping zones. Nothing, of course, will be done about it. https://boingboing.net/2026/04/27/waymo-says-expecting-robotaxis-not-to-...
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Well, it appears that it has been a few years since I last thou
about biochar, it appears that both home depot and walmart now carry it. oops.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
It's cheaper on line
I've been using it for about a decade now. I've passed the 90 day tighty-whitey test.
But I should really get a soil sample and have it tested.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I found making biochar
is time consuming and eats up a lot of fuel to get a result of questionable value. The temperature has to be just right (600 c) for the proper amount of time that varies with multiple conditions (type of wood, air temp, container, and unwavering and constant temperature).
It is easier to buy nowadays from commercial producers.
I buy a 5 gallon bucket of it for $50 every 2 or three years. It goes a long way. A coffee can full will do a 50' long by 4" wide raised bed.
It is important to put it down where the roots grow for best results. And it takes a season to naturally inoculate the char. I'm told faster inoculation can be done using special teas from specialty pot growing stores that you have to mix and aerate for a couple of weeks.
The two 50' rows I tilled and applied the biochar to will be used this year for onions, which have shallow roots , and a row of beans to put some nitrogen in the soil.
Next year the rows will be ready for anything with deeper roots.
Here in Portland, the bike lanes are everywhere and are sometimes confusing with large swaths of green painted pavement and difficult right turn lanes. And here in Vancouver bicyclists don't have to stop at stop signs if it doesn't interfere with motorists.
I just don't know how WAYMO could possibly operate safely in the PNW.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Can’t wait to see Waymo
try to expand into the Netherlands. As an unschooled American tourist, trying to cross any street in Amsterdam requires taking your life in your own hands, because bikes *do* have the right-of-way over cars: any car-bike accident is automatically judged to be the fault of the driver. And the Dutch cyclists very well know it. Pedestrians are just for slalom practice.
It is impressive to watch the action at rush hour, as the ratio of cyclists to cars is easily 500:1, and is probably much higher…
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I come from...
the land of corn and beans, Illinois.
For pollination purposes it's important to plant 3 or 4 rows or more of corn in blocks, rather than one or two long rows, to insure the wind pollinates as many ears as possible. Each silk hair forms a kernel on the cob, so the more pollen collected by the ear the fuller the ear of corn will get. The difference will be a full ear of kernels or a sparse ear, depending on the pollen count.
https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/faq/what-correct-way-plant-s...
Good info, JtC
I did not know about the silk hairs and kernels. Thanks for that.
Last year I planted 3 rows wide on a 4' wide by 22' raised bed along with beans and squash (Zucchini).
We still have ears of corn and beans in the freezer. I do remember going out a couple of times and shaking the pollen loose from the stalks. The breeze carried it pretty good.
This year I will be expanding to 50' and hopefully will be able to fill the freezers of the whole extended family.
The family is starting to get interested in gardening on their own (which has been my intent all along). My son has carved out a small garden in his back yard and is doing great. He has borrowed my roto tiller and expanded it again this year.
DIL has asked for and received a couple of 1' tomato starts and is trying her hand at container gardening. And another DIL is chopping trees to eventually make room in her back yard for a garden.
May they learn well, as I'm willing the farm to all of them.
Thanks for the info.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
In the future,
unless someone steps up and blocks Trump's latest punishment measure for disabled folks, those disabled folks receiving SSI benefits will be punished for not living under a bridge.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-social-security-ssi-disability-...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Didn't Hitler (anybody remember him?)
round up and execute the disabled and infirm?
Asking for a friend.
Thanks for the link OTC.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Well,
when I toured Auschwitz, I saw glass encased displays of wheelchairs, prosthetic legs, crutches, knee braces, eye glasses, false teeth, walking canes, etc...but that doesn't prove anything, amirite?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
As I understand it
you didn't have to be Jewish to be exterminated. Tradesmen, Roma, Gays, and even the sick could be sent to the camps or experimented on by Mengele ( Dr. Death).
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yep.
Romas were killed. And the others you mentioned. Mengele only keep prisoners alive long enough to do hideous surgeries on them to see if that was quick and inexpensive kill.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Mengele didn’t make himself useful to the U.S. space program !!
As in the case of U.S.-honored “father of space medicine” Hubertus Strughold, Allied-written history would have been much easier on him if he had.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17679572/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus_Strughold
Either stupid or obedient
I think it takes real genius to screw up so effectively. If the goal is global domination or Greater Israel, these people, starting with Netanyahu and Trump, are the stupidest people in the history of the world. If the goal is to clear the world's decks for a Different World Order, this goofy shit makes perfect sense. Trump and Bibi have gargantuan egos who imagine that ruthlessness is simply applied logic. Turn them both loose and watch global population decline.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
This seems to be quite accurate.
The rest of the tweet:
The current American regime
could have sent professional carpenters and plumbers and gotten results.
But results were not on the regime agenda.
Thanks for the links, humphrey.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Sorry for the MIA
Couldn't log back on for some reason. Very similar to what was happening a few months ago during the big change-over.
But I'm back.
What did I miss?
Ahh, just kidding. I'll pick it up at around 10:45 with OTCs response.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Internet went down
in multiple counties here for about 4 hours.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Unfortunately it was not the ideal time to go shopping.
Wow
That is some serious hail.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.