News from the
Mini-Farm, Friends and Colleagues
Ecology Action's current
Certified teachers are:
Basic Level:
Cindy Conner
12398 Ashcake Road
Ashland VA 23005
Allan LaValier
707 W. Maple Street
Stillwater MN 55082
Karla Arroyo Rizo
Las Cañadas
Huatusco, Veracruz
C.P. 94100 MEXICO
Scott Weaver
1624 Winnebago Street
LaCrosse WI 54601
Intermediate Level:
Steve Moore
1522 Lefever Lane
Spring Grove, PA 17362.
We have received two great bits
of news from Common Ground Store, our Ecology Action
project in Palo Alto, California: The store was
recently honored with an award from State WRAP (Waste
Reduction Award Program) for cutting waste, conserving
resources and protecting the environment. The store
was also a co-sponsor, along with Valley of Heart's
Delight project, the City of Sunnyvale, and the
Santa Clara Valley Water District, of a "Grow
Your Own" conference in February. The conference
was an opportunity to network with local residents
wanting to grow organic food gardens. Workshops
on related topics were given, and Mas Masumoto,
third-generation organic peach farmer and award-winning
author, gave a talk.
These are excerpts
from a report written by Cindy Conner, certified
basic-level GROW BIOINTENSIVE teacher in Virginia:
My rice harvest was fun. Everyone is amazed that
I could grow rice, although they shouldn't be that
surprised since we had another VERY wet year. The
rice had to sit until after Christmas until I had
time to figure out how to hull it. I made a hulling
plate to replace the stationary grinding plate on
a Corona grain mill. . The plate is made of 1/4"
plywood covered with rubber taken from the top of
a barn boot. I used Gorilla glue to attach the rubber
to the plywood. I used a curved file to bevel the
edge slightly around the hole where the grain comes
out, so it would fall away from the plate and not
get caught where the rubber meets the wood. To make
mounting on any table easier, I attached the mill
by its clamp and by bolts and wingnuts through its
holes, to a board that measured 9"x9"x3/4".
I can take it anywhere and clamp it to a table using
C-clamps on the board.
In December I completed another
idea I'd been thinking about. I divided my chicken
pen into 3 pens. . Now the chickens come into the
middle pen which is now a compost pen. It is filled
with leaves and will get lots of things we normally
put in a compost pile, including goat manure. The
other 2 pens will be grazing pens based on the Balfour
method John Seymour mentions in his books. . I broadcasted
rye, knowing it would grow when the temperature
warmed again. . We have just had another frigid
week, but the chicken pen is green (under the snow
and ice). Before this project it had turned to mud.
I will probably broadcast white clover in there
this spring for a permanent grazing crop. My plan
is to grow comfrey along the fence on the inside
of the pen, plant vine crops along the fences and
put a fruit tree in each grazing pen. I have noticed
that when given the choice, chickens always run
to the fence rows to seek out bugs and such. Hopefully
the grazing pens can provide them with interesting
things to eat, and since their movement into them
can be limited as need be, the plantings won't be
devastated.
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