Fire Ant Control and Container Gardens

Fire ant!

This is a question submitted to us from one of our readers. Submit yours at

info@betterfarm.org.

I'm looking for ideas for a container garden. We have a ton of fire ants all over the place and I don't want them in my garden. I was told you might have some ideas. Thank you!

—Beatrice Okker, Inglis, Fla.

Beatrice,

We have two answers for you. First, we'll address the fire ant problem; and two, we'll give you some great ideas for container gardens.

Fire Ants: Problems

Fire ants can be a horrible nuisance to the home gardener. In locations where fire ants are prevalent, you can run into them everywhere you water or mulch—in some cases, people have reported 3-foot-wide ant dens! Not to mention how awful their bites are...

Solutions

• Some people have reported success by releasing ladybugs, each of which can consume up to 1,000 aphids a day. 

• Pouring boiling water on a nest can kill the larvae and ants, but this will have to be done repeatedly to ensure new nests aren't formed. 

• Foraging chickens will sometimes dig up and eat fire ants, and armadillos will dig out nests, but of course both these kinds of critters can also wipe out your plants—depending on what you're growing.

• It's rumored that turmeric repels ants. You can try sprinkling the golden spice in areas you don't want ants—or go ahead and grow your own turmeric strategically in areas you don't want the ants (this is certainly feasible in Florida!).

• The best "poison free" way to get rid of ants, some say, is to use instant grits. Just sprinkle them on any mounds or trails you find and usually by the next day, they are gone. Grits expand when they get wet, so when the ants eat them...well they pretty much explode. Make sure that you put the grits down when they are dry and will stay dry, otherwise you are just feeding them.

• Mix 1 T. of yeast and 2 T. of sugar to a pint of water and set the mixture out for the fire ants. The grits and corn meal will swell when eaten and can kill them. The yeast is carried back to the nest because it is mixed with the sugar; and the yeast is supposed to spread throughout the nest to kill out the rest of the ants.

• Apply beneficial nematodes. These are living organisms and must be used before the expiration date and/or before they die in the package. They will also control other insect pests in the soil. 

• Apply dry molasses at 20 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft.

• Pour orange oil (available at most home-improvement stores) directly on the nests.

• Diatomaceous earth will kill fire ants and keep them away. You can get it at the feed store. it is completely safe (all it is is very very small seashells: calcium). The sharp edges get between segmented insects' body joints and they "bleed" to death. Works on all bugs that are jointed.

• Guinea hens will eat fire ants (also other insects and ticks) while doing much less damage to vegetable plants than chickens (guineas just pick at insects and don't scratch up the ground like chickens do). And unlike chickens, guineas will leave most fruit alone. 

Container Gardens

Click here to see a gallery of beautiful container gardens

.

Container gardens can truly involve any container; whether you

construct a raised bed

or upcycle tires or even shoes. For larger container gardens, we recommend utilizing a

Hugelkultur

setup; for all containers, we strongly suggest

mulch or lasagna gardening

.

The key in drier climates (and even in the North Country come July and August) is irrigation. On the hottest days, certain plants will need to be watered up to twice daily. You can avoid having to do all this legwork by constructing an irrigation system for your plants:

• Pop bottle drip irrigation

• Drip irrigation kit on Amazon

• Drip irrigation for your vegetable container garden

Better Farm Builds an Igloo!

Better Farm's Igloo. Photo/Zoya Kaufmann

By Zoya Kaufmann
An igloo (from the Inuktitut iglu ᐃᒡᓗ [iɣ.'lu], "house") [1] is a temporary winter shelter built by Inuit peoples from the Mackenzie Delta in Canada's Northwest Territories [2] to northwestern Greenland.

Inuit means "the people". Inuktitut words for English speakers and French Canadians are Qallunaat (from qallu, "eyebrow"), and Uiuinaat or Guiguinaat (from the French oui), respectively. [1]

To build an Inuit igloo, blocks of compacted snow measuring approximately 24" by 48" by 8" are cut with a snowknife, traditionally made of bone[2] (see image below!).

Fun fact: The sharpest cutlery used by Inuits living in northwestern Greenland is made of iron -- space iron. Meteorite masses known as Ahnighito ("the Tent" (31 tons), "the Woman" (2½ tons), and "the Dog" (½ ton) (as well as several others rediscovered later) provided Inuit populations with metal, long before Robert Perry extracted the meteorite's location in 1894 from a local in exchange for a gun. Greenland's first railway was built to aid in transporting the meteorite family to New York, where the American Museum of National History purchased them for $40,000[4]. The meteorite masses are currently on public display. Ahnighito is held in place by supports extending down to the bedrock of the museum[5].

The first row of igloo blocks is then sloped, so that the following rows can be added in spirally. The arc of an igloo is more akin in shape to a catenoid (think of the parabola created by holding both ends of a chain, like the St. Louis Arch) than a hemisphere, reducing the structure's tendency to cave or bulge[6].

Better Farm's igloo (photo by Zoya Kaufmann)

Over the course of several days, the team at Better Farm constructed their own version of the igloo (thanks to Adam McBath for the idea!), right behind the farm's more permanent housing structure. A comparison between the Inuit and the Better Farm igloo follows:
Igloo construction tools:

Inuit snowknife

vs.

Better Farm's cooking pan (with Greg Baz, left), snow shovel, and gloved hands (with Zoya Kaufmann, right)

Entry:

Inuit: One 10 ft. passageway, covered from the inside by a sealskin flap

Better Farm: Two 2 ft. passageways, sometimes covered by the legs of igloo inhabitants and guarded by dogs

Ventilation:

Inuit: Opening at the apex

Better Farm: Accidental skylight facing north


Lighting:

Inuit: Seal blubber

Better Farm: Flashlight

Bedding

Inuit: Willow twigs covered by caribou furs

Better Farm: Bare snow, sometimes covered by Hans Solo

Accommodation:

Inuit: One family

Better Farm: Seven humans and one dog

Inside the 'gloo - Zoya Kaufmann, Aaron Youngs, Nicole Caldwell, and Greg Baz (photo by Adam McBath)

^References:
[1] Asuilaak. (n.d.). (Nortext, Producer) Retrieved January 6, 2013, from Inuktitut Living Dictionary: http://www.livingdictionary.com
[2] igloo. (2013). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/282275/igloo
[3] Pastore, R. T. (1998). The Thule. (Memorial University of Newfoundland) Retrieved from Aboriginal Peoples: http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/thule.html
[4]Cape York Meteorite. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Encyclopedia of Science: ://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/Cape_York_meteorite.html
[5] Hall of Meteorites. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Museum of Natural History: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/earth-and-planetary-sciences-halls/arthur-ross-hall-of-meteorites
[6] Handy, Richard L. . The Igloo and the Natural Bridge as Ultimate Structures. Arctic , Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 276-281. Published by: Arctic Institute of North America. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40509169.

Winter Hike Slated Feb. 2

Update on Home Winterization: Weather stripping

We

wrote last week

about great options for weatherproofing your home. Those tips—designed to save you money and energy

heating your house—included talk of sealing cracks in doors. That line item was taken on the other day when we noticed cheap, old weather strips had worn down on the farm's front door.

Going forward, we'd recommend buying high-quality weather stripping that will last more than a year or two. Paying up-front costs will save you money in the long run, we promise. We used adhesive strips first time around. This time, we used rigid strips that get screwed into the door and frame.

Before:

After:

Statistics show that s

omewhere between 10% and 30% of energy costs are due to air leaks that could’ve been sealed

.  Detecting and sealing air leaks by simple

energy conservation techniques

such as weatherstripping and caulking will save you money in the long run. Other air leaks might require more complex techniques, but sealing them is most likely well worth it as well! Costs of air sealing are usually paid back within a few years. Sealing air leaks can save you up to $80 a year! This weather stripping will therefore pay for itself in a matter of months. That's an investment you can feel good about.

DIY Mosquito Control (and Residual Chicken Feed)

We know, we know. It's a little early to be thinking of mosquito season, right? But if you get this  mosquito-catching system organized before the snow thaws, you'll be ready to harvest some great treats for your chickens (or frogs) the second the skeeters wake up. Watch the video above for a great design plan (we like the solar option best) that will allow you to catch thousands and thousands of would-be pests.

Winterization Station

In the endless journey to green our homes, wintertime is often one of the most wasteful. We produce hot air through baseboard heat, wood stoves, furnaces, monitors or space heaters, then lose it through poorly insulated walls and roofs, outdated windows, and drafty doors. Toeing the line between frugality and sustainability, we're all faced with countless choices of how to hold desirable temperatures in and keep extreme temperatures out.

Changing windows is expensive and costs $133.88 per ton of carbon saved; changing to a programmable thermostat is cheap and comes in at $ 9.34 per ton of carbon saved. So before the vinyl window salesman tells you to fix your windows, do all of the cheap and effective stuff second—do all the

free

and effective stuff first

.

Free Stuff

1. Lower water heater temperature to 120°F

2. Increase AC thermostat by 3°F

3. Wash clothes in cold water

4. Air dry clothes during summer

5. Turn off unneeded lights

Just doing that will save 1600 tons of carbon and $250 per year.

Below is a winter checklist we can all follow to ensure we have a snuggly warm, green winter.

Windows

• Keep them in the locked position (this seals them from the weather and makes them airtight in most cases)

• Cover your windows with thermal curtains and/or blinds (this can block up to 80 percent of heat loss)

• Use of window insulation: brand-name items from a store or cellophane or plastic bags

• Stop the Air Leaks (with a savings of $10.77 per ton CO2 saved): In an old, pre-1945 house, the air leaks can add up to the equivalent of a hole in your wall 21 inches in diameter! Natural Resources Canada (NRC) says that in a house vintage 1946-80 the hole is 16 inches, and in a modern conventional home, 14 inches. When you think about it that way it becomes obvious that there is a lot of heat loss, it is like leaving a window open all winter. 

• Heat-shrinking film(save 25.02 per ton of CO2 saved). The window salesman may tell you to replace those old wood windows, but they are often part of the character and charm of the house, the replacements are usually vinyl, and it costs a lot of money. Instead, look into a seal-and-peel caulk (wonderful stuff; no matter how bad you are at caulking it just peels off in the spring) and heat-shrinking film. There are also magnetic, interior storm windows but they cost much more money. Click here for application instructions.

Programmable

Thermostat

Savings: $9.34 per ton CO2 saved

A setback, or programmable thermostat has the biggest bang for the buck of any single thing you can do; it costs only $9.34 per ton of carbon saved, and is getting better all the time as the price of the electronics drop. A setback thermostat can save up to 15 percent on your heating bill. For houses with radiant floors or old hot water radiator systems, there is a really slow response time because of the thermal inertia in the systems. I used to say that setbacks wouldn't work for these, but new thermostats track the performance of your heating system, figure out when to turn it on, and basically plan ahead. After all, nothing makes you want to jump under the covers than a cool house before you go to bed!

Insulation

• Insulate your water heater(save $12.66 per ton CO2 saved): You can buy kits at hardware stores that come with straightforward instructions; but basically you just wrap the insulating sleeve around your water heater.

• Add attic insulation (save $15.56 per ton CO2 saved): Many houses have attics that are accessible via a hatch in the hall or a cupboard; if you have this, insulating your attic is not that hard, and delivers a good bang for the buck. You want about R-50 up there to prevent heat loss.

• Install efficient showerheads (save $18.02 per ton of CO2 saved): Okay, this isn't exactly insulation. But it functions just like wrapping your water heater or insulating your hot water pipes in the basement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that showers use about 17 percent of residential water use, totaling 1.2 trillion gallons per year. If you like long, hot showers, this is a great way to use less energy to heat the water, and less water in general. We have the Evolve shower head at Better Farm, which automatically shuts off when it reaches 98 degrees while you're getting ready to hop in the shower. 

• Fill drafts and holes throughout your house. Look for light shining through the walls inside during the day or light shining outside during the night. On cold winter nights walk around in shorts and a tee shirt (or naked, we won't tell) and you'll certainly find cold drafts. Find these areas and insulate them however you can. Areas under doors can be controlled with a rolled up towel or rug over the opening. If the drafts around doors are especially bad consider purchasing foam insulation made to stop the draft in this area. An easy way to deal with this is to place masking tape over the cracks around the door each night, but this can be a pain.

• Insulate your body! Wear sweaters, sweat pants, socks and slippers in your home and just let it be cold.

Greetings from Better Farm's New Intern

By Zoya Kaufmann
Hi everyone! I'm Zoya, Better Farm's newest sustainability intern. I originally hail from Belmont, Mass., but have been living in New York for almost two years while attending Cornell University. I'll be at Better Farm through Jan. 15, when my winter break will be ending and I'll be going back to school.


I'm a sophomore at Cornell, studying natural resources and minoring in entomology. My biggest passions are art (painting, photography, jewelry making, surprise giant emu making), music (I play the flute and love to improvise), and studying the natural world (with emphases on botany and entomology).

Outside of academics at Cornell, I organize hikes and trail-maintenance projects as president of Friends of the Gorge, learn about natural living and forest farming through the Ecovillage Youth Alliance, take massage courses, initiate spontaneous music-making, do as much art as I can (illustrating a friend's children's book about the ubiquity of life on Earth is a current project), and send out clues to my dorm-castle every Monday night regarding the location of coffee, tea, cookies, and the social gathering accompanying the victuals.

At Better Farm, I hope to learn tools for living sustainably and ways to use art to enhance human relationships with the natural world.

To learn more about Better Farm's sustainability program, click here.

Mandala Garden Part III: Outline complete

We started work on a mandala garden back in October. Researching basic components of this permaculture design, we set about overlaying one of our own in Better Farm's main garden on the property.

Linear gardens have their origin in division and ownership of land (easier to mark and measure), and in use of mechanical soil cultivation (easier to drive a horse or a tractor down a straight row). Since neither one of these elements applies to a vast majority of home gardens, there is absolutely no need to make them straight! Any shape that respects the landform, works with the flow of water and with the way humans move make more sense.


A mandala garden is a raised garden bed using keyhole pattern. It is meant to be a domestic garden able to feed a family all year. It can also be scaled up in order to feed more people. It is usually a circle shape on a flat area. We talk about mandala as it presents a circle centered pattern drawing. Originaly this word refers to Hindu and Buddhist vocabulary. It is a figuration with mystical and ritual value representing, under the form of a varied aspects geometrical diagram, the cosmos and the different relationships that are established between the material and the spiritual.

Since updating you the first week in December on the progress former intern Jackson Pittman made, he—along with our new intern Zoya Kaufmann—completed the circular garden's basic layout. Using cardboard as a weed barrier, direct compost and hay as mulching materials for planting next spring, and gravel and stones for barriers and walkways, our design is complete.

Nature will do the work this winter, as snowfall and our chickens do their part to break down the hay, decompose the compost, and add natural fertilizers to the layout. While that's going on, we'll be mapping out the garden for springtime and allocating certain segments to specific plants.

After the snow melts, we'll be able to get into that thick, rich soil and help to raise up nourishing plants that will sustain the people and animals at Better Farm as well as in the community.

Happy Holidays!

Illustration/Jackson Pittman

Reflections From Fall Intern Jackson Pittman

Intern Jackson Pittman relaxing fireside.

By Jackson Pittman

As I prepare to say my goodbyes to the farm after a two-and-a-half-month internship, I'm taking a minute to reflect on some of the things I've learned. As things stand now, I'm hoping to be back to continue work at the farm next summer.

Things I learned at Better Farm:

• How to split wood
• How to stack wood
• How to use an old-school washing machine
• How the bottom of a compost bucket smells
• The subtleties of chicken squawks
• How to identify standing-dead trees
• How to design and build an earthship
• How to design and build a garden
• How aquaponics and hydroponics work
• How mulching and permaculture work
• The joys of owning dogs
• How to use a wirewheel
• How to use a sawzall
• How to start a fire in and maintain a woodstove
• How to fill a wood ring
• The joys of working with chickens
• How to clean and maintain chicken coops
• The power of perseverance
• How to drive a three-wheeler
• How to make pasta sauce from scratch
• How to make a compost/worm bin
• How to remove porcupine quills from a dog
• How to build stream systems and direct flows of water
• How to care for chickens
• How to balance art and science
• How to dance
• The benefits of chicken poop
• The importance of safety during serious projects
• How to garden during the winter
• How to tend to broccoli plants
• How to grow potatoes vertically
• How to integrate creativity into technical projects
• How to write a blog

Seriously though, my experience at Better Farm was wonderful.

The real beauty of this place lies within the love that the people here have for working together and they’re constantly refocusing on positive ways to change and grow. Here at Better Farm, we work to enrich our lives and it is that driving force that allows us to cooperate so fluidly and enjoy our labor and its fruits so much. I am proud to have been a part of this family and I know I will be back! The depth of the care here is tangible. See you all in 2013!

Debunking the Dishwasher Myth

By PAUL WHEATON
Originally published at permies.com

I had a painfully awkward week. In one week, five different people told me “the fact” that dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand. I wanted to say that I think I use less water than a dishwasher, but in all five cases I was immediately hushed and reminded that this is “a fact” therefore not open to any discussion.

After the fifth time, something fun popped into my head... So I made this video. I just had to. I needed to express my position. I needed to prove my point! Proof dammit! So I set up my camera and proceeded to wash a load of dishes by hand. And when the dishes were clean, I used the dishwasher as a sort of drying rack. And PRESTO! I crushed a lame, so-called “fact”.

The common misconception, that washing dishes with a dishwasher (versus by hand) saves on water usage, is an excellent example, in my mind, of how some of the greenest people succumb to the greenwashing of Madison Avenue.

The doing-it-by-hand technique that beats the most eco dishwasher under any circumstances is pretty simple: use a dishpan and run just a tiny amount of water (quarter cup) to wash the first thing. Then use a tiny amount of water to rinse that one thing, with the rinse water running into the dishpan. As you are on to the fifth thing, you have a bit more soapy water in the bottom of the pan. So you can start washing bigger things.

By the time you are done washing and rinsing everything, there should be about two quarts of water used.
Eco dishwashers set to eco mode use about nine gallons of water and usually don’t get the dishes clean unless you clean them first. Granted, it is possible for a person to wash dishes by hand where they leave the water running and waste lots and lots of water. I am certainly not advocating that.

There are some new dishwashers that will use only three gallons of water, but these are very expense and there are still some who say they don’t do a good job of cleaning.
I do agree with those who say washing by hand, or not, can also be just a matter of personal choice. Beyond the water usage issue, I prefer washing dishes by hand for many other reasons:

1. I like to wash dishes by hand because when I am done, the dishes are all done. I am not burdening my future self to finish loading. Or to unload. Nor am I leaving a “to do” for somebody else.
2. Each piece meets my cleanliness standards.
3. It’s the way my grandad did it – and I’m always keen on doing things the way my grandad did.

Paul Wheaton is is the tyrannical ruler of two on-line communities. One is about permaculture  and one is about software engineering. There is even one for Missoula. Paul has written several permaculture articles starting with one on lawn care that he presented at the MUD Project 17 years ago, including articles on raising chickens, cast iron and diatomaceous earth. Paul also regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts. In his spare time, Paul has plans for world domination and is currently shopping for a hollowed out volcano in the Missoula area, with good submarine access. See all of Paul’s contributions to Make it Missoula here.

Four-Season Farming

By Jackson Pittman

As we come closer to the

winter solstice

, it's not uncommon to find farms and gardens closing shop up for the cold, short days ahead. In fact, even our own farm has virtually stopped producing altogether aside from our sporadic batches of chicken eggs and an ever-producing aquaponic system. But, do things always have to be this way? Is it impossible for us in

Zone 4

to maintain production as the days get chillier? Do we have to cast away the thought of crop production just because the temperature drops a couple measly degrees because designing a full functioning growing area with a heater is beyond our price range? The answer to all of these is: of course not. In fact, we can make the most of these colder months in surprisingly simple ways, not by working against the colder shorter days, but using them to our advantage. As Eliot Coleman describes in

TheWinter-Harvest Manual: Farming the Back Side of the Calender

, harnessing frosty conditions for plant production can be done by using simple plastic structures and veggies that grow better under lower temperatures.

The technique Coleman describes in

The Winter-Harvest Manual

is one which uses simplistic, greenhouse-like structures to grow cold-hardy vegetables in abundance. These structures are neither heated nor extremely insulated. In fact, they are merely plastic covered hoop-houses, or high tunnels. The outer layer of plastic over the high tunnel should have an anti-drip coating so moisture condenses as opposed to forming drops, to allow more light in and reflect the heat coming from the soil at night. The hoop houses are aligned to the east-west axis, and, instead of being attached to a foundation, the hoops are attached to a pipe rail the length of the greenhouse so they can move easily in a straight line like a sled. This allows two adjacent sites for the greenhouse, one to cool heat-loving crops in the summer, and the other to heat cold-hardy plants in the winter. It also allows the off season site to be refreshed by half a year of exposure to fresh air and elements each seasonal cycle.

The real crucial part of Coleman’s winter-harvest technique lies in row covers. He prescribes “any lightweight translucent fabrics that allow air and water to pass through.” Although heavier fabrics create more heat, they block out around 35 percent more sunlight than lighter fabrics, and allowing air and water to pass through is much more substantial when it comes to cultivating healthy and tasty vegetables. The plants don’t need the extra heat of a heavier cover anyway because the combination of the plastic covered hoop house and the row covers creates a twice-tempered climate, which creates extra humidity to fight the frost and breaks the wind, both substantial parts of keeping the plants healthy. 

Another reason why it’s better have a lighter cover which ventilates more efficiently is because since the cold months have less sunlight the plants need the most they can get. To cold-hardy plants, a couple degrees below freezing isn’t as detrimental as factors like wind-chill and poor ventilation. Another beauty of these covers is that they are easy to manage—they sit on flat-topped wire wickets 12 inches above the soil, and they are also inexpensive and large pieces are easy to remove and replace for harvesting and accessing the plants. The fabric should be clothespinned to the wickets at the ends of each row to prevent the fabric from sagging; frost damage can occur when the fabric droops down to the plants below but if properly maintain no damage will occur.

The final ingredient for successful winter harvesting lies within the plants themselves. The vegetables to be planted basically depend on the latitude (which determines amounts of sunlight). Coleman, who lives in the 44

th

longitude up in Maine, plants everything from salad crops such as green and red lettuces, arugula, chard, spinach watercress and things of that nature, to potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, leeks… the list goes on. The plants chosen basically depend on the regional and seasonal temperatures. It is important to keep in mind that the plants need to be sown very precisely because the days get shorter instead of longer as we work the other side of the calendar. The crops should reach a decent size by the time the length of day drops below 10 hours. After that they will pretty much stop growing except when harvested until the day lengths begin to lengthen again and they receive a glorious revival.

Well, hopefully this helps you imagine a world where the growing season is year-long, and we will be there growing alongside with you. While it may take a while to actualize it due to technical factors remember the winter has been around as long as the sun has shone and we are all working together to grow tasty and healthy vegetables!

Message 1 of 21

BetterArts Teams up with Hospice for Holiday Event

BetterArts on Saturday teamed up with Survivor Outreach Services of Fort Drum and Hospice of Jefferson County to present "A Time of Holiday Remembrance" holiday party for children ages 6 to 12 who have lost loved ones. 

The event, held at Hospice of Jefferson County in Watertown, featured arts 'n' crafts, a lunch, and cookie decorating. BetterArts participated by inviting families to join in the making of a photo frame collage in honor of their loved ones for the last hour of the event. Children and their family members were encouraged to bring in photos for that activity. Funding for the collage supplies was made possible through a donation from Watertown Evening Rotary. 

Here are some photos from the day:

Better Farm intern Jackson Pittman makes a bookmark man out of a popsicle stick.

Many thanks to Joyce Combs and Hospice of Jefferson County for making this event possible!