A silence not so golden!

A  few years ago I put out ant bait.  The store bought stuff - raid style.  It was not my choice to do so but the sale of our old house depended on a home inspection and the home inspector said we had to use the ant bait.  We were given a list of options that we could use and I chose the one that seemed least likely to kill kids, dogs, birds, etc., and I also left the new homeowner a note and the label so she would be able to make informed decisions and adequately protect her kids and pets.

Upon moving to this Wicked Raven Farm location we realized that the same situation had occurred.  I didn't get to be the chooser of what went around the house or onto the ground.

I am re-reading Rachael Carson's "Silent Spring" and it is giving me eerie flashbacks to the first few mornings here at Wicked Raven.  No birds sang save for the loon song at the far end of the lake.  Yes - there were dead ants all over the place but....no songbirds.  Not even a raucous Raven which seem to always be near where my youngest son is.  If he is outside I can easily spot him by the ravens flying around or nearby.

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The Chickadees were silent as were the sparrows, junkos and swallows.  No Robins either.  Just silence.  It seemed like weeks before any of them started coming back even after I had hosed and scraped up every bit of ant killer I could find.

Today as I sit out on the third story porch and look out over the lake, I am stunned by the beautiful sounds of songbirds I hear and even the raucous Raven is there crowing at the Arctic Terns on the dock!  I am also sincerely afraid that not much has changed since Rachael wrote her book in the 1930's!  Almost 100 years ago and man is still struggling with the concept of harmony with nature.  There are pockets of us who stand against the wind and cry out against the use of chemicals but not nearly enough of us.

The Round up ad keeps playing like it's a marvelous product for a perfect yard.  Maybe we need to re-define what the perfect yard is!  Like I always say "if it will kill a dandelion, it will kill you!"  Eat them instead! Not that I think we should all eat ants, and I dont know how I would catch enough for a meal either, but there has to be a better solution than something that silences the songbirds!

If you have never read "Silent Spring" all of our local libraries carry copies of it, and it is really worth a read especially if you are concerned about the environment that we are leaving for the future generations, and how long the struggle has been going on!

I dont have a solution to the ant problem here still - ants are still everywhere!  If you have something organic that works well please let me know so I can try it!

Also check out the Rachael Carson Institute for more information on her amazing journey.  http://www.chatham.edu/rachelcarson/

I hope you have wonderful, songbird filled days!

A little goes a long way!

I know you're going to laugh that this is yet another potato blog but.... I wanted you to see how easy potatoes are to grow.  Early in the spring I peeled some spuds for a dish I was making and of course the peels went into the compost bucket and eventually into the pallet compost bin.  We have worked and stirred it at least once a week and last week when I went out to stir it again and get some finished compost for another project, here is what I found!

Those are potatoes coming right up in the center of the compost bin!  From just potato peelings! We have also had them grow up in the grass clippings that were piled up in the meadow area for storage, and when we threw a batch of kitchen scraps on top of the pile - up came the spuds!  So we will leave them alone and let them grow and empty one of the rolling composters out to start putting new scraps in!  Ill post an update when we harvest these ones and Reed's as well.  Reed has some that he planted in last year's corn rows that we have been burying as we go and they are doing wonderfully!  Stay tuned and throw some spud peels on your compost pile and let them grow!