In article ,
"cat daddy" wrote:

Charlie wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:05:43 -0500, "cat daddy"
wrote:


Yep, and because it's feed, there's no tax. Something else I like to
pick
up is dry molasses. That's mostly a feel good thing for me, although they
say it stimulates beneficial microorganisms. It has trace elements, but I
like the smell, especially when I play around making aerobic teas.......


Whoa! Aerobic teas... you didn't finish and just left me hangin'!

Yeah, well.......... didn't want to bring out the pro- or anti- zealots
particularly, and it was late. I tried, but deleted whatever else I was
going to say about it. Discussion of tea making makes the discussion of
composting methods pale in comparison.

what? I gotta research this myself?

This has opened up a whole new area of fun.

Does this link provide a good idea of what you are talking about?

http://www.westvalleyrose.org/roseinfo/alfalfatea.html

Yeah, that's the same as one of my links.

Here's another with a list of what's in alfalfa tea, although it's not
aerobic with an air bubbler, and will smell like a cow produced it.
http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/tea.html

They have recipes that add canned mackeral and all sorts of goodies.

Man, we have to be talkin' some seriously good odours!

Again, thanks.

Charlie

My dad used to empty out his freezer once or twice a year. He is known
to place old fish and other expired food stuffs in large glass
containers which fermented out in the garden. He then mixed a cup or
two with a gal of water which he feed to weak or sickly plants
especially ones with insects. We knew when he worked this magic and did
other things for a day two.

Bill

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade

This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational
and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit.

http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

"William Wagner" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"cat daddy" wrote:

Charlie wrote in message
...

Here's another with a list of what's in alfalfa tea, although it's
not
aerobic with an air bubbler, and will smell like a cow produced it.
http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/tea.html

They have recipes that add canned mackeral and all sorts of goodies.

Man, we have to be talkin' some seriously good odours!

My dad used to empty out his freezer once or twice a year. He is known
to place old fish and other expired food stuffs in large glass
containers which fermented out in the garden. He then mixed a cup or
two with a gal of water which he feed to weak or sickly plants
especially ones with insects. We knew when he worked this magic and did
other things for a day two.

In the big picture, something's always food for something else. So,
whatever it was your dad was fermenting, either it was good in and of
itself, or it fed or attracted something that was, most probably.
That's what attracts me to the alchemy of making teas, although I do
prefer the more pleasant smelling kind.

Charlie wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:49:15 -0500, "cat daddy"
wrote:


Yeah, well.......... didn't want to bring out the pro- or anti- zealots
particularly, and it was late. I tried, but deleted whatever else I was
going to say about it. Discussion of tea making makes the discussion of
composting methods pale in comparison.

After reading, and thinking, about this at some length today, I
understand why it was simpler for you to just put up a roadsign.

I just can't commit to extended conversations these days, and there was
quite the extended one here in the past on compost teas. I even joined a
Yahoo group about it, and there are some very passionate people researching
the subject, most with some quite interesting contraptions to sell
you.......
So, I just enjoy the alchemy, whether it's voodoo or not.

In article , Charlie
says...
On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:15:03 -0400, Ann wrote:

Charlie expounded:

Damn, I gotta read the Books.

Yes you do!


Ahh, c'mon, can't I just do the cliff's books routine and listen to a
few more podcasts???

Damn, why did I just get this feeling of being back in school and Mrs.
Richards standing over me in English class? ;-) BTW, she was my
neighbor and favorite teacher, feisty as hell and back in the days
before, not afraid to box your ear when necessary. She even gave me
hell in my, or her, own backyard when necessary.


Wow... That's kinky.


--
Want Privacy?
http://www.MinistryOfPrivacy.com/

Charlie wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:20:18 -0500, "cat daddy"
wrote:


So, I just enjoy the alchemy, whether it's voodoo or not.

Honor and respect. Relationships. Our blessings come from the
community of the soil organisms and we should be willing to give back
to the community in return for what it has brought forth. I now see
that this is about community and respect. We should be active
partipants in this process, not just takers. We are a part of this
community and our respect and participation is required.
Connectedness. Balance. The soil devours all, yet brings forth all.

****** "It is mystical and magical, this web of interconnectedness that we
so
often fail to perceive and respect."****** -Charlie

And this is most sig worthy!

Wow, thanks for the boost.

And thank you for writing so eloquently on a wide range of related
subjects. This place is much more interesting because of your contributions.
Much appreciated.

Not to put a great deal of significance into where I am now, but my first
memory from childhood is sitting in a bare flowerbed, looking for the
"germs"..........

Charlie wrote in
:

I tried something today, alchemy wise, based upon your
alfalfa meal slurry. Last night as I was down in my cups
and feeling more than a little sorry for myself, I decided
to collect the results of my crying in my beer pity party
in a bucket. Today I added alfalfa meal to the Household
Compost Activator and applied to the pile. So now it is my
turn, in our Mutual Admiration Society, to give credit to
you for starting me thinking deeply about decomposing and
living stuff and the relationship between life/death
produce/waste as applies to soil structure and life in
general.

Which brings to mind this twisted little thought, that
rather tickles me.......when one recycles a part of
oneself, through composting amendments, which is then
returned to the garden, to produce a thing that is
consumed.... in essence, this makes one a self-cannibal,
neh?

And with that gruesome thought......

i don't see using liquid waste as self-cannibalism, just
being practical (assuming no hepatitis or other issues
precluding said use).
i live in an old house (1815). i have at least one grave in
my pasture (her name was Sally Batchelder). i bought this
place 9 years ago. last week the previous owner came over to
spread ashes of his daughter... returning her to where she
grew up. it's a good circle, really.
lee

Ann wrote:

{....]

We got home late last night from the Maine homestead (hubby did some
brush hogging and we tended the bees), One of our neighbors came over
to tell us that there's a new neighbor, a sow black bear, another
neighbor was feeding her apples, but Larry told him to stop, because
she's a threat to our hives - he did, but we think she's already
visited the hives and got a snout full of 8,000 volts from the
electric fence we've got up around them. There's a nice pile of pooh
full of berries about a bear's length from the fence (scared the sh*t
outta her, I'll bet!). Thankfully the hives are fine.

your electric fence is a form of a pesticide. I bet no one
ever said that.

consider pest control goals of prevention, suppression and
eradication.

the electric fence is by itself incorporating the two methods
of prevention and suppression. by preventing the pest access
while suppressing the pest's desire to continue with attempts
to gain access you've reduced the damage to the desirable
product to a level of acceptability.

the suffix -cide actually means killing or reflects death as in
the word suicide. to the unlearned and unknowing student the
word pesticide always means to kill something which is considered
a pest causing damage to that which is desirable. for the schooled
agronomist, killing the entire population of that which has been
termed or deemed to be a pest is not always the best solution and
actually should always be left as the third and final choice.

take for example a soybean Farmer finds one of his fields covered
in waves of grasshoppers eating large amounts of foliage from the
soybean plants. the Farmer overreacts and makes the mistake of
and application of insecticide without properly evaluating the
circumstances and all variables of the total equation. in this
case the Farmer acted in an environmentally unfriendly manner
because what he perceived to be a crop under attack about to be
devastated was actually an acceptable condition because bean
production is not effected until over 70% of the plant foliage has
been removed. aside form the Farmer's choice to release unnecessary
insecticides into 'our' environment the economics of his choice yield
a no return while creating an undue expense. due to modern methods of
soybean production and row compaction the crop will most always produce
its canopy by the time grasshoppers show up. from our studies and
observations the wave of grasshoppers will move across the tops of the
plants rarely penetrating the canopy.

I was going to expound further concerning the menacing pest known
as asian rust and fungicides, but the dryer just finished and if I
don't go and fold the clothes I'll be required to operate the iron
in order to remove those pesky wrinkles from my shirts.

best,
Jim

In article ,
Ann wrote:

Charlie expounded:

Ahh, c'mon, can't I just do the cliff's books routine and listen to a
few more podcasts???

You could, but you'd miss all the little meanderings he goes through.
Just when he gets almost stiflingly clinical he goes off on a jaunt
that leads to wonderful places )

Damn, why did I just get this feeling of being back in school and Mrs.
Richards standing over me in English class? ;-) BTW, she was my
neighbor and favorite teacher, feisty as hell and back in the days
before, not afraid to box your ear when necessary. She even gave me
hell in my, or her, own backyard when necessary.

Sounds like my kind of woman! A teacher who taught because she loved
it. Lucky you!

And her idol, George W. Bush, is still the center of all that is evil in
this country. There is no terrorist conspiracy against America that is
any larger than Timothy McVeigh's. Bush needs a reason for the
squandering of America's resources (and enriching himself) and he found
it it a Saudi, Osama bin Laden, who was a CIA lackey. We set him up in
Afghanistan and now he is a nationalist. We helped him defeat the
Russians and now he has us in his sights. If we create more "terrorists"
in suppressing him, the more money Hallibton, Bechtel (Sen. Feinstein),
will make.

I wish you two the best.
--
FB - FFF

Billy

Get up, stand up, stand up for yor rights.
Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
- Bob Marley