Scrub Trees for Survival Fodder

     There has been a growing movement for farmers to seek additional feed sources for drought seasons and winter. Traditionally farmers would set aside dry feed or silage for the winter, but many have found themselves unprepared for warm seasons of extreme drought. This, like everything else, makes pastured meat more expensive.

     The Australians have really been looking into this problem, and they have suggested planting trees for fodder during drought. If done with alley-cropping techniques, this can actually increase pasture production thanks to the windbreaks and shade the trees will produce.

     If your animals are having trouble accepting the survival fodder, or you aren't sure what to feed them, more information is here. Rabbits can eat anything horses can eat, and I think goats and cattle as well. 

     Some of the best agricultural information is coming from the tropics these days.

Once fodder trees began to be planted on-farm, the 

technology spread rapidly throughout the region, as

farmers quickly realized the nutritional benefits of 

feeding fresh leaves to their cows.

Benefits vs. Arguments for Guerrilla Gardening

     Guerilla gardening is in full swing during the warmer months all across the United States. Likely a reaction to cooped-up urbanites retaliation against metropolitan space waste, guerrilla gardeners plant flowers and vegetables in areas that are otherwise laying fallow or abandoned.
     Some people aren't happy with guerrilla gardeners. Recently in Washington DC, the city removed hundreds of red, white, and blue flowering plants that had been placed by a guerrilla gardener on a sloping embankment, claiming that his climbing could lead to falling, which would incur liability for the taxpayers. They also claimed that there was no money in their budget for the upkeep of the plantings.
     Another recent article in the New York Times paints urban guerrilla gardeners in a negative light by supposing that a landscape of nothing but edibles will be a landscape without pollinators. This, of course, is untrue. I also emailed the author, Mariellé Anzelone, about her error concerning sassafrass. Her solution is not to avoid planting up the urban landscape, but to plant native wildflowers to promote diverse pollinators.

   "Urban activists should celebrate the indigenous wildflowers that sustain our pollinators beyond the short life span of fruit tree blossoms. In addition, we should incorporate native edibles into the planting palette. Blueberries, Juneberries and beach plums feed more species than just us humans."

     Anzelone and I agree on one thing, which is that native plants should be incorporated into any plan for regreening an urban zone. All too often city planners try to beautify by planting non-useful non-natives, like crepe myrtle and oleander. WE, the citizens, should be greening with natives and edibles like oak trees and others that were once found here in a time before pretty little homes.
     She neglects to point out that done properly, a neighborhood or area planted with nothing but edibles would still attract pollinators because the garden planners would want great diversity in their plantings. Anyone with a bit of gardening knowledge knows to plant more than one type of vegetable, or a time will come when you will be hungry. Does she think guerrilla gardeners are greening their cities with nothing but Irish potatoes, the nation's most popular vegetable? Or nothing but red delicious apples?
     As any permie can tell you, diversity in plantings is what promotes resistance to disease and pests. Planting a good deal of wildflowers will bring in butterflies and bees, but also bring in caterpillars and grasshoppers. You have to pick and choose your battles, and better to have a wide variety of edible or useful plantings than a lot of space wasted on toxics that attract plant-eaters. With the internet making distant knowledge available, and international shipping being how it is, there is no reason every abandoned easement can't be planted with useful edibles, or native edibles, or just native plants. Sweet potatoes from Japan, climbing beans from Germany, sugarcane from the Dominican Republic, the possibilities are endless. For some ideas for diverse edibles for Florida, check out my site and this site.
     For example, a maple tree might be useful in several ways, and is native. Native cottage roses are the same way. Both can be edible to humans and urban livestock and provide beauty. Roses attract pollinators. Maples provide shade and windbreaks, and can provide firewood. Almost any plant can be rated according to some simple points like these, and as long as plantings remain diverse, urban gardeners will do well with it.

     Eight Points for Identifying Useful Plants

     Edible to humans

     Edible to urban livestock

     Edible to urban wildlife

     Attract pollinators

     Provide beauty

     Provide shade and windbreaks

     Provide textiles or firewood for humans

     Provide habitat for urban animals

Covert Urban Homesteading, Part 2: Animals

   Without animals, your urban homestead is really just a super-nice garden. To really maximize your land use, you will want to get some small herbivores to convert your kitchen waste and yard refuse into instant fertilizer and protein. It should be noted that since you have a homestead here, and not an urban farm, you should be trying to provide as much of your animal feed as possible yourself. Buying feed is not what homesteaders do, it's what urbanites do, right?
     Every one of these animals will need their human caregivers to protect them from human and animal threats in addition to providing quality feed and water, and a clean living environment. Urban homesteaders here in Florida will have numerous pests such as weasels, hawks, cranes, cats, dogs, snakes, raccoons, teenagers, homeless, and the odd code enforcement official to contend with.

     Rabbits are by far my favorite outside animal. They can live on a completely home-grown diet of grasses and weeds, or planted vegetation. Larger operations will probably appreciate he convenience of pellet, which is not prohibitively expensive. The meat and manure are high quality, and extra stock can be sold as pets.

     Chickens are hilarious little birds. I've read that a combination of cat food and day-old bread, supplemented with egg shells, can be enough food for them, though I've never tried it.

     Quail need an extremely high protein diet as naturally they would eat nothing but insects. I've heard that they thrive in areas high in cockroaches, so...

     Guinea Pigs, also called cuys, are good eats in parts of South America. Think of them as slightly smaller rabbits.

     Mice/Hamsters. I'm considering raising them just for their cat and dog food value, since they will eat rabbit pellet and kitchen scraps and be fine with that. Maybe ground hamster could become the next big chicken or fish feed additive?

     Pigeons, especially homing pigeons, are popular outdoor pets in West Florida. I've heard that they can free-range and return home very well. They eat similar feed as chickens.

     Fish can be kept in aquariums as pets, raised for meat value, or raised for their plant fertilization value (think Aquaponics). Crawdads, catfish, and tilapia are all raised successfully here in Florida. Perhaps one of the most covert urban animal operations could involve a decorative "koi" pond filled with catfish or tilapia (Guess what I'm building in my back yard!).

     Bees live very well here in Florida, the main consideration being the location and disguise of your hive(s). After all, no one can complain you have bees if they can't see the hives. Most urban and suburban areas of Florida have decorative flowering plants and trees, that produce year-round blooms.

The Rabbit Manure Garden

     I didn't believe the claim that rabbit manure was garden gold, so I decided to prove it for myself. After all, if a five gallon bucket of this stuff can go for $10 or more, it must be great, right?

    The patch above was the remains of the first pond hole, the hole that had the cable line running through it. I filled it with rabbit manure and planted some seeds, topped with a bit of mulch. (A sunken garden bed). With the watering and excellent spring weather, the squash plants quickly overgrew the beans and peanuts, with the cannas reaching outrageous proportions faster than the cannas elsewhere. I didn't even expect these squash to do much more than sprout, since I have had such dismal luck elsewhere in the yard. They are even larger than my dad's squash plants, and he's a gardening genius who's fond of fertilizer. It would be pretty nifty to get a squash out of this bed, but if I don't, the squash leaves are good rabbit eats.

Same squash plants planted at the same time lacking manure.

     There are wild claims on the internet that rabbit manure is wonderful because it contains no weed seeds. That is true, but only if you feed your rabbits commercially prepared pellet diets and no other food. My rabbit manure has weed seeds from their favorite weeds, and seeds from some of their other foods like strawberries and blackberries. So they poop out more food to eat. Awesome.
     An interesting, but unrelated paper about phosphate.

Can Permaculture sustain us?

     Toby Hemenway is one of the best-known Permaculture advocates available. He is quite knowledgeable on the subject, and gives talks and teaches courses over there on the west coast. An article from his website was probably the best gardening article ever written, which is to say most horticultural information is content-milled. That article really inspired me to find out what is native and useful here, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.

     But can Permaculture really sustain us? Some people think of it as more of a religion rather than an agricultural technique, which is definitely a problem. And the answer, which Mr. Hemenway sidestepped a bit, is that it cannot. Unless we change every aspect of our lives to really coexist with the planet. That would include less future children, and not more. Less fossil fuels, not more. Less air conditioning and heating, and not more. Less can be more with proper design, hence, permaculture.

      It really comes into perspective when you attempt to figure out the acreage it would take for a family to feed itself. More than one acre, for sure. At least one adult working  full-time on that acreage to plant, harvest, and maintain production. Families would be forced to to move to be spread out in order to have that land for use. The surface area of the arable parts of the planet is known and can be calculated. The calculations do not add up to the population numbers that we have now.

     That's sad, right? Not really. I can't even tell you all the people that I've met that never want to have kids. They are a product of our industrial society, and they don't want to give up the luxury they would miss out on  if they had to raise children. Then there is also the fear that this industrial society isn't worth living in, that it would be a shame to bring a child into this. Personally I think that's why zombie flicks are so popular, because people secretly long for a less complicated life where the threats to your welfare are clearly visible. Children are an investment no matter what your ethics and religion, of time, energy, even patience.

     But that's just one aspect of how lives must be changed to have a future for our race. Toby Hemenway  forsees a potential future for us that he describes well in this video. What do you forsee?

Citrus in Florida

     Back when people first started moving to Florida in the late 1800's (No AC, what were they thinking?), they tried planting groves of the different trees over the entire state. I'm pretty sure Swingle and Dancy cultivars were created here. Since then, years with freezes have slowly been driving the industry to the areas south of Tampa and Orlando. It's still a multi-billion dollar a year industry, employing thousands of workers.
     Pest pressures, like fungi and insects, make our oranges unsightly, so bland eating oranges usually come from California or Arizona, while Florida's tasty oranges usually go to make juice.
     Here in west central Florida, just north of Tampa, I have been having a lot of success with loquat (sort of a citrus). The other varieties of less cold sensitive citrus are Meyer lemon and tangerine/mandarin. Key limes can't handle the cold. Ugli fruits are even more tender, Americans sometimes import them from Puerto Rico and further south.

     Over the years I have watched my father struggle with trying to grow citrus here. He's tried every variety, all different kinds of planting situations. He's tried planting on slopes. He's tried planting near a pool (heat sink). He's tried planting near a south-facing wall. We've agreed to give up on oranges, particularly since the price of trees has gone up over the last few years to usually at least $35 per tree. Could it have something to do with this?
     The state was found to be at fault for the forced removal of 865,000 residential, dooryard citrus across the southern counties. They have been paying approximate $30 million in damages, to replace the removed trees.

"[Judge Robin Rosenberg] wrote that “exposed citrus trees, which were not determined to be infected with citrus canker but were located within 1,900 feet of another citrus tree determined to be infected with citrus canker, do not present an imminent threat to the public health, safety or welfare, or constitute a public nuisance.”

    There is something to be said for planting the trees in the appropriate microclimate. Sepp Holzer, farming genius, can supposedly grow them in snow. If you use blankets and Christmas lights to keep your tree warm, do be sure they are the old fashioned incandescent type, as LEDs won't make heat for you. My father has used the blankets and lights trick successfully, but in my not-so-humble opinion, it's really not worth the effort. There are so many other kinds of good fruit trees to plant, why try to baby one to keep it alive? Spend electricity on plants? What?
     Always beware that due to pest pressures a lot of citrus are grafted onto root stocks, and a particularly tough freeze cycle may kill your citrus but the root stock may survive to provide you a less than desirable fruit. One of the most common is sour orange, which is actually a pretty nice fruit. Tart like a lemon, but orange flavored. I made sour orange meringue pie one year with it.

Chrissy Speaks at Chicken Meeting

     First, I would like to thank all the county workers for the excellent job they are doing in light of the decreased property tax revenue. County services do not seem to be diminished in the least.
     I would like to remind everyone present that not every household in Hernando County is going to be keeping chickens. I estimate that it will be less than one household per block, especially considering the high numbers of vacant houses and rentals.
      I would like to publicly remind everyone that the City of Tampa and the City of St. Petersburg have had chicken ordinances for years and years, without causing any additional noise or pollution.
      My family and I would ask that the requirements and restrictions for the chicken coops be left deliberately vague, providing that no existing building codes are violated. We would like to creatively confine our hens to promote the best health and sanitation practices. Confinement is absolutely necessary to protect hens from predators, but it does not mean hens should be disallowed from exercise and sunlight. Creativity in coop building is key.
     I feel that if a community wants to restrict chickens then they should come together to form a homeowners association.
      We are also wondering why only four hens are allowed? In addition to my husband and daughter I have two sets of elderly parents and many elderly neighbors here in Spring Hill who will not be able to care for chickens, but I can. Perhaps a special permit could be possible to allow more hens.
     Fresh, locally produced eggs are a gateway to good nutrition for our most vulnerable populations - small children and the elderly.

   I was also wondering if the commissioners would be opposed to a gardening group planting young trees to beautify our public schools? Some of our schools are decidedly devoid of shade and beauty.

Board of County Commissioners Regular Meeting 2/26/13 09:00 am Scroll to 33:00.

Follow-up email:

To the Hernando County Florida Board of County Commissioners,

I was shocked to hear the disapproving comments of the construction and realty interests regarding the decision to allow chickens in residential areas of Herrnando. They could bring no proof whatsoever that chickens will, in fact, be detrimental to property values in Hernando County.

I, on the other hand, can absolutely prove that chickens will be a boon to Hernando County. Rural King will be moving into a vacant eyesore of a building, and renovating it, and providing jobs to 60-80 employees. That's about 70 people who will be able to provide for their families, something West Hernando desperately needs. The business will be generating sales taxes to fund our critical infrastructure. It will also be drawing business from West Pasco and West Citrus, as these areas are underserved by feed and supply stores.

The Hernando County farmer's market is a wild success, and it is a place where locals can come together to sell home-grown products. There are many booths there selling home-baked or crafted goods, again, good for our economy and providing income for the unemployed.

Perhaps the construction industry could view the new ordinance as a revenue source. There will, no doubt, be many households that will want hens for nutrition reasons but will be unable to build an appropriate structure.

Some of the realtor's concerns focused on deed-restricted communities. I do not live in a deed-restricted community, but if I did, I would insist on having a Home Owner's Association to protect my property from any neighbor who might want to build an ugly structure. But, I say again, there is no evidence that a few well-tended chickens lower property values.

Again, the city of St. Petersburg, Tampa, Ocala, Orlando, Melbourne, Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Escambia County and many other areas allow backyard chickens. These areas do not have issues with vermin, odor, or noise. All require the chickens to be confined at all times.

The cost-to-feed ratio: Assuming the hens are mature and laying, and assuming one egg per 6 ounces of feed, you can get approximately 133 organic eggs from one 50-pound bag or chicken feed, which is approximately $15 from Rural King. 133 organic eggs will cost you at least $35, if not more. And the eggs will not be fresh; time does degrade the quality of the nutrition.

Texas A & M fact sheet about Backyard Chickens shows that backyard eggs have more  poly-unsaturated fat (healhy fats like Omega-3s) and anti-oxidants than regular eggs.

Cambridge Study about Organic Egg Nutrition Content.

It was mentioned in the meeting that there are places in the county to buy farm-fresh eggs, and that is true. However, the locations mentioned by the woman do not exist. There are no farmer's markets on County Line Road that sell eggs. There are no farmer's markets, farm stands, or CSA locations at or near grocery stores serviced by THE BUS. There are no grocery stores in the county that sell farm-fresh, local, organic eggs. Auro community gardens is not near any residential areas with a high population. Most of the population of Hernando County lives in greater Spring Hill and Brooksville, outside of gated communities.

Thank you for your consideration and open-mindedness in this matter. We plan on coming to the next meeting to hear what you decide.

Covert Urban Homesteading, Part 1: Plants

Covert - Adjective: Not openly acknowledged or displayed

Homesteading - Noun: an act or instance of establishing a homestead.

     My yard is the nicest place in the neighborhood, the main reason why no one has complained yet about the vegetable garden in the front yard. Of course, it would probably matter more if a person could actually see the vegetables growing in the yard, but since most people do not know what vegetables look like, I haven't heard any complaints about them yet. So I have the vegetables growing in the flower beds that came to me with the house, things like sweet potatoes, cowpeas, sorghum, flax, and sunflowers. Also cannas, which double as a survival food source and more distracting foliage and flower. The vegetables are planted in circles around the bases of trees or in-line with the edges of the circular flower beds, so they don't stick out. Sorghum even looks like an attractive variety of one of those decorative grasses that people are endlessly planting.
     There may come a time where you can grow a garden, but you will have to work within very strict standards for unsightliness. For example, some neighborhoods may not allow rain barrels or compost piles. Both of these can be buried into the ground. It may not be the most desirable thing, but it's better than having no stored water and no compost, right? Also all garden beds should be edged, mulched, and manicured at all times. Covert urban gardening takes more time than regular gardening, and isn't for everyone.
     After the front yard gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Orlando, Florida, made the news, I checked out our county codes to see what they said about front yard gardens, animals, and easements. I won't bother you with the details, but for the most part, pretty lax on gardens but strict on animals, at least for residential areas. It wasn't too much later that a guy in Oregon or somewhere far away got busted for having unlicensed ponds, and just recently a couple in Orlando got busted for a front yard garden. But their front yard garden doesn't look like my front yard garden, which just makes me think they were DOING IT WRONG.

So here are my techniques in five easy steps...

     Step 1: Check your regional municipal codes. Each state, county, city, and suburb probably has its own rules, and don't forget your deed restrictions printed right on your deed! Don't fall into the trap as these unfortunate people have. Know your rights, then use them. Preferably to grow delicious food.

     Step 2: Check out what other people have in their yards. This serves many purposes. For example, you will get a feel for what grows very well in your climate with little care. Is that a persimmon over there, un-pruned and un-watered? Is that a pear tree? Does that neighbor down the street have a lot of edible native plants? Do you? If everyone has front yard gardens, then you are in the clear. If everyone has vegetables growing in buckets, then either you have a lot of renters or the soil won't grow those vegetables well so the neighbor is using store-bought stuff. If the neighbors all have manicured grasses with expensive, nursery-grown landscaping, it would be safe to say that some jerk will probably be unhappy with your rows of corn.

     Step 3: Do it slowly, and do it right the first time. Put in plants with careful thought as to how it will look once it is growing. No one wants to look at potato plants dying down for the season, but maybe the okra or peanuts will be big enough so no one will be able to see the potato plants.  Leave the plants that need trellising, which is considered unsightly, for the back or side yards, or just don't grow them. If you are starting with bare dirt or open grass, then build largish, circular, raised beds around productive trees. Some people call these plant guilds, or three sisters gardens.

     Step 4: Add Flowers. Since most people don't know what vegetables look like, they will think you are doing a lot with annuals every spring. Encourage that. Also put in attractive, edible perennials, like roses. The leaves are fodder for animals and the rose hips are a good food. Even bulbs like tulips or amaryllis can be cultivated and traded or sold, and they will encourage people to not notice all the other plants you are growing on. There are a ton of easy, edible perennials. Some people call this Permaculture.

     Step 5: Maintain. Mulch like crazy, it's good for the soil, and it looks nice. If you have a lot of foot traffic in a spot so the ground cover turns to dirt, then put some pavers there to keep up the place. Keep the remaining grass well-trimmed, and pick up the litter that floats into your yard. Rake fallen leaves into the flower beds as mulch. Or shred and compost as is your preference. Stagger your plantings so that your front yard has a lot of life in every part of the growing season. Some people call this biointensive farming.

Locavores

     This property in US Hwy 19 has finally been sold to a retail business called Rural King. Yay, jobs for the unemployed, and a convenient source of animal feed. I'm so excited about what kind of goods they are going to offer.
     Again, a fortuitous business deal. Hernando County has recently legalized backyard chickens and Rural King will, no doubt, be the only chicken supply store on the West Side.
     On a completely other side note, I have accidentally run into two chatty young men in the last few months who are interested in opening their own local food restaurants. One was a transplant from New Jersey (surprise surprise) that I met at a local council meeting and another was a chatty young (maybe 20) waiter at a local restaurant. Both are interested in my rabbits. The Yank plans on getting his veggies from Dade City and his meats from a farm in Brooksville. The waiter is still in the planning stages, which is cool.
    Barbecue rabbit with orange sauce...local foods...

Aquaponics, are we missing the point?

     Aquaponics, the art of using recirculating pumps to provide habitat for fish growth and nutrition for soil-less agriculture, is commonly becoming available to everyday people via the information exchange on the interwebs. It is potentially a viable gardening technique for apartment dwellers and others who don't have access to even a small plot of semi-arable land, but does require electricity.
     After reviewing systems and advice for days on end, I have decided that aquaponics practicioners are completely missing the big picture...that Humanity needs start utilizing other plant sources more effectively, and that using electricity to run pumps to grow tomatoes IS STUPID. Besides, when have Tilapia ever produced an attractive pumpkin? The answer, of course, is never.
     Cattails, on the other hand, are efficient bog plants that have been staples in Native Americans' diets for thousands of years. Managed effectively, Tilapia could probably make some huge cattails, taro, watercress, duckweed, azolla, water chestnuts...and probably dozens of other potentially delicious yet unexplored margin plants. Even without fish farming, more bog plants should be explored as efficient (space and resource) fodder and food sources.
     The electricity and equipment cost of aquaponics is another factor that is best forgotten until afterward, largely because the majority of people that practice aquaponics seem to be aquarium lovers who want to take their fish raising large scale, or hydroponic plant farmers who want to take their nutrition dollars away from store-bought salts. The pumping power to mechanically aerate and filter the highly stocked tanks will never be cheaper than just buying fish meat, expecially when you factor in fish feed and time. And frequent chemical tests. And the possibility of fish disease ruining your whole crop.
     Just think about it.

     There are very few people working on doing this sort of thing sustainably. Perhaps the best and easiest solution would be custom-built ponds with floating plant beds on the surface, with only inexpensive bubblers for aeration and circulation. There is still the fish feed issue, but perhaps it could be lessened with Azolla, Duckweed, Black Soldier Fly Larvae, and Redworms. All of which would need support systems and engineering, but are currently being done well on the small scale. There is still the solids issue. Solids are not really a problem if you have a garden, which everyone who can probably should have anyhow.

     A few (mostly) sustainable residential backyard aquaponics practitioners:
Garden Pool - eggs, tilapia, vegetables. Run on solar power.
Aquaponics HQ - fish, duckweed, rabbits, Black Soldier Fly.

Guide to Breeding Rabbits

American Poultry Advocate, Jan 1918.

   It's almost a sad shame that our government and non-governmental organizations are not publishing literature like this, but that all the really good stuff about small livestock comes from the "third-world". This brochure was written in 1992, but the information is just as accurate now as ever.

Guide to Breeding Rabbits

Pictures and techniques for sexing the rabbits. More information about breeding, with pictures.

Hernando County to finally allow chickens in backyards

     In an amazing victory for personal liberty the other day, commissioners voted unanimously to allow backyard chickens in residential areas of Hernando County. Areas which have additional zoning restrictions such as named or incorporated areas with HOA's still have their own problems.
     There is going to be some time taken to decide how many chickens and where coops can be located. I'm unclear on exactly who is deciding these issues, also it brings up more questions like chicken culling on your own property. Cleanliness. Size of fencing. Proximity to easements. Animal control.
     So when can I get my duck?  :)

Hernando moves forward on allowing chickens

Preparing to Raise Rabbits in Florida

     As we try to move toward a more sustainable urban landscape, we will be putting rabbits in the backyard. We decided to try rabbits because fowl are illegal in this suburb. There are a lot of great reasons to raise rabbits though, and a huge one is that eat leafy stuff that we cannot, and turn that leafy waste into very usable fertilizer.
     Not a lot of information can be found about heat stress in rabbits, but the conventional wisdom says that too much heat decreases their productivity and can lead to dying off. We may have to implement a rabbit free summer zone if the heat is too much for them.
     Rabbits need protection from the sun and rain, and should not be allowed to stand on wastes.

     Traditionally rabbits should be given five square feet of cage space. We have turned some sturdy, large dog crates into rabbit cages by lining the floors with a mesh that should provide adequate drainage and feet protection. Chicken wire is not recommended for rabbit cages due to the larger size and feet damage issues, and that rabbits have been known to escape through it. Our cages are tied down to concrete block, for now, and secured with locks to prevent theft (after the break-in a few years ago, I'm not taking any chances).
     At about 5-6 months old the doe can be bred. Conventional rabbit raising call for putting the doe in the bucks cage and then watch the first mating to be assured everything is going well, then afterward to return the does to her pen for an hour. Then let them be together again for another round. This is to ensure ejaculate quality and to prevent territorial fighting.
     Palpate the does 14 days after breeding to check for pregnancy. At 28 days after breeding, provide a nesting box for the little mama.  20” long x 11” wide x 10” high. Wean the kits at 6 weeks old and separate them from their mother. She can be re-bred at this time. At 10 weeks they should be fryer sized, and a few more weeks longer and they should roaster sized, which is not quite full-grown.
     Rabbits need a diet with about 15% protein for adequate growth and to avoid problems during gestation and lactation. Full grown adult rabbits need only about 13% protein. Most pellets provide about  13-18% protein. Rabbits also need long fiber, which is not adequately supplied in pellet form but is provided with the addition of regular grass, which most breeders recommend at about 2 cups per 5 pounds of rabbit per day. Beyond fiber, protein, and vitamins, rabbits do not need the addition of grains or fruits or vegetables, though these are okay to give in small quantities.
     The rabbit manure, which looks like little round pods, is pH neutral and can be applied directly to the garden or mixed into a manure tea. Some raisers use it for vermicomposting.

How to build a nest box out of plywood

Bidens alba, From Worthless to Wonderful

Uses : Wildlife, Forage, Xeriscaping, Edible, Medicinal. Native to : Unknown, found throughout the tropics and subtropics.
     It wasn't very long ago that I used to detest this very prolific weed. It is a plant sexaholic, constantly spreading its genetic information all over my grass. I'm not a huge fan of grass, but I'm also not a fan of the place looking untidy, which is what Beggarticks does for you. It's a perennial that freezes to the ground every year and will spring up from its roots to shower your lawn, your neighbor's lawn, and the family down the street's lawn with seeds.
     In the past I removed this plant with impunity. It has a tiny shallow root system which makes it easy to pull out. Once removed, I hoped that a more beautiful or useful plant would find its way into that empty space, and within two seasons was somewhat successful. Four O' Clocks found their way into the entire front yard, covering the place with pink fragrance. But how I wish I had known that Spanish Needle would have been better to leave in place...
     Why the change of mind, you ask? This weedy herb is a favorite of butterflies and bees, but more importantly, rabbits love it. They eat Beggarticks before they eat the grass mixture, long before they go for the boring pellets. And if a plant is useful and invasive, please invade!
     It's edible by humans, too. Eat the leaves raw or cook away, and you'll have a nice green for the dinner table. Or add to smoothies, as I do.
     Medicinally it, and its cousin Bidens pilosa, are used in Peru to reduce inflammation and protect the liver. A study done in 2011 confirmed the hepatoprotective effects of Bidens pilosa in mice.
     A study done in 2011 in South Africa states that the crude protein content for Bidens pilosa is 19%, making it an excellent herb for growing rabbits to nosh on. It is also high in vitamins and antioxidants. They recommend it be eaten more and used more medicinally by humans.
     These plants were sustainably harvested early in the morning from above a storm water drain down the street. A lot of organic matter catches near the drains, and people tend not to try to hard to mow down into the mouth of the drain. Sustainable harvest implies that most of the plants were left to reproduce, and only a small fraction were taken. The whole time I was convinced someone was going to yell at me or at least question why I was carrying around weeds, but thankfully, I escaped un-reprimanded.

Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Next Dilemma

Michael Pollan about Sustainable Agriculture

      Michael Pollan is one of the foremost speakers about the national food situation currently facing us. His non-threatening persona and charming eloquence make him a popular choice. Most importantly, he advocates many of the same ideals that I advocate, the least of which are that people need to get back to producing healthful food and eating locally.
     This video is an exerpt from a larger one that he made as a follow-up to his book and documentary, an Omnivore's Dilemma and the Botany of Desire. This interview piece specifically describes Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms, a sustainable protein production operation in Virginia. Please comment, criticize.

Traditional Agriculture Doesn't Work in Florida

     You know what Florida has a whole lot of? Sunshine, humidity, sand, and people.
     A person might logically conclude that sunshine is really all you would ever need, because crops can't grow without it. That's true, plants can't grow without light, but there is so much more that they need in addition to light that light alone does not make Florida the perfect place to grow crops. Florida is blessed with an extremely short cold season, so short that strawberries and tomatoes frequently survive the hours below freezing south of Tampa.
     Sandiness can be a good soil characteristic for plants that need excellent drainage. Most vegetables do need adequate drainage, and plants that "burrow" into the ground, like peanuts and potatoes, do very well in sand. Unfortunately most of our sand lacks beneficial organic matter in quantity enough to support beneficial nematodes and worms, which help plants. Any wimpy tomato or squash will quickly become food for root-knot nematodes, grasshoppers, aphids, and dozens more.
     Virtually all the produce in Florida is treated with insecticide in some form or another, even the organics. This may or may not be a bad thing depending on how you view it, but it is true. The only way to avoid the chemicals is to grow it yourself or be willing to eat strange-looking fruits and vegetables. Even our delicious citrus isn't exempt from this truth, which is why something to the tune of 95% of all citrus grown in Florida becomes juiced. No one wants to eat an orange with canker on the peel even though it may be delicious.
     The solution - eat what can grow here and grow it yourself, or buy local.

Industrial Farming Murders the Tasty Tomato