I managed to get a really good start on a small greenhouse this Spring. The unfortunate part was that I was way too late to have it be of much use this season. In any case, there is always the Fall when I will complete the greenhouse by covering it with polyethylene sheeting and finish building the end panels. I designed this greenhouse to shed snow unlike the conventional hoop houses I usually see that are circular in cross section. With my design I’m hoping the snow will slide off more easily. The greenhouse is oriented with its length running east/west. The south side is optimally angled to receive the most sunlight during mid winter. The north wall will be insulated when complete and have a reflective surface that will bounce the low angled winter sun down into the greenhouse. Additional themal mass will be installed using plastic water barrels filled with water. The hope is that I’ll be able to extend the growing season a month or two either side of the warm weather and squeeze a bit more time out of the short Vermont growing season without having to add heat to the greenhouse using fuel.

One of the first things I planted in the garden was barley. That’s right, barley. This was simply an experiment to see whether I cold actually grow a grain, how much it would yield and see what kind of problems might occur. I planted a thick row of barley about 30 inches wide and 30 ft long the first week of May during an unusual warm spell.  Now, one month and a week later it looks like this.

Pretty good for a first experiment but the planting is not without problems. The plants suffer from two common fungus diseases. One is a striped rust (not pictured) and barley smut, a common fungal disease that according to most sources is present wherever barley is grown.  There is also some variation in the color of the leaves that may indicate a soil difficiency in nitrogen.  I did no soil tests but simply limed and fertilized the soil with horse manure prior to planting.

A little more than a month has passed and already the barley is heading up.  Here is a picture of a healthy plant with the head just emerging.

Barley smut effects the seeds, turning them black and useless for feed.  Here is a picture of a smutted plant.

So far this experimental barley planting has been very informative. I’ll try feeding the barley to chickens later. I’m curious to learn just what the yield will be from this small planting. Will it be worth the effort to grow barley on a small scale in a home garden?  Probably not if one equates worth only with cost in dollars. If the intent however is to move closer to a locally grown sustainable product that can be used to feed small livestock such as chickens then it seems it may be worthwhile.

Certainly the most common staple crop grow in this latitude is the potato. The two most common varieties of potatoes grown here are Green Mountain Cobblers and Kennebecs. Both are good, all purpose white potatoes.

I chose Kennebec potatoes because this variety is the most commonly grown commercial variety in nearby Maine and the tubers tend to be somewhat larger than the Cobbler variety.

This planting was made in early May, somewhat earlier than normal. I planted about 10 lbs in two thirty foot rows.  I did not apply lime as potatoes supposedly prefer a somewhat acid soil.  Instead of fertilizing with manure I sprinkled commercial 10-10-10 on either side of the trench when planting the seed potatoes.

Here is what they look like 6 weeks later.

These potatoes have been hilled up twice and then mulched with dried pine needles raked from the forest nearby.  One problem potatoes almost always seem to have is Colorado Potato Beetles.  These bugs are nasty and can ruin an entire crop.

Conventionally, potatoes are dusted with some sort of chemical that kills the bugs. The dust is expensive. I have no idea what is does to the environment.  I prefer not to use it.  I discovered that using a pine needle mulch seems to reduce the number of Colorado Potatoe beetles significantly. This along with an occasional manual removal of visible bugs seems to keep them in check. The plants are really healthy this year and I think it will be a good crop.

Other things planted have been peas, lettuce, pole beans, sweet corn, brocolli, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, sage, parsley, leeks, beets, basil, mothe, soy beans, and cucumbers.

I believe this leaf lettuce seed was contaminated with clover seed.

Work began today on a new permeable surface sidewalk in Taylor Park, St. Albans, Vermont. The project is intended to demonstrate alternatives to conventional pavement that will reduce storm water runoff that can pollute lakes and rivers.

I shot this video footage as part of a statewide film project called The Vermont Movie: Freedom and Unity. The plan was to collect material that shows the character of the Vermont Town Meeting. I’m hoping the film project will be able to use a small portion of the material I shot. More info about this film may be found here.

Vermont enjoys perhaps one of the purest forms of participatory Democracy in the U.S. today when the citizens of most of the small towns gather to vote on such important issues as whether to appropriate ninety thousand dollars for “dirt work” or whether to give the Vermont Home Health Agency seventeen hundred dollars as a token payment for the service it provides.

Watch as the Moderator skillfully guides the participants through the process. This year the meeting was quieter than usual.  Please enter below any comments you may have. 

I shot this a while ago but the words still ring true.

The trouble that some people have with trying to decide things like whether they should support a particular candidate may come from their desire to simplify things that are complex. The commercial media knows this. Look how they reduce content to short sound bites. Rarely are complex issues given a thorough examination. That would be too “boring”. There is a whole segment of our culture that wants quick, simple answers. This way of thinking spawns statements like ”you are either with us or against” and fails to recognize that sometimes we can be both with something AND against something at the same time. Thoughts about race and whether or not someone is racist is not something that can always be answered with a simple yes or no type of answer.

Remember when the Iraq war started? There was a group of people who called themselves Patriots for Peace. How could anyone be both patriotic AND against the war? Some people thought that if they were against the war, they were going against the United States. Most of those who were against the war simultaneously expressed their appreciation for people in the service even though they voiced their opinions against the war. This seemed like a contradiction to supporters of the war and they couldn’t understand it.

History has shown us that there have been great leaders that had the ability to hold two seemingly contradictory opinions simultaneously. The most famous was Jesus who directed his followers to “love your enemies” and “turn the other cheek.” In modern times we see the Dalai Lama holding similar approaches to conflict with his “middle road” approach.

This duality of thinking is not an attempt to avoid dealing with problems but rather a recognition of the fact that conflicting opinions exist and that often the best way to make progress is to accept both sides of an argument so that the problem can be worked on from both sides. Failure to do this results in one side or the other winding up bitter, unhappy and resentful.

How can a black man not hold negative views about race issues in America? How can he not feel that his race has gotten the short end of the stick? Is it possible that someone like Barack Obama can feel this way AND also be a good President? Is it possible for him to acknowledge his racial heritage AND act in the best interest of the country as a whole?

I think that Obama has eloquently demonstrated that the higher levels of intellect that are required to hold this quality of duality when it comes to dealing with complex and important problems is something he is naturally accustomed to because he has had to do it all through his life. This is the type of thinking that is required if we are to work through our differences as a nation and unite in a common direction. Barack Obama understands this. This is why he will have the necessary insight and perspective to lead the entire country to a better place and why his candidacy is, to quote Bill Richardson, a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that we should not pass up.

Visit iBrattleboro.com for more comments on this topic.

As the first day of Spring comes and goes, its a little daunting to look outdoors and see a fresh 6+ inches of fresh snow. It’s been cold and windy out. I’ve been sick with a cold. But it will be getting warmer soon. Time to rest up.

Some of the seeds I planted germinated. The Gunnison onions are up. The peppers are partly up. The Copra onions are not. Neither are the eggplants.
I received a “farmers hoe” which I ordered from Seeds of Change. $50. An awesome, apparently hand wrought implement made in Japan. Nicely balanced. Primitive…but effective in busting up fresh ground. I’ve never seen any thing like it in the stores around here. I think I’ll call it my “roto tiller on a stick”

Vermont Public Radio, the local version of National Public Radio and most widely listened to radio station in the state, recently changed its format. They took all of the classical music which consumed the majority of their daytime programming and moved it to another frequency down the dial. The old 107.4 (In my area) added a variety of talk format programs that seems hardly an improvement. For instance, they’ve expanded their BBC news programming to take up most of the morning except for Morning Edition , a show that is apparently produced by NPR. Where is the LOCAL programming? While there is some quality local programming being broadcast, it seems that the station leans too heavily on BBC produced material. While I enjoy hearing the perspective on US and world events from a point of view other than our own, enough is enough.

Local shows by Steve Delaney ad Bob Kinsel do a great job but one would think that a station that calls itself VERMONT public radio would actually have a few reporters out on the street reporting from Vermont. While VPR is still the best listening option available if you want something other than the commercial corporate crap infesting most of the airwaves, it seems their new improved version falls short by not having enough truly local programming.

Even though its nasty outside with sleet and freezing rain coating the trees and downing power lines (our power was off for about three hours tonight) I managed to plant three flats of onion seed and two flats of peppers today. Last year I waited too long to plant the onions and they never made it. I prefer to plant onions from seed because that way I know what variety they are. Most people plant onions from “sets”. By the time they get around to planting onions its way too late to plant from seed around here so they plant sets. I like planting varieties that will do well here and keep well. When you buy sets, you don’t usually know what they are. They are usually just labeled “yellow” or “white”. I planted two flats of Copra F1 hybrid onions from Johnny’s seeds and one flat of Gunnison F1 hybrids. Both are good winter keepers. Each flat contains about 150+ seeds. If all of the seeds grow into onions I’ll have enough onions to last all year.

Yesterday George Bush vetoed a bill that would make waterboarding illegal. You know, waterboarding. That’s the torture technique that we once referred to as Chinese water torture. That’s the interrogation method that involves pouring water down someones throat so they feel like they are drowning, the same technique that has been made illegal by numerous international agreements such as the Senate ratified Geneva Conventions. What the hell is wrong with these people? George Bush thinks its OK to torture people? The Bush administration is a dangerous bunch. Do me a favor, would you? Support Obama in the next election. It may be the only chance we have of getting these evil people out of office.