Why Organic?

[Judy]

perchie.girl :

If I were to do a garden it would be Black Eyed peas first. Sigh.

Dont know how.

You should try. Blackeyes and other "southern" peas are some of the easiest things to grow. Stick 'em in some bare dirt after sprinkling a little fertilizer (most any kind,) cover 'em up and water every few days if it doesn't rain. Pull some weeds as they grow if the weeds get bad. That's about it!​

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Chickened, I think this covers most of the discussion succintly. And probably the most dispassionate.

The only first hand knowledge on the subject of organic farming I have aside from being a consumer is a fellow I met some time back. There is a baby greens farm on the only Airable land in my neck of the woods. Probably about a thousand acres. All organic. I used to have a drink in the evenings with the farm manager at a local pub.... one of those places where its a giggle just to be a fly on the wall.

Come to find out he was an ex executive from Litton industries pre Silicon Valley. Multiple Phds and everything. He said on the farm they used chemicals that were engineered to disappear within minutes after application. One of the beauties of the farm is The greens were harvested before too many pests and much of the soil was depeleted. They alternated strips of about a three hundred feet wide between crops. And that soil looks rich enough to eat. Their only problem is rabbits.... We got three kinds, Jack Rabbit, Cotton tail, and Bush bunnies. and they LOVE greens.

With regard to chickens I will be buying feed that is the most cost effective. I will do my own study to see which feed does the job better IE efficiently. I know with dogs certain feeds are cheap but most gets pooped out. The really expensive dog food is taylored to sell to people not dogs. So i buy a good (not supurb) quality that is efficent and free feed that. My dogs have always been Shiny healty and of perfect weight. I am certain the same is true with Chicken feed.

I would like to Suppliment with organics when I can as well as home grown protiens Like meal worms and good table scraps. I dont believe in accross the board vaccinating so my flock will be closed once I get it established. I dont like chemicals, doesnt mean I wont use them I just am judicious. I do Diatomaceous earth for pest control assistance As well as Orange Oil. I am one to relocate spiders and snakes. Even mice. I draw the line at rats. Them suckers must die, by any means necessary. For internal parasites good worming program is essential and my swing back toward chemicals. But I wont use the ""latest and greatest"" i use what has been used successfully by others. And what will cause the least harm to my animals. bolstering that effort with DE.

Moderation in all things with a good measure of acceptance and forgivness... Not a believer in religion just a believer.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
You should try. Blackeyes and other "southern" peas are some of the easiest things to grow. Stick 'em in some bare dirt after sprinkling a little fertilizer (most any kind,) cover 'em up and water every few days if it doesn't rain. Pull some weeds as they grow if the weeds get bad. That's about it!

I will try once I get moved up to my house for sure. There are some hurdles to overcome in the desert. But the previous owner of the house left me about a hundred miles of drip irrigation in a pile in the rocks. (I think he was growing recreational Horticulture,,, the neighbors say he grew tomatos and Orchids....

LOL) When I lived in Las Vegas the only place the grass would stay green in the summer was under the lawn furninture. So I am assuming the growing beds will have to be shaded with sun shade. I hope to incorporate some of that along side my chicken runs.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Pork fat rules....

Sad to say the only kind I can find here is frozen and chopped. Same goes for Blakeyed Peas.... When ever I find them fresh I buy a whole lug. So I had to resort to some crafty Blakeyed pea reconstruction.... Frozen peas and frozen baby greanbeans. Because we normally just snap the peas and cook em pods an all. Nice ham hock or Salt pork.... If I were to do a garden it would be Black Eyed peas first. Sigh.

Dont know how.

I raised cow peas in the garden last year, they are like black eyed peas except the eye is purple. They where so easy I just planted 7 seeds and got almost a full quart size bag out of those 7 plants because as soon as you pick a pod it grows another one. I just left them on the plant till dried picked them let them dry a little more in a bowl then opened put beans in a bag good to go. I have 3 different type of beans planted in my raised garden beds this year black, dragon tongue, pinto and going to plant some more cow peas also. Until last year I had never grew a garden it was so fun and this year I am planting new things. My DD is going to try a few things in pots to see if they grow I can't grow things in a pot I will kill them so DD can and is working on her garden in planters. We live in town so we use space different. I can't wait till we can get a farm and have a huge garden. Back on topic, I am trying to eat healthy and buy the best I can for the money but it is hard to afford all the organic so I am now figuring out where is the best places to spend the extra money here milk is 2.65 a gallon at braums organic milk is 3.99 a half gallon I can't afford that much of a difference. I do like braum's milk.

Sounds really good. Especially that they may grow well in containers. My place is in the high desert and Shade here is an issue. Were talking mostly 90-100 degree days with the occasional 110-115.

 

[chickened]

You have described just about my feeling on the matter very well.

My father in law does organic very religiously and has mediocre results. Him and I grow blueberries and ... well he grows bushes I should say and I have so many berries that I let the chickens in to eat them (funny to watch them jump up to get them) and I use chemical fertilizer on them and they do great. I tried his method for a few years and had poor results. I suppose if I wasn't running a full time business I could do more organic stuff but with a family, job wife I just don't have the time.

perchie.girl :

Quote:
Chickened, I think this covers most of the discussion succintly. And probably the most dispassionate.

The only first hand knowledge on the subject of organic farming I have aside from being a consumer is a fellow I met some time back. There is a baby greens farm on the only Airable land in my neck of the woods. Probably about a thousand acres. All organic. I used to have a drink in the evenings with the farm manager at a local pub.... one of those places where its a giggle just to be a fly on the wall.

Come to find out he was an ex executive from Litton industries pre Silicon Valley. Multiple Phds and everything. He said on the farm they used chemicals that were engineered to disappear within minutes after application. One of the beauties of the farm is The greens were harvested before too many pests and much of the soil was depeleted. They alternated strips of about a three hundred feet wide between crops. And that soil looks rich enough to eat. Their only problem is rabbits.... We got three kinds, Jack Rabbit, Cotton tail, and Bush bunnies. and they LOVE greens.

With regard to chickens I will be buying feed that is the most cost effective. I will do my own study to see which feed does the job better IE efficiently. I know with dogs certain feeds are cheap but most gets pooped out. The really expensive dog food is taylored to sell to people not dogs. So i buy a good (not supurb) quality that is efficent and free feed that. My dogs have always been Shiny healty and of perfect weight. I am certain the same is true with Chicken feed.

I would like to Suppliment with organics when I can as well as home grown protiens Like meal worms and good table scraps. I dont believe in accross the board vaccinating so my flock will be closed once I get it established. I dont like chemicals, doesnt mean I wont use them I just am judicious. I do Diatomaceous earth for pest control assistance As well as Orange Oil. I am one to relocate spiders and snakes. Even mice. I draw the line at rats. Them suckers must die, by any means necessary. For internal parasites good worming program is essential and my swing back toward chemicals. But I wont use the ""latest and greatest"" i use what has been used successfully by others. And what will cause the least harm to my animals. bolstering that effort with DE.

Moderation in all things with a good measure of acceptance and forgivness... Not a believer in religion just a believer.​

 

[PepsNick]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

I have been feeding livestock since 1985 and am involved in several aspects of the feed industry now. I see many posts on this site about Organic Feed. I'd like to gain more insight into the reasoning people have for using Organic or supposedly Organic feeds in their chickens and livestock.

Can any of you give me your reasons?

Jim

I'm not getting into this argument... Er stupid argument.

I fed organically because I believe that it really is better for animals and our bodies. That's the side I'm on.

Less chemicals, better health... I'm no expert and there's no denying that. However, I no longer feed organically, as my organic feed didn't have some of the needed ingredients, and I was having egg problems.

Now, I use commercial un-organic feed and it works better for me. I do think, though, that if my organic feed had more ingredients than it would work.​

 

[schellie69]

perchie.girl :

Quote:
I raised cow peas in the garden last year, they are like black eyed peas except the eye is purple. They where so easy I just planted 7 seeds and got almost a full quart size bag out of those 7 plants because as soon as you pick a pod it grows another one. I just left them on the plant till dried picked them let them dry a little more in a bowl then opened put beans in a bag good to go. I have 3 different type of beans planted in my raised garden beds this year black, dragon tongue, pinto and going to plant some more cow peas also. Until last year I had never grew a garden it was so fun and this year I am planting new things. My DD is going to try a few things in pots to see if they grow I can't grow things in a pot I will kill them so DD can and is working on her garden in planters. We live in town so we use space different. I can't wait till we can get a farm and have a huge garden. Back on topic, I am trying to eat healthy and buy the best I can for the money but it is hard to afford all the organic so I am now figuring out where is the best places to spend the extra money here milk is 2.65 a gallon at braums organic milk is 3.99 a half gallon I can't afford that much of a difference. I do like braum's milk.

Sounds really good. Especially that they may grow well in containers. My place is in the high desert and Shade here is an issue. Were talking mostly 90-100 degree days with the occasional 110-115.​

My daughter is trying some things in containers this summer. I didn't really water much last year and the beans grew great. I am going to be planting some more cow peas this year. I love the fact that after you pick the pod another grows so you need less plants to get the same amount of produce. I try and just use my chicken poop as fertilizer and use DE to keep some of the bugs off the plants. I can't say I am organic due to not jumping through all the rules and stuff. I do try and grow my own food with what I have. I am not convinced that organic is this great new thing. I wonder how much gas it takes to ship organic bananas to Kansas. I worry about this also. I do not think that all farmers are bad or out to hurt the environment. I Think people should visit real farms and see how they work. I think people might be surprised by what they find on most working farms. Here in Kansas we are a farming state. I have been on and worked a real farm my uncle still owns the family farm his son is taking it over now that is 3 generations that have owned and worked the same land. It still produces crops and cattle. My uncle does graze his cattle in the spring summer and fall in the winter he feeds his breeding stock. So he can't be hurting the land that much if ii is still producing after all these years.

 

[Wifezilla]

My father in law does organic very religiously and has mediocre results.

My results using organic methods last year are far superior than the chemical methods I tried in previous years. Especially with tomatoes. Wow did I get tomatoes last year and Colorado is not known for its wonderful tomato growing conditions. However I did lose my radish crop due to flea beetles. Fortunately there is a non chemical fix for those...DE. I just got to them too late.

To me it looks more like the newer methods I am using vs stopping the chemicals. I no longer till and use deep mulch plus I am remineralizing the soil. Adding oyster shell and egg shell to holes where I planted the tomatoes are what made them go nuts. The deep mulch seriously cuts down on the weed issue.​

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
My results using organic methods last year are far superior than the chemical methods I tried in previous years. Especially with tomatoes. Wow did I get tomatoes last year and Colorado is not known for its wonderful tomato growing conditions. However I did lose my radish crop due to flea beetles. Fortunately there is a non chemical fix for those...DE. I just got to them too late.

To me it looks more like the newer methods I am using vs stopping the chemicals. I no longer till and use deep mulch plus I am remineralizing the soil. Adding oyster shell and egg shell to holes where I planted the tomatoes are what made them go nuts. The deep mulch seriously cuts down on the weed issue.

How do you use DE on the radishes?

I was doing great with deep mulch and lots of rotted horse poop, until the voles came. Unfortunately, now I till between the rows(I really hate to!!) every few weeks to keep the voles at bay. Any one have other suggestions?(organic please)

 

[PepsNick]