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News

Organic Industry Sees Growth

Organic produce
Courtesy BananaStock/JupiterImages/
Thinkstock
The largest organic sector, fruits and vegetables, grew by nearly 12 percent in 2010.

The organic industry grew at a rate of nearly 8 percent in 2010, bucking the current trend whereby “flat is the new growth” for many other segments of the economy. In 2010, the organic industry grew to more than $28.6 billion. Further, some sectors of the organic market enjoyed annual growth of more than 30 percent, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) revealed in its 2011 Organic Industry Survey.

“While total U.S. food sales grew by less than 1 percent in 2010, the organic food industry grew by 7.7 percent,” says Christine Bushway, OTA’s CEO and executive director. “Consumers continue to vote with their dollars in favor of the organic choice. These results illustrate the positive contribution organic agriculture and trade make to our economy and particularly to rural livelihoods.”

Organic fruits and vegetables, which represent 39.7 percent of total organic food value and nearly 12 percent of all U.S. fruit and vegetable sales, experienced the most growth. It reached nearly $10.6 billion in 2010, up 11.8 percent from 2009 performance.

Organic dairy, the second-largest category, experienced 9 percent growth from 2009 to achieve a value of $3.9 billion and capture nearly 6 percent of the total U.S. market for dairy products.

Organic supplements led the organic non-food sector with a value of $681 million, representing 7.4 percent growth. Organic fiber (linen and clothing) totaled a value of $605 million, achieving 16 percent year-over-year growth. Personal-care products, at $490 million, increased 6.6 percent from 2009.

“The good news is that even as the economic recovery crawls forward, the organic industry is thriving—and hiring,” Bushway says.

In 2010, 40 percent of surveyed organic companies reported positive full-time employment growth. Companies with fewer than five employees were least likely to add full-time employees. About half of companies with more than 50 employees experienced positive full-time employment growth. What’s more, 46 percent of respondents anticipate an increase in employment in 2011. In addition, 50 percent expect employment to remain even, and only 5 percent foresee a decrease.

Categories
Equipment

Lost and Found

Spade
Photo by Jim Ruen
I found my favorite long-lost spade in a pile of gravel.

Last week, David from Omaha commented on how often we don’t take a minute to find the right tool and use something else instead. He’s very right about that; however, sometimes the right tool just can’t be found.

Last year, I lost my best spade. Best meaning the handle was still pretty good and the steel hadn’t started to tear like my second-best spade. (That one did tear in two later in the summer). I could not for the life of me recall the last place the spade had been used. I walked the gardens, our paths through the woods, and even the edges of the woods in case I had been doing some trimming. Finally, I gave up and bought a new spade.

The other day, I was working at the end of our driveway, getting ready for a load of wood chips to be delivered. The driveway end has a 2-foot retaining wall. Gravel on the lower side of the wall covers a walkway around the retaining wall to the dog’s winter home.

As I was working there, moving bales in to act as retaining walls against the soon-to-be chip pile, I noticed a bit of bare steel in the gravel. Moving a bit more gravel away, my trusty spade was found.

About a year ago, I had ordered a load of gravel. The dump had cascaded gravel over the retaining wall—right where I must have been working with the spade shortly before. As I carried away the gravel with a rented skid-steer loader, the spade had remained covered. The last few inches of gravel had been left for the walkway … and to cover the spade.

For all of the abuse it took, the spade is still in pretty good shape. I’ll let you know how the restoration goes.

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Categories
Urban Farming

Reality TV Takes on Urban Farming

The Urban Conversion

Courtesy Brian Kraft

Until recently, Rodman Schley appeared to be your typical urban entrepreneur, leading business meetings with a Starbucks cup in hand and navigating the streets of Denver in his BMW convertible. These days, however, Schley is getting to know some anything-but-typical neighbors—folks who have made sustainability a way of life—as he tries to reduce the size of his own carbon footprint.

His reeducation is being caught on camera in The Urban Conversion, a documentary series Schley is producing with Timothy Nyman of Denver-based production studio Blue Fusion. Billed as “an urban homesteading guide for dummies,” the series follows the self-proclaimed conservative city-slicker as he engages in what he calls “extreme green” urban-farming experiences, often with hilarious results.

Schley’s wife, Gina, was the impetus for the show.

“She’s more sustainable, more green,” he explains.

Wanting to move beyond composting and backyard gardening, Gina gave her husband two choices: Buy a farm in the country or bring the farm to the city. Rodman opted for the latter, and the series documents his learning process as he turns this urban-farming dream into reality.

In The Urban Conversion‘s pilot episode, Schley (ineptly) milks a goat and cleans out the chicken coop at Sundari Kraft’s Denver backyard farm. A video on the show’s YouTube channel documents Schley’s trip to Colorado Aquaponics, where he discovers the ins and outs of another form of urban farming.

Schley’s goal is to have the ultimate extreme-green lifestyle. Currently, he’s collaborating with Moss Owl Studio to build what he calls “the perfect urban homestead”—one that is “as extreme as possible.” The homestead is more than just a project, he says: “It’s a home that I’ll be building for myself and my family.”

Thanks to The Urban Conversion and the homestead project, Schley says his young daughters, Sophia and Cecilia, will know a completely different childhood from the one he experienced.

“We just didn’t know,” Schley says of his own generation’s understanding of agriculture and sustainability. “There are so many things we didn’t get to see when we were kids.”

Even though the Schleys will be taking green to the extreme, Rodman says even casual environmentalists can learn from The Urban Conversion.

“You don’t have to do all of these things to this degree, but maybe you can do something,” Schley says. “Going green doesn’t have to be inconvenient.”

The Urban Conversion will feature urban farmers from across the U.S. and is still looking for a network to call home. (Schley and Nyman began pitching the series to TV execs in late 2010.) In the meantime fans can follow Schley’s extreme-green adventures on Facebook, YouTube and on the show’s website.

Categories
Animals

Holy Cow!

Tallow was once the popular choice for candles
Photo by Sue Weaver
Cows were once popular for their tallow, or animal fat, which was used to make candles.

A few weeks ago, Mom let me blog about sheep trivia from the book she’s writing. People liked it, so here’s some fun facts about cows:

  • The Latin word for money, pecunia, comes from the Latin word pecu, meaning “cattle.”
  • Obscure groups of animals fact: a group of 12 or more cows is called a flink.
  • There are 44 references to milk in the Old Testament. The cow is mentioned 34 in the Bible and four times in the Koran.
  • The word “steak” comes from the Old Norse word steik, which meant “meat on a stick.” When the Scandinavian Saxons invaded Great Britain, they cooked their beef on a pointed stick over a fire.
  • In Egypt, the sacred bull, Apis, was considered a manifestation of the creator god, Ptah. Each incarnation of Apis was black with an inverted triangle of white on its brow or a crescent on its side.
  • Christopher Columbus brought the first Spanish cattle to the Americas in 1493.
  • The first British cattle arrived at Jamestown, Va., in May 1611 and were eaten the following winter. The next group of cattle arrived at Plymouth Colony in 1624, when Edward Winslow returned from Devonshire, England, with three heifers and a bull.
  • A furlong (660 feet or 201.168 meters) is a furrow long, or the distance a team of oxen was expected to plow between rests in olden days.
  • Oxen and water buffaloes outdistance and outwork horses when traveling through or working in deep mire. Their cloven hooves spread, so their wide feet don’t sink as deeply as do those of the solid-hoofed horse. The cleft between a bovine’s toes also permit air to enter the hole in the mud as the foot is raised, whereas the horse must overcome a partial vacuum when it withdraw its hoof, thus wasting considerable muscular effort.
  • Fat cattle were once in vogue because tallow (animal fat) was a valuable product both as a dietary substance and for making candles.
  • Before milking machines were invented in 1894, farmers could milk about six cows per hour. Today, farmers use machines to milk more than 100 cows per hour.
  • There are approximately 340 to 350 squirts in a gallon of milk.
  • Words for the sounds cows make are onomatopoeic, meaning they’re spelled like they sound. In America, we say they “moo.” Here’s what they cows say around the world. (I like Korean best.)

      Afrikaans: moe-moe
      Albanian: mu
      Catalan, Croatian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Ukrainian: muuu
      Czech: bu
      Danish: muh, moe
      Dutch: boeh
      Estonian, Italian, Montenegrin, Slovene, Swedish: muu
      Finnish: ammuu
      French: meuh
      German: muh, mmuuh
      Hungarian: búúú, mu
      Icelandic: mu
      Indonesian: moh
      Japanese: mau
      Korean: um-muuuu
      Lithuanian: muuuuu
      Norwegian: møøøø
      Turkish: mööö

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    Categories
    Urban Farming

    Stephanie vs. Mr. Mabel

    Stephanie and rooster

    Photo by Audrey Pavia

    My friend, Stephanie, and my rooster, Mr. Mabel, have a stormy relationship.

    Early last week, I got an email from my old friend, Stephanie, who lives in Pittsburgh. Her planned trip to Russia fell through, and she asked if she could come stay with me this week. I was thrilled—I hadn’t seen my buddy for a few years.

    Stephanie loves animals, but living in an apartment in Pittsburgh, she only has one cat. Part of what she enjoys about coming to see me is hanging out with all the animals on our urban farm. Thing is, last time she came out, we didn’t have the chickens.

    Excited about meeting the chickens and eating farm-fresh eggs, Stephanie couldn’t wait to see them. I picked her up at the airport late Monday night and left early the next morning for work. When I came home Tuesday evening, I heard about what would be the first of many encounters between Stephanie and my dominant rooster, Mr. Mabel.

    I’d heard stories about Mr. Mabel from pet sitters who had come onto the property when no one was home. Seems my red, bantam roo thinks he is in charge of keeping strangers out of the backyard when I’m not around. I’ve heard about him attacking people who dared to try to feed the horses or clean the stalls. Just about everyone who has come into my backyard alone is afraid of him.

    I forgot to warn Stephanie about Mr. Mabel’s attitude before I left for work that morning, but it wasn’t long before she found out for herself. When she walked outside to visit the horses, she was mauled by my rooster.

    Stephanie is no slouch. Unlike most other visitors who are menaced by this too-big-for-his britches bantam, Stephanie did not think she needed to take his guff, and scolded him loudly for his behavior. Her defiant attitude combined with her complete inexperience with chickens made for a hilarious week of interactions between her and Mr. Mabel.

    Every evening when I’d come home from work, Stephanie would have a new story for me about her day with Mr. Mabel. One morning, she was sitting on a chair under the patio when Mr. Mabel came up to her, with his hens in tow. He stopped, stood in front of her, pooped and then crowed loudly, all the while looking right at her. Another time, he waited ’til her back was turned, ran up to her bare legs and raked her with his spurs. Stephanie fought back with a severe tongue lashing, which only seemed to encourage Mr. Mabel’s bad attitude.

    By the end of the week, it was clear Mr. Mabel had a real thing for Stephanie. I think it was pure malice, but Stephanie thought it was a crush. She was sure Mr. Mabel wanted to add her to his harem of hens, but like the bratty schoolboy who pulls the girls’ pigtails, he didn’t know how to let her know that he liked her.

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    Categories
    News

    Wildfires Devastate Texas Farmland

    Texas wildfire
    Courtesy Texas Forest Service
    Wildfires ravaged Texas farmland in April.

    Texas wildfires during April have caused an estimated $20.4 million in agricultural losses, destroying fences, buildings and grazing pastures and resulting in livestock deaths, according to the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

    “These estimates are preliminary since not all the damages have been reported yet for all fires,” says David Anderson, PhD, AgriLife Extension economist in College Station, Texas.

    The preliminary financial-loss estimates do not include forestry. By contrast, wildfires during another fire-ravaged year, 2009, caused about $35 million in agricultural losses in March and April. Fewer acres burned that year, but those fires destroyed more fences, driving up replacement costs.

    The damage estimates to ranch and industry infrastructure so far for 2011 represent the largest portion of fire costs, Anderson says, which includes fences and agricultural buildings such as barns, livestock holding facilities and other structures.

    It’s estimated that approximately 1,200 miles of fence have been destroyed, and a recent AgriLife Extension report indicates four- to six-wire fences with steel posts cost an average $10,000 per mile to build. Fencing can be more expensive depending on the location and the terrain, Anderson says.

    “Fencing in a livestock operation is one of the primary necessities and is one of the most costly expenditures in ranching,” he says.

    Meanwhile, the amount of grazing land that has been lost to Texas’ wildfires has also been a financial hardship on Texas ranching operations.

    “Lost grazing for the year is the second-largest financial loss category,” Anderson says.  “More than 2 million acres have burned during this fire season. This, coupled with the lack of hay and grazing availability, is forcing many cattle to be taken to market.”

    Livestock losses are estimated using market values, he says. Livestock losses are expected to be underestimated due to later death loss from injuries incurred from the fires.

    So far, financial-loss totals are still being calculated, Anderson says. These estimates also don’t include additional costs from moving livestock and securing other property to graze.

    More than 500 cattle, horses and sheep have been reported dead as a result of this spring’s fires, he adds.

    “These raging wildfires are catastrophic in nature, destroying homes, killing livestock and devastating the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers who dedicate their lives to supplying us with food, clothing and other essential daily needs,” says Texas agriculture commissioner Todd Staples.

    Staples is calling on Texans to lend a helping hand by making a donation to the State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund. To assist farmers or ranchers who have suffered losses from the wildfires, monetary donations can be made to the fund by visiting the Texas Department of Agriculture website.

    Categories
    Urban Farming

    Growing Power Creates 150 Jobs

    Will Allen

    Courtesy Growing Power

    Will Allen’s Growing Power, an urban farm in Milwaukee, Wis., created 150 jobs to be implemented in the next three years through the Growing Capacity for the Green Economy Project.

    In a recent legislative move by the Milwaukee (Wis.) Common Council, Will Allen’s nationally recognized urban farm, Growing Power, Inc., received $425,000 to build 150 hoop-house gardens on vacant land within the city.

    Growing Power’s proposal, called “Growing Capacity for the Green Economy,” was made in February 2011 to Milwaukee’s African-American Male Unemployment Task Force, whose mission is to work with community organizations and businesses to reduce joblessness among black males in Milwaukee, Wis. The hoop-house gardens will be tended by beginning urban farmers, creating 150 new jobs that will be filled by unemployed people in Milwaukee. Recent estimates have put Milwaukee’s African-American male-unemployment rate at more than 25 percent, one of the highest rates in the nation.

    “This is a strong beginning,” Allen says. “To do this program right, we will need three times this amount. Our workers will need training, and we will need support staff, in addition to the hoop houses themselves.”

    But Allen is optimistic about what lies ahead.

    “We can find this money,” he says. “The low overall cost for the benefits the program will bring—both in terms of creating jobs and providing fresh, nutritious food for urban families—will hopefully be a powerful formula for success.”

    Allen predicts that the program will serve as a model for low-cost, minimal-footprint urban farming in other cities and become a significant component of green job-creation efforts in the U.S.

    Through the Growing Capacity for the Green Economy Project, Growing Power will impact Milwaukee’s population in several ways:

    1. Create a total of 150 full-time jobs—50 jobs added each year over the next three years—for workers in the emerging field of sustainable urban agriculture.
    2. Provide effective job preparation in the fields of intensive sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, environmental education and community-food-systems development.
    3. Improve the quality of life for inner-city children and their families by inspiring and motivating parents and young adults with the preparation to immediately enter the green workforce.

    “Milwaukee is a world leader in urban agriculture,” says Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.  “This effort combines the benefits of increasing employment opportunities with all the advantages to Milwaukee residents of locally grown good food. Growing Power has done some great work in Milwaukee, and with this project, we are optimistic that the great outcomes will continue.”

    Growing Power will match 100 percent of the $425,000 grant, according to Allen. However, he predicts that for the initiative to be a success, much more will be needed to pay for the training and materials necessary to ensure the proper care of the 150 year-round food production sites throughout the city.

    Allen founded Growing Power in 1993 to produce and deliver healthy food to low-income urban populations.

    Categories
    Urban Farming

    River Cane

    Arundo

    Photo by Rick Gush

    Though an invasive speices in some places, Arundo (or river cane) has many uses.

    I know river cane (Arundo donax) is a nasty weed in some places, like California, and that it displaces many native species in riparian habitats, thereby destroying local ecologies. I urge all gardeners and farmers to treat Arundo with appropriate responsibility and avoid helping this pest grow into new areas where it should not grow.

    That having been said, Arundo is a remarkably useful plant. In many third-world countries, Arundo canes are a common construction material. Farmers and gardeners all over the world use large quantities of Arundo as plant supports. I myself heavy rely on Arundo and usually harvest up to 50 new canes every year for the various climber trellises and bean and tomato supports for the garden.

    Arundo shoots grow up from a shallow but amazingly robust underground mass of roots. The first-year shoots are brittle and break easily until they elongate and harden. Even then, new first-year canes are poor stake material until they’ve had a winter to harden up the stem. Harvesting 1-year-old canes in February or March is OK, as the stems will be sufficiently durable by then.

    The canes will get even harder as they age, and 2- and 3-year-old canes will be much tougher than year-old canes. One can tell first-year canes from older canes easily, as the first-year canes have no side branches while second- and third-year canes will have many smaller branches coming out along the stem.

    The key concept here is that the canes will not get any larger after the first year’s growth. If a stem is 1 inch in diameter during its first summer, it will always be that diameter.

    Going into an Arundo patch each year, cutting out the biggest canes and leaving all the rest will gradually diminish the sizes of the canes produced and make the patch produce more curved canes. A thick and straight cane is formed when the young shoot enjoys a clear area and has little competition. If, however, all the small canes are left on a patch, then these act as serious competition for the new shoots, which usually grow out smaller in diameter and often in a curve that seeks the light.

    I urge all Arundo users to engage in vigorous pruning when they harvest canes. Taking a few minutes to cut out all the small canes in a patch will leave room for the new shoots to grow to their fullest potential. Be careful, though, because if one is cutting when the new shoots are appearing, these are so brittle that they can be broken just by brushing against them.

    Up the coast in Cannes, France, (Cannes in French means “canes”) the huge patches of Arundo are harvested to make the reeds for woodwind instruments like saxophones, clarinets and oboes. Two-year-old canes are cut, bundled and submerged in the river for up to 10 years in order to develop the best combination of durability and flexibility.

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    Categories
    Crops & Gardening

    Pond Be Gone

    Chickens
    Photo by Jessica Walliser
    Our pond and waterfall won’t play backdrop to our chickens’ oasis much longer.

    My husband and I spent this past weekend ripping out our silly little pond and waterfall. We knew we would eventually remove it. In theory, it was a nice water feature, but from a design standpoint, it stuck out like a sore thumb … actually worse than a sore thumb to me.

    It just looked ridiculous—a misfit landscape feature that was just plunked there without much thought. So now that we are having a backyard renovation, we figured, what the heck, let’s get it out now while the getting is good and our landscaper can easily fill the hole with his skid steer and some of the extra soil he’ll be carting out during the grading process.

    Mind you, removing said waterfall is only half done, and it’s a heck of a mucky job. It consists of about several thousand flat flagstone and shale rocks stacked on top of one another for about 4 feet up and 6 feet across. Each piece needs to be carried out and piled on the side for later use or loaded in the tractor cart, driven out the back gate and stacked in the woods.

    But before we started lugging the rocks, we had to catch our two koi, Goldie and Genevieve, in a net and relocate them to a neighbor’s water feature. They lost two of theirs to a raccoon this winter and were happy for the new family additions.

    Then we managed set up the pump to drain the pond rather than re-circulate it. It took about three hours of pumping the water out onto the driveway to drain it and one more hour to cut out (read: wrestle with) the liner. What I found beneath was way more disturbing than I was prepared for.

    Whoever built the pond didn’t use one continuous sheet of pond liner but rather six smaller pieces barely overlapping one another (which would explain why the darn thing was always so leaky). Then underneath the liner pieces is about 5 inches of play sand, which has remained permanently wet for as long as the pond has existed. It is slick and slimy and pretty disgusting. And to make matters worse, I’m pretty sure when it dries out, it’s going to be much like concrete.

    The next step in the project is to finish hauling away all the rocks (many of which will be used to build a new retaining wall and create a stepping stone path to the veggie garden) and to get out the last piece of liner that is currently wedged under a pile of gloppy river rocks someone threw into the bottom of the pond (probably the two little boys who lived in the house before us). Then we have to fill up the hole, build said retaining wall and plant a nice new little garden.

    I’m hoping it will only be three or four more days of work but time will tell. Sometimes our projects have a way of getting away from us. I’m sure you know what I mean. 

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