FFA Today – December 31, 2008

There’s ag in the windy city! Check out a special Chapters in Action and a story from our friends at America’s Heartland.

FFA Today – December 24, 2008

Check out the dirt on the grass seed industry and watch a story featuring the DeKalb Ag Youth scholarship winners.

FFA Today – December 17, 2008

Featuring a cool story on the fiber industry, from the llama to the loom!

Alert: Family Farm Pork Producers, Take Action Today

If you are a family farm pork producer, your action is needed before January 2.

The USDA (under the cover of Christmas) is asking pork producers if they want to vote on the pork checkoff. If 15% of producers request it, a vote will be held within one year. You can read more here.

The form producers need to fill out and mail along with a feed bill or other proof of production can be found at the USDA website, or more easily here: http://www.ruralpopulist.org/porkcheckoff.pdf. The proof of production must be from 2007. This is a vote of 2007 hog producers.

Send or deliver your completed form to your county FSA office before Jan 2.

Time is short but the internet is fast. Fill our your form today and send this alert to others.

Since the mandatory checkoff began, hundreds of millions of dollars has been collected by the National Pork Board from producers while the number of independent hog farmers plummeted. The National Pork Producers Council, with close historical and operating ties the National Pork Board, has supported vertical integration and packer ownership of livestock and has blocked legislation that will make markets open and fair for independent family farms. The checkoff has not benefited small family farms.

Pork producers have been through this election once before. They triumphed at the ballot box, and lost amidst political gamesmanship in Washington. A new administration and new leadership at USDA creates hope for a fair handling of the vote this time. All checkoffs should be democratically controlled by producers.

For a history on the battle to end the pork checkoff visit:
Center for Rural Affairs, Corporate Farming Notes
Land Stewardship Project, Pork Checkoff Campaign

If you are not a hog farmer yourself, please send this to farmers you know.

Updated December 16th with additional details regarding the relationship between the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers.

Update 2: Don’t miss the comments on this post, and visit U.S. Food Policy for another post on this topic.

Interested in Organic Gardening? Consider These 10 Tips

Imagine providing your family with food that you know is healthy, because you grew it yourself without the help of chemicals. With organic gardening this is possible. Organic gardening involves using natural pest control and fertilizers to grow flowers, vegetables, and fruits, rather than commercially produced and environmentally hazardous pesticides and fertilizers. If you are interested in organic gardening, consider these ten tips.

Tip 1 - Use Natural Pest Control

Your garden is going to have pests. Once you have identified them, research natural controllers you could add to the garden. These natural controllers could be other insects, such as ladybugs to control an aphid population, or plants, such as garlic to prevent armyworms or apple maggots.

Tip 2 - Rotate Plants Regularly

Rotating your plant sites will keep them healthy and also help control some pest populations. When you rotate your plants, the soil has a chance to recoup. Each plant takes different nutrients from the soil, and some even return nutrients to the soil. Properly rotating your plants each year will keep your entire garden healthy.

Tip 3 - Prune Plants Carefully

Remove any dead parts you find on your plants. They are not going to heal, and they will cause the plant to become diseased. Do not leave them on the ground near the plant, either. Remove them from the garden and destroy them right away.

Tip 4 - Make Good Compost

Compost is the best way to feed your organic garden. Compost is not difficult to make. Simply layer leaves, lawn clippings, and organic kitchen waste in your compost heap. If you need to get the compost started quickly, you can add a compost starter to the mix. Keep in mind that the good compose is at the bottom of the pile, so you will need to have a way to turn it or access the pile from the bottom. Once you have a nice amount of compost, work it into your soil to create rich organic soil.

Tip 5 - Air Your Compost Pile

Compost needs air to properly decompose. You can add air by turning the compost pile regularly. You can also provide the pile with air by putting a PVC pipe into it in the center of the pile. Also, build the pile on a layer of branches and sticks to provide some air from the bottom.

Tip 6 - Choose Organic Fertilizers

Organic fertilizer will help your plants grow bigger and healthier. This is particularly important if you are growing food. Choose a low-dose fertilizer, however, because they will not burn the roots of your plants or provide too much of any particular nutrient.

Tip 7 - Purchase Organic Seeds

Since seeds come from plants, the only way to have a truly organic garden is to buy organic seeds. You cannot sell your produce as USDA certified organic if you do not use organic seeds. Organic seeds must come from open pollinated or hybrid plants. Seeds from non-organic plants have been exposed to pesticides and other chemicals, so they may not grow properly.

Tip 8 - Test Your Soil

Your soil is not going to contain all of the nutrients your plants need. Test it to determine what nutrients are missing. Then, alter your fertilizer and compost materials to provide the missing nutrients to the soil.

Tip 9 - Water Carefully

The soil in your garden needs to feel moist, but over-watering can lead to disease and strip nutrients out of the soil. Typically, plants need an inch of water per week. You can keep a rain gauge in the garden to help you determine how much water it needs.

Tip 10 - Intercrop

Intercropping, which refers to growing one crop in between rows of another crop, is an important organic gardening technique. Planting herbs and flowers, such as mint or marigolds, in between your vegetables will keep some pests away. Also, intercropping improves the soil nutrient levels.

About the Author

Organic gardening store features organic tips and solutions to common garden problems. Find indoor plant ideas at Redenta's Garden.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How Nature Prepares for Winter

Winter is nearly upon us, and there is lots of work to be done. Today my family spent the day cutting, splitting, and storing firewood to keep the house warm through the coming cold. Plants and animals in the northern hemisphere are getting ready for winter too. None match the wood splitting ability of my husband, but each excels in winter preparation in its own way.

Deciduous trees, like oak and maple, prepare differently than do their evergreen brethren. Winter to a tree is not so much a time of cold as it is a time of drought. Water frozen in the soil becomes unavailable to the plant for use in photosynthesis. Using the diminishing sunlight as a clue, these trees grow a corky barrier where the leaf meets the twig, severing the leaf from the plant. If leaves stayed attached, water could escape through the leaves, into the dry winter air, desiccating and killing the plant.

Have you noticed that some deciduous trees cut off the leaves' water supply, but allow the leaves to hang on for the winter? Leaves of young beech and oak trees do this. We are not sure why, but it could be that old, dead, dried leaves, which are not so palatable to deer and moose, stay on to cover and protect the delicious bud underneath from these big browsers. Others theorize that these trees just haven't gotten the hang of true deciduousness yet.

Throughout winter our snowy landscape will be dotted with the greens of hemlock, pine, and rhododendron. Evergreens hang onto their leaves to save energy in the spring. Without having to re-grow lost leaves when the soil water thaws, they are ready to get going right away. They may also photosynthesize in the winter if conditions permit. This strategy makes sense too.

To protect themselves, evergreen trees and bushes have modified their leaves. Hemlocks, pines and others have needles with waxy coatings and small surface areas to reduce water loss. Rhododendrons also cover their leaves with wax. Notice a rhododendron on a particularly cold winter day. The leaf will curl under to protect the pores (called stomata) on their bottom surface from the drying effects of cold air. Stomata are the doors, if you will, to the moist leaf interior.

Plants are not the only organisms to adapt to the coming cold. White-tailed deer shed their red-brown summer coat for a dull grey winter coat. The thin summer hair protects well from bugs, but the hollow winter hair traps air and provides extra insulation. It insulates so well that a bedded deer could be covered by snow and not cause the snow to melt at all.

Hares and weasels loose their brown summer coloration and change to a white coat to better blend into the winter background. Some species of weasels maintain a small black tuft at the tip of their tails to confuse would-be predators. If the predator chooses poorly, it ends up with a mouthful of hair and not the weasel.

Some animals stay active all winter searching for food, while others stockpile supplies. Grey squirrels stash large piles of acorns and red squirrels stockpile evergreen cones. Throughout the winter they will brave a trip from the protection of their nests out to visit these stores to keep their fat levels up. Chipmunks have spent the fall storing nuts and seeds in underground coffers. They will wake up periodically, make an underground trip through its maze of tunnels, and have a bite to eat.

Throughout winter, fat is an important source of calories and insulation for hibernating mammals. A Black bear's fall quest is to fatten up as much as possible. An individual may gain as much as 3 to 5 pounds of fat per day just on acorns in the fall. Those sunflower seeds in your bird feeder are a high fat food source and quickly become a favorite of bears during their fall quest. Woodchucks likewise, gorge themselves on plants, seeds and roots in the fall until they are waddling bundles of fat, ready to curl up underground and hibernate for months on end.

People are not so different. You too are participating in this annual winter-preparation ritual when you stockpile firewood, dig out the scarves and mittens, purchase extra hot chocolate or freeze the garden bounty. Winter...bring it on!

About the Author

Nancy Condon is an award-winning Environmental Educator, cross-country canoeist, hike leader, fan of National Parks, and co-founder of NaturePods, Guides for the Nature Traveler. For unique programs to download to your iPod before you travel or explore the outdoors, visit http://www.NaturePods.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

The 3 Biggest Lawn Care Misconceptions

In the green industry, otherwise known as the landscaping industry, just about anyone can call themselves an "expert." If you spend any time on the web looking for lawn care advice, you will get opinions on just about everything from how to grow grass, maintain and care for it, and even how to grow it indoors on your window sill.

On the other end of the spectrum, you will find just as many sites that are completely against the concept of residential lawn care and turf in the first place!

The good news, however, is that there are several universal truths about lawns that we all agree on. Sadly, these truths are also the most common mistakes made by homeowners. So, with the collective thought power of the entire green industry at stake, here are three of the most common misconceptions about lawn care and how you can avoid them.

You Need To Irrigate Your Turf Everyday

I can tell you from seeing my own neighbors' perpetually turning sprinklers that there is a lot of water wasted on residential lawns. I think people feel the need to water their lawns every single day because of the shear vastness of grass they own. I understand that feeling, but your watering bill has got to be a clue that something is amiss!

There are two types of homeowners in the "I water everyday" category.

1) The first are those that keep their sprinklers running daily for hours and hours. Truth be told, watering your lawn everyday in this manner is worse than not watering at all! Too much water will literally drown grass plants, or at best, cause fungal formation in the root system.

2) The second type is more commonly seen with those who have automatic irrigation systems. These are often set to click on everyday for 15 minutes per zone and then shut off. This is a bad idea because the small amount of water that is laid out in 15 minutes is not enough to penetrate the soil.

This causes grass roots to turn upwards to get that water, creating a thatch problem. If you've ever walked across a lawn that feels 'spongy,' chances are it is being watered lightly and often.

The solution to this misconception is to water 2 or 3 times per week moderately and consistently. Buy a rain gauge, or ask your lawn care service to get one for you, and set it out when you water. You want to lay down between 1 and 1.5 inches of water per week. Spreading this amount over 2 or 3 cycles is best. Be sure to allow the soil to dry out in between irrigation days.

Cutting The Grass Low Means Less Mowing

Truthfully, if you cut your lawn low and scalp it, you won't have to mow very often. In fact, you may never have to mow again as your lawn will die!

Remember, grass is a plant, and the green part is its leaf. You will remember from high school biology class that plants produce sugars for energy through their leaves. This is called "photosynthesis." Without boring you with too much science, the bottom line is: if you take out too much of the leaf, the plant dry out, decline or even die.

Whether you like it or not, healthy lawns need to be trimmed regularly only having one-quarter of the leaf blade removed in one single cutting. It is like trimming your dog's toenails. You don't want to go too deep or you could hurt him!

If you are in doubt about how tall (or short) to cut your lawn based on the type of grass you have, set your mower to the second-to-highest setting and rest assured, you'll be fine. Just mow weekly at this setting and your lawn will thank you.

It Is Possible To Prevent Lawn Weeds

If your lawn care company had a method for preventing weeds, they'd be wealthy beyond any expectations! As you know, weeds grow from seed. Seeds end up under your lawn (down in the soil) and lay in wait for perfect heat and moisture conditions. Sometimes, this means years of laying in wait. That is why some years are worse than others when it comes to dandelions, for example.

Crab grass is not truly a weed, but it can be prevented with an early spring application or pre-emergent herbicide. Sadly, this pre-emergent does not stop stubborn weeds.

The best way to keep your lawn weed free is to stay on a regular lawn care treatment program where weed problems can be addressed as they arise. If you get the weeds out soon after they emerge, you can reduce the amount of seeds they spread, however, you can't always control what your neighbors do, so you will always have weeds, not matter what you do.

I hope these three common misconceptions will help you in determining your lawn's future progress, growth and vigor. Always remember, lawn care is not difficult, but it does require planning and regular maintenance.

About the Author

Al Haneson offers advice and details about lawn treatments and blogging.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

FFA Today – December 10, 2008

The December 10 FFA Today show features the many careers in the equine industry and a special story on how partnerships are important in the world of FFA.

A Spiritual Ecology of West Coast Rainforest

Here on the West Coast, the salt of circumspect washes steadily against the sea of verdure. Greening and etheric expansion prevail, the sprouting, moiling flora thrives and reproduces, roots itself into a constant crescendo. Here, none can turn away, because all directions are exposed. And none can hold in check the wheeling force that rises, anymore than the tidal range of the ocean can cease its endless respiration.
Ashore, as the eye and heart grow sated on outward effulgence, and turn within to look across the forest of soulhood, the seeker encounters a buffeting wind, ceaselessly wailing in sonic silence, blowing against all branching forces, delivering wind-in-bough-songs to a wild and vigilant audience.
In this coastal dominion we find a range of dwellers-in-habitat, from the diminutive wren, mouse-bird, in its fern-frond forest, up to old growth tree giants, who, in this ocean-edge environ, have evolved powerful rooting forces to withstand the great winds that prevail from across the waters.

In the morning light, the sea compels me to open my wings over the tide-flat of vision. By day, I will sing you a tree. I will dance you a stream. And when evening falls, I will orate for you a sunset, warmth and color twining into distant measures.
A small melodic bird spreads its wings by the seaweed leavings of the tidal bore. Song sparrow serenade, dulcet phrasing in the salt air, rises as a green-leafing melody beneath usnea whiskers, wildly bearded lichens draped on the lower reaches of conifer boughs.
And I walk slowly, with deliberation, through the sea-edge forest, where the mouse-wren flits furtive, barely sensed, in an under-story of fern and salal, through a storyline, compelling and intricate.
Here, Grandmother nature unfolds her genesis masterwork by the edge of the riffling, over the surface of the sea of allocation. Grandmother nature, in a spirit of prosperity and layers weaving, serves up an authorship penned in ink of confluence and deeply rooting provision.

And late in the night, by the same rapturous sea, but further down-coast, well beyond sunsets quiet portal into animal dreamtime, the howling of wolves pierces the veils of primordia arranged to keep human knowing at bay.
For nine years they waited, spanning puppy-hood to elder, down through countless alpha moons. And then, as the calendar of inspiration came to wheel in full circle, now through the rain of night, the creative, wolf-born force holds no longer in abeyance.
Now the howling sings into the stirring of sleepers, into the spaces of wakening. Across the sea of freedom and imagination the wolf pack hurls its healing resonance, sound forming into a vessel that sails over the tumult heaving upon the surface of the feral and shore-less pond.

The moon stimulates the waking of our animal nature. This is why, so often at the time of full moon, insomnia is induced in those sensitive to environmental influence. Within the psyche, the moon enhances those qualities peculiar to this coastal landscape - rooting, sprawling, raining, seeping, dripping, climbing wave on wave, rolling across the souls beachhead. . . .
I am driven (by self) to be functional and/or creative. However, at this time I am more in need of centering myself. That is, of asking my deeper core for direction. What am I wanting to engage in, at this moment, from my center?
Seeing myself, then, attuning to the pulse of heart at every turn, going by the Inner Voice, is the same as aspiring to fulfill my incarnation - or, put another way, knighting myself in service to Lady Soul.
Meanwhile, down by the base of a giant old-growth fir, where mindful patience lends passage through a subterranean portal, rooting takes place, a biting into the earthen counterpart of human will forces. Feeding into the souls need for holding firm in the face of expanse, the grand-parental tree hums its steadfast tone, never giving way to common worldly dissolution.
In this setting, the milding of temperament proceeds at an even pace.

Here is the true West.
And in this westernmost place, earthen land (physicality) meets the vast arena of spirits metaphor (water).
Because of this, The West presides as a Threshold.
Interior eyes gaze, here, out over the end of incarnations journey. After arriving here, at this metaphysical meeting-ground of sea and shore, one can turn and explore either a Northern, or Southern path. Or one can turn fully round, Eastward, and wend a way backward, regress to a former time and circumstance.
Or, more often, as spirit tends to have its way, one can linger here, centered Westerly - for a duration that can even last beyond a thousand heartbeats.
What span can bracket a boundless destiny?

To view the whole article visit Earth Vision at www.evsite.net

About the Author

J Graf is the coordinator of Insight21 and Earth Vision - doorways for the 21st Century.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Time To Buy Ice Melting Products

I just love that first light snowfall of the winter season. It makes me think of the holidays. Inevitably, however, soon after that happy, light dusting fades away, in sweeps a blistering, torrential ice storm! That's when I am glad I planned ahead.

A big part of that planning, besides tuning the snow blower or buying a new shovel, is purchasing ice melting products. But have you ever wondered what's in them and how they work?

Ice Melter Basics

Good old fashioned salt is sometimes used to melt ice. But did you know that salt is also an important and required ingredient in ice cream? Whether placed on your front porch to thwart ice buildup, or mixed into your mint-chocolate chip, adding salt lowers the melting or freezing point of water. The result is known as "freezing point depression."

How Freezing Point Depression Works: Ice Melter In Action

When you add salt (table salt is known in the chemistry world as sodium chloride) to water, you are dissolving foreign particles into that water. Of course, you are smart and know that plain old water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Well, the freezing point of water becomes lower as more particles are added until the point where the salt stops dissolving. For a solution of table salt in water, this temperature is -6 degrees F under controlled lab conditions. In the real world, on a real concrete driveway, sodium chloride can melt ice only down to about 15 degrees F.

Are you seeing why rock salt is not the best product to throw on your icy sidewalks? If you live where I do, 15 degrees is just a sunny fall day! We need something with minus zero melting power.

Here are a few other "mixes" or "formulations" that can melt ice better than rock salt:

Calcium chloride is a popular ice melting combination and can melt ice down to 25 degrees below freezing. Now that is what I need baby!

The cost is a bit higher for an ice melter that contains calcium chloride, but I don't need a lot for my little driveway and 50 feet of public sidewalk. You probably don't either unless you are salting the whole neighborhood.

In addition, when used in accordance with labeling, Calcium Chloride is not as damaging to vegetation as plain old rock salt. Can you tell that I just don't like rock salt?

Magnesium chloride is very much similar to calcium chloride. It is considered less corrosive, safer for use on concrete and less damaging to plants. It gets similar results in similar temperatures.

Potassium chloride and urea are the final choices. These are mixtures commonly found in fertilizers, but that does not mean they are safe around vegetation.

Keep in mind that any ice melting product you use must be applied at rates recommended on the labeling. At high concentrations, potassium chloride and urea are harmful to plants.

Since urea alone does not contain chlorides, it is less corrosive and better to use on concrete containing rebar and around steel structures. The drawback to urea is that it does not melt ice as well as other alternatives.

So what's the best choice in ice melter?

Most ice melting products you can buy or have delivered contain mixtures of some or all of the above. This way, you get the benefits that each offers in regards to pricing and results, without risking the downsides.

Remember: You should never use these products outside the bounds of the recommendations on the label. Stick to the directions, and your results will show it!

About the Author

Al Haneson offers advice and details about Lawn Care Service Illinois and Texas Lawn Care Services.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

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