Good Things Grow in Compost

If you've ever started a new garden in the Alabama clay soil, you know what it means to amend soil. Last year we didn't worry about amending the little garden we started in an area of the backyard that had served as an herb garden because the soil seemed decent enough. This year, we doubled the size of the bed, which necessitated bringing in more dirt in the form of mushroom compost, peat moss, and top soil.

We also decided to start a compost bin to reduce the waste we put into the landfill and to have a source of rich soil we can add each year to the garden. Using some old wooden pallets Anthony found, we built a pretty primitive compost bin, and we've been adding egg shells, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and leaves. The other day, I walked out to the compost pile to empty a container of kitchen scraps, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but lots of little green seedlings. The organic butternut squash guts that I threw into the pile weeks ago germinated!

Of course, this is the wrong phase of the moon to plant them. I can either take a chance and plant them now (the waning moon and the time for root crops) or wait until Saturday. They appear to be doing quite well in their temporary bed, but we're not adding to the compost pile or able to turn it while they "rest" there. All sources about composting will say that turning is important to speed decomposition. The Alabama Cooperative Extension Service says that a well managed compost pile will decompose in two to four months whereas a poorly tended one will take about a year to decompose. The link above will provide some basic information about composting. Food scraps that don't include meat or fats, grass clippings, leaves, and paper (avoid paper with colored inks and petroleum-based inks) are all good compostable materials.

The benefits of compost are many. Not only do you reduce the amount of garbage you add to the landfill, but compost helps poor soils become more arable. If you are trying to grow food without the use of pesticides and commercial fertilizers, compost is one step in achieving that goal. Mother Earth News magazine's April/May 2011 issue may provide some incentive to begin composting with its article about killer compost. Follow the link to read the entire on-line article.

The article begins with a warning: "Do not bring compost into your garden from outside sources unless you're certain it was made from herbicide-free materials." The article focuses on one particular type of aminopyralid herbicide from Dow AgroSciences known as Milestone and related herbicides sold under the brands Confront, Curtail, Forefront, Hornet, Lontrel, Millenium Ultra, Reclaim, Stinger and Transline. Reports of crop poisonings related to this herbicide come from Montana, North Carolina, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Googling the herbicide, I saw links to reports of problems in the UK as well, and it is evidently used in forestry applications. The thought is that this poison made its way into compost via manure and persists in soil for years rather than weeks as Dow claims.

Mother Earth News suggests contacting Dan Kenny of the EPA's Technical Review Branch at 703.305.7546 or at kenny.dan@epa.gov to voice your concern and to ask the EPA to take action on this problem. According to Mother Earth, the EPA granted conditional approval of Milestone in 2005 despite inconsistencies in Dow's Environmental Fate and Ecological Risk Assessment report.

Though I haven't yet seen an article naming this problem in Alabama, I did find an ACES release listing aminopyralid herbicides for controlling thistle weed on pasture land, so I suspect it may be a problem in our state as well. Sounds like a good reason to start your own compost bin!

Say "NO" to the King of GMO

I've been stuck inside for two days because of work and rain, so there is no planting news to report (is that a collective sigh across the Internet I'm hearing?). The good news is that in the world of food, one is never lacking a topic. Today I opened a small weekly, The Auburn Villager and found a column by Bita Bullet (a pseudonym) talking about rising food prices and the crisis that continued increases pose for America. Food crisis. This is a common thread in articles and discussions these past few days.

My husband and I were looking at news photos after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and one of the photographs showed empty shelves at the market. Whether snowstorm or tsunami, natural disasters seem to trigger a similar response: everyone heads to the store so they can stock up on essentials. Food crisis.

I open my inbox today and see a newsletter from the Organic Consumers Association, and inside this newsletter, I read more about food crises, or perhaps how to avert crisis. The first article contained an excerpt and link to a United Nations report titled "Agroecology and the Right to Food." If you follow the link, you can read the full report for yourself, but let me give you a few of the findings. Implementing agroecological techniques, or environmentally sustainable techniques, in developing countries increased food production by as much as 79 percent. According to the report, such practice "also puts agriculture on the path of sustainability by delinking food production from the reliance on fossil energy (oil and gas)" (page 13) and allows food producers to better respond to challenges brought about by climate change.

This brings me to the next article and the reason for the post. There are also two articles about Monsanto and genetically modified crops in the OCA newsletter. The first article is urging readers to go a Month without Monsanto, and it continues by saying how difficult a task this may be, particularly if you don't already eat organic foods. GMO crops, of which Monsanto is one of the largest producers, if not the largest, proliferate in corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and alfalfa. OCA is urging people to contact their U.S. representatives to fight for truth in labeling so that consumers know when they are getting GMO foods, which is expanding into animal products if a company called AquaBounty is approved for the first GMO animal destined for our dinner tables.

What's the harm? Well, the truth is, no one really knows because independent scientific studies are few and far between. There is a suggestion that GMO's contribute to food allergens, but we don't really know. We do know that GMO products are hard to control, infecting organic crops, and sending small farmers into court if a renegade Monsanto seed winds up in their fields. Hmmm. What's wrong with that picture.

OCA is asking everyone to join in the fight and create a Million Against Monsanto Chapter for his or her Congressional District. Follow the link for more information.

It's easy to get discouraged when fighting against multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporations, but take heart with this example from Fast Food Nation: "In the Spring of 2000, McDonad's informed Lamb Weston and the J.R. Simplot Company that it would no longer purchase frozen french fries made from genetically engineered potatoes. As a result, the two large processors told their growers to stop planting genetically engineered potatoes--and sales of Monsanto's New Leaf, the nation's only biotech potato, instantly plummeted." (Schlosser 269)

That's because Americans said "No to GMO."