The Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, and Ranch Report

Open House for Bats All Year Long

Avalon Gardens — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:42:06 +0000

February 18, 2010—The sun bows gracefully behind Tumacácori Peak. I’m precariously perched on a sturdy mesquite branch lashing two large wooden boxes to a weather-worn snag. Around the property, fruit trees are already flowering, irises are making their pre-season inquiries, and the first signs of green are fading up from the rolling golden brown pastures of Bermuda grass. Only twenty minutes later, daylight wanes and Kaileen comes into the kitchen with a spark in his eyes. “Hey Kazarian, there’s bats out there.” I go outside and scan the quiet dusk; excited because I have just finished installing Avalon Gardens’ first two bat houses and apparently not a day too soon.

Our interest in bats began in the summer of 2009 while looking for natural ways to keep our insect pest population down. We read online that bats are the primary predators of night-flying insects and that they can eat over half of their body-weight each night. The following is and excerpt from The Bat House Builder’s Handbook: “Just one little brown myotis [bat] can catch a thousand or more mosquito-sized insects in a hour and a colony of 150 big brown bats can catch enough cucumber beetles each summer to prevent egg laying that otherwise could infest local gardens with 33 million rootworms. Cucumber and June beetles, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, and cutworm and corn earworm moths—all well-know pests—are just a few of the many insects consumed by these frequent users of bat houses. In addition, many pests flee areas where they hear bat echolocation sounds.”

Needless to say, we immediately wanted to have these little guys as our allies. We started researching how we could attract them to Avalon Gardens and roll out the red carpet to the feast of pests that were in our pastures. The bats’ ears must have been burning because they arrived very soon after those first days of research. Every night, huge colonies of bats could be seen hunting the desert skies above our land. We were overjoyed to have them, but were a little disappointed when we found out that they had chosen our barns and the eves of our houses as places to roost. As beautiful as bats are they make a mess!

We became very interested in setting up bat houses, artificial bat habitats, to encourage our fuzzy friends to relocate. After many emails back and forth about receiving state funding and grant proposals, we were blessed with a private, anonymous donor who made the whole thing happen when they set us up with 9 bat houses to place throughout Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, & Ranch.

We put the first two bat houses up in an old mesquite tree just to the west of our Northern garden beds. Soon we will put the others up in different locations around the property to give the bats a choice of where to roost. We’ll keep you posted on their progress throughout the months of Spring as we head toward Summer, the most popular time of year for bats in our area.

Bat Conservation International has created an excellent website with tons of information about bats and bat conservation. For more information, visit www.batcon.org/. If you would like to help us here in our efforts to establish habitats for bats, please consider a donation to Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, & Ranch. We are hoping to humanely exclude the bats from the barn this Spring and you may be able to help cover the cost of supplies for this project.

Greening the Desert

Avalon Gardens — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:42:49 +0000

We are back and we have settled in the Santa Cruz River Valley, also known by the natives as the ‘Palm of God.’ Our newest exciting project is greening the desert. Check out this video (recently updated), created by Geoff Lawton, the director of the Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) of Australia. There is no doubt that these methods are a solution to many of the problems created by industrialized society gone wild. He connected us with Owen Hablutzel, the director of the PRI USA. This Monday, we are going to have a phone conference with him to see if our ideas are reasonable and who might be interested in helping. We are planning to catch rainwater from a huge runoff created as a result of bad development in the middle of pristine high-mountain desert. We are expecting, during a one-inch monsoon rain, to receive millions of gallons of water on our property. We are starting the first digging for our food forest this month. The whole area will stretch over 3 acres, to begin with, and can be expanded into a 15-acre site. In addition to the food forest, we would like to develop two ponds for aquaculture created by the excess runoff from the monsoons. The fish fertilized created as a by-product will be channeled into existing vegetable gardens below.

Yesterday, we met with Chris Haynes, a soil conservationist with the National Resources Conservation Service. Since we are planning major water conservation practices, we might qualify to get financial assistance from this agency. It’s very exciting!

Stay posted and we’ll let you know how it goes. If you are interested, call us right away. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters.

-Tarenta and TaliSeen

Change Agents and Destiny Reservists

Springing into CSA Season!

Avalon Gardens — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:17:19 +0000

Can you believe it’s Spring! We have emerged from a mild winter here in Southern Arizona. With the renewal of life, of energies, of the complex relationships between insects, microbes, plants, animals, and people, we have an opportunity to give thanks for all that occurred since this day of last years new blossoming. We know that our Creator has reached down to assist us in our efforts, as we reach towards Him.

This winter was not an idle one, to say the least. We kept busy digging out the comfrey and nettles to transplant in our northern garden. We weeded, dug out, and mulched our fruit tree wells and many wintercrops. Many hours were spent doing and thorough seed inventory and update. The annual winter seed ordering took place, looking through catalogs and discussing what we’d try. We’ve nearly got our larger greenhouse completed in the lower garden, that we’re grateful to have been partially donated. That’s been a good project. Happily, in our climate here we were able to continue to grow beets, lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots, kale, daikon, radish, swiss chard, parsley, cilantro, collards, onions and broccoli over these quieter months. Our winter squash is still holding out for our meals.

Quite a pleasing sight it is for those garlic-lovers amongst us to see our long rows of green tops stretching out. We should have our biggest harvest yet coming up by the end of May, thanks to many hands sticking each little clove in. Amongst these helpers were different visitors, including WWOOFER’s, which we’re always grateful for.

Thousands of seedlings have been sprouting up lately, looking towards a new and exciting CSA season ahead of us. Months back we started the brassicas going in the smaller propagation greenhouse, and now they’re getting settled in out in the field. Getting them out provided room for the more tender tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, fennel, and celery. Many weeks were spent preparing a new area for the tomatoes, and thanks to a good neighbor lending us his auger the holes took a fraction of the time it’s taken us by hand in past years.

Another new project is transforming a large pasture field, which Kamon designed, and many people assisted with preparing the soil, fencing, and so forth. If all goes well we will have growing in abundance native winter squashes, growing besides various indigenous corn and Hopi lima beans. In addition the native sunflower root (Jerusalem Artichokes), mangel and sugar beets will provide lots of feed for our animals.

Connecting with more people has been a pleasure, through our outreaches at fairs, and festivals, giving talks, holding events in town and at the ranch.

Our eco-village is a thriving agrarian community of dedicated souls from all over the world. Come volunteer and/or visit us soon in this very rewarding work of finding solutions in a world crisis.

Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, and Ranch CSA 24 Week Harvest List (6/19/08 UNTIL 11/26/08)

Avalon Gardens — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:15:06 +0000

Week 1 - 6/19/08

Japanese Daikon,

Rainbow Swiss Chard,

Spanish Bunching Onion and Shallot style Onions,

Avalon Garlic,

Golden Acre and Danish Ballhead Cabbage,

Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards,

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon Basil,

Mexican Oregano, Mountain Rosemary,
Nantes Carrots,

Champion and Easter Egg Radish.

Week 2 - 6/26/08

Japanese Daikon,

Rainbow Swiss Chard,

Spanish Bunching Onion and Shallot style Onions,

Avalon Garlic,

Golden Acre and Danish Ballhead Cabbage,

Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards,

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil,

Mexican Oregano,

Mountain Rosemary,

Black Beauty, Ping Tung, and Koonce Eggplant

Shepard Sweet Pepper
Week 3 – 7/03/08
Japanese Daikon,

Rainbow Swiss Chard,

Shallot style Onions,

Avalon Garlic,

Golden Acre and Danish Ballhead Cabbage,

Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards,

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil,

Black Beauty, Ping Tung, and AiGua Eggplant, Purslane

Detroit Dark Red Beets

Week 4 – 7/10/08
Japanese Daikon,

Rainbow Swiss Chard,

Shallot style Onions,

Avalon Garlic,

Copenhagen Market and Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbages,

Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards,

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil,

Black Beauty, Ping Tung, and AiGua Eggplant, Purslane,

Summer Squash: Black, Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Scallop, Yellow Straight Necks, and Lemon Squash.

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini

Week 5 – 7/17/08

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Shallot style Bunching Onions

Avalon Garlic

Golden Acre, Copenhagen Market, Early Jersey Wakefield, and Danish Ballhead Cabbages Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil

Black Beauty, Ping Tung, AiGua, and Koonce White Eggplant

Purslane

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Bennings Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, and Lemon

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Week 6 – 7/24/08
Shallot style Bunching Onions

Avalon Garlic

Golden Acre, Copenhagen Market, Early Jersey Wakefield, and Danish Ballhead Cabbages Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil

Black Beauty and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Bennings Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, and Lemon

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, Marconi Golden, Yellow Super Stuff and Bell Bush Beans: Purple Queen, Blue Lake, and Kentucky Yellow Wonder

Waltham Sprouting Broccoli

Week 7 – 7/31/08
Shallot style Bunching Onions

Avalon Garlic

Golden Acre, Copenhagen Market, Early Jersey Wakefield, and Danish Ballhead Cabbages Southern Georgia, Morris Head, and Vates Collards

Genovese Sweet, Lemon, and Cinnamon scented Basil

Black Beauty Ai Gua, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Bennings Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, and Lemon

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, Marconi Golden, and Yellow Super Stuff

Beans: Purple Queen, Blue Lake, Kentucky Yellow Wonder,

Week 8 – 8/07/08

Shallot style Bunching Onions

Avalon Garlic

Golden Acre, Copenhagen Market, Early Jersey Wakefield, and Danish Ballhead Cabbages Genovese Sweet, Nufar, and Cinnamon Basil

Black Beauty, Ai Gua, Long Purple, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Bennings Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, Lemon, and Tromboncino

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, Marconi Golden, and Super Stuff

Beans: Purple Queen, Blue Lake, Kentucky Yellow Wonder, and Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator, and Royal Chantanay

Cucumbers: Armenian, Lemon, and English Telegraph

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Week 9 – 8/14/08
Avalon Garlic

Golden Acre, Copenhagen Market, Early Jersey Wakefield, and Danish Ballhead Cabbages Genovese Sweet, Nufar, Lemon, and Cinnamon Basil

Black Beauty Ai Gua, Long Purple, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, Lemon, and Tromboncino

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Super Stuff, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Purple Queen, Blue Lake, Kentucky Yellow Wonder, and Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator, and Royal Chantanay

Cucumbers: Lemon, Armenian, English Telegraph

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Week 10 – 8/21/08
Avalon Garlic

Genovese Sweet, Nufar, and Cinnamon Basil

Black Beauty Ai Gua, Long Purple, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, and Golden Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, Scallop/Patty Pan, Green Tint, Yellow Straightnecks, Lemon, and Tromboncino

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Super Stuff, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Purple Queen, Blue Lake, Kentucky Yellow Wonder, and Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator, and Royal Chantanay

Cucumbers: Lemon, Armenian, English Telegraph

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Week 11 – 8/28/08

Avalon Garlic

Genovese Sweet, Nufar, Lemon, and Cinnamon Basil

Black Beauty Ai Gua, Long Purple, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Black, Grey/Lebanese, Costata Romanesco, Patty Pan, Yellow Straightnecks, Lemon, and Tromboncino

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Super Stuff, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Blue Lake, and Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator, and Royal Chantanay

Cucumbers: Lemon, Armenian, English Telegraph

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Hot Peppers (various)

Cantaloupe Melons (various)

Week 12 – 9/04/08

Avalon Garlic

Genovese Sweet, Nufar, Lemon, and Cinnamon Basil

Black Beauty, Ai Gua, Long Purple, and Koonce White Eggplant

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Lemon, and Tromboncino

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Super Stuff, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Blue Lake, and Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Cucumbers: Lemon and Armenian

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Tomatoes (all heirloom varieties)

Melons! (various)

Week 13 – 9/11/08

Avalon Garlic

Genovese Sweet, and Nufar Basil

Eggplant: Black Beauty

Collards: Vates

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Lemon, and Yellow Straightnecks

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Hot Peppers (various varieties)

Week 14 – 9/18/08

Avalon Garlic

Genovese Sweet, and Nufar Basil

Eggplant: Black Beauty, White Koonce, Japanese, Ai Gua

Collards: Vates

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Lemon, Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, and Yellow Straightnecks Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Beans: Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Hot Peppers: Ancho, Poblano, Cayenne, and Jalapeño

Melons (various)

Lemon Grass

Week 15 – 9/25/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Genovese Sweet, and Nufar Basil

Eggplant: Black Beauty, White Koonce, Japanese, Ai Gua

Collards: Vates

Tomatoes(all heirloom varieties)

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Lemon, Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, and Yellow Straightnecks

Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden.

Beans: Chinese Noodle

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Okra: Clemson Spineless, Louisiana Velvet, and Alabama Red

Hot Peppers: Ancho, Poblano, Cayenne, and Jalapeño

Lemon Grass

Week 16 – 10/02/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Genovese Sweet, and Nufar Basil

Eggplant: Black Beauty

Tomatoes (a large variety of heirlooms)

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, and Yellow Straightnecks

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Okra: Clemson Spineless, and Louisiana Velvet

Hot Peppers: Ancho, Poblano, Cayenne, Anaheim, and Jalapeño

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Week 17 – 10/09/08
Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Genovese Sweet, and Nufar Basil

Eggplant: Black Beauty, Ai Gua, White Koonce

Summer Squash: Patty Pan, Zucchini, Costata Romanesco, and Yellow Straightnecks

Sweet Peppers: Banana, Shepherd, Pepperoncini, and Marconi Golden

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Okra: Clemson Spineless, and Louisiana Velvet

Hot Peppers: Ancho, Poblano, Cayenne, Anaheim, and Jalapeño

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Collards: Vates

Japanese Daikon Radish, Purslane

Week 18 – 10/16/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Eggplant: Black Beauty, Ai Gua, White Koonce

Cucumbers: English Telegraph

Carrots: Imperator and Royal Chantanay

Hot Peppers: Anaheim

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Collards: Vates, Southern Georgia, Morris Head

Japanese Daikon

Winter Squash: Butternut

Sweet Potatoes (various varieties)

Jerusalem Artichokes

Week 19 – 10/23/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Eggplant: Black Beauty, Ai Gua

Cucumbers: Marketmore

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Collards: Vates, Southern Georgia, Morris Head

Radish: Easter Egg

Hot Pepper: Anaheim (for Chile rellenos)

Winter Squash: Pumpkin (various varieties)

Sweet Potatoes (various varieties)

Jerusalem Artichokes

Week 20 – 10/30/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Cucumbers: Marketmore

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Collards: Vates, Southern Georgia, Morris Head

Daikon (Japanese Radish)

Hot Pepper: Anaheim (for Chile rellenos)

Winter Squash: Acorn & Pumpkin

Sweet Potatoes (various varieties)

Jerusalem Artichokes

Week 21 – 11/06/08

Avalon Garlic (a variety of strains)

Kale: Russian, Red Ursa

Red Radishes (various varieties)

Winter Squash: Tahitian & Pumpkin

Sweet Potatoes (various varieties)

Jerusalem Artichokes

Bunching Onions (various)

Beets: Chioggia

Week 22 – 11/13/08

Avalon Garlic: Inchillium, Polish Genn, California Late, and CA Early

Kale: White & Red Russian, Early Siberian, and Red Ursa

Red Radishes: Easter Egg, Crimson Giant

Winter Squash: Banana & Pumpkin

Sweet Potatoes: Georgia Jets, Japanese White, Centennial, Vardamon, and Beauregard

Jerusalem Artichokes

Beets: Chioggia, Bull’s Blood, Detroit Red

Bunching Onions: Spanish

Rainbow Blend Swiss Chard

Week 23 – 11/20/08

Avalon Garlic: Inchillium, Polish Genn, California Late, and CA Early

Kale: White & Red Russian, Early Siberian, and Red Ursa

Red Radishes: Easter Egg, Crimson Giant

Winter Squash: Spaghetti & Pumpkin

Sweet Potatoes: Georgia Jets, Japanese White, Centennial, Vardamon, and Beauregard

Jerusalem Artichokes

Beets: Chioggia, Bull’s Blood, Detroit Red

Bunching Onions: Spanish

Rainbow Blend Swiss Chard

Week 24 – 11/26/08

Avalon Garlic: Inchillium, Polish Genn, California Late, and CA Early

Kale: White & Red Russian, Early Siberian, and Red Ursa

Red Radishes: Easter Egg, Crimson Giant

Winter Squash: Banana & Pumpkin

Sweet Potatoes: Georgia Jets, Japanese White, Centennial, Vardamon, and Beauregard

Jerusalem Artichokes

Beets: Chioggia, Bull’s Blood, Detroit Red

Bunching Onions: Spanish

Rainbow Blend Swiss Chard

Wrapping Up for the Winter

Avalon Gardens — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:09:21 +0000

We’ve got the garlic in! That feels great. Takes a group effort to plant half an acre by hand. The early hard frost (24 F in the Lower Garden) in mid October knocked out our Basil, Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes, Okra, Cucumbers, and Summer Squash, altering the end of our CSA season, but this is part of the natural agricultural life: we are connected with the weather and seasons, and adapt to whatever comes our way. We still had plenty of others crops to continue with, and our first season ended successfully.

Now we’re enjoying our winter squashes. Each variety has its own character of flavor, texture, and look served in meals. Everyone seems to have their favorite kinds. Is it the acorns, Tahitians, the butternut, or Mayo? The spaghetti squash goes so well with our fresh goat cheese and a little red sauce. We’re also enjoying the sweet potatoes. Of course the different varieties have their own flavors too. For Thanksgiving we enjoyed some wonderful pies from these roots.

We gave thanks for our abundance this year in the garden, as we celebrated this day together. Now the beets are fat and the leaves vibrant before the cold gets at them. The chard is standing strong as the pests recede, the carrots are big and sweet, bunching onions ready, kale and collards pumping out, and the next round of radishes (daikon and red) are coming on as the latter are thinning out. Our lettuce is filling the big bowls at meal time, and the spinach is getting harvested. Even saw some little broccoli head swelling gently. The comfrey is going for one last round after being cut back. A little volunteer tomato sprouted up and has its own plans, its little yellow flowers are saying. Even the jaltomate’s tiny, delicate lavender flowers are persisting. Can anyone tell us what this plant is all about?

What’s next? There are the many pieces of a new greenhouse awaiting us. It’ll be a fun project to get it up and going. Our one greenhouse was already outgrown when we raised it last winter. Gotta start somewhere though. Number two will be filled right up too. The garden is ready to expand as fast as we can keep up with her.

The bees are hunkering down, and have needed a little feeding due to the early frost knocking out a lot of their nectar sources. Now is the quiet season, allowing us to get ready for next year. It’s going to be a big one! We’ll see how many millions of bees we can rescue in 2009. We’ve been told by a local expert that our ranch could support 200 colonies, so we’ve got a lot of boxes to get ready.

Again, we want to offer our ranch as a training ground for all persons seeking service and experience in the fields of agriculture, gardening, animal husbandry, and building. Recently we’ve appreciated the helping hands of four WWOOFERs who came through in time to wrap up the garlic with us, amongst many other things. We are a family all pitching in together, whether a visitor passing through for a few days, a guest for a few months doing a work exchange, a neighbor helping teach our young ladies in the kitchen, adult community members, one of our up-and-coming teens mentoring, or our kids pulling carrots with us. We understand our need for each other, and invite anyone called to jump on in with us for a bit. Why not join in this movement of agricultural and communal revival? You just might get a lot out of it if you give it a try.

A Little News from the Planetary Fields

- Purdue University’s apicultural researcher Greg Hunt has estimated about 23% of the world’s honey bee population has been lost. Last winter, U.S. beekeepers lost 35% of their colonies. In France they have banned a neurotoxic pesticide (manufactured by Bayer) blamed for their recent loses, and Germany has followed suit, after finding the buildup of the chemical in 99% of their dead bees.

- The NAIS (National Animal Identification System) has been suspended indefinitely, according to a recent court ruling. This is wonderful news for all those who have been fighting for their rights to leave their livestock free of chips for tracking by the USDA.

- We note the passing of the great farmer-philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka, author of the famous The One Straw Revolution. He was one who showed us all that less can be more and that nature might not need so much messing with to grow abundant crops.

- According to the ’08 report of the USDA’s Economic Research Service:

92% of soybeans planted in the U.S. were GMO, along with

86% of cotton

80% of corn

Unless you know the source is clean, you are probably supporting Monsanto when these U.S. products are bought, used, or consumed.

- According to a recent report from Iowa State University, the net profits for organic farming far outweighs the commodity farm’s, showing the former to be 5 times greater in this area.

To read more about these tid-bits, look for ACRES. This important publication deserves our support.

Winter Gives Way to Spring

Avalon Gardens — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:45:55 +0000

Farm Report From
Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, and Ranch in Tumacacori, Arizona.
2/08

February witnessed the preparation and anticipation of spring. In this climate spring sneaks in fast out of winter, and is gone into the blazing summer without waiting for anyone to catch up. We are getting our seedlings going in the greenhouse. When it is warm enough outside they will have that head-start to go right into the ground, for early produce. We continue to harvest plenty with our winter crops, along with beginning to enjoy the beets, parsley, and new round of carrots emerging.

We’ve kept busy building the soils with our own compost made from our goats, rabbits, chickens, horses, and cattle. We’ve mixed wood ash, charcoal, leftover food scraps the chickens overlooked, alfalfa shake, wood chips, and sprayed it with EM (Effective Microorganisms™) in order to assist break it down.

The winter so far has been warm and very dry. We can sure use any rain we get. The experts say we’re in a ten year drought out here in the West.

Recently we’ve begun to set in motion our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for the surrounding area. Anyone from Tucson, Nogales, Green Valley, Patagonia, Aravaca, Tumacacori, Tubac, and surrounding areas that interested in having the freshest, home-grown organic vegetables possible can sign up to participate with us. E-mail or call us to get more details. We’ll appreciate all the support we can get doing our part here to realign our local food security and eating habits towards more bioregional, healthy produce.

We’ve had some visitors come by lately for our gardening exchange program. People can stay with us in exchange for helping out on the farm. We’re always looking for extra hands, so if any of you out there are interested in agriculture, and want to see what we’re doing here and pitch in, please let us know: we have a live-in agricultural training program, and will also accept day workers. We’d love to have ya.

A New Beginning in The Garden

Avalon Gardens — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:44:56 +0000

Writing from Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm, and Ranch in Tumacacori, Arizona, winter is the time for introspection, a time for settling in and processing the past year, to prepare for the spring. The New Year brings opportunity for growth, sowing new seeds, trying fresh experiments. Here in the garden we are thankful to have abundance year round. With the cold (it has gotten down to twelve degrees!) not everything will grow, but we’ve been able to protect quite a bit with our simple set up of hooping and covering. We are blessed to be eating a variety of organic kale, collards, spinach, cabbage, radish, lettuce, tatsoi, bak choi, mustard, arugula, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cilantro, sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. There is no food available in any store that is more wholesome and fresh than what is picked in the morning from our fields in the morning, delivered to kitchen, and found beautifully prepared for lunch and dinner that day. For this we give our thanks to the many hands that participate in the process, from those who create the compost piles, to those who water, pull weeds, sow the seeds, mulch … to the hands who create with it in the kitchen. It’s a big group effort, which also includes a whole host of unseen creatures on the microbial level, and unseen beings of a more angelic nature, who all contribute to this complex symbiosis occurring.

New Crop of Farmers: Young, Educated, and Seeking Organic Certification

Avalon Gardens — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:44:13 +0000

According to an Associate Press article by Joann Loviglio, there is a new breed of farmers cropping up—more and more college graduates are taking to the fields “Agriculture has been so subsidized, corporatized and globalized,” said Tom Murtha who studied English at Penn State. “There’s definitely an interest and desire for younger folks to get involved in agriculture.” Long-time farmer Dawn Buzby welcomes the fresh attitudes of the new farmers, “The new blood entering farming is a great trend that has really energized longtime farmers,” she said. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm out there.”

Genetically Engineered Grass Found in the Wild

Avalon Gardens — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 23:43:24 +0000

The Associated Press recently reported Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses is growing in the wild. Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses. But the modified grass could spread that resistance to the wild, becoming a nuisance itself, scientists say. Such resistance could force land managers and government agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, which relies heavily on Roundup, to switch to “nastier” herbicides to control grasses and weeds, said said Norman Ellstrand, a geneticist and plant expert at the University of California, Riverside.

Food for People or Cars?

Avalon Gardens — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:42:21 +0000

The Earth Policy Institute reports that the massive diversion of U.S. grain from food to fuel for cars is raising world food prices. The article notes that corn prices have doubled over the last year, wheat futures are trading at their highest level in 10 years, and rice prices are rising too. Additionally, the Institute reports that "the countries initially hit by rising food prices are those where corn is the staple food. In Mexico, one of more than 20 countries with a corn-based diet, the price of tortillas is up by 60 percent. Angry Mexicans have taken to the streets in protest, forcing the government to institute price controls on tortillas. Food prices are also rising in China, India, and the United States, countries that contain 40 percent of the world’s people. Rising grain and soybean prices are driving up meat and egg prices in China. January pork prices were up 20 percent above a year earlier, eggs were up 16 percent. In India, the overall food price index in January 2007 was 10 percent higher than a year earlier. The price of wheat, the staple food in northern India, has jumped 11 percent." The effects are just beginning to be felt in the United States. "…the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that the wholesale price of chicken in 2007 will be 10 percent higher on average than in 2006, the price of a dozen eggs will be up a whopping 21 percent, and milk will be 14 percent higher."