Bat Guano - Our First Cash Crap

***warning-don't read before dinner***

Today we spent 5 hours on the farm doing a very thorough home inspection. We asked our inspector to give a once over to the barn. We know its old and wanted to be sure it wasn't about to tip over. Turns out the barn was very well constructed.

Our inspector pointed out one interesting characteristic of the barn. Looks like quite a few bats have made their home on the center wooden beam. You can see their remnants in the picture below:




But this picture doesn't do the pile justice. There is bat poo (guano) everywhere! At first I was disgusted and scared of the thought of so many bats. I'm not scared of bees or spiders, but I am scared of bats. Then we joked that this would make great fertilizer. When I got home and looked it up this is what I found:

"Bat guano is recognized worldwide as a superior fertilizer with fungicidal and nematocidal properties. Guano's basic composition is 10 percent nitrogen, 3 percent phosphorus, and 1 percent potassium. The high nitrogen content makes it an ideal fertilizer for house plants, vegetables, fruit trees, flowers, ornamentals, and lawns. In addition, bat guano contains large amounts of microbes that are highly beneficial to soil.

The preferred method for applying guano is to combine two or three tablespoonfuls with each gallon of water. This solution can be sprayed directly on plants for absorption or as a natural fungicide. The second most common method is to apply the guano directly to the soil at a rate of five pounds (three quarts) per 100 square feet of vegetable or flower pots." From Mother Earth News.

Guano is also sold for $35 dollars a bag. So looks like we have our first cash crap!

2009 Seeds Ordered!

Well now I've done it. This is the list for the 2009 growing season, the very first growing season, at Sweetlocal Farm. Just reading the list below is making my heart flutter with a combination of thrill and anxiety. I hope I do the seeds justice and give them everything they need to grow productively. I'll get mint, chives, and rhubarb from my mom's garden. Who knows what is already growing on the farm. I bet there will be some perennial herbs so I didn't order any herb seeds yet. Without further ado:

High Mowing Seeds





Chioggia Beet
Lacinato Dinosaur Kale
King of the North Bell Pepper
New England Pie Pumpkin
Samish F1 Hybrid Spinach
Table Queen Acorn Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Tango Celery
Cortland F1 Hybrid Onion
Sugar Ann Snap Pea
Red Wing F1 Hybrid Onion
All Blue Potato
Little Leaf Cucumber
Honey Nut Butternut Squash
Musque de Provence Pumpkin
Black Hungarian Pepper
Red Gold Potato

Botanical Interests



Corn Sweet Luscious Bicolor Organic Seed
Carrot Scarlet Nantes Organic Seed
Carrot Carnival Blend Organic Seed
Broccoli Di Cicco Organic Seed
Bean Bush Pencil Pod Yellow Organic Seed
Bean Pole Blue Lake Organic Seed
Arugula Mediterranean Organic Seed
Tomato Pole Black Krim Organic Seed
Tomato Cherry Sugar Sweetie Organic Seed
Tomato Bush Italian Roma Organic Seed
Squash Summer Straightneck Organic Seed
Squash Summer Blk Organic Zucchini Seed
Radish French Breakfast Organic Seed
Pumpkin Howden Organic Seed
Pepper Chile Jalapeno Organic Seed
Muskmelon Hale's Best Jumbo Organic Seed
Lettuce Romaine Parris Island Organic Seed
Lettuce Mesclun Gourmet Baby Greens Organic Seed
Eggplant Rosa Bianca Organic Seed
Eggplant Black Beauty Organic Seed
Cucumber Marketmore Organic Seed
Corn Sweet Painted Mountain Organic Seed

keeping warm

People may make fun of me and call me the girl in the sleeping bag, but this jacket from Nau.com is making my life toasty on wintry mornings. It also saved me when our band's bus broke down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of an arctic blast.

Happy New Year!

I'm snug as a bug in a rug in my apartment in Brighton, MA. Outside the ground is blanketed in snow and we are expecting more tomorrow. It seems funny to be writing in my gardening blog on January first, but I can't stop daydreaming about the spring to come. I am also so inspired by the many gardening blogs I've come across in 2008. Some of these are on my sidebar. The more I explore them and their links, the more I learn and want to keep learning.

My future farm update: We are getting a home inspection early next week. Has anyone ever had a barn inspected? I saw a squirrel making a home for himself in the barn rafters when we first looked at the place. I hope he moves out too before we move in! Here is a picture of the barn:

To till or not to till

or



When I first started planning my garden early last spring, I focused on learning how to start seeds indoors. From then I worried about planting them on time in the raised beds we made and just watered and harvested from then on out.

I didn't think of the garden as a perpetual system, probably because I knew I'd be moving sometime soon and because the lawn care people at our apartment tend to destroy my plants and "clean up" my compost pile by throwing it away- not to mention leaf blowing the entire yard so no leaves are left behind. What could I do, I rent.

Now that we have this farm in the works I've researched how to make healthy garden beds from scratch. Food Not Lawns was really the starting point for me in terms of sustainable gardening and soil health. I revisited that book last night after learning all about the lasagna gardening method on Mother Earth News.

So now I'm left with one question, to till or not to till? Knowing that we move in in early April leaves me no time to make the lasagna style bed. I won't have the materials- newspaper, leaves, compost. On the other hand, I know tilling will be back breaking labor that may destroy my virgin soil! Guess I won't know what to do till I'm actually there. Maybe my spring yard cleanup will yield leftover autumnal leaves. Maybe a neighbor has some manure or compost. Within a years time I will have a system in place to collect all this "black gold" (as my mother calls it).

The Birth of Sweetlocal Farm

For Christmas this year, I got a farm! I can hardly believe it. It isn't 100% official yet, but should be soon. Sweetlocal farm will be my biggest challenge and hopefully greatest achievement. I have bold plans and big dreams for the little 3 acre farm in Western Massachusetts.

My new home boasts a quaint farmhouse with classic farmers porch, a large red barn, and an over sized garage. There is also a koi pond surrounded by a perennial bed. Scattered across the property are wild blueberry and raspberry bushes.

I may not be able to move in until April, which will determine which crops we plan to grow this year. The fields have not been farmed in many years, so I need compost, manure, etc. I hope I get those things for free. I'll have to build fences and water collection barrels.

My long term goals include a bantam and rare breed flock of laying hens, honey bees, goats for milking and soap making, a farm stand, and perhaps a small scale CSA.

I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll post more when this is all official. Here is a picture of the barn:

I'm back!

After a long and peaceful break on this blog, it is time to update. So much has grown in the past few weeks. We are eating carrots, beets, herbs, cucumbers, and scallions. The tomatoes are doing well, still green but they should be filling in soon. We even have a baby pumpkin. My sunflowers and nasturtiums give the garden a punch of bright sunny color. Here are some pictures: