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Please take advantage of this free community building, information sharing, local online resource and create listings for your business, group, organization, project and yourself... sharing what you have to offer the Whole Island Community.
"Making Organic Small Grains Work on Your Farm" Webinar
December 3, 2009
Webinar
Attend ATTRA's FREE webinar, "Making Organic Small Grains Work on Your
Farm," on Thursday, Dec. 3 to find out how to grow organic small
grains, including wheat, barley, rye and oats. The webinar will cover:
• The economics and marketing of crops
• The importance of soil health and minimal tillage
• Fertility management and acceptable organic nutrient sources
• Weed and pest management
• Transition tips
• Rotation design
There will also be time to have your questions answered.
See: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/531696763 to register.
Start Me Up:
The Sustainable Life Community Center Samara Shaw recently introduced Orcans and others to plans for a Sustainable Life Community Center (Sustainable Orcas Island meeting, 8/26/2009). "We are now in the initial stages of growth for this exciting and timely project. The Center will serve as a resource and educational center for sustainable community activities. We are raising awareness and funds right now as well as gathering volunteers for various programs," said Shaw.
The first program on the Center's agenda is the assembly of a Gleaners for the Greater Good group. This group will be available to help gather extra fruit, berries, and produce to process and/or share with Community Food programs. The group plans to start collecting and processing produce in September.
Got Extra Fruit, Berries, Produce? Wanna Help Others? Call The Gleaners for the Greater Good at 376-6771. We will gather your extra food and donate it to the following programs: - The Food Bank
- Farm To Cafeteria
- The Sustainable Life Community Center
To have the Gleaners come to your property, to volunteer, or for more info. call Samara at 376-6771.
Upcoming Fundraiser for |
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SOI Meeting Notes - January 27, 2010
We had an excellent meeting this past Wednesday, with about 22 people talking very enthusiastically about the agenda items I distributed on the 19th, along with a few other items.
I’ll share more notes about the meeting soon.
However, before too much time got away, I wanted to forward and share a few items:
1. George Post is asking people to get informed and get involved in the solid waste issues now before the County. He is asking everyone to attend the 10:30 am County Council meeting at the Eastsound Fire Hall.
Here is his letter to the community:
NOW IS THE TIME to show your support for the Exchange on Orcas Island!
The County Council is making important decisions that will affect the cost of dumping garbage and recycling at the Orcas transfer station and your access to and the continuing viability of the Exchange.
In response to reduced income from garbage tipping fees and a long standing lack of capital funding the Council is cutting services at the Orcas transfer station (closing on Fridays starting Feb. 26th) and devising a new fee schedule. The fee schedules under consideration increase the cost of self hauling and may include a “gate fee”to enter the transfer facility.
The “Take-it-or-Leave-it”on Lopez and the Exchange on Orcas depend on self haulers to bring and take reusable materials that would otherwise be exported as waste. Any fee increases that further shift the costs of county waste programs to self haulers are contrary to the goals of the county’s Solid Waste Management Plan, which call for an aggressive waste reduction program.
The County Council must find a funding formula for solid waste to encourage waste reduction not penalize it.
The County Council is meeting at 10:30, Monday Feb.8th at the Eastsound fire hall, the day before they have another workshop on solid waste rates. This might be the last chance for supporters of the Exchange to influence their thinking in person.
I’m asking you to attend, to stand up and be counted in support of the Exchange.
Sincerely,
George Post
Founder of the Exchange and 20 year member of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee
Questions?…call me 376-4887
2. We are forming committees to work on a variety of initiatives, including:
Legume planting test
Cover crop planting test
Vegetable planting test
Spring grains planting test
Hoop house projects
Aquaponics/fish culture projects
If you’re interested in joining any of these groups, please reply to me so that I can direct you to the right person. Some of the groups are going to be meeting as early as this coming Wednesday, Feb 10!
3. Booth invitation to the May 1 Sustainable Living Fair (I’ll forward that separately).
4. Planning meeting followed by a seed exchange meeting, coordinated by Ronda Jones—I’ll forward that separately too.
Thanks! Meanwhile, also take a look at Richard Heinberg’s recent essay on http://www.postcarbon.org/; also, Dmitry Orlov has a couple of good essays recently on his blog, http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/.
-Phil Heikkinen
Join the Grain Growing Test Project!
A project of Sustainable Orcas Island designed by Dan Borman [dan.borman.food.plants[at]gmail.com]
Island Sounder article on this project: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/lifestyle/69809102.html
Background: SOI believes that it will be increasingly important for local residents to grow more of their own food. Developed through human history, grains are known to be one of the most nutrition-intensive foods available to us. We think that individuals can grow grains productively on a small scale.
Goal: to start learning what types of grains grow well on Orcas Island.
Process: Motivated growers in the San Juans will volunteer to plant a couple of rows or more of 12 types of grains, including 8 varieties of wheat, 2 varieties of rye, and one variety each of triticale and barley, from a kit containing roughly two ounces (or a bit more) of each sample. The volunteers will pay a minimal cost ($8 total per kit) to help recover costs. The plots will need to be deer proof. We estimate that a 50-to-100 square foot area would be enough to run a reasonable test.
Dan suggests planting about 1” deep, 2-4” apart in rows that are about 6 to 12” apart. Don’t pay special attention to adding soil amendments for this test, which is intended to find out what might at some point work on a larger scale with soil characteristics that we can sustain locally. Some of the grains do better with more or less nitrogen-rich soils, some with higher levels of sand or higher levels of clay, etc.
Volunteers will track/map each planting to make sure we get good information about each sample’s success. Using rows will help to compare the growth of each planting. Also, it will be helpful to record the type of soil and other conditions for each test plot.
The RYE will cross pollinate so either plant the two rye samples in areas separated by 1/4 mile or plant in different years, or plant both but only let the one that grows the best go to flower.
Timeline: planting before the end of November 2009 and sharing results through next year’s growing season. These are all winter hardy grains, suited best for fall planting. It is a warm fall so despite getting the seed late there should be many successes.
Kept in a cool, dry place, these seeds will be viable for planting in future years as well.
Contact information to obtain the kits for planting:
Phil Heikkinen, Director
Orcas Island Public Library
500 Rose Street
Eastsound, WA 98245
360-376-4985 voice, -5750 fax
www.orcaslibrary.org
MORE ABOUT THE GRAINS
WHEATS:
Darwin = winter hard white
Finley = winter hard red
Gene = winter soft white
Juniper = probably-winter hard red
Lambert = winter soft white
Marks Red = probably-winter maritime adapted
Neeley = winter hard red wheat.
Tim Peters Red = probably-winter maritime adapted
BARLEY:
Charles Barley
RYES:
Dronial Lithuanian
Licht Kern Raggen
The ryes are the only grains in this sample that might cross-pollinate. Therefore, for the purposes of the test it is best either to keep them at least ¼ mile apart or to cut the seed head from the variety that doesn’t appear to be doing as well.
TRITICALE:
Pearl
More information from Dan:
Wheat and a few other grains are classed several different ways. One classification is "habit" which will be winter, facilitative, or spring. Many spring types DIE if asked to overwinter, some springs do not; on the continuum, those "spring types" that are yet hardier are called facultative, and those that need to accumulate a chilling period are called winter. That said, many spring and facultative types are a good choice especially for this area and ESPECIALLY in an El Nino year like I believe this one is, since the winter promises to be a warm one that spring types will do well in.
Tradition says soft wheats are for west of the cascades. That is why the softs are included in the trials kit.
It is highly suggested that all these wheats be trialed in equivalent soil and exposure so you will have a good idea what your location can support and produce. Sometimes a wheat variety that is not good on one farm is the best on another. The only real way to find out is to grow a bunch. There are nearly 200,000 wheat varieties for a reason.
These soft wheats are not as soft as you might suspect. Even some of the soft wheats will make bread or will profitably be blended into dough for same, as long as you are not trying to make wonder bread in one hour. Sourdough or other long fermentation converts many lesser wheats into superior breads.
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