Two Million Bikers

"KATIE PAVLICH- By now you’ve probably heard about the “Million Muslim March” coming to Washington D.C. on 9/11. Last week Chris Phillips, the organizer of the march, appeared on Hannity and refused  to condemn hateful groups like the Muslim Brotherhood while arguing the  U.S. government has been hateful toward Muslim-Americans since  9/11/2001.

Now in response to the march, bikers are also planning to show up in Washington D.C. on 9/11….with two million people.

Thousands of America’s patriotic bikers are organizing an enormous counter  protest to the planned Million Muslim March on DC this Sept. 11.

The Facebook Page, “2 Million Bikers to DC,” has over 18 thousand “likes,”  as of Thursday morning and individual state chapters of riders have  launched pages on Facebook, as well.

The bikers are riding “To  remember those who were killed on 911 and honor our armed forces who  fought those who precipitated this attack,” the Facebook page said.

Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2013/08/boom-two-million-bikers-plan-their-own-911-march-to-washington-d-c/#3eI24WUqee1dWQLg.99 "

I doubt there will be two million bikers or one million Muslim followers rallying in our nation's capitol on September 11 but you get the idea.  I told LuAnn I still have my motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license so maybe I could rent a bike near DC and participate.  Of course I said that in jest and quickly added that probably wouldn't be a good idea for grandpa as I would probably end up with tread marks of some kind on me.

I do miss riding a motorcycle from time to time when I have a long walk between fields or have fields with nice big spaces in them to ride through.  A two wheeler can get you to a spot in a hurry but it would probably just get me into one!

I am sure the sentiments behind these "rallys" are much stronger than I portray here.  I won't get into that because you already know how I feel about our country and how I feel about freedom if you have read this blog very long at all.

Isn't that true?  Somewhere in this blog I think I used a picture of a "Harley dude" talk

Ed

Read More

Mule, Gator or Ranger?

"Been living last 6 years with two 4-wheelers-one (350 Bruin) work machine to spray and spread grass seed with, etc. One (550 Grizzly) we keep real nice just for play and scouting crops.

Borrowed neighbors gator a couple weeks ago and really liked it-bed is so much nicer than cart we drag around-and nice sitting side by side. Thinking of trading in Bruin on a used gator or mule or something.

Seems to be 3 price levels:
1) Basic slow <20mph 2wd 3k->5k
2) <20mph 4wd slow 5k->6k
3) Fast 4wd 6k->out of my budget

My farms at home are all within a mile-and don't see driving it to 25 mile away remote farms. Main uses will be wife around the yard, scouting crops with Dad, throwing a couple bags of seed or tools in to run out to field.

I am thinking 4wd slower version would do for me.

Can anyone talk me into spending more for the faster model, or talk me out of 4wd and saving some money? I have no experience with them other than one weekend-but I know a lot of people use them daily around the farm. Oh yea, no livestock here-just grain farm. Really like the bench seat ones so you can squeeze in 3.

Any input would be appreciated."

I thought Big Norsk gave an accurate reply from my experience:
"A lot of what works for you comes down to do you have the discipline not to drive into almost impossible situations and can you sometimes take an extra minute without having a heart attack.

First UTV I had was a mule and 25 mph wasn't all that bad except when doing longer road distances.

Have a 2 wheel Ranger. I get stuck a couple of times a year, I get my 4 wheeler stuck just about as often. I always carry a suitable anchor I can screw into the ground and both have winches and it's a few minute job to get out of any mistake. With the mule, I had put on a 3 inch lift kit and 27 inch mud tires and I never did dare drive into anything it didn't just drive right through.

Find the winch handy so I wouldn't want to be without one anyway and just carry the anchor with and it's really no big deal to me.

Kawasaki makes that small 4x4 I think it's called the 610 and it's a pretty good value. Limitation is I think two people is all.

For scouting, the big Rangers are actually kind of a pain due to the wheel spacing. If you go with what they now call a midsize, the same as my 2 wheel drive, then it's no big deal to drive 30 inch rows. I think a new midsize 4 by 4 can be found for just a bit over $7000. They don't sell well because people want whatever is most expensive. If you find a used midsize, you can often get a very good buy."

What UTV or 4 wheeler do you use?

Ed

Read More

Why China’s farming sector is failing

Industrial China made it tough for farming: Between the pollution in the ground, in the water and in the air, erosion and the increasing industrial land use, maybe the only safe places left are these mountain terraces.

This article takes a look at some of the issues with China and farming. We usually only hear about things like avian flue from chicken farms  or the sick pigs that are dumped into rivers instead of being properly disposed of.


Why China’s farming sector is failing

One troubling fact from a recent FAO report is that at 0.22 acres of arable land per capita, China has six times less arable land per capita than the United States. That and the higher return from factory plants compared to farming plants might explain the development priority put on industry, but this sector has already started slowing down while the population is ever increasing, so a real food policy and protection of the farming sector from the irresponsibility of factory owners and local government seems to be in order.

Chimel.

Read More

Brown Revolution

LuAnn and coworkers hosted U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown last week in Hillsboro.  That is not the kind of Brown Revolution I am talking about!

Faculty call for 'brown revolution' to promote soil health

Peter Hobbs, adjunct professor of crop and soil sciences, is coordinating a Sustainable Land Management group on campus to help foster a "Brown Revolution" to improve soil health worldwide.

The solution to climate change mitigation and global food security could lie in the soil beneath our feet, said Peter Hobbs, Ph.D '72, adjunct professor of crop and soil sciences.

He invites fellow Cornell researchers to join him in fostering a "brown revolution" that promotes conservation agriculture, which involves minimal soil disturbance and the use of cover crops and crop rotations to naturally control weeds, pests and diseases. And he hopes many will become part of multidisciplinary collaborations as part of a new Sustainable Land Management group that he works with.

While the so-called green revolution transformed agriculture with fertilizers and pesticides, improved seeds and modernized farm management that led to huge jumps in production and yields, it also contributed to environmental degradation, Hobbs said. Soils in many parts of the world, such as South Asia, have suffered from excessive tillage, leading to erosion and nutrient mining. With the increased reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, such biological amendments as manure and compost have not been added back to the soil, Hobbs said.

He hopes to improve soil health and reverse such land degradation by incorporating conservation agriculture. Healthy soils are essential for future productivity, Hobbs said. They have structure, aeration and water retention, fewer pathogens and better biological activity resulting in improved nutrient recycling needed by plants.  "Business as usual will not get the job done," Hobbs said. "Soil health has to become part of the equation."

What are you doing for the "brown revolution" in agriculture?

Ed Winkle

Read More

Ancient agriculture

Sixty-foot-tall sulfur vat in Hoskins Mound, Texas (May 1943)

A post on NAT about an antique sprayer led to a question about when pesticides were first introduced in agriculture.

Turns out that even chemical compounds have been used by Sumerians about 4,000 years ago! They were ground minerals like sulfur or later on, mineral poisons such as arsenic, mercury and lead, or organic ones such as nicotine extracted from tobacco.

"Ancient" agriculture in the U.S. colonies started back to the drawing board, taking their cue from the Native Americans, with the hand-held tools of the farmers from several thousand years ago, as draft oxen and horses were not imported for some years, and yet it was critical for the new colonies to be able to grow food and be autonomous rather than wait on supplies from England.

As colonist Captain John Smith (really? ;) from Jamestown, Virginia wrote in a 1608 report: "Our next course was to turne husbandsmen, to fell Trees and set Corne. Fiftie of our men we imployed in this service."
Note that "corne" here is wheat, not maize. A source of English language confusion that persisted until WWI or II, when the U.K. asked the U.S. for a food aid in corn, and received a shipment of maize instead of the expected wheat...

Before that time, Native Americans had already domesticated plants such as sunflower, tobacco, squash, pumpkins, wild spinach, cotton, agave, beans, plums and little barley, and switched from sumpweed to corn long ago. Irrigation canals were used near Tucson, Arizona over 1,000 BC, where they were also using stones as "mulch", to protect the soil from the arid conditions and erosion, and to retain moisture.

Chimel. (Ed is on a break this week.)

Read More

Renewable Fuel Standard

I just saw this topic in a commercial on my local news channel, a CBS affiliate.  I heard it on WJR radio on the way to Cleveland, too.  The commercial is full of falsehoods like E-15 will damage your engine, the standard will make food prices go up and blah, blah blah.  It mentions the support of AAA and I am a member.  I don't like that reference.

What's the truth?  "Oil companies don’t like biofuels very much. The reason why is pretty clear. Right now, 10 percent of what would have been gasoline sales is now being diverted to biofuels, primarily ethanol. Oilmen particularly don’t like the renewable fuel standard (RFS), which legally requires that gasoline producers include a minimum percentage of ethanol in every gallon sold, an amount that could grow to 15 percent in the near future, and eventually might go as high as 30 percent. By 2022, that means that 36 billion gallons will come from bio-based sources, though a maximum of 15 billion gallons can come from corn, a move intended to limit interference with the food supply.

That is why, both the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers group are pushing hard for a complete repeal of the RFS.

Two oil companies, BP and Shell, however, have broken ranks with these trade groups, saying that they, “generally support” the legislation. Those are the words of John Reese, Shell’s downstream policy and advocacy manager. He does feel that the mandate could use some revision. Likewise, according to spokesman Matt Hartwig, “BP supports the goals of the RFS program to stimulate the development and deployment of biofuels technologies. There are challenges with the standard that must be addressed, and we continue to work with regulatory agencies to address these issues."

As a corn grower, I haven't seen ethanol damage an engine or make my food bill go up.  Fuel costs and other inputs drive the price of food, not ethanol.  You stand on one side of the issue or the other or you just don't care.  I care.  I support the idea of burning corn ethanol.  I burn lots of it.  I like the jobs it creates and the lack of dependence on foreign oil.  Still, we are now a major export of gasoline because of the fracking industry.

I admit farming was more stable at $2 corn but it made sense to distill a crop we can grow so much of.

You either agree or you don't or you just don't care.

Ed Winkle

Read More

Radish Powered Garden

Last year the pigweeds took our late garden so I planted a heavy stand of radishes.  I tell you there is something great about those radishes whether you like Groundhog, Nitro or Tillage Radish.  We have probably our best garden ever and we didn't apply any fertilizer.  The radishes pulled up the nutrients, kept down the weeds, insects and diseases and made the best quality garden you ever saw.

The weather wasn't conducive to planting early so we planted in May, most around the 15th and 21st.  Those are also the two best dates I've seen local crops planted and I have scouted a few hundred fields this summer.  Planting date was extremely important but raising a garden without fertilizer or other amendments is truly amazing.

"Daikons are huge radishes, upwards of 18″ long, that grow down into your soil and mine for nutrients. As they descend their taproot into the soil, they are tapping into nutrients that aren’t available in the top few inches of topsoil. Perhaps more importantly, they are capable of penetrating all but the hardest of hardpan layers in the soil. In case you’re not sure what “hardpan” is, it’s a layer under the topsoil that inhibits moisture penetration and prevents plant roots from being able to access the soil beneath. It’s often formed from frequent tilling which is only able to fluff the top 8″-12″ of the topsoil. In suburban and urban areas, it’s often a consequence of construction and other earth moving activities. This is where the Daikon Radish is able to work its magic; the long taproot is able to break through the hardpan which allows moisture and nutrients to percolate downwards. So how does this build soil, you may be asking yourself?

Instead of harvesting the radishes to eat, you allow them to stay there and be killed by the fall frosts. What is left behind is a “carbon pathway”. I love that term…it’s such a great description for what roots can accomplish if left to their own devices. As the Daikon Radish roots decompose, they are adding organic matter to the soil as well as leaving a pathway for water and roots for the subsequent generations or other plants that you may plant the following year. And what happens to the green leafy tops? If they are left to decompose as the roots are, you have a rich mulch for the soil that is full of the nutrients that the taproot was able to mine. As the tops decompose, these nutrients are now available for the next plants that enter the system. Pretty cool how it comes full circle, huh?

If you have land that you would like to improve, consider a mass planting of Daikon Radishes. Or plant patches in your veggie garden that would otherwise go unused. Sure, they may compete with your tomatoes or cucumbers in the beginning but as they establish themselves and send their taproots deeper and deeper, they will be harvesting water from a depth far greater than your “desirable” veggies. If you are a fan of radishes, they certainly can be harvested for your dinner table…check out some ways to use them here. The seeds are available from various sources, including High Mowing Organic Seeds. I’m curious to know if any of the Mid-Atlantic Gardening readers have any experience with growing Daikon Radishes for soil building."

It's time to go plant radishes!

Ed

Read More