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LadyLocust said:
Since I was little, I've wanted to like beets. They are such a beautiful color. To this day, I think they taste like dirt.
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hahaha, I agree! But I am planting some anyway, they sell well at the farmers market.

Planted onions, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, endive lettuce and romaine lettuce today ( transplanted from little pots into the garden). I also transplanted 4 little tomato plants, even if technically it can still freeze here until end of May. I will see how they do. The rest of them will stay in the pots in the greenhouse until later
 
joel said:
Peanut, what brand of 25lbs of crushed volcanic rock?
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Bacpacker said:
And where from
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Azomite, AZOMITE Natural Trace Mineral Products, certified for the organic production of plants and animals. They have a website and list dealers around the country. Full disclosure... I was a dealer at one time, in fact the only one in the SE, now there are dozens. Most will ship but the price of shipping per bag is about the same as the price per bag.

The only reason I was a dealer - it paid for most of the azomite I used here on the farm. I used tons of it here. It's a remarkable stuff, contains over 80 minerals and elements. In the early days I'd order a ton and split it with a few people.

There is another similar product that is much cheaper to ship if that's your only option. I've never used it but I know a few people who have used both. They say it's comparable.

The company is Organic Certified | Sea-Crop

These folks extract minerals from sea water, Oregon I believe. They can ship their product in concentrated form.
 
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For those interested in learning about the mineral depletion of our croplands and pastures below are a couple of links.

In 2000 I suddenly found myself disabled with a malady with no known cause or cure. Early on I noticed changes in my diet greatly affected me. I found an obscure article about the mineral depletion of our croplands and hence, the food we eat.

I started researching the topic and found an article by a Nobel winner on this topic. To paraphrase… “To obtain the same nutrients as a cheeseburger in 1950, today we’d have to eat 6 of them”.

I started trying to figure out how to re-mineralize soils here on the farm. My first thought was volcanoes. The richest soils in the world are the result of volcanic eruptions. Mankind has lived by volcanoes for millennia because his crops, livestock and families were healthier.

In my search for volcanic rock I exchanged messages with a scientist who was then the director of the Cascades Volcano Observatory, a Dr. Gardner if I remember correctly. She referred me to another scientist who sent me a link, an article about 200yr old oak trees being brought back from deaths door in CA.

They were using crushed volcanic rock from a little family business in Utah. The product was named “Azomite”.

I’ve seen it do remarkable things for plants and animals. Example, my old garden had been used continually for more than 100yrs. There was nothing left in the soil, anything planted was destined to a slow death from disease or insects. Normal fertilizers did nothing to help the situation.

The second year I used azomite I didn’t have to dust for a single insect, diseases vanished. Insects are little predators just like a lion in Africa, they go for the weakest prey. When you get plants healthy, insects go elsewhere. Plant diseases behave the same way. A healthy plant has its own defenses against insects and diseases.

I used to talk to other farmers at the farmers market, told them the results I was getting, all to no avail. Some would say, I compost, or I use manure… never understanding that if a horse or cow is eating from a mineral depleted pasture then the manure is also mineral depleted, useless crap, literally.

The last time I researched this topic all north american cropland and pastures are over 85% mineral depleted, that means all of our foods are 85% mineral depleted.

Well, this is my little rant on how to grow healthy crops and critters… believe me or no but the testing doesn’t lie. Again, here are a couple of links to get you started if you wish to research the topic.

The mineral depletion of foods available to us as a nation (1940-2002)--a review of the 6th Edition of McCance and Widdowson - PubMed

Our Disappearing Minerals and Their Vital Health Role (Part 1) - NaturalNews.com
 
Got my celery, spinach and leaf lettuce planted. Too cold for anything else yet. Have another 3-4 weeks before I can plant the tomatoes and peppers and such
garden2021 001.JPG
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garden2021 001.JPG

My kale over wintered and its getting blooms on it so I may get some seeds from them this year which will be great. I'll have seeds ready made for my climate and soil
garden2021 006.JPG
 
My asparagus has started coming up. Probably 75% has sprouted. Also got 3 bundles on Copra Onions Great for storage onions, Also some red ones for faster eating. And one bunch of Lancelot Leeks in the mail today. I love ordering from Dixondale onions. Great product, you can pick your ship date, always several more slips than you order. best of all I rarely lose any.
 
Copras are long day, but they bulb nicely here. I'm always on the look out for storage onions that work well for me.

Today I planted 6 Celebrity and 6 Red Beefsteak Tomatos. Planted Candy Apple Red onions in the bed with the maters. Then planted Lancelot Leeks in the bed with my asparagus, which is coming up nicely. Replanted my okra which hasn't come up. Gonna replant my cukes tomorrow.. I checked my taters again and found about 2/3rds have came up. I guess I was just in to big of a hurry.
Worked up more ground and will plant my Copra Onions, 1 row of Kidney Beans, and 1 row of Great Northern Beans tomorrow. Hope to start running my soaker hoses in the beds as well.
 
Peanut said:
For those interested in learning about the mineral depletion of our croplands and pastures below are a couple of links.

In 2000 I suddenly found myself disabled with a malady with no known cause or cure. Early on I noticed changes in my diet greatly affected me. I found an obscure article about the mineral depletion of our croplands and hence, the food we eat.

I started researching the topic and found an article by a Nobel winner on this topic. To paraphrase… “To obtain the same nutrients as a cheeseburger in 1950, today we’d have to eat 6 of them”.

I started trying to figure out how to re-mineralize soils here on the farm. My first thought was volcanoes. The richest soils in the world are the result of volcanic eruptions. Mankind has lived by volcanoes for millennia because his crops, livestock and families were healthier.

In my search for volcanic rock I exchanged messages with a scientist who was then the director of the Cascades Volcano Observatory, a Dr. Gardner if I remember correctly. She referred me to another scientist who sent me a link, an article about 200yr old oak trees being brought back from deaths door in CA.

They were using crushed volcanic rock from a little family business in Utah. The product was named “Azomite”.

I’ve seen it do remarkable things for plants and animals. Example, my old garden had been used continually for more than 100yrs. There was nothing left in the soil, anything planted was destined to a slow death from disease or insects. Normal fertilizers did nothing to help the situation.

The second year I used azomite I didn’t have to dust for a single insect, diseases vanished. Insects are little predators just like a lion in Africa, they go for the weakest prey. When you get plants healthy, insects go elsewhere. Plant diseases behave the same way. A healthy plant has its own defenses against insects and diseases.

I used to talk to other farmers at the farmers market, told them the results I was getting, all to no avail. Some would say, I compost, or I use manure… never understanding that if a horse or cow is eating from a mineral depleted pasture then the manure is also mineral depleted, useless crap, literally.

The last time I researched this topic all north american cropland and pastures are over 85% mineral depleted, that means all of our foods are 85% mineral depleted.

Well, this is my little rant on how to grow healthy crops and critters… believe me or no but the testing doesn’t lie. Again, here are a couple of links to get you started if you wish to research the topic.

The mineral depletion of foods available to us as a nation (1940-2002)--a review of the 6th Edition of McCance and Widdowson - PubMed

Our Disappearing Minerals and Their Vital Health Role (Part 1) - NaturalNews.com
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Another Azomite fan here! Everything that is said about it is true (singing many praises).

Another remineralization favorite is Basalt (I get mine from Cascade Minerals).
https://cascademinerals.com/products/
Best prices I have found so far on the Azomite is Amazon (from "Raw Supply").

And best price on the Cascade Mineral brand of basalt is from Azure Standard. (Organic, non-GMO Food and Produce Delivered - Azure Standard) Shipping is crazy cheap, considering other places charge much, MUCH more). This co-op is also where I regularly buy all of my bulk foods such as brown rice, beans, etc.
 
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lilmissy said:
On the Azomite. I do not see where the description says raw. Does it matter if its pelletized or best to use dust?
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I think "raw" means not processed, only grind to a grit & screened.
Raw in not man made, just removed from earth.
 
Planted Lemon Squash (thanks for the heads up MEER), Delicata Squash, 2 kinds of Cukes, Blue Lake bush green beans, a 100' double row of Copra onions (now I recall why i started building rasied beds. My back and knees are killing me). Also planted a row of Great Northern Beans, 2/3 row of Kidney beans, and 1/3 row of a old variety from Baker Creek seeds called 1500 year old beans. Picture looks like a black, brown, and white speckled bean. We'll see how those turn out.

Gotta start putting down my drip lines for everything this week.
 
lots of kinds of rock dust...lots of kinds of rock to grind for them. one is gypsum...not lime but gypsum. it does nothing to change ph of soils.


planted big garden taters this week. put out 4-125foot rows.used about 56-58ish pounds of seed potatoes. hoss tools says 10# to plant a 40 foot row. last couple years i kept a watch its pretty close on average.i had a 50# of kennebecs, a jag of dakota pearl and used purple and red fingerlings to finish off last row.
 
elkhound said:
lots of kinds of rock dust...lots of kinds of rock to grind for them. one is gypsum...not lime but gypsum. it does nothing to change ph of soils.


planted big garden taters this week. put out 4-125foot rows.used about 56-58ish pounds of seed potatoes. hoss tools says 10# to plant a 40 foot row. last couple years i kept a watch its pretty close on average.i had a 50# of kennebecs, a jag of dakota pearl and used purple and red fingerlings to finish off last row.
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Woah!

That mimics my small scale genetics save german butterballs.

Nice!

Ben
 
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