Food for Thought

There’s a bit of folk wisdom that says, “Who is rich? He who is thankful for what he’s got.” We’ve all seen people who have every material thing, and yet they’re dissatisfied and discontent. And then there are people who have far less and yet, because of their thankful attitude, they’re rich in smiles and gratitude. Thankfulness is surely one of the keys to happiness, and we don’t mean just thankfulness over material blessings.

Most people count their family as the thing they most value in life, and Thanksgiving offers a great opportunity to spend time with those nearest and dearest. People also value health, freedom, friendship, community, creative expression, and of course, their relationship with God. All these things are incredible blessings, and yet we often take them for granted, focusing instead on disappointments, frustrations, and setbacks.

The Pilgrims were thankful just to know that they were not going to go hungry over the cold New England winter. The previous winter an alarming number of them had starved, but at that first Thanksgiving they rejoiced over having plenty of vegetables, grains, and game to sustain them.

Today our blessings far exceed those of the original settlers, and yet giving thanks is considered “corny” in some circles. Well, not to us: we give thanks for all the blessings mentioned earlier, and also to you, our customers, for sustaining our business this year, and offering us the opportunity to sell you the very best products we can find. On that note, we’ll proceed to tell you about some delicious goodies we offer that will liven up your Thanksgiving celebrations.

Food for Our Celebrations

Popcorn! Who doesn’t love popcorn?  But the kind you get at the supermarket most likely consists of genetically modified corn, because GMO corn now predominates in the marketplace. What we sell is Amish Country Popcorn, a brand that’s guaranteed to be non-GMO. You can get red, white, blue, yellow, purple or even rainbow-colored kernels (although they all pop white) in various sizes, or as gift assortments. We also sell the best oils for popping popcorn: canola, peanut, and coconut. We even sell Ballpark Seasoning Salt that is just like what you had on your popcorn when you were a kid, and Sweet Caramel Glaze, which is all you’ll need to make caramel corn.

Another delicious product we sell that comes to us from the Amish is Mrs. Miller’s Homemade Jams. These jams contain all-natural ingredients, no preservatives, and are rich and pulpy with fresh fruit, be it apple, apricot, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, cherry, gooseberry, grape, peach, rhubarb-strawberry, or strawberry. There’s even hot pepper jelly, and also sugar-free jams and jellies. If you can’t decide, try one of the assortment packs that contains little bottles of strawberry, black raspberry, and rhubarb-strawberry jam, along with elderberry jelly, hot pepper jelly, and peanut butter spread.

Talking about spreads, our Jake and Amos Spreads are all-natural, and come in some intriguing flavors. Besides the classic apple butter with spice (with or without sugar), there are also naturally sweetened pumpkin butter, and sweet potato butter. Try putting those out on your Thanksgiving table, and watch the delighted faces of those who have never before spread pumpkin or sweet potato onto their bread! Finally, don’t send your guests home without a handful of our candy corn, or a few of our primose-filled red raspberry candies.

Food for the Hungry

Finally, we want to say that we feel our Thanksgiving would be missing something essential if we failed to reach out to those who are in need. Despite an abundance of food in this country that is beyond anything the Pilgrims ever dreamed of, the latest statistics are that 49 million Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from!

One charity that is doing great work to help feed America’s hungry is Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest), a non-profit that distributes 3 billion pounds of food a year to more than 400 food banks. If you give before November 25, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a corporate sponsor. Feeding America has consistently been ranked one of the best-run charities, allocating only 1.3% to administrative costs. Join us as we give financially in order to give hope to families, hope to communities, and hope for a happy holiday for all by donating to Feeding America.

It is also true that many of us look forward to Veteran’s Day, not as a day to reflect upon our proud soldiers, those who have passed and those who are still with us, but as a day off. It is a National Holiday, so the banks are closed and the mail won’t be delivered. Every major retailer will have a Veteran’s Day Sale, so it’s a good time to start your Christmas shopping, right? The kids may be home from school, so maybe it’s a good day to go miniature golfing or to a movie.

However, do you know the history of Veteran’s Day and why it is a National Holiday? Do you know its deeper meaning? Do you know the solemn feeling that engulfed a whole world at the thought of over 15 million military and civilians dying? Can you picture the celebrations in the streets as first, a cease-fire was enacted, and then finally, seven months later, World War I ended? The U.S. and her 20 allies lost almost six million of their military, with another 12 million wounded. Civilian deaths directly due to military action were almost one million. And then you have the two million people that succumbed to famine and disease. Today, we fight a different kind of war with far fewer casualties due to technology’s impact, but our soldiers still fight for the same thing: FREEDOM. They still die, as do civilians. And they still come home wounded. Their families sacrifice, not their lives, but their way of life in support of those loved ones who have volunteered; yes volunteered, to fight for our freedom.

World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, but the fighting actually ceased seven months earlier on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  In November of 1919, President Wilson first proclaimed November 11th as Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” 

So, Armistice Day, which is now Veteran’s Day, is not only in commemoration of our fallen and living military men and women, but should also be a day for reflection. Each and every one of us should show more tolerance, be more open-minded, show good faith towards our fellow human beings; even as we guard against those who consider us their enemies. Our fight should be with those who vilify everything we stand for, NOT with each other, our friends, our countrymen, our allies.

Every one of us here at Garden Harvest Supply has either served in the military or has known and cared for someone who has. Our military honor plaques are displayed prominently, a gentle, but constant reminder of those who protect what is most valuable to us. It is a matter of pride that encourages us to decorate our gardens and yards with these amazing plaques. Won’t you join us?

Happy Veterans Day 2011

It is true that any stimulation of one of your senses can give birth to memories, but, by far, the best kind are those that seem to wrap you up in a warm hug and make you smile. Old fashioned candies are one of those things that will always evoke a warmhearted response from our hearts and minds.

Your sight is the first sense to be stirred. When you first see those sugary Jelly Bells or creamy Mellocremes in the  traditional holiday colors of red and green, a smile will be your first response. You won’t be able to help but gently smile with the cherished memories of happy times. Or maybe a broad grin leaps to your face as you remember a lively household. Do you laugh out loud?

Old fashioned candy’s sweet smell, especially that of Primrose Filled Red Raspberry Candy or Reindeer Candy Corn will be the next to assault your senses. As your eyes have drawn you to the source of those wonderful memories, your sense of smell will make it impossible not to reach for one of those goodies.

And as you reach for that delectable treat, your touch will even more intensely remind you of the taste that is soon to come. Will you reach to carefully pick up an Old Fashioned Ribbon Candy or will you look over the whole assortment before settling on just one favorite to pluck from that Old Time Christmas Mix?

Regardless of your personal preference, you will not be disappointed. Old fashion candies are just one of life’s simplest and best pleasures.

Excite the senses of your family and friends with the forever-memorable sight and flavor of Old Fashion Candy!

Well, something else that makes smart financial sense is doing everything in your power to make those things on which you have spent your hard-earned money last longer. You vacuum and shampoo your carpet, even taking your shoes off when you enter the house, to make your carpeting last longer. You remind the kids…regularly…to keep their feet off the furniture, to make it last longer. Your money-saving garden even ensures a longer life through healthy eating. So, why would you ignore the toll the weather takes on your outdoor living accessories and shrubs?

Our furniture covers and plant covers are designed to save you money. Just as you protect your veggie plants from frost, hail, driving rain and wind; your patio furniture and permanent landscaping needs protection from Mother Nature’s temper tantrums.

From one of our customers: “…I personally, have witnessed my brand new patio umbrella flying across the yard to end up a mangled mess against the fence. I had it closed down and firmly situated in a HEAVY, wrought iron stand, from which the umbrella rose another couple of feet through the top of my HEAVY glass-topped table. I thought I did everything right, until it went flying across the yard, thankfully not hitting any windows or toppling the glass table, but snapping the support ribs like toothpicks. The wind caught underneath the furled umbrella, snapped the tie that held it tightly furled, which allowed the umbrella to open fully, creating a canvas sail that flew up and out of that heavy wrought iron stand and up even farther until it cleared the top of my table, and away it went. A simple, inexpensive umbrella cover would have prevented that from happening and I wouldn’t have had to buy another brand new umbrella the following season…”

Additionally, patio furniture covers and patio accessory covers protect the materials and fabrics from normal, everyday weather when not in use. In spring and fall the weather can change from one day to the next. For days it may be too cold or too wet to sit out on the deck or patio, but when that gorgeous, perfect, porch-sitting day (or week) arrives, who wants to have to rinse off the grime that has accumulated on the tabletop or clean the chairs before sitting down? Having to do that diminishes the pleasure, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be much easier to just slip the covers off and have a seat?

Learn from other’s mistakes. Instead of lamenting over the loss of a beautiful umbrella, take a long look at the rest of your outdoor accessories. Is your grill starting to rust around the handles and does it still have that “new grill” shine? Investing in a grill cover will protect it year round. A new grill cover will probably cost less than $50.00, but a new grill can cost hundreds! The same is true of your patio furniture. Is it only a year or two old but already looking shabby and worn? And those stackable plastic chairs! They may not be that expensive, but they add up, especially if you have to replace them every other year. Cover them with our stackable chair covers to ensure they are always ready to sit in when guests arrive.

In fact, just take a walk around the outside of your house. Take stock of your outdoor accessories and permanent landscaping; just think about how much it would cost to replace it. Then, browse through our outdoor covers and plant covers.

Spend a little to save a lot!

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin

Happy Autumn everyone!

An heirloom variety, I could find no information on the approximate date it was first introduced, which I can only deduce, means that it is a very old variety. The customer reviews of this unusually colored tomato have me agreeing that it is worth growing.

The Great White tomato is a beefsteak type of heirloom tomato that is amazingly meaty, while being incredibly juicy at the same time. Gardeners tell of its having only small pockets of seeds close to the outside, while the interior is almost completely solid with sweet, juicy meat. The flavor is most un-tomato-ish. Of course, anyone in-the-know knows that tomatoes are considered a fruit, but most tomatoes don’t closely taste like any type of fruit that is common today. The Great White tomato, however, is a tomato with a fruity taste. Described as sweet, juicy, kind-of citrusy and “almost impossible to describe”, one producer describes the flavor as reminiscent of fresh cut pineapple, melon and guava, all at one time. Hmmmm. I wonder if you could make wine out of these. An interesting idea, since tomatoes are chock full of vitamin C and antioxidants!

So, the proponents for the Great White tomato tell of the many compliments they receive, once people get past the unusual color. You may have to blindfold someone to get them to take the first bite! But…once they do, they will most likely be at least willing to admit that they are pleasantly sweet and tasty, while most will want plants for their own gardens. Their size makes them good for slicing and their color makes them an interesting addition to a sliced tomato plate. I can picture them on a blue plate, alternated with slices of a red beefsteak for the 4th of July picnic. I can also visualize them cut in tiny pieces in a baby spinach salad, maybe served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. A couple of customers have actually made them into marinara sauce and remarked on how much their friends enjoyed it, though it was a little weird eating white marinara sauce.

As far as growing them, they can be grown like any other tomato.. The Great White tomato is an indeterminate variety, which means it will produce fruit all season. It is important to provide support for these plants due to the weight of the fruit they will bear and the heights they will achieve, easily topping 3 or 4-feet. They are also quite leafy, which is a good thing, as the dense foliage protects the white flesh from getting sun-scorched. In fact, the Great White tomato has a better tolerance to heat than many other varieties and definitely much better than most whites, with very little cracking or splitting, if any.

One grower commented that he was in a competition with his wife and babied his in 18-gallon pots, with a combination of planting mix and manure, carefully building an arrangement of laths and cords to support them, only to have just one of his ten plants produce fruit. While…on the other side of the yard, his wife planted her tomatoes in partial shade, right in the ground, with no fertilizer and right next to the pumps for their saltwater swimming pool and managed to get about 60 pounds of tomatoes off of just three plants. I think that we can conclude that the Great White tomato plant does not need to be babied and is not at all fragile, regardless of its color, which might lead you to believe otherwise. I wonder if the ground vibrations from the pumps had anything to do with the heavy production.

Your Great White tomato plants will arrive in a 3-inch pot. We have grown them in our greenhouses, with high quality planting soil and have provided them the essential nutrients necessary to develop strong root systems. Tomatoes stand up remarkably well to the stresses of shipping and transplant, but our short video will give you some transplant tips. Here in our greenhouses, and in our own personal gardens, we use Neptune’s Harvest when transplanting any of our plants from the pot to the garden, and we use Espoma Tomato-tone® to provide the best possible nutrients for optimal tomato growth. These organic products provide assurance that your family is only getting nutritionally sound produce from your garden, without ingesting chemical traces, and without the worry of ground water contamination.

Try the Great White tomato this summer! I can almost guarantee you will enjoy the flavor, even if you are not already a tomato lover!

The simple answer is that it is worm poop. Also called worm manure, worm humus or worm compost, this amazingly rich soil amendment and fertilizer is becoming more popular than ever, and for good reason. Word of mouth has spread the good news and as more and more people plant gardens and become ever more aware of the harm that pesticides and synthetic fertilizers can cause, the use of worm castings has increased dramatically with sometimes astounding results. Most people are very pleasantly surprised when they open their first container of worm castings. The odor is pleasantly earthy, it is dry, not moist at all, and the texture will be similar to a good soil/peat mixture. You don’t have to wear gloves to handle it, nor do you have to wear a mask or use in a well-ventilated area. Worm castings are 100% organic, 100% safe for the planet, you and your family and are 100% beneficial.

Worm castings are created by feeding a particular type of worm a variety of organic materials. The worms most often used are Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida) and one other type of red worm (Lumbricus rubellus). These worms are a top-dweller/feeder, which simply means that as you add organic material they will move to the top to eat it. They are also able to withstand the high temperatures needed for the best composting results and they are prolific breeders. These are not the earth worms that you go fishing with, though I’m sure that any hungry fish would not turn its nose up at them.

The act of worm composting is called vermicomposting. Vermicompost is a verb, not a noun. Home vermicomposters will normally use garden and kitchen refuse of the organic variety, such as fruit and vegetable peels and rinds, leaves and grass clippings. You can also use coffee grounds, right along with the filters, moldy bread, tea bags; anything but dairy products or meat, which can rot and attract unwanted pests. Cooked foods that are oily or on which butter has been utilized is also not recommended. It is true that the worms will eventually be able to break down these items too, but it takes longer and the benefits are not worth the smell or the mess.

So, why do worm castings work so much better than other fertilizers, organic or not? Well, all soil and food has microbial activity. Microorganisms are a critical part of our own lives, as they are of every living thing. Worm castings have 10 to 20 times as much of that microbial activity as the soil and food that they eat. As the organic materials go in one end and out the other, it is mixed with worm mucus, which helps the soil to hold onto the nutrients, rather than having it washed away with watering, and also enables the soil to retain more moisture. When used by farmers or in your backyard garden plot, or even as a top dressing on your lawn, they also attract even more earthworms, which also serves to improve the quality of your soil. Just using worm castings once starts a healthy cycle of soil enrichment and plant health.

The reason that worm castings are so much more beneficial that soluble plant fertilizers is because the nutrients that are stored in the microbial rich organic matter and in the bodies of the microbes is not lost through the process of irrigation, ending up in the ground water. Fungal tentacles, called hyphae that are about the size of a very thin strand of hair, wrap around organic matter and soil particles when searching for food. These form aggregates (a material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles) that are the very basis for quality soil structure.

But, to answer the question, “What are worm castings?”, a picture, or two, is well worth a thousand words. We have a customer who bought her first bag of worm castings and decided to share her results, through pictures. She was given some peat-potted cuttings of a white flowered, unidentified perennial. Rather than plant them right into the ground, she chose to pot them first, to see what kind of plant they were. Out of the six plants, only three of them appeared healthy. The others were quite wilted, meaning they were loosely and limply hanging over the edges of their peat pots, with little sign of life, except that they were still green, though quite sickly looking. She decided to plant them anyway and mixed the worm castings with the old potting soil that she had on hand. She also chose to keep them inside until they were well established, as her area of the country was experiencing extremely hot temperatures.

This is the first day, right after planting. As you can see, there are two very upright plants in each planter with another barely upright plant on the left side of the left planter. On the back side of the left planter, and on the back and right side of the right-hand planter, are the three “dead” plants.

This is the left hand planter on the third day, with the plant on the left standing more upright and the plant in the back showing signs of life, to include new growth at the top.

And this is the right hand planter on the third day, with the plant on the right really starting to perk up, at which point our customer is convinced that there is no help for the last of the 6 plants on the back side of the planter. It still hasn’t turned brown, but there is little sign of life and no new growth…yet.

And then this is that same right hand planter five days later, just 8 days after they were planted. She turned the planter around in order to get a better view, but the position on the tabletop has not changed, as you can tell by the curtains behind.

Finally, 6 healthy plants that will be kept in pots until they can be identified and our customer can decide where in her yard she wants their permanent home to be.

Thanks for the great advertising!

What are worm castings? I hope that I have answered your questions. We have built our business on the belief that having a good relationship with our customers is tantamount to having a successful business. Articles like these are just one way that we pass along our knowledge and expertise, free of charge. Customers like the lady above are why we keep on doing it!

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Recognizing the Squash Vine Borer Moth

So, how do you identify the problem to begin with? The best way is to be aware of what to look for. As your squash-like plants are just about to blossom, you may notice wasps flying around your vegetable garden, paying particular attention to your squash, melons or cucumbers. Look closely; these wasps may actually be the moth that lays the eggs of the squash vine borer. They will look somewhat like a giant hornet, having a wing span of about 1.5 inches. The wings will be translucent, but colored in shades of orange and black. These female moths will have a bright orange or red and black abdomen and femurs. They can be quite elusive, prefer daytime flight, are rather noisy and will lay their eggs at the base of your plants, right on the soil. In the south, this will usually occur sometime in April or May, but it may happen later in the north, normally in June and July. The eggs will be flat, brown circles about 1/10 inch across and nearly impossible to see.

The Destructive Squash Vine Borer Larvae

In one to two weeks, depending upon the heat and weather, the eggs will hatch and become larvae. The larvae are grub-like, about an inch long, white with a dark brown head and itty bitty brown legs. They bore into the stems of your plants and are gluttonous eaters, which is what ultimately kills your plants. Inspect the stems about an inch above the soil level for tiny holes through which the larvae have entered. You may even see a yellowish saw-dust looking material near the hole or at the base of your plants. You can confirm their presence further by using a knife to make a slit lengthwise along the stem, from the bore hole and about an inch up. You will see the worm and more of the yellowish excrement inside the stem. At this point you can kill the worms with the knife blade and then mound soil up above the wound to encourage root growth along that particular section of the stem. Be aware though, that this method will only work at the very earliest stages of infestation and can be quite time-consuming and messy.

Perpetuating Their Life Cycle

Once the larvae have matured, they can leave the insides of your plants’ stems and start feasting on the maturing fruit. They will finally mature to the point where they leave the plant, burrow into the soil and spin a mahogany brown cocoon in which to hibernate until the following spring when the orange, red and black moths will appear once again.

Control with Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth

Now, how do you control them? I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”; and in this case, that is SO true. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is one of the best preventive measures. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a naturally occurring, organic pesticide in dust form that cuts the exoskeletons of the moths, both as they emerge from the soil and as they land to lay their eggs. A little goes a long, long way and it is easy to apply, especially if using a duster designed for DE, but the best part is that Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth will also deter and destroy a whole host of other garden pests with absolutely no ill-effects on your family, your pets or the environment. Dust with DE from the ground up, paying special attention to the undersides of the leaves, as this is where most insects will lay their eggs. Application is recommended once a month or after a very heavy rain, but as long as dust is evident at the base of the plants and under the leaves, you do not have to reapply heavily.

Deterring with a Plant & Seed Blanket

If, on the other hand, you’ve never had Squash Vine Borers in your garden, you may be able to get away with a simple cover. There are a number available, but the one that seems to work best is the Plant & Seed Blanket by Easy Gardener®. This lightweight, breathable blanket can be applied when you seed or first transplant seedlings. It allows essential air and moisture to reach your growing plants, but will prevent the Squash Borer moth from being able to lay her eggs. Just apply the blanket over your seed bed or transplants with plenty of slack to allow for plant growth and blooming. The ends and sides can be held down with garden stakes or with loose soil. Once the blossoms have wilted, giving way to the fruit, it should be safe to remove the plant and seed blanket.

Use Hot Pepper Wax Spray to Make Their Lives Miserable

Another preventative measure that is used very successfully is Hot Pepper Wax Spray. Made by combining capsaicin (what makes cayenne peppers hot) and a thin, food grade paraffin, the spray coats your plants with an unpleasantly irritating liquid that stays in place by being bound to the waxy paraffin. Apply to the bottom couple of inches of the stems to prevent the larvae from boring as they hatch, or apply to the whole plant, including the undersides of the leaves, to also deter aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, lace bugs, leafhoppers, thrips and many more pests. Be aware though, that when checking growth progress, weeding or harvesting your produce, the capsaicin can transfer to your skin and be quite irritating, especially if you have open wounds or you rub your eyes. It will sting, but warm water will wash the residue away. Young children who put their hands in their mouths will also experience an unpleasant heat.

Kill Them with BT

Finally, for the very worst infestations and to completely prevent the larvae from spinning cocoons that will produce Squash Vine Borer moths next year, we recommend using Bacillus Thuringiensis, a.k.a. BT. BT occurs naturally and is a soil-borne organism that has the ability to control squash vine borers and other insects that are in the worm or caterpillar stage of development. It can be applied to the foliage of plants on which larvae are feeding, but it can also be used as an injection to the insides of the stems to destroy the borers. Bacillus Thuringiensis effectively paralyzes the digestive tract of the larvae, which means they can’t feed anymore, which causes them to die. BT is effectively used as a pre-emptive measure, when injected into your plants right after the first blossoms appear and then again in a week to 10 days. You simply mix it as you normally would for external application, and then use a disposable syringe that you can buy at any drug store. You can also use a wood worker’s glue injector, but be sure to rinse the needle with a mixture of chlorine bleach and water between injections in order to prevent possible cross-contamination of other diseases that you are not yet aware of. Mix the BT just prior to use and inject the stem about 1.5″ above the soil line. The borers will eat it as they first start to feed, causing them to die. The recommended amount is about 1cc of BT for each injection. It will wash the hollow interior of the stem, but will flow back out of the stem through the injection site if you use too much.

We here at Garden Harvest Supply hope that we’ve provided you some much needed, valuable information about Squash Vine Borers and how best to deal with them. We are always available to answer any of your questions and concerns. You can contact us here, or contact our Master Gardener directly.

Happy Gardening, Everyone!

After you hand remove the horn worm, kill it by cutting it in half. You can smash it; just beware that it will make a bit of a mess this way.

If you find a worm that has white sacks hanging onto its back, do NOT remove it! Leave it right where it is on your tomato plant. The white sacks are the eggs of the parasitic wasp, one of nature’s beneficial insects. These eggs survive by sucking the life out of the horn worm. Once these eggs hatch, the wasp will go out looking for more horn worms to lay eggs into and kill.

If you watch the news at all, you are well aware of the environmental crises that occur around the world involving hazardous materials and chemicals. The components of chemical fertilizer have even been used to make life-destroying bombs, which should be a big hint to all of us that they are not the best thing to be using on our lawns; and especially on our vegetable gardens that supply the food we feed to our family.

Chemical fertilizers are considered potentially harmful to both humans and to our planet. They are completely inorganic, synthesized to mimic the minerals and nutrients that plants need to grow. Yes, they work; but at what cost? Chemical fertilizers can pollute wells and ground water and eventually ends up in the rivers, lakes and oceans as rain washes it to these water sources. How many times have you seen someone overwatering their lawn to the point that it is running in the gutters? How many times have you stopped to think that whatever he or she has used to kill weeds on their lawn or to make their lawn grow is being washed, along with the wasted water, into the storm drains? Where do you think the water from the storm drains ends up? Yep, I’ve been guilty too, but I’ve made learning about the best ways to garden while leaving the world a better place for my children, my personal goal and my business, and that does not involve using harmful chemicals.

I’m sure you’ve heard how important it is to wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly; in fact, in some instances the experts are now recommending that you remove the skins completely. The same skins that your Mom always told you has so many more healthful vitamins and nutrients than the flesh of the fruit, is now being contaminated. Some of the most common fruits, such as strawberries, have some of the highest concentrations of fertilizer-borne chemical concentrations.

And if that isn’t enough, chemical fertilizers can actually, over time, cause mineral depletion of the soil, a loss of humus content and fertile top soil, as well as increasing pest problems due to the destruction of beneficial bacteria and microbes that help the plants to defend themselves against diseases and pests. Long-term use of chemical fertilizers may mean that you have to water more and that you also may have to use more chemicals to destroy the pests and diseases that have been enabled by the use of chemicals to begin with.

This vicious cycle has been perpetuated, not only by us, but by the chemical companies that heard our demands for the “instant” picture perfect lawn. That was the American Dream, after all. But the perfect lawn takes time, which is something we all seemed to have run completely out of as the race was on to keep up with the Joneses and then with the Rockefellers and the American housewife put shoes on and started carrying a brief case. It was all we could do to raise our 2.5 children and bring home the bacon, but we still wanted that perfect lawn. Necessity is the mother of invention—which is how chemical fertilizers came to be.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention again—as we now know at what cost our “instant” green lawn was achieved. Today, as more and more Americans are out of work or struggling to make ends meet, the return to gardening is like a tidal wave spreading across this country of ours. Even vacant city lots are becoming community gardens to feed the citizens, but the by-product of this movement is that people are learning to care again. They are getting to know their neighbors as they band together so that more can eat. They are getting to know their children as they opt out of the movie theater and opt in for family gardening. The dancing shoes are being put away and being replaced by a hoe; after all, who can afford to go out AND pay a babysitter? The backyard garden is becoming what the sit-down family dinner used to be in the 60′s.

And people care. They care more about the environment because they are thinking twice about what they put on the home-grown vegetables that they will put in their mouth. They see our natural resources shrinking, right along with their bank account, and hope that we are all not doing too little too late. And they are looking for solutions.

Here is a HUGE solution—an army of people working together to raise an army of worms that can supply the U.S. with all the natural, organic and chemical-free fertilizer that is needed to rebuild our tired soil and to fertilize every backyard garden, every community garden, every farmers’ crops and every acre of produce commercially grown.

Worm castings, worm compost, vermicompost and organic fertilizer are all terms for the same thing. It is the result of different types of worms, usually earthworms, particularly red wigglers, and white worms, being used to create nutrient rich compost. The worms break down organic matter, passing it through their digestive system, the end result being an organic fertilizer and soil amendment with 60 different minerals and nutrients essential to growing healthy plants. No dairy, meat, fats or oils are fed to the worms and what IS fed to the worms also determines the quality of the worm castings, as does the worm itself. Regular earthworms are not generally utilized for vermicomposting. The common earthworm cannot survive the heat that is necessary for the efficient decomposition of the organic materials. The Red Worm, on the other hand, has a voracious appetite, often eating one-half to one times their own weight in food every day, and thrives in the temperatures necessary to help their composting. Well fed worms also reproduce quicker, which means even more compost.

And what is fed to these worms? Every type of organic matter available. A lot of it would end up in landfills or down garbage disposals if it was not rescued for worm food. For example, the leaves removed from the outside of the head of lettuce and the core. Any type of perishable fruit or vegetable, even breads can be bound for the worm’s gullet if it is going to waste or has become overripe. And then some bedding material is added, to make the worms comfortable and to get things started. We have a selection of compost bins designed specifically for worm composting if you’d like to try this at home, but we also sell Earthworm Castings, made by that army of people and worms that I mentioned earlier, and which will require much less work on your part.

So, now that you know how the worm castings are created, let’s get to the benefits of using them.

Where chemical fertilizers destroy, the worm restores. Completely 100% planet-friendly, this whole process is naturally-occurring. Man is just here to help the worm do their job better, to distribute this worm-made black gold and to spread the word that worms can save the world! Okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but I made my point.

Naturally rich in microbes, humus and nutrients, vermicompost improves and then maintains the fertility of your soil. Humus is quite complex, and I won’t even attempt to explain it, but to say that humus is what allows the roots of your plants to access the necessary nutrients from the soil. It allows your plants to feed themselves, rather than having to be “force fed” with a chemical fertilizer. The humus aides the soil’s ability to hold more moisture, air and nutrients, which then feeds all of the microbes that bring the nutrients to the plants’ roots. Wikipedia does a much better job of breaking it all down, but suffice to say that humus is the key to the most successful organic gardening.

You also won’t find humus in most manures or compost for sale commercially. Most of these products are simply dried manure or composted organic matter and once it looks like dirt, it can be sold to fertilize your lawns and gardens. The trick is to build the compost up to contain a high level of humus, which is exactly what the worms do!

And the list of benefits goes on:

• Many fungal diseases are suppressed, such as phythium, fusarium, dollar spot, etc.
• The use of worm castings reduces algae in lagoons, ponds and greenhouses because there is no nitrogen run-off. Using worm castings will not contaminate ground water.
• You can reduce water consumption up to 50% and increase drought-resistance.
• Worm castings improve the structure of the soil, allowing for better aeration, root development and nutritional uptake.
• Worm castings can even be applied to phosphate sensitive areas.
• Beneficial enzymes are produced by the plants that are fed by the worm castings, enabling them to naturally repel many of the pests that feed on the juices of the plants.
• It is odorless. You don’t have to wear a mask while applying it, indoors or out.
• You can even dissolve it in water and use it as ‘compost tea’.

The worm restores what chemicals have destroyed. I can’t think of any better reason to quit using chemical fertilizers and switch to worm castings.