Natural Pesticides I'm Trying!

As you can see below, the pole bean plants are suffering from some kind of pest or bacteria. I can't see any insects or signs of them on the bean plants and they seem to be coming from within the plant. A local botanist called it "mosaic," which causes the leaves of the plants to have an irregular shape and the yellow-greenish coloring you can see in my photo. What worries me is that infected plants are known to produce half or even less beans than non-infected plants.

The fact that the garden has a pest problem already is not surprising, due to the lack of diversity in this area--the school is located in the midst of lots of houses which grow only corn and beans on their property. After that interrim of corn/beans, there is alot of development and paving of everything.

My first answer to the problem of pests is to have as diverse of an ecosystem as possible an to grow naturally repelling plants such as garlic, chili and onions...but not everything grows as fast as beans (although the garlic has really taken off!) and so far, there aren't any other meal options for the insects at the school. At my house, I'm growing native grasses, weeds and other plants (like amaranth, yucca, llanten, consuelda and chipilin) to deter the insects but they aren't strong enough to put on school grounds yet. Mother Earth magazine says that Marigolds are the best deterrent for insects that effect beans and I have several of those coming up right now. But in the meantime, I'm hoping that one of these homemade and/or local suggested concoctions works...

I'm starting with one that is the easiest to make (at least around my house...I live with two heavy smoker/drinkers). It's called "Hillbilly's Breath," and was suggested to me about a year ago by a close friend. It consists of used cigarette butts, some beer, crushed garlic and chili powder. I put it in a spray bottle and sprayed the plants. We'll see how it works.

The locals around here did suggest using tobacco derivitives as a spray, apparently nicotine is poisonous to many types of insects. Also, Chrysanthemum is supposed to be similar to Marigolds and repel insects with the naturally occuring chemical pyrethum (a base for many synthetic, harmful pesticides with chlorine and phosphorous and other chems added). I'm not sure where I can find Chrysanthemum seeds around here, but I'm looking into seed donations from ECHO (oddly, a Christian-environmental group).

Other people suggested that I pound several types of local plants that have strong smells and then mix with a little bit of water and spray those on infected plants. I am kind of excited by my new trial and error experiments.

The following is a set of other common natural pest deterrents for gardens or homes in general (new ways to USE your plants!):

The first thing to do is remove the infected leaves and plants and dispose of them far from the garden site...they're only attracting insects at this point. Prune the plant all the way to the stem, leaving the stub invites the bug inside the plant.

Another piece of info I just read that I didn't previously know was that wet foliage attracts the most bugs. Best to water early so it dries during the day or to invest in a drip-irrigation system which will avoid wetting the foliage all together. I would love to have someone help me build this, but I don't see it happening in the next few days...so I'm just gonna get even closer to the ground and avoid the leaves of all my plants.

To keep ants/cockroaches/mites out, place cucumber peels at their place of entry. Most ants have an aversion to cucumber. If that doesn't work, crush cloves and mint and spray along their path. Also, citrus oil, cayenne pepper, cinnamon or coffee grinds work. Cataria or catnip can also be made into a more effective spray than DEET (for mosquitos).

Any questions, I'd be happy to research them for you! Just let me know!

New Sprouts!

Ahhhhhhh, well. These weeks have been pretty busy. I'm growing half the plants at my house and half on the school ground, so there is a lot of running (walking, actually) back and forth. But here are some of the newest to show their faces at the schoolgrounds and my home set-up--you can see we've expanded from one compost bucket to three :)

Prepping for 1st Formal Volunteer Event

Starting Saturday December 6th, we're going to have weekly volunteer events for anyone who wants to come and help speed up the project. The students come back in mid-January and I would really like to have put all the hard work into the project before that happens. The plan is to have the majority of plants reach maturity as the classes are working in the project and also to have some of their first lessons be about seed saving and maintenance...which obviously cannot be done if we don't get started now. Its the beginning of the dry season and to be planting right now is actually against permaculture theory, but I figure since all the extra energy being expended is MINE then its all good. I think with a good mulch and daily attention it should work out fine.

We don't have a lot of funds but I'm thinking that the first couple events will be pretty short and simple. I need some help bringing organic matter to the garden, mix it with topsoil, build raised terraces and take out all the rocks as it is PAINFUL to do this stuff alone! I really feel for full-time farm laborers.

I had two people who were studying agricultural science in Germany (two friends of my roomate and living with us...yes, its been a full house since moving in) come to the project last week to brainstorm on how to more quickly and efficiently improve the soil structure. They confirmed my belief that one way or another I'll have to get manure in the garden...so I literally took my hand shovel and ran around town scooping horse poo from the 'roads'(there are more horses than cars in my town) and am bringing it in next week.

I am not sure how to post the English language flyer for volunteers, but of course if you are reading and in the area, email me and I'll send it to you personally!

Plans for Expansion

I applied for a wonderful grant yesterday, so EVERYBODY PRAY! Goddess knows, I/we need it. I don't know why, but I always just expect if something is the right thing to do then it will work out...however, that has not been the case and everyday is a struggle: financially, culturally (i.e. the time and date on your watch or computer mean absolutely nothing here) and sometimes ecologically. And...all these problems combined sometimes lead to periodic breakdowns on my part.

So, anyway, the garden has been undergone a severe overhaul in the last couple days (why I'm slow at writing blogs). I've started to bring in compost from my own house and from local restaurants because the plants aren't growing nearly as fast as they should be. The soil here is rich and volanic but after years of maltreatment, it has turned pretty dusty. So, I brought in the compost to build structure in it, allow it to hold more water and am also digging up all the rocks, putting the plants that did push on through into containers for the meantime, so that I can reform the soil before putting them back in the ground.

Another problem with the way the garden has developed is that the school administration doesn't want to give me the key so I have to call from an internet cafe or phone booth for the director, arrange a time and wait. And wait and wait and wait. Sometimes she doesn't show up at all and the plants lose a day of water, all the while the dry seasons hateful sun bakes those poor little guys. The system has really got me down and I'm about to get into a further discussion with the director so that I may have a key. The project will progress alot faster and with a lot more success if that happens.

Anyway, the real reason I'm writing is to inform interested parties of the upcoming plans for expansion (if we get the grant). The following programs will be part of Huertos Escolares:

1.) Students participation in the garden and its maintenance, starting in January and ending in October 2009. All 350 students in the Humberto C. Guzman School will be participating in one way or another of the garden project, as well as all 25 teachers. They'll be learning how to seed and plant the plants, how to conserve soil through composting and mulching, water conservation and constructing a drip irrigation system (thank god I will have the professors help in this!), and most importantly the history, cultural importance, uses and the scientific reasons these native plants exist in this ecosystem.

2) Art, mostly recycled art/structures/mosaics to emphasize how COOL it is to reduce, reuse and recycle!!! But we're also gonna make informative signs on each plant as well as a mural on the wall facing the garden (it is currently the most boring place on earth). I think art is an excellent way to get the kids vested in the garden project.

3) Media: The bi-monthly newsletter will be in Tzutujil, Spanish and English. We plan on printing enough to distribute all around the lake, so that people on all sides can get an idea of what community food production is all about, why it exists and why its important in conservation and for the future of the people who live here. The newsletter will focus on sustainable practices in the community regards to agriculture, tourism, consumption, culture, etc as well as profiles on local people and businesses, perhaps a volunteer or two, some history and progress on the garden at the school. Also featuring contact information and ideas on how to take this project to your home, to your business, etc. Interview on conservation oriented Guatemalan organizations will also be included and articles will be accepted by students or local youth on what they think about sustainable development.

4) Tourism and Volunteer Outreach and Participation: About once a month, we'll do a big event where tourists come and work with the students on the gardens maintenance and start-up projects, learning all about it and hopefully taking a piece of the local wisdom with them. Also, sharing previous experience with me/us.

5) Expansion program to install native species gardens in students homes, other public schools and public spaces. The underlying goal of the project is to help families in this region reach as near subsistence level as they can, reducing their costs and the pollution, obesity, and energy that comes with imported foods.
This will begin with students taking what they’ve learned home, with knowledgeable assistance as well.

So, these are the primary component of the expansion plan! There are a couple more smaller things, but I've got to get to work now!

Thanks for reading!



Above is a picture of the center of the school, where I hope to put container gardens in...to make it look less like a prison. The main containers I have in mind (and okay, quite a few have gathered in my front yard...just like back home in Southern Illinois, haha) for this project are tires and raised beds made from fallen wood or bamboo.










Above and below you have the difference in the soil I've been adding compost to and the the soil at the school. Nothing short of a miracle is needed. Luckily, miracles are my specialty :)

Week-End Blotes Summary :)

Here we have Corn and Beans (they came up HUGE in only 3 days!), Rhubarb Chard and Cabbage sprouts!

Still Trying

I would really like to include art in the school garden project, both the mural proposed by one of the teachers and also artistic and textual signs for the garden, regarding information about the species of plants used, their importance in Tzutujil culture, and instructions on maintenence, as well as whatever constructs we can make from garbage/recycled materials.

If anyone can recommend an organization, a business or an individual that gives small grants for art or donates art materials, please let me know as I would really like for this to happen by January. I'm gonna start crafting some emails to stores in the US, if they have foundations set up for this kind of thing, expired materials they will throw out, etc...if you have any ideas/connections to art stores or anything related, please let me know! It would be nearly impossible to send them to Guatemala (well, you can pay to do it...but they will end up in the hands of Guatemalan postal workers!) but I have family and friends coming to visit all the time and many have volunteered to bring me things from there.

I'm planning on leaving here in May 2009 and would like to see the project running successfully and in the good hands of people committed to keeping it going, which means that the students in the school have to be interested in it...and art is always a great way to get students involved. I realized how few pictures I had been putting on, so I'm posting a few random school-garden-art/ nature-mixes-with-art pictures off the internet These are not mine! Oops, don't tell--although a friend of mine did design the woman that has vines growing up her legs in spring (Dessa Kirk's sculpture in South Grant Park, Chicago)!!! And the last one, of the mural, was done by one of my best friends, Joel Bergner (www.joelsmurals.com). Click on the images to view larger pics!

Gimme Gimme Gimme More Permaculture!!

Here's what do to if you are trying to grow healthy vegetables and your soil is bad, as is the soil on the school property. The plants are growing very slowly and during this season of much wind, the topsoil is blowing away due to not having any roots or organic material living inside of it for a long time.

Firstly, how to decide if the soil is bad. I, personally, think you can tell before you ever even start planting, just by reaching down and grabbing a handful of topsoil or by looking a tiny bit deeper and seeing if any insects exist in there. In the case of the school: the topsoil is dust and there are next to no bugs, though one girl found a scrawny worm on the first day. I was quick to start the project and thought we could fix it with a little love, water, sunshine....in retrospect, I wish I had started composting and treating the soil with manure before planting...would leave me in a better situation right now, but its never too late to start and thats the game plan for today (and my entire life, actually)!

So, fertility and texture and all that jazz. Fertility is just access to nutrients that occur in healthy soil, nitrogen, phosophorus and potassium. Nitrogen is primarily known for its leaf and stem encouragement, sometimes (as with bell peppers and tomatoes) too much nitrogen will make your plants have too many leaves and not enough fruit! Some good, naturally occuring sources of nitrogen are used coffeegrinds, planting beans interspersed with certain things, and of course animal manure.

Phosphorous and Potassium are also easy to fix, naturally. Phosphorous is important for root growth and can be found in soil containing bone meal (the deep forest). Potassium, like nitrogen, leaves the soil quickly--especially in the rainy season and needs to be replenished. Potassium helps them to continuing growing at a stable pace as well as building up immunity.

But besides these nutrients, there are several other important things that have to exist for soil to grow healthy food. The process of decomposition and its resulting humus, for example, is a concoction of so many things dependent on the ecosystem that lives and dies on that location. The countless creatures that make up humus work to eventually produce those three nutrients mentioned above, as well as tons of other nutrients and helpful bacteria.

Be sure to steer clear of what writer Michael Pollan (and the ancient English agronomist, Sir Albert Howard, in “An Agricultural Testament”) calls in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, ‘the NPK mentality’ (that stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium). When agricultural scientists found out the importance of these three nutrients they focused only on them, they began separating them, manipulating them and their relationship to the soil in order to come up with agri-chemicals that would make the land produce more and faster—they didn’t and still do not, however, take into consideration the other variables to growing plants and healthy soil…the other life forms it supports and their reason for being there and the interconnectedness of the whole system. They do not, as Howard suggests, take “the whole problem of health in soil, plant, animal and man as one great subject.”

One can no longer say that agriculture can be divided up and that the land is just a sum of its parts…From what people know now (and other people have long suspected intuitively) of agriculture’s impact on climate change, its impact on people’s livelihoods, nations’ poverty and the health of the air, water, and food to the loss of biodiversity to the inability of the land to produce after the leaching of the soils fertility through chemicals…we have to acknowledge that agriculture and the land is the system we live in, not outside of-and address it holistically. We cannot think that we are able to manipulate variables within the system and only affect that which we have on our nice charted graphs…agriculture is nature and nature is not a constant. It can be chaotic, it can evolve, it cannot be looked at as separate pieces of a larger puzzle that makes up our lives. It simply IS our lives.

Politically, one can look at a single item of food and feel slightly wronged in the matter: it is nearly always packaged in uniformity and wearing a barcode or a number, just like a prison inmate. Many vegetarians claim that the reason for the dis-health of the American population is not simply that it eats too much meat, but that the meat that we eat was factory farmed and killed in such a way to cause terror and misery during its entire life…and that energy goes into your body when you eat it. I personally feel a lot happier eating chicken that can cross the street when it feels like it, but in line (or since we’re talking holism—perhaps I should say, “in circle…”) with my beliefs on everything—my happiness probably comes from a number of interrelated things.

So, in short, making your soil healthy makes your body healthy which makes your mind healthy which influences other minds and bodies to get healthy…and slowly but surely, we can repair and reclaim our most basic necessities in this world: food, air, and water. (I may be getting way ahead of myself, but in turn these things also affect our land-usage, our land-ownership and thus our political system and economy….just through soil maintenance! Yes, THIS I BELIEVE….)