Kimmi and Justin in the Studio Tuesday Morning

October 14, 2013 By in Heritage Farming 2 Comments

Kimmi Norvell Moake and I will be in the studio tomorrow, Tuesday morning, from 8:00am to 9:00am with radio host Leanne Winkler.  Tune in to 90.3 FM in Corpus Christi and 90.7 FM in Victoria to listen.

We will be in the studio to discuss Coastal Bend Health Foods’ underwriting of “Your Wholesome Heritage Garden” and also to support KEDT during their Fall membership drive.

We ask you to tune in to the program and call in with your support!  Call 361-855-2000 to join us with a pledge for quality public radio programming–you can pledge $20 or $5 or even a dollar.  Every single pledge is appreciated and goes to support KEDT and their excellent radio programming.

You can call in from wherever you are to say hello, even outside our listening area, and we sincerely thank you!  We look forward to hearing from you Tuesday morning!

Radio Underwriters Announced

October 12, 2013 By in Heritage Farming 2 Comments

Friends, I am pleased to announce a new underwriting partnership for our radio program.

Coastal Bend Health Foods, Latitude 28 02, and Chartroom of Rockport have signed an agreement with KEDT/KVRT to underwrite “Your Wholesome Heritage Garden”.

As underwriters of the program, these companies will be featured in sponsorship messages associated with our weekly radio program,  “Your Wholesome Heritage Garden”, and other quality programming on KEDT-FM 90.3 in Corpus Christi and KVRT-FM 90.7 in Victoria.

KEDT and KVRT enjoy the largest radio audience in South Texas.  The listening area covers 20 counties and runs from north of Victoria all the way to the south of Kingsville.  Each time our program is broadcast, the listenership is in the tens of thousands, and the audience is growing.  KEDT/KVRT programming has a considerable reach and impact.

Many of these listeners will be introduced for the first time to Coastal Bend Health Foods, Latitude 28 02, and Chartroom.  I am so excited about the many connections that will be made; the good people who will learn about these wonderful businesses and come to Rockport to try them out.  Our neighbors in South Texas will be delighted with what they find in our little town.

These business owners in Rockport sponsored “Your Wholesome Heritage Garden” because they believe in the program and because they want to support public radio and our community.  I am so thrilled and honored to partner with Kimmi, Ramona and Craig, and Chris Veatch.

Friends, I ask you to support these businesses by paying them a visit.

Kimmi Norvell Moake, Coastal Bend Health Foods

Kimmi Norvell Moake, Coastal Bend Health Foods

Thank you to Kimmi Norvell Moake of Coastal Bend Health Foods for your radio sponsorship.  Kayla and I cannot say enough good things about Kimmi, she is like family to us and she is the most wonderful person you will ever met.

She offers the freshest produce in town, grass-fed beef, pastured chicken and pork, farm fresh eggs, a full range of supplements, specialty groceries, and natural beauty products.   Please stop in and visit.

Ramona and Craig Day of Latitude 28 02

Ramona and Craig Day of Latitude 28 02

Thank you to Ramona and Craig Day of Latitude 28 02 for your radio sponsorship.  I became friends with Ramona and Craig more than thirteen years ago when they opened the restaurant, and they have created a true work of art in our town.

Latitude 28 02 is fine dining in an art gallery.  The most beautiful paintings in South Texas line the walls of this restaurant, but the food is the star of the show, and I believe the best artist in the place is the chef.  Call to make a reservation, and enjoy!

Chef Chris Veatch of Chartroom

Chef Chris Veatch of Chartroom

Thank you to Chef Chris Veatch of Chartroom for your radio sponsorship.  Chef Chris spent thirty years up in Vermont perfecting his craft, where he shopped daily among the local farms for his produce.  When Chef Chris and I partnered to host a dinner featuring ingredients fresh from our farm, he truly blew us away.  We are all still talking about that amazing dinner, and Chef Chris serves up these kinds of meals every day.

The view from Chartroom is the marina in Key Allegro.  You can enjoy your dinner and drinks while watching folks pull up in their sailboats and yachts and walk down the pier and come sit at the next table for a delicious supper.  It is quite an experience.  Please stop by the Chartroom for dinner, you will be so glad you did.

There will be more to share soon about these wonderful sponsors.  Thank you for your support of our local businesses in Rockport!

Gardening Class at Moore than Feed, Saturday, October 19

October 10, 2013 By in How to Plant a Heritage Garden Leave a comment
Kayla Planting Seeds with a Trellis Template

Kayla Planting Seeds with a Trellis Template

Friends, join me for a gardening class on Saturday, October 19, from 10:00am to noon.  This class will be held at Moore than Feed, 902 W. Market Street, Rockport, TX.

The gardening classes at Moore than Feed are a lot of fun.  The outdoor classroom is a wonderful venue with plenty of seating.  At this class, there will be a hands-on demonstration of how to plant a winter garden:  preparing the soil, what to plant, sowing the seeds, watering the garden, fertilizing, and more.

We will show how to use a trellis template to create intensive rows of companion plants.  We will also show how to use the design of the garden–the arrangement and selection of plants–to control for pests.

Moore than Feed Outdoor Classroom

Moore than Feed Outdoor Classroom

We will begin the class with bare Rockport dirt, and end the class with a winter garden successfully planted, and answer all your questions in the process.

This event is free and open to the public.  Gardeners of all ages and skill levels are welcome.  Even if you have never planted a seed, you will go home with the knowledge and materials to start your own successful winter garden.

What:  A Winter Gardening Class with Justin Butts

Where: Moore than Feed, 902 W. Market Street, Rockport, TX (361) 729-4909

When: Saturday, October 19, from 10:00am to noon

Who: All gardeners of all ages!

Exploring South Texas Food with Cabeza de Vaca

August 27, 2013 By in Heritage Farming Tags: , 4 Comments

When I started my farm business, years ago, I studied everything I could find about the agricultural techniques of Native American Indians.

Our South Texas Indian ancestors were expert farmers.  They successfully cultivated our harsh and unforgiving land, and made their living on it.  I knew they could teach us a great deal about how to plant a modern garden.

Our part of the country–the sandy strip of land along the Gulf Coast from Victoria to the south of Corpus Christi–is one of the toughest places in America to farm.  I wanted to know how the local Indians, with nothing more than simple stone tools, thrived on this land.  The best information I found about South Texas Indians came from a Spanish Conquistador by the name of Cabeza de Vaca.

Cabeza de Vaca was a great explorer in an age of adventure.  He set sail from Spain with a dream to colonize Florida, but after series of mishaps, he was shipwrecked on Galveston Island.  The year was 1528, and Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to set foot in Texas.

The local Indians rescued him from the windswept waves and kept him as a slave.  But Cabeza de Vaca used his ingenuity to escape to the mainland.  He vowed to somehow find his way to Mexico City–the closest Spanish settlement at that time—a 700 mile hike through a beautiful and treacherous landscape.

Probable Route of Cabeza de Vaca (1528 through 1536)

Probable Route of Cabeza de Vaca (1528 through 1536)

Cabeza de Vaca traveled south along the Gulf Coast, trekking through the future cities of Victoria, Corpus Christi, and down through the Rio Grande Valley.  He crossed the Rio Grande, turned west, and then this remarkable explorer walked all the way to the future site of El Paso, then on to the Pacific Ocean, and finally down to Mexico City.

He began this eight-year odyssey as a slave, but along the way he became a powerful shaman, and soon the Indians of Texas and Mexico worshiped him as a god, The Child of the Sun.  When he reached salvation in the Spanish settlements, he had an entourage of nearly three thousand Indians following along behind him.

The land he discovered was densely populated–before disease and warfare decimated the Indian tribes.  Cabeza de Vaca describes how at one point he walked for hundreds of miles through beautifully cultivated farmland.  In other areas, the natives lived on the brink of starvation with only their genius for procuring food from the thorny earth to sustain them.

Cabeza de Vaca wrote about his adventures in extraordinary detail.  He told precisely how the Indians of South Texas farmed and foraged, hunted and fished, and how they cooked their hard-earned harvest.

I used many of these methods in the design of my farm.  In future posts, I will follow Cabeza de Vaca on his journey and learn what he discovered about indigenous South Texas farming.  I will unravel these ancient techniques, and hopefully you can use them to help make your own garden more robust, more productive, more interesting, and more delicious.

January 1, 2014

August 22, 2013 By in A Wee Wife 13 Comments

I finally could see the rounded curve of her.  It was funny to be this far along and just now to see her.

Outside the windows, the sky turned gray and white with a summer storm.  In the far distance, the mountains we had slept in the night before were purple, and they were not cold and rainy for us anymore.

Kayla turned to the side so I could get a picture with the camera phone, and held the dress back to show me.

I had already felt her moving beneath the skin, the little arms reaching, the kicks, gentle at first, then more insistent, the tension curling and uncurling beneath the surface.

And now, finally, looking at Kayla, standing like a statue, her hands on the rounded curve, I can see the outline of our little girl.

She will come into full view on January 1, 2014.

On the top floor of the Museum of Art in Denver

On the top floor of the Museum of Art in Denver

Winter Gardening Class Next Wednesday

August 10, 2013 By in Chemical Free Pest Control, Heritage Farming, How to Plant a Heritage Garden Tags: , 5 Comments
Radish Flowers

Radish Flowers

You are invited to a winter gardening class with Justin Butts next Wednesday, August 14, from 10:00am to 12:30pm.  The class will be held at the Aransas County Extension office at 892 Airport Road in Rockport, TX 78382.

This class is sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Master Gardeners of Aransas County.

Winter is a wonderful time to garden in South Texas with beautiful weather, bountiful vegetables, and minimal pest problems.  Join us to discover the chemical-free methods we use on our farm to grow healthy, delicious, and prolific produce.

Call the Aransas County Agricultural Extension Office at 361-790-0103 for more information, or go to http://aransas.agrilife.org  for more information.  There is a $10 registration fee for this class.

The class will be held indoors in the state of the art classroom facility at the Aransas County Extension Office.  The class will focus on:  1) preparing the soil for a Fall/Winter garden, 2) companion planting from seed to maximize yield and variety, and 3) controlling pests naturally.

Gardeners of all ages and skill levels are welcome.  Even if you have never planted a seed, you will go home with the knowledge to start your own successful winter garden.

What:  “Winter Gardening Class” with Justin Butts

When:  Wednesday, August 14, from 10:00am to 12:30pm.

Where:  Aransas County Extension office 892 Airport Road, Rockport, TX (361) 790-0103

Who: All gardeners of all ages!

Working in a Winter Garden

Working in a Winter Garden

Wasps Killing Caterpillars

August 7, 2013 By in Chemical Free Pest Control, Heritage Farming Tags: , , 2 Comments
Wasp Killing Caterpillar and Turning it into Liquefied Balls to Stuff in Nest (photo courtesy of Chelsie Vorachek)

Wasp Killing Caterpillar and Turning it into Liquefied Balls to Stuff in Nest (photo courtesy of Chelsie Vorachek)

I have a clear memory from childhood, at five or six years old, of my father running across the lawn in his boots and his cowboy hat, yelling at the top of his lungs.  He was carrying a can of wasp nest spray in his hand, and he was being was chased by a big cloud of wasps.

The only thing I learned from this scene was to fear wasps, and that was an unfortunate lesson.  It took me a long time to realize that wasps are highly beneficial in the garden.

Wasps eat an enormous amount of caterpillars and other garden pests.  The wasps from a single small nest can quickly eliminate an entire pound of insects from a backyard garden–and that is a lot of garden pests you will never have to worry about.

Wasps patrol among the plants hunting.  When a wasp sees a caterpillar, the wasp attacks and stings the caterpillar to paralyze it.  Then the wasp picks up the caterpillar, flies it back to the nest, and stuffs the caterpillar into the holes of the comb.  The queen lays her eggs inside the caterpillars, and the baby wasps eat their way out.

Wasps Stuffing Chambers with Caterpillars

Wasps Stuffing Chambers with Caterpillars

Mud daubers only eat spiders, and some mud daubers species only eat brown recluse or black widow spiders.  The mud dauber paralyzes the spider, picks it up and flies or drags it back to the nest, and then stuffs the still-living spider into one of the chambers.  The mud dauber babies move through each chamber of the nest and first eat the legs of the spiders, to keep them alive longer, then go back and eat the spider heads, then the bodies.

It is best to let mud daubers do their work, because there is no chemical insecticide as effective as mud daubers at controlling the spider population around your home.

Yellow Jackets Working on Nest

Yellow Jackets Working on Nest

In every generation of wasps, only a few of the females, the ladies-in-waiting, survive the year.  They hibernate in cracks and crevices during the winter and emerge in the spring to build new nests.  If you destroy a nest and kill these ladies-in-waiting, your pest population will get far out of control long before the wasps can repopulate and help you in the garden.  Wasps never re-use their nests, so wait till autumn when the wasps are gone, if you want to clear out old nests.

To attract wasps to your garden, all you need to do is leave their nests alone, unless the nest is in a doorway or high-traffic area.  Nobody wants a wasp sting, but the truth is that wasps rarely attack, unless someone is bothering their nest, as my father can certainly tell you.  And Dad can’t run as fast as he could in the old days, so now he leaves the wasps alone—and that suits me just fine.

On our farm, we encourage a healthy wasp population, and that is one of the reasons we never have to use toxic pesticides in our gardens.  In fact, these days, I am more concerned about seeing a can of wasp nest spray, than I am about the wasps.

Wasp Nest in Garden Shed (I worked around and very close to this large nest in the shed all summer and never had a single problem with the wasps. And these wasps ate a LOT of caterpillars!)

Wasp Nest in Garden Shed (I worked around and very close to this large nest in the shed all summer and never had a single problem with the wasps. And these wasps ate a LOT of caterpillars!)

Wasp Curiously Watching the Picture-Taker

Wasp Curiously Watching the Picture-Taker

Wasp Killing Caterpillar (Photo Courtesy Ginger Easton Smith)

Wasp Killing Caterpillar (Photo Courtesy Ginger Easton Smith)

Root Knot Nematodes

July 23, 2013 By in Chemical Free Pest Control, Heritage Farming Tags: 5 Comments

Root knot nematodes are tiny parasitic worms that feed on the roots of vegetable plants.  Nematodes thrive in hot, sandy soil, and they fiercely attack tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, and most other garden vegetables.  These microscopic parasites are one of the greatest enemies of South Texas gardeners.

Nematodes are especially frustrating because they reveal themselves only through the damage they do to your plants.

To diagnose a nematode attack, look for the above-ground symptoms:  yellowing, wilted plants; stunted plant growth; and poor yields of small misshapen fruit.   The damage may begin in one part of the garden, but nematodes quickly spread through the soil, on garden tools, or even on the soles of your boots.  Nematodes increase with the heat and are most destructive in the hottest weather.

Nematode Damage on Left, Normal on Right (photo courtesy Univ of Maryland)

Nematode Damage on Left, Normal on Right (photo courtesy Univ of Maryland)

If you dig up a wilted diseased-looking plant, you may find knots, or galls, on the roots; this is the clearest indication of nematodes.

The extent of damage to vegetables depends on the density of nematodes in the soil.  One nematode can lay between 500 and 1,000 eggs, and they rapidly reproduce new generations.  Nematodes simply overwhelm plants with their numbers.

The best solution to nematodes is to prevent them in the first place.  Nematodes have trouble getting a foothold in healthy, humus-rich, well-mulched soil.  Healthy soil stays cool in hot weather and conducts water efficiently to the roots of plants.  Healthy soil is a hostile environment for nematodes.

Good crop rotation is essential in preventing nematodes–no matter how big or small your garden.  Nematode eggs can survive in the soil for a full year, and they love to eat the same types of roots as the previous year.  Divide your garden into three or four quadrants, and rotate your plantings to confuse nematodes and increase the bio-diversity of the soil.

To eradicate a severe infestation of nematodes, plant a thick cover crop of French marigolds on your garden and till the flowers into the soil.  Marigolds are excellent for soil health, and they produce a toxin that is deadly to nematodes.

Porkers Deeply Till the Soil

Porkers Deeply Till the Soil

On our farm, we fight nematodes by pasturing pigs on our gardens after each harvest.  The porkers consume the entire network of roots from the garden and transform those roots into powerful fertilizer.  This process destroys nematodes while building extraordinarily healthy soil.

Nematodes are responsible for a lot of damage to South Texas gardens, but you can easily control them through good gardening practices.  A healthy garden is the best cure for nematodes and for most other garden pests as well.

The Invention of Farming

July 19, 2013 By in Heritage Farming Leave a comment
An Ancient Wild Barley Sample (photo courtesy TISARP and NPR)

An Ancient Wild Barley Sample (photo courtesy TISARP and NPR)

Archeologists recently discovered the ruins of a 12,000-year-old farmstead in the rugged mountains of Western Iran.  This site—situated in the long-vanished Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization–is one of the earliest documented farmsteads in the world.

These ancient farmers grew wheat, barley, lentils, and peas.  They domesticated these plants by collecting wild seeds and then planting them in a concentrated space.  The seeds were perfectly preserved at the archeological dig along with a few stone tools, a sickle, and a mortar and pestle for grinding grains.

For historical context about this time period, 12,000 years ago, the dinosaurs were gone, but the progenitors of Native American Indians were still crossing the frozen land bridge from Asia into North America.  As they worked their way south, these first Americans still hunted wooly mammoths with their fire-hardened spears.

Meanwhile, in the remote mountains of the Fertile Crescent, the first farmers developed practical and sophisticated agricultural techniques.  They selected the plants that were easiest to cultivate in their soil and climate.  They used wood ash as a soil amendment, homemade compost, and native leaves as mulch.  These techniques, the most ancient of heritage methods, are just as effective today for backyard gardeners.

An Ancient Farmstead in the Zagros Mtns of Iran (photo courtesy TISRP/Univ of Tugengen/NPR)

An Ancient Farmstead in the Zagros Mtns of Iran (photo courtesy TISRP/Univ of Tugengen/NPR)

But how did those first farmers figure it out?  How did they put it all together?  It may have been as simple as a husband and wife at this farmstead discussing it over a dinner of freshly-picked wild grains.  They figured it would be easier to relocate the wild plants to their own garden, rather than roaming for miles every day hoping to forage something to eat.  This simple innovation is how farming was invented.

Around the same time, in the nearby mountains of Iraq, the very first sheep were being domesticated.  Hunters caught living wild lambs, and instead of butchering and eating them right away, they bred them into tame flocks.  By domesticating wild seeds and wild animals, and raising them in permanent locations, these first-ever farmers changed the world.

In this ancient farmstead, archaeologists also found clay pots and bowls decorated with artistic renderings.  The first farmer grew food in abundance, which freed up someone else’s time to make pottery, to store this new surplus.  And that freed up time for the first artists to decorate these clay pots, and to paint dramatic images of animals on the walls of their caves.

But that first farmer, standing in the first field ever planted, was simply doing his best, her best, to cultivate their own little patch of land, to grow enough food to feed their family—doing their best to survive in this great wide-open world.  And farmers are still doing the same thing today.

Nature’s Most Charming Pesticide

July 10, 2013 By in Chemical Free Pest Control, Heritage Farming Tags: 2 Comments
Lady Bugs Go Where They are Needed

Lady Bugs Go Where They are Needed

Most of us recognize the softer side of lady bugs, their iconic spots, and their delicate beauty.  But lady bugs have an aggressive side, a ravenous appetite, and even their bright colors serve as a warning.  Lady bugs are lovely, but they are also ferocious predators.

Lady bugs have sideways-facing jaws like tiny steel traps.  They use these powerful jaws to devour hundreds of aphids every day.  Aphids are a terrible garden-destroying pest, and a single lady bug can eat more than 5,000 aphids in her lifetime.

Lady bugs lay their eggs in yellow clusters on the undersides of leaves.  When the eggs hatch, the babies look nothing like lady bugs, but more like tiny black and orange alligators that scurry across the leaves.  These voracious larval lady bugs eat their full weight in aphids every single day as they grow into adults.

Lady Bugs

Lady Bugs

When threatened, lady bugs emit a foul-smelling fluid from their leg joints.  This toxic secretion, called hemolymph, repels predators.  The fiery colors and bright spots on a lady bug’s back are nature’s way of warning enemies that lady bugs are bad to eat.  Even the eggs and larva of lady bugs are poisonous to predators.

Typically, the only thing that kills lady bugs is chemical pesticides, which can’t distinguish between good bugs and bad.  Unfortunately, pesticides kill lady bugs in their adult as well as their egg and larval stages, so one spray could destroy all the current and potential lady bugs in the garden.  Aphids, on the other hand, are more pesticide-resistant, and aphids reproduce a new generation every week.  Without lady bugs to control them, aphids can quickly do enormous damage to your vegetables.

To bring lady bugs to your garden, you can order them over the internet.  An insectary will ship a package of living adult lady bugs to your mailbox.  Release a few of these lady bugs into the garden each evening at dusk, and store the rest in the refrigerator.  If you release the lady bugs all at once, they will swarm into the air and fly straight back to the insectary where they were born, like homing pigeons.

Before releasing them each evening, water your garden and spray a little liquid molasses onto the leaves.  This sugary energy will help your lady bugs get started.  Re-seed lady bugs into the garden several times until a native population establishes itself.

Lady bugs love the nectar of flowers, and they especially need nectar when laying eggs.  Plant flowers generously among your vegetables:  Queen Anne’s lace, nasturtiums, cosmos, marigolds, and sunflowers.  Plant basil, dill, and cilantro between your vegetables, and let them go to flower.  Lady bugs especially love the flowers of bean and pea plants.

Lady bugs are adorable, but they are also voracious predators.  They sweetly go about their business of devouring your garden pests.  Lady bugs have a well-earned reputation as the gardener’s good friend, and they are nature’s most charming pesticide.

Lady Bugs on Pest-Damaged Leaf

Lady Bugs on Pest-Damaged Leaf