Easiest Organic Control Of Cabbage Loopers and How Monsanto is Making it Ineffective On Corn

If you doubt this problem with BT GMO crops, check out this article
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-gillam/new-research-shows-failin_b_14003604.html
that references a research paper on Bt resistance in corn earworm. Granted this is a different crop and a different pest, but the mechanism is the same–the Cry proteins that eat up the intestines the larval stage of insects. Larvae becoming resistant to Cry proteins will make BT ineffective as pest control in corn, and will make use of BT on organic corn crops ineffective as well. The resistance in the GM crops is the result of conventional farmers not keeping a portion of their fields in non BT corn, and to be a haven for corn earworms without resistance to BT to survive and pass on their genes. If all the corn is BT the next generations will consist only of BT resistant earworms.

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My Devastated Garden and Summoning My Inner Elmer Fudd

Despite the fact that I live in a place called Dancing Rabbit, I find rabbits to be the worst pest we have in our area. Without a fence around your garden and good protective cages around your fruit trees, you don’t stand a chance of growing your own food. In the last couple of years I’ve had a lot of trouble keeping rabbits out of my garden because my fence was less than reliable. This season my goal was to get some real fencing in my garden and finally make my garden rabbit free. Here’s why, with the help of Home Depot, I failed.

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This vineyard will grow THOUSANDS of pounds of veggies too

Part of sustainable food production is planting a diversity of crops. Permaculture promotes stacking functions and synergistic plantings of crops and perennials. Every season I make use of the space in between my rows of grapes to grow vegetable produce on a larger scale. This space is normally kept in grass or a cover crop, but this seems like a waste of land when it could be producing more food for sale or home eating. All that space needs to be mowed and maintained throughout the season. In addition, by planting vegetables I can reduce the competition for water and nutrients with the grapes since vegetable root systems are much shallower and less extensive than grass roots. Since starting this practice, I’ve found an increase in the productivity and vigor of the grapevines.

Hoop house spinach: Season extension

My hoop house has been a great asset in recent years for getting early season greens. I got started a little late this year, but still have a good crop of spinach going. It always does much better than spinach outside the hoop house because it can get a longer cooler season with the passive solar heating and temperature regulation of the hoop house. I also talk about the starts I’ve gotten going this season.