Found in the Garden

Photo: It felt like I was in an episode of Lost when we unearthed the air vent.

 

As you may know (I say it often enough) I don’t tend to dig the garden.  I rely on nature to do the hard work for me and have found that earthworms do a far more thorough job than I could.  There are times when a bit of back breaking digging is needed and Julie usually obliges..bless her cotten socks.  She was out digging some very invasive roots out of the new veggie patch recently and came across an interesting find.  Lifting a large concrete block, revealed what has turned out to be an air vent for our next door neighbours air raid shelter built in the Second World War. The shelters were constructed courtesy of a local engineering factory for its employees. The factory valued its workers and didn’t want to lose them in a bombing attack; thankfully they were never used for the purpose. Our two houses were built by brothers who didn’t mind about crossing each other’s land boundary, hence the reason for it being on our side. I am happy with it being there as it’s my bargaining power if we ever have cause to use it. Our neighbours couldn’t use it if the air was blocked off.

Natural Wonders

There are always natural wonders to find in the soil when digging.  Nature is very diverse and always throws out a strange looking creature for us to photograph and put on our Facebook pages. According to Stephen Fry, the best place in the world to discover an entirely new species is your own garden. In 1971, biologist Jennifer Owen carried out a very long term study in her own garden in a suburban house in Leicester, England. She found 533 different types of ichneumon wasp, 15 of which had never been recorded in Britain and 4 where completely new to science. Naturalist Gilbert White said nature is so full and varied that if you want to find the place with the most variety, it is the place you most study. Just take in small piece of land and examine it hard enough. Interesting Plants too can surprise us by turning up out of nowhere, we found an avocado in the vegetable patch one year, courtesy of the compost bin. 

Non Natural Wonders

There have been some non nature objects found in gardens.  One woman found her long lost wedding ring after a carrot grew inside it. She pulled it out of the ground attached to the root. 

Wayne Sabaj from the USA went out to his garden to find some broccoli to go with his grilled beef for dinner. There he found among the peppers was a duffel bag filled with $100,000 in cash.

There have been reports of unearthing old wartime bombs and ammunition; one bloke in the UK even found a prisoner of war camp was found in his garden.  Staying with war things, a jar of gold coins dug up in a garden 70 years after it was hidden from the Nazis sold for €100,000. Having spent nearly 70 years in the ground, the so-called “Hackney Hoard” of US Double Eagle gold coins was found when a hole was dug for a frog pond in the garden of a residential care home.

Your Treasure

I’ve been asking around to see what other things of interest we have dug up in our patches.

• Moira: “Farmer Fred in Norfolk found Roman coins and asteroids in his fields.”
• Annie : “I have a collection of old pottery chard's that I have dug up over the years.”
• Lesley : “A Chillington hoe unearthed by pigs many years ago - the hoe is a brilliant tool.”
• George : “ I buried a Deer head in the garden once and hit it with the Tiller the next Spring.”
• Julia : “I live on an old dairy farm and I dig up horse shoes and bits and pieces of old farm equipment...”
• Ruth: “I always wish I would, but nothing more interesting than an old penny and an old marble! Wish I would find a buried treasure sometime!!”
• Carmel : “ I kid you not, an old anchor! I have no idea where it came from - I live in Terenure, Dublin, so not too close to the sea.”
• Fabienne:  “We found once, an old broken ivory pipe, here in Donegal, Ardara, where we live.”
• Philip: “When we lived in uk , I found various old coins from digging my oldest is a 1936 one penny.”
• Kathy: “ Our landscaping crew dug up a 1 meter diameter saw blade. Hard to plant through it!
• Ken:  “When we moved into our 1st House back in the 70's I was digging the Foundation for a Shed in the back Garden when I unearthed a new Wheelbarrow and 2 Bags of Cement, The Barrow earned its keep for many years but the cement ended up as filler for the Base.”

Not everything we find in interesting though. One woman found radon in her garden after she had spent thousands landscaping it. The council came in and bulldozed everything.  Worse still is the story of a couple returning from holiday to find 93ft of their garden has been 'STOLEN' by property developer who ripped up century-old trees and flowerbeds.  

I’m happy with my air vent.

Bird Control Ideas

Photo (Courtesy of Bird Control Ireland) : The Hawk Kite. Kite flying,  and you get to scare the birds too.

I personally welcome any bird into our garden.  I enjoy looking at the crows pulling off moss from the garage roof and even the magpies chasing the dogs away from their bones amuses me when I am washing the pots and looking out of the kitchen window. Thankfully we don’t have any birds that cause damage to the vegetables or that nest in the eaves which could cause a lot of damage, especially to your nerves as the birds scratch about when you are trying to sleep.  We have a couple of wood pigeons that float past occasionally and, as these produce my favourite bird noise, I enjoy them being around. I find their cooing very relaxing. 

Not everyone shares my enthusiasm to attract our feathered friends onto the garden, or any public space for that matter. There was a young entrepreneur in Nottingham kitted himself out with a large compressed air, pigeon-scaring machine that emitted a large bang every 60 seconds. He would set it up in the market square and eventually after a few days of constant banging, the birds would all disappear. Bear in mind that this doesn’t kill the birds, it just scares them off. Therefore the pigeons would move to the next county which would pay handsomely to have them ‘removed’. The birds would then fly a bit further south to the next county until eventually they went full circle back to Nottingham the following year. This man has been travelling around the midlands now for fifteen years moving this flock (and their offspring of course) from one county after another charging the taxpayers to get rid of the same birds... Why didn’t I think of that?

There are more and more inventive ways to keep birds away from your garden and to help me this week I have enlisted the help of BirdControl Ireland.

Birds in the Garden

It’s not all about keeping the birds out of the garden.  Many birds are beneficial so bird boxes can be placed in nearby trees making sure the holes are the correct size for the specific species you would like to attract. 

Birds Hitting Windows

Huge numbers of birds are killed by striking windows each year. Reflected foliage or sky fools the birds into thinking it is safe to fly into.  Try Window Alert Decal. These are sticky transfers designed to show birds that the glass is a solid object. You can choose from Butterfly, Humming Bird, Maple Leaf, Modern Square or Snowflake designs.

Birds Pecking Windows and bonding

Rooks, Magpies and Jackdaws are associated with this problem. The birds are attracted to the soft putty or silicone and keep pecking away at it causing a lot of damage. Many people get an early morning call with birds pecking windows as they fight themselves. If this is an issue, try the battery operated ‘Attack Spider’. This scary device is said to chase away nuisance birds. Activated by sound, the spider drops down on an 18 inch string while making a loud noise. Then it climbs back up the string, ready to attack again. Fun for kids too I’ll bet.

Herons raiding Fish Pond

Valuable carp collections can be decimated by Herons and Cormorants. The "Scarecrow Deterrent" will clear these raiders away with minimum fuss. The Scarecrow, shaped a bit like a water sprinkler with a face,  uses a combination of sudden noise, unexpected movement, and a startling blast of water to create a memorable and unpleasant experience for the trespasser.

Bird landings

In some urban areas, birds will land on patio tables, flat roofs or raised beds. The solar powered "Solar Bird Repeller" is a useful device that will humanely clear the birds away. The two adjustable “arms” cover up to 5ft in diameter by turning continuously at 30 RPM’s. A solar panel powers a heavy duty, brushless motor which will store energy. The Solar Bird Repeller is portable, and can store energy to keep it lasting into the night.

Birds attacking soft fruit, flower beds

Using something called the ‘Repeller Ribbon’, similar to an unwound video tape but thicker and more colourful,  will stop birds from eating and pecking away at fruit. This is a bright flashing, holographic tape fixed just above the bed or in through the bush is very good at keeping many small birds at bay. 

Bird Chaser Balloons

A bit like fairground balloons with clown faces, these Bird Chaser Balloons will frighten birds immediately. Made of durable vinyl, the Bird Chaser is effective when used in a variety of outdoor locations such as home orchards and gardens, berry patches, decks and patios. 

Galaxy Spinner

The Galaxy Spinner workes by spinning action contains holographic strips that reflect in the wind. The visual deterrent scares birds off.

There are a couple of products suitable for larger areas and effective enough for farms.

Bird Scaring Hawk Kite.

This device will keep birds off Bales, Crops, Maize/Silage Pits and Pasture.  It is suitable for crows, Pigeons, Geese and Gulls.

This is a Self-Launching Kite with 10m heavy duty telescopic pole. It is easy to set up and use and can  protect up to ten acres. Simply erect the pole and the kite will fly in the breeze scaring away any pesky birds. This comes at a price though and you won’t get much change out of €190, but it is getting great reviews although you will need to move it every day and take it down if the wind gets above 30mph.

Other products.

There are also one shot bird scarers and scarecrows that emit bird distress calls to make a hostile environment. The latter are solar powered so you can move them anywhere. There are also bird wires, bird proof netting and bird spikes to stop them settling on window ledges. If birds are a real problem for you and you would like to find out more visit - birdcontrol.ie.

Well Kept Secret

It’s out in the Open

My well kept secret is out in the open, even though I have tried to hide it from the extended family members. It was bound to happen sometime and I am really surprised that no-one guessed before now.  

I am handy at DIY.  

I have kept this secret under wraps and it was only when we got our new house a short time ago that people began to suspect. The house needed work doing to it such as new walls, floors and paint work. When the work was done, the extended family saw what I was capable of. 

OK some relations knew that I could use a hoe and secateurs and would occasionally ask me to do a bit of weeding or pruning. I have no objections to that.  Now they know I can use a saw, screwdriver, drill and spanners I am starting to get a lot of requests for ‘little jobs’ that need doing indoors. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind doing a bit, but life was certainly quieter when people thought all I was good for was mowing the lawn. I just hope they don’t find out that I can fix cars too.  Apart from putting old chairs back together with wood glue and screws and changing toilet seats for the latest ‘slow fall’ types,  I have also been commandeered to build a lean two at the back of my  mother in laws garage for storing wood in the winter.

How it came about

Before I go into a bit more detail about how I managed to cobble together something that can withstand a hurricane (hopefully) and keep the wood dry, I would like to give you the reason for why this came about in the first place.

Last year my in laws decided to get rid of their conventional open fire and install a wood burning stove. They didn’t stop there and went a step further by putting a smaller wood burning stove in the kitchen so they can keep their toast warm on a cold and frosty morning when they are having breakfast.  They will no doubt still be burning coal but the lure of free wood is very tempting, so we have all been collecting fallen branches from the woods and collecting anything that the tide has brought in from the coastline.  Initially this wood was stored in bags on the garage floor but as the season has progressed we have found a garage full of damp wood that needs the air getting around it to season it and dry it out. I’ve been collecting too this summer but for some reason we don’t seem to have stockpiled much.  Like my mate Paul said this week, he will probably save about 10cent on his heating bills with the amount of wood he has collected whilst out walking his dog. I don’t know about warming you twice as the saying goes, this wood warms me five times. Once as I collect it from the muddy shoreline or forest, once as I drag it back to the car, once as I cut it up, once as I pick it up from the garden after the dog has run off with it then of course when it’s burned on the fire. Pretty good value for money I reckon.

Lots of planning

So we have a pile of soggy wood and old pallets to be dried out and this is where I come in.  I have been drawing ideas down on bits of paper (then losing them) since the beginning of the summer holidays and finally came up with something that I could build from treated wood from the DIY shop.  All that was needed were two 4”x4”x6’ foot posts, some 5”x1” planks for the rafters, some leftover waterproof membrane left over from one of my earlier damp proofing exploits and 25x5’fencing planks.  After a few hours of screwing nails into the wood and wiping sweat from my brow as the tea flowed,  I had created something that looked rather good I thought.  There were plenty of gaps (some unintentional) to let the air pass through and I even built what looked like an old pallet on the ground to get the air moving underneath too.

Well equipped

We are getting well equipped with tools now for cutting the wood into manageable sizes to fit through the stove doors.  I have a chainsaw for the big bits and we have small bow saws when we are out and about just in case anything needs reducing in length to get into the cars.  We have a circular saw for when the wood is back on the workbench so everything is in place.  I think we will probably have paid for the tools in about 5 years on the money we save not having to buy the odd bag of coal.  But it’s not all about the money. The trips into the wilderness give us and the dogs lots of fresh air and exercise and there’s the bonding social side of the family meeting up in lay by’s and shoving rotted planks full of nails and mud into the boot of my clean car.

Of course I have the satisfaction of the family members thinking that I am a DIY genius.  When they ask me how I do it, I tell them that there are two secrets of success. 1, Never tell everything you know.....

Seed Freedom

Seed Freedom

There is a global uneasiness about how vegetable seeds are being processed and controlled by multinational companies.  So much so that we are seeing a lot of seed diversity disappearing.  The old heirloom seeds and seeds that will self germinate are being surpassed by just a few sterile varieties.  There are organisations setting up around the world to counteract this issue and more and more people are setting up seed banks and collecting varieties of seeds to keep them safe for future generations. One person is doing more though and campaigning on a worldwide level.  Dr. Vandana Shiva is asking for people to stand up and fight passively for something called ‘Seed Freedom’ which is a campaign to protect the free use and circulation of all seeds and not allow large companies to control the supply to farmers.

 About Dr. Vandana Shiva

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist, author and eco has authored more than 20 books on a wide range of environmental issues.  Shiva has fought for changes in the practice of agriculture and food. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering. Shiva is the main organiser for the Seed Freedom fortnight starting on the 16^th of October.  Here is the message Shiva has sent out to all permaculturalists, gardeners and anyone that grows from seeds around the world.

Dear Permaculturists,

There can be no permanent agriculture without the permanence, diversity and renewability of seed. Unlike industrial monocultures, permaculture depends on the co-operation between different species – plant and animals, perennial and annual.

The seeds of this diversity are at the heart of an agriculture of permanence. This is why you have an extremely important role to play in the Global Campaign for Seed Freedom both to save the diversity of seeds as well as our freedom to save and exchange seeds. Everywhere new laws are being imposed that make seed diversity, seed freedom and seed exchange illegal.

That is why I invite you to play a leading role in the Fortnight for Seed Freedom from 2nd October (Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary) to 16th October 2012 (World Food Day). In the spirit of Gandhi’s satyagraha, we plan to focus especially on the 2nd October (Gandhi’s birth anniversary) as a call for civil disobedience against unjust seed laws, to declare our Seed Freedom.

In More Detail

Shiva tells us more about the precarious nature of large corporations controlling seed stocks

• The last twenty years have seen a very rapid erosion of seed diversity and seed sovereignty, and the rapid concentration of control over seed by a very small number of giant corporations
• Acreage under GM corn, soya, canola, cotton has increased dramatically.
• Besides displacing and destroying diversity, patented GMO seeds are also undermining seed sovereignty, the rights of farmers to grow their own seeds and to save and exchange seed.
• In countries across the world, new seed laws are being introduced which enforce compulsory registration of seed, thus making it impossible for small farmers to grow their own diversity, and forcing them into dependency on giant seed corporations.
• Genetic contamination is spreading fast.
• After contamination, Biotech Seed Corporations sue farmers with patent infringement cases. More than 80 groups came together recently in the US and filed a case to prevent Monsanto from suing farmers whose seed had been contaminated.
• As farmer’s seed supply is eroded, and farmers become dependent on patented GMO seed, the result is indebtedness. Debt created by Bt. Cotton in India has pushed farmers to suicide.
• Pressure by Monsanto on the US Government and the joint pressure of both on governments across the world is a major threat to the future of seed and the future of food.

These trends demonstrate a total control over the seed supply and a destruction of the very foundation of agriculture. We are witnessing a seed emergency at a global level. The disappearance of our biodiversity and of our seed sovereignty is creating a major crisis for agriculture and food security around the world. We must act before it is too late. Seeds are the first link in the food chain and the repository of life’s future evolution. As such, it is our inherent duty and responsibility to protect them and to pass them on to future generations. The growing of seed and the free exchange of seed among farmers has been the basis to maintaining biodiversity and our food security.

Shiva concludes:

“I am sure you will sense the emergency as deeply as I do, and feel the need to join forces to reclaim our seed and to protect our Seed Diversity and Seed Freedom.

Let us collectively make 2012 the year to “Save our Seeds” and “Reclaim our Seeds as a Commons” – from privatisation through patents, from compulsory registration laws, from seed monopolies, from genetic erosion and contamination.”

The whole process is being done peacefully, and as a wise old salt once said, “You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete. “

For more information about how people are participating in the event, check out the seedfreedom.in website.