Algal Blooms
The canals around the garden are really bad this year. They are all full of algal blooms.
In some places the algae is so thick trash floats on it.
The water plants floating on top here look pretty healthy. When the infestation is a little lighter the ducks and other water birds eat it. I haven’t seen any water birds in the canals for months now. Underneath the surface is slimy green algae.
I don’t know for sure what the cause of these algal blooms are, but I suspect they’re caused by excess phosphorus in the water, and probably excess manure being spread on the surrounding land. Farmers pay land owners to accept their waste manure spread out on it, and this in turn contaminates the water. Because of a soil test I did a few years ago, I already know there’s a lot of phosphorus in the ground and water.
Pig farmers in particular are known right now to be having a problem with excessive manure from their pigs. I suspect this is where at least some of the problem is coming from.
Because the canals are so close to my garden, I suspect this is causing a lot of the problems I’ve been having lately with plants not growing well, and weeds like bindweed growing very quickly. I understand bindweed grows in ground where something is interfering with the natural decomposition of organic material, and I suspect this is being caused by the lack of oxygen in the surrounding canals because of the algae growth.
I’ve been reading in the US, in particular the lakes of Wisconsin, there are similar problems with phosphorus and algal blooms. The formula of dishwasher detergent was recently changed in the US to reduce the amount of phosphorus, which is a very American solution to the problem of factory farm waste. Why not after all blame the consumer with something irrelevant?
If anyone complains about the change in formula of dishwasher detergent, you can look at them with a blank stare and ask them if they believe in unnecessarily polluting the environment, and if anyone complains about the factory farming you can tell them every thing is under control because the formula in dishwasher detergent has been changed.
Anyone else having problems with phosphorus pollution and algal blooms?
Olivier de Schutter Video
Below is the video of Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as it was shown in April 2011, at the demonstration in Brussels I posted about before.
The spoken language is French, with English subtitles.
If you wish to download a version to play directly on your own computer, you can do that here. The original video without embedded subtitles can be downloaded here.
Tim Peters Perennial Rye
I’ve posted about this several times before. Like here.
The more I watch this grow, the more interesting I find it.
It’s another ‘no-weed’ plant, like what I posted about earlier today. It’s basically grass, and it’s no-weed like most of our lawns are. It just forms a very thick root mass that almost no weeds can penetrate. Like grass, I wouldn’t really expect there to be insect or disease problems. Like grass it can be used as a forage crop, and in fact it grows about 2 meters high, and produces a lot of hay or straw. For gardeners it’s a useful source of mulch.
It will literally grow anywhere grass grows. It’s not uncommon to find unselected rye grasses in lawn seed mixes, and rye is not an uncommon component of people’s lawns. It’s the thicker bladed grass most of us are familiar with.
Okay, I can hear you asking. If it’s like grass and grows where grass grows, what makes it interesting? What makes it interesting is that you can eat it! Literally, anywhere grass grows, this is a drop-in replacement you can eat.
So let me repeat. Replaces grass, including people’s lawns, is weed, insect and disease free, hardly requires any care, and you can eat it. When you’re done eating it, any animals you might have can eat it.
If you were to create a major food for a sustainable future, what would you do different?
Bolivia Enacts Food Sovereignty Law
Today Bolivia enacted a food sovereignty law intended to better develop national food production, based on traditional varieties produced by small scale farmers and non commercial seeds.
EmmaCooper.org
Within hours of me announcing my new domain, fellow blogger Emma Cooper in the UK also announced her new domain, EmmaCooper.org. Emma is a blogger, podcaster, writer, gardener, chicken raiser and who knows what else. She and her partner Pete have been working hard the last days and weeks preparing a new website, where you can read more about her and what she does.
