Friday, January 29, 2016

Soil 304: Supressed

Conventional agricultural soils are dead (or at least biologically suppressed) due to the use of highly salt based fertilizers like super phosphate, which suppresses soil life and anhydrous ammonia which burns out the organic matter the soil life feeds on.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Soil 303: Depleted

Conventional agricultural soils are depleted of organic matter because we burn out the carbon in the soil by heavy use of anhydrous ammonia. We also export organic matter from the farm when we sell the corn and soybean stalk residue (called stover).

Monday, January 25, 2016

Soil 302: Exhausted

Conventional agricultural soils are exhausted because we don't replace both macro and micro minerals removed by heavy cropping.

Settlers on the prairie would homestead for 7-10 years, exhaust the soil and move on. We avoid the moving on scenario by applying macro minerals N-P-K-Ca. With this regimen the plants look good but the human body and critters we grow for food need  92 minerals.

So what about the other 88 minerals.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Petersen's Market Menu for January 23, 2016

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3bnhUL3wEzK6j_xNsHsrqmpF7V7dMZ8QiyhDabFD574ah7aq3BQxqM_fKiNUtc9R4-j66h2iJwLB17377n5KXvv2dH6kfOaoQzy5DDq1si9AFs8Y1Dl5xxbubIsWsDBhKVEdcKGZAxcH/s1600/Cipollini+Onions.jpg
Storage Onions for Winter Market

Here is our market menu for this week.

The carrots and parships are now safely in storage for the winter. November is the best time to pick the best carrots and parsnips of the year. Can you guess why? Frost! You need a few hard frosts to bring out the sweetness of those carrots. The children call our carrots "candy carrots" because of this crunchy sweetness. Here is a link to an article on our web site about why carrots are sweeter with frost?

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, January 23, 2016 (New items are in Bold Print)


Cabbage - Red and Green

Garlic
Carrots
Parsnips
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Red Onions
Shallots
Squash



Herb Plants - Rosemary,


Pickles: Spicy Dill, Sweet Sandwich, Okra, Dilly Bean, Corn Relish, Pepper Relish.
Salsa

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made). Made three fresh batches in the last week.








Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Soil 301: Addicted

Conventional agricultural soils and crops are addicted to chemical fertilizer.

Corn is especially addicted to...

Monday, January 18, 2016

Soil 300: Burned Out

When I was in high school when someone was called a burn out it typically involved illegal drugs that are now being promoted for medicinal purposes. When I was in college being burned out was the fatigue after finals when you hadn't slept much for a week. When I was 30 years old being burned out typically meant you were over doing work, church or farming, because you were a workahololic.  When I was 35 burned out could be applied to burning down the rainforest and the depleted soils that resulted 3 to 4 years later. When I was 40 burned out might be applied to a person who maxed out their credit. Do you see a trend here. None of these connotations is positive.

 I submit there is another definition of burned out today that makes sense in agriculture.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Financial Peace for You

Sunday morning January 17, 2016 at 9:00 am at Autumn Ridge Church starts our next Financial Peace University class.

It is taught by Dave Ramsey via DVD. Topics include...

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Ten Below on the French Riveria Part II

In our last post we made the observation that, many of the Minnesota "locals" do not realize that South East Minnesota is at the same latitude as the southern coast of France. The Reveria is known for its mild Mediterranean climate and stands in stark contrast to the Minnesota cold.

The reason for this is Minnesota is land locked and is exposed to the Canadian Arctic weather systems. While the southern coast of France has a hugh body of warm water call the Mediterranean Sea to moderate its climate.

But the real key is the amount of sunshine both locations get...they are the same.

So why all the fuss and why does this matter?

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Ten Below Zero on the French Riveria

We woke to a temperature of -10 degree Fahrenheit this morning here in Minnesota. It has been relatively mild until now and this is the first severe cold of this season.

It is no surprise to the hardy Scandinavians settled this area that we would have this kind of cold. We often see -20F or even -30F earning us a Zone 4 designation on plant cold hardiness scale.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Petersen's Market Menu for January 9, 2016

10 reason's to shop at the Rochester Farmer's Market I wrote this post earlier this week. Thinking ahead to spring.

Here is our market menu for this week.

We still have an excellent selection of pumpkins so don't forget the pumpkin pie, here is a link to 15 different Pumpkin Pie Recipes we have developed. From classic to low carb, these are great creative ways to work a little pumpkin into your life.

The carrots and parships are now safely in storage for the winter. November is the best time to pick the best carrots and parsnips of the year. Can you guess why? Frost! You need a few hard frosts to bring out the sweetness of those carrots. The children call our carrots "candy carrots" because of this crunchy sweetness. Here is a link to an article on our web site about why carrots are sweeter with frost?



We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, January 9, 2016 (New items are in Bold Print)


Cabbage - Red and Green

Garlic
Carrots
Parsnips
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Red Onions
Shallots
Pumpkins - Heirloom Pie
Squash



Herb Plants - Rosemary,


Pickles: Spicy Dill, Sweet Sandwich, Okra, Dilly Bean, Corn Relish, Pepper Relish.
Salsa

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made). Made three fresh batches in the last week.


If you took the time to read clear to the bottom of Market Menu I'm going to include a thoughtful article from our website archives. This week's "thought for the day" is entitled Beware the Cat With the Deaf Eye. It is a story from when Reed was in second grade.







Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Peak Oil and Peak Food

In 1964 M. King Hubert predicted that oil production would peak around the year 2000 and then decline. Well folks after much hand wringing by governments and environmentalists, peak oil just didn't happen. Due to new technologies North Dakota is now competing with Saudi Arabia for world oil dominance. The US has become a net exporter of oil in the last five years. This has slowed the massive transfer of wealth to empires in the middle east, I'd much rather contribute my petroleum dollars to the good old boys in North Dakota.

So why was the peak oil demand so far off?

Monday, January 4, 2016

Ten Reasons to Shop at the Rochester Farmer's Market


Here are my ten reasons to shop at Rochester Downtown Farmers Market 


Friday, January 1, 2016

The Year of Contentment

One of keys to the financial success of every family is contentment, which is one of the most powerful financial principles in our lives.

I Timothy 6:6-8 says, "Now godliness with contentment is great gain..."

Let's start off the New Year by considering five principles of contentment...