Listen To Your Mama
Nowadays more and more people want to grow their own food, raise their own animals, and get more in touch with nature in as holistic and organic a way as possible. A life as free from chemicals as you can get is the path we should all work towards. There is this concept out there for all of us purists called Biodynamic Farming that is just the answer to these needs. It shouldn't even be this nouveau "AH-HA!" type of discovery, Biodynamic Farming should be ascertained simply by using good ol' common sense and looking at the world around us. Did Mother Nature need a farmer or a herder or a breeder armed with herbicides and pesticides and growth hormones to get everything to grow and thrive? Nope. So why do we need to? Because we have gone against the very principles and rules of nature. We tried to make nature work the way WE want it to. Well aren't we just special...
Forgotten Farming

Variety is the Spice of Life

As soon as you retreat from nature and chemicals are used, not only are you effectively poisoning the soil and water supply, but you are killing off the pests you wish to be rid of and their natural predator. Some of those pests are needed for the environment we live in to be balanced. If you kill off those pests, you could be removing the food supply for another more beneficial creature. If we were able to create a balanced environment on all farms, the use of chemicals would become obsolete. There is no better manager of nature than Mother Nature herself.
There will always be diseases and pests on your farm, but these can be diminished greatly by creating this Biodynamic environment, so that they do not effect your overall production. We can not make Nirvana happen, but we can get pretty close to it.
If You Build it They Will Come

Want to attract ladybugs to your garden? Try planting what they crave! Ladybugs love Dill, Fern-Leaf Yellow (or False Foxglove), Basket of Gold (or Golden Tuft Alyssum) and Dandelion.
Lacewing is another helpful bug that eats not only aphids, but whiteflies, leaf hoppers, and mealy bugs. Want to attract them? They also love Dill like the ladybug, but will come to dine with you anytime if you plant Coriander, Angelica (a very beneficial herb for your health) , or Golden Marguerite (Yellow Chamomile).

Other pollinators that help us are the Butterfly, Moths, Hummingbirds, Wasps, and even Flies. What we need for our little pollinating friends is to plant herb and wild flower gardens right next to your own bee hive on your property. Bees prefer Blue, Purple, White, Orange, and Yellow flowers, as well as sweet fragrances.
All Creatures Great and Small

Or have your grasses grow tall between your fruit trees, or even plant cover crops there, then let the goats or sheep graze there and you will see that their droppings make excellent fertilizer for the soil!
Did you know that pigs make the best rototillers? Have a field that you want turned to plant in? Release your pigs and their snouts will do the work for you, and their waste will give you a rich soil for growing.
Raising rabbits? They have a natural symbiotic relationship with baby chicks, that they keep each other healthy and from getting illnesses.
As your farm grows and maintains a wide diversity, so too will your supply of beneficial bugs and rodents. Farm animals benefit your land by what you let grow wild for them to eat and their manure will make your soil turn rich. Take a step back from any obstacle you are dealing with and look to Mother Nature for her wisdom. The answer is there with her.
1 comments
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