Dealing with the will of nature

Farming is a funny thing. In most modern day professions you can pretty much run over nature and not blink. Even conventional farmers are told they can spray some chemicals, buy GMO seeds, and feel like they have some chance of winning (though any farmer--big ag supporting or all-in organic--will tell you they stay up late at night worrying about what might kill their crops or livestock this week).

On the urban farm I've been running into a few "issues" where Mother Nature really is showing me she has a mind of her own. It's my job to figure out how to work within this system, and since I am using only organic methods, I have to be creative and think about what my great grandparents would have done. (I can also think about how they might laugh at me and my citified ways!) I've learned a few lessons this week.

Lesson 1: Crows have a place in the ecosystem, just not in my popcorn.

This is the point in my post where my great grandparents would laugh at me and then shake their heads in understanding. I have been visited by a murder of crows (yes, that is what a group of crows is called, and the name fits since they have been murdering my popcorn).

In my many years of corn research, I had several unfortunate experiences where I watched crows walk down rows of corn and pull out the small plants one by one, only to eat the seed that is still located at the base of a young plant; a single crow can take out a row of corn in moments. The urban farm is right in the middle of town, so I had never seen this here (or even considered it as a possibility) until this week.

I would feel better about this if the crows would eat the whole plant.

So what would my great grandparents do? They would make a scarecrow, of course! So that's just what I did. My daughter's outgrown jeans, an old t-shirt, and a biking cap make a convincing farm hand.

The scarecrow really freaks out my dog (and if I am to admit it, when I glance outside I still keep thinking someone is out there, so perhaps this will keep the crows away until the replanted corn is big enough to hold its own).

Lesson 2: Cucumber beetles. They love cukes as much as my daughter does.

Can you really blame them? Cucumbers are delicious. That said, a beetle nibbling on my tender, young plants doesn't just put holes in the leaves, it spreads disease and kills plants in a matter of days. In the cucumber patch we have the striped beetle variety, and they spread a disease called bacterial wilt.

Dying cucumber plant.

Cucumber safe under a screen.

I've found two ways to rescue some of my cucumber plants: neem oil and netting. From what I can tell, neem oil is an organic miracle spray for all kinds of fruit and veggie-loving insects. The second way to control these beetles is netting. I had some old window screen that I used, or you could buy something fancy.

Lesson 3: There is a reason that they called a scared person a chicken.

This last lesson isn't so much something I need to correct. It's more just an observation. Chickens really are... chickens. (I suppose it has served them well, being that they are on the bottom of the food chain and every meat in the world supposedly tastes like them. I'd be a little nervous, too.)

I thought it would be a nice treat to give the chickens a watermelon rind.

The pullets spent the day hiding in the corner, jumping on each other in an attempt to escape from the offending watermelon rind. Such chickens! I know some people's birds do eat watermelon. Any suggestions on how to help them overcome their fear?