Most nursery plants are grown in artificial conditions in a sterile environment with heavy applications of nitrogen fertilizer and synthetic fungicides and bee killing pesticides. This intensive care system eliminates natural soil biology, creates a dependency on artificial stimulus and discourages the plant from developing the extensive root system it needs once it is out of the ICU. You purchase a poorly adapted, chemically dependent plant not capable of fending for itself.
We start with a special organic soil mixture to grow our organic plants.  We start with very little nitrogen fertilizer because we do not want to promote excessive green growth early in life. Once the root system is well developed we begin to limit the water and add a bit of nitrogen in the form of fish emulsion in our compost tea. The result is a plant that is ready to head out on its own and produce.
Our potting mix:

20 gallons compost,  Screened

5 gallons perlite

5 gallons vermiculite

1 cup rock phosphate
1 cup cottonseed meal

1 cup liquid fish

1 cup liquid seaweed

Mix it well and wet it with water or compost tea and let it sit a few hours before using.

We might add the following:
lava sand
cornmeal
greensand
kelp
molasses
epsom salt
We use a better draining mix for the succulents, lavender, thyme and rosemary.

We have had some long periods with less than normal rainfall lately, most notably October of 2010 until October of 2011 when we had 8 inches of rain in 12 months at the farm. The ground remained drier than normal until the fall rains in 2013. And we mismanaged our pastures. Hay was expensive and hard to find and we owned the most destructive of all livestock–horses. We half-heartedly tried rotating them, but ended up with no grass anywhere. We knew it was time to put in to practice what we had studied. We planned on a mob grazing program, something we first witnessed in 1990 in Nebraska, from a farmer who had studied the teachings of Alan Savory. For those who want to know more about his studies you might check out his TED talk.
We purchased a small flock of sheep, because small ruminates that eat both grass and browse seemed to best suit our situation. These sheep are crowded in new pasture most every day, quickly eating the tops of the minimal grasses that are there, grinding in the grass seed that we throw out under their hooves, mulching weeds they don’t eat, and fertilizing with their little rear manure spreader. After the sheep leave an area we can then put the traveling chickens on the pasture to clean the bugs from manure and select some tender grasses to improve the quality of their eggs.
Another gift from the drought is lots of dead oak trees. Many of these have now fallen and we are beginning to pile up the logs, throw hay on top and put the livestock in those areas, climbing around, eating hay, spreading their fertilizer and mulching. We are using some of the techniques involved in hugelkultur. Traditionally hugelkultur involves digging and partially burying the logs, but I feel we will get the decay we need without the labor, though it may take a few years for these to become the rich hummus beds we anticipate. In April we plan to plant winter squash because of its vining habit. It should completely cover the logs, offer mulch, retain moisture and provide us with a crop from an area that was never plowed, fertilized by a person or weeded. These areas should never need watering because the decaying logs and mulch should store enough moisture to survive another drought. Their mounds should also reduce runoff during any monsoons.

I went outside this morning at first light, about 6:30, to check out the effects of the frost. 28˚. We had given the sheep a sheltered area, but they were all grazing in the open pasture–their frosted wool backs glimmering. I let the hens out. They were fluffed up looking the size of meat birds, more excited than usual. The greenhouse with the tilapia had stayed above 50˚ and the water was still 60˚. Success! All our short haired dogs, that had the rare opportunity to be inside last night, were running full tilt while we went to each livestock area to break the ice layer off their water supply. I wanted to feed the horses some wet alfalfa pellets, but the hose was frozen, so they just got dry pellets. We southern Texans do not do winter on Thanksgiving very often.
When I was a kid Thanksgiving was all about eating. My mother was the perfect southern cook and much of the meal came canned and frozen from our summer garden harvest.
When we had children in Houston the holiday was all about the kids and me cooking together, while Kenan and Granny tried to keep our mess in check in anticipation of the large family gathering.
Today, this Thanksgiving is about growing the food here on the farm where it is quiet, cold and peaceful. It is about knowing the soil, working with the weather, avoiding the pests, understanding the animals and enjoying one another. Of course I will cook and I will eat.
I hope the best for everyone.
I am thankful.

Yesterday a few of us went to the Healing Hands Ranch in Willis, Tx. This ranch brings in men struggling through poverty and addiction, often homeless, often veterans, and provides housing, job training and an entry back into mainstream society. This group is proposing building an eco village with cob housing, gardens, aquaponic greenhouses–a permaculture homestead with low cost housing, a connection to nature, minimal energy needs and on site employment. This could be a model for future development. This will take some time and they will need many volunteer hands to join in. It is too early to ask for help, but keep them in mind. We all will be working on design proposals in the next few months and hope to begin building early next year. Building cob houses requires more manual labor than materials. Using the unemployed, underemployed and homeless and paying them a living wage will not only help them immediately, but will also provide some skills for future employment. We would like to see families and individuals in an affordable, environmentally sustainable community.

Boris Aronson, a Russian/American scene designer, was teaching a seminar at the University Of Texas in 1974 and one student asked what I thought was a stupid question. “Mr. Aronson, what is your theory of design”
He replied something like this in his thick Russian accent– “My theory of design is the wictim theory. Last week we began developing the style of a new Broadway show and the costume designer was not there. She could not promote her ideas, so everything went my way. This week I am here in Austin and we have another meeting and my ideas will not be promoted. Last week she was the wictim and this week I am the wictim. If you want to get somewhere you need to be present and constantly advocate your vision. If you are not there the ideas of others will prevail and your vision will become wictim to the plans of others.”
Don’t be a victim of the plans of big Ag, big Pharma and the industrial food system.
Come to the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance annual conference in Bastrop Sept 22 and 23 and help advocate your vision.

It is time to take out a bit of the winter garden. This job falls on the chickens. I built a new lightweight chicken tractor out of PVC and chicken wire. I saw a picture of a similar one at the SSAWG conference last month.  One hour with 10 chickens and they should have run out of things to eat, so we move it to a new local.  Mine is 6′ x 10′ and very easy for one person to move. Now I need to build one the size of my raised beds–4′ wide.

I am also building a circular clam-like pen that will go around a fruit tree and fit one or two chickens to weed and debug all of the fruit trees.  That job should take about 400 hours.