LAND WATER AND CULTURE CONFERENCE

Presentations and important updates on GMO
Chile and other issues will be a part of the 3rd
Annual Land, Water and Culture Conference
and Seed Exchange:

"Honoring our Relationship with Food" Saturday, March 8th, 9am-5pm, Northern NM College, Española. The conference will feature: community updates by sponsors of the conference including the NM Food and Seed Sovereignty Alliance, New
Mexico Acequia Association, Traditional Native American Farmers Association, Communities for Clean Water, Northern NM College, the Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center and others.

I DECLARE A SQUASH BUG WAR!

Ihave found the Terrorists of the Garden, and they are the Squash Bugs - aka Anasa tristis of the family Coreidae, as in ¡Que Triste! when you get them. You'll know them by the fetid smell they omit when disturbed or crushed! You may watch in horror as your healthy cucumbers, squash and melons - all members of the cucurbit
family wilt and die if you don't get rid of these vine borers. Having assiduously gardened in New Mexico for the last 34 years, I've learned to deal with these creatures through a multi-pronged strategy that does not involve toxic chemical
pesticides.

1. Grow local varieties adapted for our climate Seeds from native New Mexican varieties give the competitive edge to plants that are already acclimated and selected for this climate over generations. You can order native varieties online
from Native Seed SEARCH: http://www.nativeseeds.org/.

2. Don't plant cukes or squash until mid-June! By holding off planting CUCURBITS until the second week of
June, you can avoid squash bugs almost all together. Planting when the moon is waxing, and in a water or air sign, will give the best results. For 2008, I recommend planting June 12th through June 21st. You'll get fast germination and strong initial growth in the longest days of the year.

3. Plant Sacrificial Squash I grow several hundred pounds of pickling cucumbers every year and have noted that squash bugs actually prefer squash over melons and cucumbers. One effective strategy is to plant pumpkins and squash off in a corner of your garden as a diversion from your cukes and melons.

4. Use Chicken Tractors Hens can quickly scour your garden of harmful pests, and do a bit of cultivating in the process. If you make a movable 10 by 10pen, you can concentrate their foraging in specific parts of your garden. Do this in the spring before you plant. One of the best reasons to keep birds is
for their high nitrogen manure, which excels as a way to "ignite" your compost
pile. Gather your leaves and green plant stuffs into a pile, soak the chicken
manure in a large tub for 12 hours, and pour it onto the compost pile.
5. Feed Your Plants A really sound investment for your garden is a backpack
style, hand-pump 5 gallon sprayer. You can make your own compost teas for feeding your plants through the stomata on the undersides of their
leaves. Take an old pillow case, fill it with mature compost, and drop it like a tea bag in a tub of water. A day later, you'll have a nice brown nutrient-rich concoction
with which you can feed your plants. By keeping your plants well fed, their natural immunities will provide the greatest protection from insect predators.
6 Lay Traps For The Bugs Lay some old boards under your plants. During the hot part of the day, the bugs will take refuge under the shade of the boards and you can easily gather them and squish them. By paying attention when they first start to appear, you can reduce their population and avoid their prolific breeding. If you see
their eggs on a plant, you can "paint" them with mineral oil to prevent them
from hatching.
7. Homemade Insecticide Make a truly disgusting all natural homemade insecticide to spray on your plants by blending a head of garlic, a few tablespoons of cayenne pepper, some non-filtered cigarette butts or tobacco, and the squash bugs you gathered in step 6 with a quart of water. Add this to a gallon of water, but be sure
to strain this mixture after blending or you will clog your sprayer tip!
8.Declare A Truce If you take the attitude that everything under the sun has a right to live, and that it's better to share than be greedy, then you can be at peace with the squash bugs. And after a season of pickling a gallon of cucumbers every day for 6 weeks, I actually become grateful to the little bugs for reducing my work.