Live in Washington County Indiana?

Then be sure to give us a call this fall and winter for your produce needs.

We will have the following available at various times this winter:

Tomatoes, grown fresh and "eco-logically" in our two production greenhouses, using non-hydrophonic growing systems. Our systems guarantee the same great garden fresh flavor you expect out of summer tomatoes!

White Alpine Strawberries: Smaller and more delicate than your average garden strawberry with three times the flavor! Very fragrant and beautiful white and yellow strawberries of the most excellent quality. Must be special ordered. Give us a call or e-mail us!

Collard Greens, Kale Greens, Turnips, Winter Radishes and leaf lettuce mixes of the finest quality. You can't buy stuff at this at the store and if you could it would be a lot more expensive!

We will also have farm fresh eggs available weekly. Give us a call to place an order.


You can call or simply stop by the farm anytime between 7:30 A.M. and 7:00 P.M or e-mail us anytime!

You can sometimes find our products available at crossroads store located at the corner of Voles and Mann Road in Pekin Indiana as well as the Lost River Market and Deli located in Paoli Indiana. More stores coming soon!

Call us: 1-812-967-2073
E-Mail: bishopshomegrown@gmail.com
Find Us: Bishops Homegrown
5604 S. State Rd. 60
Pekin IN 47165



Seeds can still be ordered, scroll down

New GMO High Anthocyanin Tomato.

Just thought I'd give those into the GMO issue the heads up. Over on our message boards (http://alanbishop.proboards60.com) as well as all around the net on blog sites and garden related message boards there is an ongoing hot debate about a recent press release detailing the creation and possible future release of a high Anthocyanin producing "purple" tomato. The issues at hand are many within the gardening community, at the top of the list is why such a creation is of any importance and how this will affect the "blue" tomato currently being bred by Jim Meyers and his students at OSU who have used traditional plant breeding methods to come up with a high Anthocyanin producing tomato fruit over the past several years. Check it out in the "Soapbox" forum of http://alanbishop.proboards60.com and leave your thoughts.


Here are my thoughts on the subject (to be expanded upon shortly)

I am currently and probably for the foreseeable future anti GMO. My reasoning is thus; too much power in too few hands with too few independent tests searching for actual specific side effects of gene splicing, an art I might add that is not present whatsoever in the record of natural agricultural history as opposed to spontaneous crosses and man made crosses.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand there could be merits to this "fast food" version of plant breeding, I get that, but I also know that those who have the power to make such decisions very rarely have positive intentions in mind and instead have money regardless of consequence in mind. For example see any of the following, Monsanto, Big Pharma, Big Box Stores, Big Government.

The problem I have with this particular "creation" is that there is
A. No sport in what was done.

By this I mean that it isn't like other natural sources of Un-monopolized, anthocyanin producing crops don't exist. See blueberries, purple carrots, purple flour, flint, and sweet corns, purple peas and so on, which brings me to part B.

B. A traditionally bred alternative already in the pipeline

In many ways I can see this hurting Jim Meyers research at OSU. I mean this guy has worked his butt off on the P-20 lines and here somebody just bypasses the work of one of the few remaining land grant schools doing actual plant breeding work without consideration for the novel and appreciable idea that Jim Meyers had. I'm sure the reason that so few land grant schools still exist with plant breeding and experimentation arms is due to the monopolization of agriculture by big business, most recently those dealing in GMO's and and big PHarma. Couple this with the fact that this new blue tomato will probably be PVP'ed and you've just signed the death warrant for the OSU project.

Now, the reason there is so much opposition by others to GMO's?


Probably because very little of any positive developments have come out of this technology since it was first implemented and most likely because they have been lied to so many times by the big companies of the world about what is "safe" and "unsafe" that there is no reason to any longer trust these folks. It's the boy who cried wolf story if you will.


Seeds are still available, scroll down to order and help fund the ongoing research by Hip-Gnosis Seed Development :)

Finally A New Post!

Howdy everyone!

We are once again back from a long and hard growing season here in Southern Indiana!

This year has definetly been a challenging one with all the strange weather, pest problems, and breeding projects. We most definetly have learned a lot this past season, particularly about using our organic systems to better utilize pest and disease control and we greatly look forward to next season!

With that said, we didn't have much of any time to update our little blog site here over the past several months, but no need to worry about that becoming a trend as we have made a solemn promise to keep this site updated at least once and maybe twice a week from here on out!

If your wondering what we've been up to here on the farm, here is a short update that we will empasize on later:

-Lots of trialing and new food plant and flower breeding this year!
-Experimenting with new methods of pest control
-Implementing further permaculture and bio-intensive design elements
-Creating and increasing seed stock for our farm, community, and for sale
-Working with our new flock of chickens and guineas!
-Learning how to properly incubate and hatch eggs!
-Helping get a local store up and going by offering some of our products exclusively there!
-Working on the new Hip-Gnosis Seed Development seed database
-Working on an all new online purchasing store which will offer all kinds of our exclussive seeds, red worms, worm castings, hatching eggs, and chicks!
-Re-vamping the greenhouses to prepare for winter
-Cutting a tremendous amount of wood that was taken down by the reminants of hurricane Ike
-Working on a new system of Thermophillic composting
-Working on creating an "Echo" system of renewable, local resources
and much more!

Needless to say, there will be lots of blog postings and pictures coming soon, along with trialing and plant breeding notes, links to other blogs, links to local resources and businesses, updates on what we currently have available here on our farm weekly and at the markets, and an all new online store!

-Keep in touch friends!

-Alan

The new and true Green Revolution; part one of a two part rant (rough draft)

The new and true Green Revolution: A call to arms for all farmers and gardeners interested in self sufficiency and natural agriculture to take a stand.


The twentieth and twenty-first century have seen the rise of big agri-business by way of the green revolution, petrol-chemical agriculture, and the re-writing and destruction of historical agriculture which has been practiced for over 10,000 years. Never before have species disappeared so rapidly or completely and not only from our agricultural fields but also from their natural environments and never before has the role of supposed “ownership” and the artificial, dangerous, and untested genetic modification of plants and animals been an issue on the minds of farmers and consumers as it is today.

One of many paths to power as proven throughout history is the control of food supply. If one is to effectively control food supplies one must first control the seed. “He who controls the seed controls the feed.” as a friend of mine often says. Our seeds have been taken from our gardens and out of our hands, breaking a bond of generational knowledge and seed as saved and passed down for generation after generation often accompanied by much legend and information. Instead it has been stolen and locked up in litigation, red tape and ownership while being re-sold to the original owners in fanciful packaging for far too long now. I believe it is time we take our power back, returning it to the fields and families where it belongs all around the world.

In the responsible, sustainable, fields and farms of tomorrow we must make every effort to become more sustainable by any means necessary, and it is only by taking a stand and fighting for what we believe in that this effort will be realized. It is time for a true green revolution which will not consist of high priced amendments, petrol chemicals and false information, but instead will consist of deep spirituality, love, peace, knowledge, trade, and respect as well as firm footing and the bravado to fight for those things worth dying for. If all of these previous ideas don’t fall into line, none of this will mater and we will only further cater to corporate greed and the destruction of the very earth that feeds and nourishes us, it is indeed time to fight fire with nothing less than fiery passion!

We have watched, particularly in the United States, as our governments have made mistake after mistake while catering to the petrol-war machine and big business while driving the middle class completely out. Other countries are experiencing the same, particularly in Europe, while even others have seen far worse. Many Ideas are bandied about, most misguided, some just flat out wrong and morally unjustifiable while meanwhile around the world the layman continues to work with innovation, integrity, and pride within the basis of systems which are either completely new and innovative or thousands of years old and tested by time, never being heard or seen because they are not in a position of power to make such projects profitable for a corporation or government, often frowned upon because these innovative men and women don’t have the “required education” to be any more than a nobody in the eyes of the power brokers. While those of us who stand alone can prove a point, together we are and army and with the power to change our reality and purge our system of the evil which is infecting it.

Agriculture is but one small area, but a very important one to start with, for without food, ideas, culture, spirituality and niche roles cannot be realized.


The saving and trading of seed is paramount to sustainable agriculture and keeps many small farms afloat in a time of turmoil the world over. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the world and the responsible inhabitants therein are raped we must stand up to those who would subdue us and cut the metaphorical throat of their bonds; materialistic desire and the cash flow which keeps their blood pumping. The unnecessary transition of material wealth coming annually from the poor to the rich in exchange for the privilege for one to grow their own garden and eat their own food without the option of saving seed is not only an insane idea but completely unprecedented in the annals of history

I am making a stand and a call that all of those responsible farmers and gardeners not only do what they can find it in themselves to do to be more environmentally responsible, but to also make it a point to show big agriculture and petrol business as well as our own governments that we are tired of being pushed around. Just like in the Victory garden campaigns of world war one and two, I call for you, the backbone of America to become more responsible in you use and treatment of the land and it’s resources as well as flying the flag of your independence in the face of those who would otherwise tread on you. False patriotism and alignments with ones own prideful sense of country will do nothing to help further these ideas, indeed they are the very reasons these ides are never cultured or seen to fruition.


It is time to implement green graffiti techniques, planting in public spaces for the good of the environment and the people, in a way that will leave you anonymous but also give you great pride. It is time to start implementing breeding projects which will give us our seed back by effectively saving, selecting and growing out F1 hybrid seeds or by using PVP type open pollinated seeds in new breeding experiments and distributing them world wide.

It is time to start the lobbying against the era of artificial genetic modification and to tell the Monsanto’s and governments of the world that we will not allow it; not here, not now, not ever. It is time to start making gardening more about feeding the earth and the family and less about feeding the rich; it is also time to make agriculture more spiritual and less mechanical.

It too is time to work harder than ever on and with a system of black market trading of seeds and the distribution thereof around the world, finding nooks and crannies into which much seed and plants can be exchanged with cultures around the world, further strengthening our bonds as responsible agricultural stewards and also as a human worldwide family working for the good of our mother, our environments, our nutrition, and our very soul and spirits. It is time to ensure genetic variability and bio-diversity while also working within regional and local agricultural systems and with the world at large. There are no boundaries other than those drawn on maps by men who set in underserved places of power! Internet technology makes this easier than ever before and should be utilized at every opportunity.

It is time to build bridges between the communities of the world and find our common ground, to work with innovative new ideas that will help solve modern dilemmas by way of forgotten technology or new options that are “Eco-Logically” sound.

It is time to encourage the youth of the world to become involved, to utilize local and regional resources to take back the land and farm the land that is too quickly being covered with low rent housing, build on flood plains and prone to disaster. Our misuse of resources, our laziness, our placidity, and the uninformed opinions of journalists who have never touched soil are slowly eroding not only our agriculture, but our very spirit and culture. The very “ terroir” of our lands has been raped and pillaged by power brokers for too long now. Pick up the shovel and put down the video games, experience reality as you never have! The youth are the key, if only they will realize what true knowledge and culture means.

Much work has been done by many dedicated people at our Homegrown Goodness site (http://Alan bishop.proboards60.com) to work with diverse peoples, cultures and farming systems around the world to distribute and obtain seed which at times and in certain countries it is illegal export or import for fears that are solely corporately related. It is time that we all come together and shake hands, exchange culture, ideas, knowledge and seeds.

I too believe that it is time that we educate those who would otherwise not understand our passion, our beliefs and the facts about natural sustainable gardening, while instead of fighting those who would subdue us and who would otherwise become our adversaries. we shall instead prove deeply our point with sound research, observation, and hard impassioned work; sometimes one cannot wait for a door to open and instead has to kick the door down!


More to come in part two; “Bio-fuels, local agrarian living, practicing simplicity and humility, and working towards sustainable living!”

Creating diversity in food crops through the time honored tradition of cultural mixing of seed stocks:

Creating diversity in food crops through the time honored tradition of cultural mixing of seed stocks:
A new spin on an old method as realized by many backyard plant breeders.

Written By: Alan Reed Bishop of Hip-Gnosis seed development and Bishop’s Homegrown
All writings are copy left and public domain property. Feel free to distribute!

So much of what we do on our little produce and research farm here in Pekin, Indiana finds its roots in the time honored traditions of days gone by. Of particular and keen interest to the untrained backyard plant breeder are the questions, how and where do I start. We are often asked why we spend so much time making “chance” mass crosses, something that is often frowned upon by the school and book trained plant breeders. I will attempt to give some history and background on what inspired me to take this particular road in many of my current plant breeding programs in the following paragraphs.

I guess I should start by putting forth my philosophy on life; I am whatever is, and will be, and I create reality with my every thought that is put into practical use within the third dimension and which can be proven time and again through process of spiritual evolution, free thinking, and common sense. I hope that didn’t go over your head, but that’s my creed and all of my self study into cultural, spiritual and horticultural knowledge of the past helps me to reinforce this idea. In other words, one doesn’t learn everything (and sometimes one learns nothing) that is practical within the pages of a book, taught within enclosed walls.

One doesn’t have to look far into the past to see the success, rise and eventual fall of all empires, civilizations and ideas. One also doesn’t have to look far to see the implications of a practical use of common sense. With these ideas in mind a few years back I implemented my plant breeding work after re-discovering my love for natural horticulture and agriculture by way of history and proven, time tested, methodology.

Much of my work is typified by “mass crossing” and mixing experiments. Wherein food plants of one species but of different varieties are planted together and encouraged, deeply, to cross with one another, providing myself with a wide diversity of F1 seeds and new recombination’s of genetics in the following year with which to grow out and make selections from.

A good example would be my current watermelon experiments. We have collected a number of watermelon seed types from around the world in colors of pink, red, orange, yellow, and white, in the winter after collection was done we grouped them into like types; red and pink, yellow and orange, and a separate white fleshed mix. The seeds were thoroughly mixed together in their separate color categories and then planted, encouraging crossing between the varieties with a hive of bees or by way of other pollinators (and sometimes hand pollination, particularly for planned crosses or for “selfing” a bloom for the sake of seed purity). The end result will be mixed and more often than not crossed F1 generation seed that will be bulked together and replanted and which will give rise to future selection work, particularly in developing varieties adapted to our disease, insect, and climate pressures here on the farm and in the surrounding area as well as taste and productivity measures.

You might ask why we don’t just trial a number of cultivars and pick what does best. The long and short of it is that we do and we have, however a good selection doesn’t mean you’re best or most creative, artistic, or tasty option, sometimes our “reality“ needs to be shaken up and revisited as it were (seeds are just like ideas and ideas are in fact seeds). In other words if you can find an OP of terrific quality that works well with you, it will be important to keep that variety pure and keep right on propagating it (you never know when the seed companies will stop offering it) however, if you aren’t satisfied playing the averages and you feel a little adventurous, mix it up a bit, plant the seeds and then start the selection process. In time you can, like we have, select for and develop verities of food plants and recombination’s of genetics, in a natural way, that are uniquely suited to your agricultural needs. Sounds rather tongue in cheek right? That’s the point. With a little bit of ingenuity and common sense and an eye for selection you too can explore the diversity and beauty that nature offers us and create your own variety.

Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely not a new idea. As a matter of fact this idea has probably been practiced for as long as agriculture has existed, particularly so by way of the Native Americans. We have often grown out seed types from Native American farmers which will “throw” us all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors of fresh produce all from the same plant! What the natives were able to breed into plants in diversity is absolutely amazing; a good example is seen on display nearly every fall in the form of “Indian corn“.

Often times natives would mix multiple seed lines or varieties into “grexes” or “mixes” used for planting the next year. Weather these original crosses were the results of planed variability or naturally occurring accidental crosses is probably up for debate, but there is no doubt that the natives saw immediately (common sense again!) the results of diversifying their crop types with the aid of new germ plasm which could lend to the selection pressures of their bio-regions and particular requirements. Seed trading was often a large part of communication between tribes and in this way many new seed stocks found their way into many new seed mixes. The history of most crops in the western hemisphere will prove beyond a reasonable doubt how seed can travel and at a pace that is almost unprecedented (for example, watermelon, a crop brought to the new world by the Spaniards, was being grown by the Natives in some places up to 50 years before contact from the Spaniards!) In other words, dent corn (or flint, pop, or sweet corn types) of multiple varieties were mixed together (by type; dent with dent, flint with flint, with some amount of intermixing between types) and grown together for years while making no apparent attempt to select for a crop which would mature uniformly and in a small space of time (modern plant breeders are big on those type of traits due to the modern food processing industry) leading to a wide variety of colors and shapes, and a long harvest window, important to the home gardener and in some Native American rituals. Disease and pest tolerance were probably well noted in the mind of the grower so that seed selection could be made based on the best of the best. Squash and beans, the other two pieces of the important “three sisters” guild, were also often grown in this way. To this day, squash seed, coming from the natives in the arid south west and Mexico by way of Native Seeds /SEARCH shows such diversity that a novice gardener might believe there had been a seed mix up when in fact these seeds are open pollinated, just genetically variable by way of cultural mass crossing of crops, in other words if you try to save seeds of only on type of squash off of a plant that gave you many shapes and colors, you will always get all of those same shapes and colors in the following plantings. It is pretty ingenious if I do say so myself, and a terrific way to develop genetic diversity. It is due to the work of these early natives and seed saving plant breeders that we owe most of the diversity left in our food crops today.

Beans show the same diversity even though they aren’t commonly out crossers, these beans have made chance crosses for so long, that all the varieties have become one variety, in other words, one variety may have as many as five seed types, but any one seed will give rise to all the same variations! Exciting stuff if I do say so myself.

Early plant breeding by large seed companies was often left to chance as well. Many of the older commercial O.P. types were the results of mass crossing, rare spontaneous mutations, or the results of two varieties of one crop being grown in a field together to encourage crossing with future selection work being made on the progeny, bringing the seed into a “fixed“ or open pollinated state.. Many of the very best varieties suited to regional and local agriculture have been breed in this way or by way of accidental crossing and selection pressures.

Much of this crossing led to much improved varieties, particularly within local agriculture and regional agriculture systems. By mixing up the genetics you are in effect shuffling the card deck, looking for new combinations, and constantly rouging out the “bad hands”. Sometimes you get dealt a real winner though and with a little common sense in selecting the “parent” seeds that go into the mix, one can greatly increase their odds of getting that wining hand.

Parent seed selection should be based on firm self study and research, what grows well in your climate, has disease and pest tolerance that matches your needs, is productive and tasty, can you find multiple varieties of one crop type that has all of these traits that you’re searching for, maybe a compromise must be made from time to time. One melon has taste and productivity but no powdery mildew resistance, while one has taste and powdery mildew resistance while not being drought tolerant, one is drought tolerant and productive but you don’t care for the taste, perhaps these are all vineing types and you want a bush types, with a little common sense we can track down all that we need for a mix to create a mass cross, and if one is really on top of the game they can even trade like the natives before us for all the parent stock they will need for only the price of some of their own seed stock.

From the onset of the additional crosses, the ball is in your hand to make and document your selection criteria for your own needs, perhaps you want a uniform crop where selection must be regimented, or perhaps you’re an explorer and lover of diversity in the time honored tradition of the natives and you will select for disease, pest, and taste and allow the diversity to flourish, the choice of course is yours!

Of course one should not completely rule out F1 hybrid seed either. It is by way of much commercial F1 hybrid seed tat we have made many crosses or selected and segregated out an effective open pollinated version of such and F1 hybrid. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but the beauty is that you always learn and you might just find something great!

Many of our future blogs and research articles will be based on a great many mass crosses and the segregation process that follows here on our farm. Among the many mass crosses that we have or will be working with this year are the following:

Winter squash mixes:
Acorn and mini pumpkins in all colors and variations
Mixta, Moschata, and Maxima mixes
Watermelon:
Red cross
Yellow and orange crosses
White Crosses
Tomatoes:
Modern cherry, grape, and mini pears crossed to high sugar wild relatives in all colors
Cucumbers:
White Cucumber mass cross
Kales
Collards
Cabbages
Broccoli
And Many others!

We also make what we term pure “grexes”, where the seed of many varieties of one type of non out crossing crop are mixed and intercropped together for maximum diversity!

Vermiculture and Vermicomposting - Creating an “Eco-Logically” balanced and self sufficient farm based on the concept of wasting nothing!

Vermiculture and Vermicomposting - Creating an “Eco-Logically” balanced and self sufficient farm based on the concept of wasting nothing!

Written, researched, and developed by: Alan Reed Bishop of Bishop’s Homegrown and Hip-Gnosis Seed Development

Here at Bishop’s Homegrown we are always working to improve our systems of production, fertilization, and “Eco-Logically” managed, Self Sustainable farming. After years of natural observation we obviously realize the importance of eco-systems working as an Echo Mechanism. This is the concept that one plant or animal grows with the aid of something created or produced by another plant or animal, thus Echoing repeatedly back into the eco systems. Never taking more than needed and always adding more back to the mix. Of particular interest to us is creating our own on farm fertilizers, pest controls, and disease controls instead of relying on ordering them in from cross country and adding more to our carbon footprint. As such we have been experimenting with raising Esinia Foetida for nearly three years in our composting systems.

Esinia foetida, more commonly known as the red wiggler worm, is a worm native to Europe with an incredibly voracious appetite which is matched only by its ability to procreate at an expeditious speed of one capsule (egg) a week, each containing anywhere from 2-22 baby worms each (1.21 jigga-watts Marty!) ! These worms will eat and expel nearly twice their weight in organic matter each and every day and will even re-process already spent material further enriching it. The waste product of these worms is known as a casting, and is one of the richest sources of natural compost/fertilizer and micro-biology in the known world. These castings have an excellent balance of the three essential nutrients N, P, K and a number of micro nutrients, as well the micro-organisms of the type that make up the very soil web of the earth which we till and add much to the soil texture and tilth, as well they are encapsulated in the mucous of the worms that expelled them making them a terrific slow release fertilizer that will add up in the soil over years of treatment. As well, the fertilizer is mild enough that it won’t burn even the most tender of seedlings, and with a little bit of research into feeding and watering methods, the contents of this natural fertilizer can be modified to that of a custom type for specific crops. There has been very little scientific work that I know of done in the area of soil sciences and the effects of micro-flora on the plants that inhabit land rich in them when compared to the research done with synthetics during the green revolution, what is known is that these micro-organisms help to break down and enrich organic matter, mineral and water uptake and keep diseases to a minimum while all the while constituting a terrific organic soil treatment that will blow any synthetic out of the water in both terms of production, safety for the consumer, and cost. Short of saying and describing our results I can say that I’ve seen some amazing turnabouts with the use of vermicompost.

One of the many things we have observed here on the farm is the halting of fungal disease dead in their tracks amongst tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and squash, including some of the most common fungal diseases associated with gardening in the Ohio Valley. We accomplished this with nothing more than a foliar spray of vermicompost tea and have seen, only in the short two years I’ve been working with the worms, an amazing drop in the occurrence of disease in the fields treated with these castings and teas and a large drop in the occurrence of mineral deficiencies in our crops. I have also seen improved seedling vigor and growth as well as improved fruit set in many plants.

As mentioned above we put to use vermicompost “tea” quite often in our operation. Particularly within the greenhouse with respect to both seedlings as well as full grown tomatoes which we grow throughout the winter and spring in our two largest greenhouses.


The red worm is fairly easy to “cultivate” in a bin system, requiring very little care at all short of bedding, a bit of lime to correct PH inconsistencies and plenty of food. Our systems are the most basic design available and consist of nothing more than rubber made storage totes with some drainage holes drilled into the bottom. We us spent sphagnum moss from the winter tomato growing for bedding and feed our worms with a mix of kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy, though egg shells are fine and reccomended), rotting produce, and the occasional laying mash to increase size and productivity as well as upping the nitrogen content of the end product. The bins are filled with anywhere between six and twelve inches of bedding and we feed about once every two weeks, never feeding until the old material is finished off. Moisture is kept to that of the consistency of a wrung out sponge, and we usually water, feed, and throw a couple of hand full of lime into the bins at the same time (Ag-lime, or powdered lime, never palletized or hydrated which will burn the worms). We prefer to cover the food with bedding to deter pests such as red mites and rodents which can be a real problem in worm bins. We keep our bins aerated or turned every couple of weeks prior to feeding to keep them from becoming anaerobic and allowing the bedding to become to acidic, a task accomplished with an old potato fork, this also allows us to keep an eye on material that the worms are finishing and to take note of when we will need to harvest.


We currently maintain twenty five 30 gallon bins of red worms and harvest castings once a month by simply scraping the top inch of material off of the beds. When we get behind due to the workload here on the farm we have come up with a bulk harvesting solution by creating our own worm harvester made simply of a large trash can cut in two with a piece of 1/8” hardware cloth connected in between the two sides. The barrel is hung at a 40 degree angle on a frame with a piece of pipe work through the middle so that it can rotate, in this way the finished material falls through the holes while the worms and unfinished materials come out of the other end ready to go back into the bins.

Every 6 months we end up with about 60 five gallon buckets of finely sifted vermicompost which will find its way to our seedlings or fields or will become compost tea.


Making Tea:

To make our compost tea we simply take a couple of hand full of vermicompost and wrap it in some cheesecloth which we then tie shut and attach to a string which we suspend into a five gallon bucket of water along with a fish tank aerator. Forty-eight hours later the tea should be “brewed” enough for use as a foliar spray or a root soak and is never burning to even the youngest of plants.

We have used this tea extensively for foliar spraying of seedlings, full grown tomatoes in the greenhouse and also amongst our field crops with almost an immediate reaction amongst the crops within about twenty four hours. We also obtain terrific results amongst the greenhouse tomatoes with a good root soaking of this solution.


Use as a granular:

We often also use the compost as a soil amendment for potted plants as well as seedlings and also as a top or side dressing for larger crops. Since the castings are contained within a mucous membrane it makes them an excellent slow release fertilizer and we often top dress the potted tomato plants in the greenhouses with this solution. Shortly after watering there is an immediate reaction with the plants which perk up, seem to grow overnight, and often turn a much darker shade of green.

We also plant squash, beans, sweet corn, okra, watermelon, and muskmelon and transplants with a small handful of these worm castings for a kick start in fertilization. We also hypothesize that the fungi associated with the breakdown of organic material in the bins into a food product for the worms may in fact colonize the roots of these plants and provide them with beneficial effects such as fixation of certain minerals and water when needed.

Manipulating fertility in the bins:

Food and bedding sources as well as watering conditions can play a major role in the fertility of the finished product to be harvested from the bins. We find that feeding rotten sawdust as well as leaves or using these for bedding is a terrific way to up the micro-nutrient content of the vermicompost, for trees can reach minerals not otherwise available to plants given the extensive and deep running root systems. Many of these minerals are still present in leaf mold and definitely in rotten sawdust which the worms will over time break down in their beds along with any food added, these minerals and micro-nutrients then become available to any plants with which the vermicompost is added as a soil amendment or fertilizer.

Green materials equal high nitrogen and lying off of the lime and water for a few weeks will also add a higher percentage of nitrogen that will become available to plants which are amended with vermicompost. You do however have to be careful with this as too much acidity will burn the worms and they will literally “melt”. Also the smell is not pleasant. You should only feed green, compostible materials to one side of the bin and never mix them with the bedding as they will heat and can kill the worms. If you feed only on one side of the bed the worms can come and go to the heat as they please. Also, when watering more infrequently one must be careful as if the bins get too dry the worms will not be able to breathe and they will expire. If one looses an established bin of worms it is nothing to fret about as the eggs are very tough and will hatch within 21 days (unless frozen) and can survive extremes of freezing (for years) as well as heat extremes.

We have also often used the pure castings for potting soil. While they do fine as a potting soil and will provide all the fertility that one needs for any plant they do have a tendency to crust over and should most likely be mixed with a more porous material such as sphagnum. A fifty-fifty mix is excellent and we had much success with it when used for potting up the micro-tomatoes from our 2007 and 2008 trials.

Of course red worm cultivation or Vermiculture as it is called also has its other benefits. One major benefit we have found is by adding worms to our potting mix for greenhouse plants, the worms offer and provide more fertilizer and the further breakdown of organic material into usable fertilizer for the plants while also adding tilth which is not often found in container gardening. Another advantage of raising red worms on a small farm is the added profit margin provided by selling excess worms for fishing bait or to other interested Vermiculturist which has become a major factor of our financial success here at Bishops Homegrown.


Any farmer, particularly those interested in “Eco-Logically” sound methods, should look into raising red worms which are amazingly easy to take care of and feed. They will recycle materials that are normally considered waste and create amazing fertilizer out of them and are a terrific step towards self-sustainability.

For more information feel free to contact the author: Alan Reed Bishop 1-812-967-2073 or
bishopshomegrown@gmail.com

Spring 2008 is here!

I've been shirking my internet and article/research writing duties the past couple of weeks due to the constant workload here on the farm as well as a sinus infection that has had me down for the past week or so. Anyhow, just to give a quick update on the things we've been up to here on this little farm of ours:

-cutting and planting over 1,000 lbs of seed potatoes

-getting caught up with starting our seeds, we are about 90% done now.

-Buying some much needed new farm equipment including a John Deer 955 mini-tractor with a front end loader and an 18 foot trailer

-Working on farm equipment

-Planting a ton of greens and lettuce

-Taking care of the new greenhouse crop

-I've started playing music again with some old friends, mostly playing bass guitar, it's a nice release here and there and something I really enjoy.

Hopefully this coming weekend or early next week I'll get some new articles written for this site and the www.notjusthearsay.com site as well as get to do some work to the new interactive Hip-Gnosis seed development web-site.

Hopefully as well the rain will stop soon so I can get the rest of my potatoes, cabbage, and other cole crops in the ground.

We will be bringing in a couple of hives of honey bees in the next week or so, very excited about that!

I got to clean out the neighbors cow barn which gave me about 15 tons or so of cow manure, I've already spread lime and disced a few fields, waiting for it to dry out for my order of 10 tons of chicken manure to be spread and to also spread sand for my melon patches.

By the way, hope you enjoy the "purple heart" potato pic at the top of the page, it's actually just a strangely shaped "all blue" that I noticed when we were chitting potatoes!