Unusual Uses of Farming

Milk as Fertilizer

Using milk as fertilizer has not caught on in a big way in the United States, however it is being practiced elsewhere in the world, Taiwan has a variety of fruit farms that are finding raw milk to be a perfect fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers are the chosen materials in most farms to increase the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in the soil. However, it is actually bacteria that determines the levels of these vital nutrients and milk is a well-balanced diet for bacteria.

Loofa sponges are a member of the gourd family and people have been growing them for 10,000 years. To grow loofas, you need a warm growing season, trellis for the vines and a little luck. Farmers report that the growing patterns of this particular gourd are unpredictable, one day they may not grow at all and the next they can grow from 1/2 inch to 1 inch in 24 hours. If you think that is unusual consider the ripening process. When a loofa has become fully grown, which can be a few inches to many inches, it will begin to dry. All the nutrients are sucked from the loofa back into the mothe" vine to be redistributed. Not only do they make a great bath accessory, this is a plant that recycles itself.

Organic farming is nothing new but some farmers in New Zealand give an entirely new meaning to the process. Biodynamic farming is a process virtually unheard of in the United States, it is similar to organic measures, but with some differences. It also shuns the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but requires the use of some specific replacements. Yarrow flowers fermented several months in a stags bladder, oak tree bark composted in a fresh animal skull and cow dung stuffed in a horn then buried for several months and diluted in water are just a few of the odd fertilizers used in this type of unusual farming.

Many people might think that frogs and snakes are simply a nuisance, but in Howard County, Maryland, they are big farming business. A local man grows and sells colorful frogs and green tree pythons. Neither of these animal types are used as food, but for pets and by research institutions. One reason the colored frogs are in such high demand is because they are not poisonous. In the wild, colored frogs eat insects which feed on alkaloid-based plant life. The plants are poisonous. Insects magnify this poison and the frog becomes poison itself from eating the bugs. Those grown on the frog farm are fed a carefully monitored diet of flies and crickets which mean the frogs are harmless making them popular with collectors and researchers.