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Farm & Garden Food Poultry Recipes

Recipe: Baked Corned Beef & Cabbage Hash With Eggs

Whether served for breakfast, lunch or dinner, this recipe makes a comforting spring meal. Baked eggs add a delicate flavor
to the savory beef and potatoes. Meanwhile, cabbage gives it some leafy gree
ns to keep a hefty serving from sitting too heavy on a busy morning.

Around St. Patrick’s Day, it provides a great way to use
leftover corned beef, and chopped pastrami from the deli makes an ideal year-round substitute. 

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 12  pounds red potatoes 
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 12  cups chopped or shredded cabbage
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 12  pound cooked corned beef or pastrami, chopped
  • 12  teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 14  teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 large eggs
  • chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

Read more: Travel by taste with these international egg recipes!


Preparation

Pierce the potatoes in a few spots with a fork. Microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, until just barely tender. The goal of this step is to help the potatoes cook more quickly in the skillet. Once they’re cool enough to handle, chop the potatoes into about 12-inch pieces.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a large oven-safe skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, until they begin to brown on the edges. Stir in the cabbage and onion, cook for 3 to 5 more minutes until the vegetables are softened. 

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the corned beef or pastrami. Stir well for about 1 minute until it’s heated through. Season with the salt and pepper, adding more to taste if desired. 

Spread the contents of the skillet evenly along the bottom of the pan. Use a spoon to make four wells in the hash. Add one egg to each of the wells. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the eggs are set. Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley and serve warm. 

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Chickens magazine.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Growing, Harvesting & Enjoying Mustard Greens

Mustard greens are an easy-to-grow spring plant that loves cool weather. Mustard greens are also delicious, lending their zippy flavor to salads when the greens are young and stir-fries when they’re mature. If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting the spicy bite of mustard greens, you’re missing out on one of the garden’s greatest treasures.

How To Plant Mustard Greens

Mustard greens are cool-weather crops that should be planted either in the early spring or the late summer. During hot weather the plants will bolt or go to flower, altering their flavor and stopping the production of new leaves. Though I plant two crops of this green per year, I find fall harvests particularly flavorful.

Best grown by direct seeding, mustard greens are one of the easiest cool-season vegetables to grow. Simply plant seeds about 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows or blocks. The seeds will germinate just a few days later.

Harvesting Mustard Greens

Most mustard greens are ready to harvest as baby greens 20 to 30 days after sowing. That said, I prefer to let mine reach maturity, when their large, velvety leaves have reached peak flavor. Baby greens can be harvested with a sharp pair of shears, snipping off the whole plant just above the crown. To harvest mature mustard greens, simply snap off the outermost leaves with your thumb and forefinger, leaving the growing point intact. Picking them in this manner enables the plant to produce subsequent flushes of harvestable leaves, extending the harvest for many weeks.

Mustard Greens & Heat

When summer’s heat arrives, mustard varieties will bolt or go to flower. When this happens, the leaves turn either very spicy or bitter. When the harvest ends, pull the plants out and toss them in the compost pile, or leave the flowers for pollinators. Eventually, seed pods will form and dry on the plants. These seeds can be allowed to drop to the ground where they’ll re-sprout in the fall when the weather cools again. The seeds can also be collected and saved for replanting the following spring. The resulting plants may or may not be the same variety as the parent plants, depending on whether the variety is open-pollinated or hybrid, but there’s a good chance they’ll be flavorful and well worth growing.

mustard-greens
Jaesung An/Pixabay

The Best Varieties Of Mustard Greens

These gorgeous and pungent greens are absolutely beautiful plants, too. Many varieties, such as Dragon Tongue, Red Giant and Garnet Giant, have deep purple leaves with green venation, making them real stand-outs in the garden. Other varieties are solid green. Frilly leaf types add even more interest with their deeply serrated, feathery foliage. Excellent frilly leaf mustard varieties include Red Splendor, Ruby Streaks, Golden Frills and Scarlet Frills, all of which pack a flavorful punch in their gorgeous good looks.

In addition to the classic varieties of mustard greens mentioned above, another variety is well worth growing. Though it isn’t a true mustard, Malachai is worth including in your fall and spring garden. This variety is a Komatsuna type that’s a mixture of mustard green and spinach. The leaves are deep green, thick and shiny. They taste like mustard greens but have the more succulent texture of spinach. And, unlike true mustards, Malachai doesn’t seem to be bothered by flea beetles.

The following five mustard greens are top-notch:

1. Red Giant

The standard for purple-leaved mustard varieties, Red Giant produces gigantic leaves that are deep purple with medium green veins. Ready to pick at the baby stage at just 25 days or the full-leaf size in 45. Their spice is unforgettable, and their good looks in the garden can’t be beat.

2. Ruby Streaks

Prized for its lacy, soft leaves, Ruby Streaks has purple-tinged leaves with green mid-ribs. It’s also a great mustard green variety for late-summer planting. Baby greens are ready to harvest in just 20 days from seed, the flavor is mild with a tangy bite.

3. Green Wave

The highly ruffled, bright green leaves of Green Wave look a bit like kale, but their flavor is far more spicy. Green Wave cooks beautifully and holds up in the pan. Highly productive and ready to harvest in 45 days as mature mustard greens. This is one of the most bolt-resistant mustard varieties on the market.

4. Dragon Tongue

Another wine-colored mustard variety, these large leaves are crunchy and crinkly with white mid-ribs. Drop-dead gorgeous and flavorful, this is a variety that’s a bit on the mild side compared to some others.

5. Tye Dye

Fast growing with highly serrated, feathery leaves, Tye Dye makes a stunning ornamental when mixed with flowers and foliage plants in containers and raised beds. Plant more seeds every few weeks for a continuous harvest.

How To Enjoy Mustard Greens

No matter which varieties you grow, enjoying their flavor is always the best part. Baby mustard greens, harvested early in their growth cycle, can be added raw to salads or sandwiches where their spicy flavor will wake up your taste buds. Baby, as well as mature mustard leaves, are also excellent when braised, steamed, sautéed or stir-fried. One of my favorite ways to enjoy mustard greens is sautéed in olive oil with minced garlic and then topped with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Managing Flea Beetles On Mustard Greens

If flea beetles become problematic, know that most plants will outgrow this little pest, and though the insects leave pock-marked foliage behind, flea beetle feeding does not alter the flavor of mustard greens. I simply put up with the damage they cause and ignore the small holes they create in the leaves.

If you’re growing commercially and can’t tolerate marred foliage on your market stand, place yellow sticky cards down your rows of mustard greens to attract and trap the adult beetles. Other options include sprays of kaolin clay-based products (such as Surround) to protect the plants from feeding damage and spring soil applications of beneficial nematodes to attack and kill the ground-dwelling flea beetle larvae. As a last resort, pyrethrins will also suppress this pest, but use them with caution.

This article about mustard greens was written for Hobby Farms online. Click here to subscribe to Hobby Farms print magazine.

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Poultry Sponsored

Humidity in Incubation

If you’ve ever incubated before (or even if you haven’t), you probably know that there are a lot of variables you need to keep track of. There are four primary factors to consider: temperature, ventilation, turning and humidity. The Incubation Specialists at Brinsea are here to explain the possibly the most difficult factor to control and measure: humidity..

What Does Humidity Do?

Eggshells may look solid, but they’re actually porous. While eggs are incubating, they naturally lose weight. It’s important to have your humidity set to the right percentage so that your eggs are losing an ideal amount of weight so that developing chicks can use the available air space to breathe and move around.

If Humidity is Too Low

Low humidity will cause the eggs to lose too much weight, which means the air space will be larger than ideal. A large air space means the chick will be smaller and weaker and might not survive. However, low humidity is typically less of a problem than high humidity.

If Humidity is Too High

High humidity results in not enough weight loss. The air space will be smaller than ideal, and the chick will be larger. A small air space can lead to respiratory problems and make it difficult for the chick to move around and break out of the shell.

If a chick pips in a shell that hasn’t lost enough weight, they can die due to weakness from lack of air or because they can’t maneuver to break out the rest of the way.

Measuring Humidity

Humidity is calculated by measuring the water vapor in the air. One of the easiest ways to measure the water vapor is by figuring out the Relative Humidity percentage, also known as RH%. The other way is with a wet bulb.

Note, humidity isn’t a strict variable; it’s more of an average variable. High humidity at the beginning of incubation can be corrected later with lower humidity and vice versa.

Relative Humidity

When you see the RH% on our incubators, you’re seeing the measurement of water vapor in the air compared with the maximum that could be absorbed at that temperature. The RH% is based on the temperature of the air, so 50% humidity at 70 degrees Fahrenheit is different from 50% humidity at 90 degrees.

Maximum possible water vapor capacity increases as the temperature increases, so raising the temperature in an incubator without adding water will cause the RH% to drop. Therefore, it’s important to note the temperature when measuring humidity.

Wet Bulb Temperature

You can measure humidity with the wet bulb (WB) technique by checking the temperature of a thermometer with a moist cotton wick around its bulb. As the water from the wick evaporates, it cools the bulb.

The WB technique takes the difference between the WB and dry bulb (DB) temperatures to determine humidity. There are only two instances where the WB and the DB temperatures would be the same— when the air has absorbed all the water it can (100% RH), and when the wet wick has dried out. It should be noted that it is very difficult to measure the WB in a still air incubator.

Also WB temperature should not be confused with % RH – 90 degrees WB temperature is 45% RH not 90% RH.

How to Achieve Correct Humidity Levels

What can you do if you don’t have a  hygrometer, or you aren’t sure if your hygrometer is accurate? If you’re hatching in an incubator without a reliable hygrometer, we recommend periodically weighing your eggs to check on their progress.

Most bird species (except for the ostrich family) need to lose between 13% to 15% of their weight from the first day of incubation to the day they hatch. By weighing the eggs every few days, you can accurately adjust the humidity to compensate for too much or too little weight loss.

Altering the Humidity During Incubation

Water surface area and fresh air are the two controllable factors to consider when altering the humidity during incubation. The more water surface area there is inside the incubator, the higher the humidity will be.

All Brinsea incubators have two water pots or channels to give you flexibility in water surface area and evaporation rates. To increase the humidity, all you need to do is put water in both channels and reduce the ventilation. Never block off all the holes in the incubator as the chicks require oxygen to breathe.

Evaporating pads or blocks are available and can help raise the humidity if you’ve put water in both water channels and still can’t achieve the correct humidity level.

The Brinsea EX units come with a built-in hygrometer and humidity pump to automatically control humidity. Similar to temperature control, the humidity level can be adjusted on the incubator and the pump takes care of adding water as necessary.

Ambient Humidity

Ambient humidity will influence the humidity inside the incubator. Factors that can cause the humidity in the incubator to fluctuate include whether there is a humidifier or dehumidifier in the room, if you’re running the heater, turned the A/C off and opened the windows, and others.

Should I Spray My Eggs with Water?

Spraying eggs with water only raises the humidity for a short time before the small water droplets on the eggs evaporate and is therefore not an effective solution to low humidity. It’s also not recommended due to the fact that the water could be at much lower temperature than the eggs, which can cause issues as well.

Humidity During Hatching

For virtually all birds, humidity needs to be higher at hatching than during incubation. We recommend raising the humidity during “lockdown” or the last few days of incubation. If you have been weighing your eggs, the weight loss should be right around 13% to 15%, and raising the humidity at the end won’t significantly affect this.

High humidity is necessary because of the membrane that the chicks must break through to hatch. If the membrane is allowed to dry out (due to low humidity), then it becomes too tough for the chicks to tear. They’re then unable to hatch.

During hatching, the humidity should be at least 60% RH. To keep the humidity stable, always keep the lid on the incubator. If the lid is lifted after a chick has hatched, the humidity will immediately drop which could cause other chicks to become shrink wrapped.

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Uncategorized

Growing Good Podcast #73: Agriculture Teacher Kimberly Haire

TITLE SPONSOR: Sow Right Seeds

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Agriculture teacher Kimberly Haire talks with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good host Lisa Munniksma about what it’s like to teach Bullitt Lick Middle School students in Kentucky about growing food while she expands her own farming knowledge.

Hear about how Kimberly uses the foundations of agriculture, local and global food systems, and hands-on work to get sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students excited about coming to class. In one of the most tangible examples of demonstrating the impact of agriculture, the lettuce and radishes on the menu for Bullitt Central High School’s scholarship fundraising dinner came from these students’ work. This new program is in its startup stages, with a greenhouse and a new egg incubator, and Kimberly is looking for grants and funding for a larger greenhouse and other infrastructure to continue to grow and improve the program. Listen to how Kimberly, as an agriculture teacher. has tapped into community resources, like the county 4-H program and local farms and agritourism locations, to still provide experiences and opportunities for the students that their small budget can’t provide.

agriculture-teacher

Kimberly talks about her personal interest and experience in producing food, why this work is important to her, and what it was like to transition from her career as an English teacher into agriculture as part of the school system’s unified arts curriculum. Keep listening to get Kimberly’s advice for capturing middle-school students’ interest in food and farming, using their limited attention spans to your advantage.

At the end of the episode, Kimberly describes an incredible meal straight from her garden, and Lisa talks about her favorite farm meal, as well.

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good podcast episode with Michelle Howell

This podcast about agriculture teacher, Kimberly Haire was made for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe to Hobby Farms print magazine.

Categories
Recipes

Homemade Cough Syrup Recipe

Homemade cough syrup is important to know how to make and many of the herbs needed can be grown easily in a backyard garden. It’s good to plan your garden to have the ingredients needed on hand.

A Helpful Resource

Healing Herbs, written by Dede Cummings and Alyssa Holmes, is your one-stop resource for medicinal herbs. The authors have thoughtfully compiled all the information you need from start to finish, from growing to preserving herbs to teaching you how to easily use them.

From Astragalus to Yellow Dock, 30 herbs are highlighted in detail to give you the basis for creating your own medicine and remedies at home. Below, I have shared Cummings’ and Holmes’ recipe for homemade cough syrup.

Making Homemade Cough Syrup

Syrups are a way to make medicine taste great, prevent spoilage for longer storage, and get the added medicinal benefits of honey, juices or molasses.

To make syrup yummy for kids ages one and older, follow the directions for making a decoction (see below). Then add honey, and/or molasses, alcohol or juice concentrate.

The simplest syrup is one part decoction, one part honey. Mix this combination well and store it in the fridge for up to three months. You can always add a little alcohol – such as vodka, rum or brandy – to help preserve longer. A four-ounce bottle requires one tablespoon of alcohol.

Homemade Cough Syrup 

Make a decoction with the following:

  • 1 part comfrey root
  • 1 part echinacea root
  • 1 part elecampane root
  • ½ part thyme
  • ½ part ginger root
  • ¼ part licorice root

Strain the mixture and add an equal part honey and half part black cherry juice.

Mix well, let cool and store in the fridge.

This formula is ideal for clearing out a wet cough, which can linger.

Herbal Decoction

A decoction is essentially a strong infusion, made by simmering herbs in water, versus steeping. This brew can be used to make syrups, or consumed straight as a potent medicine.

Instructions for Decoction

On the stovetop, bring three parts water and two parts fresh herbs, or one-part dried herbs to a boil. Cover, and let simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let steep for another few minutes, strain and drink. Or, this decoction can be made into a syrup (see above).

This recipe has been shared from Healing Herbs with permission from Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

This article about homemade cough syrup was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe to Hobby Farms print magazine.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Brambles: Spring Care for Raspberries & Blackberries

Brambles like raspberries and blackberries provide summer berries. But the work for yummy berries starts in spring with pruning, fertilizing and creating a welcome environment for plants to wake up. Since brambles are perennials and have some common characteristics allowing the following techniques to work for blackberries and raspberries.

The first year or two will require more water, mulch and regular care but won’t produce fruit. Once the brambles are established, they’re hardy and can grow on their own. However, these tips will ensure the most successful chance for a summer of harvests once they are old enough to start fruiting.

Pruning

Late February through April is a great time to prune, as long as there won’t be future freezes. Pruning maintains size, vigor, form and future fruiting. These plants have perennial roots and crowns but biennial stems (called canes). They develop new canes each year.

For most home garden bramble varieties, fruit only grows the second year, so you’ll want to make sure and protect those canes, as they’ll be the ones to bring fruit. You also want to avoid pruning first-year canes. These need to grow and be ready to fruit next year. Therefore, look for last year’s canes to prune. These will look dead and brown, as opposed to red or green.

In addition, prune out canes that are diseased, damaged or crowded. Each plant should have about six healthy canes. Finally, prune back lateral branches that will fruit this year to a length of 12 to 15 inches so they can grow larger fruit.

Fertilizing

Mulching around plants in the fall serves well to build nitrogen into the soil throughout the winter, but boosting them in spring has shown lots of success in creating more abundant fruit harvests, though not totally necessary. To fertilize, use a granular product; organic or a basic 10-10-10 works great and watering it in with a water-soluble fish emulsion 5-1-1. This application can be done in the spring and then again after harvest to boost the plant to set fruit buds for the following year.

To apply fertilizers, gently rake the soil in a circle around each plant being careful not to damage the roots. Sprinkle fertilizers uniformly around the drip line of the plant and 1 foot outward, but never near the base of the plant. Be careful not to get fertilizer on the foliage or against the bark because this will cause damage.

If the fertilizer does come in contact with leaves, brush it away immediately afterward. Once you have spread the fertilizer, gently work it into the soil with a rake, then water the fertilizer into the soil so it can become available to the plants.

Prepping the Environment

  • Trellis: Make sure the trellis is strong, erect and has great supporting wires. Understanding that spring can be very windy, it helps to secure limbs with branch locks into a supportive and safe position. Wind can damage plants by breaking limbs that aren’t secured. Branch locks are repositionable fasteners used for lateral tying and training vines.
  • Position Canes: The best way for the canes to be positioned is straight up to support the fruit load. Guide them making sure they have a great supportive structure before they start growing a lot of leaves and vines.
  • Spacing: Ensure good air movement and sunlight spacing between canes. Sunlight on the buds will develop the fruit and sugar content to make big, sweet, juicy fruit.
  • Check your PH: Brambles prefer slightly acidic to neutral PH of 5.5 to 7.0 If your plants have produced fruit before, you’re probably on the right track but soil quality does change year to year. If you start to notice the coloring of the leaves is pale, it’s worth soil testing because you’ll still have time to amend what is missing.
  • Mulching: Check the amount of mulch around plants. Blackberries and raspberries should be permanently mulched with about 4 inches of organic material such as pine bark, rice hulls or wheat straw. This mulch will help control weeds, conserve soil and moisture, and promote growth of the root system. Since the need to cultivate for weed control is reduced by the mulch, fewer roots are broken, resulting in less unwanted sucker plants between the rows.
  • Preventative Pest Control: According to the Oklahoma State University Extension office, “Spraying/or excluding pests for insect, disease, and weed control (Extension Current Report CR-6243) is necessary. In blackberries, liquid lime-sulfur is applied at 1/16 inches budbreak for anthracnose control. An appropriate pesticide should be applied at bloom time to control strawberry clipper. Plants may need to be sprayed during harvest to control the newly introduced spotted winged drosophila. Raspberry cane and crown borer’s are other major insect pests.” For more specific pesticide recommendations, contact your local county Extension office.

Raspberries and blackberries are very hardy perennials that last for several years. They are a crop yielding more in its lifespan than most other things you will plant. Understanding how to aid these plants will help them reach their full potential.

Once you get the hang of tending to brambles, check out hybrid varieties as well. Boysenberry, dewberry, youngberry and bababerry all grow in similar conditions with similar needs.

This article about brambles was written for Hobby Farms online. Click here to subscribe to Hobby Farms print magazine.

Categories
Animals Beginning Farmers Farm & Garden Poultry

Chicken Coop Ideas: Merryweather Farm’s Camper Coop

Chicken coop ideas include a camper-turned-coop at Lauren Pszczolkowski’s Merryweather Farm in East Haddam, Connecticut. Pszczolkowski’s family in Poland came from a farming background. “Hearing their stories and growing up around animals and gardens made farming feel like a natural fit for me,” she recalls. “Getting involved in 4-H at a young age only deepened that connection.”

Finding comfort in being able to rely on her land and provide for herself, Pszczolkowski’s farming venture includes a focus on producing fresh eggs and delights from the garden, plus a side angle in unearthing vintage goods.

Taking a minute away from daily duties, we spoke to Pszczolkowski about chicken coop ideas like turning campers into coops and succumbing to chicken math. We also learned how farming can offer respite from the modern fast-paced world.

Doing Chicken Math

Chickens form a key part of Merryweather Farm—although Pszczolkowski didn’t originally plan on acquiring such a large flock. “At first I thought keeping a few chickens would be a fun hobby,” she says. “Little did I know, I’d fall victim to what they call chicken math—it’s a real phenomenon! I quickly became addicted.”

“I’m fascinated by the different breeds and the array of egg colors they produce,” adds Pszczolkowski. “Over the years, I’ve delved deep into the world of chickens, learning so much about them. Along the way, I’ve made a lot of friends and connections through various chicken connections.”

Call & Response Chicks

When interacting with the peep, Pszczolkowski has come to utilize a special chicken call that she’s developed over time. “Sure, my neighbors might think I’m a bit crazy,” she says “but there’s something special about seeing them come running to me whenever I call.”

An Independent Mama

When it comes to the stars of the Merryweather Farm flock, a chicken named Mama has emerged as a leading light and the inspiration for chicken coop ideas and vintage finds. “A friend of mine, knowing my love for vintage campers, made an awesome find—a vintage Shasta camper turned chicken coop!” recalls Pszczolkowski. “So a few years back, I ended up hauling home this sweet red camper along with a bunch of hens and that’s where I met Mama.”

Spotlighting Mama’s personality, Pszczolkowski says that the hen has her own chicken coop ideas with a fondness for laying eggs in unexpected places. “You’ll often catch her chilling on my porch ready to say hi to anyone passing by,” she adds. “Mama’s as independent as they come and that’s just part of what makes her so special.”

2024 Farm Goals

Looking forward to the current year, Pszczolkowski says that her main goals for Merryweather Farm include bringing home a quarter horse named Felix and adding a three-stall barn to the property.

Additionally, introducing some goats and a mini-donkey to the farm has also been discussed, along with expanding a series of runs for rescue bunnies and guinea pigs. Finally, Pszczolkowski says that she intends to increase the farm stand aspect of Merryweather Farm and incorporate more farm days for the local community.

Respite From The Modern World

When it comes to the most rewarding aspects of running a family farm, Pszczolkowski says that being able to offer a safe haven for animals in need brings her “immense joy.”

Pszczolkowski also says that it’s been fulfilling to watch her son grow up surrounded by animals and nature. “I believe it’s crucial to teach our children the value of simplicity and gratitude, especially in today’s fast-paced world,” she explains. “Our farm serves as a classroom for life lessons where we learn to appreciate the little things and cherish all that we have.”

Follow Merryweather Farm on Instagram.

This article about chicken coop ideas and Merryweather Farm was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe to Hobby Farms magazine in print.

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Crops & Gardening Farm & Garden Sponsored

7 New Dahlias to Plant This Spring

Dahlias are a beautiful vibrant flowering plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family which also includes Daises and Sunflowers. They come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Some of the most popular flower shapes include single, double, cactus, and pompon. Dahlias thrive in full sun and well-drained soil. Depending on the variety, Dahlias typically bloom from midsummer to the first frost. Jung Seed offers a wide selection of Dahlias. This year, we have several new Dahlias you are sure to enjoy growing.

Blue Bell Dahlia

Blue Bell is a very floriferous variety of Dahlias. Large purplish-blue blooms begin in mid to late summer. Grows to 30-40” in height. Zones: 3 to 10.

Caribbean Fantasy Dahlia

Caribbean Fantasy has white 5” blooms that are striped with burgundy. It begins to bloom in mid to late summer growing 30-40” in height. Zones: 3 to 10.

Ferncliff Inspiration Dahlia

Ferncliff Inspiration has large 7” blooms of lavender with blue tones. Blooming begins mid to late summer. Grows 30-40” in height. Zones: 3 to 10.

Fleurel Dahlia

Fleurel has elegant white blooms measuring up to 10” across. It begins to bloom in mid to late summer and grows 30-40” in height. Zones: 3 to 10.

Garden Wonder Dahlia

Garden Wonder has a striking crimson red 7” bloom beginning in mid to late summer. It grows 30-40” in heights. Zones: 3 to 10.

Mystery Day Dahlia

Mystery Day has beautiful deep purple blooms with white tips. Enjoy blooms beginning mid to late summer. Grows 30-40” in height. Zones: 3 to 10.

Purple Gem Dahlia

Purple Gem has a dark purple cactus-type bloom. This unique looking Dahlia will begin blooming in mid to late summer. It grows 30-40” in height and 6” in bloom width. Zones: 3 to 10.

Dahlias are popular in gardens, landscapes, and floral arrangements. With their vibrant colors and diverse forms, they are perfect for bouquets, centerpieces, and other floral designs. Dahlias are associated with elegance, dignity, and inner strength. They convey the message of gratitude, admiration, and positivity. At Jung Seed, Dahlias are one of our favorite flowers to grow. We hope you’ll consider giving some of our new Dahlia varieties a chance to brighten up your garden this year.

Categories
Health & Nutrition Poultry

Backyard Biosecurity: 6 Tips for a Chicken Flock

Biosecurity in our flocks is one of the best ways to keep our chickens healthy. While biosecurity may seem like a complicated process used for commercial and battery farms only, this practice can be equally as effective in backyard flocks. So, how do you practice biosecurity in your backyard? Keep reading for some practical tips to keep your flock healthy.

What is Biosecurity?

We have all driven by farms with posted signs that read “biosecurity area,” but what does it mean? Biosecurity includes using preventive measures to avoid introducing harmful pathogens (including disease and bacteria) to livestock and reducing the spread of pathogens to livestock and humans outside the premises. While most backyard flocks and farms don’t require posted biosecurity signs, reducing pathogens from entering your flock or being spread from one flock to another is crucial to raising healthy chickens.

Biosecurity doesn’t have to be a complicated process. There’s no need to worry about foot bathes or washing your car tires whenever you leave the premises. With some know-how, practicing biosecurity can become a part of your daily practice.

1. Keep a Closed Flock

If you have never heard the term “closed flock,” you may wonder what it means. Keeping a closed flock means not introducing adult or adolescent chickens to the existing flock. Instead, the flock is either culled before new chickens enter the premises (this practice is typically used when chickens are raised for eggs or meat) or increased by raising chicks.

Why Chicks?

There are many reasons to raise chicks. You can even use your bantam chickens as broodies to expand your flock. While their cute faces and tiny size may be why many backyard flock keepers choose chicks over adults, there are practical reasons, too.

Chicks don’t carry the same harmful pathogens (including coccidiosis, external and internal parasites, harmful bacteria or disease). Chicks purchased from a feedstore or hatchery haven’t come in contact with disease or most bacteria, so bringing home those little fuzzballs shouldn’t pose a health risk to your flock.

biosecurity
Erin Synder

2. Quarantine New Birds

When purchasing adult chickens, quarantine the new arrivals to protect new additions and existing flock members from spreading disease or parasites. Quarantine new chickens for a minimum of thirty days or longer if health issues arise.

Always tend to your existing flock before caring for new arrivals during quarantining. Change shoes and clothing (including jackets and gloves in colder weather) between flock visits. Use separate equipment, including feeders and waterers, and coop cleaning essentials such as pitchfork, wheelbarrow, etc.

Before introducing new members to the flock, have a veterinarian check for external and internal parasites and bacteria in the feces. Treat any health conditions to avoid spreading from one flock to another. Always ensure new arrivals have a clean bill of health before introducing new hens to the flock.

3. Marek’s Vaccines

We know that mingling vaccinated and unvaccinated chickens together will make unvaccinated hens sick. Whether you decide to vaccinate against this disease is a personal choice. However, it’s critical to the well-being of your flock to never keep vaccinated and unvaccinated birds on the same property.

biosecurity
Erin Synder

4. Avoid Poultry Shows & Swap Meets

Poultry shows and swap meets may be a fun way to meet new poultry-keeping friends, acquire new birds, or look over a specific breed, but they are also a great way to bring home disease.

If attending poultry shows or swaps, always change your clothes and thoroughly disinfect your footwear before tending to your flock. When bringing home poultry from these events, quarantine poultry for a minimum of 30 days before introducing to the resident flock.

PRO TIP: This quarantine process is equally as critical for show birds. While show birds may appear healthy, they may have been exposed to disease and should undergo the same quarantine process new arrivals do.

5. Separate Shoes

Before you head out to the coop and run, changing into designated “chicken” boots will help prevent your flock from picking up disease. Separate footwear will ensure you do not wear the same shoes to the feedstore, veterinarian office, garden supply store, or any other destination where you may pick up diseases that could threaten your flock’s health. And you won’t be spreading bacteria or disease to other flocks.

Erin Synder

6. Keep Equipment at Home

Refusing to share or borrow equipment is another easy-to-follow biosecurity rule. Sharing incubators, feeders, waterers, brooder pens, and cleaning tools is another way disease and parasites spread from one flock to another. Protect your flock by keeping equipment at home and refusing to borrow your neighbors’ equipment.

Biosecurity may sound like a daunting practice, but with these practical tips, it can become a natural part of your daily routine. When paired with good nutrition, low stress levels and protection from predators, it’ll help keep your flock healthy and reduce the chances of disease.

This article about biosecurity tips for a backyard chicken flock was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe to the print magazine.

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Beginning Farmers Farm & Garden Farm Management News

Female Farmers: Celebrating Women In Agriculture

Female farmers take center stage through the Female Farmer Project — created to tell the stories of the women who play pivotal roles in moving agriculture forward. Audra Mulkern created this platform to celebrate the female farmer and everything that entails. It celebrates female contributions to work/life balance, working dual jobs both on and off the farm, nurturing roles and so much more.

Throughout history, men have been depicted as leading the charge on everything agriculture. This includes discovering companion planting and innovating seeding and harvesting equipment and methods. It also involves standing next to all forms of livestock and being behind the wheel of every implement and piece of machinery.

But where, in all of this, were the women? Why are they not depicted in images and written in history books? They too toiled in the fields, milking the cows and harvesting the garden crops. Like so many things in history, the role women have played in ag—both big and small—has been swept under the rug or has had claim laid to it by men.

A Move in the Right Direction

Mulkern, a former Microsoft employee, bought rural Washington property in 1999 (pre-internet!) to detox from the corporate world. Driven and focused at work, she craved a connection to the natural world that wasn’t fulfilled when she was in her office.

At the top of Mulkern’s wish list? Living on land where she could see grass and trees, hear the birds and feel more tied to her community.

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Audra Mulkern (photo by Julin Lee)

“I wanted the veggies [we ate] to be in eyesight for my family,” she says. She wanted to fully understand where her family’s food comes from.

“I was actively pursuing food grown in my community, but I was struggling to find it. There were no farmer’s markets back then!” she says. “I found it incredibly ironic that I had to drive through the farms—with people in the fields!—to the city to get vegetables that were grown in my community to feed my family.”

Soon after the Mulkerns’s relocation to rural Washington, a local family that owned Full Circle Farm began a farmers market delivery service. They used Mulkern’s home as a dropping point for weekly fresh veggies. Families would then stop by to pick up their produce.

Though Mulkern desperately wanted to tell the story of this innovative method of food delivery, it was the very beginning of blogging. 

“I was so interested in highlighting these farms. But I couldn’t do it while working full-time as a consultant with two small kids,” she says. The drive to celebrate local food, however, never strayed far from Mulkern’s mind.

The seed had been planted. All she needed was the right time and environment for it to begin to grow.

The Female Farmer Project

When farmers markets began on the West Coast in earnest, Mulkern frequented many of them. She browsed the food and the goods farmers brought to the markets.

It was during one of these shopping expeditions that she had a realization. Every person behind the tables laden with healthy, beautiful, nutritious food was female. Once she saw it, she became fixated.

Why was every grower interacting with the public female?

She would wander through the various produce stalls and tables, listening as the women passionately explained to buyers where the came from and the farming practices that produced it.

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Siri Erickson-Brown of Local Roots Farm by Audra Mulkern
“It’s Art”

Mulkern spent a lot of time visiting with market vendors in 2009 and 2010. Innately a people person, she was genuinely curious about how these women became involved in farming and how they strategically managed a farm, a family and often an off-farm job.

While getting to know the farmers, she began snapping pictures of their produce with her phone. “It’s art,” she says.

Mulkern loved to scroll back through the colorful photos she had taken and began to ponder how she could engage more people in discovering, and appreciating, the production of their food. “People have an appetite for understanding and appreciating their food,” she says.

She just had to figure out a way to harness this inquisitiveness.

Doing Something About It

As Mulkern became more familiar with and vested in the regular vendors at the farmers markets, she couldn’t figure out why she still paid so much attention to gender of the vendors. 

She asked an artist friend of hers, “Why am I paying so much attention to this? Why are there only women here?” He told her she needed to pursue it. 

That reinforcement that she was on to something was just what Mulkern needed to hear. And The Female Farmer Project started to form.

“I learned that if I’m paying attention to something, I need to do something about it,” she says.

To offer images to better connect consumers to producers, Mulkern learned how to use a nice camera instead of just snapping shots on her phone. She took photography lessons from a girlfriend who encouraged her to tell a story through the images she took, not simply use them as supporting roles.

“I truly wanted it to feel like a tribute to farming. There’s heartbreak and hardships, rituals,” she says. “I wanted to show the grit and the grace through my imagery.”

Mulkern also took writing classes to ensure she could honor the stories she told. Along the winding path that The Female Farming Project has taken, Mulkern has met some of the most powerful, kind, endearing women whose stories are both triumphs and heart wrenching.

Her project expanded to encompass more volunteer team members and platforms in an effort to tell the stories as many places as she can.  

A Project for Posterity  

As Mulkern cultivated more stories, female farmers began to seek her out to have their stories told.

“They are interviewing me as much as I was interviewing them,” she says. “I am really a traveling storyteller. I met them [the women] where they were.” This means a heavy reliance on social media to connect with women in various parts of the country and the world.

“I wanted to build a platform where their stories could be heard,” she says. “It’s crucial that these stories not get lost. These women tell of their farming history if they are multigeneration farmers or explain what drove them to farming in the first place. No two stories are the same, yet each is important.

female-farmers
by Audra Mulkern

“The ability to record the unique reasons why these women feel so tied to the farm and the products it yields is important to understating how feelings toward farming have shifted and changed over time. While once seemingly dominated by large, corporate farms, many people now seek out small and midsized producers in an effort to feel more tied to food systems and life cycles.

“Listening to them explain why they farm is oral storytelling. My dream is to turn these interviews over to the Library of Congress or the new Smithsonian Women’s History Museum. The women who grew and labored over our food need to have their place in history.”

Female Farmers: A Not-so Recorded History

Women have “counted” since the very first census in 1790. (It had only six questions!). But the type of information recorded about them—and their roles on- and off-farm—has changed.

The first six censuses recorded only the name of the head of household (typically male) and the number of people within the household. No other identifying data was recorded, including names. 

Censuses also often overlooked the income-producing work women did, deeming it not of enough value to record. Much of the work women have done, including cleaning and assisting neighbors, piecework or taking in boarders, went unnoticed.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why women weren’t mentioned in agricultural chronicles. This despite the fact that they often worked side-by-side with their husbands and sons. 

“If you aren’t counted, it’s incredibly hard to gain traction in an industry that is primarily dominated by men,” Mulkern says. Sadly, this glossing over of women’s past agricultural contributions has had lasting financial ramifications for female farmers.

Last Effects 

“Many of the women I meet are first generation,” Mulkern says. “They didn’t inherit land from their dad. So they lease land as they start out and are reluctant to put major investments into infrastructure right away. They want funds to be able to invest in things that are portable, like wash stations and mobile processing units.

“These women tend to be polyculture [a form of agriculture where more than one species is grown in an effort to imitate natural ecosystem diversity]. So they aren’t heavily focused on one plant or product.”

Because of this, these women ask for bank loans much smaller than loans the larger farms seek. “Let’s say she goes in and asks for a $30,000 loan,” Mulkern says. “The banks are also dealing with the big guy who gets a $500,000 loan for seed. They [the banks] tell these women a $30K loan isn’t worth their time or that they don’t fund hobby farms.”

This difficulty in obtaining funding means towns and cities lose local businesses.

“It’s truly a missed opportunity,” Mulkern says. “These women would transfer skills and knowledge from one generation to the next,” but they find little to no support for their efforts.

Female farmers seek ways to diversify the economy and help the environment (all things a town should be supportive of), all while fulfilling a desire to get their hands dirty. Too often, though, they encounter nothing but resistance.

Sisterly Support

Another topic near and dear to Mulkern’s heart is mental health — an issue The Female Farmer Project seeks to highlight.

Farm women face all the same issues male farmers do. But they have the added possibility of facing discrimination in everything from their funding source to their ability to purchase equipment necessary to run the farm.

Record debt, unpredictable weather and massively fluctuating crop prices leave many farmers feeling helpless. Add to this the isolation many farmers face and the invisible, unpaid labor many female farmers often shoulder (such as domestic duties and mothering) and it’s easy to see why some people reach a breaking point.

Two-thirds of female farmers work off-farm jobs in addition to their farm—not just for income, but for health care.

This is yet another reason The Female Farmer Project is so important. It connects farming women to each other. It lets them know that they aren’t alone, they are heard and they are seen.

The project recognizes and applauds their efforts to tend livestock, process meats and veggies, and nourish others.

Female Farmers: Observable Common Traits

Women share some traits no matter their crop. “If you go back and look at the writings of poets and explorers, they focus on systems and how they [the people] hook into them—not conquering them,” Mulkern says. “It felt more like an observation of the system as a whole.” 

It’s this quietness Mulkern sees in every female farmer she highlights. “Women farmers spend time just sitting with their herds. I have met women who sing to their tomatoes [and] listen to their livestock.

“Through that observation, they gain an intuition that often mirrors motherhood.”

Through the Female Farmer Project, Mulkern seeks to write women back into the agricultural history of the United States. Her project celebrates the integral roles they played and recognizes the important skills they employ to create a much-needed shift in the agricultural space. 


Nominate a Female Farmer

The Female Farmer Project is a multi-platform documentary project that uses stories, essays, photos, social media and podcasts to tell the stories of women working in agriculture. A documentary titled Women’s Work: The Untold Story of America’s Female Farmers, is also in the works.

Do you know a farmer who would be a perfect fit for the Female Farmer Project? Mulkern and her team are always on the lookout for women who are making important changes in the food system. Visit femalefarmerproject.org to nominate yourself or a female farmer to be featured, to write a guest essay or to be a guest on the podcast.

This article about female farmers originally appeared in the November/December 2021 issue of Hobby Farms magazine and is updated regularly for accuracy. Click here to subscribe.