Categories
News

America Selects its Favorite Farmers Markets

American Farmland Trust designed the online contest to promote the economic and social value of farmers markets in communities

“Almost thirty thousand people from across the country voted for their favorite farmers markets this summer,” said Jane Kirchner, Senior Director of Marketing for American Farmland Trust (AFT).

“And in the last three weeks of the promotion, we’ve seen the top 20 markets in each category change positions, sometimes daily.”

American Farmland Trust designed the online contest to promote the economic and social value of farmers markets in communities, and to bring attention to the need for consumers and communities to recognize the necessity of local farm and ranchland to the existence of local food.

“Customers can visit our website and learn the top 20 markets in each of three market categories,” says Kirchner.

The top three markets for each category are:

  • Small Markets (1-30 vendors)
    Collingswood Farmers Market, Collingswood, NJ; 1,030 Votes

  • Medium Markets (31-55 vendors)
    Willamsburg Farmers Market, Williamsburg, VA; 725 Votes

  • Large Markets (56 or more vendors)
    Davis Farmers Market, Davis, CA; 3,060 Votes

The top three markets will each receive a shipment of “No Farms No Food®” recyclable tote bags to give away to the customers who made their top finish possible.

“It’s been great fun to watch this promotion unfold,” says Kirchner. “We hope that all of the markets have seen increased interest in and visitors to their markets as a result of the promotion, and that they will participate in next year’s contest.”

AFT will announce further information on the winners and ongoing efforts to support and promote farmers markets through its website.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

For the Love of Flowers…

Late summer is the time when perennials finally become full

My perennial borders are finally coming into their own.  Late summer is prime time around here.

No matter how hard I try to get some early-bloomers in there, the borders never really shine until mid-July.  Peonies and iris seem to fade so quickly in June, but my summer bloomers seem to go on and on and on.

Black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, salvias, shasta daisies, butterfly bushes, yarrow, penstemon, and spurge mixed with annuals like larkspur, gomphrena, calendula, snow on the mountain, zinnias and cosmos.

Then there are the ornamental grasses adding height and texture here and there.  I think it’s hard to go wrong growing flowers.

I started loving flower gardening first, vegetable gardening second.  When I got my first job at 16 it was in a flower shop.

I made a mistake taking an order and got ‘demoted’ to the greenhouse where my first task was taking stem cuttings of a plant called a wandering Jew.  They actually grew!  I was hooked immediately and knew how I wanted to spend my life.

A major in horticulture was a no brainer for college and here I am all these years later still getting dirty every day.  I think most flower gardeners will attest to their allure.  I know so many people who have made flowers into a second career once they found out how wonderful gardening really is.

A nursing friend now has a landscape design firm, a former PR rep is busy maintaining flower beds for others in the city, and, most interestingly, a civil engineering pal now owns her own organic cut flower farm.  It’s true that you never know where life will take you – and how fortunate we are when it takes us into the garden!

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Categories
Homesteading

Turkeys, Part 2: Turkeys are Cool

The Bourbon Reds are active and athletic compared to commercial turkeys
Kelsey Langlois

I had planned to call this blog “The Trouble with Turkeys, Part 2,” but I changed my mind for two reasons: 

  • A few comments about my last blog made me worry my “troubles” might be discouraging some folks from raising turkeys, something I definitely don’t want to do (I was trying to be witty, but Dave Barry I’m not!) 
  • I like our turkeys. They’re just different from other farm fowl I’ve cared for, which is what makes them so cool.  For example, we’ve learned:           

1. Turkeys can run, jump, and fly really well.  I’m not referring to those enormous, sluggish commercial turkeys, but to the svelter, athletic heritage varieties, like our Bourbon Reds. 

Bourbon Reds grow up very fast
Kelsey Langlois

Before long, I had to cover the brooder with screen because the poults began flying up to perch on the rim, on my head, etc.  Now, outside in their pen, they constantly trot about searching for food, and they love to jump up on things and perch.   

2. Turkeys grow fast.  My wonderful parents, who farm sat while we discovered Italy, were not thrilled about this, and I can’t blame them. 

Since the little poults were too young to move outside before we left, my folks (and niece) continued caring for the babies in the mudroom brooder box, transferring them into an outdoor cage on nice days. 

Apparently, as the poults grew bigger and messier, and their cute pecking habit became not-cute (as in “ouch!”), their daily care became … um … more challenging. 

Shortly before our return, Dad told me the poults had turned into Velociraptors (remember Jurassic Park?).  When we got back, we found out he wasn’t joking. 

The turkeys eventually grew big enough to move outside
Kelsey Langlois

For us, though, this was a good thing:  the poults didn’t look so adorable anymore, which made the prospect of eating them more palatable (especially since they acted like they wanted to eat us!).  Plus, they’d grown big enough to move outside – permanently.

3. Turkeys are not wimpy or stupid.  Now that they’re older, our flock has been the picture of robust good health as they forage about inside their pasture pen. 

When a stretch of hot weather hit, I worried the turkeys might succumb to heat exhaustion, but they waded in their water pans to cool off and gathered around to let me mist them with cold water – unlike the chickens!  Like their wary wild turkey ancestor, heritage turkeys have more brains than most people think.

I’ll let you know how my turkeys do as they get bigger…and bigger.

      ~ Cherie    

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Categories
Recipes

Farm to Table: Bigger and Better

I grew up eating fresh corn on the cob with butter and melons in the form of thick, cold slices piled on a platter—that was the only way they were served. Period.

And I still never get sick of either one. As the years go by, though, these garden staples keep surprising me with their versatility: succotash, a handful of fresh corn in cornbread, corn and black bean salad. Those made sense and comfortably increased my repertoire of summertime standards.

I found melon in dressed compotes—a little citrus juice, honey, cinnamon, or champagne or white wine—and that new discovery quickly became old-hat. But, corn in puddings, pancakes and soufflés; salads with grilled or roasted corn; melon with hot peppers and savory vinaigrettes … This small-town Midwestern girl could never have imagined those!

I’m so grateful to have learned, over the years, about how other cooks across the nation—indeed, around the world—use these two fantastic gifts from the garden. It seems to me that maybe this wider knowledge and the delight it brings are what make getting older worthwhile.

I don’t have the energy of my 10-year-old self anymore, but I know a lot more than she ever did—including more than one delicious way to eat corn and watermelon.

Corn Pudding
This rich, Southern classic bridges the transition from summer to fall, working equally well as an accompaniment to grilled meats and cold salads on a picnic as it does a side-dish to roast chicken or turkey at an autumn-harvest dinner.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3 T. flour
  • 2 T. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Chop corn kernels very coarsely (do not puree; texture should be rough) and set aside. Stir together flour, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour mixture and stir well. Add hot pepper sauce, milk, eggs and baking powder, and stir until well-combined. Stir in corn. Pour mixture into buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set. Serves 6 to 8.

Corn, Pepper and Spinach Sauté
To get the maximum flavor and texture out of this dish, use fresh, young corn (ears should have moist, green silks, and the kernels should be pale—not golden—yellow). Keep a close eye on the vegetables to avoid overcooking them.

Ingredients

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced white or yellow onion
  • 1 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 2 T. finely chopped, fresh medium-hot chile pepper, such as Anaheim, Sonora or Sandia
  • 1 tsp. minced, fresh garlic
  • 3 T. dry white wine or chicken or vegetable broth
  • 12 ounces fresh spinach, washed, stems removed
  • 3 cups fresh, young corn kernels
  • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 2 T. slivered, fresh basil

Preparation
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add onion, peppers and garlic, and sauté just until the onion starts to soften. Add wine or broth, heat through, and add spinach. Continue sautéing until leaves wilt.

Add corn, reduce heat to medium, cover, and let cook for three to four minutes or just until corn becomes tender. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with slivers of fresh basil. Serves 6 to 8.

Roasted Corn Salad with Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

Ingredients

  • 1 T. peanut oil
  • 2 cups fresh corn kernels
  • 1 cup diced, fresh, firm tomatoes, such as plum or Roma
  • 1/3 cup julienned red onion
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 T. seeded and minced, fresh jalapeno pepper
  • 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 T. fresh lime juice
  • 2 T. red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • coarsely ground black pepper to taste
  • 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Drizzle peanut oil over the corn kernels, and stir to coat. Spread corn evenly in a single layer on a heavy, rimmed baking sheet or baking dish. Stirring two or three times, roast corn until kernels are browned and tender. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

When kernels are cool, place in a large bowl. Add tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeno pepper. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, cumin, sugar, salt and black pepper; shake to mix well, and pour over vegetables.

Stir to coat vegetables with vinaigrette. Gently stir in feta cheese and serve immediately.
You can chill the salad to serve it later, but take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

Chilled Cantaloupe Soup
Use the ripest, sweetest cantaloupes you can find for this soup. Serve in chilled dessert bowls or small melon shells.

Ingredients

  • 8 cups chopped cantaloupe
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet white wine, such as Riesling or Vouvray
  • 2 T. fresh lime juice
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • honey (optional)
  • fresh berries (any kind) and mint leaves for garnish

Preparation

Puree cantaloupe in blender or food processor. Pour into a large bowl, and add orange juice, wine, lime juice, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix well. Stir in yogurt.

Since melons can differ widely in sweetness, taste to adjust the seasonings. If it’s too tart, add 2 tablespoons of honey; if too sweet, add more lime juice. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Garnish individual servings with a few berries and mint leaves. Serves 6.

Melon Compote with Spiced Honey-ginger Syrup

Ingredients

  • 4 cups any combination of melons, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks or scooped into balls
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 T. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 T. fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 inches stick cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. whole cloves
  • 1/2 cup flaked or coarsely grated, fresh coconut

Preparation

Place melon chunks or balls in a large bowl and refrigerate.

In a small saucepan, combine water, honey, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon stick and whole cloves. Stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat; immediately reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for five to seven minutes, until spices permeate syrup.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Strain to remove ginger and spices. Reserving 3 tablespoons of syrup, pour the rest over the melon, stir gently to coat, and refrigerate for one hour or more.
To serve, spoon melon and the reserved syrup into individual, chilled bowls. Garnish with fresh coconut. Serves 4 to 6.

Watermelon-cucumber Salsa
Serve this hot-cool salsa with tortilla chips and to accompany grilled chicken, pork or fish. Or, double the quantities, cut the watermelon and cucumber into larger chunks, and serve it as a salad.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups diced watermelon
  • 1 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup minced, fresh cilantro
  • 2 to 3 tsp. minced, hot, fresh chile pepper (to taste)
  • 1 T. orange zest
  • 3 T. freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 T. fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp. chile powder

Preparation

Place diced watermelon and cucumber in a colander. Cover with a plate or cloth and let drain for one hour at room temperature.

Combine drained watermelon and cucumber with remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. Chill two or more hours before serving. Makes about 3 cups.

Find more recipe ideas online, and click here to learn how to grow your own heirloom melons.

Categories
Equipment

Rebar Redo

In my last blog, I described bending rebar for garden arches and a pole bean arbor. Working in the garden suggested another use for a length of rebar.

I don’t know about you, but when I am working with a spade, or any other long-handled tool for that matter, it always seems to end up in my way. Wherever I lay them down will be the next place I need to step. It was long past time to build a portable tool holder, and rebar was just the material to use.

I started out with a 4-ft. length of 1/2-in. rebar. While a torch can make easy work of bending rebar, you can also work it cold.

In this case, I used my vice and a short length of pipe. I bent the rebar into an L with a short 6-in. leg. Sliding the pipe length over the rebar to the point of the bend gives a sharper bend than you would get otherwise.

I then repositioned the rebar in the vice so the tip of the short end was secure and, using the long leg with the pipe on it as a lever, bent the short length in a near circle, leaving about a 2 to 3-in. opening.

The final step was to secure the circle end in the vice and, with the pipe in place over the long leg, bend it at a right angle to the circle. A couple of quick coats of Rustoleum, and I had my tool holder.

To put it to use, I simply push it into the ground near my work area. The throat makes it easy to slip a handle past, yet the circle holds it upright and out of the way. The circle is also a great place to hang clippers and other small tools that are easy to misplace when set down among garden foliage.

When working with rebar or any kind of unfinished steel, it is always a good idea to use heavy leather gloves to reduce the chance of steel splinters. If using a hammer, always use safety glasses.

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Categories
Animals

Thoughts on Horns

Not all goats will grow horns, a process called disbudding prevents horn growth
Uzzi shows off her horns.

Uzzi has horns and I don’t. It isn’t fair. If he wants to, Uzzi can head butt the cattle panel gate really, really hard and bend it. When I try I get a headache.

Most goats are born with horn buds deep in their heads, but their humans have them disbudded. That means the baby goats’ emerging horn buds get burned with a really hot iron and their horns don’t grow. 

My horns got disbudded because I’m a buck (it was scary but not really all that bad). See, bucks like to bash things with their horns. Three Boer bucks lived here before I did and lots of things got seriously bashed. And some bucks get feisty during rut and bash their humans, so Dad said, “No more bucks with horns!”

Horns get caught in fences, too. When we were littler, Uzzi liked to put his head through the fence but then his horns got stuck. I got to use him for a punching bag—it was fun! But it would be dangerous in a big field if a predator came along. That’s why most goats get disbudded.

Another reason dairy goats get disbudded is because horned does (those are girl goats) hook each other with their horns and sometimes tear each other’s udders. And horned heads don’t fit in milking stanchions very well.

But there are good reasons to have horns too. Goats should never be pulled along by their horns because horns sometimes break off and boy, do they bleed! But in an emergency, horns make good handles. The trick is to grasp the horn as close to the goat’s head as you can, that way the horn isn’t as likely to break.

Horns act as thermoregulatory structures too. That means they help the goat who’s wearing them cool down.

According to a fancy paper called Thermoregulatory Functions of the Horns of the Family Bovidae, “A typical goat at ambient temperature of 22C and in relatively still air can lose about 2% of its total heat production through the horn.”

That’s why packgoat and harness goat owners usually let their goats’ horns grow long. And that’s why Uzzi and some of our other friends have horns!

Even Angel the sheep has horns. Aiah the calf has horns and so does Ludo the water buffalo. It doesn’t seem fair. I want horns too!

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Categories
Equipment

Choosing the Right Compact Backhoe

Research can ease the process of choosing the right compact backhoe
Courtesy Cub Cadet Yanmar

Getting Started

Consider investing in a compact backhoe for your farm. Not only will it help with routine maintenance around the property, but owning your own compact backhoe will eliminate the need to outsource projects like tree and stump removal or light excavation.

But with all the available options, it is easy to get overwhelmed when searching for the right product.

That is why before making your purchase, it is important to evaluate your needs and expectations by determining how your backhoe can make an impact immediately and what operations you may need it to perform in the future.

The right product should be powerful enough to handle all necessary jobs, easy to use and something you feel comfortable operating.   

By taking some time to understand and evaluate factors like size, horsepower, features and design, you can feel confident knowing you have selected the right product to handle all jobs—big and small—for many years to come.  

Size

The first and most important thing to consider is property or farm size and type. Will the product be used in relatively open spaces or will you need a tractor and backhoe that can fit in tight spots? Understanding how you will use your tractor and backhoe will make it easier to pick the right size.

If your property or farm is relatively small and has established turf, your needs probably fall into the sub-compact category.

Size is usually the first and most important thing to look at when shopping
Courtesy Cub Cadet Yanmar

Sub-compact refers to tractors with power take-off (PTO) horsepower between zero and 20. Sub-compacts have features similar to their larger counterparts but offer users increased versatility and maneuverability.

If your property or farm is larger, more open and requires less maneuverability, a medium or large compact tractor might be a better fit. (Compact tractor refers to tractors with 40 PTO horsepower and under.) Medium or large compacts offer a great deal of features and functions but lack some of the maneuverability found in smaller sub-compacts.

Horsepower

After you select the right-sized tractor, you should look at the specifications on available products in the category, beginning with horsepower.

It is important to compare gross horsepower, which represents the amount of power that the engine produces, and PTO horsepower. PTO horsepower is what is left to operate the implements after losses for engine operation. PTO horsepower and reserve engine torque are the two most significant specifications to consider because they most directly affect the capabilities of the tractor and the ease of operation.

Reserve engine torque is used to maintain constant power and speed, even when the tractor is under load or operating an attachment.

It is important to understand that reserve engine torque is not a specification that is usually publicized. In order to understand reserve engine torque, you will need to actually get in the seat, feel how the machine operates in use, and test the tractor with attachments.

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Categories
Crops & Gardening

Garden Trouble

Many of the plants seen at nurseries won't live past a couple of months

One of the things that I dislike about gardening magazines and garden experts is that they always portray gardening as an easy thing.  If one just knows all the answers, gardening is easy and foolproof according to them.  I suppose I may be guilty of that sort of journalism myself, so I offer today’s blog as a partial confession.

The facts are that gardening is often unrewarding, and plant death and failure is actually far more common than success.  Although I am a farm and garden “expert”, I think that is because I’ve made more mistakes and killed more plants than most people, and I’ve learned a thing or two from my thousands of mistakes.

I’ve worked in the nursery industry for over forty years now, and the truth is that the nursery business is an industry of death.  Of all the plants and seeds that one sees in a nursery, most will be dead within the following year.

Bedding plants and vegetables have a particularly high mortality rate.  Probably 90 percent of the bedding plants purchased from a nursery will die within three months of purchase.  We all look at the beautiful blue petunias in the little pots, and we buy them because they allow us to dream, imaging how great our garden will be when the little plants grow into big lush plants covered with flowers.

But what really happens is that nine out of ten of the little blue petunias will never grow well, and most of them will die fairly quickly.  Sure, some will actually grow spectacularly, and it is seeing those few individuals that makes us dream, but success is the exception, not the rule.

Although my own garden does pretty well, and manages to look nice, problems abound.  This year I’ve had fungus on my tomatoes, and I had to rip up a bunch of them.  The new plants I planted to replace them have all stunted.  I have a dozen winter squash plants that haven’t produced a single fruit.

The beans have finally outgrown the disease that affected them last month, but production is less than half of what I had hoped.  From the four giant pumpkins I planted, I’ve only got one football-sized pumpkin.  I have more than a dozen green pepper plants, but they are all producing dinky little peppers.  The marigolds in some spots grew big and green, but don’t have many flowers.

My three-year-old plum tree produced one plum this year.  Two of my young oranges flowered well, but failed to produce a single fruit.  I have a whole bank of iris that failed to flower this year.  I have a half dozen zucchini plants that haven’t even produced a single edible fruit.  My kiwis are four years old now, but didn’t even flower this year.  I have a lantana in what I thought was a perfect spot, but it is just sitting there, not even producing new leaves.  My artichokes finally produced a few chokes this year, but we got nothing for the past three years.

The message?  Don’t feel personally incompetent if everything in your garden doesn’t grow well.  Even we professionals fail more often than we succeed.  It’s just unusual to admit it.

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Categories
Crops & Gardening

Waiting on Tomatoes

Jessica has managed to avoid diseased tomatoes thus far

It was a very wet, cool spring here and almost every gardener I know is complaining about fungal diseases on their tomatoes.  So far I’ve escaped them. 

My guess is it’s because I mulched with a few inches of beautiful screened compost this spring.  I always have fewer disease issues the years that I manage to get a hold of some.  (I once heard a gardening friend refer to compost as ‘electric dirt’ – a totally appropriate description!  It’s good stuff). 

Of course, putting all this in writing may mean the diseases arrive tonight, but so far so good.  No blights, no leaf spots, no curled foliage.   Of course, I have no ripe tomatoes yet, but good things come to those who wait.

My partner on the radio show is always going on about harvesting the first tomato of the season.  I admit that I fail to see the appeal in racing to pick a tomato a few weeks before everyone else.  I don’t get why it matters so much (I’m told it’s a guy thing??) and it’s a lot of extra, unnecessary work. 

For me, it’s about picking a sun-ripened, warm tomato at the end of July when the temperatures are hot and I’m ready to sprawl out on the chaise and enjoy it with a bit of kosher salt and a good bloody Mary.  

It gives me something to look forward to and, since tomatoes are one of my garden favorites, I’m willing to wait.  

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Categories
News

H. R. 875: Death Warrant for Small Farms?

H.R. 875 is controversial because of its potentially damaging effect on small farms

With rising costs of food and concerns for preserving our planet, more people are raising their own food in their backyard and buying food from local farmers. But could the passing of a resolution place your potted tomatoes under strict regulations by the federal government?

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, (D), introduced H. R. 875, or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, to the House on Feb. 4, 2009.

The stated purpose of H. R. 875 is “to establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.”

The bill was written in response to the recent outbreaks of food-borne diseases and is an effort to achieve and maintain food safety. Currently, the bill has over 40 sponsors, including the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, Safe Tables Our Priority, Food and Water Watch and Trust for America’s Health.

However, opponents of the bill – including the International Dairy Foods Association and the International Advocates for Health Freedom organizations – believe that it would be a death warrant for small farms and the local food movement. They argue the bill’s requirements would induce more federal control and higher costs on sustainable farming and hurt the local food market by forcing small growers to dramatically raise their prices or go out of business all together. Sound familiar?

A few stipulations the bill would create include:

• A new federal program called the Food Safety Administration to regulate food producers. Every food producer from corporations to roadside farm stands would have to register with the FSA and meet its safety standards.

• Strict guidelines and supervision for small- and large- scale growers in an effort to meet safety standards.

• FSA inspectors to examine and test all food products to ensure compliance with the safety standards. These visits would be regular and unannounced.

• Penalties including $1 million in fines per food safety violation or up to 5 years in prison if a person becomes ill from food consumed “in violation.”

H. R. 875 was referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry on April 23, 2009. Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate and revise them before they go to general debate, according to govtrack.org. To stay updated on the bill’s status, click here.