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News

Veterinarians, Farmers Celebrate World Veterinary Day

April 25 is the day to celebrate World Veterinary Day

Veterinarians are vital to the health and safety of animals; however, as hobby farmers, we play a role in protecting this chain of safety as well.

“Veterinarians play a key role in all countries as guarantors of animal health and public health,” according to the World Veterinary Association (WVA). “But the effectiveness of their action is strongly linked to and dependent on their relationship with farmers. Livestock farmers all around the world are the first sentinels of animal disease events and a rapid response in the fight against animal diseases cannot leave aside their crucial role.”

The WVA reports that farmers are also a crucial part of the chain of protection, and they must continue to improve their knowledge of animal husbandry and bring awareness of any health issues to their veterinarians.

On April 25, veterinary professionals from around the world will celebrate World Veterinary Day, started by the World Veterinary Association in 2000. This year’s theme is “Veterinarians and livestock farmers, a winning partnership.”

The veterinary association that best publicizes the theme by involving livestock farmers in the organization of events as well as other stakeholders, such as the media and the general public, will receive the 2009 World Veterinary Day Award, to be presented at the 77th OIE General Assembly in Paris May 24-29.

The WVA and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) created the award in 2008 to reward the most successful celebration of the veterinary profession by national veterinary associations alone or in cooperation with another veterinary group.

The Kenya Veterinary Association won the $1,000 award last year.

For details on how to apply for the award, click here. Applications are due May 1.

 

 

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Useful (But Ugly?) Trellises

Rick needs trellises in his garden
Photos by Rick Gush

Trellises are almost essential in Italy where a small farmer can expect to have less land.

I use the river bamboo canes to build several trellises in the garden every year, but I’ll admit that I’m not crazy for how the trellises look when I first build them.

In early spring the bare sticks and crooked construction makes the garden look like some of the haphazard shacks that the gypsies erect around the edges of the big cities here. One would almost expect laundry to be hanging somewhere.

Without the trellises the garden looks a bit more sophisticated and less rustic, but the trellises are just so useful. 

Actually, they’re almost essential for the situation here.  I have about 300 square feet of cultivatable surface in my garden, which is composed of more than a dozen little terraced planting areas all stacked one on top of the other running up the cliff.

I always wish I had more space. Things like squash and pumpkins and beans and cucumbers and melons all take a lot of surface area for the vines to spread out.

So, there’s three reasons I use the bamboo trellises:

  1. To multiply the amount of crops that can grow in a given bed
  2. To allow some vegetables to hang their fruits, and lastly
  3. To expand the quantity of sunny surface area that can be covered by the crops

Trellises deliver space for more crops
A “tepee”-like trelllis will house bean vines.

In one bed that is less than twenty square feet, I want to grow six tomatoes, but I think the soil volume would also support grow a row of cucumbers.

The tomatoes will take up most of the surface area, so I built an almost horizontal trellis coming out from the downhill edge, with the intention of planting the cucumbers at the edge of the bed and letting their vines grow out over the trellis, thereby not competing with the tomatoes for bed space.

When walking on the terrace below, the trellis where the cucumbers will grow is above head level and at a very comfortable picking height.

In the bed below, I built a wacky trellis that first goes up, then over, then back down, making a covered walkway over the pathway that leads to the terrace below.

This structure will be used to grow the hanging trombetti type zucchini. 

I like to put these vines up on something in such a way as that their long fruits can hang freely, because hanging trombetti  are much straighter and therefore more desirable than those grown along the ground.

My third notable trellis is the sort of long tepee that will house the bean vines.

This bed has only 70 square feet, and although it is my largest single bed, 70 square feet is not really much space.

The sides of the trellis tepee are much taller than the bed is wide, and as a result, the tepee has about 170 square of surface area exposed to the sun, which more than doubles the effective growing surface of the bed.
The good news for the future is that a few months from now, when the plants have covered the trellises, what was once unsightly will turn into a wonderland of inviting bowers.  Walking underneath and harvesting fruit will be big fun.

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Categories
Homesteading

Give Herbal Syrups As Gifts!

After you try out our herbal syrup recipe, consider this:

In the last few decades, it seems that culinary elegance became associated with buying “boutique food”—jars and tins of pricey seasonings, sauces, condiments, cocktail fixings, baking mixes and so on.

One of the greatest perks that comes with farming and gardening is that it’s possible to make many of these food gifts yourself for less money and with fresher results.

The list goes on, mouthwateringly.

Attention Herb Growers!
This is especially true when you grow herbs, the foundation of so many gourmet goods.

Think of herbal syrups, vinegars and oils, scented sugars, seasoning blends, meats smoked or grilled over bundles of herbs, herb-infused vodkas and liqueurs, and delicate jellies and candies.

A favorite gourmet item from my garden is herbal syrup. Easy to prepare, herbal syrups make unique, delicious beverages fit for even epicurean guests.

Categories
News

Spring Grazing Trouble

By Lisa Munniksma, Managing Editor

Grass tetany, also called grass staggers or hypomagnesaemia, is a magnesium deficiency
Courtesy USDA/Steve Asmus

As warmer spring temperatures approach and grass begins growth in earnest, it’s easy to be tempted to put your cattle on pasture right away so they can graze on the lush forage.

Before you do so, Purdue Cooperative Extension beef nutrition specialist Ron Lemenager, Ph.D., encourages careful management to prevent grass tetany and bloat.

“Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’ and that is sure the case with these two abnormalities that we often see in some of the beef-cow operations,” Lemenager says.

Grass Tetany
Grass tetany, also called grass staggers or hypomagnesaemia, is a magnesium deficiency that usually occurs during a transition from cloudy, overcast and drizzly days to warmer temperatures.

Early lactating cows are the most susceptible, with older cows even more so than those with their first or second calves.

Lemenager explains that when animals are deficient in magnesium, they become highly excitable, which presents a challenge not only from the animal’s perspective, but also from an animal-handling standpoint. Other symptoms, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, include nervousness, lack of coordination, muscular spasms, staggering and death.

“Grass tetany incidents tend to increase in soils with higher potassium and nitrogen levels,” Lemenager says. “These are soils where maybe a lot of manure has been applied, causing a mineral imbalance.

“If suspicious, have your soil tested and forage analyzed. Forage containing less than 0.2 percent magnesium, more than 3 percent potassium and more than 4 percent nitrogen are likely to create grass tetany problems.”

Lemenager recommends feeding a magnesium supplement, such as a feed with 8- to 10-percent magnesium, during this period of increased risk. Supplements include magnesium oxide, which should be mix with molasses to make it more palatable; magnesium sulfate, although this can have negative effects if fed with corn gluten or dried distillers grains.

Animals that have experienced grass tetany are more prone to grass tetany in the future, so it’s important to keep good records on your animals’ health.

Pasture Bloat
An unrelated challenge of spring forage is pasture bloat, often called frothy bloat, a condition in which an animal is unable to get rid of gas produced as a normal part of rumen fermentation.

Pastures that are a 50/50 mix of legume and grass can help prevent both grass tetany and pasture bloat, Lemenager says. Planting birdsfoot trefoil—one of the non-bloating legumes—when renovating pastures can also help.

“Because bloat is more of a problem with legume pastures, particularly alfalfa and clover, it’s important to make sure the animals are full when you turn them out to pasture,” he says. “Even feeding a couple pounds of grain will help.

“It’s best to not send cattle out on wet pastures. Make sure the dew is off or, if it just rained, make sure it has dried up before you put the animals out—dry forage is better than wet forage.”

When rotating cattle to new pasture, time pasture rotation so there’s still forage left in the old pasture and so that animals aren’t hungry going to the new pasture. That’s good pasture management as well as good animal husbandry.

An anti-bloat agent such as Poloxalene can be fed three days to a week before cattle go to fresh pasture, and then when the animal is most susceptible to bloat. The antibiotic Rumensin also has some value in minimizing bloat.

Producers also need to make sure their animals are getting enough nutrients to meet their requirements. While the grass is greening up and growing rapidly, it contains a lot of water, Lemenager says. “This means the nutrients are diluted, which can create some challenges from the animal’s ability to eat enough to meet their nutritional requirements.”

If you suspect any of your cattle are prone to or experiencing grass tetany or pasture bloat, contact your veterinarian for guidance.

For more information about these conditions, click here.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Dividing Spring’s Bounty

The decision process of getting rid of plants can be made easy by buying new plants you want as replacements
Photo by Jessica Walliser

I’ve been busy hammering in tomato stakes in preparation of planting time, mulching the perennial and shrub beds, watching the radish grow, and dividing things for friends and neighbors. 

I have iris out the wazoo and am hoping to find them good homes.  My bee balm has been in need of a division for the past three years and I’m finally doing it.  The shasta daisies, daylilies, and cat mint are also on the chopping block. 

Technically, I should have done this about three weeks ago, but I was busy doing other things then (namely fighting off the local deer herd) and am just getting to it now. 

So, pots of divisions are sitting in my driveway waiting to find homes.  Some of the less desirable varieties are in the compost heap.  It kills me to do that, but sometimes I just can’t find homes for them, which brings me to the reason for this post.

If you have the time and space on your farm, host a plant swap.  This is a great way for you to ‘get rid of’ plants or divisions you don’t want and get a hold of some new choices. 

The best swaps are set up so that everyone brings some plants from their garden, potted and tagged, and leaves with the same number of plants they arrived with. 

You can keep it private and just invite friends and neighbors, or you can open it up to CSA members, farmer’s market customers, or even post fliers at your local grocery store. 

Have some lemonade there and put out some reference books so people can look up plants they don’t know before they take them home.  It’s a great way to make new gardening friends and discover new garden treasures. 

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Categories
News

Buck It Up for Scholarships

Help raise funds with Project EverGreen's Buck It Up Helping military families keep their yards in shape is one goal of Project EverGreen–the nonprofit organization also wants to help send members of military families to school.

And you can help.

Project EverGreen’s Buck it Up program is in the middle of a scholarship fund-raising effort to help members of military families pursue careers in horticulture and, in some cases, agribusiness.

The goal is to raise $250,000 ($1, $5 or $10 at a time) by Armed Forces Day, May 16, 2009.

Where the Money Goes
Buck it Up proceeds will go to help Project EverGreen:

  • Create a scholarship program for military family members seeking a career in the horticultural industry.
  • Increase the organization’s infrastructure to better handle the 7,500 military families and 2,100 volunteers participating in GreenCare for Troops, Project EverGreen’s free lawn and landscape service.

Project EverGreen is partnering informally with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB), The Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and AgriMarketing magazine to help raise the funds.

“The fund-raising started just two weeks ago,” says Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen, “so there’s still plenty of time to get involved. It’s great way families at home can help out with the war effort.”

He added, “Promoting careers in horticulture and related areas is one way we can further help consumers understand the importance of caring for their greenspaces like their yards.”

At least 60 percent of the funds collected will be used for college scholarships, according to Project EverGreen. The remaining will provide expense money for some GreenCare for Troops volunteers and funding to supplement the infrastructure of Project EverGreen to help implement the program.

Get Involved with Buck It Up
Here’s how you or your organization can get involved:

  • Join with Project EverGreen and make a donation individually, through your company and/or your customers. Project EverGreen will send you information and flyers to help you promote the project at your business, office, gathering place. Visit Project EverGreen online or call 1-877-758-4835  for information.
  • Provide the bucket(s) or container(s) to hold the $1 or $5 or $10 donated by customers, employees, etc. Remind people through your promotions or signage that the program will conclude on May 16 – Armed Forces Day.
  • Ask if the organization you work for would be willing to match the donations of the employees.

Where To Send “Buck It Up” Funds
After the money is collected, write a check (payable to “Project EverGreen Buck it Up”) and send it to: Project EverGreen, 120 Main St. West, P.O. Box 156, New Prague, MN 56071.

More about GreenCare
The GreenCare for Troops program has received national attention and was featured on NBC Nightly News and the NBC Weekend Today Show last fall. You can view the piece on the Project EverGreen website.

Lawn and landscape businesses from urban, suburban and rural areas that provide free lawn care to military families while the major breadwinner is deployed overseas help make the program possible.

In just three years, more than 7,500 military families have been involved nationwide through a network of assistance by 2,100 volunteers, according to Project EverGreen. The program is underwritten by Cub Cadet Commercial.

To sign up as a volunteer or if you know of a member of a military family who’d like to be considered for lawn-care assistance, call 877-758-4835 or visit www.projectevergreen.com/gcft.

Categories
Homesteading

Desert Discoveries, Part 2: What Grows on Trees

The lemons grow on Cherie's parent's land in Arizona

As a hobby farmer, I know those neat piles of apples at the supermarket grew on trees somewhere, maybe even here in the apple capitol, Washington state, and not a zillion miles away in New Zealand. 

I’ve picked apples, and actually possess my own orchard consisting of two extra dwarf apple trees (we recently expanded by planting three more) that yielded an entire grocery store bag of petite apples last fall.  Impressive, huh?

My point is, farmers know where real foods in their natural states – apples, broccoli, eggs – originate.   

Despite this, I’m standing in my parent’s sunny backyard outside of Tucson, Arizona, goggling at gorgeous bright yellow fruits hanging from a small, shiny-leaved tree as if I’ve never seen them before. 

Get this – lemons actually grow on trees!

OK, I knew that.  But we don’t do citrus in clammy, cloudy western Washington, nor on the cold-wintered east side, so forgive me if finding spring lemons on a tree feels like a delightful new discovery.

Brett Langlois picking a lemon
Cherie’s husband, Brett, picks a lemon from
a tree in her parent’s backyard in Arizona.

My folks, lucky them, also have a lime tree and a grapefruit tree, now covered in creamy white blossoms.  The flowers, abuzz with honey bees, emit a heavenly sweet fragrance I’d love to trap in a bottle and take home as a souvenir. 

I pluck a smooth lemon and cut it into juicy wedges to share with my husband.  I think we both expect this lemon to taste extraordinary and it does – fresh, yes, and extraordinarily sour!  

The next day I discover something else as we walk the neighborhood.  Too many people let their fruit go un-harvested here, just like at home, where each fall I mourn the countless apples left to rot around our rural area. 

Grapefruits and oranges molder on trees and drop to the ground; a fresh, free, nutritious harvest gone to waste.  I’m aghast, thinking of starving children in Africa, the price of citrus at home, the vanishing water fed to those fruiting trees in this desert environment.  Worse, I know I’ve been guilty of wasting good food myself.

Why does our culture care so little about something so important to life?

When friends of my parents, snowbirds flying north again, kindly offer to let us pick from their prolific backyard orchard, we leap at the chance.  We’re greeted by delicious grapefruit the size of softballs, glowing lemons and oranges.

Growing on trees.  Can you believe that?

Happy Earth Day!  (Hey, how about planting a tree to celebrate?)
~ Cherie

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Categories
Recipes

Asparagus and New Potato Chowder

Click to preview the May-June 2009 Hobby Farms

Gather some fresh, local asparagus and new potatoes–with some fresh dairy products–for this tasty spring chowder!

 

Ingredients

  • 1 pound asparagus, woody ends removed, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 1⁄2 pounds new potatoes, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  • 2/3 cup finely chopped leeks, white and green parts mixed
  • 1/2 cup sweet bell pepper, any color, diced
  • 4 T. butter
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 cup light cream or half-and-half
  • 4 T. flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • black or white pepper to taste

Preparation
In a large saucepan with a heavy bottom, melt butter over medium heat. Add leeks and peppers, and sauté for 5 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add asparagus, potatoes, broth, and salt and pepper.

Cover, bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat, and simmer until asparagus and potatoes are barely tender, about 17 to 20 minutes.

Whisk flour into light cream or half-and-half. Stir into soup. Add milk. Simmer, uncovered, until soup has thickened to a lightly creamy consistency, about 15 minutes.

Serve hot. Makes approximately 21⁄2 quarts.

Categories
Recipes

Blueberry Kiwi Smoothie

Blueberry Kiwi Smoothie
Photo by Stephanie Gang

Got goats? Make this smoothie with goat-milk products; just add an extra tablespoon of honey.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups ice
  • 1 cup whole-milk yogurt
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup kiwi, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 2 T. honey
  • generous pinch of cinnamon

Preparation
Place all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Serve immediately; crushed kiwi seeds become bitter if they stand too long. Makes 2 large servings.

Categories
Animals

Heritage Chickens Defined

In an effort to secure the term Heritage in the food and agricultural marketplaces, The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC), a nonprofit organization ensuring the survival of rare breeds of livestock and poultry, has defined the term Heritage for chickens.

ALBC’s newly released definition for Heritage Chickens: Standard breeds of chickens as defined by the American Poultry Association that are naturally mating, long-lived, and slow growing.

According to the definition:

  • The Heritage breeds must reproduce without the assistance of artificial insemination. While artificial insemination is not currently used for commercial chicken reproduction, it is very possible for chickens to follow the same path as industrialized turkeys, which are now reproduced exclusively using artificial means.
  • Heritage hens should actively reproduce for 5-7 years and roosters for 3-5 years.  This is unheard of in commercial production where hens and roosters are used for breeding for a single generation before being dispatched as less than efficient.
  • Heritage Chickens are also slow growing by modern commercial standards, taking 16-18 weeks for Heritage Chickens as compared to 6 weeks for an industrial breed to reach a dressed (packaged) weight of 3 pounds.

According to the ALBC, chickens have been a part of the American diet since the arrival of the Spanish explorers and since that time, different breeds have been developed to provide meat, eggs and pleasure.

After World War II, traditional or Heritage breeds of poultry began losing favor to modern crosses specifically bred to meet production goals. Today, many Heritage breeds are losing popularity and many are nearing extinction.

A Name to Raise Awareness
One of the goals of having the definition is to: Raise awareness for endangered breeds, to support their long-term conservation, to support efforts to recover these breeds to historic levels of productivity and to re-introduce these culinary and cultural treasures into the marketplace.

According to Bender, the definition helps ensure these chicken breeds are explicitly defined by the American Poultry Association, like breeds of dogs are defined by the American Kennel Club, for example.

Heritage Turkeys Helped Lead the Way
Frank Reese, the founder of Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch in Lindsborg, Kansas, has been at the center of the push to get Heritage breeds back in the marketplace.

Reese, who is committed to conservation, was very pleased in the surge in interest surrounding Heritage Turkeys in 2005 when ALBC released its first Heritage definition for turkeys.

He hopes the Heritage Chicken definition will result in the same success for Heritage Chicken breeds.

“These are the perfect birds for outdoor production,” Reese says of his Barred Plymouth Rocks and New Hampshire chickens, both Heritage breeds.

“They are supposed to range and fly and eat bugs.”

That makes them the best choice for those wanting the Animal Welfare Approved seal for humane production. “The right breed for the right environment” is an important step in raising farm animals humanely, says Anne Malleau, Associate for Global Meat Coordinator, Whole Foods Market, and former Research Director for the Animal Compassion Foundation.

Why the Interest By the ALBC?
So why does The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, an organization interested in genetic diversity, care about defining Heritage?

Heritage Chickens come from long lines of historically useful and productive birds. As late as the mid-1950s, chickens like the Barred Plymouth Rock, the Jersey Giant and the Buckeye were found in butcher shops and on dinner tables.

“Most so-called Heritage Chickens, turkeys, and other farm animals, are in danger of extinction. If we can give these animals a job again, we are more likely to be able to save their valuable genes. These genes ensure their bodies are healthy and may include resistance to disease and parasites,” Bender says.

Diversity in poultry breeds is critical for the long-term survival of the species.

“We put our domestic food system at risk if we put all our eggs in one basket (no pun intended),” says Bender. “If our food system only relies on a single industrialized breed and something happens to that breed, we need the diverse genetics of other breeds to fall back on.”

Heritage breeds provide this diversity along with many other hardy characteristics.

Executive Director of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Chuck Bassett adds, “By defining Heritage for chickens it protects the term so that it is not misused, and so it becomes a term that consumers can rely upon.”

Good to Eat!
Heritage Chicken and eggs sell for a premium price.

Buckeye breeder Doug Brown of Cedar Grove, North Carolina, sells his eggs for $3.50 a dozen and sells whole chickens for $5.00 per pound to some of the best restaurants in the area.

“They can not get enough of them,” says Brown of his eggs. “They insist they are the best eggs they have ever eaten.” Brown is still expanding his flock, so he does not have many whole chickens to sell. What he does have available is in high demand.

The flavor of Heritage Chicken is better, too.

It varies from breed to breed “which is the reason the definition specifies that the breed must be named on the package,” says Bender. Some have darker meat with a deeply intense chicken flavor.

“My Barred Rocks have brought tears to peoples eyes,” says Frank Reese. “I had a lady call me to thank me. She’d been cooking chicken dumplings for her husband for years, but nothing was as good as he remembered his mother’s being. When she used one of my chickens, her husband said it was just like his mother’s.”

Consumers have found that Heritage Chickens are succulent, flavorful and worth the higher cost. When consumers enjoy a highly memorable meal, they are also helping to save endangered breeds. Ironically, eating endangered breeds of livestock and poultry can ensure their survival.

See the complete definition of Heritage Chicken and to learn more information about Heritage Chicken breeds.