Categories
Homesteading

Holiday Crafts and Traditions

Cherie Langlois and Sue Weaver, two Hobby Farms contributing editors, share two holiday craft traditions and Sarah Coleman, managing editor of Hobby Farms, offers Santa-making ideas (including one with a goat-fiber beard) and more holiday cheer.

One-of-a-Kind Festive Farm Animal Cards
Sue Weaver has a great holiday card-making idea for hobby farmers.

 
One-of-a-Kind Festive Farm Animal Cards

Our favorite holiday tradition begins in mid-November when we shoot pictures of our animals decked in festive attire.

 

We pick our favorites (the donkey decorated with blinking Christmas tree lights? The ram with the homemade wreath around his neck?) and make prints, then the fun begins.

Using blank deckle-edged Strathmore cards, rubber cement, Christmas stickers, and felt tip markers, we design a special card for each of our friends.

Are they fancy? Not at all. But they’re unique, and each is a one-of-a-kind. 

~ Sue Weaver

Christmas Yarn Dolls
Cherie Langlois and her 15-year-old daughter Kelsey tell us how to make Christmas Yarn Dolls.

 Christmas Yarn Dolls
photos by Kelsey Langlois

Each holiday season we bring out our yarn box and create old-timey yarn dolls as gifts or just for fun.  With this craft, you can set your imagination free, making dolls of every size, color, and texture.  Add handmade or craft store-bought wings and you’ll have a beautiful yarn angel to adorn your tree.

Here’s all you need:

  • A book (rectangular, not square)
  • Two colors of yarn
  • Scissors
  • Wings, if making an angel
  1. To form the body, wrap one color of yarn around the book long-ways twenty to thirty times.  Carefully cut all the strands at one end and lay the bundle aside.
  2. For the hair, wrap your second color around the book short-ways the same number of times.  Cut as in step 1.
  3. Place the two bundles across each other at the center. 
  4. Take the two ends of the bottom bundle and pull them up so they’re even.  Pull the two ends of the second bundle down (enlist a helper, if needed).  Lay down the two interlocked bundles or have your helper hold them.
  5. Cut a piece of yarn, tie it tight around one bundle above where it joins the other bundle.  Repeat with the other bundle.  You now have a head with hair and a bunch of yarn hanging down.
  6. For arms, make another yarn bundle the same size and color as hair.  Tie with a yarn string about ½-inch from one end.  Now braid for about four inches.  Tie again at the other end and trim to ½-inch.
  7. Divide yarn beneath the head, center arms in between, and add wings, if making an angel.  Close strands below the arms and tie off with yarn “belt.”
  8. For a skirted doll, trim the uneven yarn ends and you’re done!  If you want the doll to wear pants, separate the yarn, then braid and tie off the sections to create legs.

~ Cherie and Kelsey Langlois

No Place Like Home …
Sarah Coleman reflects on home and old and new holiday memories.

Santas … of All Sorts
Every year for as long as I can remember, my mother and I have made some form of Santa; whether it be a 6-foot tall paper mache Santa formed from chicken wire or Santa ornament, something new and Christmas-y has always graced our farmhouse.

Once we turned an antique quilt into a stocking that featured a Santa with a real goat fiber beard (goat fiber courtesy of the Leicester Longwools from Ann Brown in Kentucky!).

~ S. Coleman

Since my mother is a night shift ER nurse, her schedule is always a bit crazy—when I finally make it home from wherever I’m living, she takes all manner of cookie dough out of the freezers and we bake and bake and drink tea while we catch up on life. I have always been the official “Pitzelle maker!”

On Christmas Eve, it’s usually just my father and I while my mom works a 12-hour shift; something I dreaded as a child (I had to wait for her to get home to open gifts!). But now ask her to do so the younger kids might have their mother home for the holidays.

To me, nothing says “home” like pulling in the driveway, tires muffled by snow, to the sight of our house aglow with Christmas lights, the barn and milkhouse with big welcoming wreaths, and the smell of a fire lingering in the crisp, winter air. There literally is no place like home.

~ Sarah Coleman

Categories
Homesteading

Spinning a Yarn of Your Own

By Adrianne L. Shtop

This Merino is one of the best for wool production
© Jerry Fitch, Oklahoma State University

This Merino is one of the best for wool production. See more sheep breeds here>>

The morning sun wakes you to icy-cold air and 30 inches of overnight snow. You spend 10 minutes layering, wrapping and capping yourself before you dare step outside the door.

You trudge as fast as you can to tend your flock of sheep, shivering through the high, bright drifts, but when you reach their pen, there’s not a sheep in sight–just a field of snowy mounds.

Your soft call causes the mounds to quake and as each drift breaks apart to reveal a yawning, stretching sheep, you whisper to yourself, “I wish I had a coat like that!”

Envy your sheep’s warm, wooly coats no longer!

Transforming wool fleece into toasty, water-resistant hats, scarves, socks, sweaters and jackets is not some magical alchemy beyond your reach. All that is required is the willingness to learn new skills, the time to practice them and a few simple tools. And, of course, some sheep.

Types of Fleece
The first step in going “sheep to shawl” is evaluating your flock.

There are more than 1,000 breeds of sheep in use worldwide, but not all produce fleece suitable for making garments at home.

Most sheep are dual- or triple-purpose, producing meat, wool and/or milk, but breeds usually excel in one area or another.

Sheep bred for wool production, such as Rambouillet, Delaine Merino and Bluefaced Leicester, grow the best-quality fleece.

The meat and wool breeds, Columbia, Corriedale and Romney, for example, also produce fleece that is excellent for handspinning.

Useful, although not as fine in quality, is the fleece of sheep raised primarily for their meat, such as Suffolk, Dorset and Southdown.

Hair sheep, the “easy-care” breeds including the Dorper and Katahdin, shed their coats annually and never need shearing. They are raised mainly for meat and skin, and do not produce a spinnable fleece.

You can work with the fleece of any sheep that produces wool, but the particular characteristics of each breed affect the quality and type of yarn you can make and the purpose to which it can be put.

Wool is commonly categorized as “fine,” “long” or “down.”

Fine wool is soft, but wears less well than coarser wool. It is often worn next to the skin as its extremely thin fibers tend not to itch. Fine wool is perfect for any garment requiring a soft hand or good drape.

Fine wool fleeces are very dense.

The length of the lock, or “staple length,” falls in the short to medium category, from 3 1/2 to 5 inches. The locks are rectangular and well-defined, sporting many crimps per inch. It’s this close crimp that gives fine wool its superior elasticity. The fine-wool breeds include Columbia, Cormo, Corriedale, Delaine Merino and Rambouillet.

Long wool fleece has a wavy crimp pattern, a 5- to 12-inch staple and runs medium to coarse in fineness.

This wool wears well, has excellent luster and is generally very lofty. It is perfect when you want high durability and warmth without weight. Long wools are often used for outerwear, carpets and upholstery.  Typical breeds in this category are Romney, the Leicesters, Cotswold and Devon.

If your herd is comprised of Cheviot, Dorset, Suffolk or Tunis, you have down wool, likewise any breed with “down” in the name.

This wool runs fine to medium in grade with a short, 2- to 3 1/2 inch, poorly defined staple. The crimp is spiral in pattern, making the wool feel quite spongy, and giving it great resilience and insulating power. Down wool is used primarily for sweaters, socks and blankets.

The Wonders of Wool
Wool is an amazing fiber. It is extremely flexible and elastic, able to be bent back on itself over 25,000 times without breaking; compare this with cotton, which breaks at 3,000 bends. It can be stretched up to 30 percent of its length when dry (double that when wet) and still snap back to its original shape. This makes for a very durable, tear-resistant fabric that won’t wrinkle when made into a garment.

The rough, scaly surface of wool fiber excels at trapping air, making wool fantastically warm. In addition, wool can absorb up to one-third of its weight in water without feeling damp. This means wool keeps moisture away from your skin, providing extra warmth in winter and helping you cool down in summer.

Every fiber of wool contains moisture, making it naturally flame resistant.  Although it can catch fire, it usually only smolders; when the source of the flame is removed, wool will self-extinguish. It does not melt the way most synthetic fibers do, so wool will not stick to the skin if burned.

From Their Fleece to Your Wool
O f course, before you can begin preparing fleece for spinning, you must remove it from the sheep.

Shearing for handspinning can be done with scissors, hand blades or electric clippers; the important thing is to remove the fleece in one piece and minimize second cuts. Many handspinners prefer to hire a professional to shear their flock, as this step has such a dramatic effect on the quality of the wool. Sheep-breeder associations or other local clubs may offer shearing classes and often can recommend professional shearers.

Whether you shear the sheep yourself or hire someone else, here are a few things to remember:

  • Use only scourable marking crayons or sprays and don’t use any insecticidal chemical for six weeks before shearing
  • Make sure your sheep are kept dry in the days leading up to shearing
  • Remove obvious foreign material from the fleece and take off collars from pet sheep
  • Warn shearers of any ear tags
  • If possible, don’t feed or water the sheep for at least four hours before shearing to minimize fecal contamination of the fleece
  • Keep the shearing room as clean as possible and sweep well between each shear
  • Coat or cover your sheep afterward unless the weather is very warm

Once the fleece is removed, it needs to be “skirted,” or picked clean.

The object of skirting is to remove anything you don’t want in your finished yarn, including vegetation, dung and inferior wool.

The initial skirting can be done on the barn floor as soon as the fleece is removed, but out of the way of the next sheep being shorn.

Simply pull away any fleece that is obviously stained, soiled with manure or matted with plant material. At this stage, one can easily remove several pounds of unusable fleece; the tail, neck and belly wool are usually quite soiled. Save what you remove to mulch the garden.

The next stage of skirting is best done on a table made of wire netting. 

Commercial skirting tables with built-in scales are available from specialty shops, but making one yourself is simple and instructions are readily available on the Internet.

Basically, you want to support the wire mesh at hip height for ease of viewing and cleaning of the fleece. Wire with 1- by 2-inch rectangular openings works well, as does chicken wire. The mesh allows short pieces of wool, dirt, seeds and hay to fall through to the floor, leaving the more desirable wool for spinning.

Getting Close to Your Wool
Lay the fleece out cut side down and gently give it a shake to loosen dirt and short cuts.

It’s important to get to know your wool, so examine your fleece carefully. Check the luster, staple length and crimp of the fiber. Are the locks defined or indistinct? Pick out a lock and pull from both ends. Is it elastic or does it break? If your sheep were ill or subjected to very bad weather, it will show in the fleece as weak points; fiber that breaks mid-staple will be very hard to spin.

Look at the color: naturally occurring lanolin is a pale, soft yellow. Bright yellow indicates a bacterium known as “canary stain,” which will not wash out and must be discarded. Pick out burrs and other vegetation you missed in the initial skirting, as well as felted tips, dung tags, sweat points and stray pieces of skin. Clip and comb tips that are simply mudded.

When you have finished skirting, you should wash or “scour” your fleece. While some spinners advocate “spinning in the grease,” that is, spinning with the lanolin intact, most prefer working with clean fiber. Dirt or waste product left on the fleece will be impossible to remove once it is spun into yarn.

Favorite scouring methods differ. Generally, if your fleece is very high in lanolin or very dirty, use hot water with plenty of soap. If your sheep were coated all year and naturally produce only a thin film of lanolin, washing can be a quick rinse in cool water. Either way, handle the fleece as little as possible to avoid felting the wool. Some spinners use a basket or net lingerie bag to protect their wool while washing.

  • Fill a sink, large bowl or the washing machine with water, add your soap and swirl it in.
  • Submerge the fleece in the soapy water bath and allow it to soak for 10 to 15 minutes, but no longer or the water temperature will change, hardening the lanolin onto the fiber.
  • Gently squeeze or swish the fleece and drain the water.
  • Repeat until your wool looks clean.
  • Rinse in the same manner to clear the soap.
  • Be sure to use water of the same temperature throughout the washing and rinsing process.
  • Dry flat, out of direct sunlight and away from strong wind. It may take several days for the fleece to dry completely.

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About the Author: Adrianne L. Shtop is a writer, photographer and avid knitter and knitwear designer. Passionate about nature, crafts and community, she offers workshops on herbs and wild edibles, knitting and energy healing.

The author wishes to thank Karen Wallace and the Essex County Handspinners, Julie Gerow of Foxcross Farm, and Marlene Halstead of Rocky Top Farm, for their generous assistance and invaluable inspiration.

This article first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine.

Categories
Homesteading

Green Holiday Tips

Decorate with LED lights

Decorate with LED Lights
These ENERGY STAR-qualified decorative light strings can help make your holiday decorations more earth friendly. The EPA says these lights:

  • Can last up to 10 times longer than traditional incandescent strands.
  • Are cool to the touch, reducing the risk of fire.
  • Do not have moving parts, filaments or glass, so they are much more durable and shock-resistant than other light strings.
  • Are available in a variety of colors, shapes and lengths.
  • Come with a three-year warranty, meaning fewer light string replacements.
  • Are independently tested to meet strict lifetime and electrical requirements.

If you’re stuck for ideas on how to make your holiday green this year–that is, how to make it friendly for the environment–the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers a few suggestions, especially for the holiday shopping season:

  • Travel efficiently

    • Map your shopping route to make a number of stops in one trip instead of one stop in a number of trips.
    • Take public transportation.
    • Hitch a ride with a friend or family member.
  • Shop for green decorations and gifts

    • Give gifts and decorate your house with electronics that have earned the Energy Star rating
    • Unplug your gifts and decorations when not in use
    • Choose gifts that have less packaging.
  • Extend the useful life of gifts

    • Before tossing the old to make room for the new, check to see if you can donate it, reuse it, or recycle it.

For more ideas and to share yours, too, visit the EPA blog.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Crop Profile: Sweet Potatoes

sweet potatoes
USDA/Flickr

Sweet potatoes are surely one of the most misunderstood vegetables. Often confused with yams, usually thought of as just a holiday-dinner side dish (never mind the degrading marshmallow accompaniment), sweet potatoes are frequently referred to as “easy house plants for kids to grow in their schoolrooms.” Hummph! Somebody needs to hire a public relations rep for this vegetable and sing the praises of one of the most versatile and nutritious vegetables in the world.

Sweet Potatoes vs. Yams

Yams and sweet potatoes are not synonymous. Real yams are native to Africa, while sweet potatoes are native to the United States. (Actually, the vegetable’s most ancient ancestors came from South America.) People say the confusion between sweet potatoes and yams started when African slaves used their word for African edible roots, “nyami,” to describe the edible roots that were native to North America. But while both sweet potatoes and yams are edible roots, there are many differences between the two crops.

Yams are a common crop in many parts of the world, and although popular in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific islands, they are almost never grown in the United States. They are monocots (grasses) of the Lily family and the genus Dioscorea. Sweet potatoes are dicots (broad-leafed plants) of the Morning Glory family and the genus Ipomoea. Yam tubers, which grow up to 8 feet long and weigh 100 pounds, are generally larger than sweet potatoes, which average less than 1 foot in length and weigh less than 1 pound each.

Yams are dry, starchy and far less nutritious than sweet potatoes. The active ingredient for many birth-control pills is derived from yams. Sweet potatoes have no such effect.

A government labeling rule that allows some sweet potatoes to be labeled as yams came about when orange-fleshed sweet potatoes were first introduced in the 1950s. Marketers in Louisiana, where the orange-fleshed varieties were first grown, wanted to distinguish them from the traditional yellow or white-fleshed types, then grown on the East Coast. The USDA was amenable and now allows the orange varieties of sweet potatoes to be labeled as yams, though that label must also contain somewhere, at least in small print, the words “sweet potato.” In general usage, including most U.S. cookbooks, the names yams and sweet potatoes are interchangeable, and the orange-fleshed varieties are the most popular type for home cooking.

Nutritional Value

Sweet potatoes are an amazingly nutritious vegetable. A medium-sized sweet potato is virtually fat-free, cholesterol-free, sodium-free and provides more than the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, along with high levels of protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, folic acid, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, beta carotene, and vitamin C, E and B6.

In fact, many claim the sweet potato is the single most nutritious vegetable grown on the planet. During the first two centuries of European settlement in North America, sweet potatoes were prized by colonists and European royalty alike, prescribed by doctors as a perfect food for children, and highly valued by mariners who were concerned about scurvy and food storage.

Although most nutritional calculations are based upon the measurements of cooked pulp, the edible skins of sweet potatoes are highly nutritious and are eaten with enthusiasm in many households. The skin does in fact contain even higher amounts of many of the sweet potato’s legendary nutritional elements, such as beta carotene.

Sweet Potato Varieties

There are two main types of sweet potatoes: dry flesh and moist flesh. In general, the older varieties on the East Coast are of the yellow, dry-flesh type, whereas the newer varieties grown in Louisiana are of the orange-flesh, moist type.

Beauregard is the predominant variety grown in Louisiana and will produce satisfactory yields over a wide range of soil types. Another popular variety of the moist-fleshed type is the Centennial, which was also developed in Louisiana.

The Jersey and Jewel sweet-potato varieties are representative of the drier yellow-fleshed types, and are still commonly grown in North Carolina and other eastern areas. In the 1960s, California growers faced a serious virus problem called Russet Crack disease. The University of California, Davis, started a breeding program and now provides virus-free stock to growers. Most southern states have similar university-based sweet-potato breeding programs.

As is the case with many other crops, new sweet potato varieties appear frequently and take the place of older favorites. New growers will want to contact local extension and university programs to get the latest variety news.

Growing Sweet Potatoes

American Indians on the Eastern coastal plains and the Mississippi River delta were growing sweet potatoes when Columbus discovered the New World, so it’s no real surprise that North Carolina and Louisiana are now the leading producers in the United States. But Mississippi is a large and proud contributor, Georgia grows a hefty amount, and as usual, California produces a fair share, too.

Sweet potatoes like warm weather, sandy soil and a long growing season. They are planted around May and harvested in October. The tubers form best in loose, well-drained soils, as soggy soils will not produce good tubers. The crop has a relatively low nitrogen requirement, as excessive nitrogen fertilization produces heavy top growth but fewer underground tubers.

Most sweet-potato growers produce their own cuttings for transplant from seed potatoes selected from the previous year’s crop. The small seed potatoes are planted about 2 inches deep in the seeding beds when the soil temperature reaches 65 to 70 degrees F, usually sometime in March. Some growers cover the rows with plastic film to warm the soil and encourage earlier sprout production.

By April, the sprouts are large enough (12 to 14 inches tall) to take the cuttings. Cuttings should be taken at least 2 inches above the soil; using “clean” cuttings (instead of rooted cuttings) helps guard against the spread of diseases from the seeding bed to the field. These rootless cuttings will develop roots quickly when planted 4 or 5 inches deep in warm soil. Growers often continue taking cuttings and transplanting them to the fields throughout April, May and June. Plants are spaced a foot apart in the fields, with rows being constructed on slightly raised beds about 3 to 4 feet apart.

Weeding, Feeding and Watering

As the sweet-potato crop starts to grow, farmers usually need to do some surface weeding in the rows before the vines cover the beds and shade out the weeds. Any irrigation or fertilization is usually performed during the early stages of crop growth to encourage a robust young root system and thick vines. When the plants start getting larger, growers often pile soil up around the stems, in much the same manner as regular potatoes are “hilled.” This practice goes well with later weeding work, provides more loose soil for tuber formation, and also seems to help reduce sweet-potato weevil problems.

Sweet Potato Pests and Diseases

The main sweet-potato pests are insects, nematodes and diseases that affect the roots. Fusarium wilts cause vascular systems to collapse and become unable to transfer water and nutrients up from the roots.  Root-knot nematodes cause deformed roots and tubers. The sweet potato weevil is an insect whose larvae can feed inside stems, where damage is relatively minimal, but they can also infest tubers, which is a serious problem. Weevil-damaged tubers develop bitter substances that prevent the tubers from being used even as animal fodder.

Most of these sweet-potato pest problems can be overcome by good sanitation and cultural practices, including the use of disease- and weevil-free seed potatoes for transplants, rotating sweet-potato fields to discourage yearly pest carry-over, and using rootless cuttings for transplants.

Moving sweet-potato cuttings and seed potatoes from one county to another in sweet-potato growing areas (particularly within Louisiana and North Carolina) is often illegal, due to the high value placed upon preventive practices. Keeping pests out of a growing region has proved to be a far more successful strategy than any post-infection treatments.

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

Healthy sweet-potato vines produce a bushel of sweet potatoes from a 25- to 30-foot-long row, with an average yield of 320 bushels per acre. The first tubers are ready for harvest in late August, and the harvest usually continues until early November.

Most of the increase in tuber size occurs during the last three or four weeks before harvest. Potatoes that remain in the soil continue to grow and increase in size until the weather cools. Surprisingly, one problem new growers sometimes have is that they fail to harvest before the potatoes become too large for market preferences.

During the actual harvest, it is important to make every effort to minimize injuries to the tender skin on the roots. Undamaged potatoes will sell better and have a much longer storage life. Automatic harvesters are sometimes used, but they cause excessive skin injuries, so a majority of the sweet potato fields are ploughed and then the tubers are harvested by hand.

It is important to avoid freshly harvested sweet potatoes being exposed to the sun for more than 1 hour. Growers often shade the harvested boxes of potatoes with cut vines while they remain out in the fields. At the late end of the season, growers are careful to harvest before frost kills the vines, because if the crop remains in the field after a frost, the roots may begin to decay.

Newly harvested sweet potatoes are not very sweet. They require one or two months of storage and curing before they will develop the sweet, moist taste you associated with the vegetable. Freshly harvested sweet potatoes can, however, be candied or made into pies, and many growers sell part of their crop in this uncured green state.

Sweet potatoes are best cured by storing them in a humid, dark and warm (80 to 90 degrees F) room for a week or so before being moved to temperature-controlled (ideally, 60 degrees F) long-term storage. If the temperature in the storage area is too cold, the tubers will develop a hard center, but if the temperature is too hot, the tubers may shrivel and sprout.

Overall, the nutritional value of sweet potatoes, the relative ease of culture, and the strong storage and shipping capacity of the crop are factors that make the sweet potatoes one of the most unique crops in the U.S.

This article first appeared in the August/September 2003 issue of Hobby Farms.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Keep Garden Pests Away with Companion Planting

Some plants, like marigolds, can be planted alongside your garden vegetables to attract beneficial insects or deter insect pests. Photo by Rachael Brugger (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Rachael Brugger

Whether flea beetles are making lace out of your eggplants or tomato hornworms are stripping your favorite slicing tomatoes, we’ve all battled insect pests in the garden. Fortunately, besides handpicking, relying on organic insecticidal soaps or employing lightweight floating row covers, organic gardeners have another weapon in their integrated pest management arsenal: companion planting. With the right combinations of companion plants and decoy plants, you can rid your garden of destructive pests and enjoy your favorite vegetables with fewer worries.

How Does Companion Planting Work?
By planting particular plants near one another, you can keep some insects at bay. Some companion plant combinations drive insect pests away, while others attract beneficial insects that, in turn, help keep the numbers of harmful insects in check. Still other combinations work to “trap” or isolate certain kinds of insects. Some companion-plant combinations can even do all three!

For the best results, you should have a good mix of perennial herbs and flowers along garden borders and interspersed with your vegetable crops. While it’s true that companion planting won’t guarantee pest-free produce, it certainly can help to make a dent in the numbers of problem insects.

Common Companion Plants
Marigolds and pot marigolds (aka calendula) re some of the most well-known companion plants. The scent of marigolds deters cabbage maggots, Mexican bean beetles, aphids and many other pests, and calendula turns off tomato hornworms and asparagus beetles. Plant both along crop rows and between plants for a little extra color and added insect protection.

Other herbs, while be delicious additions to the dinner table, also double as great companion plants. For trouble in the cabbage patch, try thyme, which is thought to ward off cabbage worms, and peppermint, to help keep cabbage butterflies away. Plant catnip amongst your potatoes, as it repels the pesky Colorado potato beetle, or near your cucumbers and eggplant, as it drives off flea beetles and squash bugs, too. Nasturtiums, likewise, can deter squash bugs, assorted beetles and some types of aphids.

Interestingly, some of the very plants that are repellent to insect pests—like peppermint and thyme—are quite attractive to beneficial insects that feed on aphids, mealy bugs and other troublemakers.

If you have a particular insect foe, use the companion plants below to keep them at bay:

Aphids
Sometimes found feeding on young cabbage heads, on the undersides of lettuce or spinach leaves, or even on sweet corn tassels, aphids are among the most common insect pests. Thankfully, the larvae of green lacewings and ladybugs, as well as adult ladybugs, will eat large numbers of these soft-bodied freeloaders. Plants with clusters of tiny flower heads, like yarrow, coriander, Queen Anne’s lace, fennel and dill, will attract both ladybugs and green lacewings.

Caterpillar
Many types of caterpillar wreak havoc on cabbage, as well as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and assorted greens. The good news is that you can enlist predatory wasps to do them in. To attract the tiny, stingless helpers, try many of the same plants that appeal to lacewings and ladybugs along with lemon balm, parsley, chamomile, peppermint and catnip.

Leafhoppers
While eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes and beans often fall victim to leafhoppers, leafhoppers, in turn, can fall prey to the larvae of hover flies, which are attracted to many of the same plants as predatory wasps. Hover flies also will gravitate to English lavender, buckwheat, statice and sweet alyssum.

Trap Crops
You can protect your produce in one other particularly tricky way. By growing “trap” crops—plants well-known to attract specific insect pests—alongside any plants you wish to protect, you can divert attention away from your veggies and isolate the damage that problem insects can do.

Scented Geraniums and Four O’clocks
While Japanese beetles can be especially troublesome, you can draw them away from your green beans or those prized roses by planting scented geraniums and four o’clocks nearby. Although the adult beetles love to eat both, the flowers of scented geraniums and the leaves of four o’clocks happen to be toxic to them. Although it won’t kill them, borage is also said to be another good Japanese beetle lure. Should you plant it as a trap crop, be prepared to handpick the insects daily to knock down their numbers.

Nasturtiums
Another popular trap crop, nasturtiums will attract large numbers of black aphids; to control their populations, you can handpick regularly or periodically treat with an organic, insecticidal soap. For very heavily infested plants, simply rip them out and discard well away from the garden.

Extra Vegetables
Planting an extra row or two of whatever vegetable you wish to grow can also work to trap and isolate insect pests, as most insect pests stay on or near the host plants from which they originally hatched. Mixing low-growing herbs in between individual vegetable plants and between rows of tomatoes, potatoes and other crops can further help to throw insects off the trail of potential host plants.

Of course, despite our best efforts, it’s normal to experience some losses in the garden, though with the right combinations of companion and trap plants, we may not have to share as much of the harvest with insect pests.

About the Author: Susan Brackney writes about gardening, beekeeping, environmental affairs, the natural world and more from her home in Indiana.

 

Categories
Crops & Gardening

A Snowman in the Garden

SnowmanHaving a three year old in the house is a great excuse to act like a kid.  We spent two hours yesterday playing in the yard, taking a walk, and building this snowman. 

Quite regal isn’t he (the snowman, not the three year old)?

Thanks to some quick packing snow, it only took us about 10 minutes to get him standing. 

Once our Frosty was upright, I searched the garden looking for things to use to build his face:

  • Rocks are always easy to find around here, so those became his eyes.
  • His hair consists of Lawson’s cypress branches and St. John’s wort stems, and
  • His grin is made from hibiscus seed pods. 
  • My son insisted that snowmen only have carrot noses and made me remove the tulip tree seedpod I had centered on Frosty’s face and replace it with a carrot (of course to do this, I had to take my boots off and go inside and get one out of the fridge – ugh). 

Though I don’t think of winter as a time to focus on gardening, it always seems to work its way in there somehow. 

Even just walking through the perennial bed looking for snowman features I found myself thinking about whether or not I’m going to plant so darned many zinnias this year; and walking down the street made me wonder if the neighbor is going to want to swap seeds again. 

At least in my brain, the gardening season never really ends.

So, winter is here for a bit longer and I’m going to enjoy it. 

There is something comforting about winter to me.  I think it’s because there are so many familiar, home-centered things happening this time of year – and so many good excuses to play.

Like every other gardener I’m going to ogle the catalogs, start my seeds, and plan for the spring.  But I’m also going to make snow angels…just because I can.

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Categories
Farm Management

How to Create a Farm Newsletter

Follow these four steps for creating a farm newsletter; photo courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock (from HobbyFarms.com)
Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Are you searching for an easy and effective way to promote your farm? Are you eager to market your farm business but would prefer to stay behind the scenes? Do you want to maximize your farm’s marketing budget to get the most bang for your buck? 

A farm newsletter is one of the best ways to increase business while developing lasting relationships with your customers. Newsletters are not as hard to create as you might imagine. Even those with limited computer knowledge can create a simple newsletter. With a host of programs available that make designing a newsletter as easy as a click of the mouse, there is no excuse not to utilize this effective farm marketing tool.

Newsletters connect you with a target audience that wants to read about you and your farm business. By reaching out to these eager customers, you can easily increase clientele, as Kelly Harding of Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville, N.J., discovered.

“Instead of spending money on newspaper advertising, which is a broad, shotgun type of advertising, our newsletter is targeted to people who have made some effort to contact us and who have taken an interest in what we’re doing,” Harding says.

Although newsletters are an excellent farm marketing tool, you should first realistically evaluate your business to decide if the effort of creating a newsletter is warranted. If most of your business comes from selling directly to wholesalers, restaurants or other businesses, a newsletter might not be the best use of your time and energy. However, if most of your business comes from selling to the public, newsletters can bring in more business and encourage repeat guests.

Once you have decided that a newsletter could benefit your farm, you have a few decisions to make before designing and publishing your newsletter.

Newsletter Format
The first decision in creating a farm newsletter is choosing aformat to use. According to Carol Luers Eyman, author of How to Publish Your Newsletter, newsletters can be published in one format or a combination of five formats: print versions; webiste pages; text emails; HTML emails, which are similar to text e-mails but have graphics and design elements; and downloadable PDFs, which are documents that need to be read through Adobe Reader, an easily downloaded program that many computer users already have. 

What format you use depends on how technologically savvy you are, how much time you have to create your newsletter and what type of format your customers will actually read. If you live in a community where residents are more likely to read a printed handout than turn on the computer, your efforts will be best spent in producing a printed newsletter. If you can budget only two or three hours a month to create your newsletter, it’s probably worthwhile to use computer software with newsletter templates in which you just need to insert your text and photos, and hit send.

Producing a text or HTML newsletter could be the easiest way to launch your farm newsletter.

“Electronic newsletters are faster and less expensive to produce and distribute, and that’s why they are becoming more and more popular,” Luers Eyman says. “Print newsletters are better if you need to publish lots of material in each issue. Also, if you want to distribute the newsletter at a retail outlet like a farm stand, print works better.”

Yet another factor to consider when deciding on a format is how you will collect the addresses of newsletter subscribers and how you will distribute your newsletter. If you would like to send it through the mail, you must have a system set up to collect addresses through your store, by phone or on your website. If you decide to create electronic newsletters, many programs that offer newsletter templates also offer you the services of electronically subscribing and unsubscribing addresses.

Newsletter Content
The second decision in creating your farm newsletter is deciding what type of information to include. This is how you can personalize a newsletter and showcase the products you offer.

Cherry Grove Farm sells grassfed beef, lamb and pork, so Harding includes recipes and articles about the meat industry in his farm newsletter.

“If we seem to be getting a question over and over, we try to address it in the newsletter,” Harding says. “One thing we tackled was why our farm is certified organic but our meats are not.”

Alternatively, the Iron Horse Farm in Sherborn, Mass., uses their newsletter to promote the products and classes offered on their fiber farm.

“We usually feature something from our farm co-op gift store; our store hours; policies for visiting the animals; classes, workshops and private lesson information for the month; as well as any upcoming events we host and where we are appearing as vendors,” says owner Debbie Smith.

Regardless of what type of farming you do, there’s a wealth of information that can be included in a newsletter.

Recipes are always a favorite in newsletters and encourage customers to buy more of a product in order to try it out.

If there are any special events taking place on your farm or in your region, be sure to include them in a newsletter several weeks before the event so customers can make travel plans.

Many newsletter readers enjoy receiving special discounts and coupons; they might visit your farm to redeem a coupon when they wouldn’t have visited otherwise.

“We put a coupon for a free product in the newsletter one time and we got around 70 coupons back,” Harding says. “That brought some people in who have never been here before.” 

Articles about daily activities on your farm and profiles of farm animals are interesting reads for non-farmers.

“People who don’t farm find the silliest things interesting and entertaining,” Harding says. “Write a story about what you do daily and that’s interesting enough for most people.”

If you’re a dairy farmer, profile one of your cows and include its name, when it was born, its milking record, et cetera. If you grow tomatoes, write about the chores that must be done each day to ensure a healthy and bountiful crop. Many people don’t realize how much work it takes to run a farm, so not only will you be educating your newsletter readers, you all will be instiling a newfound appreciation for your work.

Photos offer a personal touch in your newsletter and can entice people to visit your farm. Including photos is easier than you might think. If you have a film camera, you’ll need to develop the photos and then scan them onto your computer. If you have a digital camera, you can simply upload the photos. Once you’re familiar with the process of how to upload images to your computer, you can quickly add photos of your farm products, employees, et cetera. If you would rather not use photos, you can use clip art, which can be purchased in a book, on a CD or downloaded from the Internet.

Newsletter Frequency
The third decision to make regarding your newsletter is how frequently to create it. If you would rather sit down a few times a year and create a newsletter chock full of information, a quarterly newsletter is ideal for you. If you want to update your customers on what crops are available for purchase throughout the year, you’ll probably want to send a newsletter at least once a month. Sometimes a weekly newsletter is appropriate. For instance, Full Belly Farm in Guinda, Calif., provides a newsletter with recipes using its products and payment reminders in with its weekly delivery of produce to members of its community-supported agriculture program.

Remember occasionally to create newsletters during your off-season, as well. Even though your farm might close for several months, keep building relationships with your customers through newsletters describing the activities on the farm in preparation for harvest next year, as well as updates about new products or varieties you intend to debut.

Newsletter Design
Once you’ve decided on your farm newsletter’s format, content and frequency, your next step is to design it. 

If you have decided to publish a print newsletter, you will need to focus on the layout and graphics. One of the easiest and least expensive options is to use newsletter templates. Templates, which can be found in page-layout software or purchased individually, allow you to easily insert text and photos into pre-fabricated slots without worrying about design.

Not all print newsletters need templates or require the purchase of additional computer software. Many newsletters are produced with word-processing program Microsoft Word. If you’re searching for a basic format that includes a few columns, some graphic elements and the ability to import pictures, Microsoft Word can probably handle your beginning needs. If you would rather present a more professional look, you might want to use templates or purchase software, such as Microsoft Publisher, Serif PagePlus, Adobe InDesign or Quark XPress.

You can print your newsletter on your home printer, print one copy and photocopy the rest at a print shop or email your newsletter file to a print shop for printing. If you will be sending your newsletter to a print shop, save it as a PDF first or make sure your software is compatible.

For PDF newsletters, you will design a layout much like a print newsletter. Once it is created, you then save the file as a PDF document that can be sent as an e-mail attachment or linked online.

For Web newsletters, you will create a Web page just as you created pages for the rest of your website. Check with the Internet service provider that hosts your website to see if they offer templates you can use to easily create Web pages and newsletters. If your ISP doesn’t offer templates, or if you prefer to design your own page, you can purchase software such as Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia DreamWeaver; however, these programs will take some time to learn and might be too advanced for people who desire to produce a simple newsletter in a short amount of time.

Text email newsletters can easily be created in a word-processing program or in a text editor, such as Windows Notepad. Once you’ve written the content, you would simply copy the newsletter to your email account and send it to your subscription list. 

HTML email newsletters can be created through a Web-development program and copied to your email account. However, according to Luers Eyman, there’s a much easier way. 

“For HTML e-mail newsletters, the trend among small businesses is to use one of the list-hosting services,” she says. “Their fees usually include the use of newsletter templates that are relatively easy to plug text and graphics into. … They are quite reasonable for someone just getting started.”

List-hosting services, such as MailChimp, Constant Contact and Vertical Response, not only make creating email newsletters easy, but they also take away much of the hassle of the tedious tasks of subscribing and unsubscribing email addresses.  If you choose not to use a list-hosting service, you can manually add and delete addresses from your email account, purchase distribution software or find free services that can handle smaller distribution lists.

With a myriad software and website services that allow anyone to create a professional-looking newsletter in a matter of minutes, your farm can easily begin reaping the rewards a newsletter offers.

Seven Ways to Stretch Your Newsletter Budget
From How to Publish Your Newsletter, by Carol Luers Eyman (Square One Publishers, 2006). Reprinted with permission.

Worried how much money a newsletter will cost to produce? Luers Eyman suggests the following ways to stretch your newsletter budget.

  • Use a free online mailing-list service for Web or email newsletters.

  • Use one of the newsletter templates that come with page-layout software instead of paying a graphic artist to design one.

  • Instead of using expensive color ink, add visual appeal to your newsletter by printing it on colored paper.

  • Check with the postal service to see if printing on a lighter-weight paper would reduce your postage costs.

  • If you’re mailing more than 200 pieces, look into using the reduced Standard Mail postal rate.

  • Apply mailing labels to envelopes before adding postage so you don’t add postage to more pieces than you need to mail; such costly mistakes add up.
  • Use the U.S. Postal Service’s address correction and return services to update your mailing list. This will help prevent future mailings to incorrect or nonexistent addresses.

About the Author: Kimberly Button is a freelance writer in Lake Lure, N.C., and the author of The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook.  Visit www.kimbutton.com for more information.

This article first appeared in the November/December 2006 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.

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Canning Farm Fresh Vegetables

Canning and Preserving Farm Fresh Produce
©Sharon Fibelkorn, top

Interested in canning vegetables. Want to learn how preserve fruit? Are you up to your elbows in farm fresh vegetables and fruit? Or maybe you’re worried about the safety of canned foods?

Whatever the reason, find out how to can and preserve fruit and vegetables in your own kitchen.

Visit “Food and Kitchen” to read: