Categories
Urban Farming

Winter Salad with Squash, Radish and Greens

Winter Salad with Squash, Radish and Greens - Photo by Judith Hausman (UrbanFarmOnline.com)

Generally I swap soup for salad in the depth of winter, but I still have access to heartier salad greens grown in area hoop houses. To adhere to January’s calorie-cutback resolutions, I just have to include some salads into my daily meals.

The combination of squash, winter radish and spinach not only tastes wonderful, it also offers a healthy bonus of smashing colors to a winter meal. Choose your favorite cold-hardy greens as the backdrop of this salad, but don’t fall back on the usual spring mix, which is a little bland and soft for this salad.

I used thin-cut rounds of peeled butternut squash, which I’d roasted with the vegetables I served the night before, but play around with different squashes available to you. Stippled Delicata squash doesn’t even needs to be peeled and could be steamed in either rounds or chunks. No matter which squash you choose, its vibrant yellow-orange makes a cheerful splash against the greens.

Amazing watermelon radishes come next. I used a mandolin to get the thinnest rounds possible, but a food processor or even a very sharp knife, used carefully, is fine. If you can’t find these lime green and pink beauties, look for pretty French breakfast radishes instead. Other ways to incorporate a touch of red include dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds or even a few raspberries. Consider also adding a few slices of avocado, which is in season, too, or 1/2 pound of crabmeat or cooked shrimp to make a lunch salad.

I dressed the salad with standard vinaigrette: one part vinegar to three parts oil, salt and pepper. Balsamic is a good choice for the vinegar, but raspberry or pomegranate vinaigrette would also be nice.

Yield: 2-4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 small butternut or Delicata squash, peeled and seeded
  • 1 small watermelon radish
  • 4 cups leaf spinach, or a combination of baby spinach, watercress, arugula and radicchio
  • 1/4 cup chopped almonds
  • your favorite vinaigrette

Preparation

Slice squash into thin rounds or half-rounds. Toss with olive oil and roast at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes, or steam until fork-soft. Set aside.

Thinly slice radish, cutting the rounds in halves or quarters if large.

Fill salad bowl with the washed spinach or other greens, tearing the leaves if necessary. Add almonds, radish and squash, and toss gently. Dress salad and toss again.

Read more of The Hungry Locavore »

 

Categories
Homesteading

Woven-Wheat Valentines

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

I fell in love with wheat weaving many years ago and began teaching some classes at a local community center. Later on, when my husband and I opened a shop, it became one of the many crafts I made to sell.

Wheat weaving, straw plaiting and corn dollies—these are all names for the art and craft of ornaments made from grain straw. Developed from the harvest symbols of ancient times in Europe, straws were woven or sheaves were decorated at the end of the harvest to represent the spirit of the bounty. People displayed their crafts in the home over the winter and returned to the land for the spring planting, imbibing the spirit of a good crop into the earth for the upcoming growing season. Wheat weavings can be made into wall hangings, dolls, centerpieces, hat ornaments, boutonnieres and corsages, cake toppers, Christmas tree ornaments, and in this case, Valentines!

The Mordiford is a traditional Valentine given to sweethearts as a symbol of love and fertility. It’s named after the village of Mordiford in England. Small hearts can be used for corsages or boutonnieres, and traditionally, the men’s boutonnieres were made with the heads removed and worn at the beltline.

The valentine we’re making below is a five-straw plaited heart.

What You’ll Need:

  • 10 straws of wheat, equal length and head size (I used golden wheat, but other options are black beard wheat or oats.)
  • button thread
  • scissors
  • ruler (Optional if you want to be precise, but generally, you can eyeball it, measuring one piece against the other.)

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Tips for Getting Started

  • Grow your own wheat or purchase it from a hobby or floral shop. I purchased mine from an online retailer.
  • Cut or break the straw right above the first joint. Slip off the sheath that covers the straw so you have a clean smooth straw.
  • Sort the wheat so you have even-sized heads and pieces relatively the same length. The length of the straw will determine the size of your heart—you can’t add straws with this design of weaving to lengthen them.
  • Soak the wheat in lukewarm water for 30-40 minutes. I use the bathtub, but in the absence of a tub, you can use a plastic wallpaper tray. Weigh down the straws with a bath towel so they’re completely submerged. Wring out the towel and wrap the wheat in it to condition for another 20 minutes before working with it. Do not use hot water, or the wheat will lose its sheen.
  • Using cream-colored button and craft thread, tie the stalks together with a clove hitch knot and an overhand knot on top to secure it. I use 10-inch lengths of thread to ease the tying process, trimming to about 1/8-inch once the knot is tied.

Step 1

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Clean and soak the wheat. Tie five straws together right below the heads with a clove hitch knot and an overhand knot on top of the joint. Lay the five-straw bundle on your work surface with the heads at the top.

Step 2

Separate the straws into two groups, three on the right and two on the left.

Step 3

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Lift the middle straw of the right hand group vertically and hold upright while you take the outside straw on the right hand group and fold it over to position on the inside of the left hand group. Lay the straw you were holding vertical down to become the center straw of the right hand group. You now have three straws on the left hand group and two on the right.

Repeat on the left side: Hold the center straw vertically and take the outside straw on the left and fold over the other to become the center straw on the right hand group. Lay down the vertical straw to become the center straw on the left. Continue in the manner, alternating sides until you have a braid that is about 8-inches or twice as long as the shortest straw you have left. (I started with straws that were about 16-inches long below the heads.)

Tie the straws together with a clove-hitch and overhand knot. Trim the thread.

Step 4

Make a second braid from the remaining 5 straws.

Step 5

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Tie the two braids together right below the heads over the ties you have already made to create the braids.

Step 6

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Use the plain straw bundle as the center post and position the braids to form a heart of a pleasing proportion. You can make it short and fat or long and thin, depending on how you want the finished heart to look. Tie them all together—the two braids near the heads and the central post of plain straw.

Step 7

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Trim the straws on the back and shape the heart, and lay flat to dry. Tie on a bow, if you like. I used raffia, but a red, satin ribbon may be more your style.

Using Your Mordifords

Woven Wheat Valentines - Photo by Patricia Lehnhardt (HobbyFarms.com)

Once you’ve mastered making a basic Mordiford, here are some ways you can put it to use.

  • Tie two together for a wall decoration, flipping them in direction.
  • Use a single braid and loop or knot it to make a token for a package ornament.
  • Use a 3-straw plait to make smaller pieces.

Using natural materials from your own backyard and a little time spent is the best gift of all, in my opinion. I hope this will get you started on a new craft, and perhaps even inspire you to plant a little patch of wheat this spring.

Patricia Lehnhardt at The Craft Hub
About Patricia Lehnhardt
Patricia Lehnhardt is a shop owner, freelance writer, photographer, gardener and long-time crafter of all things natural from the Midwest.

« More of The Craft Hub »

 

Categories
Animals Large Animals

Are Dairy Goats Right for My Farm?

dairy goats
iStock/Thinkstock

Anyone who’s ever raised dairy goats will tell you they can be difficult in the wrong situation or utterly wonderful in the right one. Deciding which side of the fence your farm falls on is the best place to start when considering adding them to your menagerie. As with any new farm venture, there’s a lot to think about with dairy goats—time, money, property, et cetera. We’ve laid it all out for you to help you decide—ahem, when push comes to chèvre—if milk goats are a good fit for you.

What You’ll Need for Fencing

As the old adage goes, “If it can hold water, it can hold goats.”(In other words, goats are not easily contained.) Fencing is one of the biggest necessities for dairy goats. Some goats can jump more than 40 inches high, and most love to climb.

You have two general fencing options: If you don’t want to rotate their pasture every few days or so, you’ll want to erect tall, permanent fencing, ideally 45 to 52 inches with at least one strand of electric or barbed wire at the top and middle. If you want to rotate your goats’ pasture frequently, 42-inch electrified netting works well. More athletic goats can jump it, but they won’t if they’re moved often, have plenty of food and are kept happy; however, you can choose to fence the perimeter of your property so if they do jump, they don’t head straight for your neighbor’s houses to eat their garden or play King of the Mountain on their cars.

What You’ll Need for Gates

It’s not only a goat’s ability to jump a fence that makes it a challenging farm animal; it’s also the fact that a goat can literally open gates. Goats are inherently curious creatures and are amazingly resourceful. They will use their tongues or noses to pop open latches, push open heavy gates, or climb over or under them. Short of a padlock, your best option is anything that requires an opposable thumb to open—maybe even a key.

What You’ll Need for Breeding

Because a goat has to have a kid to start producing milk, a new owner should consider how they want to handle the breeding process. There are two main ways small-scale farmers breed their goats: Finding a nearby friend who keeps a buck and borrowing it in the fall to mate with your ladies, or keeping a buck yourself.

There are complications, of course. Bucks can be a stinky, head-butting mess when they go into rut (their annual period of sexual frenzy). When the does begin lactating, you have to separate the buck by a good, insurmountable distance so that its smell doesn’t taint your milk and leave it tasting “goaty.” This may require a separate barn or paddock with extra-sturdy fencing.

What You’ll Need for Weaning and Kidding

After the kids are born, you’ll eventually separate them from your mama goat—this is called weaning. Some farmers wean after the kids have had colostrum, then bottle-feed the babies and keep part of the milk for themselves. Others separate the kid and doe for half the time—taking them away at night, for instance, and keeping the morning’s milking for themselves before letting the kid back in. Either way, weaning is no easy task. You either need to separate the doe from her kid by a great distance, a great fence or an enclosed structure because they’ll fight to get back together.

What You’ll Need for Shelter

A common rule of thumb reminds us that goats can get cold or get wet, but they shouldn’t get cold and wet. Provide your goats access to shelter that will keep them dry in the wetter parts of the year, preferably with wind protection, too. Goats also need a chance to dry their hooves to prevent rot, so if you’re using a mobile shelter, either install a floor or make sure you always have rocks for them to occasionally stand on. The rocks also help you from needing to trim their hooves frequently.

What You’ll Need for Milking Parlor and Stanchion

Throughout history, plenty of farmers milked their animals right in the pasture, but if you have the option of taking them somewhere covered to milk them, do so. When it’s raining, snowing or sleeting,or temperatures are extreme in either direction, you’ll be happy for the cover—and so will the goats.

The milking parlor doesn’t have to be fancy—in fact, it can be a preexisting structure or a mobile stanchion, so long as it can keep the rain and other goats out while you’re milking. Of course, many of the structures you need can have multiple roles; just make sure your milking parlor is not where the goats sleep, to avoid contact with manure and urine. You can find plans to build a stanchion online, and a simple one will take little more than a handful of boards and an hour or two to construct.

What You’ll Need for Forage

Goats are some of the least picky eaters on the farm. They love to browse on grass, weeds and trees, and you can keep them on pasture or in forestland. That being said, certain plants, such as wild garlic, mint and onion, will affect the milk’s flavor, so many milk and cheese producers keep their goats on well-maintained pastures. Also, there are poisonous plants, including rhododendron and horse nettle, that your goats need to avoid. Read up on these plants, learn to identify them, and remove any that exist in potential goat-grazing territory.

What You’ll Need for Water

Water is essential for any animal, but especially for cold, lactating mama goats. Although goats drink surprisingly little water, they like it fresh, and you’ll find they drink more after they kid. Typically, a 5-gallon bucket refilled every other day can be enough for a few goats.

What You’ll Need for Feed, Salt and Minerals

Few dairy animals will produce enough milk on grass alone, and goats are no exception: They need high-quality hay, alfalfa pellets or a grain supplement to produce sufficient amounts of milk. Of course, unless you grow grain or mow alfalfa hay, these things cost money. Before you welcome dairy goats to your farm, see what feed is available locally and price it out. A goat will eat 2 to 4 pounds of feed per day—roughly 3 percent of its body weight. If you’re keeping them confined, bear in mind you’ll need to provide that entire amount. (Letting them forage, in this case, is a great way to save some money.) The feed should be high quality, and you’ll have to find a way to keep it off the ground so the goats can’t ruin it with their manure. Goats won’t eat spoiled hay, but they also love to spoil it. Go figure.

While you’re at it, price a good salt block and goat minerals. They’re essential, though not expensive. Deciding whether these costs meet your farm budget is necessary before adding dairy goats, because without them, you’ll be disappointed by either sick or non-productive milkers.

What You’ll Need for Your Sanity

Maybe more than anything else, milk goats require patience and a sense of humor. They will frustrate you, but they’ll also misbehave more if you let them know they’ve gotten under your skin. If you are able to keep your cool, be patient and have fun, goats will fit right into your farm.

Learn more about dairy goats on HobbyFarms.com:

  • When to Breed Young Dairy Goats for Milk
  • 9 Items You Need to Start a Goat Dairy
  • 6 Milk Facts to Know Before Starting a Farm Dairy
  • Prepare Tasty Goat’s Milk That Keeps Well
  • How to Milk a Goat
Categories
Homesteading

9 Upcycled Fire Starters

9 Upcycled Fire Starters - Photo by Tessa Zundel (HobbyFarms.com)

You Boy Scouts in the audience may laugh, but my big accomplishment last year was learning how to build and maintain a decent fire. I grew up as a city girl and starting fires just wasn’t a skill I needed to cultivate. However, being able to build a quality fire is necessary for farm families. A good fire allows you to roast marshmallows, heat your home, scald chicken carcasses during butchering, boil down maple sap into syrup, roast your latest catch and do myriad homestead tasks (especially in winter), and fire starters can make the process more simple for everyone.

Fire starters are simple materials placed around the kindling of your fire. You light the fire starters first, which catch quickly and burn for several minutes, igniting your kindling and eventually helping burn larger pieces of wood. Commercially produced fire starters are available, but you can save money and a trip to the store by making your own from upcycled materials found around your home. Plus, making them is a great project for kids of all ages.

Here’s a list of our favorite fire starter ideas. Everyone, right down to the baby, helps assemble them. Some families collect kittens or DVDs; mine collects toilet paper tubes and cotton rags—to each his own. Don’t let these ideas box you in. Be creative and look around your home and recycling bin for materials to use to make your own fire starters.

1. Junk Mail Rolls

9 Upcycled Fire Starters - Photo by Tessa Zundel (HobbyFarms.com)

This fire starter is so easy to make, but it’s best suited for outdoor fires because the dyes present in mailers can cause problems up the flue of your indoor fireplace or stove. Collect magazines, catalogs, scratch paper and advertisements and pile them about 1/4 thick. Roll them snuggly until you can put a toilet paper tube around them like a ring, holding them in place. 

2. T-Shirts and Wax

Gather old, cotton T-shirts, and cut them into strips. Melt paraffin wax in a double boiler, and dip the strips, one by one, into the wax. Let the fire starters dry in a cool place, like a garage or shed, where little fingers won’t be tempted to touch the hot wax.

3. Herbal Branches and Twigs

If you have an herb garden, chances are you have one or two herbs that really took off this past season. Save whole branches of herbs as fragrant fire starters, and save the herbal twigs you’ve stripped of their leaves to use as kindling. They’ll burn quickly but should work wonderfully in combination with some of the other fire starters on this list. Bundle the herbs thickly and tightly with cotton string. The tighter and thicker they are, the longer they’ll burn.

4. Toilet Paper Tubes

Stack three toilet paper tubes on top of each other, and mash them down flat. Keeping them layered, curve them up until they’re rounded enough to fit inside a fourth tube. You can also wedge in a small bit of waxed T-shirt to act as a wick, if you’d like. These tubes, which you’d otherwise recycle, can burn for up to three solid minutes.

5. Dried Corn Cobs

If you can your own corn or grow feeder corn for piggies, you may have cobs laying around that end up in the compost bin. They cobs burn wonderfully when dried, but make sure they’re empty of corn. Loose combusting kernels can fly off and pop someone. (No pun intended.)

6. Dried Citrus Peel

Winter’s the season for citrus, and although you can make a killer citrus-infused vinegar with the peels, you can also dry them and toss them into the fire. The essential oils present in the skins make them smell good and catch fire easily.

7. Toilet Paper Tubes and Lint

Save your dryer lint or spent cotton rags (no polyester), and stuff them into toilet paper tubes. We’ve had these burn upwards of five minutes. Pack them loose enough that air can circulate—oxygen is a big part of a happy fire. Around the holidays, we gift wrap these by rolling them inside a nice piece of scrapbooking paper, tying raffia round them and attaching a small card.

8. Egg Carton and Wax

These fire starters are great for camping. Stuff each cell of a paper egg cell full of dryer lint. Melt loose wax in a double boiler, and pour it over the lint until it’s saturated and the cell is full. Let the wax cool, then cut apart each cell to use individually.

9. Pinecones “Candies”

9 Upcycled Fire Starters - Photo by Tessa Zundel (HobbyFarms.com)

My kids like these fire starters, especially because they say they look like candies by the time we’ve finished wrapping them. Gather medium-sized pinecones and your kids’ last doodle pages (or another piece of paper destined for the recycle bin). Wrap a piece of paper snugly around a pinecone, and tie with cotton string at each end. Dip the pinecone in wax before you wrap it for extra volatility.

Whoever is tasked with making a fire in your family, always keep fire safety in mind. (Being a mom, I had to get that in.) I’d love to know of more upcycle ideas for fire starters—do you have a favorite I missed?

« More Farm Sprouts »

 

Categories
Urban Farming

The Legend of the “Land Tarppon”

The Legend of the

When writing last week about tomato hornworms, my train of thought was inadvertently hijacked into the realm of random non-insect tomato pests. One of my favorite garden stories on this subject dates to the late 1970s, when my parents moved to the mountains of Virginia, away from busy life in a big Midwestern city. Money was tight but we had plenty of land. To help support our growing family, a big vegetable garden was essential.

One of the first summers in the new garden, my mother noticed a problem with her large tomato crop. Just as soon as a tomato on a lower branch would begin to ripen, she’d find a single bite take out of it. Perplexed, she visited our closest neighbors, an elderly couple named Eunice and Earl, who were raised in the mountains and kept a large vegetable garden, and told them about her tomato problem.

“You have a problem with ‘land tarppons,’” Earl told her.

Whether it was his soft mountain drawl or the pronunciation, my mother was extremely puzzled and was completely clueless about what a “land tarppon” might be. She asked for clarification and it quickly became clear that Earl was talking about box turtles or land terrapins, which are commonly known to munch on low-hanging tomatoes. The legend of the “land tarppon” quickly become part of our family lore.

No Tomatoes for Turtles

The Legend of the

Native box turtles, found throughout the eastern half of the United States, are one of the more common turtles found in suburban landscapes. Box turtles are true omnivores, but have a special sweet tooth for ripening fruit, such as tomatoes and cantaloupes. The best way to keep them from noshing on your harvest is to either add fencing around your entire plot or around the specific crops they target. If you decide to fence your entire garden, be sure to bury the bottom of your fencing to keep turtles from slyly digging their way in. A viable turtle barrier within your garden can be anything from a tomato cage with chicken wire around the base or a couple boards set up around your melon patch.

Friend or Foe?

While box turtles and other common terrestrial turtles can be a nuisance around the vegetable garden, they shouldn’t be discouraged from your property. Aside from eating your tomatoes, box turtles are known to be a major slug and snail predator (along with many other caterpillars and insects). I think all gardeners would be happy with fewer slugs in their life! Some gardeners even actively encourage turtle visits by planting favorite foods, like berries, in the open or providing good habitat in your yard, like leaf cover beneath hedges or small brush piles where they can forage for prey and find cover.

Do you have any stories of unexpected garden guests? I would love to hear them!

Read more of Garden In Front »

 

Categories
Beginning Farmers

Hazing: For College Students and Coyotes

Hazing: For College Students and Coyotes - Photo by Richard Spencer (HobbyFarms.com)

When I think of hazing, I think of college kids making each other perform ridiculous stunts, like wearing a diaper to class or having to clean the fraternity common room with your face. Until last week, I never used “hazing” and “coyote” in the same sentence.

Not anymore.

For years, we’ve enjoyed nocturnal coyote concerts, but the performers were always far up on top of the ridges behind the house, not, say, crouching next to the kids’ trampoline at high noon, looking for gophers.

Living in a “rurban” area (more rural than suburb, but more suburb than full-on farm territory), we’re used to wildlife. But for the first 15 years I lived here, I’d never seen a coyote on the property. We have a groovy little 1-acre spot surrounded by wildland (oak, bay and redwood forest) and bordered by two creeks, so I am pretty sure they’ve been around, but all of a sudden, they are getting a bit up close and personal for my taste.

About a week ago, in the middle of the afternoon, “The Girls” (our flock of seven gold sex-link hens) started making sounds I’d never heard before. I looked out the window. A really big coyote was standing with his nose pressed right up to the wire of their run. And when I say “big,” I mean nearly the size of my lab/Aussie mix, who tips the scale at about 90 pounds.

I went flying out and down the back stairs, hollering at the top of my lungs, hoping he would find my sweatpants as terrifying as most members of my family do. He ran into the shrubbery, but I had a sneaking suspicion he was lurking around, watching from a hiding place. I waited about 10 minutes, then let the dogs out. I showed Holler (the lab mix) where the coyote had been standing, and watched in amazement as he tracked the path he had taken, crisscrossing the yard about 20 times.

Two days later, my pal Michael, who was putting up a new fence for us (to keep the darn dogs in so they will stay home and defend the perimeter), told me the coyote had showed up again, sitting right in the driveway, eyeballing one of my cats who was up on the porch roof.Michael shooed him away, and the coyote left reluctantly. “He was the size of a German Shepherd!” Michael said.

This was not good. First of all, the coyote was getting bolder. He also appeared to be getting bigger. I fully expected that at next sighting, he’d be the size of a Great Dane. So I leapt into action: I hit Google, and that’s where I was introduced to the world of Coyote Hazing.

Now, I know some people think the only good coyote is a dead coyote, but I wasn’t really up for taking him out. I just want him to stay away from The Girls and the cats, and hazing seemed promising. It’s really just scaring the bejeezus out of the coyote until he leaves the area, letting him know your place is not the happy fun-time snack party he’d thought. Shake a can full of rocks, squirt him with a garden hose, and yell and scream like a lunatic until he runs for his life. At first, he might only run a short distance, then stop and look at you. It’s important to keep after the coyote until he completely leaves the area.

The Humane Society has pretty good how-to info coyote hazing, and so does the University of California, Davis.

Once we get the fence built, the dogs can stay outside and help out, but until then, next time he shows up, even if he’s grown to the size of a St. Bernard, I’m goin’ at him with some bear spray and an air horn. Oh, and my terrifying sweatpants. And if I can get him into a diaper, I’ll try that, too.

« More Greenhorn Acres »

 

Categories
Poultry Urban Farming

6 Ways to Banish Rodents from the Coop

6 Ways to Banish Rodents from the Coop - Photo by Rachel Hurd Anger (UrbanFarmOnline.com)

Have you ever found little mouse droppings peppered throughout your coop bedding—black oval pellets about the size of a grain of rice? Evidence of rodents in your chicken coop can be unnerving, but it’s important to recognize that winter is a hungry time for wild animals. The reward of a warm bed and a full belly found inside a chicken coop is all too tempting for a cold, starving rodent.

Homemade or store-bought repellent concoctions might help shoo away rodents in more abundant seasons, but hungry ones won’t be deterred easily. Plus, you wouldn’t want to use those concoctions around your chickens, as chickens eat almost anything. With a little bit of common sense and ingenuity, it’s possible to minimize your rodent problems naturally. Here are tips I’ve found effective at banishing rodents from your urban chicken coop.

1. Patch Coop Holes

If you find evidence of rodents in your coop, inspect the entire inside and outside of your coop for holes. Small rodents can wiggle through cracks you might not even notice. If you happen to tear your hardware cloth (by dropping a coop door on it like I did), be sure to patch it or replace it right away. Torn hardware cloth allows rodents and even small birds to walk right inside.

2. Store Feed in Rodent-Proof Containers

I keep my chicken feed in a lidded metal garbage can that I purchased specifically for chicken feed. (It’s never held garbage.) Some people use plastic storage containers or plastic garbage cans, but a hungry enough rodent will chew through a plastic storage container no matter how long it takes.

3. Store Coop Bedding Securely

I’ll never forget the time I cleaned out the chicken coop and shoved my hand inside the bedding bag, only to watch two frightened mice scurry from a tiny hole in the bottom, run across the yard and dive into the old shed we’re replacing. Picking up a second metal container for the bedding is now on my to-do list, but in the meantime, I’m preventing mice access by balancing the bag on top of a bucket. The mice can’t climb the bucket, and there’s nothing nearby for them to climb to get to it. This temporary solution won’t last long, unfortunately. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

4. Set Traps

If you find that you have a family of rodents nesting someplace on your property, consider using a humane trap to relocate them to a forest or field away from your property. Humane traps are often available where you buy chicken feed.

5. Use a Secure Feeder

In February, I’m taking on the project of building a weighted feeder. because my biggest “pest” problem has been wild birds eating our chicken feed when the flock is free-ranging. The feeder will not be able to open without the weight of a hen standing on the platform. There will be a learning curve for the chickens, but they catch on to new things easily.

Weighted feeders are available for purchase, but you can find plans online if you’re interested in building your own. I’m excited to share my weighted feeder project with you when it’s finished.

6. Avoid Poisons

Whatever you do to deter or eliminate rodents, never use poison. Killing rodents might seem like an easy solution, but a dead mouse is an invitation for a free-ranging flock to play keep away. Chickens love dead mice! The very last thing you want is to accidentally contaminate your flock, its feed and its yard with poison. Even if your chickens aren’t harmed, their eggs are your food. Always keep that in mind.

Have you ever had a rodent problem? How did you get rid of them?

Read more of Chicken Quarters »

Categories
Animals Large Animals

How To Cut Down On Pig Odors

pig odors
Rachael Brugger

This will come as no surprise: Pigs can be smelly! We humans find the excrement of most monogastrics, including pigs, dogs, cats and primates, offensive to our senses. Hundreds of compounds combine to create the symphony of smells we recognize as hog manure. Bacteria in pigs’ intestines and their environment break down the manure, releasing hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and methane—all of which are pretty stinky. There are two major ways to combat this: feed changes and housing-management strategies.

Feed Management

A supplement called PROMAX, which contains lactobacillus (a probiotic), enzymes and yeast cultures, has been shown to reduce air ammonia levels between 5 and 40 percent. On a more practical basis, feeding only the exact amount of crude protein a pig requires at various stages of growth, pregnancy, lactation and maintenance helps reduce excess nitrogen excretion and ammonia production. Feeding trial results revealed that if crude protein is reduced by 3 percent and replaced with synthetic essential amino acids—primarily lysine—both nitrogen excretion and ammonia levels dropped significantly. The takeaway here is to use phase feeding—a specific ration appropriate for the nutritional needs of growing pigs at various stages of development—which also reduces feed costs and nutrient waste while increasing feed efficiency.

Other research-based, feed recommendations include adding fiber to the diet; pelleting or grinding feed to increase digestibility; wet-feeding to reduce feed and water spills; providing water low in nitrates and sulfates; feeding only the minimum required levels of sulfur-containing amino acids, such as cysteine and methionine; controlling dust by adding fat or oil to the ration (dust particles carry swine odors); and adding the enzyme phytase to rations so pigs can digest phosphorus sources more effectively and release less hydrogen-sulfide gas as a by-product.

Housing Management

The most important factor in keeping both pigs and farmers happy is the same as it is with other real estate: location, location, location. Site the pig-raising area properly to minimize human contact with offensive odors. Determine the direction of prevailing winds, and locate the animal area downwind, provided this doesn’t negatively affect your neighbors. Slope animal areas by about 5 percent to promote drainage and drying; southern or southeastern exposures are best. Divert and/or collect runoff and rainwater to keep animal areas drier and help control smell. Screening or concealing hog pens from neighbors will likely result in fewer outside complaints, too.

Large outdoor dry lots can hold a lot of odor, so minimize their size as much as you can. Moving pigs through forage paddocks helps contain odors and distribute manure fertilizer, as long as pigs rotate paddocks frequently and you’re able to manage them on pasture.

You can use pigs’ innate intelligence and desire to stay clean by encouraging their natural tendency to defecate away from their sleeping area. Provide a comfortable and well-bedded area for sleeping, another area for feed and water, and enough room so they can establish a “back corner” for defecation. This will also make your task of removing manure much easier. You can compost it, bury it, or otherwise dispose of it in a manner and location that prevents offensive odors from bothering anyone. You can experiment with putting down activated charcoal in the defecation area of the pen and covering it with some sawdust or dirt—it might absorb odors until you can clean the area. If you can’t promptly remove the manure, covering it with straw will help confine the odors.

Get more pig care tips from HobbyFarms.com:

Categories
Crops & Gardening Large Animals

5 Ways to Keep Cats Out of Your Garden

cat, garden
Arthur Matsuo/Flickr

Don’t get me wrong: I like cats—especially farm cats. They’re extremely adept at catching mice, voles, moles and other pesky critters. However, outdoor cats can be quite troublesome to the garden. They catch and kill beneficial, pest-eating songbirds and love to use freshly tilled garden soil as a litter box. Cat urine certainly has a bothersome odor, but more importantly, the salts and nitrogen in it can easily burn plant foliage and roots. Not to mention that their fecal matter can contain nasties like roundworms, parasitic nematodes and Toxoplasma gondii (the parasite that causes the disease Toxoplasmosis).

Keeping kitty out of the garden whenever possible is a good idea. However, this is a task that’s often easier said than done. There are, however, a few clever ways to prevent cats from using your garden as a waste disposal site.

1. Motion-Activated Sprinklers

These devices, such as the Scarecrow by Contech (available through Amazon.com, Petco.com and others), can be hooked up to your garden hose. They send a sharp burst of water whenever motion is sensed in the area, scaring away cats, dogs, deer and even sneaky teenagers. The downside is that they don’t work in the winter when water lines are frozen.

2. Motion-Activated Ultrasonic Device

These little gadgets emit a high-frequency sound whenever movement is sensed in the area, sending cats elsewhere. People can’t hear the sound, but cats can. Most brands are battery operated, so it’s important to change the batteries every few months to keep the device operational. CatStop is one common brand that’s available from retailers, including Amazon.com and others.

3. Physical Barrier

Because cats like to dig before they “go,” laying a sheet of chicken wire or bird netting over the soil will keep them from digging up the garden. Be sure to pin it in place with landscape pins to keep the cats from shuffling it out of their way. You can cut holes through the netting and plant right through it, or just lay strips of chicken wire around the perimeter of the garden. Most cats don’t like walking over it either.

4. Natural Deterrents

Some folks say that citrus peels, black pepper powder and crushed cayenne will eliminate cat problems. They believe that spreading these items out in areas frequented by cats, sends them packing. I haven’t had much success with these solutions myself, but I do know a few gardeners who swear by them. Be aware that you’ll need to replace the items regularly to aid in their effectiveness.

5. Spray or Granular Deterrents

There are numerous commercial products available that are marketed as cat repellents; some are labeled for use indoors and others for out. I prefer the granular formulations to the spray ones, as they tend to last longer and are, in my opinion, easier to use. Simply sprinkle the granules either in the cats’ preferred “potty area” or around the perimeter of the entire garden. Some are also labeled for repelling dogs and other animals. Different brands have different ingredients. Some are made from essential oils and plant products, such as hot peppers, while others contain predator urine (such as coyote or fox) and other ingredients. Shake-Away is one popular brand, as are Critter Ridder, Boundary, Scram and Keep Off. Please be sure to follow all label instructions carefully so no animals are harmed. Also, keep poultry and livestock away from the area to prevent accidental ingestion.

Categories
Homesteading

7 Back-Burner Kitchen Projects to Tackle This Winter

7 Back-Burner Kitchen Projects to Tackle This Winter - Photo by Chiot's Run/Flickr (HobbyFarms.com)

Each farm season ushers in different projects and priorities. While summer, with all its outdoor glory, gives us many opportunities to grow and cook fresh, local food, winter brings two special assets: time and a new start. When you mix long, winter nights with the energy of the new year, winter becomes a highly productive time for for churning out food projects and putting lingering culinary ideas into motion.

This winter, we’re tackling our goal of making homemade sourdough breads. Despite our new outdoor, wood-fired oven and a passion for artisan bread, we didn’t find time throughout the year to nail down that sourdough flavor we crave. Our winter downtime gives us the freedom to research about fermented starters and play around with recipe techniques.

We all have farm and kitchen to-dos on the back-burner that we need to cross off before the growing season hits, but it can be hard to focus after the busy holiday season. For some inspiration, we turned to our Wisconsin farmer friends to find out what projects are on their winter farmstead lists.

“This winter I am finally fermenting my own sauerkrauts and ‘kraut-chis,’ a hybrid of sauerkraut and kim chi. I’ve always been an ardent kombucha maker and kefir propagator, but I’m almost embarrassed to admit I’ve somehow not yet entered the veggie fermentation realm. I’ve got two kraut-chis going right now and some great ideas for tweaks on the next few.” –Kriss Marion, Circle M Market Farm

“This winter I’m working on my goal of no plastic storage containers. I replaced my bags and plastic bins of pantry items with nice glass jars. A bonus was this made my pantry into a beautiful visual, too.” –April Prussia, Dorothy’s Grange LLC

“My husband and I are working on brewing our own kombucha. We love the store-bought stuff, but it is pricey. We got a SCOBY, the yeast and bacteria culture to start kombucha, and our first batch is fermenting away in the pantry.” –Erica Solis, Emancipation Acres

“Winter is a good time for research and thinking through those lingering ideas that need a little thought to kick into motion. I’m getting back into studying more about chickens and what breeds we will be introducing to our farm. Last year I had told my husband that I wanted to get them and he put me off because we needed a coop. This year I told him that I’m ordering the chicks whether he is ready or not. A little motivation goes a long way!” –Amy Barnes, B&A Farm

“My focus this winter is working through my house and de-cluttering. I joined two online websites which offer lots of ideas and moral support and, importantly, put me on a calendar schedule to get it all done: 52 Weeks To An Organized Home and De-Clutter your Home In 365 Days: Only 15 Minutes Per Day.” –Joylene Reavis, Sugar Maple Emu Farm

“I like reading different diet and nutrition books and saw a recommendation to eat a daily meal including mushrooms for their nutritional and immunity value. For my growing up years, I only knew mushrooms through those cans of cream soup, so I still have a lot of mushroom naiveté and my winter food adventure is to add to my ‘mushroom life list’ of all kinds of different mushrooms to try: grocery store white, crimini, portabellas and those oh-so-luxurious morels.” –Karen Anderson

“This winter I’m focusing on finishing writing my business plan so I get land rented and my farm and value-added business up and running this year. It’s easy to think on a snowy day, after sitting through researching dry legal issues like trademarks, that I just may have bitten off far than I can chew, but I’ll keep at it. On my home kitchen project front, I’m working on incorporating bone broths into more of my daily food and making new batches to restock my freezer.” –Rebekah Wilce

Savoring the good life,

John and Lisa's Signatures

<< More Farmstead Chef >>