Categories
Homesteading

Grow, Evolve, Change: Nature’s Homesteading Lessons

Like nature, Kristy's homestead is constantly evolving. Photo courtesy iStock/Thinkstock (HobbyFarms.com)
iStock/Thinkstock

To move forward in life, every child must begin to evolve from the moment of conception, growing and changing until we thrust ourselves out into the world.

As parents, we also evolve with every child, shifting from the “boil everything” phase to the “5-second rule” phase. It’s not that we don’t care about the welfare of our later offspring—quite the contrary. We simply learn through our practice children that we cannot protect them from the dangers lurking behind every corner.

When Aaron, No. 2 in the line-up, was about 4 or 5, he found a wounded butterfly in the backyard. He pleaded with me to fix it. Like most mothers do, I put my nurses’ cap on and set up a rehabilitation habitat for the poor butterfly. We lined a 5-gallon bucket with various grasses, stems and blooms and then covered it with a screen. For three days, my son sat and watched the little butterfly, making sure it had water and fresh greenery daily.

Finally, fearing we would soon find the little thing dead in this bucket, I decided to release it back into the world. At least there it could die in peace and not under my sons innocent eyes. Aaron and I took the bucket outside and removed the screen top. The butterfly, sensing freedom I assume, made its way up one of the twigs to the bucket brim. Teetering there momentarily, it made a wobbly attempt to fly. It was almost successful, too! Unfortunately, it was in that moment that our cat came barreling out the opened back door, leapt into the air, catching that poor butterfly midflight, and ate him.

As homesteaders, we are fortunate to see the constant evolution of our gardens and farm animals. We stand in awe at the seed that pushed and shoved its way through the dirt. It stands tall, facing the sun, leaves open to receive heavens waters until suddenly it blossoms, bearing the fruits of its labor as a gift to us. As a bonus, Mother Earth ensures her survival by bringing forth more seeds, and the process begins again.

I think sometimes we, the homesteading community, forget why we started down this path to begin with. We get caught up in the specifics of the right ways verses the wrong ways to plant our gardens that we forget, or overlook, the basics. Seed, dirt, water, sun. Seed, dirt, water, sun. We become so obsessed with every potential danger, we can lose sight of our basic goal: simplicity.

I once asked my grandmother how she seemed to be able to grow anything. Her reply, “I stick it in the dirt. If it grows, it’s a good spot. If it doesn’t, I move it!” Oh, OK!

So what happens when you combine an evolving parent with a novice homesteader? People like me. Fast-forward eight years from the “Death of a Butterfly,” add two more children, and move the location from the city to the country. While the characters are the same, the story is much different. Sure, I still take in injured critters, but we are all beginning to clearly see the individual roles we play in the larger presentation.

Last year, my 8-year-old, No. 3 on the team roster, had a recycling project for school. He needed to make a poster showing a basic recycling practice, as well as its direct and indirect effects. He showed a chicken laying an egg, the family then eating that egg, and finally the egg shell being either put in the compost bin or crumbled up and fed back to the chickens. His direct effect application showed strong chickens from their additional calcium; his indirect path showed plants growing from the compost dirt and then fed to the chickens. I assisted him with cutting and gluing, but the concept was his own. He had originally wanted to have “family eating the chicken” as part of the overall process, but I thought it might have been a bit much for his fellow second graders!

As a parent, I am always concerned with my children’s physical and emotional well-being. But as a homesteader, my views of the world have changed—many of them anyway. I am seeing things as part of a cycle now; part of a process. This process will continue whether I intervene or not. I must remember I am the student. It is my job to learn by observing. I am not reinventing the wheel; I am simply applying the principles nature is trying to teach me. Sometimes I will be successful; sometimes I won’t. Sometimes I just need to stick it in the dirt and see if it grows.

As a city parent, I was mortified that my child had to witness such a vicious attack on his beloved butterfly. As a homesteading parent, I see the butterfly as a source of food for the feline. I see the prey versus predator relationship. (Truth be told, in both mind sets I am secretly laughing my butt off, even eight years later!)

It’s our job as parents to teach our children we are all a part of a cycle; part of a process that is ever changing and growing. We cannot foresee every danger, but we cannot be paralyzed by them either. Of course, we teach them the basics—wash your hands, brush your teeth, don’t track chicken poop through my house—but we can’t boil everything in their lives.

Sometimes we need to remember this in our garden, as well. We can learn about all the various methods of growing and planting, and we should, but we can’t allow it to keep us out of the dirt all together. Rachael Brugger wrote about this very thing last week in her blog post “Trust Yourself.” We can get very overwhelmed with all the details, but don’t let that stop you from being a “farming superstar.” (I love that expression!)

To her sentiment, I add my own: We are forever changing, forever evolving and forever learning, but the basics will forever be the same: Seed. Dirt. Water. Sun.

Kristy Rammel at Kids on the Homestead—Uncensored
About Kristy Rammel
A self-admitted former city girl, Kristy Rammel was “promoted” from AVP of Operations in a Fortune 200 company to VP of Homestead Operations and team leader of her family’s Animal and Child Disaster Response Unit. While many people work desperately to avoid the monotony of daily life, she prays for it. Come back each week to follow her wild, crazy, but never boring homesteading adventures with four boys.

« More Kids on the Homestead—Uncensored »

 

Categories
Recipes

7 Ways to Keep Alliums for Long-term Use

7 Ways to Store Alliums for Long-term Use - Photo courtesy iStock/Thinkstock (HobbyFarms.com)
iStock/Thinkstock

Onions,garlic, shallots and leeks everywhere. Whether you’ve harvested an abundance of these alliums, gleaned a windfall from a friend or you just couldn’t control yourself at the farmers’ market, there’s a way to store or preserve these delightful crops until the perfect opportunity to use them in the kitchen arises—and to make them last until next year’s harvest.

1. Root Cellar
A cool (40 to 50 degrees F), dark and slightly humid root cellar is the way to go for long-term storage of fresh onions, leeks, garlic and shallots. For onions and garlic, braid the stems or group them in mesh bags to hang from the ceiling. Store leeks upright in a bucket, layered with damp sand or soil, or in areas of the country where there’s little risk of a deep freeze, allow them to stay in a heavily mulched garden until ready to use. Keep any alliums away from the potato bin, as they give off a gas that causes the potatoes to sprout and soften, and place a fan nearby for good air circulation.

Keep in mind that some allium varieties store longer than others. Hot onions store four to six months, while sweet onions store two to three months. Shallots and garlic keep six to eight months, and leeks keep for three to four months.

2. Kitchen
Garlic, shallots and hot onions will keep in the kitchen for two to three months in a basket or open bowl in a cool location; sweet onions will keep for one to two months. Make sure they receive good air circulation to prevent rot. Store scallions and leeks in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator in plastic bags for 10 to 14 days. Don’t store any alliums in the same container as potatoes.

3. Freezer
Onions, shallots and garlic can easily be peeled, chopped and stored in a zip-top freezer bag for long-term storage and easy access for cooking. They will keep indefinitely in a freezer kept at 0 degrees F, but are best used within eight to 12 months. Scallions and leeks should not  be frozen, as the texture is compromised considerably. Only use frozen alliums in a cooked dish, such as soups, sauces and casseroles, as texture will be affected.

4. Canning
Relishes, pickles and jam are great ways to put up alliums in the summer and add spark to a panini or a martini. Be sure to use tested recipes and canning instructions provided by a reputable institution, such as National Center for Home Food Preservation. Store your home-canned products in a cool, dry place, and they’ll remain tasty for up to a year.

5. Dehydrating
One of the easiest ways to store onions, shallots, garlic, leeks and even scallions is to dry them. Their size is dramatically reduced, and tightly sealed in airtight jars, they last for more than a year. Vacuum-sealing the jars will allow them to last even longer, up to two or three years.

To dehydrate, simply slice and spread out on the trays of a dehydrator. Follow the directions for your machine and dry until very crisp. Outdoor drying is recommended because of the odor. To reconstitute dried vegetables, pour boiling water over them to soak for 30 minutes or simply add to a pot of soup. They will soak up some of the stock, so you might want to add more liquid to compensate.

6. Water Glass
Scallions do not store well, so if it’s the fresh greens you’re after, keep them fresh in a water glass on your windowsill. Trim the tops, leaving about 4 inches of the root ends. Use the greens in salads or as a garnish for soup, and place the root ends in a glass with water about 1 inch deep. Change the water every few days. Cut the greens as needed, and watch new ones grow. They should produce well for three or four months, just enough to get you through the winter. 

7. Batch Cooking
With an abundance of fresh alliums, you can always make recipes using high rations of alliums to eat immediately or freeze for later. My favorite allium recipes include onion soup, onion rings, onion gratin, caramelized onions, dips, roasted onions drizzled with butter and a generous sprinkling of herbs, scallion pesto, leek soup, caramelized whole shallots, and 40-clove garlic chicken. Find my recipe for onion rings below:

Recipe: The Best Ever Onion Rings
Treat yourself to a snack that will use up an onion or three, as well as that sourdough starter you almost forgot in the back of your refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • 1 quart peanut oil
  • 3 large onions, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick, rings separated
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 2 cups sourdough starter
  • 1/2 cup cold seltzer water

Preparation
Heat oil in wok or large, heavy saucepan to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, toss onion rings, flour and seasoned salt. In medium bowl, whisk sourdough starter and seltzer water until smooth.

Dip floured onion rings into batter and carefully drop them one by one in oil. Only fry one layer at a time, flipping them over with tongs when bottom is golden, about 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle immediately with extra salt if desired.

Enjoy your abundance of onions, garlic, leeks, shallots and scallions, and keep them safe to enjoy for the months ahead. You won’t be sorry you took the effort to preserve the goodness of the harvest. 

About the Author: Patricia Lehnhardt gardens, cooks, and writes in Galena, Ill., when not tending her shop, The Great Galena Peddlery, which specializes in herbs and teas.

Categories
Animals Farm Management

Live Harmoniously with Coyotes

coyote coyotes
Fuse/Thinkstock

Did you like last week’s big, full moon? Imbir the horse says that Native Americans in Minnesota (that’s the state he came from) call the January full moon the Wolf Moon because it falls when the northern snow is very deep and the wolves howl because it’s hard for them to catch enough to eat. We don’t have wolves in the Ozarks, but we do have coyotes that howl at the full moon and on lots of nights when the moon isn’t full, too. It’s their way of touching base with other coyotes and announcing their presence. Mom likes that sound. She says coyotes sing.

Mom used to stay with a physician friend’s soon-to-foal mares when she lived in Minnesota. She and her friend’s Australian Cattle Dogs, Sage and Curry, slept in a polar sleeping bag in the hay barn overlooking a foaling stall. One morning Mom woke up at daybreak and peeked out to see two coyotes playing with Sage and Curry. They bowed and twirled and romped with one another in the snow as the sun rose over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight that still makes Mom smile when she thinks about it.

Coyotes are kind of scary to us goats and sheep because coyotes sometimes kill and eat small livestock, poultry and even small pets. That’s why Mom and Dad make sure we animals and the chickens are kept in the barnyard or chicken house at night. And besides, our friend, Feyza, protects us. Feyza is a livestock guardian dog. People keep livestock guardians, such as dogs, donkeys and llamas to chase coyotes away from their farms. Mom isn’t worried about coyotes with Feyza on guard.

The word coyote comes from the Aztec word coyotl meaning “barking dog.” Many Native American tribes consider they coyote a trickster being. Think the Roadrunner and Wile. E. Coyote, except that coyotes are smart!

Before Europeans settled North America, coyotes lived only in our Great Plains states. As settlers moved ever westward, killing off their native gray wolves, coyotes moved east taking the wolves’ place. They moved north, south and west, too, and now there are coyotes in every state except Hawaii, as well as in Canada and as far south as Central America.

Coyotes look like small German Shepherd dogs with pointier muzzles and shorter, bushier tails. Coyotes weigh between 30 and 50 pounds; males are usually bigger than females and eastern coyotes are bigger than their western cousins. Most are shades of gray, but you might see a blond, red or black coyote from time to time.

Some farmers and ranchers consider coyotes vermin, but coyotes play an important part in the cycle of life. They eat mice, rats, groundhogs and other nuisance rodents, and they also clean up carrion that left uneaten might spread disease. They also eat plants, fruit, insects, birds and garbage. If it’s edible and available, coyotes eat it.

Coyotes are usually active after dark, but it isn’t unusual to spot them during the daytime, too. They tend to sing the most at dusk and dawn. Coyote song consists of high-pitched yips, yaps, howls and barks. Growing pups sing a lot, perfecting their technique.

Coyotes usually mate for life. They breed from January to March, with a gestation period of 60 to 63 days. Both parents prepare a den in a dug-out fox or groundhog hole, a cave, a hole created by a tumbled-over tree, or even in or under an abandoned building before the female delivers a typical litter of six to eight pups. The pups grow quickly. Both parents feed them regurgitated food. Their mom weans them from milk at five to seven weeks of age. They soon learn to hunt on their own.

Sometimes coyotes create problems when they come too close to human habitat. There are things you can do if coyotes become troublesome where you live.

  • Don’t feed them, intentionally or otherwise. Feed your pets and barn cats indoors or pick up leftover food before dusk. Secure garage cans and compost heaps so coyotes can’t raid them. Pick up windfall tree fruit and spoiled fruit or garden vegetables; coyotes love fruit and veggies, too.
  • Keep in mind coyotes are attracted not only by birds and squirrels but by bird bread and birdseed, too. Hang feeders so coyotes can’t reach them.
  • Don’t put cats or small dogs out after dark. Coyotes often consider them fair game.
  • Coyotes very rarely attack humans, even little ones, but don’t take chances. If you know coyotes call your farm or neighborhood home, don’t leave small children outdoors unattended.
  • Never corner a coyote for any reason; stand aside and let it go its way. If a coyote ventures too near, you can usually chase him off by shouting, sounding an air horn or throwing rocks. But if he seems bold or even aggressive, don’t take chances. Call a conservation officer or animal control. Coyotes occasionally carry rabies.

Ask Martok!
Do you have a livestock or wildlife question you want me to answer? Send me your question!
Please keep in mind that I receive a lot of questions, so I won’t always be able to answer each one immediately. In the case of an animal emergency, it’s important to reach out to your veterinarian or extension agent first.

« More Mondays with Martok »

Categories
Homesteading

7 Hobby Farms Halloween Stencils

Download and print off these jack-o’-lantern stencils, and decorate your front porch or barn.

Stencil Instructions

  • Prep your pumpkin by scooping out the seeds. Then choose a stencil design below that you’d like to use. Click on one of the images  to download the full-sized stencil.
  • Print the page, then tape or pin it to your pumpkin. Put the pins on the edge of the image so you don’t have extra holes in your pumpkin.
  • Use a pushpin or the sharp point of a knife to poke holes along the edge of the design so that when you remove the stencil, you will still have an outline visible on the face of the pumpkin. Poke the holes 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch apart. Don’t leave out any fun details! Tip: Carve the small details first, then move on to the larger sections.
  • To create a final result with multiple tones, carve the outer skin from the pumpkin, but leave just enough of the white flesh in tact to allow some light to pass through. This can be tricky, so carve carefully!
Click to downlad a barn stencil!
Click here for a rooster stencil!
Click here for a cow stencil!

Check out our newest designs:

 

Goat Stencil
Pig Stencil
Llama Stencil
Leaf Stencil

Click here for horse stencils.

Categories
Urban Farming Video

7 Questions with Marion Nestle

Marion Nestle/Facebook

You’ll recognize Marion Nestle, PhD, as author of several books about food security, including Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (University of California Press, 2002), Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (University of California Press, 2003), and What to Eat (North Point Press, 2006). She also serves as the Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University and teaches sociology at NYU and nutritional sciences at Cornell University.

Nestle speaks around the world about food insecurity, obesity and food safety. Urban Farm caught up with her at The Precarious Alliance Symposium at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa., where she delivered a presentation called “Choking on Our Failing Food System,” giving the audience a real look at how modern agricultural and food-processing systems impact the environment, our access to nutrition and social equity.

Watch the video above for Nestle’s opinions about a sustainable food system, and hear more from her in the monthly “Food Matters” column in the San Francisco Chronicle and on her blog.

Categories
Urban Farming Video

7 Questions with Robert Kenner

Robert Kenner/IMDB

It might surprise you that Robert Kenner didn’t start out as a sustainable-food-system activist who wanted to make a documentary. Rather, he’s a film director who set out to tell the story of food and found himself uncovering food-system secrets that shocked him.

“I’m not a food person. I’m a filmmaker. All of a sudden, I became more conscious [about what I eat]. Food just didn’t taste the same,” Kenner told a packed theater after a showing of Food, Inc., at The Precarious Alliance Symposium in Doylestown, Pa. As he visited farms and food-production factories during filming, he realized, “This was no longer a film just about food, but a film about our loss of rights.”

Kenner has a busy speaking schedule as more groups want to hear the story of Food, Inc., and he says his message is always the same: Consumers have the power to change the system. While filming Food, Inc., Wal-Mart representatives told him the company was making a commitment to no longer purchase milk produced with recombinant bovine growth hormone, and he realized it was consumer demand that made this change in the largest corporation in the world.

Watch the video above to hear what else Kenner has learned about sustainable food systems and how you can help shape the future of your food.

Categories
Homesteading

DIY Shower Caddy Garden

Arrange a shower-caddy garden as a gift or to brighten up your bathrroom. Photo courtesy Steve Asbell (HobbyFarms.com)
Courtesy Steve Asbell

If you need an alternative to the same old vase of cut flowers, think beyond the table-top décor and create a flower arrangement that will turn bathtime into a tropical spa getaway. Using nothing more than a shower caddy, a loofah, orchid bark, an orchid and some air plants, you can create a vertical garden that will live happily in any well-lit bathroom for many winters to come. Best of all, it’s mess-free and easy to care for—all it needs is bright light and an occasional splash of water while showering.

The reason this vertical garden works is that each of the plants included are epiphytes—that is, plants that naturally grow on the bark of trees. There are many different types of epiphytes available at your local garden center, including mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis), air plants (Tillandsia), orchids, bromeliads, along with many different ferns. Even Christmas cactus and Easter cactus can be grown epiphytically. If these plants are unavailable at your garden center, you can even try using succulents like Echeveria, Sedum or Haworthia. Feel free to switch up your arrangement depending on your tastes.

The orchid I used in my arrangement is a common Dendrobium. When you’re shopping around for an orchid to use in your own shower-caddy garden, sniff around and choose one with a great scent. My personal favorite is Oncidium Sharry Baby, which has an aroma that some compare to chocolate and others liken to lemon meringue.

While other houseplants require potting mix that would slip though the netting and make a mess, orchids and other epiphytes use orchid bark or sphagnum moss. These materials are easy to find at your local garden center near the potting mix or houseplants.

There are lots of different shower caddies you can purchase, from those that hang from the shower curtain rod or showerhead to ones that sit on the edge of the bathtub. I chose one that sticks to the shower wall via suction cups so that I could put the arrangement at eye level where it can be fully appreciated. Other alternatives to shower caddies include slat wood orchid baskets, hanging orchid pots or a hollowed out segment of bamboo.

The loofah is what holds the arrangement together, as the netted plastic material can be cut out to line the caddy and prevent bark from falling through and making a mess in the bathtub. You’ll use such a small amount of the netting that you can continue using the loofah after you’ve cut what you need for the arrangement. The plastic loofah is preferred to natural materials to avoid mildew, but feel free to experiment with other materials that you like.

Materials

  • wire shower caddy
  • orchid bark (or sphagnum moss)
  • plastic loofah
  • orchid
  • air plants, bromeliads, etc. (optional)

Step 1
Using a pair of sharp scissors, cut into the plastic loofah where it bunches together and unravel the netting. You will use this to line your shower caddy and wrap the orchid’s roots.

Step 2
Before removing the orchid from its pot, water it to help the roots loosen their grip. If the orchid is in a plastic pot, squeeze it from different angles while you gently twist and tug at the orchid’s base.

Step 3
Once you remove the orchid from its pot, wrap one layer of the loofah netting around the sides of the orchid’s roots and another layer around the base.

Step 4
Line the caddy with loofah netting so the bark will not fall through the gaps. If you have a hard time keeping it in place, use twist ties or wire for now and remove them when finished.

Step 5
Place the lined orchid into the lined caddy. To keep it from toppling over, use a thin piece of the loofah or a twist tie to loosely tie the orchid’s stem to the caddy. Don’t tie it too tightly, since it could damage the plant.

Step 6
Arrange the other plants in the caddy around the orchid. Hold the plant in place, and start filling the area around the roots with orchid bark. Air plants (Tillandsia) need their roots exposed in open air, and can either be attached to the caddy itself or placed on the surface of the orchid bark.

Step 7
Water the plants in the caddy, moisten the suction cups and attach it to the wall. Follow the care tips below.

What the Plants Need:

  • Bright light: Frosted bathroom windows are perfect for this.
  • Warm temperatures: above 45 degrees F
  • Moisture: Easily provided by splashing the orchid bark while showering.
  • Fertilizer: Occasionally spray the plants with diluted orchid fertilizer.
  • Clean water: Avoid getting soap or chemicals on the plants.

About the Author: Steve Asbell is the author of Plant by Numbers: 50 Houseplant Combinations to Decorate your Space. He is also a blogger and illustrator, and his writing and art can be found at The Rainforest Garden.

 

Categories
Animals Poultry

4 Steps to Preventing Chicken Obesity

chicken obesity chickens
Rachael Brugger

With all the attention and care we give our chickens, and as much as we would like to see them live long, healthy lives, we might be unintentionally contributing to their premature demise. Our chickens have worries Grandma’s chickens never faced: getting fat.

Fully grown, mature hens should not continue to gain weight. Just like humans, however, if your bird consumes more calories than it expends, it will. Given a chicken’s unique biology, it first retains the weight in the form of excess fat in the abdomen and liver. As the hen continues to gain weight, fat will eventually become palpable behind the tip of the keel bone between it and the vent. Unfortunately, by the time this abdominal fat pad is noticeable (visually or palpably), serious liver damage has already occurred.

Obesity can cause decreased fertility, frequent multiple-yolked eggs, egg-binding and prolapsed vent. The two most common obesity-related causes of death in laying hens are heat stroke and fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome, commonly referred to as FLHS. According to Mike Petrik, DVM, MSc, a laying hen veterinarian in Ontario, Canada, “Obesity causes sudden death from FLHS, where the liver fills with fat, becomes fragile, splits and causes the bird to bleed to death.” A minor impact to the chest or the abdominal pressure generated during egg-laying is enough to cause an obese hen’s fragile, fat-filled liver to shatter, causing her to bleed to death internally.

With excess fat in its abdomen, hot weather becomes life threatening to a hen. Without sweat glands, the chicken relies upon respiration to regulate internal temperature, but when abdominal fat limits its ability to breathe properly in high temperatures, the hen can die from heat stroke within a matter of minutes.

Fortunately, with a few common-sense modifications to their lifestyle, obesity can be prevented and controlled.

1. Feed a Balanced Diet

“Feeding a well-balanced ration with plenty of B vitamins and choline help the hens metabolize fat more efficiently,” Petrik says. Provide a commercially prepared feed, as they’ve been carefully formulated by poultry nutritionists who monitor the composition of ingredients to ensure that a hen’s daily nutritional requirements are met. I strongly recommend against dabbling in assembling homemade feeds. Poultry nutrition is complicated, and there is much more to it than simply getting the ingredients right. Imprecise calculations and missing, incorrect, or improperly stored or prepared ingredients can all result in obesity, as well as other behavioral and health issues.

2. Monitor Chicken Weight

Fully grown hens should maintain a consistent weight. Changes in weight in a mature hen signify a problem. Weigh your hens regularly, -waiting until after dark when they’ve gone to roost, as their night vision is poor and they’re less likely to object to handling when half-asleep. Document the results and compare them to previous weigh-ins. If they’re losing weight, there’s likely a problem; consult your local poultry specialist or vet for other signs of distress. If they’re gaining weight, they’re being overfed.

3. Limit Treats

Treats, snacks and table scraps can replace a portion of the daily, essential dietary requirements found in quality layer rations. However, excessive treats, even healthy ones, can lead to obesity and other health complications, including. It’s no secret that we enjoy spoiling our chickens with treats. We get a charge out of seeing them run to greet us at the sight of a treat container or the sound of the back door opening, but moderation and common sense should be the guide in treat selection and quantity in order to keep their weight under control and preserve their health.

4. Encourage Exercise

Free-range chickens are less likely to be obese than confined chickens—exercise burns calories. But not all chicken keepers are able to or choose to free-range their flocks. Hens that do not free-range should be given as large a yard as possible to maximize their ability to exercise. The bare minimum sized yard or run generally agreed upon is 10 square feet per bird, but more space is always better.

If a mature flock is gaining weight, the solution is simple: Reduce the daily dietary intake by 5 percent to 10 percent, and increase opportunities to exercise until the goal weight is reached.

While Grandma’s nameless chickens were destined for the soup pot, they unquestionably benefited from a more natural, healthier lifestyle than most pet chickens today. They ate like kings from nature’s buffet of living food, customizing the menu to their nutritional needs without being enticed by treats from well-intentioned humans. The majority of today’s pet chickens don’t forage the day away on lush pastures, due to either space constraints or their keeper’s desire to protect them from predators. As a result, their pedometers don’t rack up the miles and their diets are controlled artificially, not by them. While our over-feeding is unintentional, the potential costs to our chickens are great. By being aware of the need for balanced rations, moderate treat offerings and as much room to exercise as possible, we can maximize our chickens’ health and provide them with the best opportunity at living a long life.

This article was excerpted from the March/April 2014 issue of Hobby Farm Home.

Categories
Farm Management

Harvest Flip Calendar

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

Generally, shoppers who frequent their local farmers’ market understand the notion of “what you see is what you get.” The vegetables presented on the stand are the ones ready to take home to the kitchen, and your experienced customers will be familiar with the local harvest schedule of fruits and vegetables sold at the market.

Even so, rest assured that this spring a market newbie will flag you down from across your stand to ask urgently, “When will your tomatoes be ready?” or “Have you seen anyone selling peaches yet?”

As the farmer who starts the seeds, watches them germinate and diligently nurtures your plants until they bear perfectly ripe and ready products, you have probably memorized the time, down to the day, when you can expect to harvest every type of vegetable from your garden or plot. The local customers who purchase your vegetables at the market are most interested in when that vegetable is going to wind up in their eco-friendly shopping bags. The good news is that you can turn these uninformed shoppers into knowledgeable and loyal clients by educating them about your farm’s harvest schedule.

By providing a simple and easy-to-construct harvest calendar to display at your stand, you can show your customers what vegetables and fruits are currently in-season and give them a preview of what to expect during the months ahead. You’ll also communicate to customers your intent to keep them in the loop of your business, and give them good reason to anticipate new additions to your farm stand as the growing season progresses. Outreach by education is a powerful marketing strategy that will help you build relationships and keep clients coming back for your products.

The Harvest Flip Calendar is a fun educational tool to take with you to the market or share with new customers. If you run a community-supported-agriculture operation, it’s a great way to showcase the vegetables that will be delivered during specific months of the year. You can make this piece at home by using leftover seed packets and an inside-out cereal box, plus a few extra craft materials. You’ll use the images already printed on the seed packets to represent each vegetable that will be available to your customers for every month of the year. Think of it as a catalogue for your farm, only using materials you might otherwise be throwing away!

To create your harvest flip calendar, you’ll need:

  • old seed packets, one packet for each month of the year that you will be harvesting that vegetable
  • used cereal box, carefully dismantled and unfolded, but not torn
  • hole punch
  • glue or a glue gun
  • scissors or a paper cutter and mat
  • six pieces of heavy card stock (for a six-month calendar)
  • permanent or white paint marker
  • ruler
  • twine

Step 1: Plan your harvest schedule.

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

First, make sure you have a garden plan in place. Determine the types of vegetables you’re planting and the month each will be ready to harvest. An additional but helpful step is to write out a chart identifying all vegetables that you plan to harvest during each month during the growing season. You can also find harvest schedules on many farmers’ market websites, such as the one I found here.

Make sure you have seed packets with imagery on the front and that you have enough to represent each month the vegetable will be in season. Following the schedule written out on your chart, group the seed packets based on the month of the year. For instance, I plan to harvest lettuce, greens and turnips in May, so I will group these three seed packets together.

Step 2: Build calendar stand.

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

Now it’s time to turn your cereal box into a stand for your flip calendar. Dismantle the box so it’s one long piece of cardboard. Lay out the box vertically, decorative side down, and cut off exterior flaps and folds, so you have only the mirroring front and back pieces bound together by the base piece.

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

Punch holes into the places where you’ll insert twine to tie together your flippable calendar pages. To do this, at the very bottom of the cardboard sheet, measure 2 inches horizontally toward the inside of the box on both sides, and a 1/2 inch from the bottom of the box. Mark these places with a pencil, then punch holes in those locations. Repeat at the top of the box.

Fold the box so that the bottom end meets with the top end. The figure should look like a triangle, and the holes you punch should meet at the point. Seal the two ends together with hot glue or another sturdy glue.

Step 3: Create calendar pages.
Measure the dimensions of the face of your cardboard stand—this will be the same as the dimensions of the face of the cereal box. Trim cardstock sheets to the same dimensions of the cardboard stand. Measure 2 inches inside horizontally on either side of the sheets and punch holes. There should be one trimmed and hole-punched cardstock sheet for every month you plan to include in your calendar. With a permanent or white paint marker, write a month on each page between the punched holes.

Step 4: Arrange and decorate your calendar pages.

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

Scrapbookers will flourish completing this step. Cut the images of the vegetables on your grouped seed packets into 2-by-2-inch squares. If you want to label each image, cut out the labels, as well. Paste the images and corresponding labels onto the calendar pages.

Want to go an extra mile with your creativity? Give the cut-out images a border with ribbon or scrapbooking paper. Or, write out the names of vegetables with a paint pen. You can illustrate your calendar pages however you see fit.

Step 5: Assemble the flip calendar.

Harvest Flip Calendar - Photo by Elizabeth Troutman (HobbyFarms.com)
Photo by Elizabeth Troutman/Bluegrass Goodness

Once your pages are complete, put them in chronological order with the punched holes aligned. Then, align the calendar pages with the front of your cardboard stand, and pinch all pages in place. String a small (2-inch) piece of twine through each hole, binding your calendar. Tie the twine and cut the trim.

Your calendar should be ready now for flipping, standing on its own and educating curious shoppers who are interested in your business.

Elizabeth Troutman Adams at The Craft Hub
About Elizabeth Troutman Adams
Elizabeth Troutman Adams is a freelance writer, public-relations specialist and blogger based in Lexington, Ky. When she’s not churning out words, she loves dabbling in the kitchen, riding and jumping horses, improving her home with her own hands, and bringing people together with the sentiment of old-fashioned hospitality. Look for her DIY marketing projects each month on The Craft Hub, and get to know her better at Bluegrass Goodness.

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Homesteading

Trust Yourself

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. —Benjamin Spock (HobbyFarms.com)

Has cabin fever set in for you yet? No doubt, you’re whiling away the winter hours pining over the smell of fresh dirt and the sight of bright buds on the trees, but here we are, stuck in the middle of January, with only visions of the growing season to come dancing through our minds. To keep your hands busy, you’ve likely started to dig into your seed catalogs if you haven’t already begun to start those seeds indoors. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got big plans in store for the upcoming growing season, and while the dreaming part can be fun, the thought of putting your plan into action can also be a little daunting.

Like you, I’ve already mapped out the garden I want to plant in the spring—an herb garden full of the beautiful and medicinal herbs I’ve been studying winter-long. I have high hopes of cultivating these herbs for use in my culinary concoctions, homemade tea blends, and other products to use for home and health care. It makes me giddy, picturing the lush yard that will attract birds and pollinators and the abundant harvest that I’ll be able to pass along to family, friends and neighbors.

Then reality sets in. The “garden” is still a grass-filled lawn, the soil of which needs rehabilitated. No doubt, conversations with my herbicide-spreading neighbors await me, and we’ll have to navigate a compromise to limit drift onto my chemical-free flowers. Obtaining some of these plants that will be oh-so-lovingly placed in the garden will be a challenge, too, as I aim to find native varieties and minimize my costs by swapping with friends. And we haven’t even talked about growing them yet! Despite all the warnings to start your farm slowly and have patience in watching it grow, my plan involves diving head on into herb-garden tending, forming relationships with plants that are complete strangers to me at this point in time.

Am I in over my head? Likely. Am I a little bit terrified of the outcome? You bet. You likely are feeling some of these emotions of fear and anxiety, as well, as you think of all the goals you have set to accomplish over the next year. You’ll be conquering new territory and putting on the hat of a farm innovator—there will be unknowns galore, but don’t let it stop you. Instead, take heed of the advice from Benjamin Spock: Trust yourself.

You’ve been preparing for the moment of farm glory, so go out and get it. Yes, there’s that small chance that your plan won’t work out exactly as you envisioned it, but you’ve got this. You’ve worked hard, you’ve read up, and all that knowledge, whether gleaned from hands-on experience or from books, is locked tight in your brain. You’re a farming super-star. Don’t let negative thoughts diminish your joy in the task before you. Trust yourself and make it happen!

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