Teach Kids with Chickens

Courtesy Jupiterimages/Pixland/
Thinkstock
Chickens can be used to teach children of all ages on a variety of subjects.

Chickens are personable, make good pets and provide fresh eggs. Their fine qualities and warm relationship with humans make them excellent educational vehicles that children can easily relate to and learn from. There’s nothing like a live bird to capture kids’ attention in the classroom.

Beyond philosophic debates such as whether the chicken or the egg came first, students can learn math, science, history, English and more through the influence of chickens. They can also learn about where their food comes from as well as life lessons in caring for other living creatures.

Chickens have been recognized as models of courage, steadfastness, resourcefulness and love. They are excellent teachers themselves and are willing partners with human teachers to inspire students to achievement and maturity.

Click below to find out ways you can incorporate the chicken in to student lessons for a variety of subjects and age groups:

About the Author: Christine Heinrichs has written two books on raising traditional-breed poultry in flocks, How to Raise Chickens (Voyageur Press, 2007) and How to Raise Poultry (Voyageur Press, 2009). She maintains the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities’ collection of antique poultry books and magazines. She lives on California’s Central Coast with a White Dorking hen and a Buttercup.

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2011 issue of Hobby Farm Home.

Tags chicken, chickens, education, egg, eggs

Urban Farming

Middle Man

Photo by Marc Alvarez

Make Marc Alvarez’ Grilled Skirt Steak and Summer Beet Salad recipe with organic, locally grown food and enjoy a perfect appetizer or summer dinner.

Marc Alvarez is a fixer. For his often high-power clients, he locates the best local food, delivers it and supplies recipes and menus as well. If you’ve never cooked celeriac or tatsoi, if you want a supply of local pork or sustainable seafood, grass-fed beef and milk in glass bottles, and if your life is just too busy to arrange all this, Alvarez’ Concierge Foods is for you. He’ll even cook it all for a party.

Sometimes the sourcing scene is confusing for the busy client who wants the best local food, so entrepreneur Alvarez fills a niche. He combs the Hudson Valley, using many of the area farmers I recognize, and also buys from the Lancaster County Farm Fresh Cooperative in Pennsylvania. After he makes the connection to the farmer, he educates his clients as well.

“I come at this from being a private chef with relationships with the farmers. Not only can I provide the product but I can also teach clients what to do with it,” explains Alvarez.

Roughly a year in preparation and just a few weeks up to full speed, Concierge Foods runs like a customized CSA, for which Alvarez has personally curated the choices.

His customers order by e-mail by Tuesday and he then delivers their order in time for the weekend in a refrigerated van. A recent product list included 100 percent grass-fed certified Angus beef and 100 percent grass-fed milk, as well as gorgeous Bronze Arrow lettuce (among several other lettuce varieties and salad mixes), fresh lemon balm and marjoram, Red Merlot beans, candy-striped Chioggia beets and delicate baby leeks, bok choy and puntarelle. These kinds of choices and Alvarez’ personal service are key ingredients in the Concierge Foods concept.

Here’s one of Alvarez’ easy, early summer recipes. Grill an extra steak so you have meat ready and available for a lunch as well.

Recipe: Grilled Skirt Steak and Summer Beet Salad

Ingredients

8-ounce grass-fed skirt steak
1 bunch mixed beets (Chioggia, Golden, Bulls Blood)
4 ounces mixed salad greens (especially arugula)
2 whole radish, sliced into thin rounds
8 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons fresh oregano, basil or mint, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Season the skirt steak with salt, pepper, one clove of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover with plastic and reserve in the fridge for 2 hours.

Wash and trim the beets and place in a small pot with cold water to cover. Add a good pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until a small knife easily pierces the center (about 45 minutes). Let the beets cool; peel and slice into bite size pieces. Marinate the beets in 2 tablespoons of oil, the remaining garlic and more salt and pepper.

Prepare a hot grill and grill the skirt steak over medium-high heat for 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Toss the salad in a bowl with the remaining oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and divide onto two plates. Arrange the beets and radish slices around the plate. Add the sliced skirt steak and serve.

Serves two as an appetizer or one person as a nice meal.

Sorting Hardware Bits

Using a pick-up stick can make the sorting process easier

Photo by Jim Ruen
I use a pick-up stick to sort the tiniest of hardware bits.

I hate to throw out good nails, nuts, screws and other bits of hardware. Living in the country, if I need a 1/2-inch-long, 1/4-inch-diameter screw, I’m not going to drive 20 miles or more to the nearest hardware store. At least that’s the excuse I give for the box of assorted bits that have collected in recent years.

The problem with the box is that it keeps getting more and more full. Every time I paw through it, finding what I need is harder. I know I need to sort it all out as I have in the past, but I don’t have time to do the things I want to do, much less spend hours sorting tiny screws.

Actually, I know I’m going to get to it soon, simply because my already sorted supply is running out. As in the past, the first round of sorting will be dividing up nails, screws, nuts, washers and assorted hardware. Then I’ll sort each category by type and size. At some point with the screws, I will get out my “pick-up stick” when I’m sorting screws or brads that are so small they are hard to grab with my fingers.

The pick-up stick is simply a piece of dowel with a 1/4-inch-diameter magnet on one end. I am sure I saw it as a shop tip somewhere. It’s too good an idea to be original. With it, I can pull half a dozen small items out of the tangle and get at them easily. I keep one in each of my “sorted” items storage trays. They are the best kind of shop tool, simple to make, easy to use and low-cost.

<< More Shop Talk >>

Tags bolts, Jim Ruen, nuts

News

Herbicide a Compost-contamination Threat

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date June 28, 2011
No Comments on Herbicide a Compost-contamination Threat

Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Avoid tossing grass clippings into your compost that have been treated with the herbicide Imprelis.

The U.S. Composting Council, a trade organization dedicated to the development and education of the composting industry, is warning composters to watch out for grass clippings contaminated with a new herbicide from DuPont. Imprelis has been registered in every state except California and New York for use by licensed applicators on lawns and other turf areas for control of broadleaf weeds, like dandelion, clover and plantain. The label clearly states that clippings from treated grass should not be used as mulch or put in a compost pile.

“One problem is that the warning is on page seven of a nine-page label,” says Stuart Buckner, UCSS executive director. “Unfortunately, not everyone reads or follows the label. We are requesting the U.S. EPA initiate a special review of the registration due to the likelihood of residual herbicide levels in compost damaging non-target plants.”

The USCC is informing the composting industry and consumers that grass from treated lawns could end up in a compost pile, and unlike most herbicides, Imprelis will survive the composting process and still be active in the finished compost. Preliminary research has shown that Imprelis does not break down significantly faster than the leaves and grass in the compost, so the concentration stays about the same. An unsuspecting gardener using contaminated compost could end up damaging their flowers and vegetables, most of which are also broad-leafed.

Currently, it is unlikely that municipal or commercial compost will contain significant amounts of Imprelis, though it is possible in suburban areas where a large amount of clippings could come from commercially treated lawns. It could especially be an issue for places like schools, recreational fields or golf courses that use their grass clippings to make compost and then use the compost in landscape beds or gardens instead of on turf.

“We are alerting our members to this issue, that they need to make sure their haulers are informed to not bring them grass clippings that have been treated with Imprelis,” Buckner says. “We also suggest they work with their state’s bureau of pesticide-applicator licenses to ensure applicators know about this restriction. We have reprinted DuPont’s special applicator notice on the back of our Composter Alert.”

Tags compost, composter, composting, herbicide

Urban Farming

The Scent of Healthier Bees

Post author By Deb Brandt-Buehler
Post date June 28, 2011
No Comments on The Scent of Healthier Bees

Varroa Mite on honey bee

Photo Courtesy of Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service/Forestry Images

Here, a varroa mite is on the back of a honey bee.

In the 1940s, researchers working to solve the health challenges of American foulbrood in honeybees found that these amazing creatures can smell diseases in their own developing brood. Hives practicing good hygiene can detect and clean out unhealthy brood-keeping disease from spreading further.

Building on this knowledge, Jeff Harris, a research entomologist at the USDA, ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Lab in Baton Rouge, La., has been charged with breeding bees to be resistant to varroa mites.

“It turns out that when you produce bees that are good at keeping out American foulbrood or Chalkbrood, they are also fairly good at removing varroa mites from their hives,” Harris explains.

Breeding bees is a slow process. Since only one generation of bees can be developed in a year’s time, it can take a few years to achieve resistance and then determine how the bees are resistant. Harris has been able to identify honeybees that are capable of the hygiene to eliminate Varroa in developing cells. Called Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, or VSH bees, the animals exhibit nest-cleaning behaviors that are good for their colony.

Varroa Mite Development

Varroa mites are tiny, fast-moving parasites capable of attaching themselves to both the adult and developing honeybee. The adult-female varroa lays her eggs in brood cells leaving offspring to feed on the developing bee pupa. The result is baby bees that are underweight and weakened enough to be more susceptible to the spread of viruses.

The bees that Harris has been producing smell the mites inside the brood cells and kill off the offspring to keep the mites from exploding inside the colony.

Further Investigation

While Harris has been at work breeding for VSH, Dr. Greg Hunt, a bee specialist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., has been genetically selecting bees for increased grooming behavior.

“We are selecting for increased grooming behavior by looking at the proportion of chewed mites that fall from bees,” Hunt said. “We have developed a lab assay that correlates with the chewed mite results.” Hunt has unpublished data reflecting his ability to map chromosomal regions that influence bee grooming behavior.

“Greg’s expertise is looking for the markers in bees I produced,” Harris explains. A process that took 4 to 6 months of field testing has been reduced to hours in terms of identifying the most desirable VSH queens.

Fielding Better Bees

Dave Shenefield, owner of Clover Blossom Honey has a Specialty Crop Grant from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to make more mite-tolerant, hardy queens available in Indiana.

Through the grant he is teaching beekeepers how to raise their own queens and select for resistance. Shenefield received two artificial-insemination devices so that he can work with survivor stock from different bee breeders. The use of stock from different breeders enables his project to maintain a high level of diversity while reducing the risk of inbreeding.

“I’ve been working with Dr. Hunt on the development of mite-resistant stock for about 20 years,” Shenefield says. “I felt it was a must for Indiana to develop its own queen project, where we get genetically diverse stocks and propagate them throughout the state to hopefully help sustain beekeeping in Indiana.”

According to Shenefield, the plight of honeybees has brought a lot of new people to the hobby. People are interested and want to help and get involved by learning to keep bees and establishing their own hives.

Through his grant, Shenefield is bringing diversity to the Indiana bees and while teaching new beekeepers how to develop their own mite-resistant hives. He’s also teaching about integrated pest management — nonchemical approaches to treating for mites.

“My personal opinion is that hobbyists don’t have to use chemicals to control mites,” Harris added. “Glenn Apiaries, in [Fallbrook] California, has experts and is the largest seller of breeder queens. Purebred VSH breeders are being crossed with non-VSH drones to create outcrop VSH bees. The outcrop VSH bees prevent the potential for inbreeding among the VSH lines.”

Purchasing VSH outcrop bees enables hobby beekeepers to maintain chemical-free hives. Without the chemicals, hobby beekeepers can avoid all concerns about contamination of comb, wax and honey.

But, Shenefield says, “A queen that’s mated in your own bee yard is probably the best queen to have.”

Tags honeybee

Urban Farming

Watching Lucas

Photo by Audrey Pavia

Lucas came to visit and made me laugh more than once.

When my friend, Lisa, asked if she could leave her mom’s Rat Terrier, Lucas, in my spare bedroom today, I figured why not. I’d never met Lucas, but Lisa said he was a good boy, so I wasn’t worried.

Lisa was off at a horse show (she’s a trainer), and she just needed someone to watch him during the day since her mom was out of town. Lisa got Lucas settled in the spare bedroom and left, telling me she’d see me later tonight.

I went for a long ride very early in the morning with two friends, and when I came home, I sat right down to work. I forgot Lucas was even here, he was so quiet. That is, until I decided to take a break by lying on the couch and napping for a bit. The cats piled up on top of me, and we all dozed off.

I was awoken by the eeriest, most bizarre sound I think I’ve ever heard. It sounded like a cross between a moan and a wail. I opened my eyes, and so did all the cats. We all stared wide-eyed in the general direction of the spare bedroom. This unearthly noise was apparently coming from Lucas. I sent Lisa a text.

“Lucas is howling,” I wrote. “What do I do (besides laugh)?”

She called me right away and told me it was OK to let him walk around the house. So, I opened the spare room door and out he came.

Stubby tail tucked between his legs, Lucas slunk out of the room shaking, looking around as if he had died and gone to hell. He had the distinct “What am I doing here?” look written all over him.

I bent down and petted him, reassuring him he was fine. He seemed to relax a little bit and followed me closely into my office. He curled up at my feet, looking out nervously from between my calves.

Eventually, Lucas developed the courage to wander away from me. He soon left the room and disappeared. As I became engrossed in my work, I forgot about him. Then, suddenly, a shrill, bloodcurdling scream pierced the quiet of the house.

“Oh no!” I thought. “Something horrible has happened to Lucas!”

I jumped out of my chair and ran to the dining room. I saw Lucas on the windowsill cowering but completely intact. Then I noticed my orange tabby, Cheddar, on the floor several feet away, his tail puffed up like a raccoon’s.

It was then I remembered Lisa telling me that Lucas had been beaten up by a cat once — an orange tabby. From what I could gather, Cheddar — who loves dogs — got a little too close to Lucas, and he panicked.

Lucas is going home tomorrow, and it’s too bad. He made my day on this urban farm even more hilarious.

Tags Audrey Pavia, city stock, dog watching, lucas, rat terrier

Animals

7 Heritage Cattle Breeds to Raise with Your Children

Post author By Sue Weaver
Post date June 24, 2011
No Comments on 7 Heritage Cattle Breeds to Raise with Your Children

Photo courtesy Jeanette Berenger/ALBC

Among the many rewards farm life brings is the opportunity to raise livestock—as a family! Maybe your children are interested in raising animals for 4-H shows, or maybe they have an affinity for a certain livestock species. That’s great, and it’s important to foster that interest from the very beginning.

Heritage cattle breeds are one area of husbandry that you and your kids can delve into together. Not only is raising heritage breeds a great way to learn about agriculture history, these versatile animals are often rare and in need of conservation. Plus, they still produce the tasty beef and milk they did in Great-grandpa’s day. With you and your children’s help, these breeds can continue to benefit a new generation of farmers.

Dozens of heritage cattle breeds can be found today, but these are seven you and your children might like to try. Take careful note that raising a heritage cattle breed will mean extra responsibility for you and your children due to the breeds’ fragile populations. Learn more from the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, which works to conserve rare breeds and genetic diversity, before making your decision.

1. Florida Cracker Cattle and 2. Pineywoods Cattle
Listed as Critical on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy’s Conservation Priority List

If you live in a climate where most cattle breeds wilt in summer’s heat and humidity, turn to the Florida Cracker and Pineywoods cattle breeds. Descended from cattle brought to the southeastern U.S. by Spanish explorers and colonists in the 1500s, they were developed in the hot and steamy longleaf-pines regions of uppermost Florida (Florida Crackers) and Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia (Pineywoods). Both breeds are small, hardy cattle that thrive on rough pasture and brush. They are long-lived, prolific, and remarkably easy keepers. Some breed lines lean toward beef type, others toward dairy type. Dairy-type Florida Cracker and Pineywood cows give roughly 2 gallons of milk per day.

Read more about Florida Cracker cattle and Pineywoods cattle.

3. Randall Lineback Cattle
Listed as Critical on the ALBC’s Conservation Priority List

For a cattle breed adapted to cold New England winters, the Randall Lineback is a good choice. In 1912, Samuel Randall and his family took up residence on a farm near Sunderland, Vt., where for the next three-quarters of a century they maintained a closed herd of multipurpose cattle they developed on their farm: the ancestors of today’s Randall Lineback cattle.

Randall Lineback cattle (also known simply as Randall cattle) are noted for their distinctive lineback color pattern (usually black or blue-black over white), even dispositions, calving ease, mothering ability, grazing efficiency and longevity. Cows give about 2 gallons of 3.8-percent-butterfat milk per day.

Read more about Randall Lineback Cattle.

4. Milking Shorthorn Cattle
Listed as Critical category on the ALBC’s Conservation Priority List

Charles and Robert Colling developed Shorthorn cattle in the Tees River Valley of northeastern England in the late 1700s. Shorthorn cattle, then known as Durhams, came to Maryland and Virginia in 1783. Early Shorthorn registries recorded both dairy and beef-type cattle in their herd books, but in 1948, dairy breeders formed their own breed association. Today, Milking Shorthorns and (beef) Shorthorns are two separate heritage cattle breeds.

Milking Shorthorn cattle are wonderful household dairy cows. They’re efficient grazers, long-lived and hardy, and they calve with ease. The typical Milking Shorthorn cow produces 15,000 pounds of 3.3-percent-butterfat milk in a 305-day lactation. That’s a lot of tasty milk!

5. Milking Devon Cattle
Listed as Critical on the ALBC’s Conservation Priority List

Another worthy household dairy cow, the Milking Devon was already an old breed in 1623 when Edward Winslow brought three red heifers and a bull from Devonshire, England, to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. The breed was established in New England during the 1600s, where it was cherished for its beauty, hardiness and ability to thrive in rugged conditions, as well as for the strength and speed of its oxen. Milking Devon cows produce 4,200 to 8,500 pounds of 3.5- to 4.5-percent-butterfat milk in a 305-day lactation.

6. Dexter Cattle
Listed as Recovering on the ALBC’s Conservation Priority List

Dexter cattle are small, dual-purpose cattle that also excel as both oxen and pets. Bulls weigh 800 to 1,000 pounds and measure just 38 to 44 inches at the withers; cows average 750 pounds and measure 36 to 42 inches tall. They originated in Ireland and came to America at the beginning of the 20th century, when wealthy Americans like James J. Hill and August A. Busch stocked their country estates with the eye-catching Dexter cattle.

Dexter cattle make ideal small-farm dairy cows, easily producing 2 to 3 gallons of 4-percent-butterfat milk per day during a 305-day lactation. Dexter bulls are also widely used in developing new miniature cattle breeds.

Midwest Gears Up for Renewable Energy Tour

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date June 24, 2011
No Comments on Midwest Gears Up for Renewable Energy Tour

Courtesy Hemera/Thinkstock
At “The Renewable Energy Tour” hobby farmers can learn how to benefit their farm with renewable energy, like wind power.

National Farmers Union has partnered with The Climate Network to conduct a series of meetings this summer across the Midwest on the theme of renewable energy solutions. “The Renewable Energy Tour” will make stops in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin from June 27 to July 1.

“This is an educational opportunity for family farmers and ranchers, a chance to see what others like them are doing to take advantage of this increased demand for renewable energy,” says NFU president Roger Johnson. “Not only do renewable-energy projects provide farmers and ranchers with an additional source of income, but they also help diminish America’s dependence on foreign oil while helping improve the environment.”

NFU seeks to promote renewable energy in a sustainable environment. The tour will provide information to farmers and policymakers on the benefits of renewable energy, its role in rural economic growth, the opportunity for an extra revenue stream for farmers, and attendant environmental benefits. The tour will allow for firsthand dialog with Dirk Ketelsen, a German farmer and renewable-energy expert. Findings will be summarized in a policy report that will be released in Washington, D.C., at the end of July.

“With the tour, we hope to help grow the seed that farmers in the Midwest have planted by turning to renewable energies,” says Till Kötter, project coordinator for The Climate Network. “By sharing lessons learned in Germany, we want to support U.S. farmers on their way to becoming the energy producers of the future.”

The Climate Network is a two-year program administered by the Washington, D.C., office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, which seeks to promote transatlantic solutions for the low carbon economy. The Heinrich Boell Foundation is a green think tank and international policy network affiliated with the German Green Party, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with 30 offices around the globe.

NFU has been working since 1902 to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through by grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.

Tags hobby farmers, Midwest

Urban Farming

Weeds: To Pull or Not to Pull?

Post author By Rick Gush
Post date June 24, 2011
No Comments on Weeds: To Pull or Not to Pull?

Photo by Rick Gush

The view of this “weed garden” from my office might not look pretty to some but, to me, I see a resilient, amazing patch of plants.

Weeds are pretty cool plants. We gardeners spend a lot of our time fighting weeds, but there is a lot to appreciate in these “enemies.” I really don’t think of them as enemies; they’re more like the rightful occupants of the space I’m trying to cultivate.

I will admit though that sometimes there are particular weeds that do evoke feelings of anger in me, and I can feel adrenaline flowing when I’m pulling them out. Stepping back a bit and looking at that reaction amuses me. Why does a weed make me angry just because it’s growing so successfully in a place I had not desired it to grow? Am I wacko?

I have a history of being emotionally confused in my relationships with weeds. I once had a job cleaning up some flowerbeds for a seedy apartment complex. Amid the unkempt apartment complex, the most attractive part was the lush, green weed growth in the planting beds.

As I was pulling out the first few weeds, I noticed what nice specimens they were, and I could look around and predict the dismal fate of the new bedding due to be planted. I knew that, whatever new plants were planted, they would be mistreated, under-watered and not fertilized, because that’s just the way the whole apartment complex was maintained. I began to question my moral right to kill all those wonderfully growing weeds just because some jerk in the office wanted me to. I spent a few more minutes pondering this personal dilemma, and then I walked into the office and quit the job, explaining the reason to a confused and annoyed manager.

I remember riding past those apartments a few weeks later and seeing that my predictions had been correct. The new little plants, in the beds that had been cleaned by someone else, were mostly dead from dehydration or from evident tire damage in the beds. The beds looked lousy, and in a weird way, I was happy not to have been much of a participant in the senseless massacre of the weeds. A few months later, I saw that the weeds were reestablishing themselves and growing back toward their previous splendor.

That’s one of the things I like about weeds; they are certainly more persistent and resourceful than the flowers and vegetables I wedge into their territory.

Shown above are the weeds on the other side of my little creek. I have a big set of windows in the office and I get to see the whole cycle of weed growth in the patch there. There have been a fair amount of flowers this year and a continual pleasant carpet of assorted green weeds. The cane and Jerusalem artichokes are dominating now, and I’ll probably go over and harvest some of the little Jerusalem artichoke tubers this fall. The wild ones are dinky, but still have the great flavor.

Cities Offer Rain-garden Incentives

Post author By Jodi Helmer
Post date June 24, 2011
No Comments on Cities Offer Rain-garden Incentives