Categories
Homesteading

A Nutty Christmas Recipe

Hazelnuts
Photo by Cherie Langlois
Hazelnuts, or filberts, grow well here in our area, so we’re planning to plant some trees on our farm this coming year.

I’ve nearly finished the National Geographic book Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants (2008), and so thought I’d regale you with a few more interesting facts from the last section I read. Serendipitously (don’t you just love that word?), the category of plant foods covered in this section included some delicious and healthy edibles bound to put on a short-lived appearance at many Christmas parties and feasts this week. (Indeed, one stars in the favorite holiday recipe I’ve shared below.)

I’m talking about nuts, the nutrient-dense seeds of hard-shelled fruits that have been valued as rich, versatile food sources since ancient times. Check this out:         

  • The Brazil nut tree, indigenous to the South American rain forest, can grow to an impressive 150 feet in height and produces 2 to 4 pound fruits, which each contain 12 to 24 nuts.
  • Another South American native, the peanut ranks as one of the world’s leading food crops (and one of my favorite foods). Botanically classed as a legume, peanuts grow from above-ground plants whose flowers are pulled underground as the peanut develops.
  • The cashew is really weird: The comma-shaped nuts of this tropical tree grow from the bottom of the apple-like fruit, rather than on the inside. 
  • The pecan tree, once an important food source for Native Americans, can reach 100 feet in height and produce 900 pounds of pecans a year.

Here’s a yummy holiday dish that features pecans and sweet potatoes (another of my favorite edibles) that  I’ll be making for my family’s Christmas dinner this year (with thanks to my mom’s friend Jane for the recipe).

Recipe: Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pecans

Ingredients

  • 8 cups mashed cooked sweet potato (about 4 to 5 large potatoes peeled, cut up and boiled until soft)
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 4 T. half and half (or cream)
  • 2/3 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • About 3 cups pecan halves

Preparation
Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl and spread in a rectangular 12- by 8- by 2-inch casserole dish. Melt the butter and blend in the brown sugar. Drizzle the butter/sugar mixture over the sweet potatoes and stud the entire top with rows of pecan halves. Bake until bubbling, about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!  
~ Cherie

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Categories
Equipment

Christmas Tooling

Toolbox
Photo by Jim Ruen
Now is a great time of year to make sure your toolbox is stocked and all your tools work correctly.

With Christmas only a few days away, it’s not too late to “tool up”! No, I don’t mean buying yourself and your loved ones a lot of tools. Hopefully, you’ve already taken care of that task. No, “tooling up” for Christmas means being ready for possible set-up, assembly or installation that gifts may require. Why watch the joy of a gift recipient turn to frustration and finally disinterest as they wait for someone to find the right tools (or time) to put the gift together?

Tooling up includes making sure that any blades needed are sharp and any battery packs are charged up. Both are simple procedures, but they make the entire process go more smoothly and safely.

After you run through the tools you may need—as well as supplies like adhesives, extra screws or bolts—pull them together. If you don’t have a toolbox for the house, take a few minutes to assemble one. Mine includes adjustable wrenches, faucet valve cartridge puller, combination square with level, circuit tester and stud finder, as well as a light hammer, box cutter, tape measure and screw drivers, both manual and battery powered.

My toolbox is only 8 x 8 x 15, yet it holds most tools needed for daily maintenance. The top tray holds a few nails, screws and various bits of hardware needed for hanging pictures, light assembly and maintenance.

Taking a few minutes now will give you and your loved ones an extra gift when the presents are opened over the holidays and later. That’s the great thing about having the right tools and being comfortable using them: It makes it easy to show you care about the needs of others … and not just at the holidays.

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Categories
News

USDA Releases 2011 Bird Calendar

2011 Backyard Biosecurity calendar
You an order a 2011 Backyard Biosecurity calendar from the USDA.

Once again, the USDA will be releasing its Backyard Biosecurity calendar for bird enthusiasts. The 2011 calendar features colorful chickens and turkeys, as well as ducks and geese among a 12-month spread of domestic, wild and exotic birds.

Each month, the Biosecurity For Birds mascot, Healthy Harry, will dole out advice to bird lovers about how to care for their flock and keep flocks free from disease. He notes early detection is important to prevent the spread of disease, and gives poultry owners easy steps to observe and report illness and to protect their flocks. He also advises owners to keep themselves, their clothes and equipment clean, and to restrict access to their property and birds. The calendar has information on spotting the signs of a sick bird and photos of birds with avian influenza, a disease that can strike poultry quickly.

Raising backyard poultry is a growing trend across America as many individuals and families seek a more direct connection to their food. And as the number of backyard chickens increases, so does the need for owners to learn about keeping their flock healthy.

The Biosecurity For Birds campaign started in 2004 following the outbreak of deadly exotic Newcastle disease in 2002 to 2003. It began in a backyard flock and cost state and federal governments more than $160 million to eradicate in California and other western states, making it one of the largest animal-disease outbreaks in the United States in 30 years.

Visit the Biosecurity for Birds website to order a free 2011 calendar and get more information on caring for poultry.

Categories
Urban Farming

Microwaves for Efficient Holiday Meals

Microwave

Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Reheat food in the microwave to save energy and time during holiday meal preparation.

With the frenetic pace of the winter holidays, urban farmers looking for ways to save time in their preparations may also have an opportunity to save energy when reheating frozen, made-ahead holiday meals.

The Electric Power Research Institute recommends keeping these two things in mind when thinking ahead to pre-made holiday meal preparation: Be flexible in choosing your dishes, and when possible, use the microwave or toaster oven instead of the conventional oven.

EPRI assessed the energy required for reheating meals using a microwave, toaster or conventional oven at its Energy Efficiency laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn., and found significant differences. If you reheat meals, a microwave would be the most efficient way to cook them.

For energy-conscious cooks, the energy savings can add up. For example, in the study, EPRI found that reheating a frozen lasagna dinner in the microwave uses 253 kilowatt hours compared to 716 kilowatt hours in a conventional oven. But a lemon pepper fish dinner, according to the study, may be an even more energy-efficient option, taking 102 kilowatt hours to reheat in the microwave and 513 kilowatt hours to reheat in a conventional oven.  

The time saved by using a microwave is an added bonus. For example, cooking a frozen submarine sandwich that required 2 minutes 45 seconds in a microwave required 23 minutes in a toaster oven or conventional oven.

Individual differences in energy savings are small, but the true extent of the power consumed is impressive when calculated nationally. If the 34 million American households estimated to regularly consume single-serving frozen pizzas cooked two of them per week in a microwave instead of an oven, it would save 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of electric energy per year—enough to power New York City’s 3.2 million residential electricity customers for one month. Alternatively, by switching from conventional electric ovens to toaster ovens, approximately 680 million kilowatt hours of electric energy could be saved per year.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Grow Nut Trees for Nutrition & Profit

It’s said that you don’t plant nut trees for yourself; you plant them for generations to come. But you may not have to wait long to enjoy your crop—some grafted trees start bearing fruit within one year of planting. Once nut trees are established, their generally low maintenance makes them an attractive addition to any hobby farm.

Success with nut trees depends on factors that include topography and climate; the type, pH and fertility of your soil; the availability of moisture; and the prevalence of pests and diseases in your region—even the whims of local squirrels, chipmunks and jays, who can decimate your orchard but leave your neighbor’s untouched.

Before purchasing and planting nut trees, ask yourself these questions:

  • How much space do you have?
  • How impatient are you to taste your first crop?
  • How quickly can you harvest more than a handful of nuts?
  • How much work are you prepared to do throughout the year to keep your trees healthy and pests at bay, and how much work at harvest time?
  • What’s your favorite nut?

In addition to answering these questions, Sandra Anagnostakis, PhD, a chestnut scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, suggests, “Find out what kinds of trees will grow in your climate and in your soil. Look around to see what grows well in your area.”

A local soil-testing lab can test your soil’s pH (your county extension agency might be able to, too), and employees at state departments of agriculture and agricultural colleges might be able to offer advice and share their enthusiasm for their favorite trees.

Nut-tree breeders shipping across the U.S., as well as your local nursery, should know what nut-tree varieties perform well in your region. Nonprofit organizations, such as the Arbor Day Foundation and the Northern Nut Growers Association, provide news about the latest cultivars (plant varieties that have been deliberately selected for specific desirable characteristics) and information on the best techniques for planting and successful cultivation.

Preventing Pests in Nut Trees

“If you’re only growing 1/2 to 5 acres of trees close to a woodlot, squirrels will be your biggest nightmare,” says Molnar, and other growers agree.

Nut kernels go from liquid to jelly to a dough-like stage when they’re still green—mid-July for walnuts and mid-August for pecans. That’s when squirrels start cutting them down from the trees.

“But if you have one or two dogs that run free,” says Molnar, “that’ll do the trick.” Cats can also help with a squirrel problem.

Playing recorded bird distress calls or predator cries in your orchard will help scare away blue jays, which also love nuts.

Harvesting Nuts

Once nut trees are established, the biggest input of time and effort is at harvest—gathering, preparing and preserving the nuts. Even if you’re using a machine to shake the tree, “rubber fingers” to pick the nuts off the ground and a mechanized cleaner to remove debris, you’ll still need to inspect the hulled nuts. If you put them in water, damaged, diseased or old nuts will usually float to the top.

The nuts should be dried in their shells to reduce moisture content to less than 10 percent, which discourages potentially dangerous molds and improves flavor and texture. Lay the nuts in a single layer in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place or on a screen so air circulates around them, says Reid. It may take a week to three weeks until the kernels rattle in their shells, lose their rubberiness and snap when bent. To speed the process, use blowers or dryers. Once they’re dry, store in-shell nuts in a cool place.

To extract the kernels, commercially available specialty nut crackers may be worth the investment for speed and control, but even a common bench vise will crack the hardest shells. Most nuts are very high in protein and in heart-healthy oils—pecans and hazelnuts can be almost 75 percent oil. Freezing shelled nuts will stop their oils from oxidating, which is what causes rancidity. They keep well for years if frozen in airtight glass or hard-plastic containers, preventing the nuts from absorbing off flavors from their surroundings.

Chestnuts are the exception. The nuts are almost entirely carbohydrate, and unlike other nuts, dried chestnuts are “rock-hard and useless,” says Anagnostakis. At harvest, Anagnostakis recommends dipping the nuts in hot water to control a weevil that lays its eggs in the nuts as they ripen or as the burrs open. She says weevil control is not difficult: Soak the nuts at 122 degrees F for 30 minutes, then immediately cool to 32 to 34 degrees F to kill weevil eggs before they hatch. Because of their high moisture content—about 25 percent—fresh chestnuts must be kept cold after harvesting to prevent mold and, like other fresh produce, should only be sold from a refrigerated case.

Whatever nut trees you’re most fond of, the most important thing is to “Grow what your land is really suited for, and grow what grows well,” says Reid.

Categories
Animals

Artificial Insemination in Pigs

Pigs
Courtesy Stock.XCHNG
If you don’t have experience with artificially inseminating pigs, contact a county extension agent or member of a pork producers associate for help.

Artificial insemination, or AI, is a very popular method of breeding swine. Most everyone employs this method these days, as it’s easy and cost-effective. A hobby farmer can purchase semen from a boar stud for $25 and up, so the financial investment is minimal if you aren’t too particular about the breed or boar. You can find boar studs across the country, and owners advertise their animals in catalogs, in swine publications and through pork producers associations.

AI is easy for a layman to do; you don’t necessarily need a veterinarian, though it’s always good to see it done first before you try it yourself. Your county extension agent or pork producers association members might be able to connect you to someone with AI experience.

The most critical aspect to successful AI is detecting when the sow is in standing estrus, or in heat, which means she’s ready to be bred. The sow’s average estrus cycle is 21 days but can range from 18 to 23 days. Most pig breeders will have a teaser boar or a bottle of pheromones to help detect when their sows are in standing estrus.

If you don’t have these at your disposal, the signs are easy to detect. When a sow is in standing estrus, she will have a different attitude and exhibit different behaviors. A good test for standing estrus is the response to back pressure. If you press on the middle of the sow’s back and she runs away from you, she’s not ready. If the pressure causes her to stand rock solid with ears perked up, she’s in standing estrus. Gynecological signs include a swollen vulva that’s often red in color and stringy mucus discharge from the vulva. If you can stretch this mucus between your thumb and forefinger a good 1/2 inch, she’s ready. The sow will remain in heat for the next 36 to 72 hours.

Once you detect standing estrus, contact the stud owner and ask for semen to be shipped. Prepare in advance for this, because if you want a specific boar, you may have to request the semen months in advance. If you’re not particular, you’ll have more immediate choices.

The semen will arrive in vials or bags in a temperature-controlled box at 58 to 60 degrees F. There will be 2.5 million to 3.5 million sperm, diluted in semen extender, in each bag. You usually breed a sow twice while she’s in standing estrus, so order two bags.

The semen is inserted into the cervix with a disposable insemination rod. Ask the stud owner if these are included with the semen order. Insert the rod, angling slightly upward, through the vagina until you feel resistance, which means you’ve reached the cervix. If you have a spirette-type rod, turn it counter-clockwise until it fixes into the cervix. Turn it clockwise as you remove it. If you have a foam-tipped rod, push firmly until the tip is locked into the cervix. Pull it down gently to remove it. Insert the second bag 24 hours later.

If the sow doesn’t come back into standing estrus 21 days later, she’s probably pregnant. Your veterinarian can perform an ultrasound 24 days from breeding to make sure. The normal gestation period for a sow is 116 days (three months, three weeks and three days), and she’ll have six to 14 piglets.

—Thomas G. Gillespie, DVM, Diplomate, ABVP, Swine Health Management Specialty of Rensselaer Swine Services in Rensselaer, Ind.; 2010 American Association of Swine Veterinarians Swine Practitioner of the Year

About the Author: Sharon Biggs Waller is an award-winning writer and author of Advanced English Riding (BowTie Press, 2007) and the upcoming The Complete Horse Bible (BowTie Press). She lives on a 10-acre hobby farm in northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark, 75 chickens, two Lamancha goats, two horses, and an assortment of cats and dogs.

Categories
Animals

Hay Substitutes for Livestock

Hay bale
Courtesy Stock.XCHNG
If low on hay for feeding your livestock, try substitutes like corn stalk bales or another source of long-stem fiber.

Sometimes nature gets the better of us and impedes our ability to stock up on hay to feed our livestock during the winter. Whether it be a very wet season or a drought that limits your hay harvest, it’s a good idea to have a backup plan for winter animal feed.

Hay is a substitute for forage rooted in a pasture. Younger animals have higher nutrient demand relative to total intake, so the highest-quality hay available should be fed to them. Mature sheep and goats can sustain weight on hay that is 7 to 9 percent crude protein and 52 to 55 percent total digestible nutrients. Depending your animals’ ages and your normal hay type, you may be able to substitute corn stalk bales.

The corn stalk will likely be deficient in protein and energy. Sheep and goats will not eat much (if any) of the large stalks. Sheep and goats, by nature, prefer green over dead and leaf over stem. Nutrients in the plant are concentrated in green leaves, and the leaves are generally more palatable and digestible than the stems.

If you are low on hay, try looking for another source of long-stem fiber. Hay availability differs according to region of the country. Timothy hay is popular in the east and a grass hay is good for small ruminants. In the south, Bermuda grass hays are popular. If put up correctly (harvested with less than 20 days of growth), the Bermuda hays can be a good source of fiber for small ruminants. Peanut and soybean hays can be very good hays for small ruminants. Vetches or pea hays, if available in your area, are legumes high in crude protein, too. Alfalfa is the gold standard. Small grain hays (wheat, oats) can be good if harvested before the plant begins to make a seedhead. Wheat or oat straw (after the grain is harvested) makes very poor quality hay for small ruminants, and the awns can injure the animal’s mouth.

If there is a way to grind the bales and add some energy (corn), protein (soybean or cottonseed meal), a mineral packet, and molasses to cut the dust, you could make a decent feed. Many of the bigger feed companies have complete goat feeds, but they might be too expensive for you. An alternative could be to feed the corn stalk bales and supplement with about 1 to 1½ pounds of alfalfa per head per day.

—Frank Craddock, PhD, Extension Sheep and Goat Specialist, Texas A & M University, and Rick Machen, PhD, professor and Animal & Natural Resource Management Specialist, Texas A & M University, Texas AgriLife Extension Service

About the Author: Sharon Biggs Waller is an award-winning writer and author of Advanced English Riding (BowTie Press, 2007) and the upcoming The Complete Horse Bible (BowTie Press). She lives on a 10-acre hobby farm in northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark, 75 chickens, two Lamancha goats, two horses, and an assortment of cats and dogs.

Categories
Animals

Keeping Horses Warm

Horse winter
Courtesy Stock.XCHNG
Provide your horse with fiber to help it keep warm during winter.

Any horseperson who has lived in a cold climate knows that on a freezing day, she can warm her hands by pushing them deep inside a horse’s coat. That heat is produced inside the horse’s digestive tract, which is stoked by fermentation. In other words, horses have their own little central heating system.

You can help keep that warmth flowing through your horse by providing the right materials—in this case fiber. When a horse digests long-stem fiber (hay), microbial fermentation occurs and heat is created. This benefits the horse in times of cold weather because fiber is digested slowly and heat is sustained for quite a long time.

It’s difficult to pinpoint a precise amount to feed, but an extra flake of hay on a cold day would be a good idea. Feed a mature horse at least 2.75 to 3 percent of its estimated body weight with dry matter. For example, a 1,000-pound gelding should be fed 27.5 to 30 pounds of dry matter (hay) per day.

But what is really cold to a horse? The thermoneutral zone (TNZ) is the range of environmental temperature at which the animal uses minimal energy to maintain body temperature—it’s the “ideal” temperature for comfort. The TNZ for the horse is lower than for a human. If the outside temperature is in the single digits or lower, the horse will need more fiber to stay warm. If it’s in the 30-degree-F range, then requirements aren’t as great. However, factor in wind and cold rain, too, which will increase energy requirements. Access to shelter also impacts the energy required for a horse to keep warm.

Calories gained from fat and grains won’t produce the same long, sustained heat, and feeding extra grain without slowly acclimating a horse to a ration change can prompt a bout of colic.

It can be challenging to find extra hay in the winter, so a good forage extender is beet pulp. Soak the beet pulp overnight before feeding, because it expands when it soaks up moisture. Put the pulp in a 5-gallon bucket, and pour enough water over it to cover. Wet beet pulp molds quickly, so throw away any leftovers.

To help your horse keep his body temperature up in the winter, make sure his digestion is able to function the best it can. Horses need a readily available source of drinkable water that does not include ice or snow. A horse would not be taking in enough water if you rely on him eating snow.

Although it’s not a huge issue, horses are less likely to drink cold water as tepid water. Most water-tank heaters keep the water a few degrees above freezing, and as long as there isn’t any ice floating in the water, it should be fine. The best way to keep ice away is to use buckets with heating elements built in. These are safer than submersible heating elements, because the heating elements don’t come in contact with the horse. Buckets’ electrical cords can be run through a piece of PVC pipe in the barn or pasture so the horse can’t chew them or play with them. If you have worries about a particular horse getting enough water, you can warm the water to encourage it to drink more.

—Brian Nielsen, PhD, PAS, Diplomate ACAN, professor of equine exercise physiology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.

About the Author: Sharon Biggs Waller is an award-winning writer and author of Advanced English Riding (BowTie Press, 2007) and the upcoming The Complete Horse Bible (BowTie Press). She lives on a 10-acre hobby farm in northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark, 75 chickens, two Lamancha goats, two horses, and an assortment of cats and dogs.

Categories
Animals

Christmas Letter to (My Goat) Mom

Note from Sue, Martok’s human mom: Martok agreed to share his annual Christmas letter to his beautiful Nubian mother, Ozark Jewels Peppercorn, again this year.

Hi Mom,

Baby goat
Photo by Sue Weaver
Bijou and his twin are still busy baby goats.

I sired nine kids this year! The one on this Christmas card is Bijou. Isn’t he cute? Bijou and his twin, Biscuit, are still babies and full of zip and vinegar. They keep their mama, Jadzia, on her toes. Big Mama and I had twins on March 14. Those kids, Simka and Latka, are huge! Bon Bon had her kids—Drex, Kira, and Emony—on April 19. They’re triplets and look like me! And, that pretty Nubian lady, Bella, who comes to visit me each year, had twin boys, too. 

Bella came back again this month and when her parents, Kirsten and Al Kosinski, came to get her, they brought my human mom a cool surprise: Katy (Black Bell Acres Katja Rose), the most colorful Alpine doeling you can imagine! Kirsten says that she’s a piebald sundgau with butterscotch points. (That’s Alpine talk, in case you don’t know.) Katy likes me—after all, I’m such a studly guy—but the other goats are mean to her because she’s little and she looks different. So, Katy lives with Sam the Lamb and his ewe lamb friends, Miss Maple and Cordelia. They think he’s a funny-looking sheep. 

Alpine goat
Photo by Sue Weaver
My human mom received Katy, an Alpine goat, as a gift this year.

Tell Narwain that her son, Kerla, is doing fine. Now that it’s cold, he thinks he should live in the house. Ha! He doesn’t. He and his pal, Edmund, live in a Port-a-Hut, just like me and Uzzi, but in a different pen across the yard. He thought he’d get to breed Jadzia this fall, but I beat him to the punch; that’s why Biscuit and Bijou were born this fall. Mom says he gets to breed Katy next year—we’ll see about that!

It’s been a good year, Mom. I’ve written lots of blogs and eaten lots of yummy acorns. I miss you, but it’s fun being a journalist and a daddy goat. Merry Christmas! I’ll write again next year.

Love,
Martok

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