Categories
Urban Farming

The Amazing Olivia

Rat Terrier

Photo by Audrey Pavia

The Amazing Olivia is quite the hunter

Most urban farmers aren’t too concerned with rodent control. A mouse in the house is more of a problem for us urban types than a mouse in the grain room for rural farmers. But as my friend Lisa’s dog Olivia showed me, urban farms can certainly benefit from the instincts of a good hunter.

Olivia is a Rat Terrier, the first I’d ever met. Rat Terriers look a little like Jack Russell Terriers, so I made a lot of assumptions about Olivia before I got to know her. I figured she would be independent, hard-headed, difficult to train and a not trustworthy around other animals. Boy, was I wrong. 

Turns out, Rat Terriers are not at all like Jack Russells. They have a very diverse genetic background and a very different temperament. They are much more trainable, easygoing with other dogs and less aggressive with other pets. And they have an “off switch.” Although they are incredibly active, Rat Terriers can go from 90 mph to 0 in an eye blink, if you only just ask them.

When Olivia first came to my house, I was afraid she would kill my chickens and my rabbits. And at the very least, harass my cats. After all, Rat Terriers were bred for many years to hunt and kill their prey. But it soon become obvious I had nothing to worry about. The first time Olivia looked at my chickens with interest, Lisa said “Olivia, no. Do not bother the chickens.” And that was the end of that. Olivia never looked at them again.

Then there were the rabbits. Olivia can jump like a gazelle, and I was worried she would leap over the fencing of the exercise pen where I keep my Rex rabbits, Prudence and Smokey, and make short work of them. “Olivia,” Lisa said to her the first time Oliva saw the rabbits. “Leave the rabbits alone.” Olivia never paid attention to them again.

I started to think that maybe Olivia just didn’t have that hunting instinct that Rat Terriers are supposed to have. If she did, how could she turn it off so easily just because her mom told her to? She is a terrier after all.

But the other day, I went outside to feed the horses and noticed something dead lying in the dirt. Upon close examination, I realized it was a gopher. A gopher! I had never seen a gopher before in my life, let alone in my backyard. The creature had two teeth marks in its chest and its fur was wet. It had clearly been in the mouth of a dog. Because Nigel had gone off with Randy for a few days during that time, it couldn’t have been him who made the kill. Clearly, it this was Olivia’s handy work.

Now when I look at Olivia, I not only see a sweet, affectionate and fun-loving little dog, but also a skilled and discriminate hunter. Any dog that can be told which critters to leave alone and which ones to take out is pretty incredible to me. That’s why I no longer call her Olivia. She is now The Amazing Olivia to me.

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Categories
Recipes

Cheese Ravioli

Cheese ravioli

Making ravioli is a little easier if you happen to have a ravioli stamp or a ravioli press, but those aren’t necessary. Ravioli can be made ahead and frozen for later use.

Start this project by making the filling and setting it aside until the ravioli dough is prepared.

Ingredients

Cheese Filling

  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 T. parsley
  • 2 tsp. chopped chives
  • 2 tsp. chopped garlic greens
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 1 egg, beaten

Basic Ravioli Dough

 

  • 3½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 2½ T. cooking oil
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Preparation

Cheese Filling
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Basic Ravioli Dough
Sift together flour and salt. Mix eggs, oil and water in a separate bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add liquids gradually, mixing until all liquid is absorbed. On a floured board, knead dough for 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Break off two pieces of dough slightly larger than the size of a tennis ball and roll out each on a floured board into a 14- by 8-inch rectangle, with a thickness of no more than 1/8 inch.

If using a ravioli press: Lay one piece over the form and place 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each square. Top with second piece of dough and roll over with a rolling pin until creases are visible between each square. Separate ravioli and place on a baking sheet. Cover and set aside. Repeat process with remaining dough and filling, reincorporating dough scraps into each dough ball as you go.

Without a press: With a knife, lightly mark one layer of dough into 21⁄2-inch squares (without cutting through the dough). Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling into the center of each square. Place second layer of dough over the first and cut through dough to form ravioli. Using a fork, press together the edges of each ravioli. Place, covered, on baking sheet and set aside.

When baking sheet is full (with a single layer), refrigerate or freeze. To cook fresh, place ravioli in boiling water and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, until pasta is tender. Cook frozen ravioli in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes.

Makes 25 to 30 2-inch ravioli.

Categories
Recipes

Individual Herbed Cheese Soufflés

Individual Herbed Cheese Soufflés

Ingredients

  • 2 T. butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. dry mustard
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1½  cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 2 to 3 tsp. finely chopped chives

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter six 1-cup soufflé dishes or five 10-ounce custard cups.

Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan; remove from heat. Whisk in flour, salt, pepper and mustard; gradually add milk and stir until smooth. Return to medium heat and continue cooking and stirring until mixture thickens and bubbles, about 1 minute. Add cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat and let cook while beating eggs.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Beat yolks well in small bowl. Pour small amount of cooled cheese mixture into egg yolks, blending thoroughly. Pour egg-yolk mixture into cheese mixture and mix well. Add chives and blend.

Fold cheese mixture into egg whites until no streaks of yellow or white remain. Pour into prepared dishes. Place dishes on a cookie sheet, and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

Soufflés can also be frozen prior to cooking. Cook frozen soufflés at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes, until done.

Serves 6.

Categories
Recipes

Fresh Mint Tea

Mint tea

Ingredients

  • 2 packed cups mint (half peppermint, half spearmint), well washed
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 4 cups boiling water

Preparation
Place leaves in a suitably sized teapot or other container with a cover. Add cloves and honey. Pour boiling water over all, and let steep for about 20 minutes, then strain and serve. Can also be chilled for later use.

If you have mint, you probably have a lot of this pervasive perennial. This is the time of year to pick it for drying, so you can enjoy some of those teas next winter.

Serves 4.

Categories
Recipes

Spring Stir-fry

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. butter
  • 1/2 to 1 T. peanut oil
  • 4 stalks baby garlic, chopped
  • 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and cut into slivers
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch chunks
  • 1 small stalk lovage, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 to 2 cups leftover meat (chicken or beef), cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2 cup baby peas or snow peas
  • 1/2 cup baby spinach
  • 4 scallions, chopped
  • 1/4 cup peanuts (optional)
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice, kept warm

Note: The lovage in this recipe takes the place of celery, which usually isn’t available fresh in the spring. It has a very strong celery flavor, so use it sparingly.

Preparation
Soak mushroom slices in lukewarm water for about 15 minutes, then drain. (Shiitakes tend to be dry, unlike button mushrooms or portobellos, so soaking them prevents them from drying out during cooking. If you’re substituting another mushroom variety for shiitakes, you can skip this step.)

Beat egg in a small bowl. Warm butter in a small frying pan and add egg. Cook until nearly done, then flip and remove pan from burner. Let fried egg cool, then cut into 1/4-inch strips and set aside.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat peanut oil until it starts to sizzle. Stir and toss each ingredient as it is added. Push ingredients to the sides as you go, making room in the middle to add next ingredient.

Add in this order:

  1. Baby garlic and ginger; cook about 30 seconds
  2. Carrots; cook about 2 minutes
  3. Mushrooms; cook 1 minute
  4. Lovage; cook 1 minute
  5. Meat; cook 2 minutes
  6. Peas and spinach; cook 1 minute

Fold all ingredients in the pan together, then add cooked egg and toss to mix. Add scallions and peanuts, if using, and toss together with other ingredients. Sprinkle with soy sauce, mix together, and remove pan from heat. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes, to let flavors blend. Serve over rice.

Makes about 6 servings.

Categories
News

Program Gives Waterlogged Farms Options

Agriculture wetland
Courtesy Natural Resources Conservation Service/ Tim McCabe
The Wetlands Reserve Program gives landowners the opportunity to preserve land not suited for agriculture.

Farmers with land too wet to farm may be able explore other options while helping wildlife, thanks to the USDA’s Wetlands Reserve Program.

A voluntary program, the WRP offers landowners the opportunity to protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their property. Wetlands encourage a healthy environment, improve water quality, provide habitat for fish and wildlife, reduce flooding, recharge groundwater, and protect biological diversity. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provides technical and financial support to help landowners with their wetland restoration efforts. 

More than 2.3 million acres are currently enrolled in the WRP nationwide, with funds being distributed by state. To encourage wetland conservation in 2011, California has set aside more than $40 million in funding. To enroll in the program for 2011 funding, landowners must apply through their state before the Feb. 15, 2011, deadline.

Who Should Enroll
To be considered for WRP eligibility, the land must previously have been a wetland or must be in an area substantially altered by new hydrologic regimes, such as dams or levees, creating persistent wetland features in the area. The land must have been altered by agricultural production and must be restorable. Land is not excluded based on size; however, ranking often favors larger acreages. 

“Landowners who participate in WRP typically enroll land on their property that is difficult to farm due to prolonged wetness, poor drainage, frequent flooding or other conditions typically limiting for agricultural use, but conducive to wetland restoration,” says Jessica Groves, WRP manager. “If landowners of small-scale farms encounter these issues, the WRP offers the landowner an option to retire and restore those difficult-to-farm areas into beneficial wetland habitat.”

The average size of a WRP easement per state ranges from 28 acres in West Virginia to 1,200 acres in Florida, with 165 acres being the national average easement size. However, the smallest easement size generally offered is 10 acres, Groves says.

“It may be difficult to retire sufficient acreage on small-scale farms to successfully restore wetland function on the site, and the long-term set aside of many acres may have a disproportionate impact on a smaller-scale agricultural operation,” she says. “In those cases, landowners may opt to participate in the WRP restoration cost-share agreement option to obtain assistance with a smaller-scale wetland restoration project or may turn to other easement programs.”

Pros and Cons
Landowners may restore wetlands with permanent or 30-year easements or 10-year contracts, says Ron Howard, Wisconsin’s NRCS assistant state easement manager.

Participants receive 100 percent of the easement value and 100 percent of the restoration cost for the permanent easement option; participants receive 75 percent of the easement value and 75 percent restoration cost for the 30-year easement option; participants in the 10-year restoration cost-share agreements will receive up to 75 percent of the cost of restoring the project area.

“In most cases, WRP requires the complete cessation of agricultural activities in order to successfully restore the wetland habitat on the property,” Groves says. “The only exception is the new WRP [Grazing Reserved Rights Pilot Program] that allows limited grazing to occur in designated areas where grazing is the most appropriate wetland vegetation-management tool.”

The program allows livestock grazing on enrolled land as part of a wetlands-conservation and grazing-management plan. For example, California NRCS is offering the pilot program in three geographic areas: coastal pastures and wetlands of the North Coast, California vernal pools, and intermountain wetlands of Northeastern California.

“We are emphasizing the value of California’s working lands with the new grazing pilot program,” says Ed Burton, NRCS state conservationist in California. “Science shows wetland conservation and livestock grazing can be compatible on certain landscapes.”

What to Expect
Easements are expected to be closed, or bought from the landowner, within one year of being enrolled into the program. The WRP aims to have a piece of land’s wetland functions and values restored to pre-agriculture conversion standards within three years of closing the easement. 

“The main objective for the land would no longer be agriculture production,” says Howard. “The long-term implications will be restored wetlands functions and values (of a once-degraded wetland) that support desirable native plant and animal species.”

 

Categories
Urban Farming

Want Apples? Plan Now

Apple

If you are considering apple trees for your urban farm, find out now if your plan is viable.

As you scan that stack of mail-order seed catalogs and websites for ideas for this year’s garden, don’t overlook the potential value an apple tree (or several) could add to your urban farm. Developing a home apple orchard requires planning, so start considering this option for your farm now.

Planting Apple Trees

“For most homeowners, the most limiting factor when looking to become a home orchardist is their yard. The size of the yard will determine how many apple trees you can manage,” says Richard Hentschel, a specialist at the University of Illinois Extension.  “Even dwarf or double-dwarf apple trees require sufficient space to grow and produce fruit, and the home orchardist will need enough room around each tree to properly train, prune, and manage insects and diseases.”

When browsing fruit-tree catalogs, look for recommended planting distances between trees and between rows, as well as light requirements, to find out if your urban farm meets the needs of an apple tree. Full sunlight is critical to the success of any fruiting plant. 

“Where you plant your apple trees is important for both water and air drainage,” Hentschel says. “Be sure that water will not stand and puddle around your apple trees for any longer than just a few hours after a rain event. Standing water in the winter can cause trunk damage near the soil line.”

Air drainage—something not often thought about by urban gardeners—is critical in preventing cold air from settling around your apple trees when they are in bloom. 

“Flower buds are more sensitive to cold temperatures than the foliage buds,” Hentschel says. “In urban settings there is little a homeowner can do other than to plant apple trees in locations that receive the best sunlight possible and amend the soil to drain at planting time.”

Pruning Apple Trees

Apple trees are pruned differently at home than in a commercial orchard. In the home orchard, the trees are usually visible from the kitchen or back deck. These orchards are pruned to have a more normal tree-like appearance—a balance between aesthetics and fruit production.  

The most common method of pruning is called central leader, in which fruiting scaffolds radiate from the trunk in a systematic manner, allowing for easier pruning, spraying and harvesting of the apples. 

“To get the scaffolds in the right places, you must train the apple tree beginning on the day you plant it,” Hentschel explains. “A common mistake is waiting for the tree to become established for two or three years before you start the training. Waiting results in large branches growing where you really do not want them. You wind up with a dwarf apple tree that is larger than you expected or want.” 

Pruning should start in late winter in order to train the scaffolds and continue into the spring and summer.

Apple-tree Pollination

As you read your fruit-tree catalogs to plan your home orchard, note the section about pollination requirements. Apples typically require cross pollination to bear apples. Two trees of the same variety will not cross pollinate each other, so you will need at least two different varieties that bloom at the same time. 

In an urban setting, ornamental flowering crabapples can be the pollinator. If your apple tree in the backyard is blooming at the same time as your ornamental flowering crabapple in the front yard, you will have the cross pollination needed to produce your apple crop.  Pollination occurs when bees and other pollinating insects visit the blooms of the apple tree, carrying pollen from another apple or crabapple tree.

Protecting Apple Trees

“When you decide you want that home orchard, you will be committing time and resources,” Hentschel says. “Your apple trees will need to be trained for three to five years before they bear fruit in any quantity, and during that time you will need to protect them from a variety of sources.”

To protect trees from the weather, mulch the soil to prevent sudden changes in soil temperatures sometime after the soil has become cold. Wildlife, such as rabbits, deer and field mice, can eat the bark of the tree or eat the tree itself. And the young, nonbearing apple tree needs protection against insects and disease. 

Leaf-feeding insects and foliar diseases both lessen the tree’s ability to develop into a mature fruiting tree as early as possible and set up a situation that will be harder to control after the tree is bearing apples. 

“Pruning should start in late winter through early spring to train the scaffolds, and sprays for insects and disease should start prior to bloom and continue throughout the season. Summer pruning and training may need to be done, as well,” he says.

Begin your pest- and disease-control regimen prior to bloom, and continue throughout the growing season.

Categories
Urban Farming

An Excuse to Set Up Shop

Workshop

Photo by Rick Gush

Rainy weather has kept me out of the garden, but I’ve spent that time arranging my new workshop.

Well, I’d love to be writing about all the exciting developments in the garden, but unfortunately, there aren’t any. We’ve had rainy and cold weather for a long time, now, and I’ve only paid a few brief visits to the garden in the last several months. 

I miss spending time in the garden, but I’ve been so busy with the new shop/office during the day that I haven’t thought much about the garden lately. The broccoli plants are growing nicely, but it’s mostly my wife who has been harvesting. It’s too wet to do anything anyway, so I’ll just have to be patient a while longer.

I’ve spent the dreary weather indoors, getting my new workshop ready. It’s in pretty good shape now, and I’ve been using it as I start working on the other rooms. The space is nice and large, and I can work with whole sheets of plywood and long pieces of lumber. The new space has more shelving and bench space than the old quarters, and it’s a nice luxury to have ample space for all the tools to be stored separately, instead of using a lot of mixed boxes like I did in the old place.

More than half of the windows were broken when I rented the place and the landlord sent out a window guy to replace them. To prepare for this, I took out all the glass, saved all the reusable pieces, and then primed and painted the metal window frames. When the window guy came, I told him to just patch old pieces together to fill in the shop windows, so the result is a hodgepodge of dirty old window pieces in that room. He put in all new glass in the other windows, so in the future office room I have a set of sparkling clean big windows that looks out on an attractive green forest view. 

In the shop, I’ve added some faux-stained glass effects with spray paint, and the colored patterns distracts from the funkiness of the old glass pieces. It’s a shop, anyway, and it somehow seems appropriate that the windows should be old and dirty. I saved my landlord a few hundred bucks with this strategy, as I like to be a thoughtful tenant.
 
The future office room still has a leak in the ceiling, so the installation of the wood plank floor was stalled, but yesterday I put up a sub-ceiling of corrugated plastic and connecting pipes and so the floor is now protected from overhead drips. The windows in this room had been collecting a bunch of condensation, but apparently the sub ceiling changed the air flow in the room and for the first time, this morning the windows were all dry and clear. Cool!

Although I haven’t been working in the garden I have been reading garden catalogs at night, getting myself psyched up for the upcoming spring. And, my favorite event of the year, the Chiavari Winter Farm Fair, is coming up next weekend. I’ve made planting space for a few new fruit trees again this year, so I’ll get to go shopping with all the other scruffy contadini that come down out of the hills for the event.

Read more of Rick’s Favorite Crops »

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Where’s the Houseplant Love?

African violets
Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock
For some reason, I don’t enjoy houseplants, like these African violets, as much as I enjoy other garden beauties.

I have never been a houseplant person. Although I love to garden and I love plants, I’ve never managed to fall in love with a houseplant the same way I fall in love with a perennial or a sunflower or a beet. Not sure why, but I’ve always kind of wondered.

My Nana, who is probably the biggest reason I love the natural world, was a huge houseplant fanatic. As a kid I loved going into her house and seeing the ferns, finger cactus, Christmas cactus, snake plant, African violets and other plants she always had lined up in her front window, gracing the little round tables in her bedrooms and hanging from macramé plant holders in the bathroom. It always smelled so “green” in her house, and I loved it. Nana cared for those plants greatly, hauling them to the back porch every spring and carefully misting the ferns several times a week.

Although my Nana is no longer with us, my mother and sister both have several of her plants in their houses. For some reason I can’t bring myself to have any of them. My mom has offered me divisions and cuttings from them several times, but I always say “No thanks.” My sister has my Nana’s enormous Christmas cactus in her bathroom, and it’s just beautiful when it blooms. 

I could easily take a cutting from it to start my own, but I don’t. Am I afraid to kill them? Not really.  I sometimes think I don’t like houseplants because I like to have a break from gardening in the winter, but that can’t be the real reason can it?  What’s the big deal about watering something once a week and fertilizing it whenever I remember to? There is no big deal, of course. I just don’t do it. 

So whenever I visit a friend’s house and see their living room full of green, their windowsill lined with primroses or cacti, or a plant stand in the corner with an umbrella plant in it, I think of my Nana and wonder how I could not fall in love with houseplants. Maybe someday.

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