Categories
Urban Farming

Flowers in the Vegetable Garden

Marigolds

Photo by Rick Gush

I’m starting to incorporate more flowers, like these marigolds, in to my garden for a splash of color and plant diversity.

The flowers in the garden look pretty nice this week. We’ve had cold nights but very sunny days, so not only are all the broccoli growing really well, all the fall blooming flowers have started their show, too. The big splashes of color are particularly welcome at this time of year, when the crop plantings are no so spectacular yet.

Another reason I like the flowers is because they’re good for cutting. We like to have fresh bouquets of flowers on our table, and I think it’s a great luxury to be able to go out whenever I wish and harvest a big handful of colorful blooms. My mother-in-law is also appreciative, and we often take bouquets when we go visit friends.

Impatiens

Photo by Rick Gush

I’m separating a lot of my flowers into different parts of the garden so I don’t have to buy new flowers.

One thing that is sort of odd here is that Chrysanthemums are used just for the cemeteries. Lots of farmers and gardeners grow a patch of Chrysanthemums to take to the cemeteries during the last week of October. Instead of growing our Chrysanthemums in a flat bed, I’ve got them wegded in here and there on the slopes, in such a way that the plants can sort of cascade down the slope. The effect is nice, and I’m forgiven for growing so many Chrysanthemums. (Everybody assumes we’re growing them to decorate our relative’s graves.)

We grew some very nice long-stemmed white and red mums this year, and a big bunch of them has already made a trip to the cemetery, so I suppose we are following local traditions.

In the past years, I worked mostly on building up the fruit- and vegetable-planting areas of the garden, but lately I have had the time to push for more flowers. They add to the mix of plant species and help attract both predator insects and bees to the garden.

Although the photos I posted today are of annuals, I think the perrenials and self-seeding annuals give the most bang for the buck. The Euryops are in full bloom now, and in another month, the Tritoma spectacular will begin. I separated a lot of plants last spring from my one big clump of flowers, and I now have six healthy clumps spread across the garden. Can’t wait to see the flowers this year!

In general, my strategy is to propagate and spread the plant species that I already have growing well in the garden, instead of buying a lot of new species. I used to have one of this and one of that, but now the the Euryops, chrysanthemums, hollyhocks, Tritoma, Gazania, alyssum, marigolds,  violets, poppies and rosemary have all been propagated from seeds or cuttings, and these species are now scattered across the garden. I think the results will be impressive in another year or so.

Read more of Rick’s Favorite Crops »

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Tried-and-true Fall Flowers

Venus mums
Photo by Jessica Walliser
Venus mums are a beautiful and hardy addition to my fall garden.

I can’t believe how many things I still have blooming in the garden—the most beautiful of which are my Venus mums.

These are not the hardy mums you find at the nursery each autumn (which are never actually “hardy” in my garden, so I’m not sure how they managed to earn the name) but rather they are true perennial mums. And they are tough. Mine have bloomed every year all the way up to Thanksgiving through several frosts and even sometimes beyond.  One year, I made a bouquet of them on Christmas Eve.  Now that is one stalwart plant!

Venus mums have beautiful, soft-pink petals with bright-yellow centers, and each blossom measures a good inch and a half across. The plant is loaded with flowers even though I picked some for my son’s preschool teacher. (It’s never too early to brown-nose, is it?) It looks terrific next to the Purple Dome asters that finished blooming last week.

Black-eyed Susan
Photo by Jessica Walliser
This unique black-eyed Susan is one of my favorite new flowers … if only I could remember the cultivar.

Another stand-out late-season bloomer this year is my toad lily. I got a division of this plantfrom a friend several years ago, so I don’t know the variety. They’re lavender with purple splotches and stand nearly 4 feet tall! The flowers are just starting to drop off so I may only have them for another week. 

And, last but not least, one of my favorite new plants is still cranking it out: A friend gave me a curious black-eyed Susan this spring. It has bright-yellow petals that resemble miniature spoons and a rich, brown center. The plant is almost 5 feet tall, and its flowers have lasted for several months. I just love it.  I swore I would remember the cultivar, but of course, I’ve forgotten. That’s what I get for not writing it down immediately. Someday I’ll do a little research to figure it out, but for now I’m just going to enjoy it while I can.  

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Categories
Homesteading

My Favorite (Fall) Things

Calendula
Photo by Cherie Langlois
My calendulas are one of my favorite autumn delights.

Today was one of those perfect autumn days that takes my breath away: cool, crisp air; pale-golden beams of sunlight slanting through the firs; the scent of damp alder leaves wafting up as I raked them into piles to toss on the vegetable garden. With October already turned to November, I have a sneaking suspicion that winter will be here before we know it, so I decided to list the top five things I love best about fall—just because. 

1 . Calendula 
Of all the flowers in my garden, easy-to-grow Calendula seems to put on the longest and brightest autumn show. Just seeing those cheery, golden-and-orange blooms each day lifts my spirits—especially when the weather turns gloomy. Did you know that Calendula, also known as Pot Marigold, has been used medicinally for centuries and that the petals are edible? I’m planning to toss some in an arugula salad tonight. 

Woolly bear
Photo by Cherie Langlois
It’s my mission this fall to save as many woolly bears (on of my favorite fall things) as possible from roadside squashes.

2. Woolly Bears 
I always look forward to seeing these pretty, black-and-orange caterpillars appear each fall as they go in search of places to hibernate. Sadly, the nonpest larvae of the Isabella Tiger moth often come to squishy ends while crossing roads, so my friend Trish and I have made it our autumn mission to rescue as many as possible on our morning walks. 

3. Vine Maples and Bigleaf Maples 
I love changing foliage of all kinds, but these two beautiful Northwest-native trees are my hands-down favorites. In good years, our Vine maples flame scarlet and the Bigleaf maples become gilded in gold. 

4. Pumpkins and Pumpkin Pie
Fields full of big, bright pumpkins and excited kids running about trying to pick the perfect one … or two … or three. The heavenly scent and spiced-sweet taste of pumpkin pie. These are definitely a few of my favorite fall things. What isn’t:  When not a single one of my own homegrown pumpkins turns orange!

5. Fall Crafting Season
Although I love long, fine summer days spent out of doors until the sun sets, I also enjoy this time of year, when darkness descends and nudges us inside at an earlier (but not too early) hour.  With the holidays fast approaching at the same time, it gives me the perfect excuse to break out my knitting, rug hooking or some other crafty indoor pursuit and channel my creative side.      

So, what are your favorite fall things?

~ Cherie

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Categories
Equipment

Bench Hooks

I stopped by the Bad Axe Tool Works website to browse its handcrafted saws. The saws are truly beautiful works of art for the shop-inclined.

Also for sale at the site was a bench hook, something no workbench should be without. I call it a third hand. The Bad Axe bench hook was also a thing of beauty, and if you have an extra $49.95, I encourage you to visit the website and order one. If not, you can build one for yourself if you have a saw, some screws and a couple of board feet of hardwood. It may not be as pretty, but it will do the job.

A bench hook at its simple best is a piece of board with a block of wood attached at either end but on opposing sides. Set the board down flat with one end hanging over the edge of the workbench and the other end facing up. You now have a third hand for any saw work you might have to do. Set the piece to be cut against the upturned end and hold it with one hand while you cut with the other. Once you have used a bench hook, you won’t want to be without it. It works as well for using a hacksaw on a piece of pipe as it does backsaw on a board.

If you buy a Bad Axe bench hook, you get one that is pre cut like a miter box with a 90-degree cut and two 45-degree angles. Of course, you could do that yourself as well. Before attaching the end block intended to face up, slip it in a miter box and carefully make the guide cuts through it. Screw it in place, and your third hand just became a miter box too.

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Categories
News

Weed Dating: The Farm Social Frontier?

Weeds
Courtesy NOFA Vermont
Weeding is the inspiration behind NOFA Vermont’s on-farm social.

As any hobby farmer knows, a farmer’s work is never done. So forget making time to squeeze in a social life. For young, single farmers or those new to the area, meeting new people can be problematic.

Wendy Palthey of Tunbridge Hill Farm in Tunbridge, Vt., and two of her 25-year-old farm workers—one single and one new to town—pondered this dilemma as they worked together to weed some of the farm’s fields.

“We were all trying to figure out who we knew in the area who was of similar interests,” she says. “No one. So we started to joke about how you really got to know someone after weeding a bed with them—all sorts of conversations flow naturally.”

That’s when the idea for weed dating, the on-farm version of speed-dating, was born.

After Palthey flippantly shared the idea with Jean Hamilton from Vermont’s chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the joke soon became a reality. The organization hosted the first of four weed-dating events in the pilot program at none other than Tunbridge Hill Farm.

Weed dating unfolds pretty much how you would imagine. Weeders are paired up along farm rows, the timer is set for five to seven minutes, and the pair dives into conversation. Once the buzzer sounds, the weeders switch partners. Pretty soon, the farm’s rows are weed-free and everyone is familiar with one another.

“Some folks are a lot more comfortable and themselves when they are working as opposed to dancing or sitting around, wondering what to say to someone,” says Palthey. “Just the fact that someone shows up at one of these events shows that they are doers, not just talkers or posers.”

As an added bonus, she points out, choosing attire for the event is easy—you know you are going to get dirty.

Is Weed Dating Really Dating?
While weed dating could potentially be the new dating service for rural folks, NOFA Vermont, an organization that focuses on building community around local agriculture, wanted to make it an event anyone could attend.

“We talked a lot about how romance-oriented we wanted it to be and whether to hold events for different demographics,” Hamilton says. “We decided to have an event that focused on community-building instead.”

Four weed-dating events were held in 2010 at various farms as part of the program’s pilot year. A variety of participants of all ages showed up, from farmers to people with other careers. In addition to meeting like-minded folks, the weed-daters had the opportunity to take farm tours to learn about the area’s agriculture.

“Good weather days were more fun for people, but bad weather days brought out the hearty souls,” says Hamilton.

In general, the atmosphere was fun and casual, she says, though not particularly strategic in regards to matchmaking.

The Future of Weed Dating
NOFA Vermont is still reviewing the first year of its weed-dating program. While the events were successful in many ways, says Hamilton, the concept doesn’t necessarily fall in line with NOFA’s mission. For the future, it’s considering partnering with an organization that specializes in matchmaking.

However, the concept seems to be catching on elsewhere. Students at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, N.C., contacted Palthey about how they can start a weed-dating program on their campus.

“College students are known to do crazy things to attract a partner,” says Palthey. “Maybe that crazy thing would be weeding.”

Categories
Urban Farming

Free Backyard Chickens Webinar

Backyard chicken

Courtesy Stock.XCHNG

Learn about backyard chicken biosecurity in “The Word on Healthy Birds” webinar.

This week, Nov. 1 to 7, 2010, the USDA’s Biosecurity for Birds campaign will celebrate Bird Health Awareness Week to promote awareness about the diseases that threaten poultry health and the ways to prevent the spread of infectious poultry diseases.

Highlighting the week’s events, the USDA will host a free webinar, “The Word on Healthy Birds,” on Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST. The webinar will feature radio personality Andy Schneider (aka the Chicken Whisperer) and Martin Smeltzer, DVM a USDA poultry veterinarian, who will discuss issues facing chicken owners, including:

  • The biggest threats to backyard chicken health and safety
  • Symptoms of chicken illness
  • How to get started raising chicken

Raising backyard poultry is growing more popular as many Americans seek a direct connection to their food.  As the number of backyard chickens increases, so does the need for owners to learn about keeping their flocks healthy.

Schneider has become a leading expert in the fast-growing backyard-poultry movement and is a spokesman for the Biosecurity for Birds campaign. Based in Atlanta, Ga., he’s helped countless people start their own backyard flocks. He’s the founder of the Atlanta Backyard Poultry Meetup group, which boasts nearly 900 members.

Smeltzer is with the USDA Veterinary Service offices in Georgia.  He’s worked in the poultry industry since 1984 in multiple positions, from a poultry breeder to a diagnostician with a state poultry diagnostic system and as a USDA regional poultry epidemiologist.

Space at the webinar is limited, so reserve your spot as soon as possible. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email containing information about the webinar.

In addition to this week’s webinar, the USDA’s Biosecurity for Birds program offers tips to owners on its website about how to keep chickens healthy and free of disease.

Categories
Animals

Hey, Hay!

Sheep and hay feeder
Photo by Sue Weaver
Louie the sheep nibbles hay from the feeder attached to the baby rams’ fence.

Dad gets mad when we goats and sheep pull hay out of conventional feeders, then fling it around, dropping most of it on the ground. Once feed hits the ground, it’s automatically dirty, and we won’t eat it—yuck! Sometimes Mom picks it up and puts it back in the feeder, but we aren’t fooled. Goats and sheep are smart! Then she rakes it up while muttering about “expensive, perfectly clean hay,” and she gives it to the horses, who scarf it down. Horses aren’t gourmets, I guess.

So, Dad invented a cheap, easy-to-make hay feeder that works for all kinds of livestock—even goats—as long as your fences are made of woven wire or cattle panels. Here’s how to make one if you want to.

  1. Find or buy a piece of cattle panel with openings, then decide how big your feeder should be. Dad made one two whole panels long across the front of the Boer goats’ paddock but used bolt cutters to snip the third panel into pieces for smaller groups.
  2. Then he used carabiner clips to fasten the panel to the outside of the fence. (If you put it on the inside, horned animals could get stuck in the open end.) He placed carabiners at the top, middle, and bottom of each side and one (or more if the panel is really long) at the bottom. He started with cheap aluminum carabiners from the dollar store, but they wear out too fast, so as they break, he’s replacing them with heavy-duty carabiners.
  3. Finally, Dad pulled the panel just far enough away from the fence to stuff it full of hay one flake thick. The panel holds the hay firmly in place, so we can’t fling it around and wastes it. The animals in the pen eat through the fence and anybody on the outside can eat through the piece of panel.

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Categories
Urban Farming

The First Omelet

Hens

Photo by Audrey Pavia

My happy chickens that give me healthy eggs for omelets.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the first time I was faced with eating eggs from my own backyard chickens, I felt squeamish. Like most city people, I was used to my eggs coming from a carton bought at a grocery store. Suddenly, the thought of eating an egg that came out of a bird that was running around my backyard was creepy.

The absurdity of this notion wasn’t lost on me. Where did I think supermarket eggs came from? Were they produced by some machine that plopped them down fully formed into Styrofoam cartons? Intellectually, I knew they came from chickens—unhappy ones kept in filthy cages and forced to live out their lives confined and unnaturally—but somehow my brain never really made the association between an actual chicken and the egg I was eating. It was easy to block it out because I never actually had to see the chickens.

So when Randy first scrambled up a bunch of eggs from our hens a couple of years ago, I was almost afraid to eat them. I had visions of my hens squeezing out these eggs in the nest box in the coop, and then thought about what would have happened had I not taken the eggs away. In 21 days, little baby chicks would have come out of those eggs. So how could I possibly sit down and eat this stuff without feeling weird?

It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally gotten over this silliness—completely. I realized this on Sunday morning when I decided to make myself an omelet. I hadn’t made an omelets for years, certainly not since we had our own chickens. 

As I cracked open eight of the tiny bantam eggs I had stored in the refrigerator, I didn’t think about how they would have turned into baby birds if I hadn’t taken them away from the hens. I didn’t feel strange seeing the bright yellow yokes, so different in color from the eggs I’d buy in the grocery store. And I didn’t feel funny as I stirred the yolks together to make a batter that would go into the warming butter-laden frying pan.

But the real test of my urban-farmer maturity came at the moment of eating the omelets. I’d put soft, creamy cheese inside and sliced up an avocado as garnish. As I took that first bite, instead of feeling creeped out at the idea of my hens having laid these eggs, I thought about all the good stuff that went into creating this amazing item of food: organic poultry feed, organic fruit, flax seed—all healthy things my hens dine on as they happily roam about the yard, scratching for food, taking luxurious dust baths and comingling with the roosters who dutifully care for them.

Needless to say, by the time I had finished my meal, I realized I had just eaten the best omelets I’d ever had.

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Categories
News

Western Milling Recalls Some Turkey Feed

Turkey
Courtesy Stock.XCHNG
Western Milling is recalling certain store brand turkey feeds after learning that the feed may contain monensin.

Western Milling LLC of Goshen, Calif., issued a voluntary recall on certain types of store-brand noncommercial turkey feed.

The recall was prompted after the company learned that the feed, sold under the Universal and Kruse Perfection Brands, may contain monensin. Monensin is used to help in digestion, which improves feed efficiency and growth, according to the company.

Western Milling does supply feed that contains monensin and is labeled as such. However, the feed subject to this particular recall was not labeled as medicated and was not formulated to contain monensin.

Western Milling is still investigating how the medication ended up in the recalled feed, according to a company spokesman. Tests did not find the recalled products to be at a higher dose than the labeled medicated products, but this, too, is under investigation, he says.

The products were sold in 50-pound paper bags and distributed in May and June 2010 to 57 retail animal-feed stores located in California as well as eight feed stores in Arizona and one each in Nevada and Hawaii. All retail stores have been notified of the recall.

The specific lots involved in the recall were sold under the following tags:

  • Universal Turkey/Gamebird Grower Crumble, Lot 175 (PC K52105)
  • K Gamebird Turkey Grow Crumbles, Lots 126, 127 and 175 (PC K52105)
  • U Turkey/Gamebird Starter Krumble, Lots 126 and 175 (PC U332095)

Excessive consumption of monensin by turkeys could cause injury or death, according to the company. However, the spokesman said that there’s no concrete evidence that any turkeys have been harmed by the recalled products.

“One customer claimed that 20 5-year-old turkeys that were fed the feed subject to the recall died,” the spokesman says. “We have no necropsy results and no evidence that the feed was the source of the problem. We have received no other complaints despite the fact that this feed was produced some six months ago, which would mean, practically, that much of it has been consumed.”

Western Milling is advising the public that the recalled products not be fed to poultry or other animals. Consumers who have purchased and still have any of these products with these lot codes are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

“The company is committed to producing safe and nutritious feed products as a responsible member of the agricultural community,” the spokesman said. “The company is constantly reviewing our internal controls to ensure the highest quality and safety of all its products.”

Feed stores and consumers with questions may contact the company at 559-302-1000 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT, Monday through Friday.