Green Your Pet

Reduce your pet’s carbon “pawprint” by keeping it active. Give your dog or cat time each day to play outside—under your supervision, of course.

From the 8 billion pounds of kitty litter heading to landfills each year to the effects of a pet’s carnivorous diet, pet owners should be aware of the substantial carbon footprint left by pets.

“When you consider the carbon ‘pawprint’ of your pet, it also makes you think about some of the ways our own actions are affecting the environment,” says Tracie Hotchner, author and host of NPR’s Gracie-Award-winning show Cat Chat on Sirius Radio. “I encourage pet parents to take this opportunity to make changes in their behaviors and purchases to help take all of us into a new era of environmental responsibility.”

Pet product retailer Petco teamed up with Hotchner and Greenwala.com, a green lifestyle social networking and media company, to compile a list of simple ways to reduce the environmental impact of pets:

1. Use biodegradable and sustainable poop scoopers.

Who wants to populate the landfill will plastic bags full of dog doo? And are you aware that cat litter made from clay is mined much like coal? Use biodegradable poop bags when walking your dog and an eco-friendly cat litter in the kitty box.

2. Think adoption first.

According to American Humane, a survey of 1,000 animal shelters performed by the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy showed that 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. Add a pet to your household by adopting from a local shelter or rescue organization. Petco holds monthly in-store national adoption events where local shelters match people with pets in need.

3. Spay or neuter your pet.

More than 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day, and our country is already overpopulated with homeless and abandoned animals. This has only gotten worse with the poor economy. Help decrease the number of homeless animals in the United States by spaying or neutering your animals. Not only does it help control animal over-population and homelessness, but it also has been demonstrated to provide long-term health and behavioral benefits for pets.

4. Use natural and organic pet food.

Your pets should eat the same quality foods you do. Natural, organic and holistic pet foods use proteins that are raised in sustainable, humane ways and do not contain hormones. They are preserved with natural vitamins. In addition, these healthy foods create less waste for you to clean up at the dog park. Look for the labels and see that they are full of vitamins and nutrients and are free of pesticides and bioengineering.

5. Use organic grooming and cleaning products.

Make cleaning-product choices that are as safe for the planet as they are for you and your pets. Many pet shampoos and cleaning supplies use plant-based cleansers and natural bio-cultures to remove pet stains and odors. These products, including natural flea removers, are non-toxic for pets and people.

6. Use organic and sustainable pet accessories.

Get collars, leashes and PET bottles made from recycled materials or sustainable fibers without herbicides or pesticides. While you are at it, find your pet organic-cotton and sustainably produced bedding to give it a sound sleep.

7. Avoid pet toys with harmful toxins.

When looking for pet toys, read the label and avoid toys containing lead. Lead in products is equally as harmful to pets as it is to humans. The best thing to do is to get creative and create toys from recycled items that you have laying around the house.

8. Be active and live a healthy lifestyle.

Get your pet out and keep it active. Take you dog to the backyard or to the local dog park. If you allow your cat run around outside, make sure there is a cat enclosure to keep it safe.

9. Pay attention to eco-friendly manufacturing

Choosing natural and organic-based products is important, but it’s just as important to support brands that use sustainable business practices when packaging, sourcing ingredients and recycling. Most companies proudly share their eco-conscious efforts on their websites.

10. Be committed to your pet.

Owning a pet is a big responsibility. Yes, pets are fun for all ages, but they need proper care. If you are committed to your pet, it will be easier for you to also implement the other tips above.

Urban Farming

Produce Paradox

Photo by Judith Hausman

Around here, May means mesclun, mache, mushrooms, re-opened markets and mulch. We’ve made it out alive again from the produce dead zone of March, that awful limbo when the apples and potatoes have gone soft, the winter squash are gone and the dark beets are wrinkled and woody.

In April I can begin to count my blessings for the tender greens grown under an unheated hoop house, as well as for the leeks, wintered over carrots, and green cabbages at our small indoor farmers market. Then come May’s ramps, fiddleheads and shad roe—all reasons to celebrate. My restless palate turns away from the cozy dishes of winter, like braised lamb shank or minestrone, and I’m ready for the bracing and savory: salmon and asparagus, spinach strewn with bright yellow farm eggs, baby lamb or goat on the first barbecue. The CSAs begin and soon the once-beautiful old woman on my street will invite me into her rhubarb patch, and I’ll make jam for her and pie.

Photo by Judith Hausman

At this time of year, the supermarket could just make me cry: Driscoll berries are still traveling in from California and the rhubarb is from Washington State, even when its elephant ear leaves are waving in patches just around the corner. Florida citrus has overstayed its season and the vegetables look sadder and sadder, duller and duller. Bunches of mint and branches of thyme lie in hard plastic shells while the mint at home is snaking its red stems round the rocks, and the cushiony thyme is filling up every nook.

I’ve got a few solutions, though, beyond just breaking down and buying a conventional fennel, an imported red pepper and dry clementines (which I will admit, I did just the other day).

What to do, what to do?

Have patience and no whining: It’s time to be aggressive about what I’ve frozen. If I’m not careful, in fact, this year’s chard will be for sale in the farmers market before I eat last year’s. It’s time for tourte de blettes, spanikopita, white pizza or lasagna with greens or even easier, white beans, greens and potatoes: Throw those suckers into the pot. Step away from the SubZero (not) ’cause I’ve got blueberries in there and raspberries, too. I picked them myself. It’s time for frozen peaches on ice cream, frozen corn in chowder, frozen peppers in glowing-hot chili.

Head for those herbs; wait it out that way. I kept this parsley plant (pictured above) alive in my window all winter, and by Mother’s Day, I should be able to move it outside again. Maybe you’ve had even better luck. A supermarket bunch is expensive, but it goes a long way. Dill revives tired carrots, parsley perfumes potatoes, and thyme works on onions. Cilantro slaps canned beans or tomatoes around to wake them up.

Take your mouth south with some lemon rind grated into almost anything: fish, salad, and pound cake. Moroccan-style grated carrot salad reduces big horse carrots to a savory mix with lemon plus cumin and cinnamon. Try a lemon-juice-based vinaigrette for supermarket asparagus or a salad of thin-sliced early radishes, chopped mint and fresh peas or sugar snaps.

After all, it’s about principles but also about taste. When creativity wanes and we’re looking for a spark to carry us until the local bounty explodes, sustainability also means sustaining ourselves.

Oregon Farm Bed-and-breakfasts

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date April 27, 2010
No Comments on Oregon Farm Bed-and-breakfasts

Look into these places to get the best experience

During your next farm stay, get a farm-fresh breakfast at an Oregon bed-and-breakfast.

Abbey Road B & B
Carlton
503-852-6278

Barking Mad Farm
Enterprise
541-26-0360

Bella Vista
Hood River
541-386-1545

Clear Creek Inn
Halfway
541-742-2238

Leaping Lamb Farm
Alsea
541-487-4966

Long Hollow Ranch
Sisters
541-923-1901, 877-923-1901

Pennington Farms
Grant’s Pass
541-846-0550

Riverside School House
Prairie City
541-820-4731

Sakura Ridge Farm and Lodge
Hood River
877-472-5872

Springbrook Hazelnut B & B
Newberg
503-538-4606

White Oak Farm
Junction City
541-935-0701

Willow Witt Ranch
Ashland
541-890-1998

Wilson Ranches Retreat
Fossil
541-763-2227, 866-763-2227

Wine Country Farm
Dayton
503-864-3446

Homesteading

Summer Farm Lesson Plans

Photo by Terry Wild
Summer on the farm is full of educational activities for homeschooled children of all ages.

Farm. School. Summer.

At first glance, these words don’t seem to go together. “Farm” may conjure images of long, hard hours of physical work during the growing season, while “school” paints an image of linoleum-tiled classrooms filled with wooden desks in tidy rows facing the teacher up front.

Of course, the word “summer” ushers in the opposite of these, where freedom, playfulness and full-throttle fun abound.

As a Wisconsin farmer and homeschooling parent, I hear the trio of words and ideas start rolling through my brain. For farm-based homeschooling families like ours, each season—even summer—brings a new array of home-schooling opportunities.

Blending these summer educational opportunities on the farm with the reality that this is usually the busiest time of the growing season can be a challenge. But with a dash of organization and planning, summer can take on a deeper, richer meaning for everyone in your family. Here are six general strategies to keep in mind:

1. Plan and organize.
For some home-schooling families, a little structure goes a long way in producing results. Others need routine and have designated certain themes for each day, such as “Science Mondays” or “Field-trip Fridays.” We’ve gone on free tours of community facilities, but be sure to call ahead for specifics.

2. Embrace spontaneity.
Embrace the fun of summertime with a dash of education. Just after the kids put on their pajamas, head outside for a star-identification lesson. Storm rolling in? Sounds ripe for a lesson on weather fundamentals. After a full day of field work, my husband, John, and I will announce that it’s “cultural appreciation night” and head to our town square for a free community concert in the park.

3. Scrapbook the summer.
Track your summer-learning journey with an ongoing record to which everyone in the family can contribute. This can be a traditional paper scrapbook with photos, paper clippings and drawings, or in today’s digital age, think about an online blog or posting videos on YouTube.

4. Think “one-room schoolhouse.”
While the curriculum ideas below suggest general appropriate age ranges, don’t feel limited or restricted by a child’s grade level. Summer gifts us with the opportunity to draw inspiration from those one-room schoolhouse days, where various age groups worked and learned together.

5. Focus on process, not product.
Remember that learning is in the journey, not the destination. I may intend to hike around the farm with my son, Liam, to identify prairie plants but discover a new batch of baby bunnies along the way and spend the next hour sitting quietly and observing their antics. Similarly, the morning egg-collecting chores can turn into a lengthy lesson on the natural cycle of life and death. Embrace the moment and don’t feel obligated to stick with Plan A when a little serendipity may lead you to an even more rewarding places of knowledge.

6. Recap and discuss.
Take time to review and discuss completed activities. Ask open-ended questions to get kids to talk about and process what they just experienced, enhancing the learning process. We don’t typically formally “test” Liam on summer farm-learning opportunities, but we find that focused, process-oriented discussions cause educational activities to take on deeper meaning.

As your summertime learning journey evolves, embrace the magic of the season and the moment. Savor the experiential classroom on your farm with an open mind, and rekindle your inner child with every identified bug, star and opportunity.

For summer home-schooling ideas, download the following lesson plans:

The Circle of Life on the Farm (ages 4 to 7)
Farm Connections: Connecting to our History, Community and the World (ages 8 to 10)
Grow Your Own Farm-based Business (ages 11 to 12)

Click for more farm-based lesson plans.

About the Author: Lisa Kivirist is the co-author of ECOpreneuring (New Society Publishing, 2008) and Rural Renaissance (New Society Publishers, 2009). She and her husband, John Ivanko, homeschool their son, Liam, on their Wisconsin farm and bed-and-breakfast, Inn Serendipity, completely powered by renewable energy. Read more about homeschooling in her article in the July/August issue of Hobby Farm Home.

Homesteading Recipes

Fresh Peach Preserves

Photo by Stephanie Gang

Ingredients

8 to 10 ripe peaches (each 3 inches in diameter; about 3½ pounds)
3 T. lemon juice
1¼ cups sugar

Preparation
Peel and pit peaches. Remove any bruised spots and discard. Coarsely mash. Stir in lemon juice. Measure peaches and juice: You should have about 5 cups. A little more or less is OK.

Put mashed peaches and juice in large skillet (10 to 12 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep, not cast iron).

Add sugar. Cover pan. Bring to boil over high heat. Boil 1 minute with lid on. Remove lid. Reduce heat so peaches continue to bubble but don’t boil over.

Cook, stirring, until mixture reduces in volume by half, about 8 minutes. Do not overcook. Preserves thicken as they cool.
Remove from heat. Skim any foam and discard. Immediately ladle into a heat-proof container.

Cool, uncovered, at room temperature (about 1 hour), then cover and refrigerate. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week.

Makes 4 cups.

Find more recipes for condiments.

Crops & Gardening

Earth Day

Photo by Jessica Walliser

Today is Earth Day.

Around here it seems that everyday is Earth Day—as it should be everywhere in my book. I think most gardeners feel that way.

I know that every time I plunge my hands into the dirt, I feel a connection with Mother Earth. I don’t need a special day to tell me how much my life depends on her, how much my health is connected with hers or how much I love to be surrounded by all her intricacies.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that schools, community organizations and entire neighborhoods host special Earth Day activities.

I’ve spoken at many of these events over the years and I have seen the proverbial light bulbs igniting over all those heads. I just hope that when they go home and live their non-Earth Day lives, they think about what it really means to live life with some sort of reverence and appreciation for the natural world.

Sometimes there is sacrifice (what, no paper plates?) in showing someone, or some thing, that you care. Earth is no different.

In a way, we gardeners have it easy. We’re already responsible to and for Mother Earth. We already compost. We already nurture green things. We already know something about how she works.

So today, this Earth Day, tuck your face towards the dirt and say thanks in whatever way you see fit. Plant a tree if you want, pick litter off a streamside, dig out an invasive plant, or just work in your garden. Smell the sweetness of another day. This one just happens to have a special name.

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Animals

Shear Excitement

Photos by Sue Weaver

Last week a man came to shear our sheep. It was exciting! Uzzi and I watched from a distance. We’re glad we don’t grow wool.

The shearer’s name is Paul Ahrens. He’s been shearing sheep for 30 years. He travels all around and shears thousands of sheep every year. He’s fast and good at it too!

He uses shears powered by a motor that hangs on the fence, so his shears aren’t bulky like Mom and Dad’s and he uses the New Zealand method to shear sheep.

The New Zealand method is also called the Bowen method because it was invented by a man named Godfrey Bowen and his brother, Ivan.

They discovered that they could shear quickly and accurately by moving the sheep through a series of five positions that stretch its skin so the skin won’t get cut. Ivan celebrated his 90th birthday by shearing a sheep in 2.41 minutes. Wow!

Before there were electric shears, people sheared with hand shears they called blades.

In 1892, an Australian named Jackie Howe sheared 321 sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes using blades. He also set a weekly record, shearing 1,437 sheep in 44 hours and 30 minutes. That record still stands.

The fastest shearer nowadays is a man named Brendon Boyle. In 2007, he sheared 973 sheep in 24 hours, averaging 1.14 minutes per sheep.

Our sheep started out woolly and ended up with cool summer dos. They didn’t like it, but their fleeces keep growing unless they’re shorn, so they knew it had to be done.

Our sheep had 3 to 5 inches of wool to be shorn. That’s nothing compared to a famous Merino sheep named Shrek. Shrek hid out on Bendigo Station in New Zealand for 6 years while his wool just grew and grew. When he was shorn on New Zealand TV, his fleece weighed 60 pounds and was almost 15 inches long!

Have you ever seen anyone shear a sheep? You can! Click here to watch people learning to shear at a Vermont sheep-shearing school (try to say that really fast 10 times) using electric shears and old-fashioned blades.

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Urban Farming

Equine Therapy

Audrey and Rio

Photo by Audrey Pavia

Me with Rio, one of my equine therapists.

My life is hectic.

I work in an office all day as a technical writer and do freelance work in the evening and on weekends. I also have three horses on the 1/2-acre suburban lot I share with my husband, Randy, as well as seven chickens, a Corgi, and an urban barn cat (more of a garage cat, but we keep the hay in the garage, so it sort of qualifies as a barn). I also live with two rabbits and four cats inside the house.

It’s ironic that I have to work so hard to maintain my urban farm that I find I don’t have much time to enjoy it. My husband bugs me to slow down and relax, but I can’t. If I want the privilege of this lifestyle, I have to hustle to keep it.

I don’t know if it was a conspiracy between Randy and the horses, or if the horses came up with it on their own, but today was different, at least for a while: I was forced to slow down.

I had just gotten back from the grocery store and went out back to the horse stalls to check on the crew. Rio, my 2-year-old Spanish Mustang, had dumped over his plastic water trough and was playing with it. Randy has water duty, but he was in the house putting away groceries, and there I was. So I figured I would take a minute to fill up the trough.

I pulled the garden hose to Rio’s stall and dropped it in the trough. As I started to walk away, Rio grabbed the nozzle and started to play with it, squirting water all over the place. Knowing this boy’s capability for mischief, I realized I would have to stand guard over the hose the entire time. I had work to do in the house, but the trough needed filling. I hesitated. Should I wait for Randy to do it? Rio looked thirsty. What the hell, I figured. I’ll do it.

I knelt down on the outside of Rio’s stall so I wouldn’t have to bend over (bad back). Rio stuck his muzzle under the spray of water and started to play with it, flapping his lips and giving himself a Water Pik treatment on his teeth. Just then, my handsome 9-year-old Spanish Mustang, Milagro, who shares a fencing panel with Rio, sauntered over to watch.

Then, as if on cue, my very mellow 21-year-old Quarter Horse gelding, Red, came up and stood behind me. He was the lucky one getting “turnout” at the moment, meaning he had the freedom to roam around the outside of the stalls.

As I knelt at the trough, Rio continued to flap his lips in the water while Milagro began to doze. Red hovered over me, his chest only a few inches from my shoulder. His head was above me — when I looked up, I saw the bottom of his chin. He began to sniff my hair and absentmindedly brush it with his lips.

My horses have short attention spans, and such a scene should have only lasted a minute. But it didn’t. For 15 minutes, the four of us stayed as we were: Rio flapping his lips in the water, Milagro dozing within feet of me, Red standing over my shoulder. The sun was warm, the breeze was sweet and the birds were singing. I couldn’t tear myself away, no matter how much work I had to do. Thanks to my horses, I was forced to slow down and live in the moment — and remember why I work so hard.

Decrease Water Pathogens with Light Tilling

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date April 23, 2010
No Comments on Decrease Water Pathogens with Light Tilling

Excess water can deplete soil nutrition while also encouraged bacteria growth and presence

Courtesy Stock.XCHNG
Excess runoff on farmland can remove important nutrients from the soil while encouraging the presence of Cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes illness in humans.

Farmers who apply manure fertilizers to no-till fields can limit environmental and health hazards by decreasing the amount of pathogens that flow into runoff, an Ohio State University study shows. All it requires is following a few recommendations.

OSU scientists studied the transport of Cryptosporidium, a parasite present in animal waste, through no-till and tilled fields. They found that a greater amount of the parasite moved with excess water through no-till fields and into tile drains than in tilled fields, especially during rain.

Cryptosporidiosis, caused by Cryptosporidium, is a waterborne disease that can cause intestinal illness in humans.

Warren Dick, an OSU soil microbiologist, says Cryptosporidium moves more readily through no-till fields because of the presence of macropores created by either earthworms or plant roots.

“We found that the macropores extend from the soil surface right down to the tile drains, so the parasite has a conduit from the manure directly to a water source,” Dick says.

Dick and his colleagues found that some tillage seems to keep Cryptosporidium in the soil.

To test the effect of tillage and rainfall on parasite transport, the researchers treated 12 plots—six undisturbed no-till plots and six no-till plots tilled on the surface—with liquid manure containing Cryptosporidium oocysts.

“Even before any artificial rain was applied, almost 30 percent of the liquid manure moved through the no-till soil, but none moved through the tilled blocks,” Dick says. “During the rain event, a greater number of Cryptosporidium moved through the no-till blocks compared to the tilled blocks.”

As a result, the researchers found that the number of oocysts recovered from the tilled blocks was greater than from the no-till blocks.

“If no-till growers can do just a little light tillage right over the drain tiles, it can have a tremendous impact on the movement of pathogens and nutrients from the soil surface to the field drain tiles, with potential decreases in the transport of oocysts up to 80 percent,” Dick says. “Tilling disturbs the macropores and disrupts the direct link from the soil surface to the drain tiles.”

In addition to tillage, rainfall timing and rainfall intensity impact the transport of Cryptosporidium. To lessen the impact, researchers recommend farmers apply manure at least 48 hours prior to anticipated rainfall.

“This study is in no way advocating that no-till is a bad management practice. As a whole, no-till has a multitude of environmental and crop-production benefits,” Dick says. “But any production practice can be improved upon, and this study demonstrates that there are ways of making no-till better for both people and the environment.”

The study, “Effect of Tillage and Rainfall on Transport of Manure-Applied Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts Through Soil,” was published in the Journal of Environmental Quality. It is one of the few studies available demonstrating the transport of manure pathogens through no-till soils.

Fertilizer chemicals and nutrients also are readily transported through no-till soils via macropores from the surface to drain tiles. The results from this study suggest that tilling directly over the drain tile lines could produce similar results in reducing movement of these materials from the field.

Homesteading

Return of the Hummingbirds

Post author By Cherie Langlois
Post date April 21, 2010
No Comments on Return of the Hummingbirds

Photos by Cherie Langlois

Female Rufous Hummingbird at
a new feeder.

About a week ago, I heard a zinging-buzzing sound as a miniscule feathered missile (with a dangerously pointy beak) zipped past my head: the first of our Rufous Hummingbirds come home from wherever they hummer off to for the winter.

The little guy seemed kind-of ticked off, probably because he’d returned from sunnier climes to a depressing, soggy-gray April day in Washington. I could hardly blame him. And it probably didn’t help his mood any that I hadn’t put up a hummingbird feeder yet, or even remembered to replace the feeder broken last fall (oops).

Hummingbirds have the extremely high metabolism of a…well…hummingbird, so of course this bird was HUNGRY.

Red-flowering currant is a favorite hummingbird food source.

So off I went to town to buy a big new feeder, then dashed home, whipped up a batch of hummingbird sugar water (with expensive organic sugar, no less), and hung the feeder in front of our living room window.

Within fifteen minutes or so, I spotted the hummer (well, a hummer) sitting on the petite perch guzzling away, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

OK, I’m exaggerating here, but these deceptively adorable birds truly are tyrants—you don’t want to mess with them when they’re hungry, especially if you’re another hummingbird. In fact, I just learned here that our rufous hummingbirds are THE feistiest hummingbird species in North America.

But seriously, I love it when our hummingbirds return each spring, and gladly provide them with sugar water so I can watch these gorgeous, fascinating birds up close. While the females have a shimmering green plumage with white and orange, the males flaunt metallic red and orange feathers that make them look like burning embers.

On a few occasions, I’ve had a super close-up look at them when one of a tussling pair of hummers has stunned itself against our window. Usually I put the patient in a dark box until he or she recovers, but once my daughter and I took turns gently holding the delicate creature in our hands, marveling at its unbelievable lightness—like holding a feather—and glowing plumage. Before long, the hummingbird blinked, fluttered its wings, and shot away.

Feeding hummingbirds is easy, fun and inexpensive. You can easily make your own nectar by boiling four cups of water and stirring in one cup of sugar for a few minutes (no honey or sugar substitutes) until it dissolves (find tips here).

Wishing you hummingbirds to light up your spring!

~ Cherie

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