Basic Equipment for Chcikens

Basic Equipment for Chickens

Our newest blog post is all about chickens.  We go into some details about the basic equipment for chickens to get started with these fine feathered friends.  Chickens bless our homestead in many ways, including entertainment and food.  It is kind of like dinner and a movie, only different.

 http://heritagebreedsfarm.com/composting/basic-equipment-for-chickens/

Either copy and paste the link or click HERE

Chickens (Photo credit: Allie’s.Dad)

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Tips for New Fruit Trees?

Rows of thick-trunked leafless fruit trees covered in pink blossoms, against a backdrop of Osoyoos foothills. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure about how to start new fruit trees.  Does that seem like an odd way to start a blog on new fruit trees, or what?   Hang in there and let me explain……I have never started new fruit trees (unless the 30 foot tall tree that grew from the abandoned peach pit counts).  In my quest to get inspiration for plate, I stumbled a cross a topic in my daily Bible devotion

Leviticus 19: 23-25

“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden.  For three years you are to consider it forbidden, it must not be eaten.  In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.  But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit.  In this way your harvest will be increased.  I am the Lord your God.”

English: Recently planted fruit trees, Hom Green This field has been planted with fruit trees within the last year as last September whis field was in arable use. See: [955381] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did you catch that recipe?  The first three years the fruit is forbidden.  I take this to mean….remove the fruit and the fruit buds.  This allows the tree to focus its nutrients toward strengthening itself by building better roots, a stronger trunk, and to strengthen its generalized health.
The fourth year the fruit is to be a praise offering.  I am not sure what this means for today.  Perhaps donating the food to a local food bank?  Though this has no purpose that I can think of for the tree….tithing the “firstfuits” is definitely a great Biblical principle.  In the fifth year, we may eat.
God promises a reward for this recipe stating “In this way your harvest will be increased.”  (Tangent alert….tangent alert:  this makes me think of the 10 commandments when God states: honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord is giving you.”  This is the only commandment with a promise).

I would like to get some new dwarf fruit trees this year.  I will try to recall the principles from above as I try to get our fruit trees off to a solid start.  I am interested to look and see if there is actually a recommendation that follows the outline above.

Homesteading Series Part 7: Garden Site selection

How should I select a garden?

 There are many things to consider when choosing a garden site. One consideration is simply where to place the garden. The answer will vary according to your situation and what you desire to grow. I have seen people who have incorporated gardens into their landscaping. I call this edible landscaping. Edible plants can be incorporated in among many traditional flowers and bushes. Thia interplanting allows for pest control and confusion.

So on to the more traditional gardening types.

Raised Beds

Raised bed . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One method that I like is the raised bed method of gardening. Raised beds can vary in length to suit a particular situation. They tend to be three or four feet wide, which allows for weeding from either side. A person can weed to the middle of the raised bed from either side. An advantage of raised bed gardening is drainage.  Another advantage is that they have a small footprint.  This means that they can be tucked into small spaces and catered to fit small areas that are available.  Still another advantage is that they have very deep, loose soil.  This allows for deep root penetration.  In the end, that plants may be healthier as a result of having more extensive root systems.

Strip Gardens

I modified this system and made what I refer to as strip gardens.   I took 50 foot long strips of sod and dug them up in four foot wide sections.  I then began to pile on the compost and other soil amendments.  This gave me a raised bed type garden.  I was able to add soil as I went.  In this system, I was able to eliminate the walking paths that serve to compact the soil near the plants.  I eventually elected to fill in the areas in between the strips.

Traditional Gardens

Finally, on to a more traditional garden.  Our garden is about 60 feet long by 50 feet wide.   We elected to go this route as we are now able to plant rows of corn and bean in whatever configuration that we choose.  We lay out our corn in rows separated by 30 inches.  The beans go in rows that are 24 inches apart.  We are then able to grow cucumbers, zucchini, and other plants where we want them.

The ideal site should be sunny (at least 8 hours of sunlight per day).  It is ideal for it to be flat or sloped slightly to the south.  In our area, it is best to have a wind break to the west and north.  This prevents the corn from blowing over later in the summer when the big storms tend to roll in.  We have our small orchard and berry patch to the West, which seems to keep the corn upright.

Related articles

• Homegrown: Plants thrive in a raised garden bed (thegazette.com)
• Homegrown: Raised Garden Bed (thegazette.com)
• {DIY} Raised-Bed Garden (typicalhousecat.com)
• Homegrown: Square-foot gardening (thegazette.com)

Homesteading Series Part 6a Plant Selection

We left off the last time with needing to cover fruit and berry plants.

Fruit Trees

I recommend having apple trees.  Apple trees may be a bit hard to take care of, but they are such a good producer of fruit.  I recommend dwarf apple trees, as the traditional varieties get very tall.  We have some trees that are 15 feet tall and very difficult to manage.  The dwarf varieties are more manangeable.

Blueberries:  We love blueberries.  They are an excellent source of vitamins and antioxidants.  One key with blueberries is to hve two varieties.  Two varieties are necessary because one variety will produce fruit.  There are several types of plants, separated into categories in different ways.  The first category is high bush versus low bush.  The other way to categorize the plants are by when they produce their fruit.  One major problem with blueberries is that birds love them.  Many people chose to cover their blueberry bushes with nets in order to keep the birds from eating all of the fruit.  Another thing to note with blueberry bushes is that they require a low pH.  This means no lime applications.  One of the things that I know of to produce a low pH are pine needles.

Grapes:  We have concord grapes, which we use to produce a lot of homemade grape jelly.  The main thing with grapes is pruning them.  I suggest looking up some articles on how to prune grape vines.  Other uses for grapes are as an edible food and to make wine.

English: Leafs and grapes of the white grape variety Johanniter. Deutsch: Blätter und Trauben der weißen Rebsorte Johanniter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grapes come in many varieties.  White grapes and red grapes are commonly found in the produce section of many grocery stores.

Strawberries:  There are two main types of strawberries that I am aware of.  The first are Alpine strawberries.  These plants do not produce runners.  There is a second type that produces runners.  The ones that produce runners are very prolific, but can get out of hand and out of their designated area.  I suppose that there is another subcategory.  There are June bearing and Ever bearing.  The June bearing produce berries basically once a year.  They will tend to produce a robust crop over two to four weeks.  The Ever bearing types will produce off and on throughout the year.

Raspberries:  These seem to be easy to grow.  We inherited a patch and it seems to do well on its own.  We have berries that produce fruit twice a year.  In the Spring, new canes grow up.  There are cans left from the previous year as well.  The old canes in the Spring will produce a final crop that season and then die off.  The new shoots will produce fruit in the fall and then again the following Spring.  There are thornless varieties that have been produced as well.

Other: Peach trees are often found on homesteads.  We are currently trying a cherry tree and a plum tree.

In addition to these plants and the ones mentioned in the first article on plant selection, there are nut trees.  Walnut trees are popular in our area.

Related articles

• Mini farming on less than 1/2 an acre (thetuckerbunch.typepad.com)
• Tips to grow fruit on a small scale (vancouversun.com)
• Top Tips For Home Grown Apples (backyardgardeningtips.com)
• Plant Some Bloomin’ Blueberries (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)

Homesteading Series Part 3: Animals

At this point, you may be ready to start planning for and thinking about animals.  (I probably start here rather than with plants, since animals are my profession and plants are my hobby).  You will ultimately assess your own needs, wants, desires and capabilities.  I will go through a few types common farm animals and give what I see as the pros and cons.  I will take this moment to push for heritage breed animals (see where the farm name is derived from?).  By using heritage breeds, you are able to preserve the past and also capitalize on some of their better traits, such as having dual purpose animals. Heritage breed animals may benefit you as well by being more likely to mother their young better than some of the more popular breeds on large farms nowadays.  For instance, a heritage chicken is much more likely to “go broody” than a factory leghorn would.

CHICKENS:  I have already written a post about why you should start with chickens, but I will lay out my thoughts again here.  First of all, Chickens are rather inexpensive to obtain.  We purchased our first six pullets (who were 17 weeks old and about to start laying) for $5 per bird.  So we were out about $30.  The second reason is that I feel chickens are very adaptable.  You can make a small chicken tractor or use an old outbuilding (like we did) and the chickens will do just fine.  Third, chickens are small.  This means that they don’t need a lot of space.  Fourth, chickens are easy to feed.  We feed our table scraps to the girls.  We are also fortunate to be able to purchase organic all mash at a local elevator fairly easily.  Fifth, Chickens provide a very nutritious product…..eggs.  Wait until you crack open your first farm fresh egg, especially if the chickens have access to grass and fields.   The yolk is almost orange, it is so dark.

Buff Orrpington (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The nutritional components of free range chicken eggs is incredible, nearly unbelievable in scope.  Sixth, chicken are fun to watch.  Seventh, you are unlikely to get hurt very badly by a chicken.  Eighth, a chicken that is no longer laying is still good for something……the pot.  You can make your own chicken stock, chicken foot broth, and many other stews and soups with the “retired” old girls.  (A side note:  we utilize Delaware Chickens as they are docile, go broody, produce eggs well, are dual purpose, and we think they are pretty)  (Other heritage breeds to consider are Buff Orrpingtons, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buckeyes, and many others)

Goats.  perhaps second on my list would be a dairy goat.  Though goats can be very frustrating because they do try to eat everything, goats are still rather small and readily available.

Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat, show clip, in milk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)e

A decent dairy goat will probably cost you between $75 and $200 depending on age, breed, and time of year.  A nice thing about dairy goats is that they can produce a decent amount of milk.  When allowed to go out on pasture, they are good at cleaning up brush and unwanted plants, since they are more of a foraging animal and less of a grazer.  A downside to this is that various weeds can change the flavor of the milk.  Another good reason to consider a dairy goat is that the milk tends to be easier for some people to digest.  I believe that this is because the fat droplets are smaller than that of a dairy cow (or is it the protein droplets, I can’t remember at the moment)  We do not currently have a goat, so I am uncertain of a specific breed recommendation.  (we like the San Clemente Island Goat, but simply because they are very rare and are very cute)

Pigs:  Again unchartered water for us at the moment.  We are considering pigs for their versatility.  We are looking into pastured pork, so out focus is on breeds that do well in a foraging and pasture based management system.  Once again, pigs are reasonably priced.  Another good argument for pigs is their varied diet.  These are yet another animal that you can feed table scraps.  My understanding is that fencing pigs is not to difficult.  They apparently train to electric fencing very easily.  I have read that pigs will train uickly to two hot wires.  One at about 9 inches off the ground and another at about 30 inches off the ground.  They will train so well in fact, that it is hard to get them to cross an area that previously had a fence across it.  Most articles I have found simply use polywire or another form of electrified temporary fencing like those used in rotational grazing systems.  (We like Tamworth and Gloucestershire Old Spots for pig breeds.  Red Wattles get an honorary mention)

Sheep:  I suppose sheep are in the fold here too.  Sheep are again easy to obtain and not too expensive.

High sheeps (Photo credit: Bertoz)

Uses for the sheep would be meat and wool.  We do not have sheep at the moment, as we do not see spinning our own wool.  Sheep are grazers, so now we are starting to look at more infrastructure.  They will likely need a barn, a yard and fencing.  This adds to the cost of them of course.  (We have yet to select a breed, though I am intrigued by the Romeldale breed.

Cattle:  I would recommend a good dual purpose breed, but you could have a dairy cow and beef cows.  Most true homesteads likely have a good old dairy cow on hand.  A dairy cow will likely cost about $1500 or so, depending on age, breed and quality.  Some decent cow can be purchase through sale barns for less money, but beware that the farmer is likely selling her through the sale barn for a reason.  Cattle require feed and infrastructure as well.  You will need a tie stall or other location for milking.  You will need fencing for the pasture, or else be ready to push a lot of hay and grain around.  (We think the the Red Poll cow is the perfect breed for this, as they are good foragers. grazers and they are dual purpose)  (Other breeds to consider would be Milking Devon, Shorthorn, Kerry, and Dexter)

I would once again recommend a good old farm dog.  They are great companions, good for security and even can help with some of the wound up of the critters if trained to do so.  They can also be helpful with pests, such as the infamous “whistle pig”  A.K.A. Groundhog.

Hopefully I have touched on the main animals for homesteading.  If I have left any pertinent ones out, please let me know.  I am sure that some are fond of Llamas for guard animals protecting their flock of sheep.  Some may like Alpacas for the hair production.  I suppose that I left turkeys out as well.  They have their place too, just not at the top of my list.  Their place, to me, is on the thanksgiving table.

Related articles

• Red Poll Cattle (The perfect breed) (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)

Homesteading Series: Part 2: Next Steps

The next phase as I see it in regard to homesteading is to figure out your plans.  There are many things to consider that can play into the homesteading scene.  I will try to go more in depth with each topic, but thought is best to try to lay out the basics.  I will try to think of everything and am certain that I will leave some things out.    In the first part of this series, we talked about site selection.  For this part and moving forward, I am going to assume that step one has been taken care of.  I will figure that a water supply is secured and a home built.  (I suppose that a site could be purchased and set up in a different way than what I am describing here.  For instance, acreage could be obtained, yet the building of the house may be in the distance….so don’t lose hope if you can’t have the acreage and the home right off the bat.)  Some of these steps can be taken out of order.

1. Animal selection.  I recommend starting with chickens because they are cheap and easy, yet you get the incredible, edible egg as a result.  Most consider a dairy cow or a goat for milk production.  Sheep provide wool.  I would also suggest a dog of some sort for protection and possibly as a working dog.
2. Building selection.  This will need to be built around the potential animals.  For instance,
   

   A Chicken tractor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   a small outbuilding works great for chickens.  They can even be managed in a portable chicken coop (or a chicken tractor)which has a variety of designs.  A larger barn is necessary for cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and horses.

3. Animal containment.  This will again depend on the type of animal.  Cattle and horses test fences in ways that are different from pigs.  Chickens are a whole another ball of wax.
4. Plant Selection.  Do you want an orchard?  How about a berry plot?  A grape arbor?  And of course a garden.  I like Heirlooms for seed saving, making yourself more self-sufficient in the process and potentially saving money down the road.
5. Garden site.  Raised beds?  Traditional garden?  Should you build a cold frame or two? (yes!)
6. Medicine strategy.  By this I am thinking along the line of herbs.  You will need to consider which herbs that you will need and want to grow.
7. Storage Consideration:  With homesteading you will likely be saving root crops, making a root cellar a reasonable thought.  You will likely be canning, so you will need jars, lids, and a canner.
8. Tool Selection.  What tools will you need to have on hand?  Again, you might want to prepare for the practical and think toward the possibility of major circumstances changing.  As an example, you may get a chainsaw and a really good handsaw, just in case fuel becomes scarce.  I will suggest some nice tools that I have found for the garden.

I am certain that I have left some things out, so watch for this one to get edited in the future.  I typically write these posts as they come to me, not well thought out and written down onto paper.  Any thoughts and suggestions are always appreciated!  I will get some more thoughts down and put some thought into it as I review a few resources.

Until Next Time.

Related articles

• Homesteading: What Is It? (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Homestead Series Part 1 Where to Begin (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Planning your Suburban Homestead (prepping101.wordpress.com)
• Unusual Chicken Coops (hanburyhouse.com)

Homestead Series Part 1 Where to Begin

Homestead-July 15, 2006 064-BW (Photo credit: jc-pics)

 

A follower requested a thread on starting a homestead. First off, I direct you to a previous post about homesteading…..what is it? In that post, I give you my definition and description of what homesteading is. Here , I will begin to describe a homestead and define its essential parts. I will attempt to tackle this in my own step by step approach and according to my list of priorities. So here we go…..

 

 

The most essential aspect of a homestead is securing a site. This may seem simple and basic, but let me explain. To begin a homestead, you must have some land. I would guess that an acre would suffice, yet the more the better. Perhaps 20 acres would be ideal for a simple homestead, but several hundred acres would lend itself nicely to a self sufficient homestead. Perhaps 100 or more acres would be more of a hybrid between a homestead and a fully functional farm.

 

The remainder if this post will focus on what to include in the homestead site.

 

The detail of a hand pump Deutsch: Handpumpe(Schwengelpumpe) Schwengelpumpe Français : Détails d'une pompe à eau à bras Türkçe: Bir çeşit su pompası olan tulumba'nın detayı (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

First off, there should be the capability to secure fresh water. I would suggest a stream, creek, or pond. However, a well would work as well. I suggest considering a well that is electric for the main water supply, but a hand pump type well would be necessary for backup. (I will slide in here my bias that homesteading is also a form of self-sufficiency and preparedness. Again, I will reiterate that we consider ourselves practical preparers. By this I mean that we prepare for some worst case scenarios, but prepare in a way that does not sacrifice a lot of the present.) I like the idea of a hand pump well in case of major power failure or blackout. If you prepared an off grid approach to homesteading, the need for non- electric water pumping would take a back seat. There are also windmills that serve as water pumps.

 

 

 

 

The second focus of a site would be an ideal site to place the house itself. Consideration should be taken for the area’s weather patterns. Here the predominant wind comes from the west northwest. The predominate sun is to the south, especially important in the winter.

 
I would think that a attempt to focus on pastureland and fields would be next on the list. Though a forest would be nice, we need to chose as needed. The importance of pastures and fields are for animal management. As may be noted, we are fans of intensive grazing, pasture based farming, and grass fed meats. Grazing systems can be modified without the need for tractors and a ton of equipment.

Brick Barn (Photo credit: cindy47452)

 
Finally, a site for a barn would be important. The barn can be built to fit the particular needs of the family. For instance, one or two family dairy cows need much lass barn space for milking than a larger number would require.

 

 

 

I placed a link to our Homesteading article and a few other suggestions that came up.

 

Related articles

 

• Homesteading: What Is It? (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Good Suggestions For Acquiring Hand Well Water Pump (ebookcoverdesign.org)
• Sustainable Living and Homesteading in New Jersey. Could Pastured Pigs work for you too? (shadyhillhomestead.wordpress.com)

 

Of Calving and video cameras

So the other night, we got to witness the birth of our first Red Poll calf here on the farm.  It all started at softball practice with a call from the neighbor.  He called to say that a heifer was in labor…with a bubble hanging out the back end.  We were just done with softball practice, so we quickly jumped into the van to head home for the show.
Upon arriving home, I noted that one of the girls was off on her own with her tail raised.  Indeed she was in labor.  So we set up near the barn to see how things would transpire.  We watched as she laid down to push, then stood up for a bit.  I was surprised to see her eat some grass in the midst of laboring.  We clearly saw her water break.  There was a lot of clear fluid the came out very fast at first and continued in small bursts as she pushed.  Finally she laid down for several contractions.  At this point, her tail and back end were facing away from us.
I decided to walk around to the corner of the filed where she was laying.  I stayed outside of the fence line, but got close enough to watch through the video camera.  I taped the whole event from this vantage point.  I watched as the calf appeared to be stuck.  I could only see one foot and a head.  My veterinary instincts started to kick in, but luckily I decided to wait a little while.  Upon zooming in, I could see both front legs and the head.  The legs were crossed in such a way that it appeared to be only one.  I was still a bit concerned as a few minutes passed without any progress.  I knew it was best to wait it out, but I was questioning this mantra in my head.  I waited a few more minutes and could see that the calf was shoulder locked.  As I was mulling over what to do inside my head, she began to make more progress.  The shoulders were starting to come through as her back end likely relaxed a bit more.  Finally,  the shoulder came through.  After many contractions over about 45 minutes the calf was about to be born.  Three or four final contractions and pushes and the calf was out.
We had a live bull calf.  I was amazed to watch him stand and nurse within 20 minutes.  This is so amazing to me.  We are excited that he was born without any problems and is doing very well.

And now the kicker……remember I stated that I was watching through the video camera?  Well, I was recording as well.  Apparently when I began to walk around for a better view I hit the record button.  Our video camera has a delay on the light enough that I messed the whole thing up.  Every time I thought I was recording, the camera was off.  When I thought it was of….it was on.  So when we went to view the video, there was nothing but grass.  The stinker is that I had a great video (Or so I thought).  O well Maybe next time.

Cold frame take 2

Quick update on the cold frame project.  Less than 24 hours into the project, we had a severe wind advisory.  We went to close  the cold frame, which had been propped open earlier in the day and this is what we found:

So tonight was spent picking up broken glass and placing new windows on the cold frame.  Note for this time: add a chain or piece of baling twine to prevent the window lid from opening too far in the event of a wind gust.

Building a Cold Frame

Today we took up the task of building a cold frame to extend the growing season.  So we took off to the barn to look for materials that were laying around.  Our efforts provided us with wood and several old wooden windows that we have been saving.  I didn’t do specific measuring, so I will give you the generic version

First we set both windows on the ground to provide us with dimensions that we would need.  We selected four pieces of wood for the sides of the cold frame. We chose a wider piece for the back and a piece not as wide to form the front.  This gave us a sloping frame that we could face toward the south to maximize the sunlight exposure.

We laid the two windows side by side and the four pieces of wood on their corresponding sides. We then marked all dour sides in prefer to make the proper cuts.

The front and back were about 52 inches long and the sides were about 40 inches in length. The back ended up being 14 inches tall. The front is 12 inches tall. We would have liked to have more of a slope, but we wanted to create the cold frame for very little cost.
After cutting the four pieces for the frame, we found a 2 x 2 to make four corner stakes. These were cut to make four 2 foot long stakes that were pointed on one end.

We then drilled small holes in order to help get the nails started. The wood that we used was extremely hard, so much so that we bent several nails. Once we got the four sides nailed to one another, we set about attaching the comer stakes. These will serve to drive the cold frame into the ground and keep it in place. In order the keep the frame together and hold the stakes in place, we attached two c-clamps to the stakes and sides. These clamps kept the stakes in place as we drove the nails through the side panels and into the stakes.

Once all four stakes were secured, we laid the windows on top of the frame. With a huge sigh of relieve, the windows fit almost to a tee.

Above you can see our stopping point for the day. The stakes are sturdy and the windows are resting on the top. We will need to add hinges and then located a prop stick, but the project is nearly completed. Now to finish up so we can set the plants in place.