Back From Vacation

Picture of the Garden early in the day before being weeded.

Another patch of weeds

A Picture of the Corn after cultivation and weeding

We had the chance to take a break from it all by going to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  It was a nice trip, but the sad part is that we came back to very dry conditions.  We also came back to a garden that was full of weeds.  The good news is that we were able to tackle the weeds fairly quickly using our favorite tools: the wheel cultivator and the stirrup hoe.  Taking advantage of the dry conditions of the soil, I made several passed with the cultivator.  This helped remove most of the small weeds and loosen the soil around the larger weeds.  I then passed the stirrup hoe through the loosened soil.  This loosened up the remainder of the larger weeds.  I then raked the weeds to the edge of the garden, so that they could be placed into the compost pile.

A mostly Cultivated portion of the garden. The Wheel Cultivator is out of gas at this point (At least the operator of the weed Cultivator was out of gas)

I tried again to use the collinnear hoe, but I must be doing something wrong with that.  I can’t seem to get mine to work well.
The one positive is that the weeds will be turned into compost later on.  This compost will turn a negative into a positive.  The weeds were stealing nutrients from the soil and the desired plants, but the weeds will return those nutrients back to the garden in the form of the compost.  I actually tried something new with the weeds.  I placed the big weeds into the cold frame and I will keep it closed.  This way, the weeds will cook faster.  It is just a hunch, but I will try it and see what happens.

I also took time to plant some pumpkin seeds and some popcorn.  The popcorn is a new crop for us this year.  I used a heirloom open pollinated variety.  This way we can save the seeds for next year.  I have been trying to use open-pollinated and heirloom varieties more and more.   I figure that I can save seeds for the future, therefore saving a bit of money down the road (assuming that the varieties are as good as the hybrids that we have used in the past.)  I planted most heirloom varieties as either new crops or as backup crops to ones that we have tended to rely upon in the past.

I often like to link to related articles as I go along.  Hopefully these provide you with more information than what I can touch upon in any particular post.  I also figure that this is a way to help out other bloggers that post good content.  I follow farm on a regular basis.

Related articles

• The difference between open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid seeds (thrivefarm.wordpress.com)
• Organic GMO-Free Corn – From WI Farms (wholefoodandmore.net)
• 4 Reasons Why Heirloom Seeds Should Have a Superiority Complex (livingseedcompany.wordpress.com)
• The Beauty of Heirloom Seeds (eatdrinkbetter.com)
• Heirloom Plants. Fruits, Veggies and Flowers (nicolebrait.com)

Red Poll Cattle: A Heritage Breed

Red Poll (Photo credit: Nick Saltmarsh)

Red Poll Cattle are one of many breeds that are known as Heritage Breeds.  Heritage Breeds are typically breeds that are declining in number because they are not the main stream commercial cattle.  Many of them have their own niche, such as grass fed beef.  Many are also dual purpose animals.  Their value is great, perhaps not measurable in dollar amounts, but more in their value for preserving genetic diversity.

Red Poll cattle are a cross between the Norfolk and Suffolk breeds of quality of its beef.  They were small, red and white, hardy and horned breed of cattle.  Suffolk cattle were a dairy breed that were Red, yellow, and brindle in color.  They were a polled breed.  Through genetic selection and cross breeding of the two breed, the Red Poll was developed.  The traits of Red Poll cattle that make them excel are many of those of the above breeds.  Perhaps obvious, but they are a smaller, red and polled breed of cattle.

According to the American Livestock Breed Conservancy, the breed was imported to North America in the 1800s.  In 1883, the American Red Poll Association was founded.  I am not certain of the numbers nor the membership, but I can state that my farm is registered herd #6500.  My herd was registered earlier this year.  (I have to laugh a bit to say herd, as we have three heifers that just calved within the past two months.)

The cross resulted in a nice dual purpose breed.  Throughout the years, Red Poll cattle have fluctuated from a dairy focus to a beef focus several times.   At one point,  Red Polls were efficient and competitive dairy cows.  This was very evident on farms that tracked total profits above and beyond the cost of feed only.  This is likely due to their ability to convert forage into production. They are also known for longevity, often producing 10,000 pounds of milk per year into their teen years.  An added benefit of this longevity is that they continue to produce calves into their later years as well.

English: Red Poll cow, Temple Newsam. Home Farm, Temple Newsam, is the largest Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) Approved Centre. Significant breeding groups of livestock from the RBST Watchlist are kept at Home Farm. This is one of a herd of Red Poll cattle, and there are 8 other breeds of cattle kept here. See http://www.leeds.gov.uk/templenewsam/farm/farm_live.html (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the highlights of the breed are their reproductive traits.  Red Poll bulls are very potent.  Their traits are predictable and easily inherited.  Red Poll females tend to be very fertile and are easy breeders.  They are known for calving ease.  Red Poll cattle produce a large amount of milk even on forage.  This results in good calf growth.  They are noted for good survivability of the calf.  I saw one study where they were the top producing breed in terms of Rate of gain to day 200.  This has to do with good rates of gain, great calving ease, and the survivability of the calf (calf vigor).
Related Articles

• Red Poll Cattle (The perfect breed) (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Red Polls prove versatile and make economic sense | Features | Farmers Guardian (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• Red Poll Association (heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com)
• http://www.bifconference.com/bif2002/bifsymposium_pdfs/jenkins_02bif.pdf
• http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=hruskareports&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dred%2520poll%2520stats%2520for%2520growth%2520rate%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CFsQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.unl.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1088%2526context%253Dhruskareports%26ei%3D87DOT8XVDcvpgAfF27WVCQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNHJ3cDRcB2ZMVQfEJreYD9-Ug9sMQ#search=%22red%20poll

Homesteading Series part 6 plant selection

So now we move on to the selection of plants.  Again this may be higher on the list, but we will discuss it here.  The reality is that all of these parts are intertwined.

Selection of plants can be broken down into several categories.  First we need to consider what the animals will be eating.  So one consideration is the pasture, the other consideration is the crops.  Second we will look at the garden plants.  Third, and finally, comes the orchard and berry plants.

Plants for the animals.

Pasture:

Crops. View from a bridleway. The different textures and colours are created by barley in the foreground, wheat behind and young sweet corn to the right. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As can be noted from examining the blog here, we are fans of grazing systems.  This allows for less equipment and generally more self-sufficiency.  We prefer rotational grazing, but I digress.  So what plants do you want to have in your pastures?  Pasture should include one or two types of grasses.  Typical types include Fescue, Ryegrass,Timothy, Orchard Grass and Kentucky Bluegrass.  Other plants that are typically included in pasture are red clover, ladino clover, white clover and alfalfa.  It is recommended to have a variety of these plants within a given pasture to provide varying amounts of protein, vitamins, and mineral.  Certain plants also thrive at different times of the year.  By varying the types of plants within a given pasture, the grazing season can be extended both earlier and later in the year than normal.

Selecting Forage Crops

Carsington Pastures, Derbyshire (Photo credit: eamoncurry123)

Crops:

Perhaps crops are what many people think of when they think of plants on the farm.  Crops are used for many different purposes, the main one of which is food for the animals.  Field corn is a crop that is vital to many farming operations.  It is very versatile and can be fed to numerous species of animals.  Corn has traditionally been a very inexpensive feed source, though that had changed some with the subsidization of the ethanol fuel industry.  Soy beans are another crop that is grown in abundance in the United States.  It is used as a protein source and also as a way to fix nitrogen into the soil when used in a crop rotation.  Other crops that are commonly grown are Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats, Spelts and many others.  Some of these, such as oats and wheat, can be used for two purposes.  The grain is harvested for use as a feed and the stalks can be harvested for use as straw (animal bedding).

Garden Plants

The vegetable garden is one of the main focal points of a homestead.  A garden serves to provide fresh food and also bountiful harvests that can be stored for winter usage.  The plants that can be grown in a garden are limitless.  We will discuss a few here, but the scope of this particular series does not permit for an in depth discussion.

USDA 98c0442 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sweet Corn is the starting point, as it is one of our favorites.  The only downside that I see with Sweet corn is the space required to grow it, though the space can be maximized by using interplanting (we plant melons within the rows of corn, which allows the melons to spread out.  Both melons and corn take a lot of space, but by growing them in the same row, we can capitalize on some of that space.)  Beans are another key crop.  We also raise green beans (Green Jade works well as a variety).  There are many types of beans, several of which can be dried.

Other vegetables that are traditional garden staples include lettuces, spinach, onions, beets, cucumber, zucchini, squash and many others. Heirloom vegetables are those that are passed from generation to generation. They serve to preserve the plant genetic variability. Heirloom plants (as long as they do not get cross pollinated) will produce seed that it is true, meaning that the seed can be saved and replanted. Once replanted, the seed will produce plants that are the same variety as the mother plant. Hybrids plants do not produce seeds that will grow predictable plant offspring. Oftentimes the seed is not viable. At other times , the seed will produce on of the parent varieties that was used to make the hybrid plant. An example of this is Incredible Sweet Corn. This is our favorite sweet corn. Saving the seeds and replanting them will usually produce a dent corn or field corn that was used in the cross pollination to get the incredible hybrid.
We utilize several varieties of heirloom vegetables so that we can save the seeds if desired. A few examples are blue hopi corn (Below)

and golden bantam corn. Heirloom seeds can be purchased from several suppliers. We usually make our selection from Fedco Seeds.

Orchards and Berries

The third and final category for homesteading plants includes Orchards fruits and berries.  This category will be finished in another post due to space and time constraints.

Related articles

• Start a Self-Sufficient 1-Acre Homestead (rajultrivedi.wordpress.com)

Topic suggestions and feedback

I am looking for topic suggestions and feedback.
What would you like to hear about?
What posts or threads have you enjoyed the most?
What areas are you interested in?

Ideas are organic farming, beef cattle breeding and management, grass fed programs, heritage breeds of animals, chicken information, how to articles.

I am also looking for potential guest bloggers that would like to contribute periodically for the fun of it.

Let me know in the comments section.  Thanks in advance!

Fitness on the Farm

The more and more that we do to start up our farm operation, the more I realize how physical fitness is playing a role in our farming/ homesteading.  At least the way that we do it, it is very demanding work.  We have no equipment as of now, so manure is shoveled by hand and the garden is worked by hand as well.

Physical Fitness (Photo credit: Justin Liew)

You may be asking:  where is this coming from?  Or : ” why is this the topic today?”  Well if you knew me well, you would understand what ADD means. Since I hurt my back shoveling manure last night (literally not figuratively), this topic is on my mind for today.
Throughout the past year, I have been focusing more and more on fitness. Last winter, I had a reconstructive surgery on my right ankle due to a frayed tendon. The recovery period went well, but seemed to drag on and on. So with my desire to farm coupled with my prepper-type mindset, I began to think about what physical fitness meant to me on a practical level.
It was about this time that our five year old son got lost during a parade. (That saga is another story all together.)  After running around in a virtual panic looking for him, I was relieved to finally track him down with the help of coworkers and some of our area’s finest police force. For about a week after that ordeal, it occurred to me that I no longer was noticing my ankle. If you have ever had a lingering injury that statement will make sense. If not, let me just say that an injury to the body that is chronic in nature will be ever present in your mind. Anyway, I decided to start jogging for exercise. Now it became a challenge to see how much I could improve. After sticking to this practice for about a month, I noticed some changes. I felt better overall. I had better muscle tone in my legs. My ankle was getting stronger and more flexible.
So back to the point. I began to think about this as more practical than simply being in shape. I thought of it as another way of practical preparation. It can’t hurt to be in good shape, right?  I think it is important to work on strength, flexibility, and caridiovascular health.  I am currently doing the P90X program, which focuses on all three.  (I am not doing the nutrition plan for whatever that is worth) Throughout the day, I also get some exercise in at work and around the farm.  I am hoping that hay baling season will not come as a total shock to my body.

I hope to be in better shape for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.  Hopefully, I have made some changes in lifestyle that will benefit me long term.

Rural Areas….the Key to Prosperity and Preservation.

Rural Revival

The past several years have seen the United States, as well as many regions around the world, experience a recession, depression, economic downturn, call it what you will.  Various media outlets cover the world’s economic status differently.

• Glenn Beck warns his listeners and subscribers to GBTV.com to continue to prepare.  In fact, a recent radio show of his featured a $50  bet with Bill O’Reilly that there will be a lot of chaos this coming summer.
• More traditional media outlets continue to preach an economic recovery that is upon us.  They cite decreasing unemployment numbers and increases in the manufacturing sector as evidence that the economy is healthy and vibrant
• Pundits of the traditional media question the validity of those numbers.  Some questions linger about how unemployment numbers can be accurate when the numbers do not include those people who do not have a job, but have quit looking for one.
• Greece and Europe continue to struggle, but talks are underway to bolster those countries that are at risk.

Regardless of which scenario you adhere to and which philosophy you choose, one thing is certain is that the United States economy is not as strong as it has been at points in the past.

With this as a backdrop, where will the recovery and stability come from?  May I suggest that farmers and producers may hold the key to recovery, as well as preservation.  Farming is one of the main things that has made the United States the great nation that we are (or have been).  We are one of the leading producers of the world’s food supply.

There is also an increasing demand for food throughout the world.  There have been food shortages in many countries, such as Greece.  A 2008 article out of the UK suggested that Great Britian could face a food crisis due to many factors.  (Global Food Supply is Growing Problem 2008 the Telegraph)

This article pointed out that food is being used in increasing amounts for alternative fuels.  Perhaps the saddest part of this is that we are spending more in fossil fuels to produce a gallon of ethanol than we actually produce in ethanol.  This is sad as many in our world starve due to lack of food, which often times is restricted for political reasons.

Another trend that hits the food supply hard is the urbanization of the planet.  More and more people are moving to the cities and suburbs.  This not only means less people to do the farming, but more houses built on what was previously farmland.  This sometimes seems a “win” for the farmer who sells the land for development, but is ultimately a huge loss for the potential production of food.  We can only get so efficient with what we produce per acre and the means of increasing that production can be downright scary (BST in Milk, GMO laden products, Increased fertilizers, increases in the amount of glyphosate used, hormones in animals, coccidiostats in poultry feed….the list goes on and on)

So I feel that the US is poised to remain the world’s economic and military superpower if we take heed.  It will take a lot to shift the thinking to increase farm production, as a large portion of our population moves to more and more urban areas.  Some creativity may be needed as well.  There have been some recent strides made as far as “vertical gardening” goes.  There has also been a huge increase in the amount of people raising backyard chickens for egg production.  (MyPetChicken.com and Backyardchicken.com)

Why the economic Revival from Rural Areas? 

Well this seems simply a game of supply and demand.  The demand in the world is rapidly growing as the population grows in what seems to be an exponential fashion.  In the aforementioned article, it was estimated that it would take t $30,000,000,000 (that is thirty BILLION) a year to relaunch agriculture in the developing world and avert future threats of food conflicts.   That is a ton of cold, hard cash.

The United states still has a large amount of acreage in rural areas.  With improving technology, we may be able to farm even more acreage than in the past.  This can be attributed to larger and more specialized equipment.  There are also constant developments that allow us to provide better drainage.  This opens up previously wet areas to a better potential to be farmed.  I am not suggesting we drain out wetlands, but rather talking about smaller areas that are simply prone to flooding.

What can you do about it?

I suggest you start by supporting local farmers.  This can be done in many ways.  The first of which goes to my previous post of supporting your local farmers markets.  Another way is to buy meat from a farmer in your area.  Many farmers are beginning to focus on selling animals more directly to consumers.  In fact, many offer to ship to customers.  We at Heritage Breed Farms hope to someday be able to market more directly to local consumers.  We plan to focus on the quality of our products in that the animals are given no hormones and are either grassfed or free range.  Keep in mind that buying from a small local farm may be a little more expensive due to the economy of scale, but you dollars not only go for more nutritional products, but also support the local economy.

I also think that gardening on whatever scale that you can is a great way to help with the global food supply.  The more you grow, the less somebody else is forced to produce.  This allows larger farms and companies to export more food overseas.  This will help to bolster the overall economy of the US.  You may be thinking: “yeah, right I grow a few green beans and help the economy?”  Well think of it this way, if everybody grew enough green beans for their own use, all the other green beans that the US produces can be exported.  Also, farmers may see the decreased need for green beans and plant other cash crops in their place.  The result will either be lower food prices here, or greater exports abroad.

Well I think that is enough rambling for one post.  Hopefully, that makes some logical sense to our readers.  Hopefully you are encouraged and inspired to help in any way that you can.