A (re)Purposeful Farm

Killing Chickens

2011-05-26T17:21:00.001-05:00

Well if everything goes as planned it looks like I'm going to have an opportunity to help a local farmer butcher 100 birds on Saturday. I met him through my investigation for a source of highly available phosphorous for our pastures. The search led me to a company called Fertrells who sells hi-grade, organic soil amendments. They in turn referred me to a local rep who also happens to be a pastured poultry farmer.

I know that this doesn't sound very fun to most people, but I'm really looking forward to the experience. Now don't get me wrong I'm not into killing things, but I am interested in learning how to process chickens since that is a skill that we'll need on the farm, and one of the many that I lack.

I talked to the guy over the phone briefly, and we really seemed to hit it off, so maybe I'll gain a friend out of it. That'd be nice.

I'll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately I will probably not be able to post any pictures as Suz (the photographer) will not be there, and I expect my hands to be a little too messy to wield a camera. Besides, I'm there to work and I don't want to hold up the show since this guy was nice enough to let a greenhorn come over and help.

Tractors and Stuff

2011-05-23T13:47:00.001-05:00

Hey I figured if I'm gonna farm I need a tractor.

I can't and don't want to afford new, so I'm looking around for a good used one.

I like Fords. John Deere is good, but they are priced too high used (and new) if you ask me. I know nothing about Mahadra, Case, Massey Ferguson, Kubota, or International Harvester

I have a couple of really old John Deere (A and B) tractors that I thought about fixing up, but I'm afraid time is a factor, and I need something up and running within the next year. In case you think that is plenty of time, well, it isn't. I travel for work about 85% of the time currently, so a fixer-upper isn't something I can fit in my schedule.

Can anyone reading this give some advice on this matter? Specifically I would like for you to speak of equipment you've either owned or currently own. Talk about problems, maintenance, pluses, minuses, equipment options, whatever.

Also does anyone know if the older tractors have a problem with the ULSD (ultra-low sulfur diesel). The reason I ask is because I had to make some repairs to my old 1996 Ford F250 powerstroke due to the ULSD eating away at the seals that weren't spec'd for it.

Thanks.

Get Your Dexter On

2011-05-21T20:38:00.001-05:00

I've been really going over some stuff in my head regarding what I thought would be a good breed to start out with on our little postage stamp 50 acre farm.

My wife and I talked about starting a closed herd with Dexter cattle, but I'm starting to be a little skeptical about going this route. I've been given some fresh insight through reading and input that has really made me start to reevaluate our beef-farm plans.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - as impatient and eager as I am to get out to the farm I think it is a blessing from God that I am being made to wait. I've been busy this last year reading, visiting farms, and talking to other farmers about "farming", and I'm really glad that I've been given this time to do the research before landing on the farm.

Anyway I sent some emails out to some folks who've used the Dexter in their operation, and I'd like to share their response here.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from this breed. I'm really not sure I want to give up on them yet. They are really a neat little cow, and I still think that they'd fit great into our grazing plans. I'm just questioning whether or not they will produce a good beef product out of grass.

So here's the correspondence:

Steven,

We have moved away from Dexters as the central breed in our herd - we still have a number of Dexters, and we still like them, but have found that they aren't the best fit for us for several reasons:

- There is no market locally for Dexters, so any culls or extra heifers don't really make us any money considering what we had to pay for the animals originally. And we didn't really want to get into the business of selling them online to people hundreds of miles away.
- We've had a hard time finding Dexters that are more on the "beef" side... a lot of Dexters are just too small or too dairy for us.
- People haven't culled Dexters sufficiently... because they are so expensive and rare, there are udder issues, feet issues, etc. that seem to be perpetuated. Maybe we've just had bad luck, but we've seen a lot of that.

And no chastisement about the sale barn - we've got to make a living. Our culls are in our freezers. For what it's worth, we've moved away from focusing on a single breed. Our bull is a 3/4 Lowline Angus, and we have several Lowline/Dexter crosses now that we really like. We have had some other breeds as well. We are trying to look for the frame size and type now, rather than a single breed. Obviously, that means that we've killed the value of our offspring in terms of the "Dexter people" or the "Lowline people" - but we have decided that we don't care about that for the reasons above. At the end of the day, we're trying to sell meat, not specialty breeding animals.

Hope that helps, and good luck to you!
XXXXX

On May 9, 2011, at 3:55 PM, steven romero wrote:

> I was curious to know how the Dexter cattle are working for you in your grazing operation. We are going to started rotational grazing our small farm in about 1 year, and we are contemplating the Dexter breed. My concern is what to do with the surplus cattle that we either can't sell as our herd grows or don't have freezer space for. I don't want to have to take them to the sale barn, but if that becomes the only option then I'm sure I won't get a very high price for this type of cow there since they probably won't finish well in the feed lot.
>
> This is an honest question, and I'd really like your feed back without a lot of chastisement about sending animals to the sale barn. I really am trying to avoid that.
>
> Thank you,
> Steven Romero

Water

2011-05-19T11:12:00.001-05:00

In this post I'll continue with my questions regarding farm life. Rich was conscientious enough to answer my last question, and many more before that in a previous post.

I know this isn't your typical blog post, but until I have stuff to report about the farm this is all I've got. It keeps in the practice of posting to this blog, and it also keeps me focused on my goal of getting to the farm even though it is still about a year away, and probably another year after that until we have any cute animal pictures, meaningful "how-tos", or grass-fed beef recipes to post. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.

I''m hoping to get a broader response this time with regards to water usage on your farm. First of all I think it needs to be established as to what kind of animals are drinking it as this is critical when planning your infrastructure. So here goes.

What types of animals are accessing your water supply?

How do you supply water to your animals? (pond, well, river, stream, spring, windmill, snowmelt, rain-water harvesting, etc.)

Do you facilitate the use of the water supply through irrigation, troughs, float valves, storage tanks, etc.?

Do you provide more than one watering point for your animals?

Do you put anything in the water to help control disease or parasites?

What do you do about freezing?

What sort of watering equipment do you prefer to use on your farm? (troughs, pipe, valves, etc.)

Do you have any experience with HDPE vs. PVC pipe? If so, can you elaborate?

Do you prefer one watering system over another? If so, can you elaborate?

How do you feel about creating a nutrient "sink" when providing only one watering supply for your animals?

OK I guess that's it for now. I'm sure your responses will garner more questions, hopefully from other readers.

Thanks.

Soil and Health Library is Back Online

2011-05-16T16:20:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to share that the Soil and Health Library is back online. I want to give a shout out to "Rich" for letting me know. Thanks Rich!

I suspect that the curators absent-mindedly allowed the domain registration expire. Apparently it has been renewed for another term.

So I'll be busy downloading the many books, journals, and articles that it contains over the next few days.

There are quite a few items that are available right away. Others you have to request. A donation or lifetime membership ($15 US) is highly encouraged as Justin Howard and Steve Solomon do a great job maintaining and building this awesome library.

Happy downloading.

What grains do you grow?

2011-05-16T14:49:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure who all reads this blog. The comments are somewhat sparse, so I'm guessing not more than a handful of folks regularly check in here. Of course I don't blame you - we don't have a bunch of fancy farm pictures with pigs and calves being born, my experience is entirely hypothetical, half the time I am talking through my backside and am only regurgitating what I've read, but anyway...

Someone suggested that I try to intiate a dialogue by posting my questions as new blog entries. So here goes.

My first set of questions are:

Do you grow grain on your farm?

How much?

What type?

What do you do with it?

Is it open-pollinated, hybrid, or both?

How do you plant it?

How do you cultivate it?

How do you harvest it?

Thanks.

Steven

Blogger Sucks

2011-05-13T15:16:00.001-05:00

I'm really glad I don't post a lot because Blogger has been down for almost an entire day.

I see it is back up, but my last post is gone. Some of my comments on another blog post were deleted as well.

Basically it was about the Soil & Health Library being available again.

I've been meaning to switch to a privately hosted wordpress solution, and I think this is the catalyst for making the switch soon.

I've lost my confidence in the Blogger service.

It was good while it lasted

2011-05-10T16:43:00.001-05:00

I'm bummed.

I just noticed that the Soil & Health Library appears to be down indefinitely. This was an awesome clearing house of old out-of-print books and publications that could be had for a small donation, or for free (although this made the curators mad) out of Perth, Austrailia.

The domain registration expired on May 3, 2011, and has not been renewed. It now appears to be up for bid.

Does anyone know if the content was republished under another domain?

Thanks.

Jobe Valves

2011-05-10T15:35:00.010-05:00

These valves are pretty good from what I've seen, and I've found that a lot of people are looking for them.

I did some research, and so far have found that the cheapest supplier of these is Pasture Management Systems out of North Carolina. Their online catalog lists the retail prices, but if you call them they will send you one of their catalogs with accurate pricing. Their valve costs $40.

As a side note they sell a Stafix 12 joule fence charger for $579 (w/out remote). That's the cheapest I've found.

Just be sure and shop around when you're looking for farm supplies. If you have a preferred vendor I'm sure they'll match this pricing.

Here's a pretty neat instructional video on these valves as well:

Soil Map

2011-05-01T15:03:00.006-05:00

Someone sent me a link that I wish I had found a long time ago. It is to the Web Soil Survey tool provided by the NRCS. I've been on their site about 100 times in the last year and I never saw this, but I'm glad it was pointed out to me.

I'm going to have to study what the report for our land means, and make an appointment with our county NRCS representative here shortly. I've been negligent about doing a soil test, and I need to get on the ball. The renter's cows are going to be off the pastures in November, and that means I've got to start doing some hard thinking about fencing, water, and paddock division in order to make our place ready for animals the following spring.

One thing I did note on the report was a blurb about "Available Water Capacity: High". I guess that's a good thing?

Amazing

2011-05-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

I have a pretty amazing woman for a wife.

Suzanne grew up in the city. She never spent time in the country as a child, and I think she's spent more time in her life on a farm since we were married, than she ever did in the years before we were. I know a life in the country is going to be a huge adjustment for her. She's going to have to give up convenience, companionship, and time with family so that we will be able to live on the farm and she knows it. She's got far more to give up as the result of our move than I do.

I've been challenged to think very non-linearly by this whole move-to-the-farm adventure. For one thing, as I mentioned in a previous post, our house has lost a considerable amount of value since 3 years ago. This makes moving to the farm hard to digest because we are going to incur a few expenses right off the bat to get things going out there, and I was hoping to use the lost equity to help pay for some of that. I also didn't want the challenge and headache of maintaining a house in the city and a home in the country.

My tendency to over-dramatize the situation always gets me out of kilter, and my wife's even hand keeps me from losing it most days. Knowing how much I want to get out to the farm, she is insistent on making living between the country and the city until the house gets sold for a decent price a doable thing.

Her willingness to sacrifice time and energy to make my dream come true never ceases to humble me.

Chicken Shortage

2011-04-29T08:13:00.001-05:00

Evidence of the resurgence of small farms and food-independence is springing up all over. Just this Wednesday I had a chance to speak to an old feed-store operator in Waller County where our farm will be. He indicated that he had some chicks in the other day, and sold out completely in 2 hours. He was shaking his head as he said, "I've sold more chickens in the last year than I've sold in the last 10." He also indicated that his next order wouldn't come in until May 26th as the hatcheries were completely out of chickens.

I've read on a few blogs that a lot of folks are starting to hatch their own. I understand that on a certain scale this can be a cost savings, but I've suspected for some time now that this was being done due to the fact that supply is not meeting demand. Although I'm not ready to purchase I've been following the hatcheries pretty closely over the last year, and I've been a little concerned about availability and price when we hit the farm. It may be a good time to invest in an incubator before the price of those go up too!

This is great news for small-farming and agriculture in general, but the price will go up. That means food is going to get more expensive too. Get ready for $6/dozen eggs, and $5/lb broilers. I see a ton of opportunity for cottage industries of every kind to spring up in order to ease the flow of business. This is going to be exciting!

Reflections on Final Clover Field Day

2011-04-28T08:27:00.007-05:00

I've been out of the loop for some time, and to be honest, uninspired with regards to farming. I took a hiatus to re-focus on my spiritual life as I realized it was seriously lacking.

Thankfully God, through writings of a fellow blogger I follow, chose to give me new insight and conviction to pursue a deeper relationship with Him through Christ.

I still don't feel like committing as much energy to this blog as I once did, but I've got to fan the fire so it won't go out. Our timeline for the farm move has been set back by falling home values - something that almost every American who wants to move has been faced with over the last 3 years. Still, I'm hopeful that we will at least be there part-time by this time next year.

With anticipation, I've been waiting for the 2011 Bedias-Walker County Annual Clover Forage Field Day sponsored by the Bedias-Walker County Soil and Water Conservation District and the NRCS. It was everything I expected it to be and more, considering that Southeast Texas has been under a severe drought since September 2010 (~7 inches of rain in 10 months). This was the last field-day that was going to be given by a local farming legend - Gene Sollock.

At 84, Gene is a full-time farmer, and full-time caregiver for his wife Ruth. He is an inspiration, and someone to look to and think about as my wife and I proceed through this life on our farming journey, which I am trying to perceive more and more as a long-term endeavor that we will commit a lifetime to, and not something to rush into or try to make happen overnight. My character trait of wanting everything I envision to happen within the next 30 minutes is being seriously diminished.

Thank you God, thank you for diminishing me. Please increase!

All Fired Up

2011-02-01T13:41:00.021-06:00

"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." -- Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

Just when I told myself and everyone else I was going to try hard not to politicize this blog someone goes and does something STUPID.

glyphosate

Well there you have it folks, straight from the horse's mouth. It looks like another chapter has turned in the story of American agriculture as the most visible and persuasive bastions of the Big-O Organic movement - including Whole Foods, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm yield to industrial agriculture. Why the betrayal? You can read the full details here, but basically it all boils down to well, you guessed it, money.

Apparently a full 2/3's of Whole Food's offering, deceptively labeled as "Natural", contains ingredients from food crops laced with transgenic maize and Round-Up Ready soy. Of course, this very soon will open the door for them to provide even more wonderfully "healthy" meat offerings deceptively labeled as "Natural" from livestock raised on Round-Up Ready alfalfa silage and alfalfa hay as soon as the Supreme Court gives the full green light on the use of the genetically modified crop again after a 2006 ruling by the California courts that it be banned. I labor to explain why this is significant, but for the sake of making an informed impression I proceed.

GM (genetically-modified) crops such as corn, soy, and alfalfa are the unfortunate anathema of our modern industrialized food system that has been technically, mechanically, and bureaucratically manipulated by a powerful monopoly of agrochemical industrialists, all under the gleaming white banner of "Feeding the Planet". This is something that has been wholly rejected by the European agricultural community. Seeing GM crops for what they are, the EU banned the crops before they took hold.

bees

So what's the danger? They are multiple. The one obvious detractor is that the crops are routinely and indiscriminately sprayed with Glyphosate, marketed as Round-Up by it's maker Monsanto (which I find ironic considering I am writing this article in the middle of the Monsanto Motherland - St. Louis, MO), due to the fact that they have been genetically manipulated to resist the herbicide. In addition to giving rise to Glyphosate-resistant "Superweeds", the chemical has also been shown to destroy natural soil biology, and has been linked to an increase in cancers and other gene-related maladies among farm workers, and rural citizens.

Widespread glyphosate use and the proliferation of GM crops has also been linked to colony collapse disorder among nature's most prolific pollinators. This means less bees. Less bees means less food. Less food means less people. Get the picture?

If this weren't enough to convince you of the indirect effects of continuing to support this system of destruction by purchasing (or continuing to purchase) and eating products from the channels that provide them (Whole Foods), then perhaps understanding how this affects the food you and your children eat will.

Think of a world where there are only 3 or 4 varieties of a given crop, or only 3 or 4 major unique crops that we draw all of our food from (ie, corn, soy, and alfalfa). Can you say boring? Can you say biological disaster?

Throughout history our civilization has depended on the biological diversity of it's agricultural base to stem the tide of famine in the event that a crop failure occurs. It's called hedging your bets. Most financial gurus of the day sell more stock by preaching this message. It is ironic that so many of their (your's if you buy stock) investment dollars are being poured into the short-sighted (and very risky) development of these damaging, non-natural monocrop products at the expense of our future ability to feed ourselves.

Through all of this banter let us not forget the damaging legacy in Vietnam left by the makers of glyphosate, and holders of patents on the world's most damning GM crops. BE FOREWARNED - THIS LINK LEADS TO GRAPHIC IMAGES OF THE HORRIFIC AFFECTS OF AGENT ORANGE - A CHEMICAL DEVELOPED IN LARGE PART BY MONSANTO.

Can we trust anyone with an association to "food" companies that throughout history have a marked record of wholesale human destruction? We know we can't trust Monsanto. We know we can't trust the USDA to look out for the best interest of the citizenry when they are heavily lobbied by these powerful corporations. It is indeed apparent that we now can no longer even trust our most championed Big-O Organic food source, Whole Foods.

Who can we trust? Trust your local farmer. Trust those who do the hard work of providing your family with real, wholesome food who are more than willing to allow you to poke around on their farm, and who answer the hard questions you have about where your food comes from and what goes into it. Extend your trust in them, help them grow, and help change our food system with what industrial agriculture perceives as the most powerful motivator of their efforts - YOUR MONEY.

Know your farm. Know your farmer.

Hats Off

2011-02-01T08:46:00.004-06:00

From everything I've gathered and experienced up til now, farming is hard. Everyone knows or assumes this. Growing or raising your own food is more than a full time job, yet some people manage to find the time and energy to have a farm and maintain a full-time "town-job" as well. It is commendable.

Being stuck in St. Louis, MO during the "storm of the century" I'm also starting to appreciate my northern farmer-kind's efforts to struggle and maintain a working farm during the winter months. They have a fortitude and wherewithal that I know I would not be able to muster if I had to start out, at this age, farming in a northern winter climate.

I was born in Houston, TX, and never moved very far away. I've traveled a lot, and seen a lot, but I've always come home. I'll die in Texas. It is warm there most of the time, and I'm appreciative of that fact more and more. The north is no place for me due to the climate. Starting a farm is hard enough, but when I'm forced to think about all of those folks who struggle with farming in a winter climate I have to say my hat goes off to those folks. They are troopers of the highest magnitude.

Deleted Post

2011-01-20T17:41:00.007-06:00

This entry is to account for a blog entry that I made earlier today graphically illustrating through video the cruelties taking place within the industrial livestock-for-food system.

It was produced by an investigative team called "Mercy for Animals". Their's is an agenda to advocate veganism which I do not, but they still deliver a very poignant, in your face message that will impress upon you a desire to no longer eat meat from a source you don't know.

I decided to remove the post. I really don't want to debase my blog, or presume the ignorance of people who visit it. I understand that most people that find their way here, and spend time reading my entries - valuable time they could be spending doing something else - are already aware of the gross animal rights violations going on in our government subsidized industrial food system.

I reacted poorly by initially posting this video here, and I apologize for my lapse in judgement and taste.

It is our continued desire to illustrate the bright future of farming in this new age of agriculture that is focused on small, intensive, humane methods that blend with the natural landscape, and the revitilization of a local rural economy in SE Texas.

We thank you for continuing to drop in and check out what we are doing on our farm once in awhile, and look forward to the day that we can provide you with nutritious, humanely raised food options.

Sincerely,
Steve & Suz

Old Crop Reports - circa 1930s I think

2011-01-20T11:11:00.002-06:00

I've mentioned old crop reports in my last post and a comment, so here's a short ditty on those I found in the family archives. It is interesting to note the contrast between yields using commercial fertilizer and organic fertilizer (barnyard and green manure).

I've been wanting to post them for awhile, but I hadn't come up with the words to go with them. I figured I'll just let them speak for themselves. Enjoy them. I have.

Crop reports for Waller County

Potatoes

2011-01-18T21:11:00.013-06:00

Most guys like potatoes. I especially like mine boiled, cut up, and then fried with lots of butter in a cast iron skillet until golden brown on at least two sides. They go real good with a can of sardines, a wedge of Texas 10/15 onion, and a tall glass of fresh buttermilk. That's how my grandpa taught me to eat them.

I recently played assistant subsistence gardener, and helped turnover a small fallow bed for seed-potato planting. We are fortunate to have soft, unfrozen ground here year round. If you are looking for farmland, and can bear the summers, Texas zones 8 and 9 will bless you with an extremely long growing season.

The soil had been amended with manure and potash. Phosphate will be added later. There were quite a few cool season weeds and some vetch that had come up from old seed on top of the beds. I turned those under and left them on the pile for the extra nitrogen. Any suitable green manure or composted livestock manure can be used to amend our sandy-loam type soil, which the potatoes prefer.

Once we get our own garden started, I'd like to experiment with green manure crops of hairy vetch and a few different clover varieties. Supposedly cowpeas (southern black-eyed peas) are also wonderful for nitrogen fixation as long as they are turned under before the pods form.

Livestock manure (referred to as "barnyard" in some old crop reports I found) is good stuff, but the weed seeds in it are sometimes a killer. It seems that our cows' manure has a lot of pigweed seeds in it. I guess it comes in with the haying equipment. I guess I could always eat the pigweed if nothing else grows, as some say the leaves and stems are edible for humans, but not livestock.

Ready for 'taters

Weedy amendments

Potatoes should be planted between January and March in Zone 9, and harvested before the ground gets too hot in the early Summer.

After harvest they can be stored under low light in bushel baskets (if you can find them), or cardboard boxes with the dirt that stuck to them during harvest left on. You can also spread them out over newspaper. The left-on dirt is an old farmer trick that protects them from rotting in our humid environs. My grandpa taught me that. Burlap over the top of them keeps the critters off.

Turnips

2011-01-09T18:28:00.009-06:00

Mom is the consummate gardener. She's been a plant-person and vegetable gardener for as long as I can remember. No doubt she inherited her wont to grow things from her mother, as my grandmother was also a very good gardener. Living at home we always had fresh produce on hand summer, fall, spring, and winter. Looking back, I really took that for granted growing up, and I can only hope that some of those gardening passions and skills have rubbed off onto me.

Saturday I helped harvest some turnips. Turnips are an easy crop in the fall, winter and early spring. I'm told my grandmother practiced Fall turnip cultivation by broadcasting turnip seeds into beds of rotted straw and cow manure, gently going over them with a stiff rake to cover them with a little soil. Adding soft phosphate to your soil prior to planting, and thinning following germination will ensure large, well-formed turnip bulbs. Until you actually get the turnip, an abundance of highly nutritious turnip greens are continuously available for light steaming and seasoning with salt and bacon.

A small, 4'x8' bed of turnips will supply a SE Texas (zone 9) family of four with turnips and turnip greens for the entire fall and winter growing season. A second planting in January will provide more for the early spring growing season. Turnip greens are high in vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, and lutein.

Turnip greens

Turnip bulbs are delicious raw if eaten in moderation, but better boiled, and then saute'd in a little bacon grease. The bulbs are high in vitamin C.

Turnip bulbs (Brassica rapa)

A fresh harvest

Greens and turnip bulbs

Trimmed and washed

Peeled

Fermenting

Simmering in bacon grease gravy

Goodness trifecta: beef bourguignon, sauted onions and mushrooms, and turnips

The 'Experiment'

2011-01-09T17:29:00.009-06:00

When I'm not bumming around with the chicken house I tend to get bored with life while I count the days until Suz and I can get out to the farm permanently.

I'm constantly trying to fill this boredom with fresh ideas about things we'd like to do, and by rethinking some of the things that we thought we would do, but now through research have found out we really shouldn't do.

I guess the upside of being made to wait is that we have a perfect opportunity to gain as much wisdom as we can before making our landing. The challenge is trying to find activities that will lend some practical farm wisdom while still living smack-dab in the middle of one of America's largest cities. Tearing the backyard out to make a garden isn't really an option since we are going to try to sell our home in less than 2 years.

So for the last two weeks I've been focused on food preservation - specifically fermentation. Fermentation is an easy thing to do, and a very practical way of building our farming "IQ" while we wait. In fact fermentation is about waiting mostly, and it's product is the quintessential slow-food, alive and chock-full of nutrients. It will become a very useful tool for us as we slowly progress our way towards self-sufficiency.

I started my fermentation experiments with cabbage because I happen to love sauerkraut. After reading a few recipes online I decided to focus on Sally Fallon's in her book "Nourishing Traditions". This book is steadily becoming one of my favorites. If you don't have this book I highly recommend it. Even if you don't use the recipes it is a very rich source of information on traditional human food-ways. Since I majored in anthropology in college, this stuff is right up my alley.

Preparation for the sauerkraut takes about 15 minutes if you have whey on hand. If you don't have whey there is a good explanation on how to "make" it in Fallon's book, and you can also try this method using kefir. Please note that you don't NEED whey to ferment vegetables. It just helps to speed up the fermentation process. Once you have a batch going you only have to open the sealed jars daily to allow the gases to escape, and in about 3-5 days you should have your first batch of lacto-fermented sauerkraut, ready for cold storage for up to 6 months. I made the mistake of waiting a little too long on the 3rd day of fermentation. The built-up gases in one of the jars of kraut caused the lid to bulge out:

Here you can see the fermentation progressing very well as bubbles of carbon dioxide produced in the process escape from the jar.

Chicken House Blues, Outtakes

2010-12-19T08:39:00.011-06:00

Well I'm back at it. The old chicken house is looking pretty good, and I'm almost done replacing all of the rotten beamwork! I discovered that the west facing beams are in good condition except for the south corner, so that means I won't have to replace the whole beam. Yea! I'm calling this Phase I, so Phase I is almost complete. Phase II will consist of replacing the exterior drop siding. Phase III - roof repairs, and Phase IV - painting and finishing touches.

I dug around in the family archives, and managed to find some more historical information on the structure. I can definitively date it to at least 1945 as I found an old receipt from a "Mays Electrical" out of Navasota, TX dated September 10, 1945. I also found a bill of materials that lists all of the components that went into the job. It only costs $53.36 back then! I did a comparison with the Consumer Price Index to find out how much that is in today's terms - $636.00 - OUCH! That's a chunk of change! The job is for running lights inside the chicken house, and installing a light on a pole about 10 meters away.

Receipt

Bill of Materials

Old Electrical Hookups to Chicken House

I've also been reading about other historical chicken houses. Apparently this type of design was known as "open-air". That means it was designed to have maximum ventilation during the summer months without sacrificing warmth during the winter months. That's what the lights were for. During the summer the shutters on the chicken house would pretty much stay open all the time to let air and light in, but during the winter the shutters would be closed with the lights left on at night for warmth.

The south-facing side of the chicken house was completely open about halfway up. In order to let the warmth in from the sun that would always be shining from the south in the winter at this latitude, chicken-wire was the only covering from about 3 feet all the way to the ceiling. The roof line was also pitched higher in order to let more sunlight in.

I think all this stuff is very cool.

Full Southern Exposure

A Truck That Has Made a Difference

2010-12-12T13:43:00.003-06:00

About 3 weeks ago I bought a truck for our farm. It took a very long time for me to find one that would suit us without costing too much. This put us in the "used" category which I painstakingly contemplated for about 2 years. I know that seems like an inordinate amount of time to make a purchasing decision, but I got burned on the last used car I bought, and I didn't want to repeat the experience.

This truck is a 1996 Ford F250. It has a 7.3L diesel engine made by International with only 58,000 miles on it. I couldn't believe it when I saw the ad on Craigslist. Most used diesel trucks have over 200,000 miles on them. I've been looking for this type of truck for about a year now after deciding I wanted a diesel, but I didn't want to buy one with this high of mileage on it. Too, it was a toss up between Ford and Dodge, but over time I starting noticing many more old Fords like this one on the road, than old Dodges. I'm not sure why this is so. The Dodge is an excellent truck - my dad has one with over 150,000 miles on it, and it is still going strong. I think that the Ford truck has been a farm staple for a long time, and this is the reason for the numbers difference.

Undoubtedly the Fords are good trucks, and this one was no exception. I've only had a couple of minor problems with it so far. One was a short in the fuel bowl heater element that kept blowing fuse #22 which also happens to include the PCM (powertrain control module) in it's circuit. This was basically causing the truck to crank, but not turn over. This was an easy fix - unplug the fuel bowl heater element from the wiring harness, and replace fuse #22 with a new one. Apparently this is very common, and since we don't get freezing cold winters in SE Texas the fuel heater isn't really even needed.

The second problem is not related to the mechanical soundness of the truck, but rather the stupidity of our government regulatory body. Unfortunately, the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel that comes out of all diesel fuel pumps mandated as of 2010, but in common use for years before, is not compatible with the rubber seals and o-rings inside my old fuel pump. This means I have a slow fuel leak that I can live with for the time being, but eventually I will have to replace the pump and the bad o-rings with some that are compatible with the ULSD fuel. I'm pretty sure that the previous owner didn't know anything about this leak.

The truck has made a world of difference so far, and has given us a great deal of freedom and flexibility to come and go with loads of "stuff" to the farm. So far I've been using it to haul tools, lumber, and about a ton (literally) of bagged leaves from my neighbors' yards for on-farm composting. I'm sure it will serve us very well as long as we maintain it correctly.

The truck uses a lot of fuel, but something can be said for a good vehicle that is barely used, paid for, and relatively easy to maintain. I like it!

Chicken House Blues

2010-12-12T08:42:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was another farm day. I spent most of it working on the chicken house. I'm quite pleased with my progress although I've made a couple of mistakes along the way, but nothing serious enough to prevent me from carrying on. At this point I believe that I've made it about 50% through replacing the structural components, minus a few rafters that need replacing. I estimate that I'll be completely done with the whole works including painting by Spring if I continue working on it every weekend. It still won't see chickens for about another year after that.

Boy there was a STRONG south wind out there yesterday blowing back HARD against a norther that was coming in! That wind will really tire you out after a while, and around one o'clock I had to take a lunch break as I was having trouble standing up in it, and the dust was something fierce! When I came back the wind had died down a bit, because the norther had moved further down towards us, and it was equalizing the pressure from the south wind. Around 4PM the wind starting picking up again this time coming from the north. We're going to have to get some trees around the perimeter of the property or that wind is going to play havoc with our livestock, orchards, and forage crops.

Another thing I noticed were all these ladybugs flying around everywhere between the time the south wind quit and the north started. I'll have to research that phenomenon as I'm sure it means something. Maybe they were getting ready for the cold. Did you know they bite? I didn't either, but one flew down the neck of my shirt, and started biting heck out of me. It wasn't a sting, but just a bite with its little mandibles I guess. Nothing serious - I'll make it.

The Importance of Saturated Animal Fats

2010-12-07T21:31:00.001-06:00

I can't explain this any better than Sally Fallon, so I'll let her tell you why we should all be eating more saturated animal fats, and less refined sugar and processed foods.

Scincella lateralis

2010-12-06T20:25:00.005-06:00

I happened to catch a glimpse of this little guy while I was looking for a screw I dropped between the floorboards of the chicken house. I've read they can be hard to photograph as they are very shy.

Scincella lateralis

Commonly mistaken for a snake, this is actually a type of lizard known as a Ground Skink. If you look carefully you can see the little legs. They subsist on a diet of small insects and arthropods.

Ground Skink eggs

Chicken House Restoration

2010-12-05T21:13:00.009-06:00

Earlier this year I blogged about an old chicken house that I've been wanting to restore. This chicken house was actually built sometime back in the late 40s or early 50s, and supposedly had been featured in a Purina Mills advertisement for chicken feed.

I contacted Purina Mills hoping that their archives department would be able to supply the old ad, but they told me that they no longer maintain an archives department. All I have left of the story is the chicken house itself, and I aim to restore it to its original condition as closely as possible.

To begin I must undertake to replace all of the supporting beams underneath the chicken house as they are almost completely rotted through in some sections. I'm actually amazed that this thing is still standing - a testament to its original construction and builder. The next series of photos more or less documents the process of replacing the east-facing beam.

Shoring up the house

Rotted pine beam

Nail cutting made easy

Beam loose

Out with the old

In with the new

Weather proof

It started getting dark

Good thing I came prepared

Making hay while the sun doesn't shine!

Farm Sunset - Good Night and Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T19:28:00.002-06:00

Removable Slatted Floors

2010-11-25T19:16:00.005-06:00

Forethought in design made these slatted floors removable. It is important for me to remove as much weight

from the chicken house as possible in order to safely "crib" it for beam work.

Possum Mummy

2010-11-25T19:10:00.001-06:00

This possum crawled up in the chicken house, and died here. I wonder if it was sick or wounded in a fight. The mummy was intact except for the skull, which appeared to have been crushed.

Foggy Trees

2010-11-25T19:06:00.002-06:00

What can I add to this?

Wounded Warrior

2010-11-25T19:02:00.002-06:00

This guy has seen his battles. You can see how he has adapted to using his 2nd left leg as the forward one.

Old Nails

2010-11-25T18:58:00.002-06:00

These nails are probably more than 50 years old. Hot dipped for long-lasting fastening perfection. Oh yeah.

Farm Moon

2010-11-25T18:51:00.005-06:00

I took this picture at about 8PM a few days ago - Monday I think. Since I'm on vacation I'm not keeping track of the days. It's nice.

Winter Guardians

2010-11-25T14:14:00.008-06:00

These ladies kept me company while I worked on the chicken house. They are commonly called "yellow jackets" although this is a misnomer. They are really just paper wasps of the genus Polistes species exclamans.

Polistes exclamans

Little did I know that I was in the company of royalty, as these ladies are fertilized queens entrusted with the guardianship of the next generation of wasps inside their little bellies.

Bygone Wood

2010-11-25T14:10:00.006-06:00

This stuff is awesome. I'm glad it didn't get tossed as we plan on using it for lining the walls of our on-farm store in a few years. Going through all this stuff took about a day and a half, but it was worth it.

Storage

2010-11-25T13:58:00.001-06:00

An old farmer thought it would be a good idea to store some old wood from a derelict barn inside the chicken house. I'm glad they found a place for it. I spent about a day and a half removing the wood I thought could be re-purposed, removing nails from it, cleaning it, and storing it in an old hay-mow of our barn.

Farm Days

2010-11-25T13:49:00.001-06:00

I've managed a few days away from travel and work, and what do you think I spent those days on? Of course - the farm. Lately I find peace and rejuvenation on no other place. I'm bone-tired as I write this having worked on trying to salvage an 1940s-era chicken house from collapse, but it is a good tired as I rest on this day of thanks. I am truly grateful that I had some time off to spend on the farm; just me and a derelict old building with no words between us. I enjoyed many moments during the past few days, but as I said I am very tired therefore not in a writing mood. So for the next few posts I'll just share some photos here of my time on the farm for you to enjoy with a brief explanation of why I thought they were worth shooting. Thanks for blessing us with your time here.

The Soil Food Web

2010-11-16T11:28:00.003-06:00

I started an interesting new book this week. It's called "Teaming with Microbes". The book subtly thumbs it's nose at conventional land-grant soil "science" by getting past the N-P-K chemistry lessons, and focusing on the basic components of soil structure and soil biology. It gets back to the basic roots (no pun intended) of what good soil is, what it isn't, and how to rebuild soil that has been subjected to a chemical cornucopia of pesticides, herbicides, and petroleum-derived fertilizers.

After reading through the preface I asked Suzanne to remember a time last Spring one afternoon when we both witnessed what appeared to be a gastronomic event occuring in our very own front yard. Sure enough several types of birds and a few squirrels were busily chucking their way through our grass, pecking here and poking there for bits of food - bugs I assume. Yes squirrels eat bugs too.

We were watching the activity through our front window very intently, and I started to look around at the other yards in our neighborhood across the street and adjacent to our house. Not one bird paid my neighbors' yards a visit that afternoon unless it was to poop on it during a fly-over in an futile effort to add life to the toxic dumping grounds.

Suz and I don't use chemicals on our lawn. That includes weed-N-feed, or fertilizer. Instead we broadcast pelleted chicken litter every Summer (twice), and in the Fall. I'm also lazy when it comes to lawn care. Not as lazy as most I admit. I do still cut my own grass out of enjoyment. What I mean is I don't bag clippings, and I don't rake leaves unless I need them to cover a plant that might freeze. I'm fine with a yard that doesn't look like a golf-course. I also appreciate not having to take the little "Tru-Green" signposts out of my yard after paying someone to come and dump some more poison on it. Thanks guys.

So, if you are at all interested in TRUE soil science, and methods to improve your yard, garden, farm, whatever - I highly recommend this book.

Cornish Heritage Farm

2010-11-14T16:02:00.003-06:00

It's time I introduced some friends to you. Rich and Liz Pomeroy and their family were our gracious hosts during the last leg of our journey through the Ozarks. We met them through their blog while researching heritage breed hogs types, and finally settling on the Large Black Hog as our preferred breed. Rich and Liz are breeders of this critically endangered breed, and members of the Large Black Hog Association. I believe that Rich was recently nominated as the new President! Congratulations Richard!

After spending 4 days on the road, and 3 nights in hotels across Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri it was a welcome change to be able to spend some time in a real house with some very down-to-earth folks. I have to say they are quite amazing having just moved their entire house and all of their livestock from Northern Montana to Southern Missouri, and now just about a month later they were inviting us into their home to spend some time visiting, and introducing us to their piggies on their beautiful farm right in the middle of the Missouri Ozarks. It gave a chance to rest and unwind before our journey back to Houston, and for that and their warm company we are truly grateful. Thanks Rich and Liz.

Their example has inspired me to not complain or fret anymore over having to move our house from Houston to Waller, a mere 1-hours journey. They've also further inspired Suzanne and I to look forward to beginning a life on our own little farm in just over a year from now. Suzanne and I are really starting to stare the whole thing in the face now, and we're a little afraid, but also very excited about this next phase of our lives.

To The Missouri Ozarks and Back, Part 2

2010-11-05T23:02:00.005-05:00

Wow. I just finished a 5-day whirlwind trip to the Crescent City and back. The project I've been working on for the past 1.5 years is almost finished, and I gleefully worked my 14-hour workdays this week in anticipation of not having to continue my weekly trips back and forth to this place. When I'm done here a vacation to New Orleans will definitely be off the list for a LONG while.

So now that you know I haven't been slacking, back to the blog. Where did I leave off? Oh yes, down by the lake. Well to tell you the truth Lake Ouachita wasn't nearly as beautiful close up as it was looking down on it from a distant hilltop. In fact, it didn't even inspire a picture. Although I did get some snapshots of the local wildlife close to one of the boat launches.

As I mentioned we were making good time, and Suzanne and I wanted to burn some energy, so we decided to go on a short hike through the woods. The trail followed the edge of the lake for about 10 miles. We only hiked in 2, and then doubled back. It was a good break from the driving, and by the end of it I realized we needed to get moving if we were going to hit Springfield, MO before it got too late.

We got back out on 270, and headed further west for about an hour before hitting HWY 71 north to Fort Smith.

On HWY 71 along the way to Fort Smith, AR Suzanne got some mediocre on-the-road pictures of many, many industrial chicken farming operations.

As you may or may not know, Arkansas is the home of Tyson Foods Inc., and therefore the factory-chicken capital of the United States, and perhaps the world. These chicken houses are everywhere and in every way ANTI how we plan on operating our farm.

The chickens, hybridized for massive breasts and therefore practically immobile, are crammed in an enclosed space for about 6 weeks, and pumped full of growth hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feeds. Out of the other end of the factory-chicken making machine comes your Chicken McNuggets, Chik-Fil-E chicken burger, and big, juicy, $1.79/lb boneless chicken breasts. Mmmmmm....hormones. Mmmmmm....antibiotics. Mmmmmm...chicken raised on Bt Corn and Round-Up Ready soybeans. Mmmmmm.

Then, on the way to Springfield we got to see a real-live factory-chicken transport truck! Yee-hawwwww! Pay-Dirt Baby!

This beast of a machine, that gets about 6 miles/gal of diesel fuel I might add, goes around to all the contract farmers who raise chickens for Tyson, and gathers all of the birds who managed to survive the process of being "produced".

Then it takes them in battery cages to one of several chicken processing facilities like this one at 10 Fir Street Waldren, AR:

Hey! Looking at that picture a little closer reminds me of the petroleum refinery I've been working for in South Louisiana for the past year and a half! Look at that! It has sewer-treatment facilities AND a slurry pond!

Wow. I'm really digressing on my trip through the Ozarks aren't I? I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. You'll have to stay tuned for the rest of the trip in the next installment where I'll be talking about fencing conferences, black-hat Mennonites, and the Amish.

Thanks for checking in.

To The Missouri Ozarks and Back, Part 1

2010-10-28T13:34:00.004-05:00

About 3 months ago I mentioned in a post that I spoke to Connie from PowerFlex Fence Company regarding some fencing needs for our farm. At that time she invited me to a customer appreciation event at their new store in Seymour, Missourri and Suz and I made it a point to go.

I had a lot of questions about the type of fencing we're going to need for the farm, and I thought I would be able to gain a better understanding of our needs with a little show and tell.

This was a beautiful trip through the Ozarks due to the trees showing their Fall colors. I understand from the locals that this was a BAD year for Fall colors due to the unseasonably warm weather, but being from the SE Texas Gulf Coast I wasn't disappointed!

For those of you that would entertain a short trip to see some really pretty sights I am going to detail our route in these next few posts, so you can try it if you want. Fall is really beautiful, but I've been there in the winter and it is just as tranquil to me.

Those of you that have seen my Facebook album can see more pictures as I'll post just a few here. Suz and I would be more than happy to share some details with you over dinner if any of you guys want to drop by.

Suz packed the Outback, picked me up from work, and we left on Wednesday night and overnighted in Texarkana. The next morning we trekked our way through the Arkansas Ozarks down along I-30 from Texarkana to Caddo Valley where we got off the interstate (finally - HATE 'EM!) onto state HWY 7.

From there we went along HWY 270 south of Lake Ouachita - that's WAA-CHI-TAA - make sure you say it right or the locals get miffed. This was a beautiful escape from the interstate, and we were making decent progress so we decided to get a closer look of the lake.

Stay tuned for part 2....

A Long Break Much Needed

2010-10-26T13:13:00.005-05:00

I'm back. I seriously needed to take a break for awhile. Trying to come up with articles about farming while the farm is in its infancy took its toll on me. My brain was in overdrive coming up with ideas for the farm, and this started to deteriorate my relationship with Suzanne.

I'm not sure when I decided to quit for awhile, but I think it was after that weekend at the farm which my last post illustrated. That was over a month ago, and I'm feeling much better about things now than I was then.

I started to get really frustrated at our lack of progress on the farm, and I put up a few imaginary boundaries for myself due to the fact that by nature I try not to confront problems that can't be solved any other way than through communication. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm handicapped when it comes to talking to people, and I also have a real problem identifying the source of whatever is making me grumpy.

Well I finally pinpointed the source of my angst, and got up the nerve to get things out in the open with all of the major stakeholders in our operation. I'm pretty sure we all have an understanding now of what needs to happen in order to run a fruitful and fun farming operation.

Over the next few days I'll be posting some articles about our most recent adventure through the Ozarks and back. We obtained great insight on electric fencing products and design, we visited some Amish farmers and got to see a little how they run things, and we met some awesome folks and got some great advice on pastured pig farming from Rich and Liz Pomeroy of Cornish Heritage Farms. We took lots of great pictures, had a great time, and met some truly awesome people.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you again. Thanks for sticking with us!

We Do Work

2010-09-15T21:05:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been waxing political, so I just thought I'd post some evidence to the fact that we are earning our farming stripes.

Here's a picture of me inspecting the termite-eaten barn wood.

Here Christian and I are doing our good daily deed by removing a china berry tree from atop an old chicken house on the neighboring farm. Christian loves the chainsaw!

And here comes sweet Suzie to inspect our work! Isn't she beautiful?

I love playing farmer!

Marketing a Chicken Egg

2010-09-14T09:48:00.014-05:00

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of marketing is that it solely consists of advertising for the hopeful sale of an available product to some buyer.

True, marketing does consist of a lot of advertising, and with regards to small farms final marketing can be quite an intense trust-building enterprise as it mostly consists of establishing relationships with people whose faith in your product is earned before they even buy it, and then hoping that those folks will sing your praises for you to their friends and family via word-of-mouth after they do, thus contributing to the sustainable growth and support of a regional foodshed. However, there are also a lot of behind-the-scenes marketing activities that take place in order to make farm fresh, local food available for direct public sale on a consistent basis. Notice the keywords.

I'll start with a seemingly simple product - the chicken egg. When we first started thinking about farming we thought eggs would be an easy thing to get started on. My wife and I talked about chickens, and decided that in order to get started on a marketable farm product chicken eggs would be the most logical and easy thing to get going. I put pen to paper, and calculated that we would need about 300 laying hens to start off with.

In the grand scheme of things that is considered a very small operation by the USDA, and not even worth regulating in Texas unless you are planning on selling shell eggs at a farmer's market. Given their track record, we can appreciate not having the government involved in our operation.

Through some of my research I'm finding out in the real world of a small family farming operation that 300 laying hens can be a doable but cumbersome load for a farming couple to direct market on a consistent basis. Again note the keywords.

our future egg-mobile

At the beginning of a typical day we expect that gathering eggs will be our primary chore of the morning. Egg-gathering should ideally consist of two trips to the on-pasture egg-mobile in the morning, and one in the afternoon. This will ensure that all eggs gathered, processed, and packaged will be as fresh as possible.

Already we differentiate ourselves from the easy, automated (but filthy) factory egg farms by manually gathering each egg from the pastured-hen's nest by hand. With 300 laying hens this could easily entail several trips to and from the egg-mobile to the egg-washing area, which brings up our next step in marketing of the egg.

Eggs don't come out of the nest looking the way they do in the supermarket, but the expectation has already been set by the industry that a good egg is a clean egg. We in the United States think this is a grand idea, although in Europe egg-washing is not an allowed practice due to the fact that it can be an easy way to introduce bacteria through the porous egg shell if not done correctly.

The Europeans have accepted that a dirty egg from the producer actually guarantees a certain level of sanitation that improper washing can't. Despite knowing this I was chagrined to discover that some local duck eggs I purchased the other day had poo and feathers caked to the shells. Marketing. This is all about setting customer expectation, which I will touch on later.

vinegar

So, on to the egg-washing station. Here we have several options. We can purchase a $15,000 machine to do our washing and drying for us, or we can go with the cheaper method which consists of a couple of $10 egg baskets, two $5 5-gallon buckets, some vinegar, warm (~100 deg F.) water, paper towels, and a drying rack.

There are commercially available chemical egg washes on the market that contain chlorine as the primary cleaning agent. We can use these and still "officially" stay organic, but some studies have shown there is no difference between using the chlorinated washes and straight water. We are choosing to use vinegar as our cleaning agent due to the fact that is mildly acidic therefore anti-bacterial, abundantly available, organic, and cheap.

After the eggs are washed and thoroughly dried they are candled, packaged, again by hand, and stored in a cool (40 deg F.) humid (70%) environment until purchased, or until delivery. This, my friends, is the nuts and bolts of marketing a farm fresh egg.

I'm taking pains to describe this to you for a couple of reasons. One, I'm setting a level of expectation. That being said I feel confident that my friends and family will trust that everything I've written here will be followed on our farm to ensure that I am laboriously and consistently producing a quality and sanitary food item for them. This is my guarantee of sorts. Two, I'm trying to differentiate myself from the hobby farmer.

Now I've got nothing against hobby farmers, but I feel that they often lead the public to believe that running a farming operation is a very pastoral, idyllic and laid-back way of life. Nothing can be further from truth. I feel they portray this image in a couple of ways. One, they maintain a demanding full-time town-job. Two, they sell whatever they produce cheaply, and often below supermarket prices, because they aren't earning an income from it.

Recently I cringed when I saw on Craigslist an advertisement for "Farm Fresh Eggs" at $1.50/doz. I applaud the hobby farmer's efforts to maintain a local food source for themselves, but I get frustrated when their efforts to be self-sufficient result in a surplus that leads to the misconception that local food production is cheap and easy. I contend that this is not sustainable local food production unless everyone is doing it. This is amusement, which brings me back to consistency. At these prices hobby farmers are definitely priming the local food market pump, but take my word for it that the well will quickly run dry and there goes your local food source.

Full-time small farmers simply will not be able to maintain a consistent level of food production for a regional foodshed if they give their products away. They might as well get a town-job, and quit farming. It's easier and more economical to earn .10 cents an hour working for the man than it is to gross .12 cents an egg raising, housing, feeding and watering laying hens and then gathering, washing, packing, and delivering their eggs to customers who've come to expect cheap local food.

OK, I'm done ranting for the day. Thanks for reading and please stay tuned...

Termites!

2010-09-09T12:04:00.002-05:00

I was a little disheartened this weekend to discover that we have a termite problem in the barn. The barn is old, and to me it's an important element on the farm not only for it's aesthetic contribution, but also because it is a truly functional structure where I plan on storing a lot of our farm stuff!

Eatin' termites!

We replaced some of the chewed up wood, and removed some dirt from around the piers to keep the termite activity down, but in truth nothing is going to keep those critters off my barn wood short of poison or chickens. That's right, I said chickens. Chickens are wonderful at cleaning up the barnyard, and removing any insect pests that invade their habitat including wood-eating termites.

Chickens are also great to turn loose in your orchard where often times insect larvae and eggs are burrowed into the ground just under your fruit trees. The chickens do an excellent job of scratching through the dirt, finding and eating said grubs, larvae, and eggs, and generally breaking up that insect pest life-cycle so your fruit trees will have a chance to produce.

I've heard of some folks turning them loose in their garden with mixed results. Chickens scratch a lot, and they have a tendency to tear a garden to shreds. So unless you've got your vegetables protected inside some good cages I wouldn't recommend this.

So the focus is on chickens now. I gotta get some yard-birds for the sake of our little barn! I just hope it can wait a little while until we get moved.

Prediction: An Increase in Bowl Licking

2010-09-04T22:50:00.045-05:00

Grandma was a farmer. She had gained skills as such through a lifetime of hard work on her parent's farm shared between her 8 brothers and sisters. Being the oldest, her charge included among other things, meal preparation, and she became very good at it. Some of the fondest and most vivid memories of my childhood were forged between my grandmother and I on my grandparents little farm.

There, she taught me how to fish with a minnow and a cane pole in their pond. I was 4. She taught me how to shoot a BB gun. I was 5. She taught me how to identify good birds, bad birds, farm animals, varmints, and snakes. I was 6. She taught me how fish that weren't put in a pond by man got there by birds carrying eggs on their feet and in their craw. I was 7. She taught me how to find a newborn baby calf when the mama cow hid it by making a little call to imitate the sound of a calf in distress. I was 8. She taught me to shoot her 410 shotgun. I was 9. She taught me to drive a standard shift on her old Chevrolet C/K pickup truck. I was 10. She taught me to read weather, and to determine when it was going to rain a day or two before or when a norther would blow in several days before without a news forecast. I was 11. She taught me how to maintain the farm equipment, drive her John Deere tractor, and mow the pasture. I was 12. I grew up on the farm, and at this point I'd give anything to have those days back.

Amidst all of the memories I can recall several times while sitting on the kitchen floor of her farmhouse my Grandma would pass me an almost empty bowl of cake, cookie, bread, or kolache dough batter right after she finished mixing her ingredients. I heartily enjoyed licking those bowls clean of all of the raw ingredients they contained which included eggs. I was never warned to not eat it due to the potential risk of eating raw egg. That was a completely unheard of and absurd notion during those times. Besides, those were farm eggs, gathered from the hen house no later than the day before, but often just that morning though we took this for granted. To us an egg was an egg, and that was that. I never even thought about it.

3 weeks and 550 million Salmonella infested eggs later reinforces the false notion that eating anything but a fully cooked egg is risky at best. I followed this recent event fairly closely, and the question regarding how Salmonella gets inside a shell egg was posed to me.

Salmonella enterica

First of all the kind of eggs that were included in the Wright County Egg Recall were from a factory egg farm. Factory farms for the most part are a very unhealthy and inhumane enterprise. Sure we get a majority of our food eggs from them, but chickens simply aren't created to be exploited into laying eggs in the unnatural confines of a 1'x1' cage with 6 other birds crammed in for company.

Before they are even hatched, the eggs with live embryos inside are injected with an antibiotic to keep the newly hatched baby chicks from dying in the highly contaminated and cramped confines of the egg farm hatchery. Males are culled right away (they don't lay eggs) through grinding, and then they are prepared as chicken meal to be fed to the laying hens. Females are de-beaked almost immediately in order to prevent them from pecking open sores in themselves, and from cannibalizing their roommates due to "confinement anxiety". Throughout their miserable life-cycle they are kept alive by being continuously pumped with antibiotics through their feed and water, and are subjected to forced-molting in order to maximize their egg production during naturally off-season egg laying periods.

Unhappy Hens

As one can imagine, these conditions make for a very unclean egg when it comes out of the chicken. Before it falls into the egg shoot for further processing it is stepped on and rolled in chicken litter (that's crap in layman's terms). To make matters worse most of the diarrhea-like chicken litter that covers the inside of the cage, it's occupants, and the shell eggs (our food) comes out of the festering and inflamed digestive tract of the alive, yet heavily Salmonella infested bird. The dirty shell eggs are then shuttled along a conveyor, much like a piece of sheet metal to be die-stamped into a cheap tea kettle somewhere in China, into a vat of tepid water where they are subject to a chemical bathing process to remove the caked on poop and feathers before being dried, packaged, and shipped thousands of miles across the country in big trucks that get about 6 miles of diesel to the gallon.

Filth

While most factory farming facilities are characteristically filthy we are now being told by the USDA inspection teams that Wright County was an "extreme exception". I remain skeptical. In addition to several obvious violations within the egg laying house, I surmise that in an ever increasing demand for profit in a tightly competitive egg production market many, many corners were cut throughout this entire egg production facility. I also believe that the same violations could be found in any USDA inspected egg production facility on any given day, but that Wright County was singled out as the scapegoat because that is where most of the recalled eggs were sourced from during this latest recall. We are guaranteed to see more of these in the future.

With a resurgence in local, small farm production where laying chickens are humanely raised on pasture in a natural setting rather than in a confinement cage, I predict that once again grandchildren across America will be able to safely and confidently resume bowl-licking in short order.

My husband

2010-09-04T14:50:00.010-05:00

View from the road

This is going to be more of a personal snippet about my darling husband. He doesn't know I am putting this on here so mum is the word. He is such a wonderful and thoughtful man. He is working so hard at his real job and then when he is home from traveling he heads out to the farm because..." I want the farm to be ready for you sweetie". Go ahead ladies....awww.

He is out there now in the heat replacing boards on the barn as I am in A/C cleaning/blogging. He never stops as most people know that have gotten to know him. If he does stop it is to read up on farming, growing the right crops for hogs or the type of wind breaks we need to protect us and the animals in the winter.

He has given up a lot for us and I honestly love him for that! I really could go on about how he provides and plans and protects us but I think everyone reading this will understand what kind of man he is. Yes we don't see eye to eye on things and we do get on each others nerves but that is normal. I want you that are reading this, that our farm is going to be molded by his attitude and respect for the land as God desires us to have. Steve will provide for the farm as he does for his family.

Steve, I do love you and thank you for everything you have done for me and my young men that you are helping raise. God has more than blessed me with you in my life!

Suzanne

I do love pigs!

2010-08-16T23:43:00.006-05:00

Yes I have to admit that I have always loved pigs! I can't tell you how many pigs I have been given over the years. Steve has told me that he will find a place for me to show off all my piggies. Well I guess he has found it! Wendish River Farms.

I am reading "Raising the Homestead Hog" by Jerome D Belanger, a great read if you are thinking about having a few hogs around your place. He writes..

"Not only is the fertilizer produced from renewable resources instead of petroleum(as many chemical fertilizers are) but also there is no transportation expense, the fertilizer factory reproduces itself, and after you get the fertilizer you can eat the factory. How can you beat that for a complete natural cycle?"

I will admit I will have a hard time seeing my piggies go to market as none can stay home. But I am also going to have a blast raising an animal that I have loved from afar up close and personal in just a few short years!

I just love those cute little noses!

-Suzanne

My Wife the Aikido Dan

2010-08-12T15:59:00.013-05:00

Eggs

Did you know that there is a season for egg laying? Most people don't. I didn't, but apparently chickens don't lay eggs as well once Autumn rolls around, and the days get shorter.

In the Northern Hemisphere egg production peaks between June 20-21. These happen to be the longest days of the year. This year in Houston our longest day was on June 21. It lasted 14h 03m 32s. After that our days have been getting steadily shorter, and will continue to do so until December 22. To the farmer this means chicken egg production drops off sharply due to this seasonal change in the cosmos.

Last night during supper, Suzanne expressed some consternation toward farmers who use heat lamps and white lights on 14-15 hour time cycles inside of their chicken houses to fool the layers into thinking that there is still plenty of daylight available for them to lay eggs. My wife raised an interesting point.

By artificially providing "long days" to the chicken, farmers are manipulating a natural process of molting, whereby chickens undergo a feather loss and regrowth. During molting chickens need all of their energy to produce new feathers, not eggs. Once this cycle is complete chickens resume laying at their regular rate as the days start to lengthen. By disrupting this cycle, a chicken cannot fully molt, and a permanent reduction in laying capacity is the result. A short term financial gain is had at the chicken's expense. Suzanne argued that this is fundamentally wrong, and not far removed from industrial agriculture's philosphy on animal husbandry.

Ai - Ki - Do

As a college student I made dubious efforts to study and practice Aikido. I probably logged a total of about 45 hours in 4 years. That isn't a lot, but it gave me a chance to understand some key concepts, and attempt to apply them to the world around me. Sensei always asked the question, "What do you do if you see a train coming down the track?", to which our ingrained rote reply was, "Get out of the way."

Inertia, balance, and the flow of energy are key principles of this style of martial art. It teaches the practictioner to flow with the current of energy rather than encounter it head on or full force. It is a very practical excercise of physics, and quite useful for the dispersion of aggressive energy when applied with technical exactness.

My wife's unintentional application of this principle as it pertains to egg laying season needs deeper thought. Wisdom dictates we should allow nature to take its course in this matter.

My Wife the Pig Farmer

2010-08-12T09:57:00.008-05:00

My wife is planning a trip for Fall 2011 to Preussen Oldendorf, Germany in Westphalia to meet some old family on her mother's side, the Tiemanns. Little did I know that the Tiemanns of the Old Country were pig farmers. My wife's affinity for the pig now explained, it seems our choice of husbandry appears to be prophetic.

An excerpt from a recent email sent by her 80+ year old cousin Sue Oppliger states the following:

"It is interesting that you are planning to move to the farm. You will definitely learn all about hogs on this trip. Last count I heard they had 500 pigs. When they reach a certain weight they go to market. The little ones are called ferkel. It is a high density operation, and everything is kept immaculately clean."

Indeed. I researched the term ferkel, and found that it is the German term for piglet. Since we are going to go the Large Black Pig route, our piglets can and henceforth will be referred to as Zum Schwarzen Ferkel, or the black piglets.

Zum Schwarzen Ferkel - OINK!

Liver and Onions

2010-08-10T11:55:00.005-05:00

Last night I indulged in a special treat - fried beef liver and onions. I'm aware that most people don't consider this Southern Delicacy a treat, but I can assure you it is. It's been awhile since I partook, and as I reacquainted my palate with an old favorite I tried to remember the last time I'd been blessed.

A word of caution before you decide to go out and try liver - make sure you know the source. I purchased this liver from a local farm close to Waller, TX that specialises in naturally raised, grass-fed beef. I've never really looked, but I've not seen liver in the grocery market meat counter. We always had it on hand in the freezer because my family raised cattle for so many years.

I hadn't pondered the unavailability of liver much until I read a chapter in The Omnivore's Dilemna that contained a brief interview with the resident veterinarian of a commerical feed lot operation. He explained that the starchy, sugar-laden corn diet being fed to the cows is designed for maximum weight gain in a period of time that coincides with imminent death of the cattle due to liver failure. Basically the high sugar/starch diet of mostly corn blows out the cow's liver. It is not uncommon for feed lot operators to find that 30-40% of the cattle slaughtered at their facility have completely diseased, abcessed livers due to their forced overindulgence in something they weren't designed to eat.

So my advice is enjoy liver, just make sure you know who's your eating.

Pig feeds and pig feed costs

2010-08-07T00:12:00.007-05:00

I've been doing a lot reading about feeds lately. When it comes to raising swine it is important to plan and model all of your necessary feed needs as it is estimated that 60-70 percent of your cost for raising hogs is tied up in feed.

I'm hoping that this estimate will be closer to the 55-65 percent range since our pigs will be on pasture year-round. This will avail them the opportunity to root and forage for other sources of fiber and protein in order to offset their feed needs.

Supposedly pigs love to eat snakes. Suzanne hates snakes. She's expressed snake fears as one of her primary hesitations to moving out to the farm. I told her we'd work on her shotgun skills, but she's still more than a little apprehensive. Hopefully the pigs will be able to clear out most of the snakes as, although she's really sweet, I'm a little afraid of a shotgun wielding Suzanne. Most people that know her would understand my hesitation.

Another plan we have is to plant an abundance of fruit trees. I'm hoping to do a lot of planting this November after I section about 2 acres of the property off with electric fencing to prevent the current renter's cows from destroying my orchards. The plan is to inter-crop low chill hour peaches, plums, pears, persimmons, and pomegranates. I figured that with 5 "Ps" I can't go wrong. This is one of the things I'm not going to spend a lot of time researching. I know the trees will grow in Waller, so I'm not too worried about success as long as I'm able to provide regular water. In the Spring I'm planting a variety of citrus and lots of loquat (Chinese plum) trees. This will be more than enough fruit for Suz and I, but we plan on sharing some, and giving the pigs the leftovers to offset their feed needs. I'll need to watch the persimmons as the skin is not digestible, and should never be eaten by pigs or humans.

Eventually we talked about building a 30'x20' greenhouse, and plant 8-10 dwarf Cavendish bananas inside of it. This isn't going to be anything fancy. It will probably consist of a wood frame draped with heavy clear plastic, tied down to prevent from blowing away. Ideally this greenhouse would rest next to the homestead chicken house. The idea would be to keep the chickens cool using transpiration from the banana trees during the summer, and to keep the banana trees warm with the body heat from the chickens during the winter. I'll have to rig up some way to allow air to be channeled back and forth between the greenhouse and chicken house.

As a final note, all of the food stuff that the pigs and other animals receive on our farm will be non-genetically modified and completely organic. Of course, this will add to the cost of production and retail, but we think this is one of the things that will distinguish our product over what you get at the supermarket meat counter for $1.99/lb. It will also allow our farm to uphold a vision and mission of sustainability, and in the end it will be much healthier for our family and yours as well.

Making Swine Shine

2010-08-04T17:38:00.014-05:00

Pigs get a bad rap. Hog farming gets an even worse one. All we typically envision when the words "pig-farm" come up (which I'm assuming doesn't happen very often in your daily conversation) is a stinky, unsanitary mess where a pig goes in one end, and a pork chop comes out the other. Well we are trying really hard in our conveyances to not cast that image of pig-farming.

I felt a real need to post this because I've been getting a lot of weird looks from people when I tell them I want to be a pig-farmer. Most probably think I'm crazy. Heck, some days I think I'm crazy for wanting to make a go of it, but I feel I it owe to those who hold a stake in good food. That includes first of all my family, then my friends, then my community, and last but not least the pig. Please allow me to explain.

Pig-farming is on the decline - at least in the 800-1000 pigs a year type farming.(ATTRA) The only real winners in large scale pig farming today (>50,000 pigs annually) are the multi-national conglomerates. I like to call them "The Unmentionables" because I'm afraid that if I refer to them by name that they will come after me. Yes, they are that sadistically powerful, and they want nothing less than to dominate what you put on your child's plate, and they will do that in the most cost-effective way (to them) at the expense of cleanliness, nutrition, animal welfare, community welfare, and the environment.

Their factory farms treat living creatures as tightly controlled commodities to be bought and sold on the open market to the highest bidder through futures and speculation. This type of production induces countless cruelties upon the animals that they are responsible for in a never-ending grab for profit. It costs money to make your pigs comfortable on this scale. It also costs money to make the food safe. The medium-sized farmer forced into contracts with the big guys are typically at the bottom of the food chain. They have it almost as bad as the pigs do. We strive for something better.

Our vision is to have a real farm. To me that means a small house, a large barn, a beat up old pickup truck that needs some tinkering from time to time, an old tractor that is easy to maintain, a garden or two, fruit trees, some big oak trees, a pond, some farm dogs, guinea hens, turkeys, a few goats, a milking cow, a bunch of laying hens, and about 15 to 20 pigs roaming around on 50 acres of land. From some of those resources we imagine producing humanely raised, clean, nutritionally sound farm products (mostly pork), and direct-marketing that to our local community.

To me that's real farming, and that's what we're all about.

The Cost of Centralization

2010-07-29T06:42:00.008-05:00

Wagyu

Yesterday I posted a short blurb on Facebook regarding the decimating loss suffered by Japan's Wagyu beef industry.

Tragically, this type of devastation is unavoidable in a centralized industrial food system. This is a huge loss to farmers and consumers alike, but the real tragedy of this story is that largely, it could have been prevented.

According to the USDA Yearbook in Agriculture 1956, the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States occurred in the winter of 1870 close to the US-Canadian border. It died out before the Spring with little affect outside of the immediate area. This is pristine example of a local condition that persisted for a time, and due to the lack of an industrialized support system a serious disease was contained with relatively minor losses to farm and family.

The Yearbook goes onto to explain that preceding the Civil War, transportation from the South was disrupted by the Union Army for a time, and it was reopened to allow agricultural products, including cattle, to be shipped cross-country to Pennsylvania and New York. As a result, animals infected with cattle-tick fever were exposed to far more territory than if they had stayed in the South, and the spread of the disease further crippled an already over-burdened food system.

Feedlot

Steam and internal-combustion technologies made it easier to commoditize agricultural products of local in-kind trade significance, like beef and pork. In order to make a commodity there must be some consistency or standard whereby goods can be measured. Consistency calls for control, and in the case of our food industry control calls for centralization.

This structure necessitates transportation of sickened animals cross-country to facilities that finish them on grain before slaughter. For the most part this system creates the illusion that it works, until something like a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak necessitates the slaughter and containment of thousands of animals, or the painful death of a child as a result of him or her eating an E.Coli O157:H7 infected fast-food item occurs.

Our commoditized food system has become one not based on the health and nutrition of a population, but one of exploitation and manipulation in an effort to squeeze every last dollar, pound, ruble, euro, or yen out of, in this most recent example of a failing food system, Wagyu beef.

Powerflex Fence Company

2010-07-28T07:58:00.008-05:00

I know I promised my next installment would be about chickens, but I couldn't wait to compliment on the patience and courteousness shown to me by Connie and the staff of Powerflex Fence Co..

I've really been mulling over a lot of farm projects lately, and fencing happens to be one of the big ones. I'm going to have to make a fairly large investment of time and labor re-fencing the entire outer perimeter of our property in order to make the farm safe and secure for our livestock.

When it comes to fencing there a lot of options; some better than others. Currently our farm is surrounded by the traditional cattelman's solution - barbed-wire. There's a lot of history and culture surrounding barbed wire, and it really is interesting to read about. If you have the time I suggest: Barbed Wire. Unfortunately, history and culture don't solve our fencing problems. Therefore we will forgo tradition, and opt for something better.

For our needs we really require an electric fencing system, and from what I've read Powerflex provides one of the best. Most of their products are from New Zealand. The New Zealanders (?) know a lot about grass farming. In fact you could say they've perfected it, and most of what we do here in the United States in terms of rotational grazing has been done by the New Zealanders for many, many years.

Powerflex has taken the best electric fencing elements from the folks who more or less invented the rotational grazing system, and are now providing those products direct to farmers like me. I called them yesterday to ask a few questions regarding our best electric fencing solutions, as they offer several. I spoke to 3 different people, and finally ended up talking to Connie for about 10 minutes. They all sounded very busy. Connie explained that they were anticipating a move to a new facility very soon due to the fact that they've outgrown their current shop. Even though they were busy, Connie treated me with patience and respect, answered all of my questions, and very openly and honestly suggested an appropriate product that would get me on my way. She also invited me to their free annual customer appreciation day on October 23rd where prominent leaders of the rotational grazing/grass-fed movement will appear for speaking engagements even though I'm not officially a customer yet. I plan on going.

So I wanted to personally express my gratitude to Connie of Powerflex Fence Co. in this post. Thanks Connie and staff, and good luck with the move. See you in October.

Rethinking Cattle

2010-07-25T15:25:00.023-05:00

While musing a life of hog farming I've come to realize that I'm going to need some ruminants to manage our pastures.

I've been able to witness first hand the results of not having a grazing herd of animals like cows on your property for an extended period of time. No grazing activity has a really bad effect. First of all the pasture becomes completely overrun with weeds, brush, and tall lignified forage that really isn't good for much , and looks really bad.

Traditionally farmers in our area have utilized a continuous grazing practice. This is the status quo way of raising cattle on pasture. In a continuous grazing system cattle are allowed to roam a pasture at will choosing and eating whatever they want while ignoring less desirable forage, such as weeds and browse, that may be somewhat nutritious and good to eat, but is more or less not as tasty to the cow.

For example I was walking through a neighbor's pasture Friday evening (with permission of course) before the sun went down. I started to follow the resident herd of ruminant herbivores in an attempt to discover what they were choosing to eat. The pasture contained a mixture of small smutgrass, bahaia, native crabgrass, and about 10 to 15 other visible species of mostly graminoid (grass) including weed species, some browse, and a few forbes. I observed that the cows were choosing to eat the bahaia grass over all the other available plant matter that has some nutrition, but is less tasty.

In this situation the cow will always select the more palatable plants. It's as if you laid out a pot pie, a carrot, and a cookie in front of your child. Children as a rule would more than likely choose to eat the cookie if that situation were presented to them. This is because mammals are biologically hard-coded to find food stuff with high sugar content to be more palatable than those without. This is God's way of preserving man and animal whereby they naturally desire carbohydrate-laden foods in order for them to store up reserves (fat) in the event of a famine.

According to the literature there are several problems with this type of continuous grazing system. First, there is a reduction of interspecific competition due to the fact that the cow continuously grazes desirable forage over less-desirable forage. This results in the ever-increasing amount of weed type graminoids, and the consequent reduction of valuable forages in a pasture system. Second, cattle that are allowed to graze this way tend to not "bunch-up" as herd animals do in nature. Since there is very little pressure from predation in our man-made world, cattle have no reason to form tight groups as would a herd of pre-European American bison on the Great Plains or African wildebeest of the Serengeti.

The hoof action of the tightly grouped herd breaks and crushes the lignified (brown/carbon) plant material, and their urine and manure (green/nitrogen) combine with the crushed plant matter to form natural compost. In this compost seeds are deposited and buried by the hoof action, and the hoof impressions form low spots for water to gather that will nourish the newly germinating grass after the herd moves on.

An additional benefit of a herd that is forced to stay close due to predation pressure is that more of the less-desirable plant material is consumed simply due to the fact that nature was designed to make venturing too far beyond the protection of the herd to reach that yummy grass-cookie twenty yards away a potentially life-ending proposition.

Now how does this make cattle a necessity for pasture management if there are no natural predators left that will cause cattle to bunch-up like we want them to? The answer is we have to use different techniques to manage a herd in order to simulate God's design for nature. We can do this by utilizing several tools. The first tool is the predator. In this case we can use a temporary electric fencing system to mimic predation pressure. A cow that touches a low amperage, 6000-7000 volt fence once will respect that barrier, and treat the wire as it would a predator.

If we make the grazing area very small in ratio with herd size in comparison to a continuous grazing system, which could be in excess of 100 acres, it will be easier to bunch the herd for the desired grazing, hoof action, composting, and subsequent germination when the herd is moved. Third we must move our herd frequently. This cannot be overemphasized due to the fact that the pasture can be severely degraded if cattle are left on a small area of pasture in this manner for too long a period. Again, we must mimic God's design by simulating herd movement across the Plains to another sectioned-off area of pasture. We allow the grazed upon area to rest, and return the herd to this pasture after the grasses have had a chance to recover. This will also enhance the competitive advantage of the good forages that are present, and allow new forages such as clover, that require low-pressure habitat, to be established in the pasture.

By maintaining a rotationally grazed pasture system we create the net effect of good pasture management, good forage proliferation, reduction of winter feeding costs and labor (less hay to put out), eliminating the necessity to apply petroleum-based fertilizer for forage nutrition, and happier, fatter cows.

Next installment - "Why Chickens Matter".

Weeds and other musings

2010-07-07T19:48:00.017-05:00

Well it has definitely been too long since I posted anything truly meaningful here. I had to recharge my knowledge banks, so as to not to keep regurgitating things I already talked about.

Not having animals on the ground makes the farm blog really difficult to develop, and I want to thank everyone who frequents this meandering diatribe on a semi-regular basis. Again, your support is a blessing. I highly encourage you to keep checking back from time to time as we are still pushing towards our goal of farmer-hood.

I'll start by recapping my visit with the NRCS that occurred about 3 weeks ago. The conservationist and I talked at length about my prosposed operation. He wasn't so sure about the hog thing. I felt a little discouraged, but have since done more research and feel confident that hogs need to be part of our operation. Perhaps not the main part, but at least a part. He did compliment my pasture however as he thought that it had been well managed, and not over-grazed. He was impressed by the warm-season forage load of bahiagrass, and suggested that I supplement the forage with a cool-season leguminous crop like Arrowleaf clover. I cannot take credit for the quality of our pasture as I currently don't manage the property. I do however have a problem with small smutgrass which I will elaborate on later.

It is important that biodiversity be emphasized in our's and any farm system. Each plant or animal introduced into the farm system has a specific job to fulfill.

Take hogs for instance. From what I've read and observed, hogs are very good tillers. They have a snout that is specifically designed to serve as a shovel-grubbing hoe. This characteristic precludes the need for energy and money consuming equipment when tillage is required.

Tillage in a farm system is usually not desirable when it is done by machine. Part of the reason is that it exposes soil to the elements which causes erosion and leaching of soil nutrients - essentially soil death. Another reason machine tillage is not recommended is that in every case weeds abound in tilled soil. This is particularly true in the case of small smutgrass where research has proven a 94% germination rate among smutgrass seed on tilled ground as opposed to a 9% rate in undisturbed soil, and the seed remains viable for up to 2 years. (UCDavis, 2008)

Hogs however eat dirt while they till. They eat dirt because they are trying to eat roots, worms, grubs, and whatever else they can find buried in the soil. While ingesting dirt they also inadvertently eat seeds. Some of the hard seed is destroyed during the digestive process, thereby reducing the weed seed load in the soil. Out the other end comes, well you know...poop. Poop is a good thing as it puts nutrients that the hog ingested back into the ground. After the hogs have finished rooting, tilling, and fertilizing your new seed bed (while fattening themselves up to produce yummy pork chops) it is recommended that non-weed seed be broadcast liberally over the area in order to out-compete any weed seed that is perhaps left over.

Alternative weed control methods have been suggested by the local land-grant college. Much to my consternation the experts suggested that I used a synthetic chemical called hexazinone. DuPont markets this product as Velpar. The recommended delivery method is boom-sprayer over your smutgrass infested pasture whereupon all the smutgrass will die. Unfortunately the side affects include the diminishment of your good forage stand, and not being able to graze said pasture for 60 days at a minimum. It has also been proven that hexazinone contaminates ground water due to its high solubility. It's also very expensive, and outlives its productive usefulness as an artificial input as soon as you spray it on the ground. Chromosomal aberration studies have also shown positive response in Chinese hamsters. (Cornell, 1988) It may be worth it to note that this product is used very frequently to control weeds all over the United States. Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it?

During my weed control research I found another ally. Allelopathy. What is this you say? Allelopathy was first coined as a term by an Austrian scientist in his book "The Effect of Plants on Each Other"

The term defines a class of plants that inhibit the growth of other plants as a survival technique. Winter rye grass exhibits this property when the weather warms up. The rye grass dies, but in doing so it releases allelopathic chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plant organisms in the immediate vicinity. I'm not sure how this effects bahiagrass, but it has proven to be an effective weed-control mechanism. I look forward to being able to test this theory by inter-planting winter rye grass seed with inoculated clover over our pasture in about 2 years.

So on I ramble. My next installment - "Rethinking Cattle".

I'm still alive.

2010-07-01T15:27:00.005-05:00

I've just been really busy with life, and trying to get the business side of this farm going. We finally came up with a name. I'll share it at a later time.

I found an interesting tidbit that I thought I'd share regarding what the USDA calls cattle feed.

This excerpt comes from an article in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation called "Poultry Manure Management: Environmentally Sound Options".

Things like this keep me motivated to get to the farm as quickly as possible, so that I can start producing delicious, nutritious, local food for my family and all of you loyal followers of this blog. Thanks for your support and continued prayer. We definitely need it.

NRCS and me.

2010-06-23T20:30:00.005-05:00

I had the good fortune to speak with Trey Bedtke from the Waller County Field Office of NRCS. He's going to help me map out a Conservation Stewardship Program for our sustainable farming operation. This should help me recoup some of the cost to implement irrigation and fencing systems.

We're supposed to meet out at the farm on Friday morning. That will give me a chance to take a break from barn painting, and talk some shop with a guy that really knows a lot more about this stuff than I do.

He sounded excited about the challenge of helping us, and I think that he was secretly grateful to not have to help someone else meet the bare minimum requirements for an ag exemption.

Nothing wrong with that of course, but I think these guys get really frustrated seeing all this pasture land that is either being developed, or waiting to be subdivided and developed instead of it being treasured as a great national resource that can be used to make a major local impact to reduce hunger.

If you liked Food, Inc....

2010-06-23T19:48:00.004-05:00

You're going to love Fresh.

A poignant new look at the food movement that is sweeping the nation in a massive, grass roots sea change.

Local showings coming soon:

Sunday, July 18, 1:30PM
Unity Church
2929 Unity Drive
Houston, TX 77057

Saturday, July 31, 3:00PM
Georgia's Farm to Market
12171 Katy Freeway
Houston, YX 77079

Talked to a windmill guy today

2010-06-22T23:19:00.003-05:00

A windmill guy is supposed to come out to the farm to take a gander this Friday while I'm painting the barn. I'm glad I already have the tower because a new one is expensive. The mill alone isn't cheap, and when you add the blades, and replace the cistern with a bigger tank - oh man!

I really want the windmill element on the farm though. I kind of see it and the barn as our primary elements. I could just replace the blades and the mill, paint the cistern, and not re-dig the well, but Suz and I are striving for authenticity.

It will be so nice to have electricity-free well water stored away in a nice 5000 gallon tank.

What's in a name?

2010-06-20T13:21:00.014-05:00

One of the biggest challenges that Suz and I are facing at this point in time is a name for our farm. Daily we come up with ideas that we think sound OK, but so far none have really stuck.

I'm feeling like we can't really move forward until we come up with something that suits our location, our values, our product, and our heritage. We have thrown ourselves upon the Lord regarding this area, and are praying daily that He will reveal an appropriate, marketable name to us. Meanwhile we wait, and continue to make plans towards our future as best we can.

At this point we have a lot of thoughts about the farm, and how best make our products attractive and varied enough to satisfy local food demand.

One idea that God recently revealed to us was the idea of "farm shares". Apparently this is gaining popularity, but we hadn't heard about it until another family (props to the Glasers!) shared it with us. Basically it consists of selling "shares" of your farm to folks who appreciate high-quality, locally grown foodstuffs on a regular basis. For example, a family purchases a farm share for $50/month. In exchange we, the farmer, would provide them with a set amount of goods produced on farm each month. Easy? I don't know, but it sounds good. It will certainly allow us to focus on production levels a lot closer, and help us budget for future growth. I think it would provide a lot of value on both sides of the fence. Pun definitely intended!

On one hand our customers would be guaranteed a farm fresh product year-round, and we, the farmer, would have the security of a steady (and hopefully at least subsistence level) income. In addition to farm shares regular one-off purchases would still be available of course in this system.

I'm not sure if this is the route we would want to go, but at this point all ideas are always fun and useful to kick around.

This gives us so much more to think and pray about, and yet another way God has revealed His will for us in our lives. Thanks Jesus.

(re)Barning

2010-06-19T12:05:00.011-05:00

We're taking another trip out to the farm today, and I'm very excited about it. I finally have my first project - painting the barn. I'm going to start next Friday, and I want to start cleaning up around the place to get ready for that.

I'm really starting to take things in stride, and formulate some ideas about what we want to do out here. At first we were thinking about organic beef. The USDA certified organic program is very stringent however, and I know we don't need to pursue that route in order to have a viable product.

After seeing some other farms we thought that grass-fed beef would suffice along with pigs and chickens. After doing some hard thinking I've come to the realization that 40 acres just won't be enough to do all of that, and still maintain a sustainable, humane level of quality. Although more land is available I really don't want to spread ourselves to thin over so many different things.

Through all of this we've managed to narrow our primary focus on pastured pork. Not just any pastured pork mind you, but a truly unique heritage breed known as the Large Black Hog. It is a particularly rare British pig breed, and is listed as critically endangered by the American Livestock Breed Conservancy. This pig yields roughly 200 lbs of finished pork product, and is known for it's quality bacons, chops, and hams. They do especially well when finished in the Southern tradition on sweet potatoes and peanuts. We plan on incorporating this 19th century method of finishing for our pigs on these crops in order to impart a sweet, succulent flavor to the meat that will be unsurpassed by anything that can be purchased at your local grocer's meat counter today.

In addition to pork we will also offer a pastured farm egg that will be wholly organic (not certified), and very wholesome due to the fact that the chickens will also be raised on pasture where they will have access to all manner of bugs, worms, small reptiles, and amphibians. This diet in addition to an organic feed supplement will naturally enrich the eggs with healthy polyunsaturated Omega-3s, and a lower level of cholesterol than "traditional" store bought eggs.

Yummmy.....

Money does not make the world go round...but it helps

2010-06-17T06:37:00.021-05:00

I found another little bit today having to do with some information on farm subsidies for rotational grazing, and I thought I'd share it. So if there are any grant writers following this blog...

I also needed a way to remind myself to look into this further, so I to put it somewhere where I won't forget about it. We're reading so much about farming, pigs, chickens, rotational grazing, grass, feed, fences, and tractors that keeping up with all of the information is starting to become a challenge. It's interesting though, and we're both wrinkling our brains quite a bit.

The grants are administered by the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program, and were written into the 2009 Farm Bill.

Those grants of particular interest to us include:

Solar Electric Fencing
Intensive Rotational Grazing
Local Farm Products
Solar Powered Pumping Stations
Recycling of Farm Lubricants
Silvopasturing

Some folks scorn farm subsidies, as they've become a big part of the reason why our food system has become so industrialized and unhealthy. I say if the money is there, then those interested in bringing a change to what we eat need to take advantage of it in order to further advocate the small farmer and the nutritious local food they produce.

If you support this please pray for us, and for the farmers that presently are in the trenches of this food war, fighting to reclaim our fallen food industry.

Thank you

2010-06-15T21:35:00.020-05:00

Man, I pray daily seeking God's wisdom over this entire farming issue. Sometimes I think I will never be able to find the answers to all of the questions swimming around in my head. I used to worry about it, but I gave that up about 3 weeks ago.

Since that time I've been spending daily time in His Word, and through prayerful meditation I've sought His will in all of this. It's the only way I can make it with out driving myself crazy or to despair.

All along the way of this short journey so far God has given little bits and pieces to carry us further through. I tell you it's been like trudging chest-deep in water through an impenetrable swampy jungle at times. We've faced opposition (more in our own minds), but we've also been encouraged. It's these little bits of grace that have gotten us through the doubts and fears, and has allowed us to press on.

A visit to the farm

2010-06-14T22:28:00.005-05:00

Well yesterday Suz and I decided to drive out to the farm in order to get a lay of the land, and take some pictures.

We took lots of pictures. Some good, some not so, but they will definitely help us track before and after progression around the place as currently it's more or less in shambles.

The Baethe House with windmill and cistern in foreground

Two dogs guarding a "B"

A little porch

Some call it small we call it cozy

Crystal door knobs

Back of the hay barn and corral

Busted old shoot

A long fence

Old concrete cattle trough busted by a hard freeze a long time ago, so the story goes...

Gate. It's what's for dinner.

Who's the old farmer? Oh, that's just Dad. Hi Dad.

Dirty hay loft.

A shady spot.

Some beeves.

More shade.

I like your cow!

Magic Seeds

2010-06-13T14:20:00.038-05:00

I managed to grow a small crop of bib lettuce from some seed that a wise old farmer gave me about a year ago. When she gave me the seed she explained that you couldn't find this seed anywhere, as it had disappeared from the heirloom seed inventory a long time ago.

I let the crop go to seed this Spring, and am just now getting around to separating it, and preparing it for storage in the fridge until I'm ready to plant it this Winter when you are supposed to plant this type of lettuce.

The Garden Seed Inventory, 5th ed. indicates that this particularly variety was dropped in 1998 which indicates that it was lost to folks who might want to grow it. I've yet to do any serious study into finding out if this is actually that variety, thus I am withholding the name that I was told it was. It came from a very reliable source though, so I think it probably is the one spoken about in the GSI.

For those interested the subtitle of the GSI is An Inventory of Seed Catalogs Listing all Non-Hybrid Vegetable Seeds Available in the United States and Canada.

These are heirloom seeds, non-hybridized, which means you can grow them from seed produced by the parent plant. These are the types of seeds that some who would like nothing more than to control your food source wish would go away. I'm going to help make sure that doesn't happen with these seeds.

Farm Description

2010-06-11T22:47:00.003-05:00

OK I'm back in Houston now. Crazy travel schedules keep me from home a lot these days, but I'm here for at least 3 weeks until I have to go back. It will be nice to come home every night for a change, after a year of not being able to do that except on weekends.

I promised a description of the farm, so I'll do my best from memory as I'm not there now, and its about an hour away.

First of all we're dealing with 40 acres total. I hope to be able to expand beyond that, but for now this is what we've got. God knows that at this time in our lives it really is as much as we can handle. It's river-bottom land, so consequently it is very flat. I see that as a slight negative as I would like to have some high ground. On the flip side the soil is probably the best around. I mean it is BLACK, and full of nutrients and good soil microbes. This is going to be a huge positive when it comes time to start converting the pasture to better forage.

As the entire landscape was at one point mainly farmland (after it was settled) the entire pasture is clear cut with the exception of about 9 big oak trees, and a pecan. I kind of wish I had a little more forest-y stuff going on, but on a piece of land this small I don't think it'd be practical for what we want to do in the long run. Still the eventual pigs would appreciate some natural shelter. I'm going to have to improvise something for them, so they don't get too hot or cold during the extreme seasons.

There is a "pond", but I'm not at all pleased with it. I'm going to have to think about this one. It is very muddy, and has been since it was dug. That makes me think it wasn't dug deep enough. I'm not sure I can save it, but I'm going to try by putting some straw into it as I've read that the tannins in straw will clear the water up over time. Still, I'd like to have it dredged a little deeper, and perhaps a little bigger. We'll see.

As far as structures are concerned this place is really cool. Since it was once a pre-War working farm it has some great characteristically "farm-y" elements to it.

Perhaps the coolest feature is the barn. It is very old fashioned, red, and extremely well-built. The columns inside this thing are old, and very stout. I don't think anything short of an atomic bomb, or direct hit from a tornado could take this thing out. It has a cool hayloft, and several side rooms for hay storage or whatever. There is also a nice-sized corral attached to it that needs a little repair to be fully functional again.

The next coolest feature is an old windmill with an attached cistern. The blades are missing, and the well is not use-able. I'd like to eventually have it restored to working condition. I think it would add a lot to the overall farm ambiance, and hopefully I'll be able to incorporate it into our logo. If I do that it will definitely have to be in working condition.

In addition to an old farmhouse, there are numerous other structures in the farm yard that are of some redeeming value including a few small storage sheds, and an old chicken house. The chicken house is in major dis-repair, but it adds a lot of character that I think makes it worth salvaging. This is going to be a major undertaking, and will require some thought and a lot of sweat equity.

Finally, the farmhouse is definitely the heart of the farm. It's a beautiful structure that fits in perfectly with the landscape, and the other farm elements. It's been almost completely restored by my loving dad. I helped as much as I could, but he's responsible for about 99.9% of the restoration. His carpentry skills are remarkable, and I'm really glad that he got a chance to put his whole heart into the work. The quality really shines through.

I'm going to try to make a trip out this Sunday afternoon to get some pictures of everything I've shared so far.

Please stay tuned...

The Farm

2010-06-11T08:03:00.002-05:00

Well I thought I'd post some pics of our farm sooner, but I haven't had a chance to get over there in the past 2 weeks what with travel back and forth from New Orleans and all.

Before anyone suspects that I'm making all this up I decided to post an aerial so everyone can at least get a synopsis.

Well there she is. 40 acres of rich farmland in all her glory. North is actually to the right, but the image looked better on the page this way.

I'll describe the lay of the land in another post later today. For now as an old Texas country blues artist would say "I gotta go to work this morning...."

This Fall's crop.

2010-06-04T21:35:00.002-05:00

Well I couldn't resist. It's almost time to start tomato seeds for the Houston area, but I jumped the gun by about a week. It shouldn't hurt anything, and will probably mean I have tomatoes sooner and longer than those who wait.

I use seed because I prefer the varieties that I can get by seeding. I didn't seed my Summer crop because I ran out of time. To really enjoy some of the more exotic varieties seeding is a must.

So this is an heirloom variety called "Yellow Pear" that I really like. Its a cherry variety that literally explodes with fruit in the Fall, and has a excellent flavor. I highly recommend it for small and large spaces.

I planted 8 pots with 2 seeds each. If they all germinate I'll have way too much, but I'll be able to give them away. Contact me if you want some.

The farm for now.

2010-06-04T20:21:00.003-05:00

Well its tomato season in Houston, and this is about the extent of our farm for now.

I know that's kind of sad looking, but my backyard is much smaller than it will be in 2 years. I just keep telling myself that.

Anyway we only planted three "Sweet Chelsea" cherry tomato plants in late February (2 in containers), protected them from the cold for awhile, fertilized 'em, and Voila!, bounty:

That's only 1 day's worth of pickin'. We've been making hauls like this for 3 weeks now.

So to all you would be farmers, and wannabe farmers like me you too can have fresh tomatoes in your backyard very easily 2 times per year. Our fall crop will be a little different, but still just as easy. If you want to know how to grow tomatoes I recommend you take a gander at Urban Harvest. They have tons of information on growing things.

Nothing like home grown 'maters. Yummm....

Where does your food come from?

2010-06-03T19:57:00.002-05:00

Well we were curious enough to watch Food, Inc., and boy did we find out! And trust me, as they say, we

"...will never look at dinner the same way again!"

What a disgusting mess we've made of our food world. With that in mind we really are seeking a better way of life for ourselves and God's creation.

I have to hand it to my wife first of all for coming up with what I thought was a hair-brain idea about 5 years ago - SHAME ON ME FOR NOT LISTENING!!

So one day she says to me "Honey, why don't we move out to your parents old farm and raise organic beef?" My parents managed cattle for most of my life, and knowing how much work that is I said "You really have no idea how hard that would be to do.", and I left it at that.

About 3 weeks ago my wife had another great idea, and we went on a "Farm Tour" at Yonder Way Farm in Brenham, TX. I felt kind of silly paying $20 to visit a farm in Brenham, TX when I could go out to a perfectly good farm right down the road in Waller, TX for free. If someone ever tells you that God has a plan you better listen because when I saw this place it was like revelation, and I had nothing but praise for my wife and for God for blessing me with such a smart woman.

Yes I kind of feel like a heel for not listening to her 5 years ago, but at least I finally listened right?