Sarah and I have time together each day milking. The grandchildren and I spend time each week working with the chickens. Today’s story comes out of all that time together. What goes around comes around. Maybe a year or so ago, someone decided that we needed a calico kitten, and so one appeared unbidden at […]
Manage for what you want, not for what you don’t want
I took a class this week on “Soil Health and Drought-Resilience for 21st Century Farms” at Ploughshare. I took that quote away From Day 1 of the three day class,. Owen Hanblutzel, the instructor, gave the example of US Agriculture that focuses on getting rid of weeds – and now we have weeds that are more […]
Moving Mountains
Normally, I try to arrange for chores to be light on Sunday morning – nothing big like coop moving or cleaning. I had separated our younger heifer and bull into the front pasture by the pond on Saturday because Primrose, our small standard Jersey was about to have her first calf. I had locked her in this small pasture because the […]
Dealing with Bermuda Grass in a Garden
To keep Bermuda grass out of our vegetable garden, we’ve found this approach to work: Establishing a Bermuda-free zone Determine where the Bermuda-free zone will be. This is basically where your garden is. We surround this area with a Rhizome Barrier to keep the Bermuda out. Bermuda propagates two ways – through air borne seeds, […]
Grit, and Water in the Shade
Water in the Shade Salty drops fall like rain from my brow as I bend over to pick up a dead bird from inside the coops we built for the grow out test. “Why are these birds dying?” I thought. This is the fourth bird in two days, and it’s always been in the same area – […]