Indholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2020 i Hobby Farms

Winter is a great time for planning, especially for next spring’s garden. Without a plan, you’re liable to have way too much of what you know you can grow versus not enough of what you need to try. That’s a trap some hobby farmers fall into. You may be growing the best sweet corn in the county but you’re not growing as a farmer. Are you planting different crops each year, in addition to your regular standbys? Last summer, I tried growing spaghetti squash for the first time, a vegetable that I was unfamiliar with. In the past, I had stayed with the tried-and-true summer squash, because that is what I knew and liked. But then I saw spaghetti squash as was intrigued, so I planted it instead. It grew…

The organic movement is hardly new. Rudolph Steiner studied and taught biodynamic agriculture in the 1920s, and people such as Sir Albert Howard, Rachel Carson and Wendell Berry have kept the conversation about agricultural practices alive over the years. But within the past decade or so, it seems like many of us finally got the message and are demanding more from our food producers. Grocers have increased organic offerings, with some even transitioning their entire stores, and many of their customers are responding with cheers. But for small-scale farmers, tending market gardens and selling straight to customers on the weekend, all this can seem like another world. Most transactions at farmers markets are predicated on relationships and transparency — customers know and trust their farmer to tell them what’s in…

The oldest method of mushroom cultivation has stood the test of time and is still the first method many cultivators attempt. However, some people try and fail, or give up hope before their logs have had a chance to fruit. Success with log culture depends on timing, wood selection, spawn quality, and maintaining good conditions for mycelial growth and mushroom development. Begin by selecting and harvesting good wood. As with sawdust, most wood-loving mushrooms prefer hardwoods without strong antifungal properties. Cut logs from live trees in winter to early spring when the sap has begun to flow and before the leaves unfurl; this is when the wood has the highest level of sugars and bark is tightest. Wood cut at other times will work but will yield fewer mushrooms. The…

When the most recent Census of Agriculture was released in April 2019, it contained some disquieting information. The total number of farms is down, as a small number of large agricultural operations now produce two-thirds of farm output and medium-sized farms continue to disappear. Also, the average age of America’s farmers crept upward to 59.4, with one-third of the total being past 65. But there were some bright spots in the numbers. Twenty-seven percent of responders fell into the “new farmer” category, with 10 or less years of farming experience and an average age of 46.3 years old. Nine percent of farmers are 35 and younger, and small farms (120 acres or less) make up a decent proportion of the total number of the nation’s agricultural operations. Figuring It Out…

To be deemed a healthy food, a fruit or vegetable may be known for its vitamin content. These are organic compounds, which, though differing greatly from one another, share the trait of being essential for normal growth and nutrition of the body and also being required in the diet because they can’t be synthesized by the body. Antioxidants are also frequently mentioned on the subject of healthy eating. Something of a general term which describes any substance that combats oxidative stress on the body, a lot of the diseases and disorders that derail human health involve, at the cellular level, bonds being formed in places they aren’t meant to (oxidation). Antioxidants prevent this from happening and help to keep structures in a healthy, nonoxidized state. Of course, there is also…

SPONSOR/ENTRY PERIOD Enter between 12:00:01 a.m. PT on 1/1/2020 and 11:59:59 p.m. PT on 2/29/2020. (“Entry Period”). SPONSOR EG Media Investments LLC, 4635 McEwen Road, Dallas, TX 75244 ELIGIBILITY Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., 21 years or older. Employees of Sponsor are not eligible to enter. HOW TO ENTER Email your photo(s) (“Theme”) to hobbyfarms@hobbyfarms.com, with the subject line “I Love My Farm” and include your name, mailing address, phone number and any other information you’d like to share about the photo. You may enter only two digital photographs. If you are entering multiple photos, you must send each digital photograph separately, and each email must have all the requested information. Four entries per category/per person/email/household. REQUIREMENTS OF ENTRY Entries must meet the following…

Some stockmen speed up the process of adding organic matter to their soils by doing their winter feeding on the poorest soils. This can be done by keeping the cattle on that field or pasture for winter and always moving the feeding area or bale feeders so the animals leave manure over most of the field or pasture by winter’s end. Haying and hauling the hay off takes nutrients from the land and doesn’t return them, depleting soil fertility over time, but feeding the livestock on that field puts the nutrients back. Bale grazing (letting cattle eat big bales out in the field) is the ultimate in adding nutrients back to the soil. This feeding method involves leaving the bales in the field where they are made, or bringing bales…

Blackberries and raspberries are self-fertile, so you only need one bush to produce fruit. Each berry variety will have different space requirements, but the rule of thumb when planting blackberries and raspberries is one plant every 5 feet. Marine veteran Jason Pratt, the owner of Indian Springs Berry Farm near Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, started his organic blackberry operation on his family’s 8-acre horse farm in 2015. The horses were long gone, and he was looking to generate revenue. Taking up a total of 2 acres, Pratt’s farm opened for picking in 2017. He acknowledges more plants equals more payroll. “You have to touch every plant twice a week from May through June when they’re doing their major growing,” he says. “That is how you have to figure out how…

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve operated your farm business for a while, generating “earned” media can net new customers, more sales and increased attention. Unlike paid advertising, earned media is free, editorial content. Some examples include newspaper or magazine articles and radio or television stories. These media types have a wide reach, and they’re often considered to be more credible than paid messaging. But just how do you get on the radar of reporters, editors or producers? Soapy Soap Co. co-founders Anthony Duncan and brothers Mohammed A. and Mohammed M. Mahdi figured it out as they went along with their personal-care manufacturing business located in Bloomington, Indiana. “When we first started and we were doing local farmers markets and craft shows, we weren’t really focusing on [earned] media,”…

Choose and identify the species you want to tap before the leaves fall in autumn. Mark them by spraying an “X” onto the bark (this will fade by the following year) or by tying a permanent label or sturdy ribbon onto a branch. Michelle Visser, the author of Sweet Maple: Backyard Sugarmaking from Tap to Table, recommends the apps PlantSnap and PictureThis to help identify trees. Forgot to mark your trees? No worries. You can identify maples by their unique characteristics. Maple is one the few North American trees species that have opposite buds/branches, which means each bud and branch on the main branch or stem lines up across from one another. All other native trees have alternate branches. SUGAR SYRUP SPECIES Alaskan White BirchBig Leaf MapleBlack BirchBlack MapleBlack WalnutBox…

As edible plants go, the pawpaw is a rather odd duck. It’s a tropical plant that won’t grow in the tropics. Andrew Moore, author of Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, told the folks at the radio show The Splendid Table: “The best thing you can do with a ripe, fresh pawpaw is just to eat it out of hand. Cut it in half, scoop it out and eat it like a custard in a cup, which is essentially what it is.” Small farmers can do well with fruits such as pawpaw that you simply can’t get at the grocery store. They are too soft to travel. The ripe, fist-size fruit tastes like a cross between a mango and a banana. Harvest season is through the height of summer…

Highland Cattle Highland cattle are an old heritage breed known to have grazed the rugged Scottish landscape since the 6th century and played a significant part in the development and civilization of the Highlands of Scotland. They are the oldest registered breed of cattle; the Highland Cattle Herd Book lists pedigrees since its first publication in 1885. The Scottish Highland Cattle Society was formed in 1884, and most of the cattle registered were black. Originally, there were two subgroups of Highland cattle, which today are merged into one. The smaller, mostly black or brindles cattle were raised on the western island and were known as Kyloes, and the larger red animals were on the Scottish mainland. Today, there are seven colors: black, red, brindle, dun, silver, yellow and white. Highlands…