Indholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2026 i Hobby Farms

Starting a conservation flock is a rewarding way to support rare and endangered poultry breeds while enjoying the benefits of backyard chicken-keeping. Whether you’re a seasoned homesteader or new to raising chickens, starting a conservation flock allows you to contribute to biodiversity and sustainable farming practices. By choosing heritage breeds recognized by organizations such asThe Livestock Conservancy (https://livestockconservancy.org), you help preserve genetic diversity and traditional farming history. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essentials of starting a conservation flock — from selecting the right breeds to creating a suitable environment for long-term success. But first, what is a heritage breed? The Livestock Conservancy states that a heritage breed must adhere to all the following: APA STANDARD BREED: A heritage chicken must be from parent and grandparent stock of…

Heading into a new year, with every seed company’s website open on your computer and your collection of seeds spread out on the floor around you, the excitement and overwhelm of deciding what to plant this year is real. Heirlooms, crops from your childhood and family history, high-producing hybrids, and plants chosen solely for their beauty all deserve their place in your garden. Narrowing the choices to the best crops to grow in 2026 is daunting. To help you sort through all those options, I asked a few of my farming and gardening friends about their must-grow crops. To their list, I added a few plants I’ve recently put on my own favoriteplants list. Some of these crops were new to us last year, and some we’ve been growing for…

Ancient grains are plants grown for their edible seeds that have remained relatively unaltered since their domestication. Modern grains, such as commercial wheat, have been dramatically altered from their original state through extensive breeding. A While this extensive breeding has led to the creation of crops that are better suited to large-scale commercial production, these modern crops often lack the nutrients available in their ancient counterparts. Most ancient grains are part of the grass plant family, Poaceae, although there are a few exceptions, such as the pseudo-cereals amaranth and buckwheat. WHEAT There are a few different species of wheat that are ancient grains. Each of these species were domesticated around 10,000 years ago in an area of the Middle East commonly known as the Fertile Crescent. In fact, many foods…

Bales of hay may seem like a faded memory by late winter, but properly stored hay is crucial for ensuring a steady supply for your livestock. Summer’s hard work baling hay is long past, and with the finished hay safely under cover, it’s easy to put it out of your mind, other than the slow process of feeding. But maybe you shouldn’t get too lax; late winter is an excellent time to check on the safety of your hay stock and ensure your hay storage remains intact. During a recent cold snap, I didn’t access my main hay storage barn (half a mile away) for about 10 days, instead feeding my animals on hay reserves that I stashed closer to home. When the weather finally warmed back up, I returned…

Collard greens, kale, mustard greens and Swiss chard are real workhorses in the garden. They also happen to pack a nutritional wallop and can be stored longterm to help stretch your grocery budget. No matter what your local climate is like, odds are you can coax out a crop of one or more of these hardy greens, because they’re generally tolerant of heat, cold and drought conditions. They’re also easy to grow indoors. Although these plants are usually grown as annuals, they are each technically biennials. That means they don’t produce seeds (and subsequently die back) until their second year of life. As a result, it’s possible to keep the same plants growing in your garden over multiple seasons. While collards, kale and mustard greens are all in the cabbage…

There’s just something special about being on the water, whether it’s the ocean, a river or stream, a lake or your very own pond. Watching a fish jump or a duck glide along the surface, hearing frogs sing at night, paddling on the water, casting a line or ice skating in winter … a pond can add intrinsic value to your property in many ways. On the practical side, a farm pond can also provide water for livestock, irrigation or fire control. There may also be the potential for agritourism income. Hosting family-friendly activities along the pond can enrich life on your homestead. In addition to picnics, parties and water sports, children and grandchildren will have many choices for school, 4-H and FFA science projects as they observe life on…

QUESTION: I’m starting my first goat herd, and I’m worried about parasites. Which common ones should I look for, and how can they be treated if I find them in or on my goats? It’s likely that one or more of your animals will contract a parasite at some point during its lifespan. There are, however, steps you can take to minimize the chance of this happening through proper and effective management. If you think your goat may be suffering from one of the following parasites, consult a veterinarian before beginning any treatment. Internal Goat Parasites Internal parasites, aka endoparasites, live inside a host animal at whose expense they obtain nutrition and shelter. Many can do a great deal of damage to a goat during the course of their life…

If your pastures are showing signs of wear and tear, patches of open ground, more weeds than grass, overgrazing last fall or mud damage this winter, it’s time to rehab them with frost seeding. Frost seeding is an inexpensive and easy way to rejuvenate overgrazed or weather-damaged livestock pastures and hayfields without tilling or disturbing already established grasses and legumes. As the soil freezes and thaws, seeds are “drilled” into the ground — nature’s way of no-till seeding. All you need is winter days with daytime temps above freezing and night time temps below freezing. You also need seed, of course, and a means to broadcast it. Small pastures of less than 5 acres can be seeded with a hand-cranked seeder. The seeders broadcast the seed in 6- to 12-foot…

Being raised on a dairy farm, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t wellversed in the raising of bottle calves. Their very existence was simply a fact of life, and time was set aside every day for their care and feeding. During the first day or two of being trained to the bottle, I often initiated their suck reflex by first allowing them to suckle, my index and middle fingers before gradually sliding in the nipple that was attached to the bottle of milk. Just thinking about it my hand still recalls the gentle tug and the feel of their tongues, slightly abrasive and somewhat rubbery, while I taught them to take the bottle. Feeding the calves wasn’t always my favorite chore; I didn’t enjoy washing the multiple bottles…

Large-scale agriculture depends heavily on crop rotation. Legumes such as soybeans, alfalfa or clover are often grown following heavy-feeders such as wheat, corn or canola to help replenish nitrogen in the soil. Crop rotation also helps to break cycles of damaging insects, plant disease, while at the same time encouraging the growth of varying root systems to benefit soil structure. All these benefits can help reduce farm dependency on chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. But what about backyard gardeners? When your biggest crops are a few beds of peas, tomatoes, squash or potatoes, it’s easy to think crop rotation doesn’t apply to you. But it does. The same benefits that large-scale agriculture gains with crop rotation can work just as effectively with-out the boundaries of a family-sized vegetable garden. Let’s…

Winter weather is at hand, and with it comes farm chores that require bundling: fetching firewood, tackling frozen waterers, removing snow and the like. As we enjoy the cool creeping into fall nights, it’s also time to think ahead and get ready for winter, and chief among those thoughts should be snow removal. On a farm, where driveways can wind beyond the sight line, appropriate removal of the white stuff calls for much more than a wide shovel and can sometimes keep you from getting snowed in. Also, chores are so much easier when you’re not carrying heavy buckets through a foot of snow. Tractor attachments designed for snow removal make a huge difference in how a farmer experiences winter. Whether your tool is tow-behind or front- or loader-mounted, putting…

You don’t have to be a mad scientist to distill your own essential oils at home, but if you give it a try, you just might start to feel like one! Certainly, there is a fair amount of equipment involved, and the steam distillation process itself can seem a little daunting at first. But there’s also something magical about being able to collect and bottle the very essence of your favorite herbs. People have been extracting essential oils from plants for thousands of years, and the ancient Greeks are credited with having originally developed the still. (Interestingly, some of the small copper steam distillers that are commercially available today closely resemble some of the very first stills ever used.) WHY DIY? Whether you already routinely use essential oils or you’d…