Fall Greens

With at least two hard frosts under our belts, the brassicas and romaine lettuces have continued to hold on. Right now we've got collards, kale, chard, beets, brocolli, cauliflower and cabbage. But unfortunately these won't last for long. Luckily they can take lite to moderate frost without special protection and I hope to continue harvesting up to Christmas.

I'm keeping the lettuces under a low poly tunnel for heavy frost protection and a separate spun fiber tunnel full of kale that I intend to overwinter (separate post to follow). Once we get into mid-December and the chance of snow increases I'll overlay the spun fiber with poly to give more thermal and snow load protection.

First Frost 2015

We had our first frost of the season last night so yesterday afternoon was spent harvesting the last of the peppers, squash, tomatoes and strawberries along with a couple of bok choy for dinner. I put the half tunnel over the lettuce while the the rest of the fall crops are frost proof. I guess summer is finally over.........where did it go so fast?

My son and I were down on the canal last weekend to harvest some American spice bush berries (Lindera benzoin) as they really like the damp under story down there by the edge of the water. Although they do not have official GRAS status, they do seem to be safe and have a long history of use as a spice substitute. They aslso were used to reduce fever, relieve colds and dysentery, and to destroy intestinal parasites up through the Civil War era. I've got them drying in the basement and I'm thinking of doing an alcohol extract as part of an aftershave concoction. It will be interesting to see if the scent is alcohol extractable. Tea was often made from the leaves, bark and twigs.


Chicken Update: All four hens are laying now; FINALLY. It was a bit touch-and-go there as one of the girls waited almost a full month before joining her sisters. It got to the point where we were about to send her back to our supplier. And so far the early training with the nest box blocker at night appears to have worked. We haven't used it in about two weeks and they have yet to sleep in them and make a mess of the nest pads.

With a chill in the air and some new firewood it was time for the annual chimney decon to kill off overwintering stink bugs. They weren't so bad this year so only a few fell down into the flames.

News From Around The Patch (week of 9/20)

Well, as you've probably noted, my promise of doing weekly updates from the patch this season didn't work out too well. There have just been too many things going on and life got in the way. In the long run that's a good thing as all of the "in the way" things have involved other outdoor activities or adventures.

It's been a dry time around the patch for the last month giving us a break from grass mowing and being able to concentrate on the edible landscape. But we've also noted some weird activity in the wild fauna department such as this mother mouse who decided to set up shop inside our gas grill for a very late genetic experiment. I had been removing her nest on a weekly basis for nearly a month not knowing whether it was bird or rodent. This last weekend I found her on there with a full liter of  pups. The gecko would have enjoyed one of those "pinkys" and maybe even the chickens. But that would be mean so they were relocated to the wooded area to fend for themselves. I also had a few flash-backs to all of those long hours in the rodent rooms back in the 1980s!

The other big news is that the pullets have begun to lay; FINALLY! First there were two eggs per day and just this week we've been getting three so hopefully that last girl will not be too far behind. Pullet eggs are a bit small at first but soon gain size. That's a standard large-grade egg on top from one of our fellow backyard keepers. The two on the bottom are from our pullets. Unlike our first batch of chickens, we're hoping that these girls will be a bit more uniform. One of our last flock would lay a huge dinosaur egg while another would occasionally lay albumin blobs without shells. We're also training this group from the very beginning to not roost in the laying boxes at night (using the blocker panel). This means we get pristine eggs right out of the box just like in the movies.

The strawberry bed renovation also did well this season. We took care to pinch off all of the blooms on the Sparkle plants (true June berry) so that the plants would put all of their energy into root and side-shoot development. Same for the Seascape (day neutral) as they began to bloom in late summer. But now that the Seascape have established themselves, we've let them begin to fruit out. The quality and flavor is excellent and we're getting about a quart box every other day. Hopefully that will continue until the first hard frosts.

Next up we'll be reporting on our experiment with a low tunnel for overwintering and winter harvest. We're a bit behind calculating our local Persephone period but with some indoor kale starts I'm hoping to be able to catch up a bit. Eat well and eat local!

Getting In The Fall Garden

It was a rare adventure-free weekend where I could concentrate on family ties and the Food Patch. Starting yesterday (Saturday) my daughter and I headed over to our local Mennonite farmer to pickup four 17-week old pullets to get our egg operation back in business. They had just arrived at his farm on Wednesday so they were still a bit  skiddish. I suspect they were getting acclimated to being outside at his farm and here we were putting them into a crate and bringing them home to a chicken tractor with all of the noises and commotion of being on a major state highway. Just today they managed to learn how the food bin works. I suspect it will be a week or so before they get the nipples straight on the water bucket. We even had to physically grab them and remove them from the hutch portion this morning and put them into the run area so they could get food and water. And this evening two refused to go in to roost so we have to grab them and shuve them into the pop door before we could close them up for the night.

Also today I cleared off the garden of dead cucumber and squash vines and planted the fall crops. These included two varieties of  kale, two varieties of collards. chard and beets. These should take us up to Christmas and I also am planning some low tunnel crops to get us into early winter (more to follow).

I also hand aerated the two strawberry beads and strawed in the walkway and edges. Since May, I've been hand-plucking blooms from the Seascape (day neutrals) and the Sparkle (true June berries) plants so they could spend all of their energy to root growth and side shoots and get themselves established. Now, the Seascape will be allowed to set fruit so we can get a few late season berries before frost.

Not to mention the fall brassicas; cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.

Summer Around The Patch (Rain Forest Edition)

It certainly has been an interesting season. We've averaged roughly an inch of rain a week for the last two months! And lots of cloudy days. Two previous mini-heat waves and just today, a third. We have been grateful not to have to water, but it has made high quality ripening difficult. The tomatoes ripened on schedule but the taste and texture are suboptimal. The weeds have been a constant chore and for some reason this has been the longest and most severe Japanese beetle season in the history of The Patch. And of course the grass has yet to go dormant meaning the weekly mowing chore has gone on unabated. But we've had ample chard, beets, squash, cucs and tomatoes to keep us well fed. Soon it will be time to start fall crops; how the time flies by!

One other thing I've tried to keep up with more this season is the herb harvest. Last year's basil has been savored and I'm making sure to have enough dried down to get us through another winter. The chamomile also has been doing well. Not exactly Brother Cadfael's operation but our own little version of it.

CHICKEN UPDATE: The tractor has been hardened up with additional wire so that only a very large and determined predator could now get in there. Except for some paint touch ups it should be ready to go for the the late August pullets. So far we have trapped one possum, one ground hog, and one skunk (don't ask!). The ground hog was purely a precaution for the garden whereas the possum and skunk were small enough to be possible suspects in the hen murder. We will continue trapping to see what we get although I would prefer not to have to handle any more skunks.

Loss of Our Girls

It's a very sad day around The Patch. Some kind of wild vermin managed to get into our chicken tractor and slaughter all of our girls! The trouble began Saturday morning when I found one of them dead in the corner of the run area with minimal trauma signs that looked more like cannibalism by the others. Since there were no signs of foul play or forced entry, I chalked it up to a natural death followed by cannibalism by the other three. I had just picked them all up the night before and there were no signs of sickness. Vents were clean and heads, eyes and combs were bright and clear. Although one of them had occasionally laid a shell-less egg ever since we got them; a sign of internal reproductive abnormality that had gotten worse over the last few weeks.

This morning was bad. Two were dead outright, and the third, Nugget, was crouched in the corner hurting and barely alive. There were no morning eggs in the nest boxes or empty shells. I picked her up and a big chunk of her lower abdomen was missing. I had to euthanize her straight off as she was suffering and there was no way she would recover from that type of trauma. I can only imagine the commotion that must have transpired sometime during the night or early this morning as well as the pain and agony that followed.

The asshole that did this must have managed to wiggle through the lattice work of either the end or top hatches. All of the poultry fence was secure and there were no signs of anything digging in under the tractor frame. However, the culprit did manage to take a dump inside the run area. This scat had no visible hair but there were obvious seeds most likely from our own raspberry patch. The ultimate indignity; taking a dump at the scene of the crime after eating some of our own berry crop.

I WILL HUNT YOUR ASS DOWN AND THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!

We'll miss you girls and the dozens of eggs you made for us over the last sixteen months.

Early Summer Status

 Things are filling in nicely even after two series of multi-day heat waves. We've been harvesting kale, chard, boc-choy, spring onions, cauliflower, brocolli, and various lettuce greens.  I still need to finsish up the straw mulching, but the critical things are covered and we've been lucky to have had sufficient rain over the last two weeks. The electric fence seems to be working too. No sign of rabbit damage since it went up about a month ago.

 Soon the peppers will need caging.

 And the raspberries are just starting to turn. I've been able to pick a few and it looks like a good crop for jam and wine. No sign yet of Japanese beetles!

I've also made sure to keep a closer eye this year on the yarrow and lavender so I can cut it for drying while it is in its prime.

Late Spring Update; Greens Edition

We've been getting ample chard, kale and lettuce for over a month now. Today we cut some of the first cauliflower and broccoli. A few weeks back we had a series of 90-degree days and I was a bit worried about these especially since the best brassicas are grown in the cool temps of the fall. But it looks like we will have a few heads to wet the appetite in preparation for the fall crop.

I've also trialed a new lettuce this year (on left). It is a mini romaine from Johnny's and so far appears to be a winner. I normally stick with leaf lettuce preferring the Johnny's Allstar Gourmet Mix. Of course I will continue with that. But this mini romaine is excellent as it is much easier to clean, harvest and store a compact head. I suspect it will find a prominent place in the weekly lettuce harvest.

Memorial Day Weekend 2015

Memorial day weekend is a time to reflect on past sacrifices as well as finishing up on springtime yard and garden chores like mulching and setting up tomato cages.

Even after two very tough winters in a row it looks like a bumper crop of raspberries by mid-June.

The chickens are really enjoying the mini-pasture rotation we are doing in the back forty.

And what is May/June without the narcotic aroma of honeysuckle?

A Slow Spring But Things Are Popping!

Its been a long slow spring but things are finally settling down. Some seedlings to get in the ground in the next day or so:

 The tomatoes are coming along. We are going with Romas for drying and juice and the rest are various grape varieties; Golden Sweet, two different varieties of red and Black Cherry. This should be an interesting combination for salads this year.

 And the raspberries are just now starting to bloom (preserves and a new batch of melomel is in the works).

For some reason the girls are hanging out in the hutch area of the tractor today:

But they seem to be enjoying the wonderful weather today too:

Been getting some early harvest from the mustard greens, kale, boc choi  and Swiss chard that was started inside back in the winter.

COOP Thoughts And More Quick Fix Engineering

You could almost hear the chicken equivalent of a sigh this week as the grass came in fully and I now can move the tractor to a fresh patch every other day. We can tell the difference in the eggs. The yokes are back to their deep yellow-orange color from the added carotenoid content.

Another smoldering issue we've been dealing with started last summer. One of the hens insists on sitting in her nesting box at some point during the night and filling it with crap. At first this was just an annoyance as we could shake out the nest pad in the morning before they lay. But now it seems that at least two others are doing it too. The odd thing is that they don't seem to stay in there all night long because we can hear them jump down from the roost pole when we let them out in the mornings. This doesn't seem to be tied in with broodiness either as they don't linger on the eggs once they lay. More QFE to the rescue. We now slip in a blocker panel in the evening before they go in. This keeps them out of the boxes at night. It is much easier to go out in the morning and take this panel out than having to shake pads and play with poop first thing in the morning.

And speaking of nest pads, those commercial grade pads we got in last month are really working well. Much better than the homemade variety.

First Turn Over; Spring Has Finally Sprung

Hot Damn! Spring is finally here! And no sign of snow in the forecast; isn't that a change of pace for a western Maryland kitchen garden! Easter weekend meant finishing up preventive maintance of all the power equipment and doing a good deep till today of the Food Patch and the tomato/pepper bed. I even managed to sneak in some early kale and chard seedlings into one end of that bed. The rest of the week is supposed to be rain so we'll have to wait a while to get in some onion sets, cauliflower and broccoli seedlings. And the strawberry sets are due in this week so we'll need to get those in soon too. I ordered 25 Sparkle and 25 Seascape from Johnny's. This cycle the strawberry bed will move to the center of the Patch. Sparkle is a classic June berry whereas Seascape is an ever-bearer used by many commercial operations. Between the two we hope to have a steady supply of strawberries all season; a large harvest of Sparkle in the spring and a smattering of Seascape the rest of the season. Of course that will have to wait until nest summer as this season will be taken up with bed establishment via picking off of all blooms to allow the plants to establish themselves for next year.

In other news, the girls were finally moved from their winter quarters by the Food Patch back over to their turf/pasture area. That part of the yard is till a bit sparse but the grass is beginning to green up and you could almost hear the chicken version of an "ahhhh" when we got them over there yesterday. Most likely we will need to move them every other day until the turf is completely back to full spring-time green but it is nice to finally get them back onto some semblance of turf. This week also will be the last flat of sprouted rye forage sprouts for them. That exercise was definitely worth the trouble and provided some much needed green forage through the depths of winter.

Hopefully Idun would be proud!

Early Spring Chores

With the garden still a mud pit I figured I had better start pulling back the straw mulch so things can begin to dry out enough to hopefully get a first turn-over with the tiller by next weekend. Not to mention that there is a lot of chicken crap that will need some time to rot in. The new strawberry plants are due in the second week of April so I hope to at least have their new bed in the mid-section ready to go soon. So for now the straw has been pulled back to each end of the patch and we'll have to wait for the wind and sun to do their work. I hand worked a few feet of the tomato and pepper bed to take some early chard and kale seedlings we have almost ready to go out. Hopefully these will provide us with some early greens while we wait to get some seeds into the ground next month.

The winter tarp was removed from the chicken tractor and the girls were moved up a bit toward the house to a fresh piece of ground. This will be their final over-wintering spot until we can start rotating them on green turf. Their crap in their last spot was about five inches deep and they needed to move so I could rake it into the garden. That section will be reseeded with grass later this spring and hopefully will recover back to normal yard.

The DIY nest box pads I cut out of a standard door mat last spring were beginning to break down so we finally ordered in some commercial grade pads from QC Supply of Schuyler, NE. It looks like they will hold up a lot better and not being as flimsy will be easier to keep clean. These things are cheap but the various on line suppliers have outrageous shipping costs. I'm sorry but I refuse to pay more for shipping than the actual cost of the goods being shipped! Luckily QC had a good price and they use the USPS which was cheaper than UPS and they still got here in two days. They are highly recommended.

Biosecurity and Avian Influenza

With recent reports of an avian influenza (H5N2) outbreak in the midwest, we are reminded to be on the lookout for anything odd going on with our backyard flocks. Some of the upper respiratory symptoms are similar to humans; labored breathing, sneezing, coughing, odd discharges from the beak and eyes, general malaise. Even though most backyard flocks are small and isolated, and those contained in a tractor are even more so, the potential does exist for exposure to wild birds and flu strains they may be carrying.

Care must be taken to limit exposure. The UMD Extension service offers a wealth of information on biosecurity. The state of Maryland also recommends (but does not require) that small flock owners register their property (premises) with the Ag Department so that if any outbreaks do hit the area you can be alerted well in advance.

The Fairplay Exchange Will Return

Since it appears that the Found Fruit network has gone dark (and along with it the Fairplay Exchange), I've pulled that post. Look for the exchange to return under a new host later this spring. Again, the goal here is to set up some kind of local barter/exchange site for garden produce here in the Fairplay area of Washington County.

Well; Maybe Not!

Tomorrow is March 1st but the temps seem to think it is mid-January. Hopefully we'll get some moderation next week with day time highs projected to be in the 40s. The ground is froze solid and we still have some snow in the shadows. Let's just hope we don't have one of those long drawn-out cold springs.

Anticipation continues..............here is a shot of a visitor we had in one of the blue bird boxes a couple of springs ago.

Spring Is Just Around The Corner

Even though we had some of the coldest nights of the season this week (very near zero), the girls have held up well and we continue to get three to four eggs daily. I still am amazed! The days are slowly getting longer and the sun higher at mid-day. Spring is just around the corner.

After last night's snow storm, today is bright sunshine with highs in the 20s. A perfect day to pull back the storm cover and add in the dust bath. It really is amazing to watch them enjoy laying in the sun and wallowing in the dirt.

The Natural Diet of Cattle Is Grass!

Following on to my research on grass-based chicken husbandry, I've been doing some reading on the concept of grass-fed livestock in general and how important it is to go back in time with heritage breeds. If one is truly serious about grass forage, doesn't it make genetic and ecological sense to use livestock breeds that were originally optimized for grass instead of grain? Why try to use a breed optimized for a grain-based feed lot operation? Luckily there are organizations like the Livestock Conservancy doing their best to recover and conserve our heritage gene stock across multiple livestock types.

As for grass forage ecology, an opinion piece by Joann Grohman in the October 2014 issue of Acres USA magazine (available here too) brings all of this together in the context of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The central thesis of this piece is that from the mile-high view, there really is "no shortage of land" for agriculture. The current agribusiness model is to blame for cattle getting a bad rap particularly with CO2 emissions. For grass to develop into efficient carbon capturing turf, grazing herbivores are essential and their grazing habits are driven by predation. Anyone who has started a new lawn and knows about the proper way to cut grass has this figured out already.

Some select quotes from the article:

1) "The natural diet of cattle is grass."

2) "Cattle are not competing with humans for grass, their real food. The fact that corn and soy are being fed to animals reflects the artificial circumstances in which the animals are begin kept."

3) "Food production in an integrated small farm system is capable of being far more productive per acre than an agribusiness model because all of the different parts support each other, plus the small farm system greatly benefits from close management by the owner (see my note below)."

4) "Manure in the open air is not a source of methane."

5) "Grass, the world's most widespread crop, truly is amazing. To properly encourage grass, herbivores must graze in a dense pattern. Grass achives its maximum turf-building response only under the grazing presence of bunched animals, and then the animals must move on, leaving the grass to regrow. In the wild this is absolutely dependent on the presence of predators, otherwise the animals will stray apart in a random fashion and the turf-building effect is lost."

6) "This property of grass is entirely dependent on the presence of herbivores. Without the nibbling, trampling and fertilization of herbivores, grass fails to function as this massive carbon sink. Grass without grazers dies above ground and loses its carbon back into the air."

Note: my concern about #3 is the manual labor-cost factor. I can believe that a totally integrated organic farming operation with sufficient land can be self sustaining and maybe even more efficient than a factory farm operation. But at what cost? Will the masses be able to afford the product?

Some farmers are able to make this work such as Poly Face Farm down in the Valley of Virginia. I am particularly impressed with their cattle/poultry rotation strategy, the role of native forage, and the incorporation of swine in woody borders and forest land. I've got to get down there this spring for a look around.

We've Got Your Darkling Beetles Right Here !!

The darkling beetle (Tenebrio molitor) is the adult form of the common meal worm. In a previous post we described how we set up a starter colony in mid-December with the ultimate aim to provide some winter insect protein for our chickens. Now all of the worms have morphed into the adult form. Let the breeding and egg laying begin!

We probably should have started this project back in September since by the time we get our first crop of fresh worms it will be early spring. Needless, this starter colony will give us the critical mass we need to get a second tub going and provide for future winters.

Stay tuned, but in the meantime, see this page from the Sialis site for details.

The New Victory Garden (1987)

Anyone remember the PBS "Victory Garden" show from the mid-1980s? You know back when PBS "how-to" shows actually SHOWED you how to do stuff instead of just how to drop huge sums of money on contractors and specialists (e.g., "This Old House")? Back when there was only one PBS fund raising session to endure?

Growing up in the country around family farms and gardens, I didn't have a lot of use for these shows until after college. During my apartment inmate phase I would often check in with these shows to keep my interest up, learn about new technologies and to day-dream about some day having a place to do some of this stuff myself.

Although out of print, I am glad that copies of Bob Thompson's The New Victory Garden (Little Brown, 1987) can still be had on the net. Bob took over from the show's creator Jim Crockett of "Crockett's Victory Garden" fame. The PBS show has gone through a lot of changes and the last time I saw it a few years ago it definitely wasn't what it used to be. In today's gardening climate you would be much better served watching something like "Growing a Greener World". Unfortunately our local PBS stations don't carry it but all of the last five seasons are available for viewing off their web site. The later season are HD so why not cable the laptop to the big screen. I see a lot of the magic of the early "Victory Garden" seasons in this show. It is definitely first-rate and worth the time to get caught up especially in the depths of winter.

Times change of course but for those of you contemplating your first garden or those just waiting for the snow to melt, Thompson's book is a real gem especially along side the seed catalogs that show up this time of year. The photography is incredible and the chapters are broken down by gardening month; what to plant and when. Of course this was written by a New England gardener so you'll need to consult your local growing zone/last frost date and adjust accordingly. 

First Haircuts

The onion seeds that were planted on Christmas day are coming in nicely. They've gotten long enough now to require their very first haircut of the season. This is critical with onion seedlings in order to encourage additional leaf development and to give the plant a chance to grow and increase in diameter so they will be big enough when it comes time to put them into the ground come late March/early-April (similar to mowing new grass to encourage growth).

 

Generally I only do this twice but since these were started about a month earlier than usual they may require three trims. Also at this time I begin watering with 3-10-3 (root) fertilizer to encourage strong root development. By the time of the second haircut I'll switch over to one-quarter strength Miracle Grow. Onions are normally heavy feeders and with the extended time they spend in this soil less sprouting mix they definitely need this added nutrition.

Winter Quarters

With an Alberta Clipper and arctic air outbreak predicted for this week we moved the chicken tractor to its permanent winter time quarters last weekend, and just in the nick of time. Starting Monday evening, night time lows for most of the week were in the single digits with deadly wind chills. Gone were the days of simply bringing in the water bucket at night as the nipples quickly froze well before the reservoir when day time temps stayed below freezing. This called for some quick fix engineering (QFE). For a regular chicken coop this is normally not an issue as you can get a wide variety of water heaters designed specifically for poultry wateres. But things are a bit more complicated with chicken tractors.

Luckily I had an old crock-pot insert down in the basement, basically a heavy porcelain dish that would hold about a gallon of water and not tip over when a chicken stands on the rim. For some reason chickens insist on standing on the rim of any dish you put into their pen. Pain-in-the-ass to say the least! Thankfully, the local feed store happened to have a neat solid-state immersion heater by Farm Innovators of Plymouth, Indiana designed specifically to keep bird baths clear in the winter. And it carries a three year warranty to boot! So far it has worked beautifully. No ice on the edges or anything. All I had to do was run a couple of extension cords off the back patio socket. As we get into the depths of winter this will have to do until thngs moderate enough to go back to using the nipple bucket.

Since the tractor will be stationary for several months I added in some straw to help with the mud and ice as the girls quickly chewed off the last of the grass and managed to scratch things up to bare earth. I also rigged up a tarp to help break the wind. Wind chills can be really brutal in our yard coming in from the north and west. So the tarp is tucked under the tractor on the north-east side and rigged with bungees so it can be pulled over to cover the run from snow and ice and easily pulled back over half-way to allow for sun exposure. The hutch enclosure has no special insulation; its only a wind break. But I do go out at night to close the pop door.

Chickens are birds. They have feathers and down. But I really had my doubts about how the girls would survive the weather this week. This Long Horn/Rhode Island Red hybrid has a fairly substantial comb and wattle. But I looked them over very closely today and I don't see any signs of frost bite. And much to my surprise, we continue to receive three to four eggs per day. Truly amazing! Now I know why all of the local Mennonite free-range farmers like to use this breed. We've already passed the shortest photo period of the year. Production has fallen off somewhat as has egg size. But dangerously low temps don't seem to be all that detrimental to egg production at least so far. I had no idea we would be able to maintain this level of egg production through the depths of winter.