Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Topics

Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Topics http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Topics en Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:14:15 +0000 Nancy on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders#post-41 Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:32:26 +0000 Nancy 41@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I'm considering an Earthway seeder to sow cover crops in my raised beds - not a broadcast seeder but the roll-along-the-row kind. I'm trying to get more of a feel for how it would work. Could I push it along in the raised bed while standing on the path? Also, I don't till much, but usually loosen my beds with the broadfork Eliot Coleman recommends, so the machine would have to cope with an uneven surface. What's your experience? Firefox on "Anyone have a hog problem in Texas?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/anyone-have-a-hog-problem-in-texas#post-2178 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:18:45 +0000 Firefox 2178@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hey Everyone, I would like to take my Son and Daughter hog hunting but am willing to hunt anything that is a nuisance. I live in the DFW area and thought we could help each other out. Please message me if you have a population problem. Thanks in advance! Kevin M. Fox blueberry on "'24' Day 8 loses 930,000 viewers" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/24-day-8-loses-930000-viewers-3#post-2177 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:14:02 +0000 blueberry 2177@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ 24 dropped around 930,000 viewers last night, early figures show. The latest instalment of Day 8 pulled [url=http://www.cartoon77.com/products/South-Park-Complete-Seasons-1-12-DVD-Boxset-cartoon-1494.html]South park dvd box set[/url] in 9.76m during the 9pm hour, down from last week's 10.69m. 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Oldman on "Raising Pigs" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-pigs#post-2169 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:04:39 +0000 Oldman 2169@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I am a disabled construction worker (because of a fall from a make shift scaffold on a side job, with no insurance to boot) and the doc told me about six years ago I would never work again. That was the day I got out of the hospital and about three hours before I was cutting an oak tree down for firewood standing on crutches, so you can see I am an old hard head. Problem is, the doc was about half way right. After six years I agree I will never work a regular job again, but hey, I have never been a regular person anyway, LOL. We almost lost everything we worked years for but managed to keep, uh, our mouths out of the water most of the time and sometimes just our nose. But the thing is we did it, and we have an old farm house, about a 1920-30's model that I nearly finished remodeling befor I fell, and it's on it's own lot. 3.84 +/- acres. Then there is 58 acres behind here with the first of it behind the housr about 20 acres in fiels that hasn't been planted for probably 30 years, but has been bush hogged every year. And then there is about 38 acres that is just woods. Plenty of brush and plenty of fallen trees etc. but a lot of good timber. Just not enough for a logger to fool with. But I have built a saw mill with an eighteen H.P. engine and 36" bar on it. (It's a chainsaw type mill. There is way more timber than I will ever need for any type of buildings etc. and as you can expect, I can take a young buck like my futher SIL and easily cut enough wood for a 8' x 12' shelter for whatever in a day, even in the shape I am in. Need be I can have 4 yough bucks out there. The thing is, I want to, well actually my FSIL and 3 of his brothers can't find a job at all. A day here and a day there. The kids finishing school now can't find anything around here. But I want to farm the field and raise goats and pigs in the woods. I can fence it in with electric fenceing, and there is a small spring fed creek that runs the lenght of the left side and back of it for their water as they want it. A will also raise chickens for eating and selling eggs, and did so for two years until I bought 100 roosters for meat (don't ever do that) and they yelled for every fox in 10 miles to come and get it 24/7's. That won't happen again. I need some first hand advice. Really just to varify what I have already read that makes me wonder about it. #1,, I have read some pig farmers feed them dirt. ,,,, Say what??? I know they will root up the ground and eat the roots, but these people are saying they actually dig dirt for them during the winter. There has been several articles I have read that says they eat it like we eat steak and lobster. Is that true?????? #2,, I have also read that an 8' x 12' pig tractor needs to be moved every two days if whats under it has pretty good growth and they will plow it and fertilize it at the same time. Now that makes sense to me. But that is only 96 sq ft. That would be less that an acre a year per tractor and they didn't say how many pigs were in each one. So I have 38 acres of woods that have all kinds of brush grown up anywhere the sun gets to plus plenty of brush in side the woods and downed trees also. So how much feed would I need to add to what they grub up??? I am wondering if 40 piglets would be OK together if I built them about 10 shelters about 8-10' x 12-16'???????? I'd appriciate any first hand input any of you could give me. Thanks Dennis underhilledpotato on "Learning Resources" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/learning-resources#post-5 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:42:19 +0000 underhilledpotato 5@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hi there! I am fresh to the site and when I began to discover what your project and goals were, I got excited because I have had this idea in my head for quite some time. I have acquired 10 acres of raw land (west-central Alberta), and have a five-year plan to transform it into a microfarming paradise, as well as my family's new residence. I find your experiences in your blog posts, as well as an easy to navigate website, very useful, but I wonder if you would share your resources that you have studied in order to get where you are today. I know I have a notebook full of scribbles from various books and a large list of books that have been useful to me so far. I wish to pick your brain for ways to create a lucrative business that provides a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction. Topics that concern cool climate farming are of a great deal of interest to me ( I live in zone 2b...brrr). I just thought this would be an interesting topic for people to share resources. Thanks and keep up the good work. Mike (tfb) on "Starting CSA in the farm's first year?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/starting-a-csa-in-the-farms-first-year#post-43 Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:33:48 +0000 Mike (tfb) 43@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ <blockquote>Jules asked <a href="http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/renting-crops#post-38">here</a>: I am wondering, in practical terms, how easy a CSA is to set up in Year 1 (or even if it's possible at all). Unless you already personally know all your potential local CSA-ers, how would you go about persuading strangers to sign up? You're asking them for a not insubstantial sum of money on the promise that they'll receive something (IF all goes well) in the future and since it's Year 1, you have no proof that you can actually produce anything! Perhaps a CSA is really only feasible from Year 2 onwards...and maybe a weekly box scheme is more appropriate (plus farmers' market) in the first year. At least with a box scheme, the buyer knows that they only pay if something is actually delivered. If, as a grower, you're able to prove your capabilities in Year 1 via a box scheme, then perhaps in Year 2 and onwards you can transition your regular customers into a CSA. I would love to know what Mike's (and anyone else's) practical experience has been with this issue... </blockquote> I'd say (as for most things on the tiny farm), let your common sense prevail in making a decision on CSA for your first year. The main factors are your growing abilities, your confidence in your abilities (goes a long way to how convincingly you present your case to prospective members), and the people in your area. For a really short, generic answer, I'd say it's probably best to small-farm for at least a year, possibly two or three, before going into CSA, even if you start out planning to go the CSA route for the long haul. But, it can also be fantastic (energizing and lots of fun) to just LEAP...! ;) Possibly helpful considerations: <ul> <li>Your skills: If you think you've got a decent handle on both growing stuff AND on organizing lots of details AND you've got a production plan on paper that you're confident in, you should be fine. If you're not feeling strong on ANY of these points, it's probably good to do at least a year of farmers' market, weekly boxes, farm stand, which are all demanding, but not quite as rigid as weekly CSA shares.</li> <li>Your potential market: Right now, there's a lot of quite intense public interest in food quality, food safety, environmental issues, and even CSA itself is becoming better known. That means there are prospective CSA members aplenty, especially if you're near a city or big town. BUT, this also means many are ready to sign without thinking things through. Members have to be prepared for WEEKLY pick-up and for getting a preselected share. Perceptions of convenience and inconvenience can make a big difference in how people behave. You'll probably find that membership numbers are far from everything, especially if you're spending many of your critical spring hours and days bringing on all-new members, arranging drop-off details and so forth, the fielding complaints. Even a couple of unhappy shareholders can be a bit of an energy drain right through the season. And if you have a big turnover every year, that kind of defeats the purpose of a stable CSA base. Knowing and being known by the people around can be really helpful in starting off with a good member base.</li> <li>Delivery distance: If you're delivering to a town or city, especially more than a half-hour drive away, dealing with the logistics of that regular trip can be quite heavy, time-consuming, stressful. The closer your farm is to the market (ideally, shareholders would pick up at your farm), the much easier things will be. The farther you are, and the bigger the city and membership numbers, the more you'll find yourself involved in vehicles, cooling, tight schedules, TRAFFIC, and the like: loads of very not-tiny-farming things. Not that you're trying to create some fairy tale tiny farm world, just that when it comes to CSA and distance, it's easy to unintentionally find yourself involved in a whole second business of food distribution that you may not have planned for.</li> </ul> I've never really liked "walk before you can run" type advice, it's fun to think things out in an intense rush, then charge in. But if you're not confident, that'll translate to your first shareholders and to your market garden, and I wouldn't underestimate the drain on your energy and motivation of negative feedback and a not-so-happy bunch of farming partners!! I'd say the first consideration, skills, is the key thing. If that situation sounds cool, go for it if there's big demand! Or start with a limited number of members, plus farmers' market, etc, for year one. That'd probably be the most fun as well, as you get to try lots of things and change gears every week. My opinions are based on only four years of CSA, with just over 50 members last year. But I have been through the to-the-big-city route (1-1/2 hour drive to a city of 4 million), and stopped that to go local after two CSA seasons. We've never missed a share or had a really poor week as far as quantity or selection, but I have had to handle some quite unhappy people nonetheless, and it only takes one to muddy up the flow, especially when you're starting out and critical of your own every move. A thick skin isn't a big advantage here, cool people plus conscientious farming seems to be the trick!! Of course, the bottom line you hear over and over everywhere remains: if your veggies aren't top quality, nothing else will matter!!! Hope that helps! angdeer on "Farm storage" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/farm-storage#post-424 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:48:41 +0000 angdeer 424@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I recently inherited about a $100,000 from my grandfather. So we decided to put up a steel building. We don't have a huge farm or anything but its amazing what a few animals, some outdoor equipment and feed adds up to. We were having such a time keeping everyone/thing warm and dry that with the extra money it just seemed like a good way to spend some of it. Have any of you ever went with Steelbuildings <a href="http://www.steelbuilding.com/buildings/buildings_main.htm"> for your outbuilding? If so how did things go? We hope that we can get this thing put up fast. We live in northern Michigan and the snow should start falling really soon. I would prefer to have this whole thing wrapped up in a few weeks tops, wish us luck!</a> Judy on "Grow Your Own Transplants" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/grow-your-own-transplants#post-439 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:08:49 +0000 Judy 439@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ The basis of a healthy transplant is a good soil-less potting mix. Using a soil-less mix eliminates disease organisms, pests and weed seeds that may be found in soil. I prefer organic and mix my own. There are a number of potting mixes available at local stores including organic mixes. You may want to experiment with various mixes or mix your own. Basic Organic Potting Mix Recipe 2 parts <a href="http://uwharriefarm.typepad.com/uwharrie_farm/composting.html">Compost</a> 3 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss 1 part Perlite 1 part Vermiculite (optional) Add per every 8 gallons of mix: ½ cup Bone Meal (Phosphorous) 1 ½ cups Dolomitic Limestone (Raises soil pH and provides calcium and magnesium) ½ cup Blood Meal (Nitrogen) ½ cup Kelp Meal (Nitrogen, potassium and minerals) Mix thoroughly and add enough water to moisten well. If you can't find organic fertilizers locally <a href="http://www.espoma.com">Espoma</a> and <a href="http://www.groworganic.com">Peaceful Valley Farm Supply</a> have a wide selection to choose from. Put potting mix in plant cells or 3 inch pots and add seed. As a general rule cover the seed with a layer of mix that is 4 times the width of the seed. Place in a sunny window, a greenhouse, or under florescent lights. Keep evenly moist. Most vegetables will grow quite nicely at temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees with 8 hours or more of sunlight or light from florescent bulbs. Growing transplants rather than direct seeding can give you a head start on the growing season. Transplants in the garden also have an advantage over the smaller weeds that germinate around them which makes weeding easier. Planting corn at 2 week intervals will give you an extended harvest. Using corn transplants rather than direct seeding makes better use of your garden area. No space is wasted because of poor germination and seed is not lost through plant thinning. I like to grow the following plants to transplant to my garden: Onions, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, collards, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, pumpkin, squash and corn. AustrianMichael on "tiny tractor requirements" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/tiny-tractor-requirements#post-323 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:41:29 +0000 AustrianMichael 323@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hello! There is one Question, that I cant´t get out of my head: Isn´t the tiny-farm Kubota much more a turf-care tractor than a farm tractor? I would be interested, if it has a hydraulic transmission, or a common mechanic transmission with hand-shifted gears. Does anybody know? I have a tiny farm myself, with about 2500 square meters and two greenhouses myself, and I use a Mitsubishi compact-tractor, with a mechanic transmission, which i need badly to do plowing for example. My tractor is equipped with tyres wich are made for wet rice-field conditions and so I can hardly imagine, how I could manage to work with these turf care tyres from the kubota in the tiny-farm blog. Any experiences? I also have a rider-Mower like the JD (mine is a murray) and I changed the turf-tyres against real tractor tyres. It works well, pulling trailers with harvested veggies out of the garden area. Anonymous on "How can I make my Own maple syrup" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/how-can-i-make-my-own-maple-syrup#post-402 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:18:02 +0000 Anonymous 402@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hi, I have several large maple trees in my back woodlot. I would like to make my own maple syrup from them, so im wondering if anyone could recomend a good website on how to make maplesyrup. Also where could i get the equipment and supplies that I need. Thanks in advance. Mike (tfb) on "Raising healthy White Rock chickens for meat" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-white-rock-chickens-for-meat#post-347 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:34:45 +0000 Mike (tfb) 347@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ White Rock hybrid chickens have been bred for decades as efficient meat birds, which means they eat insatiably and are very good at converting feed to meat, at the expense of cardiovascular development. This means very big birds in a few weeks (8-9 lbs in 10 weeks!). It all means healthy birds can die suddenly of heart attacks (Sudden Death Syndrome). Also, left to their own devices with lots of feed, WRs become lumbering beasts, inclined to simply park themselves near food and water. Yikes. It all sounds pretty dire, BUT, the more traditional meat birds are in the area of HALF as efficient, a bird half the size at the same time, and the meat, while more flavorful, may be tougher, harder to cook, not really the plump, tender chicken we've become used to (at least, here in North America). Sooo, what to do on the tiny farm? On one hand, we could not raise White Rocks and get used to a different chicken experience. OR, we could raise White Rocks, but in a way that didn't allow them to simply gorge themselves and become lumbering beasts. This would for now be a best of both worlds thing, with much more efficient meat production, along with healthier birds that've eaten a more varied diet (feed plus foraged grass and bugs). And this is apparently possible. That's what we're trying now. On our second batch of WRs, 40 cockerels (males), we let them out at around three weeks old, to free-range during the day in the area of the chickenhouse. Feed is allowed to run out for about four hours. They're about 5 weeks old now, and we're just switching off the around 22% protein starter feed, to an around 18% grower feed (all certified organic from the next farm down the road). That's as far as we've gotten. We're going to book slaughter time at the processing house for about 10 weeks, so there's the critical next 5 weeks of rearing to do. Any tips and advice on raising the WRs this way through this period (and from the start), would really be appreciated!