We’ve Got Tater Tots!*

Posted on April 30, 2012 · 6 Comments

Hank’s a daddy. Gratuitous cuteness indeed! Tater’s clutch is hatching. The little Blue Slate poults are making themselves known. They all look great so far – healthy and active. There’s 7 here in the photo (you can just barely see #7′s beak poking out under Tater’s tails), but there are definitely more underneath her. We won’t know for sure how many she has until she gets off the nest with them. This is the first time we’ve been able to get a hen to hatch her own eggs (we’ve tried 3 times before this) so we’re super excited.

Hank is a Self Blue (Lavender) and both of our hens are Splash (all the same breed it’s just the coloring this refers to).  You can see the poults with more gray on them will be Splash (gray with black speckles like mom) and the ones that are all yellow will be Self Blue like dad.

*I have to thank my friend Kristin for coming up with naming them Tater Tots.

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Filed Under: Livestock, Turkey Health, Turkeys, Urban Farming & Homesteading

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Posted on April 28, 2012 · Leave a Comment

And we have a winner for the Your Farm in the City book! Deborah Joy send me an email to dogislandfarm (at) gmail dot come with your address and I’ll send it to you next week. Thanks everyone for your comments!

 

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Why We Can’t Give Tours

Posted on April 26, 2012 · 6 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately from people wanting a tour of our urban farm. It is so amazingly flattering that people want to see what we’re doing but it breaks my heart every time when I have to tell them we can’t do it.

I can totally understand why they want to see it because I love visiting other urban farms too. You get to see what others are doing and you learn so much. Everyone single one I’ve visited has inspired me in some way. Pluck and Feather has the most amazing chicken coop set up that I totally envy. Itty Bitty Farm in the City amazes me with what can be done not only in a small backyard but on a fairly steep hill to boot. Havenscourt Homestead has a fantastic animal setup. Yes, It’s a Farm utilizes their front yard for vegetables (and they also have an amazing poultry setup as well).

Last year I wrote a post about having to stop giving tours. Yes, we used to freely give tours because we love to teach people how to grow and raise their own food and we want them to be successful at it. Unfortunately things have not gotten better since that initial post. I would actually say they have gotten worse. Animals are being stolen or let out of backyards near busy roads. Backyards are being vandalized. Urban farmers, including us, are being contacted by animal rights activists under false pretenses (it’s amazing how useful the internet is at finding info on people) looking for access to our urban farm.

This has gone from annoyance to real concern for our safety and that of our animals. We’re constantly increasing our home security (surveillance cameras were our latest addition). The safety and security of our family and animals is of the utmost importance to us. We had to prioritize what we felt was more important and unfortunately giving tours lost out. So please, if you email me about getting a tour (or wanting rabbits/turkeys/etc.) and my reply is “no” do not take it personally at all. We have learned that we just can’t be too careful.

If you still want to learn more about urban farming we do offer consultations.

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Filed Under: Current Events, Farm Diary

Feeding Ruminants to Ruminants

Posted on April 25, 2012 · 4 Comments

Yesterday it was announced that a dairy cow in California tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) also known ubiquitously as mad cow disease. It was the 4th cow in the U.S. to test positive. Two months ago two Californians were found to have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – another type of Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Neither of these cases are thought to have been caused by eating infected cattle.

Mad cow is a nasty disease that basically makes the brain into swiss cheese and it can be passed on through eating a sick animal. When humans eat an infected cow they can develop variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Both are caused by errant proteins called prions. Unfortunately heat doesn’t destroy the prions so even eating cooked meat won’t make it safe. What’s even scarier is that it can take up to 10 years before you show symptoms of being sick. By then who knows how many other people could have been infected considering one cow can be spread across thousands of products.

The cow found in California is said to have had atypical BSE which means it *probably* didn’t get it through feed and since it didn’t enter the food system we won’t have to worry about that specific cow sickening hundreds or even thousands of people. However, only 1,000-2,000 animals a year are tested for this disease so finding this one was simply a stroke of luck.

The first cow back in 2003 to be infected with BSE actually entered our food system. Fortunately the beef was recalled in time before people ate it. The second cow was from Texas. Most of the cows from the herd that #2 came from were slaughtered and had already entered our food system. In addition proper records were not kept on the animals and so many became untraceable. The third cow’s herd was never found.

What has made BSE such a problem is that we are feeding ruminants food they aren’t meant to eat – other ruminants. The mad cow outbreak in the UK likely started when a cow with a spontaneous form of BSE or a scrapie-infected sheep was processed into cattle feed. One animal – that’s all it took to infect 184,500 animals in the UK through to 2010. Why in the world are we even thinking about feeding animals to herbivores though? That’s the big question here.

The US finally decided to create an enhanced feed ban in 2009 that simply bans mammals to be fed to ruminants and that the brains and spinal cords of animals over 30 months of age will not be used for any feed whatsoever. As stated earlier it can take up to 10 years for BSE to show itself so there may still be animals out there that are infected.

I can’t say this enough. Know your farmer and only eat grass fed and finished beef.

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Filed Under: Current Events

Sometimes All You Need is a Little Trim

Posted on April 24, 2012 · 2 Comments

Up on the Stanchion

One of the scheduled maintenance chores around here is hoof trimming for the goats. We do it about every 4-6 weeks depending on the growth. Unfortunately Sedona was a bit overdue. Well, actually she was really overdue. Because she’s pregnant we were holding off so as not to stress her out too much. Since she still hasn’t kidded we decided we just couldn’t wait any longer.

Tom first learning how to trim hooves

We do our trimming on the stanchion, though you can also do it without. In the photo above you can see how Tom is holding the goat (not our goat but rather Novella Carpenter’s goat during her goat class). We like the stanchion because it helps keep your pants a bit cleaner and the grain bucket keeps them preoccupied.

Sedona was in serious need of a trim

The goal to trimming the hooves is to remove the overgrown hoof walls that have a tendency to curl under. They can trap mud and manure up against the sole (frog) which can cause hoof rot. You’ll want a good pair of hoof trimmers which you can get at various feed stores.

Trimming the tip off of Bella's hoof

Scrape out any dirt that’s up against the sole and trim off the excess tip of the hoof. This is easy to see as you want to cut just to the sole.This also makes it easier to trim the hoof walls.

Trimming the hoof wall on Bella

Now you can trim the hoof walls. Trim the walls down so that they are as even with the sole as possible. Trim both the outer and inner edges. Don’t worry if you can’t get close enough. You don’t want to hurt their feet.

All cleaned up

I don’t even think Sedona noticed that we were actually trimming her hooves. But I’m sure she felt a lot better afterwards.

 

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Filed Under: Goat Health, Goats, Livestock, Urban Farming & Homesteading

Vanilla Extract and Breeding Rabbits

Posted on April 23, 2012 · 3 Comments

You’re probably wondering what vanilla extract has to do with rabbits. I’ll get to that later. First I want to discuss how we breed our rabbits here. We’ve developed a technique that has worked rather well for us to increase litter size. This isn’t the only way to breed, of course, but having tried several ways here this is what we do.

Never breed rabbits younger than 6 months old. The common rule to breeding is that you always take the doe to the buck. Does can be very territorial so taking a buck to the doe can cause a fight. Also a buck can get preoccupied checking out a new space and not end up getting around to doing the deed. You also want to be there to supervise. You want to make sure they actually connect and you don’t want a fight. Sometimes a buck will mount the doe backwards which can sometimes result in the doe biting off his….Yeah. Supervise them.

We place the doe in with the buck in the morning and let them breed three times. You’ll know it was a successful connection when the buck throws his back legs in front of him in the air and he rolls off the doe. It’s kind of hard to explain but when you see it you’ll know what I mean. It’s rather hilarious. 8 hours later we put the doe back in with the buck and let them breed again. Sometimes the doe isn’t down with 3 more times so we just go for 1-3 times. A doe, especially a virgin doe, will sometimes keep her butt down so you have to patient with them.

Rabbits don’t have a ovulation cycle like a lot of other mammals. Sexual activity is what stimulates does to ovulate, which can be several hours after the first encounter, which is why you want to do a second breeding to increase litter size.

After breeding a doe will kindle (give birth) in 28-35 days. On the 27th day we give the doe a nest box filled with orchard grass for bedding. We find the orchard grass is softer and more absorbent than straw. When the doe is getting close to kindling she’ll start making a nest in the box. Right before kindling she’ll start pulling fur to add to the next. We know she kindled when we see a nice pile of fur in a mass in the back of the nest box. We will usually do a quick check for the kits to make sure they are all alive. If there are any dead ones we’ll immediately remove them.

You’re probably still wondering about the vanilla extract. When we have first time mothers or rabbits that are ornery we will breed them at the same time as a rabbit we know is a good mother. If the inexperienced doe abandons her kits we can then give them to our good mother. To make sure she doesn’t reject them we dab a bit of vanilla extract on her nose. This masks the scent of the new kits just long enough for them to pick up the scent of her kits. Of course this isn’t fool proof but it does give the orphans a fighting chance.

When the kits reach about 8 weeks old we’ll begin to remove them from the doe. We don’t remove them all at once because we want to dry her milk off slowly to reduce any discomfort. We usually start with the boys and remove one every 3-4 days. If we’re not planning on rebreeding soon we will leave the daughters with mom for awhile longer.

 

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Filed Under: Livestock, Rabbit Health, Rabbits, Urban Farming & Homesteading

The Waiting Game

Posted on April 19, 2012 · 2 Comments

It’s day 158. Sedona should have had her kids by now. Her belly is growing larger every day but still she holds out on giving up those kids. Technically I’m supposed to start really worrying now. I’ve talked to the vet’s office and I’ve talked to a couple of goat people and since she’s never had problems kidding before she’ll probably be fine and to only start worrying about her if she’s in distress, which she clearly is not in.

The kids also seem to be good. They are regularly kicking around in there. I’ve developed a pretty good technique at feeling them and she enjoys it thoroughly. Standing behind her facing the same direction I scratch the undersides of her belly. When pregnant this is a godsend because she can’t reach this area very well to scratch. As I’m scratching she lifts up her belly. I stop scratching and lay my hands flat against her stomach and as she drops her midsection the kids move or kick.

The signs that would normally show that she’s close to kidding just aren’t there yet. We’ll just have to sit back and wait for the kids to decide it’s time to make their grand entrance.

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Filed Under: Goat Health, Goats

Book Review and Giveaway!

Posted on April 18, 2012 · 30 Comments
Yes, I’ve done this review and giveaway before but I have another copy to giveaway in honor of getting our 1,000th like on Facebook!
Your Farm in the City: An Urban-Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals

I have to say I find this book very thorough. It discusses pretty much everything you need to know about how to start urban farming. I do find it more geared towards beginners though. Most of the info in the book I already knew. However, just because I know much of the book’s content does not lessen it’s value. And it did have info in it that I hadn’t learned elsewhere, such as why you might have certain weeds and what you can use those weeds for.

I also liked that they pointed out that everyone planning on raising food in their backyard should make sure to get their soil tested and to also not rely on those at-home soil tests that are quite inaccurate and unreliable.

I found the book easy to read. It cuts right to the chase with bullet points rather than having a monotonous tone.

I think my only disappointment in the book is the paper it’s printed on. It’s a bit thin, which, in my opinion, won’t stand up as well to being a go-to reference guide, especially a reference guide that will be used outside.

Overall though, I would have bought this book if I wasn’t sent a copy.

If you’d like a chance to own this copy just leave a comment below by midnight Friday, April 27th. I’ll announce the winner on April 28th. Unfortunately for our international readers, you have to be in the U.S. to win a copy.

 

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Filed Under: Books

Slowing it Down

Posted on April 17, 2012 · 4 Comments

The #1 advice that I can give to people who want to get into urban farming is to take it slow. Too many people try to take everything on at once. In less than a year they’ve got the giant garden, 40 chickens, 5 goats, 12 ducks, 4 bee hives, 6 breeding rabbits, and 4 pigs. OK, I’m exaggerating, but not by much. It’s new and exciting and you want to do it all. I get it! I totally understand! But don’t do it all. At least not right away. Start small until you’re comfortable with it and then expand. But expand slowly.

Part of our garden back in 2007

I try to remind people that it’s taken Tom and I over 7 years of serious commitment to get where we are now. When you’re first learning to garden it can be overwhelming. Like many other activities it takes a lot more time to do when you’re just learning how. There are so many things to learn and pay attention to. Failure is going to happen and you can’t let it get you down. You have to pull yourself up and learn from the failures. It took me YEARS to finally grow a respectable pumpkin. I kept at it and can now grow pumpkins like this:

Squeek and her pumpkin - 2010

Nowadays we don’t spend much time gardening at all. In the spring we spend a few weekends prepping and planting and then in the summer we begin harvesting. We have automatic irrigation to take care of the watering and with wide beds weeding isn’t crucial once the plants get to a decent size. When we were comfortable with the time we were spending in the garden we got three hens.

Our first hens - 2008

Over the course of 4 years we’ve slowly added more animals and more gardening beds. We didn’t want to end up overwhelmed, which is easy to do especially when you have a chicken addiction like I do. We’re now at place where we’re comfortable and won’t be expanding much more. The only addition we are planning is to keep one of Sedona’s doelings so she’s no longer the third wheel around here. Other than that, we’re at a happy medium.

When introducing livestock it’s really important – I can’t emphasis this enough – to take it slow. Before taking on any livestock make sure to do your research and definitely make sure whether that animal is even legal to keep in your community. Take classes and meet others that are raising that species. Ask questions, lots of questions, and take the advice given to you. Figure out where you can get feed and supplies for them and where the closest vet is that will see that animal. Take on one species at a time and get into a good routine with them before taking on something new. Start with easier animals like chickens or rabbits. Evaluate how much work they require and whether you have the time to take on more. And, of course, be honest with yourself. If you’re already super busy with everything in your life are you really willing to commit the time that’s needed for more animals? Even if you really, Really, REALLY want goats but you barely have time to yourself they probably aren’t the right animal for you.

Taking it slow will ensure that you and your animals are happy and productive.

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Filed Under: Bees, Chickens, Gardening, Goats, Growing Tips, Livestock, Rabbits, Turkeys, Urban Farming & Homesteading

TomatoMania!

Posted on April 16, 2012 · 7 Comments

Every year I have a plant related addiction. Last year it was peppers. I was on a mission to get as many odd varieties of pepper plants in my garden as possible. This year I knew which ones did well so I wasn’t as crazy about peppers. I thought I was doing pretty good with everything else but then I heard about TomatoMania!

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. After losing 8 tomato plants to slugs I needed replacements. So I immediately started some in my mini greenhouse. It may have worked out except Duke the turkey decided she wanted to climb on top of said greenhouse and ended up punching through the roof, thus making it worthless.  Now we are forced to finally get around to building that real greenhouse we’ve been talking about.

Saturday morning Brandy and I left for Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma to go get us some tomato plants. We wanted to get there first thing so that we would have first pick over the tomatoes. They opened at 10am but by the time we got there at 11am they were already selling out of some varieties. Good thing those weren’t the varieties I wanted.

I was excited to see that Wild Boar Farms out of Suisun was selling many of their varieties there. I picked up several of their plants (see pictures below). They specialize in striped tomato varieties that are open pollinated.

I wanted 10 plants. I only needed 8 but I wanted 2 extra just in case. I’m sure I’ll find room for all 10 plants.

Here are the varieties I got (photos and descriptions are from the seller/farmer’s website as listed):

Black and Brown Boar from Wild Boar Farms – One of my first varieties. Discovered in Green Zebra patch years about ten years ago. This looks like a Black Zebra, slightly larger with some lobes. Mid-early to early. 65-75 days. Indet. regular leaf. Pumps out 3-4″ fruit like crazy. Aggressive grower and producer. Great flavor, dark earthy tones of rich tomato. Origin-Green Zebra

 

 

Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (seeds available through Seed Savers Exchange) -Given to SSE by the late Dr. John Wyche, one of SSE’s earliest members. Dr. Wyche used to own Cole Brothers Circus which overwintered in Hugo, Oklahoma. He fertilized his terraced mountaintop gardens with elephant manure and scattered lion and tiger waste to keep out deer and rabbits. Heavy yields of one pound golden-yellow tomatoes. Meaty flesh and rich flavor. Indeterminate, 75-85 days from transplant.

 

 

Evan’s Purple Pear from Wild Boar Farms – Midseason 70-80 days. indet. potato leaf. Good to very good production, great disease tolerance typical of potato leaf.  2-3 oz. cluster, purple pear shaped fruit, with excellent sweet rich flavor. Ripe fruit has some hangtime. Originally from a Prudence Purple.

 

 

 

Indigo Apple by P.K.S. Heirlooms, available through Wild Boar Farms – Thank you PKS Heirlooms for the original cross! The unripe green fruit will show lots of purple, which is brought on by the sunlight, will eventually turn almost a true black. This is caused by the high anthocyanin level (antioxidant found in blueberries). This tomato has a good sweet tomato flavor.

 

Isis Candy (seeds available through Seed Savers Exchange) – Gorgeous bicolor cherry tomatoes are red with a spectacular cat’s eye starburst on the blossom end. Rich, sweet, fruity flavor. Plants are loaded with 1½” fruits in clusters of 6-8. Bred by Joe Bratka of New Jersey. Indeterminate, 70-80 days from transplant.

 

 

 

Kellogg’s Breakfast (seeds available through Seed Savers Exchange) – West Virginia heirloom obtained from Darrell Kellogg of Redford, Michigan. Large orange beefsteak fruits weigh 1-2 pounds. Delicious rich flavor with a good acid/sugar balance. Very productive. Indeterminate, 80-90 days from transplant.

 

 

 

Mortgage Lifter (seeds available through Seed Savers Exchange) - Kentucky family heirloom grown since the 1930s by three generations of James Halladay’s family. In a trial of 25 Mortgage Lifter types, Halladay’s produced the best crops of 1-2 pound pink beefsteak fruits. Exceptionally meaty and typically crack-free. Great old-fashioned tomato flavor. Indeterminate, 80-90 days from transplant.

 

 

Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (seeds available through Baker Creek) – Stunning tomato is a vibrant, tangerine orange with shocking true purple splashed in various amounts over its upper half. I loved photographing these beauties, as they always stand out and look so artistic and ornate with their flattened shape, ribbing and brilliant color! This is one of the few domestic tomatoes that have true purple pigment, although research is being done with wild purple tomatoes. These have a mild taste that make them good for snacking. Fruit weighing 4-10 ounces were produced in abundance and tended to turn more purple as the season progressed. Some fruit may not be very purple, coloration varies.

Pineapple Pig from Wild Boar Farms – 1 lb. +, Large, Meaty, Creamy Yellow Striped Bi-color with Rose Blush Lower Acid – Sweet Huge, Late and Worth the Wait.
 

 

Principe Borghese (seeds available through Baker Creek) – Determinate 70-75 days The Italian heirloom that is famous for sun drying. Small 1-2 oz. grape-shaped fruit are very dry and have few seeds. They have a rich tomato taste that is wonderful for sauces. Determinate vines yield clusters of fruit in abundance, perfect for selling in fresh markets and making specialty products. We offer pure Italian seed.

 

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Filed Under: Gardening, Growing Tips, Urban Farming & Homesteading
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