Happy Farm

09/17/2023

A simple cold frame / mini greenhouse using straw bales and polythene sheeting. Good to keep growing through the winter and next year the straw can be added to the compost heap....

09/17/2023

Ground mustard seed!

Scientists Spice Up their Mosquito Weaponry with Mustard USDA Agricultural Research Service sent this bulletin at 09/05/2023 10:56 AM EDT View as a webpage ARS News Service These mosquito larvae are eating a fatal last meal: the seed meal of certain mustard plants, which may offer a biobased approac...

09/17/2023

08/21/2023

Moonset a few evenings ago

08/07/2023

The indigenous Hopi people plant their corn wider and deeper than others for a variety of reasons .

Using and planting seeds that have been encoded genetically to be drought resistant, they will plant 4 to 5 times deeper then a conventional corn is planted. This is to take advantage of winter melt water that lies far below the surface. The plant sends roots even deeper to take on more water.
This genetic encoding doesn’t mean ”lab modified seed “ or “ bio engineered “
but it’s part of the selective breeding that happens over generations and in some cases , centuries and millenniums.

Diverse strains of diverse species around the world are genetically encoded to grow in certain environments and thrive. Drought resistance , salt resistance , cold resistance and pest resistance is just a few of these traits that have happened naturally, and have been selectively bred by man

Depth and spacing can depend on soil moisture at planting time, the field’s location relative to rainwater runoff and whether it is composed of clay or loam, among other factors.

Their corn is planted in bundles staging every 2 meters or about 6 ‘When the seeds are planted they sow about a dozen seeds. After the shoots have appeared they thin it out to around a half a dozen.

Their techniques are primarily dry farming which uses no modern irrigation systems. It relies heavily on summer falling rains. Planting near washes and using contoured farming methods they take advantage of water runoff, halting erosion .

None of the corn waste is removed but instead allowed to decompose on the soil.

The root clumps are left in the soil and are markers so they can stagger next year’s planting to reduce soil exhaustion.

The sandy top surface of their land X as a mulch which reduces excess evaporation and helps to control w**ds.

I toured many small grow plots like this during 2020 ( see my COVIDCATION pics from 2020 and part two in 2021 ) but I also saw nations like the Utes and others drilling seed with pivot irrigation too .
I also saw techniques like this utilizing drip irrigation that looked more like an amalgamation of both old and new
While modern agriculture still moves in modern ways , ancient techniques still prevail and continue to be used .

08/02/2023

Zucchini flour.Might be old news to some, but you never know right. With rising concerns on wheat costs just thought I’d share it.There’s probably fancier ways of doing this out there, but here’s how I learned. Easy peasy. Nothing to it.We love and make tons of zucchini flour every year. You may have heard it called Amish flour or troops flour before. It’s a Staple in Amish and Mennonite household for generations here. It was also embraced in the 1940’s during rationing.You let your zucchini grow, oversized is actually better. Large to extra large. Marrow sized. I peel mine with a carrot peeler, into thin even strips for less drying time. Or slide it through a mandolin for speed of prep.Run it through the electronic dehydrator or just thread it. . No large seeds if possible for finer texture. Everything else is fine. It must be absolutely dry. It’s essential. If in doubt always dry it more, any moisture will ruin it during storageThen run it through a food processor or hand grinder until you have a powdered consistency. It will be a marbled green looking power. Texture is similar to a good quality whole wheat flour. That is zucchini flour. Three large zucchini is about four or five cups for me finished.It can be used to replace 1/3 of flour in most recipes without any change to the finished products, acts as a thickening agent for gravies, great for breading fish but we really tend use ours for tortillas and bannock since those are our quick go to breads. It also makes great dumplings and brownies.Store in air tight jars , or we often vac pac oursFor us, we still purchase grains from a local family owned grist mill. So this is free, sustainable, easily produced on site and it has a mild taste. Most people wouldn’t pickup on it. It cuts our flour usage by a third . You can do the same with sweet and regular potato, other squash acorns, and pumpkin. I just find myself zucchini is the least flavoured. Plus we get overloaded by the darn things

07/26/2023

Cover crops (green manures) are a great way to improve your soil and reduce w**d pressure. Knowing how to finish a cover crop off can also be key.

Over half a million customers have chosen True Leaf Market seed company for non-GMO, heirloom & organic garden seeds since 1974. Vegetable Gardening, Sprouts, Microgreens, Flower Seeds.

04/17/2022

Wild Greens: Field Mustard/Wild Turnip (Brassica rapa ssp.)

One of my very favorites, the flower shoots are tender and can be cooked like broccoli raab. Snap them off as low down as they snap easily. Leaves and flowers are also edible.

The pasture here used to be full of it until one snowless winter the sheep discovered the tasty roots.

More info: http://wildpicnic.blogspot.com/2009/09/wild-turnip-brassica-rapa-ssp.html?m=1