Description

Stories in this issue:

• Deer Damage Prevention: Keeping deer out of your market garden can be a difficult and expensive endeavor. The Nordells have a Gallagher-Springtight sloped fence that has worked for years. This article shows you how to build one with drawings, materials and design options.
• The New Genius: Teamster Brandt Ainsworth prefers things simple, especially when it comes to his horses. He received his best advice from his father Earl and shares Earl’s wisdom with us.
• The Pawpaw Patch: Our largest native fruit in North America is returning to the spotlight. Hazel Freeman recounts the history of the pawpaw in the US as well as it’s attributes. She introduces us to a couple pawpaw growers and tells us of the state of the fruit today and why we should try it, on our properties as well as our tables.
• All Season Hay Feeder: Warm winter temperatures caused Ralph Rice to design a hay feeder for his cattle that keeps them, and him, out of the mud. He gives us great detail of the construction of the slab, structure, manger and extras. Ralph also explains his feeding and manure management plans.
• A Year in a Farm’s Life – Part 1 Winter to Spring: First in her series: Katrina Julian chronicles winter work and activities on the Julian Dairy Farm and Legacy Horse Logging. She owns with her husband Jason. Winter is mainly filled with Jason’s horse logging work, milking, care of the heard, and various farm projects. This past winter he was contracted to transport cell tower equipment with his horses that traditional equipment could not access.
• 2017 Draft Animal Power Field Days – 10th Anniversary: The 10th anniversary of Draft Animal power Network was celebrated in October with their bi-annual Field Day. Three days of demonstrations and workshops on horse logging, woodlot management, animal powered vegetable farming equipment, basics of harnessing and driving, and much more. A blacksmith shop and tool museum were open, stoneboats were constructed as well as a timber frame.
• Tillage and Soil Management: Another in our series of reprints from Farm Knowledge, Sears and Roebuck 1918. This extensive chapter on tillage includes very detailed information on plows, harrows, cultivators and rollers and crushers. Information on best practices for every type of soil, conditions and equipment are presented.
• Compost and Clover: With little budget to improve the poor soil on his new farm, Ralph Rice used compost, clover and extensive mowing. 25 years later, the same practices continue to provide fertility to the soil. Read about Ralph’s methods and what he has changed over the years.
• Front Porch Archives: Gee and Haw: Kevin gets advice from many teamsters on the use of “Gee” and “Haw” for communicating with his horses. The origins of these commands is explained by the website journal Words to the Wise and reprinted here.