Description

Stories in this issue: 

• Income Diversification: Danielle Londrigan presents us with a number of ways in which to bring diversification to the products produced on your small farm. Raising a variety of livestock and produce as well as finding direct to consumer markets and varying production methods to serve a number of consumer preferences are just some of the ways to earn additional farm income.
• Generational Transition at Orchard Hill Farm: Jenifer Morrissey reports on how this eighth generation family farm (Orchard Hill) has handled transitions in the past as well as now. Transitions involving farm ownership, leadership, what they grow on the land and how they sell the bounty it produces.
• A Simple Seedbed Preparation Drag: Ralph Rice give us a simple DIY project with photos and drawings will help you to make this drag. The drag is used to flatten the furrows and fill open valleys to make a nice smooth seedbed for planting.
• Make Safety Routine: Ralph Rice explains why routine and order make his work in his shop but especially with his young and old horses safer. He shares a serious mishap he had when he veered from his routine.
• Chain Your Neck Yoke: A major accident in which a neck yoke came off the tongue encouraged Doc Hammill to address the reasons to always chain your neck yoke. This in depth article by Jenifer Morrissey discusses the reasoning behind this safety precausion and includes detailed photos of improper hitching and proper hitching with a safety chain. Sidebars on reasons that neck yokes come off and a safety assessment of a photo of an unsecured yoke drive the point home are included.
• Build a DIY Cooler: If you slaughter and butcher meat at home, Ralph Rice has a plan for a free standing , walk-in cooler. This DIY project is fairly simple and Ralph walks us through his design and building process.
• Growing Heritage Wheat – Harvesting Your Wheat: Charlie Tennessen teaches us about harvesting wheat. How to tell when the wheat is ready, how to cut the stalks, using a scythe and a scythe cradle, bundling, drying, threshing and storage. He teaches all of these techniques for the scale of a homesteader. Many great photos are included to assist in our understanding.
• Homemade Grain Cradle: Want to make a grain cradle attachment for your scythe for harvesting wheat? Charlie Tennessen give step-by-step instructions to make this a fairly easy DIY project. Detailed photos accompany the article.
• A Garden for Everyone: Karen Kirsch describes the many ways she has encouraged native birds, insects, mammals and plants to thrive on her small plot of Earth. She encourages us to provide for these creatures for our own mental health as well as the health of our planet.
• Pandemics and Gardens: Jenifer Morrissey shares the diaries of her great-grandfather who lived and gardened during the 1918 flu pandemic in Medford, Oregon. His records tell how much and what kind of produce he preserved, shared, sold and sent to WWI troops stationed stateside. She also tells us about the Cushaw squash variety and hopes we can find it this summer.
• The Horse Swing: In honor of the event of his upcoming birthday, Jerry Hicks tells of the antics of his youth, this one involves a horse, a bet and an obstacle in the night. He attributes this fateful day to some aches and pains in his 46-year-old body.
• Finding Satisfaction: Dale Stoltzfus waxes about Horse Progress Days, Mt Hope Auction house and introduces us to his farm and beloved farm animals. A few stories about his draft horses, pony, chickens, cats and more entertain us.
• The Missing Link: Ralph Rice encourages us to plant gardens and share any and all skills and knowledge we have with people wanting to learn, especially skills in homesteading.
• Forging Rapid Tongs: Blacksmith Pete Cecil introduces us to the blanks sold by Ken’s Custom Iron for making various styles of tongs. He tells us how we can make them easily.