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anding for a new hitching procedure just as we notice that the filly is nervously watching everything around her jumpy with each new experience how do we value those two different circumstances most of us dedicate time and concern to the skittish filly and allow that the calm gelding is nothing to worry about nothing to concern ourselves with perhaps we would do well to even that out to see if we can pick up on why the calm horse is that way after all he is the best example we have in that moment of where we would like the filly to end up yes and perhaps just perhaps that solid quiet gelding has it in his nature and makeup to assist you in bringing the filly to calm such aid is available if we are aware and open to it strawberries by liberty hyde bailey from issue 25 4 crops soil farming systems approaches strawberry the strawberry is an herbaceous perennial it naturally propagates itself by means of runners that form chiefly after the blooming season these runner plants either transplanted or allowed to remain where they form will bear the following year usually the plants will continue to bear for five or six years but the first and second crops are generally the best it is therefore the custom to plow up strawberry beds after they have borne from one to three crops the better the land and the more intensive the cultivation the shorter the rotation in market gardening areas and in some of the very best strawberry regions the plants are allowed to fruit but once the plants therefore occupy the land only one year and the crop works into schemes of short rotation cropping comb honey by geo s demuth from issue 36 4 farming systems approaches how to plans beekeeping bees honey if the general public finally becomes convinced of the purity and wholesomeness of extracted honey this will become a staple article of food comb honey to command the higher price proportionate to the greater cost of production must justify the extra cost to the consumer by its finer appearance the consumer of extracted honey is not concerned as to the straightness or finish of the combs in which it was originally stored but by virtue of its appearance there will probably always be a good demand for the finest grade of comb honey where appearance is the chief consideration hotbeds by roy e biles from issue 37 1 farming systems approaches gardening how to plans coldframes hotbeds a good deal of the success with hotbeds is due to the careful selection of the manure cold manure like that of cows and pigs should never be used because it will not heat horse manure is best but in this case at least one third of the bulk should be straw if pure manure is used it will pack too tightly when firmed so that it will not heat if possible the manure from grain fed straw bedded horses should be used cultivating questions alternative tillage inter seeding techniques by anne nordell eric nordell from issue 26 3 crops soil cultivating questions farming systems approaches gardening horses lister market gardens tillage our intention is not to advocate the oddball living mulches we use with this single row inter seeding system but just to show how it is possible to utilize the between row areas to improve insect habitat reduce erosion conserve moisture fix some nitrogen and grow a good bit of extra organic matter if nothing else experimenting with these alternative practices continues to keep farming exciting as we begin our twentieth season of bio extensive market gardening husk on by lois hoffman from issue 44 4 farming systems approaches people events corn corn husker over three inches of rain fell there was mud everywhere horses and wagons tromped through deep gullies as did tractors and people as the day wore on it only got muddier still they came young and old to husk this was my third year of attending the indiana state corn husking contest i went the first year because i was curious i remember hand husking corn as a kid to open up the fields so dad could get his corn picker in the fields without knocking any corn down i wanted to try it that first year because of the memories i met a lot of nice people it was fun and i was helping to preserve a bit of history did i also mention that it feeds the competitive side of me so i came back last year and again this year yep i am hooked farming from the heart problems and possibilities by chet kendell from issue 35 4 farming systems approaches farming from the heart while some farmers curse and spit when the usda is mentioned there are others who offer thanks i am neither of these for myself i have had two significant yet very polar experiences with direct participation with the usda the real question at least for me is why those experiences were so different and what determines the outcome when farmers and the usda come together no starving children farming systems approaches people events you d never be able to harvest the broccoli or the hay or milk the cows or make the cheese if it were subject to government process not only are our industrial farms too big planning a subsistence homestead by walter w wilcox from issue 27 1 farming systems approaches how to plans homesteading subsistence growing food for family living purposes in connection with enough outside work to provide the family with the cash for the necessary farm and family expenses is a combination that many families now want to develop recent hard times and still more recent governmental policies have renewed and intensified interest in this possible combination this kind of farming has often been called subsistence farming and a farm of this kind a subsistence homestead cultivating questions mulch tilled sudex and clover by anne nordell eric nordell from issue 33 3 crops soil cultivating questions farming systems approaches how to plans market gardens no doubt in our minds that the mulch tilled sudex and clover helped these fall crops of brassicas alternating with lettuce spinach and salad mix get off to a good start despite another long stretch of hot dry weather which did not break until tropical storm ernesto blew through at the end of the summer crop growth across this half acre field was consistently healthy and vigorous regardless of large variations in soil type from well drained sandy loam to poorly drained clay loam with a fragipan wes jackson s story by arlene graber from issue 25 4 farming systems approaches people events grains perennials as a young boy wes jackson could be found hoeing rows of vegetables as a teen ager he rode the untamed prairies of south dakota and in school he played football sounds like a typical kansas farm boy but jackson is anything but typical tanned from the kansas sun jackson s broad shouldered husky frame stands tall and sports a smile the size of his 370 acres from appearance one might assume that his comfort level may well be mending a fence harvesting wheat or breaking a horse but appearances are often deceiving wes jackson is a scientist a mcarthur genius award recipient and alternative nobel prize winner the farm windbreak by f b trenk from issue 31 1 crops soil farming systems approaches windbreaks some windbreaks have failed because of the wrong selection of trees or because of the very location of the break the full benefits of other windbreaks have been delayed many years although a moderate amount of cultivation and fertilization would have made them serviceable much earlier there is more to windbreak planting than just manual labor and that is a carefully made plan which must precede the setting out of the trees beekeeping and honey hunting on six continents by kirk webster from issue 42 3 book reviews farming systems approaches beehives beekeeping bees honey from the earth in honey from the earth we see the diversity of hives bees and methods played out to its absolute extreme there are plenty of the familiar wooden frame hives here close to the ground easy to manipulate and move but the sky is quite literally the limit beehives are made of any and every available material that can be fashioned into homes that bees will accept and occupy lumber hollow logs live trees straw reeds bark mud and plastic are all used according to the unique local situations in which bees and their keepers find themselves a year of contract grazing by dan macon from issue 35 3 farming systems approaches livestock grazing sheep contract grazing involves the use of livestock to control specific undesirable plants primarily for ecological restoration and wildfire prevention purposes the landowners we worked for saw grazing as an ecologically friendly alternative to mowing mechanical brush removal and herbicide application strawberries raspberries hot bed yards by paul e hauser from issue 47 4 crops soil farming systems approaches coldframes hotbeds raspberry strawberry growing up on a vegetable farm in central new jersey strawberries were the first cash crop of the season on our farm yet as ida said the season really started when a new field was put out the previous spring usually in april but unlike ida our new plants were not put in by hand but rather by the old allis chalmers b pulling the new idea transplanter two young uns one seemingly always me were on the planter alternately putting plants in cultivating questions two ways of adjusting the two way for shallow plowing by anne nordell eric nordell from issue 33 3 cultivating questions equipment facilities farming systems approaches plows a unique feature of the john deere two way sulky designed for working on steep hillsides is the convenient foot pedals and depth handles allowing for on the go adjustments to furrow width and thickness we think this flexibility is a real advantage for shallow plowing a tough sod like well established red clover but we have no idea if the adjustments described below would work for other soil types or makes of plows we just hope that these site and implement specific details might suggest some of the factors that go into fine tuning old tillage equipment to achieve specialized soil management goals organic no till garlic by anne nordell eric nordell from issue 47 1 crops soil cultivating questions farming systems approaches garlic no till reflected by decades of anne and eric s rich brocade of inquiry into the orchestration of a top soil s happy growth to astounding balance and fertility in this short deliberate carefully crafted film of their legendary garden and gardening the nordell s of pennsylvania offer up to anyone anywhere on this sacred fragile and hungry planet an illuminating action view of one small example of how farming might be holistically and practically accomplished to the benefit of the entirety of biological life fjordworks a history of wrecks part 1 by kerry gawalt stephen leslie from issue 35 2 farming systems approaches fjordworks people events starting your farm training i am certainly not the most able of dairymen nor the most skilled among vegetable growers and by no means am i to be counted amongst the ranks of the master teamsters of draft horses if there is anything remarkable about my story it is that someone could know so little about farming as i did when i started out and still manage to make a good life of it those first year csa blues by kim peavey from issue 28 1 farming systems approaches csa market gardens we were ready we had spent five years apprenticing at farms and csas we had worked a lot read a lot questioned a lot even groused a little and in the process learned everything we needed to know about csa farming or so we thought why we could even explain in twenty five words or more to puzzled family friends and neighbors just what a csa was seed savers 451 by jerry mader from issue 36 4 farming systems approaches seed saving today so few people farm that vital knowledge of how to farm is disappearing the average age of farmers is over fifty five and approaching sixty the proportion of principal farm operators younger than thirty five has dropped from 15 9 percent in 1982 to 5 8 percent in 2002 after i read heinberg s little monograph the final scene from fahrenheit 451 flashed in my mind s eye but this time they were not reciting great works of literature they were reciting farm manuals about soil compost microbes beneficial insects cover crops and more the entire rodale catalogue of books was personified a question of power and scale by jelmer albada from issue 39 2 farming systems approaches sustainability when considering the potential utility of draft animal power on the modern 21st century farm i like to begin from the perspective of examining those farm models where all the work was done by hand that hand work was done with a lot of care and precision and with great attention to detail towards the soil and the crops these methods persist in our times in small scale community gardens and among some subsistence farmers i have heard about read about and also have first hand experience practicing these cultural gardening techniques involving hand labor and find it useful and inspiring to use these methods as a springboard from which to examine where draft animal power can be most useful and where the hand work can readily be improved upon my conclusion is that there are many areas where a horse can do a better job in replacing the hand work and that live horse power will usually not be over kill as could be the case by introducing a tractor into a relatively small scale operation cane grinding an age old georgia tradition by marjorie dobbin from issue 26 4 crops soil farming systems approaches sugar cane most sugar cane is processed in refineries to give us molasses brown sugar and various kinds of white sugar however some south georgia farms that raise sugar cane still process it the old way to produce the special tasting sweetener for their own food one such farm is the rocking r ranch in kibbee georgia it is owned by charles and patricia roberts and their sons the process they use has not changed in the past 100 years this is how it is done small farm movement takes root in the motor city by jon a miller from issue 33 2 farming systems approaches people events market gardens and cfa is not the only farm in detroit by my count there are now at least six micro farms within the city limits ranging from about an acre to several acres even more important there are now scores of productive community and school gardens along with hundreds of family gardens which are providing fresh fruits and vegetables for their neighborhoods and for sale at various farmers markets around town on farm meat processing crops soil farming systems approaches livestock butchering meat the demand for fresh local meat products with no taint of industrial process is absolutely staggering farming from the heart searching for civility by chet kendell from issue 34 4 farming systems approaches farming from the heart the historic problem has been the short window of time in which fields must be worked and planted and the...