Sharing our small farm stories and skills along our farming, gardening and homesteading journey. Visit the farm for an informative and sometimes irreverent tour through our garden, livestock pastures, chicken coop and greenhouse as we live - pasture to plate. Farming topics free range around pastured heritage pigs, broiler chickens and pastured eggs, heritage breed turkeys, an heirloom vegetable CSA and garden, high tunnel / hoop house / green houses, organic and traditional gardening, farm infrastructure, tractors, sustainable energy, permaculture, food preservation and even fence mending.

Farming stories and skills from our small farm, gardening and homesteading journey -

pasture to plate.

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August 2012
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Sun, 26 August 2012
035 Farm equipment finds on craigslist, fall vegetable garden succession planting, the business of farming full time

Updates around the farm this week:

  • Our Daycation here in NY,
  • A new to us hog feeder,
  • O2 and his bum leg,
  • Turkey ordering,
  • prepping greenhouse for fall.


In the Veggie Patch:

  • Fall Succession planting update in the garden and in the greenhouse,
  • CSA spotlight - Edamame.


In the CoopCast Community:
We get mentioned on some blogs (thebeginningfarmer.blogspot.com and empressofdirt.net) where they say we are a good farming podcast - COOL!

And we bundle a bunch of reviews and questions together from the community to have a conversation...
We ruminate about going full time as a farmer and answer the following questions (from James and "farmer on hiatus", amongst others):
  • Is our aim to do this full time?
  • How much land do we have?
  • DO we want farming as primary occupation?
  • Are we "Big enough to sustain" our farm?
Direct download: CoopCast035.mp3
Category:farming podcast -- posted at: 7:49pm EST
Sun, 19 August 2012
034 Greenhouse gardening and soil fertility, growing livestock feed on your farm, preventing Botulism when canning vegetables

A update light week on the farm with:

  • No poultry pens to move,
  • Normal weather for a change on the farm,
  • Turkeys and layers doing well,
  • Pigs have their first weigh in.

In the Veggie Patch we talk:

  • Greenhouse soil fertility and design,
  • Low tunnel greenhouses you can build,
  • End of garden season discounts.
In the Coopcast Community:
  • On a listeners suggestion Andy is trying Oral Ivy.
  • Sheree asked about growing grain for chickens and supplementing them with veggies/greens from the garden.
  • Brice suggested we invest in some livestock guardian dogs.
In this weeks Farm U we learn about the science behind preventing Botulism when canning vegetables.
The bacteria lives in all soils and we talk about terms relating to it and defeating it when canning:
  • Spores
  • Anaerobe
  • Soil
  • Pressure and temp
  • pH
Direct download: CoopCast034.mp3
Category:farming podcast -- posted at: 8:31pm EST
Mon, 13 August 2012
033 A great farm animal becomes sausage, growing potatoes in the vegetable garden, getting attached to livestock when farming

Updates this week on the farm:

  • We learned that Ollie is no more on the farm we took him to,
  • Hay and livestock trailer,
  • The seasons final chicken processing,
  • 5 gallon bucket waterer gauge,
  • And a question - what makes you happy when farming?

In the Veggie Patch:

  • Tomatoes and canning,
  • Succession planting,
  • We discuss the results of the above ground potato growing method (from coopcast 014)

Questions, Conversations and Ruminations:

  • We get asked all the time "Don't you get attached to your animals?"
  • Can you care about the animals you eat for meat? 
  • Is it better to not like them? 
  • Is that why we've gone to a system of mistreatment?

Direct download: CoopCast033.mp3
Category:farming podcast -- posted at: 7:57am EST
Sun, 5 August 2012
032 Successfully moving our sow to pasture, storm damage on the farm, antibiotics in livestock and their meat

This weeks updates include:

  • Hermione's move to the pasture reuniting her with her piglets,
  • Club station cool (what is it)... a shade cloth shelter for pigs when there is no other shade around,
  • We are sold out of pork and share some lessons on ordering / selling pork halves,
  • Chicken processing coming up next weekend,
  • Weather has been hot and dry and the rain has come with a price,
  • Shattered window and shredded turkey shelter.

A new segment called The Veggie Patch focuses on the vegetable gardens and gardening techniques we use (because you, the listeners asked for it!)

  • Tomato planting, labels and harvesting,
  • Basil planting techniques in northern climates

Farm U inspired by a listener comment on the use of antibiotics on the farm.

  • Is the meat tainted?
  • Why don't you want antibiotics used in livestock
  • What constitutes safe or good use of antibiotics on a farm?
Direct download: CoopCast032.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:26pm EST
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