January is a great time to plan for a new year! Take some time to shape your philosophy and develop a farming or gardening approach. Plan a garden. Discover community-supported agriculture. Learn the pros and cons of gardening in Kansas. Study the farming practices of the Plains Indians. Define sustainable agriculture. Preserve Kansas heritage. Evaluate the interstate highway system. Find out how compost gardening works. … Continue reading Get Ready for January 2017
Looking for a gift idea for a young gardener? Here’s a book that may spark an interest. Practical but inviting, The Christian Kids’ Gardening Guide by Rebecca Park Totilo makes the gardening process fun and simple. Besides discussing the basics of planning, planting, and caring for plants, this book offers projects galore: Make seed tape. Plant trees. Create compost. Mix up bug repellant. Bake carrot … Continue reading The Christian Kids’ Gardening Guide
Since fall migration is picking up, some of you may be looking for ways to attract new birds to your yard. Here’s a friendly book that will give you some ideas. The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible: The A-to-Z Guide to Feeders, Seed Mixes, Projects, and Treats by Sally Roth is arranged alphabetically, starting with accessories and ending with zinnias. Entries are grouped into eight categories: … Continue reading The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible
Of course, it’s great to eat eggs from your own flock of chickens. You know the eggs are super fresh, and those bright yolks beat anything you’ll ever see at the store. But even farm-fresh eggs are not without their disadvantages. You will quickly discover one of the cons the first time you try to separate a hard-boiled egg from its shell. Without care, the … Continue reading How to Peel a Farm-Fresh Hard-Boiled Egg
Here is just the thing for the handyman of the family. Whatever you want to build, whether it is for your home, your garden, or your farm, check out this book for ideas. HomeMade: 101 Easy-to-Make Things for Your Garden, Home, or Farm by Ken Braren and Roger Griffith provides a drawing and a brief summary for each project. Many of the projects also include … Continue reading HomeMade
Spring is on its way, and the chickens are starting to get down to business. The refrigerator is slowly filling up with eggs. Before long, most of us with laying hens will have more eggs than we can eat. One good way to make use of all those extra eggs is to freeze some to cook with later in the year when production slows down … Continue reading How to Freeze Eggs
Planning a garden in January? Why not? It’ll give you something to do in those slow, cold days before the spring rush. Besides, depending on where you live and what you’re growing, it’ll be time to start some seedlings indoors before you know it. So grab a pencil and a cup of coffee and start drawing. Take advantage of your down time to get ready … Continue reading How To Plan a Garden
If you are looking for a great gift idea for your gardening friends, look no further. Make them a sweet potato beetle. It’s simple, it’s appealing, and it’s made with supplies you may already have on hand. It’s a fun project for the children, too, and is guaranteed to get lots of laughs. Plus, if you overwatered your sweet potatoes this past year, making a … Continue reading How To Make a Sweet Potato Beetle
You may have heard of the amazing escapades of pigs, goats, and cattle that get tired of their pens and pastures and decide to check out the grass on the other side of the fence. Fortunately, the advent of electric fencing has made these animals much easier to contain. But chickens are another story. Electric fencing keeps predators out of the chicken pen…but what about … Continue reading How To Ground a Wayward Chicken
Permanent fencing is sometimes necessary, but it can also be costly. However, with a little time and effort (and a few Osage orange trees) you can make your own fence posts and save some money. Why Osage orange? It lasts. Once the wood dries, it’s iron tough. Just watch out for the thorns…. You will notice that the instructions below are not terribly specific. They … Continue reading How To Make Osage Orange Fence Posts
