Category Archives: You Are What You Eat

by drjeff7 | January 21, 2013

GMO Products

GMO Products

GMO = Genetically Modified Organism

GMO is a term that is commonly applied to “Round-up” Ready crops such as soybeans and corn. So what does genetically modifying crops do to the crops ………. then the animals. Continuing on the theme of “You are what you eat,” I will try to evaluate this further and pass the information along.

There are some claims on the internet about new organisms that have been identified within genetically modified soybean meal. These claims are from an expert in the field of Horticulture. So what are the claims” The claim is that this organism is capable of causing severe disease in Cattle, Hogs, and Horses to name a few. In addition to causing diseases, the professor claims that veterinarians have found this organism and it is linked to infertility and abortions. Dr. Don Huber is the scientist who is making these claims. An aside is that his claims are very interesting and very concerning, however they appear in the Youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nHCw36wIhs) and are very vague at best. Dr. Huber fails to name the organism nor does he even identify what classification the organism belongs to. What does that mean? Well he does not name it as a bacteria, a fungus, an algae, or a prion (responsible for mad cow disease and Kuru). This definitely leaves the claims open to interpretation.

A larger question is what are the effects of Round – Up on the soil and plants? The increase in GMO crops facilitates the increased utilization of Round Up. Again Dr. Huber claims that Glyphosate destroys various organisms within the soil. These oraganism, he claims, are responsible for the production of the trace mineral Manganese. Again from Wikipedia : “Manganese is an essential trace nutrient in all forms of life…….Manganese is also important in photosynthetic oxygen evolution in chloroplasts in plants. The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) is a part of photosystem II contained in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts; it is responsible for the terminal photooxidation of water during the light reactions of photosynthesis, and has a metalloenzyme core containing four atoms of manganese.^[41] For this reason, most broad-spectrum plant fertilizers contain manganese.”

The active ingredient of Glyphosate. According to Wikipedia: “Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses known to compete with crops grown widely across the Midwest of the United States.” Other portions of the Wikipedia write up state: “While glyphosate has been associated with deformities in a host of laboratory animals, its impact on humans remains unclear.^[6]

Glyphosate’s mode of action is to inhibit an enzyme involved in the synthesis of the aromatic amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine. It is absorbed through foliage and translocated to growing points. Because of this mode of action, it is only effective on actively growing plants; it is not effective as a pre-emergence herbicide.”

While there is a lot of information that is yet to be gleaned and revealed, Glyphosate has allowed for the rapid production of GMO crops. This is another reason to consider homesteading. Homesteading centers around the conservation of of soil, plants, and animals. This is what we focus on here at Heritage Breed Farms. Check out the previous posting about building soil. Hopefully more to follow.

http://viewfromabuzz.com/2012/12/22/poisoning-ourselves-daily-part-2-gmos/

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Filed under GMO, Homesteading, Natural, Nutrition, Organic, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Genetically modified organism, Glyphosate, GMO, Manganese, Monsanto, Wikipedia

by DrJeff7 | January 11, 2013

Spinach Surprise

Today the rains came and the snow thawed. We went from having several inches of snow this morning to no snow this afternoon (other than the snow piles around the driveway). I got the itch to garden today, so I ventured up to the garden. It was a wet sloppy mess. The leaves that we put on the garden in the fall are all matted down and beginning to deteriorate. We will try to till those in as soon as the garden dries out in the Spring.

I noticed that the garlic plants still have their small, green shoots sticking up. I found a few more bulbs in the garage and took them up to the garden. I simply planted them by pushing them into the ground until the point that I could barely see the tips sticking out.

English: Spinach plant, Castelltallat, Catalonia Català: Planta d’espinac a principis de novembre, Castelltallat, Bages (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To my surprise at the garden, there was an abundance of spinach and lettuce that was still green. The lettuce looked rather weak and wilted, but the spinach looked (and tasted) fairly good. I was surprised to see this, but then again, the snow came so fast that it may have actually insulated the plants from the bitter cold. The spinach is high in iron, calcium, and many other vitamins and minerals. I was glad to see how cold tolerant the spinach actually was.

Spinach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are getting ready (perhaps tomorrow) to move our cold frame and try to plant a few varieties of lettuce. This will hopefully get us a start on some self-grown food for the year. We have been buying organic over the past few years and it is downright expensive. We might as well grow our own.

We also still have some kale and chard that does not look too bad. I decided to pick some to feed to the chickens just to see what would happen. The girls (and their beau) loved the greens. I am not certain, but I doubt that the kale lasted much more than two minutes. This is good, seeing that we paid almost .50 a pound for all mash chicken feed. That is getting out of hand and has me thinking about ways to grow our own chicken feed for the whole year. I am thinking about planting several very long rows of Blue Hopi corn. This is a heirloom variety that we grew and saved seeds from. This is one of the ways that we will possibly be able to save on costs over the next year or so.

The bigger issue is what to do to process the corn and to crack it. I have a friend who is considering building a small roller mill to be used to crack the kernels in small batches. This will allow the chickens to eat freshly cracked corn, rather than corn that was cracked weeks ago. Cracking the corn at a much earlier date subjects it to oxidization, which must degrade some of the nutrients. Once the roller mill is up an running, I till then need to devise some type of all mash formula. Should the mill never come to fruition, I am considering trying to purchase a used wood chipper that I can modify for the purpose of cracking the corn.

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Filed under Gardening, You Are What You Eat

by DrJeff7 | September 22, 2012

Post 200: Our Farming Principles

600 and 200: What do those Numbers mean? Well 600 is the number of views on the website and 200 is the number of posts. This post represents the 200th overall post here at heritagebreedsfarm.com. We are excited to have hit this milestone. An interesting point to note is that today is the 264th day of the year. This means that we have generated about 5 posts per week.

Well, with this milestone, I felt it appropriate to summarize what we represent and what we strive to achieve. Our theories and principles are as follows:

A return to the family farm. We feel that nothing can be better than the farm life. Though it can be hard and trying at times, there are many advantages to farming. We believe that the farm life is centered around the family first. We can teach our children to be helpful and responsible by raising animals. If the animals are dependent upon them, it gives them a much greater sense of responsibility than simply whether or not they clean their rooms or take their dishes to the sink. We want to teach our children that their actions have an effect on life and lack of responsibility has consequences.
A respect for the Creator‘s creation. Not that I did not say respect for the environment. I state it this way because God calls us to work the land and to be CARETAKERS. Why the bold? Well, unfortunately it seems as though Christians are opposed to environmentalism. I believe that this is due to the fact that environmentalism is basically a religion that serves to worship the creation (environment) rather than the creator. Yet, as Christians, we are called to protect the creation. We practice organic practices for this reason. God created this planet and I feel that we do not need toxic, synthetic chemicals to try to preserve it. We simply need to not be destructive and truly care for the land, while using it at the same time.
Organic Principles: We promote organic principles, not only for the good of the land, but ultimately for the good of the consumer (us). It is our belief that raising organic meat, eggs and vegetables is better for the end consumer due to fewer antibiotic residues and fewer chemical components potentially getting into the end product, such as the meat or eggs.
Free ranging/ natural approaches. We believe that not only is this better and more humane for the animal, but this produces a better end product as well. An example of this practice is free range chicken eggs. Click here to see why free range chicken eggs are superior to eggs produced by factory farming.
Using Heritage Breeds. We use heritage breeds as they are well-suited to produce in a smaller setting. These breeds have fallen out of favor because they do not thrive in a factory farming environment. Factory farming is set up based on intensive practices. Animals are often fed a TMR (Total mixed ration) instead of a more natural roughage-based diet. They are also fed grain-based diets in order to push them to higher production levels.
Grass Fed Principles: This may follow on the heels of the above principle, but it is important to what we believe. Click HERE for a link to a posting regarding grass fed beef in particular. Click HERE for the article about free range chicken eggs.

We would love for you to become a follower of our website. Hopefully you find our principles and articles helpful.

Until Next Time!

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Filed under animals, Farming, Foraging, Free-range, Gardening, Grassfed, Heritage Breed, Natural, Organic, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Animal welfare, Chicken, Eggs, Factory farming, farming principles, Food, Free range, God, heritagebreedsfarm.com

by drjeff7 | September 19, 2012

Organic Apple Trees

So we have had a small orchard (well 5 apple trees and a struggling peach tree) on our property ever since we moved in. Each year, these trees produce some fruit, get worms and end up in the compost pile or the chicken pen. I am wanting to get apples for our use if possible. Even cider apples would be an improvement over what we have gotten in the past.

Apple fruit (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

Having watched this process for many years, I am ready to try to tackle the problem. I am concerned about the amount of pesticides and sprays that I see used in our local orchards. I am wondering if there is a more natural, organic or safer way to produce good fruit from these trees. So far, I have been able to find some things about increasing airflow and sunlight. This revolves around around pruning. However, I can not find a resource that I can understand on how to prune the right way.

I recently happened upon some websites that promote dormant spray and lime sulfur. According to some, dormant spray is simply mineral oil. According to one of the places I looked, mineral oil is simply a highly refined form of petroleum.

I have also read about using chickens (hey we have some of those) and pigs in the orchard to eat the bugs and drop apples. I have considered trying this. The main issue is

English: Apple orchard, Woolhope Apple trees in blossom in an orchard in Woolhope. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

keeping things fenced in. I am not really excited about building a lot of expensive permanent fences around our property. I do like some of the portable style fences, but am not certain that we can actually keep the animals penned in effectively. We would also need to rely on electric fencing, so we would need some access to electric at those sites.

I believe that two major keys to growing organic apple trees are light and airflow. Aside from the worms that seem to infest our apples, most of our problems seem to be fungus related. Allowing better airflow and and for more sunlight should help to control fungus issues effectively.

Going back to a common theme…..”You are what you eat and what you eat is dirt,” one problem or solution is potentially to the soil that the trees are growing in. When a soil is deficient in a key nutrient or macronutrient, the overall health of the plant is lessened. A plant with a weakened immune system is more susceptible to diseases and pests. There are natural defense mechanisms that are present in healthy plants. These defenses help to both protect the trees against certain diseases, but also function to deter pests that may otherwise damage the plant or the fruit itself.

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Filed under Basic skills, Gardening, Natural, Nutrition, Organic, You Are What You Eat

by drjeff7 | June 6, 2012

Foods for anemia

DarkRedKidney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sesame seeds (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recent blood work revealed that I have a mild anemia. My doctor made some reçommendations for improving my intake of iron. Being the curious person that I am, I am now researching these foods on my own. I would like to avoid taking a multivitamin. I would like to improve my iron intake with only natural sources. So here is what I have found so far.
Red Meat. I actually am glad to jear that I need to eat more red meat. I now need to find a source of grass fed beef, but we do still have some conventional beef in the freezer. I will work through that. The iron content of red meat is listed below. It appears that liver (yuck) and kidney (who eats that?) are excellent sources of iron.

Green Leafy Vegetables, Red Meat, Beans, some seeds and some types of nuts are good sources of iron.

Garbanzo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got the following information from an eHow article:

Excellent Sources of Iron
- Excellent sources of heme iron (3.5 mg or more per serving) include: liver, which has approximately 11 mg per serving depending on the type of liver; kidney, which has 7 to 11 mg, depending on the type; and shellfish, such as clams and oysters.
  
  Excellent sources of non-heme (plant) iron include: cooked beans, including white beans, soybeans, lentils and chickpeas; breakfast cereals (the ones enriched with iron); and lima beans, red kidney beans and split peas.
  
  Good Sources of Iron
  
  Good sources of heme iron (2.1 mg or more per serving) include beef, poultry (the darker the meat, the more iron it contains) and blood pudding.
  
  Good sources of non-heme iron include: enriched egg noodles, or any other enriched, cooked noodles; dried apricots and other stone fruit; spinach; peppers (canned/fresh) and tomatoes
  
  Other Sources of Iron
  
  Foods containing 0.7 mg or more of heme iron include chicken, ham (and other lean pork meat), lamb, veal, seafood (be careful to avoid mercury poisoning by consulting the mercury levels in your seafood) and eggs
  
  And, finally, foods containing 0.7 mg or more of non-heme iron include: nuts; seeds and legumes such as peanuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds; breads (enriched with iron); breakfast cereals like oatmeal and farina/cream of wheat; wheat germ; canned beets; dried seedless raisins and fresh stone fruit such as peaches, plums/prunes, dates, apricots and nectarines.
  
  Iron-Rich Drinks
  
  The juice of any of the fruits listed previously can make an excellent iron-rich drink, along with beverages such as milk or protein shakes that specify they are enriched with iron.
  
  In general, iron absorbs poorly into the body. Iron supplements and non-heme iron do not absorb as well as heme iron, so to maximize absorption, be sure to eat and drink foods high in vitamin C to better absorb the iron.

Eat These Iron-Rich Foods to Boost Your Workout (self.com)
How To Treat Anemia (answers.com)
Which Foods Are Rich In Iron? (answers.com)

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Filed under Beef, Natural, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as eating with anemia, Food, Foods rich in iron, Iron content of foods, Natural treatment for anemia, Red Meat, vitamin B12, Vitamin B12 and iron., Vitamin C and Iron

by drjeff7 | March 24, 2012

Elite Eight

Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables on an organic farm in Capay, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is another list that honors the NCAA college basketball tournament known as March Madness.

As the teams are down to the Elite Eight, I decided to come up with an Elite Eight list to complement our Sweet Sixteen list of Vegetables.

So what would be a good list of Eight Things? How about the Elite Eight Reasons to go Organic, GMO free and all natural with farming/ homesteading? So here goes:

Organic farming and gardening is better for the environment in many ways. The first is that there is a focus on conservation. I am not a naturalist nor a “tree hugger,” but rather I believe that God gave us a great planet, which we need to protect and respect. Organic and natural farming tends to placeconservation in the forefront. Compost is recycling at its basis.
Organically grown foods contain fewer harmful chemicals than conventionally grown foods. In a conventional system, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and glyphosate (Round Up) are sprayed to increase production in various ways. These chemicals can be taken up by the plants and then eaten by the consumer resulting in toxin buildup within the body.
I would make a case that growing thing organically actually gains in yield over time. This is due to the better soil structure and the better ecosystem. By continuously amending the soil with organic matter, the earthworms and other organisms flourish. This can make to yield as good or better than a conventional system. The health of the soil leads to good health within the plants leading to reduced disease and fewer pest problems in the long run. Healthy plants, like healthy people,
are better suited to fight off disease and pests.
I will again cite Dr. Don Huber in regard to some research that is ongoing about potential problems with the use of Genetically Modified Corn, soybeans and now alfalfa.
Predatory Polistes wasp looking for bollworms or other caterpillars on a cotton plant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)n insecticide is utilized.
The reduction of chemicals that are relied upon for insect and pest control will allow natural processes to take hold. For most every pest that invades a garden or crop, there is at least one predator. These predators can be killed along with the pest when an insecticide is applied. If natural cycles are allowed to run their course, predators will find area that their prey are thriving in. A lot of prey, will ultimately lead to a lot of predators, which will reduce the population of the pest.
Though this point may be disputed, I believe that naturally grown foods contain more nutrients. I also believe that these nutrients are much easier for our bodies to utilize. This means that even a naturally grown vegetable or crop that is lower in nutrients will actually provide more usable nutrients, thus making it more nutritious for the body.
I would love to do a study on this one: Animals will eat naturally grown crops with more vigor. This means less stress to the animal and perhaps greater yields. Perhaps one day I will be able to do a study in this subject. The study would have to control just about every other variable other than the feed in order to be valid.
Finally, there is simply a self-satisfaction that goes along with producing your own food naturally.
Growth of organic farmland since the year 2000 Development of organically managed land by world regions since 2000 Data: www.organic-world.net

Something that I found very interesting is the chart above. This chart shows that North America is not growing as much in Organic farmland, yet the world is. We often look to other countries for many other things, why not look at others as the lead for this trend. We need to figure this out, before it is too late.

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Filed under Composting, Farming, GMO, Organic, Self-Sufficiency, Soil, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Agriculture, Compost, Elite Eight, Fertilizer, Genetically modified food, GMO free, Health, NCAA, NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, Nutrient, Organic, organic farming, Organic horticulture, Pest control, Sports, Sweet Sixteen, Vegetable

by drjeff7 | March 22, 2012

Sweet Sixteen Garden Crops

Sweet Sixteen of Garden Crops

In celebration of the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA basketball tournament, we decided to post a sweet sixteen list. We will not include Herbs, fruit trees, brambles, or grapes)

We will list our top sixteen crops for the garden. Counting down from 16 to number 1:

16) Onions

15) Chives (I guess this may be technically an herb)
14) Zucchini (This would probably be higher on the list, but that we keep getting vine borers, which shortens the crop season)

13) Pumpkins (we grow at the base of our corn to deter raccoon, who do not like to travel through the vines.)

12) Basil (New to our favorite last year)

11) Carrots (Again would be higher, but we have had a hard time getting them to grow right for some reason)
10) Cucumbers

9) Radishes (Love that they grow so quickly and can be used for row markers that can be eaten)

8) Peppers (We grow Cheyennes, bells, and some jalapeno)
7) Spinach (Can be grown in cold weather, not good in heat)

6) Tomatoes (We grow a lot of salsa tomatoes. We love Romas. We are experimenting with some of the Amish Heirloom varieties)

5) Peas (May be #1 were it not for all of the work involved shelling them)

4) Lettuce (Wilted lettuce is like nothing else. I will have to put the recipe up at some point)3) Green Beans
2) Sweet Corn (Nothing beats sweet corn fresh from the garden. We use “Incredible”)
1) Asparagus (Beats out sweet corn because it is a perennial)

: Sweet Corn (Photo credit: baysmom3)

Young sweet corn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cucumber Growing (Photo credit: Celladoor)

Basil (Photo credit: finn)

Asparagus (Photo credit: ulterior epicure)

Things we would like to try this year:

Brussels Sprouts

Garlic (Fall crop)

Kale

Claytonia

Arugula

A new Asparagus patch (we got this one with the house.)

Well, That is it for now. More to follow……

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Filed under Gardening, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Corn, Farming, gardening, Homesteading, Racoon deterrent, self-sufficient, Sweet Sixteen, Vegetables, Zucchini

by drjeff7 | March 10, 2012

Outcast

I oftentimes keep my opinions to myself throughout daily life. This is likely due to the fact that my farming beliefs and eating beliefs lie outside of what is commonplace. I deal with traditional farmers every day. These farmers work very hard and are very wise in their ways. The traditional view of farming is geared for maximum profit and maximum output. In order to accomplish this, expenditures are a must. These expenditures can be justified by the bottom line of increased production to a level above that of the expense. This has to include time in my humble opinion.

Traditional farming is centered around the idea of maximum yield. In order to do this, fertilizers, growth hormones, daily antibiotics, daily dewormers, daily coccidiostats and production hormones are given. I worry about the end result in the food chain. What are all of these chemicals truly doing to the people that consume all of these end products?

I watch as little girls mature at an earlier age and wonder why.

I watch the cancer rate increase and wonder why.

I watch the rate of ADD and ADHD increase and wonder why.

I watch the increasing rate of Autism….especially among males skyrocket and I wonder why.

No Artificial Growth Hormones (Photo credit: Tillamook Cheese)

There has to be a reason for the increases in these diseases and concerns that I can raise off the top of my head. Many things could go into these issues. It could

be the increase in nutrition has allowed young ladies to mature at a faster rate. It may be that there is more radiation in our daily lives due to cell phones, electricity, microwaves, and supposed reducti

on of the ozone layer (whatever happened to that concern by the way?…..o yeah I think it was replaced with the rabid religion of global warming if you ask me). Could it simply be blamed on hormones, glyphosate, GMO products, antibiotic usage, fertilizers and other factors that we have attributed to progress?

I will reference Dr. Don Huber as far as the concerns about GMO products and glyphosate application at an increased rate. In fact, he states that he would rather drink DDT than glyhposate. What is glyphosate you ask? It is the ingredient in ROUND UP that basically kills just about every living plant that it comes into contact, except those that are GMO products. GMO stand for Genetically Modified Organism. A lot of information can be found using google.com.

I will stop with the questions for now, but back to the title of the post. This makes me a bit of an outcast. I am okay with that title. I will take being an outcast if it ends up being for the betterment of my family and friends. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like having to be against the grain, but it is fine in this case. I figure it this way: They defend the practices stating that there has never been a problem with these practices and that “science” has proven that all of it is safe….I, however, am not going to drink the stuff, so I will strive to provide my family with food that is free of all the garbage. In the end, the result is that I may have wasted some time and money, but if I am right….I will be standing strong in the end.

So Stand Strong and Live life to the utmost!

GMO Farming, Glyphosate Significant Causes of Water Pollution(activistpost.com)
Monsanto’s Roundup Continuously Shown to Cause Birth Defects(activistpost.com)
Is GMO Farming Poisoning The World’s Drinking Water?(sott.net)
Monsanto’s Roundup Continuously Shown to Cause Birth Defects(naturalsociety.com)
Top 10 Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods to avoid(refreshingnews99.blogspot.com)

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Filed under Farming, Gardening, GMO, Homesteading, Natural, Nutrition, Organic, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Agriculture, Developing country, Environmental science, Genetically modified food, Genetically modified organism, Glyphosate, GMO, GOM free, Health, Hugh Wright, Mental Health, Monsanto, Nutrition, Outcast, Roundup, Tim Benton, University of East Anglia, Water pollution

by drjeff7 | March 7, 2012

Better Late than Never

I contacted a local friend today to inquire if they had made their final seed order yet. She is checking into it and thinks that I may yet have some time. We order from Fedco Seeds. I generally like their selection as they offer a wide variety of heirloom vegetables. I often wonder if heirloom vegetables will adapt (notice I did not say evolve as they don’t change into something, just s regional variant) to the soil and local area to which they are planted. I think this is the case personally. During the soil seminar that I attended, the speaker mentioned that they had noted the same plant growing in different local areas that had better resistant to pests and disease. He noted that one form of the plant was virtually pest free, while the other plant (which was located within 1/2 mile) was infested with pests. Same plant variety, different soil and local environment. Perhaps the second plant was stressed due to lack or water, lack of sunlight or poor soil nutrients.

Back to the seed ordering. I am after a few varieties to add to our garden this year. The big one that we recently discovered is brussel sprouts. They are ugly and stinky, yet delicious if cooked up the right way. These are a great source of nutrition and supposedly easy to grow. The yield per plant is very good as well. I am looking forward to expanding into this newer vegetable.

My other desire is to begin to replant our pastures to provide a more well round forage. In order to so this, I am going to take soil samples and try to increase the organic matter and soil substructure. I am not going to purchase enough seeds to replant the entire pasture, rather I am going to plant a small plot from which I will collect my own seeds to sow into the larger pasture. I will take any left over seeds and spread them sparsely around the fields, in the hope that they will begin to drop seeds as well. I will probably get a few types of grasses, maybe alfalfa and several types of clover to try out. Each of these helps to supplement the grasses that we currently have. I also would like to use legumes to help fix more nitrogen into the soil. In subsequent years, we may turn over and replant some or all of the various pastures, but this will take some time and money to do. That is why I am hoping to grow my own plots of seed crops.

Well that is all for now, other than to say that our (Red Poll Cattle) heifers are getting nice bellies on them. Babies due in April or early May. We are eager awaiting.

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Filed under Basic skills, Gardening, Natural, Nutrition, Organic, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as Brussels sprout, Garden, Heirloom plant, Plant, Seed, Soil, Sowing, Vegetable

by drjeff7 | February 25, 2012

Baled Out

First off, let me appologize for the cheesy title, but I had to do it…

For those of you that have been following our blog for the past few weeks, we have been looking into buying hay. We purchased approximately 75 bales in the fall. These bales were all purchased via Craiglist and chosen based upon a low price. I paid $2 per bale.

So about two weeks ago, we noted that we were going to run out of hay. We began the search for more hay. We took inventory and noted that we were feeding between 1/2 bale to 2/3 of a bale per cow per day. With the 3 heifers, that means basically 2 bales per day.

In our previous post entitled “Success,” (http://heritagebreedfarms.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/success/) we proclaimed that we found more hay. The seller had 1000 bales for sale at $2 per bale. I called and found out that the seller was actually a client and an acquantance. I arranged the purchase of 100 blaes, which should be enough to get us through until the grass is growing well enough to at least compensate the cows and supplement their feeding. I left my phone number with the seller and then awaiting the timing for the pickup. After waiting several days, I attempted to call the seller multiple times, but was unable to get ahold of him. I was losing hope at that point.

We began to look around for more hay, with the one remaining bales rationed for the next day. Off went some emails and texts to various people that we know so that we could buy more bales. Thankfully in the middle of that, the seller called back and we were on our way. We picked up the bales around 7:00 P.M.

Upon picking up the bales and then returning home, we tried to get the hay wagon into the barn. At that point, a lesson was learned—-the wagon that we borrowed was a wagon to catch bales of hay from a kicker wagon. The importance is that the front axle is reticulating (not fixed like a normal trailer). My weak attempts at backing the trailer were near comical. As soon as the wheels to the wagon began to turn, the wagon would basically jack-knife.

This began the unloading of 100 bales after the kids were in bed. O-yeah and in a light rain, which actually let up during the unloading. Finally at 12:30 A.M., we unloaded the last bale and headed inside. one project done and two tired workers. But thankfully we got “Baled Out” in the nick of time.

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Filed under animals, Farming, Foraging, Grassfed, Homesteading, Nutrition, Organic, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat

Tagged as disaster averted, food rationing, foraging, grass-fed beef, Grassfed, grazing, hay, plsnning

Category Archives: You Are What You Eat

GMO Products

Spinach Surprise

Post 200: Our Farming Principles

Organic Apple Trees

Foods for anemia

Excellent Sources of Iron

Good Sources of Iron

Other Sources of Iron

Iron-Rich Drinks

Elite Eight

Sweet Sixteen Garden Crops

Outcast

Better Late than Never

Baled Out

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