Practice-Farm

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Cooperative Extension Summer Intern

Now begins the Instagram series, the story behind the photo:

My title is now "Cooperative Extension Summer Intern", and I wear this name tag with pride. The Cooperative Extension is a service that allows citizens of the county to gain professional help regarding their agricultural pursuits.

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." [Eleanor Roosevelt] #summerinternship #learningbydoing #cooperativeextension #cooperativeextensionservice #agriculturaleducation #knowyourfarmer #knowyourfood

A post shared by Olivia Horning (@practice_farm) on May 17, 2017 at 9:20am PDT

I have been fortunate in being able to spend time with each of the agents in the Rowan county office, gaining a greater understanding of what their job title entails.

At the Rowan Cooperative Extension office there is a livestock/field crops agent, a horticulture/local foods agent, a 4-H agent, and a Family/Consumer science agent. I encourage you all to inquire of the cooperative extension office in your home county, as there is an extension office in every North Carolina county!

If you have been following me on Instagram (second icon in the row of icons to the right side of the screen), you already know that I have been able to participate in a wide variety of projects during my four weeks at the office thus far. Projects including video editing, planting a teaching orchard, and planning a 4-H Summer Fun camp.

Below you'll find the product of a 1-Day video training that I was able to attend, regarding the use of mobile devices to shoot high quality video. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Seeds {Round One}

Below is the Seed information for those planted on March 8th, 2017, and can also be found in under the "CSA Menu" tab above. Comment below if you have any questions about individual varieties or have other varieties to suggest.

Variety: The type of seed planted, Seed company
Planting Date: When the seeds were planted
Germination Date: Will be recorded when leaves appear
Days to Harvest: Number of days from germination to harvest
Harvest Date: Approximate date of "whatever's ripe"

Variety: Red Russian Kale, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 55
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Vates Champion Collard, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 70
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Blenheim Orange Muskmelon, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Red Pear Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 70
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Amish Paste Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Cherokee Purple Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Patty Pan Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: Approximately 45 to 55 days
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Sugar Baby Watermelon, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 65
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Painted Serpent Cucumber. Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 65
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Calabaza First Prize Hybrid Pumpkin, Burpee seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Table Queen Acorn Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 75-90
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Waltham Butternut Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 95- 110
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: True Green Hubbard Squash, Olds Seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 95-110
Harvest Date: ?

But that zera/seed on the tov/good ground are those, who in an honest and tov/good lev/heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Luka/Luke 8:15

Best Regards,

The Garden's Transition from Winter to Spring

Wednesday was a big day! Thanks to good friends that were willing to lend a hand, here is the farm & garden update:

Left- collard greens, Top- brussel sprout tops, Right- carrots,
Bottom middle- brussel sprouts (turnips and kale not pictured)

Rose bush pruned to a manageable size, which is very exciting
Last season's herbs pruned to the ground (they will come up again soon)
The 2nd greenhouse was constructed
Both greenhouses are now securely anchored in the ground in their new location for the season
The extension of the garden was prepared, mowing the grass down and covering with clear plastic to kill the grass
Bought peat moss for seed starting and crimson clover seed for the future cover crop, 5 lbs of seed!
Mixed potting media, peat moss and worm castings, from my own vermicompost. Thanks to mother for keeping the composting bin in the kitchen all this time!
The garden rows were weeded with the last of the winter crop removed (featured above)
Prepared the garden for the spring crop. No seeds in the garden yet, due to the uncanny threat of snow this weekend.

Up next: the first round of seeds in the greenhouse, now called "Seeds (Round One)"

Then He said to His talmidim/disciples, The harvest truly is great, but the workers are few.

Make tefillah/prayer therefore to the Master of the harvest, that He will send forth workers into His harvest. Mattituahu/Matthew 9:37-38

Best Regards,

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Why Have a Hobby Farm?

While mowing the cover crop in the garden today, the separation of "life" and "work" became more prevalent, as I was trying to figure out why I do what I do.

I was thinking about past friends in agriculture and current professionals in the field- and how they may be working the the agriculture field, their home lives do not reflect agriculture at all. Like professors in Raleigh that live in neighborhoods, or college friends that are enjoying the apartment life away from the family farm, while majoring in agriculture.

This concept has baffled me prior to today and was quite frankly frustrating because I did not understand this division of work and life, until today with:

A post shared by Olivia Horning (@practice_farm) on Mar 6, 2017 at 5:40pm PST

"First, determine how you are going to work.

Then, determine how you are going to live."

For example, lately I have been experiencing a pull toward focusing on my future job as an Agriculture teacher and less on unproductive portions of the farm, such as the pygmy goats I have determined to sell.

I have established that I am done hobby-ing with livestock and the next time I have any sort of previously owned species (goats, sheep) it will be on a larger productive scale, paired with cattle, because I have a more established knowledge base surrounding managing them now. Haven taken small ruminant management in the fall and currently enrolled in beef cattle management this spring, I shall hobby now with horticulture.

Thus I have established that animal science is the focus of my Ag teaching career and horticulture is my "hobby" of sorts.

With this concept I have established why I have the hobby farm, it is "living" for me. It is not "work", as it does not produce monetary income and would be cheeper to buy produce in the grocery store imported from outside of the United States.

But rather, the hard physical labor is good for my body and teaches me discipline. The farm builds character and it is how I want to raise my children. Not necessarily to perpetuate agriculture as I have, expecting them to all be farmers, but rather to teach necessary life skills and equip them to decide:

how they will work and how they will live.

Best Regards,

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

The Garden of 2016

As it is the fourth week of the spring semester, I feel like it would be appropriate to reflect on the progress of 2016. This past year I have been particularly interested in growing vegetables, and developing the most efficient management system, as this is totally new to me.

I worked on a vegetable farm for a month out of the summer and took the vegetable production class at NC State during the fall, so what did I learn?

Photo timeline video of the 2016 garden, beginning in March when the land was purchased:

I have noticed that a management system that works for one person at one farm, may not be the most efficient for another grower on a different farm. The process that is growing a vegetable garden in a new place, may be a bit tricky to figure out, like....what about the weeds? How much is this going to cost? How do I replenish the soil with minimal inputs? How many hours do I want to invest in this project a week? How do I create a complete system, sort of like a self sustaining ecosystem, on this piece of land?

While I do not claim to have all the answers, I have learned much along the way. Looking through pictures of the garden of 2016, I have tried many different systems, and experienced both success and failure. But one of the better problems to have: when you think to yourself, how am I doing to preserve all of this food?!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

"Let me now go to the field": Experiencing the Ohio Wheat Harvest

The title of this post comes from the book of Ruth, specifically chapter 2 verse 2:

"And Root (Ruth) the Moavitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter." (Restoring Scriptures True Name Edition)

What does the above Bible verse have to do with this post, you may be wondering?

I was able to visit my mother's side of the family in Ohio this summer. This is an introduction to the Ohio agriculture that my family participated in back in the day, and what modern crop farming looks like today...so, '"Let me now go to the field".

A little family history

The above photo is of my great great grandpa Henry Gautsche's farm reprinted in the local newspaper. This may or may not be the barn that his son Homer, my great grandpa, moved across the creek that stands as a double barn today in the next photo.

The Farm Today

My great grandparents, Homer and Ilva Gautsche's old farmhouse and double barn still stand in Northwest Ohio.

The Barn Sign

The farm belongs to someone else now, but the land is still farmed by extended family and I was blessed with the barn sign. The sign successfully traveled back to North Carolina to be hung on my much much smaller barn.

My Great Grandpa's Combine

We stumbled upon this gem while retrieving another piece of farm equipment from an extended family member's barn. They had purchased it at the family auction for $300 when my great grandpa stopped farming.

Family history fascinates me, and accidentally stumbling upon an old family heirlooms is the best.

The Modern Combine, a few generations later:

This is the combine that I got to ride in during the wheat harvest. The header is a 40 feet wide, meaning that it can harvest a 40 foot row while driving across the field. This is huge! In just a few generations, agriculture has changed drastically in size and scale. Just look at the size of that combine!

An Inside View

Equipped with both GPS and a spectator seat...I occupied the spectator seat.

An inside view looking down at the header, with the grain cart out in the distance.

Looking at the combine from the rear, where straw is deposited in a row for baling.

Unloading the Combine

Every so often the orange light (seen in the mirror) would blink, an indication that the grain hopper in the combine was almost full and ready to be unloaded. Here, the grain is being emptied from the combine into the grain cart. It was so neat to see how all the mechanics worked in moving the grain from the field to the grain elevator.

The grain cart is then emptied into this semi truck to be hauled to the grain elevator nearby.

Me, happily sitting in the tractor after learning how to drive it around one of the wheat fields after the grain was harvested. This is by far the largest tractor I have ever driven and it steered much better than my car!

My Main Job: Hauling Straw

After the wheat harvest, the straw was baled and left in the field. We had to go out to collect the bales for storing in the barns. These large bales had to be loaded onto the trailer with a loader, and my job was to drive the truck.

I was amazed at how flat the land was and how many different farms you could see while standing in one place.

In conclusion, being able to visit family and work a few days on the extended family's farm was an AMAZING experience. I learned so many new things about Ohio agriculture, and how different it is compared to North Carolina. This was a new kind of agriculture that I had not experienced before: Crop farming.

Comment below with any questions.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Dreaming of Sunflowers @ Rooster Ridge Farms

"She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Proverbs 31:16

This wasn’t a vineyard full of grapes, but a field of flowers at Rooster Ridge Farms LLC. My cousin Taylor, and I were welcomed onto the farm for a tour. I had never experienced a flower farm before, so this was a very neat adventure.

A special thank you to Taylor Richards for coordinating this farm tour and taking all of the beautiful photos, visit Taylor's blog here!

Me on the left with Teresa on the right

Teresa Brown is a first generation female farmer and her dream was to grow sunflowers. This dream has come alive just in the last year when she purchased just shy of 23 acres in Bryan, Ohio.

Teresa is an art teacher in a local community school system. I am sure the artistic ability aids in arranging the flowers, but this is not your average art teacher! Teresa has a sunflower painting over fireplace and sunflowers growing outside!

In northwest Ohio, agricultural production predominately consists of the three crop rotation of winter wheat, field corn, and soybeans… But Teresa Brown has a different plan for her acreage.

With being on the property only one year thus far, she has a great set up. Teresa has one main field in flower cultivation, but what an excellent view! Facing the woods, you’ve got a field to your left and a pond to your right.

The beauty is hard work, Teresa bought her tractors and got busy. She learns as she goes, which is a quality I very much admire. I once heard a saying “you just have to start”, and that is what Teresa has done at Rooster Ridge Farms.

In the era of making money, Teresa has a different view. She does it for the aesthetics, it instills happiness in others.

A few tips that Teresa shared with me:

*Cut your flowers early in the morning, so the stems retain their moisture.
*When marking your rows, use a pencil on your tags instead of permanent marker. The permanent marker may wash off!

Pricing

*Pint for $8

*Quart for $10

*Refill for $3 this year

Flowers are now affordable, local, and perfect for “flower-bombing”.

“She is flower-bombing people”, Teresa told us of one of her customers. This now coined term refers to the customers that like to buy multiple flower bouquets at a time, and gift them to their friends. What a neat idea!

So, what does the future hold?

Teresa explained that there is a program called NRCS, which you can read about here, that provides high tunnels and irrigation for farmers, which she plans to pursue.

A future for female farmers

I was very encouraged by Teresa’s start-up story as she talked to me about the resources available for female farmers, through Ag Credit and FSA(Farm Service Agency). Read more about these types of loans on the USDA website, here.