Small Farmer's Journal

09/11/2024

In March 2024, more than 125 cattle experts, farmers, scientists, historians, archaeologists, museum experts and engineers from 21 countries met in Lorsch in southern Hesse (Germany) for the first World Draft Cattle Symposium. The event was initiated by the Lauresham Open-Air Laboratory, which has b...

09/11/2024

Stack-trench silos have been used by Washington farmers for many years. These silos have saved thousands of tons of valuable cattle feed. Now that more feed is needed, many farmers can increase their stored feed by using a silo. Materials for upright silos are scarce, so the stack-trench can be used...

09/09/2024

In addition to nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, manure contains considerable calcium and smaller amounts of minor elements. The amounts vary with kind of animal, composition of feed, age of animal, milk production, and individuality of the animal. For example, about two-thirds of the nitrogen....

09/09/2024

“We had four different practice sessions. Although we had a person alongside each horse it was difficult getting the horses to walk together. Each horse wanted to walk at different speeds. And then it was hard to get all the horses to stop at the same time. After the first practice, I wasn’t sur...

09/09/2024

The original tree of the Family avocado was found by Prof. P.H. Rolfs, now director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, on a place at Buena Vista near Miami, Florida, which came into his possession in 1902. The age of the tree at that time is uncertain, but it was probably 5 or 6 years o...

09/09/2024

Ferris Wheel Pull Toy • What in the World?

09/09/2024

The P. & O. Co. Canton Disc Plow is made entirely of steel and malleable iron, and strong enough to endure the greatest strain in the hardest and most difficult soils. The Canton Disc Plow is built on lines peculiarly our own, and which have not been successfully imitated, as the essential parts are...

09/09/2024

One day my husband walks in from the barn with a baby pigeon. The poor little guy was hungry, scared and so ugly he was cute. Well, cute may be stretching it. Khoke wondered aloud if we should try to save him or feed him to the cat. These questions were merely a formality, since the bird made it all...

09/09/2024

Narrow Water has defined a border in Ireland from ancient times. I gather a little like your Rio Grande. It’s been a documented border for nigh on a thousand years. This stretch of water where Carlingford Lough narrows to join the Newry River (two hundred yards at high tide; twenty yards at low ti...

09/09/2024

We made a startling and educational discovery one year at a midsummer excursion. We had gone to a swimming party at a nearby river and had some unanticipated entertainment. Once we had fully saturated ourselves with sunburns, water up the nose and every kind of dive, cannonball and belly flop that c...

08/29/2024

LittleField Notes: Spring is in the Air
by Ryan Foxley
I don’t recall seeing it coming, but in that brief moment of impact a lifetime’s worth of thoughts tore through my mind. First — I’ve just been kicked in the head! Associated with this sensation was something like the realization of an ever present fear of a lifetime of working with horses, a nightmare-worst-case-scenario made real. I fell to the ground, put my hand to my forehead and felt the warm gush of blood. My future passed before my eyes: I was going to be in a coma; I was going to have to relearn how to talk, how to walk, how to read, relearn how to learn; my memories would be wiped clean. I crashed to the ground and as I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and pressed it to my mangled forehead, I realized I was still alert, I hadn’t passed out, still knew who I was, and where I was.

I don’t recall seeing it coming, but in that brief moment of impact a lifetime’s worth of thoughts tore through my mind. First — I’ve just been kicked in the head! Associated with this sensation was something like the realization of an ever present fear of a lifetime of working with horses, ...

08/29/2024

Wildflower Meadow
by Stuart Harrison
Meadows can look very different, depending on what is growing in them, but the key feature is that the vegetation is left during the growing and flowering season, and then cut. This system provides an ideal habitat for many wildflowers as it gives them time to flower and set seed before the grass is removed. The process of cutting decreases the fertility of the soil and allows plants other than the normally dominant grasses to take their place in the sward. The advantage of the hay meadow to pollinators has to be seen to be believed, the land teems with them, and with crickets, beetles, and bugs of every type imaginable.

Meadows can look very different, depending on what is growing in them, but the key feature is that the vegetation is left during the growing and flowering season, and then cut. This system provides an ideal habitat for many wildflowers as it gives them time to flower and set seed before the grass is...

08/29/2024

History of the Miller Valley Produce Market
by Benjamin S. Brubaker
On a typical lot the farmer announces “I have ten boxes of number one large tomatoes, we’ll sell them choice, take one up to all of them.” Then he waits for an offer from the buyers. When an offer comes, the seller repeats the number loud enough for all to hear and waits for further offers. When no higher offers come in he repeats the last offer and says “sold” to number x. The buyers catch on quick, and it helps if they are in a hurry to get back to their markets.

On a typical lot the farmer announces “I have ten boxes of number one large tomatoes, we'll sell them choice, take one up to all of them.” Then he waits for an offer from the buyers. When an offer comes, the seller repeats the number loud enough for all to hear and waits for further offers. When...

08/29/2024

What Color was that Old…?
by Lynn R. Miller
I spoke with a subscriber on the phone who was trying to get a lock on what color the International corn planters were. I immediately puffed up and said “why they were either red, or yellow gold – and blue, or if residual from the merger with P&O, blue with some grey. Then I dug through our archives and found this plate from circa 1910. Huh?

I spoke with a subscriber on the phone who was trying to get a lock on what color the International corn planters were. I immediately puffed up and said “why they were either red, or yellow gold - and blue, or if residual from the merger with P&O, blue with some grey. Then I dug through our archiv...

08/29/2024

Book Review: The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants
book review by Lynn R. Miller
On the surface the book’s stated mission was to gather together forty years of research on prairie meadows and gardens with a compilation of information on 145 prairie plants. Though it is suggested and implied, there is no preaching about the importance of understanding and applying prairie diversity to organic and biodynamic farming schemes. The book would seem to be aimed at gardeners rather than farmers, botanists, agriculturalists and agronomists and that is of course fine, but there is a far larger usefulness to this volume. It is the most complete guide to prairie ecosystems that I have ever had the delicious pleasure in owning and perusing.

On the surface the book’s stated mission was to gather together forty years of research on prairie meadows and gardens with a compilation of information on 145 prairie plants. Though it is suggested and implied, there is no preaching about the importance of understanding and applying prairie diver...

08/29/2024

Hay Doors for Gable End of Barn

08/23/2024

Circles & Squares
by Fred T. Hodgson
In the hand of the intelligent mechanic the square becomes a simple calculating machine of the most wonderful capacity, and by it they solve problems of the kinds continually arising in mechanical work. The blade of the square should be 24 inches long and two inches wide, and the tongue from 14 to 18 inches long and 1-½ inches wide. The tongue should be at right angles with the blade, or in other words the “square” should be perfectly square.

In the hand of the intelligent mechanic the square becomes a simple calculating machine of the most wonderful capacity, and by it they solve problems of the kinds continually arising in mechanical work. The blade of the square should be 24 inches long and two inches wide, and the tongue from 14 to 1...

08/20/2024

Candle Light
by Ida Livingston
Choosing to light our home with candles is perhaps a radical lifestyle decision. To do this successfully, this choice benefits from the company of a few other accommodating choices. Candle lighting is not just a lone choice, it is part of a collection of choices. To help make candle light do-able and affordable, I rarely ever cook after dark. Our home is lit with natural light during the day and whatever cooking and cleaning is done during those hours as those jobs require more light. We also rarely ever have more than 2 candles burning at once. Often we share a lone candle for our evening activities which are usually reading, writing or occasionally a board or card game like Cribbage.

Choosing to light our home with candles is perhaps a radical lifestyle decision. To do this successfully, this choice benefits from the company of a few other accommodating choices. Candle lighting is not just a lone choice, it is part of a collection of choices. To help make candle light do-able an...