fourfarmdogs – Page 76 – Canfield Farms

Emmer Flour and Products

Posted on July 1, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

A while back, I read in one of WSU’s alumni magazines a feature on a family farm in the Methow Valley where they are raising emmer (aka farro). Emmer is an ancient variety of wheat that is staging a comeback. I was intrigued. I like supporting family farms, especially local ones, and eastern WA is about as local as a grain grower gets for me.

I am also wary of all of the modern, hybridized food plants upon which we now depend. I cringe at some of the new “innovations” out there– like my neighbor uses that “Roundup Ready” corn variety, so they can use herbicide with abandon all season right on the food crop- yech! When I see someone reviving any kind of heritage breed of plant or animal, I give a silent cheer. The interesting thing about emmer is that it promises to be tolerable by many who are normally gluten intolerant-nice!

So, I was eager to give emmer a try. You can check out this family’s products here: Bluebird Grain Farms. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I figured maybe it would be some dowdy old grain with poor flavor or texture. But boy am I impressed! The whole grain berries are fabulous cooked according to the package instructions- boiled for an hour in broth, then lightly sauteed with some oil, garlic and herbs. They have a nice flavor and a hearty, chewy texture. Compared to bland modern wheat, emmer has a much more robust flavor.

The flour is also lovely– it has a very slight graininess to it that makes a wonderful texture in baked things. So far, I’ve made waffles and biscuits out of it, they were both very nice. Kirk noticed the difference in the waffles immediately, not knowing what I had changed, and commented how much more tasty they were than the last time I’d made them.

This weekend, we had friends over for a BBQ, and I used the emmer flour for pie crusts in Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. That didn’t go so well, I think the emmer’s gluten quality, or maybe low gluten, just didn’t give enough stretch to the dough to make it workable. There was no way I could do the quarter-fold method to get the crusts centered in the pans, it would just break anywhere it was folded (and possibly my use of butter + coconut oil instead of Crisco-type grease didn’t help either, but that has worked ok for me in the past with white flour). So I had to more or less just fling the dough into the pans, and settle for an unwoven lattice top. It did mush together well enough that I was able to cobble together reasonable fluting.

The pies also turned out dark- the emmer flour is light colored in the bag, but develops a deeper brown in cooking, so they don’t look very traditional. They were still tasty, but I think I’ll go back to white flour for pies in the future.

Weekend Progress

Posted on July 1, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

Because we had friends over on Saturday, I spent a good bit of that day getting ready for that- cleaning house, and cooking. We also met new neighbors, which was nice! Our BBQ was fun, friends stayed until 12:30am, so I guess they had a good time, despite the mosquitoes!

So, that left Sunday for fencing. I only got three wood posts planted- it was HOT! So, slow going due to needing to drink every few minutes, and getting those posts lined up is very tedious. This last run of fencing has two gates and four H-braces, so needs a total of eight posts. <sigh> I’ll keep working on it…

Barn Cleanup and Other Things

Posted on June 28, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

Here is a nicer photo of the pasture from “up top”; if you view this full size, you can see the new line of fencing here, and some of the beautiful colors coming out on the nursery trees. Now, if only there wasn’t a shipping container out there in the middle of the field…. We’re hoping this will resolved sooner or later.

The rest of the old homestead barn fell down a few months ago, sadly. I have a copy of the building records- the original owner spent $587.67 on the barn and concrete silo, combined, in July, 1902! It was about 8500 square feet, made of fir logged off this site and a cedar shingle roof.

But, unfortunately, it looks like nobody ever re-roofed it, there is still a single layer of old-style, large shingles on it. And, it was lacking in structural supports in the lateral direction. So, there was just no saving it, at this point.

It’s amazing that it lasted as long as it did. Here is a photo of the cleanup effort currently, we have maybe 1/3 of the timbers cleaned up, and maybe 3/4 of the roof taken care of. We are saving any good wood we find, and there is quite a lot, but also much more is not salvageable– either rotted, or too damaged by some kind of wood boring beetle.

We have been enjoying much of the wood for evening campfires, but have also had some small fires going during the day to help get rid of some of the wood (well, that is, only 3’x3′ campfires, cooking or religious fires are legal, so of course, we’ve never exceeded that! 😉 ). There are lots of bathtubs in (well, under, now) the barn that were used for feed and water troughs. So, Kirk is using a couple for shingle burning pits. In the end, they’ll go to the recycle center, but are getting one last use now.

Dog Food

Posted on June 26, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

Here is a typical meal that I feed my dogs- well, typical as it gets since they get something different every day. I make their food fresh, “from scratch” each evening. But, it’s really, really easy. This is because, I believe, dogs are evolved scavengers and can live, and thrive, off of almost anything (the fact that most commercial kibble is so full of junk, but so many dogs do OK on it is the ultimate testament to that). So, I follow no recipes, I don’t worry about what AAFCO defines as the daily minimum for niacin or phosphorous; and I don’t really even worry much about the raw versus cooked debate.

Instead, I just feed them whole foods, and shoot for as wide of variety as possible. Because I’ve read that dogs don’t break down fiber well, I do cook their grains, and mostly steam their vegetables. I feed their meat raw most of the time, but they certainly get cooked meat too, and I’ve recently switched the most elderly dog to mostly cooked. I don’t avoid much of anything, except I minimize onions and grape products (recent evidence indicates they’re toxic to dogs in large quantities) and the nightshade family plants (tomato, eggplant, potato) because those contribute to inflammation.

This particular meal has bananas, some leftover bits from a salad, some leftover waffles, duck eggs, and beef liver. The meat I use most is ground turkey, because I can get it the cheapest. But I try to have them eat red meat at least once a week, as well as organ meat once a week, and canned fish once a week.

I feed them a small piece of meat in the morning (a chicken drumstick or back, usually) and their evening meal is about 1/3 veggies, 1/3 meat and 1/3 grains and legumes. These are very rough proportions. I do add some supplements– glucosamine for the old dogs, and vitamin C, vegetable and fish oil for all. For three of the dogs, I add a supplement powder mixture of lecithin, alfalfa, kelp and nutritional yeast (my 4th dog seems to be allergic to one of these things, so she doesn’t get this). I try to give them raw meaty bones from the butcher once a week too.

Often-very often-they get leftovers. That’s the best part about all this homemade feeding thing! If we make a recipe that doesn’t turn out so well, or forget to eat some leftovers, or buy too much of something, I never throw it away. It all goes in the dog food. So, pretty much nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. Refrigerator cleanouts go straight into their bowls. They don’t mind things that are a little “off” with too much enzyme activity for our tastes- in fact, I think they digest things better when they are already headed down the path of decomposition!

The results: super healthy dogs that veterinarians always compliment. Their teeth stay healthy and clean without any brushing or anaesthesia -cleanings. Their coats look great. They heal from wounds fast, they have loads of energy for working, rarely injure, and stay robustly healthy, despite frequent exposure to other dogs at shows and trials. I rarely have to vist the vet. They tolerate fleas (yes- tolerate, like a normal animal should!). Their “output” is small and less offensive than kibble-fed dogs: more like coyote scat. They aren’t perpetually hungry like they were when they ate kibble, and they maintain good weights naturally and easily. And, my old dogs are old: 12+ and 15, and they still look good!

I have been feeding my dogs this way for about 9 years and am so pleased with the results. Once, I did the math, and convinced myself it costs about the same as kibble. For all the people out there who are struggling with disease, dental problems, allergies, infections, behavior problems and other chronic illness in their dogs, I really think this is the way to go. Diet is probably the foremost contributor to all disease in the world, and for us in this country, it’s so easily changed! Plus, I just enjoy making it for them and seeing how much they love eating it. Bon appetite! 🙂

Fence Clip Madness

Posted on June 24, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

This weekend’s progress included stretching a ~340′ section of fencing. My dad helped out this time. Here is a photo from up above by the house- you can’t really see much of the fencing, but it runs acrosss the field where the lightest mowed patch is. The shipping container is Neighbor Nick’s solution to his storage needs. Much of the background is neighbor Dick’s nursery tree crop. It’s really looking nice this time of year, many vibrant colors!

The fence stretching part goes pretty quick, I just tie off on one end post, unroll (this time, I got smart and used the tractor- I put the roll on a metal rod in the loader and backed up), tie the other end off to a metal tube, hook that to the tractor, and pull it until the tractor starts losing traction-that seems to be about the right tension. Then snip one horizontal wire at a time, wrap it around the end post, secure, and move on. When we got down to 3 wires, we slacked the tension, and then hand-tensioned each one of those using a fence stretcher. That took just a couple of hours.

Then came the hard part, that takes twice as long- the T-post “clippies!” Though only a few per post are required, I prefer to use more, to make the fence stay nice and flat- for aesthetic reasons mostly. So, I bet we put in a several hundred of those things on Saturday! My dad said his hands were cramping that night!

I have a couple of tools for twisting the clips, but my favorite one is the Fence Pro. It makes splendid looking clips, and is easy on the hands. The downside: it’s really easy to fling the tool a few yards by accident- and always, of course, on the opposite side of the fence from where you are working! And, the dang things get lost in the grass too easily, they embed in tall grass like Barbie-sized javelins, never to be spotted again. 🙁

I’ve ordered a couple more tonight, both to replace one that I lost, and also so I have more around to share when I have helpers. It’s nice to have a long one for good leverage, and also a half-sized one for tight spaces (you can cut them to your preferred length). It seems a little silly to pay $7.50 + S&H for such a simple thing, but I don’t begrudge the makers, this is indeed a fine tool!

My second favorite tool is the Wire Twist Tool from Kencove Farm Fence Supplies. It works great on the bottom clips that are near the ground. Kencove has a lot of really cool products and advice on their website and in their catalog. They have a good price on wire crimps, which saves me quite a bit compared to buying them five-to-a-packet at my local farm co-op. And, I like their slick (re-used, I think?) spice shaker bottles to hold them- no spewing crimps out of a bag onto the grass! I had some free web dollars to spend from a promotion, and I spent them all on fencing tools from Kencove! 🙂

Setting Fence Posts

Posted on June 21, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

I’ve been setting fence posts the last few weeks, getting ready to stretch another line of field fence. I’ve chosen to do a ratio of one wood post per 9 metal “T” posts. The wood posts are 4×4″ treated, and the T-posts are 8′ heavy duty ones, driven into the ground 3 feet. I’m spacing them 12′ apart. This seems to be strong enough, and balances economy of materials with the need for robust fencing. But, I feel very unsure about what the “right” numbers are, because there is so much varying advice and evidence of application.

One thing I do value is the ability of the fence to “spring” a little bit. Knowing that when working dogs, it’s possible livestock might, ah, occasionally get run into the fence full-boar with a young dog in hot pursuit, I don’t want it to be as hard as a brick wall when they hit it. That’ll either break the fence or break the animal, one of the two! This fence does seem to have good flex, but seems strong enough to resist my hardest pushing, and then some. I’ll report back if I regret any of my decisions once dogs and livestock put it to the test!

I’ve chosen to put concrete around the bottoms of the wood posts. This is a subject of debate for many too– concrete makes them a bear to get out, if you ever need to. And, it’s tough to say whether concrete concentrates water around the post more, making it rot sooner than well-drained soil would. But, the deciding factor for me was, my neighbor Bob, a long-time farmer, warned that if you don’t use concrete in the flood plain (which is where the pasture is), you could find your whole fence afloat when the water comes. He speaks from experience, apparently, so I’m going with his advice.

A handy tip I found in a book is to screw galvanized bolts about halfway into the posts where they will contact the concrete. This binds the concrete and post together, so that the post cannot slide or twist within its concrete shell. Here (left) is what I’ve been doing on the bottoms of my posts.

The wood posts are fairly easy to install since I have a post hole digger on the tractor. Tinkering with getting them aligned with the string line is the biggest hassle. The T-posts, I only drive in barely by hand using a fence post driver. When I have a whole line in, I mark the bottoms at 5′ tall, then drive along with the tractor, and push them in down to their marks using the tractor loader. My dad gave me that tip. They go in “like butter” this way, and it sure saves the hard labor of fence post driving!

Last Weekend’s Progress

Posted on June 20, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

Last weekend did prove fruitful for me, despite taking the break to host a family gathering, and all of us staying up late Saturday night around the campfire. Here’s the picnic table chore done:

I had some struggles with the Millstead kit missing some of the lumber, went back to Home Depot to get replacements, only to find the next kit we opened was also defective. So, they gave me a 2×2 and I cut my own mitered angles at home, which was annoying, since the whole point of a kit is to not have the hassle of getting out your saw and measuring things! Oh well, it still went together quickly enough to be ready for use the same day, I’m sure much more quickly than if I had built it from scratch, judging by how long the duck tractor took me. Kirk did the sanding and finishing, it turned out nice! We are enjoying eating on it in the nice weather we’ve been having.

I also got a whole line of fence posts done over the weekend, and finished up the H-braces during the week. So, that side of fence is ready to stretch-that’s Saturday’s task.

The baby ducks are growing, they are almost 4 weeks old. They have very “tweenie” feathers, and their markings continue to hold my interest, wondering how they’ll turn out! This isn’t a very good picture, it was getting dark when I took it…

Duck Incubation Plan: Rev B

Posted on June 20, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

I put more duck eggs in the new-and-improved incubator tonight. I spent the money to add the egg turner and fan options to my “stock” incubator. Now I think I’m invested over $100 in the thing! I have to make a lot of babies to pay for that! Here is tonight’s load, only 14 eggs over 2 weeks from 2 ducks (well, I broke one more):

Since I had such a poor hatch rate the first time, I’m stepping up with the added incubator features. I thought hand-turning was a pain, so the electric turner is a welcome convenience. The product’s literature warns that it’s not for duck eggs, which are large. But I gambled, and am finding they seem to fit fine, turn fine, and are not too close to the heating element. It might be a problem if it were full, however, they didn’t fit so well when I tried setting them next to each other.

The fan option is supposed to more evenly distribute the heat across all the eggs. This time, I’ll also be more careful about humidity, especially the last several days before the hatch. I plan to include wet sponges to supplement the water channels in the bottom of the foam box.

My reasons for incubating are twofold. First, I want to keep the hens laying- if they collect eggs for two weeks, set for four, then supervise babies for another month or two, that occupies them through peak laying season. Their job is partly to generate dog food ingredients to earn their keep, so I want them to keep laying. I have also decided that incubation and indoor-rearing make tame ducklings, which is much preferable to me. They are easier to manage and handle, and more practical for their second job, which is being the subject of the dogs working on their herding skills. When I pet-sit my mom’s ducks, they are nearly suicidal when I approach them, crashing into the barn walls; and they are impossible to catch once they get loose in a panic.

The third job of the ducks has nothing to do with incubation, and that is to eat slugs! I am fairly afraid of slugs, that’s my one phobia, so I am thrilled that the ducks are so happy to eat them! It grosses me out to watch, however, as they struggle with a huge slime drool for quite a while after wolfing one down. So here’s hoping I’ll have 14 more slug eaters 28 days from now!

Local Small Scale Farming Resources

Posted on June 18, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

Wazzu: Washington State University is our state’s “land grant” college, which means it was founded on agriculture and continues to be funded for that vein of research and education. Since I’m a WSU alum, I often receive mailings with news on current research being done there. I’ve been impressed with their commitment to study and further the movements of organic farming, crop rotation, bringing back heritage varieties of plants and animals, and other earth-friendly agricultural pursuits. Check out WSU’s Small Farms Team website or news on the WSU Agricultural Research Center.

Extension: WSU has “outreach” offices in every county in the state, called Cooperative Extension offices, that provide local resources, classes, and experts on livestock and plants, amongst other things. An interesting service they usually offer is bug identification and plant disease ID. The Extension system in my region has long-offered a “Master Gardener” education series, which trades volunteerism for extensive training in horticulture. Modeled after that, we now also have “Livestock Master” programs. The idea is, you take a series of classes for free to become a local expert, and in turn, volunteer your time to give back to the program afterward, so that the whole system is self-sustaining and propagates knowledge and networking.

Extension Offices also oversee the county 4-H programs, which are fabulous youth development programs that teach not only agricultural subjects, but many other things as well (dog training, motorcycles, computers and rocketry, to name a few!). 4-H is close to my heart, I was a member for 10 years growing up, and have many fond memories of the wealth of learning and experiences I enjoyed there. Most 4-Hers exhibit their year’s efforts at their local county fair, and those are great places to get to know other local farmers and ranchers and network with local associations.

Conservation Districts & NRCS: Snohomish Conservation District is the local (to me) branch of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a federal USDA program that, as its name implies, is committed to preserving our natural resources, and works closely with farmers. You can find your local Conservation District office here. These agencies offer many helpful service to local farmers, large-scale and small-scale.

My local office created a “farm plan” for me, that was custom-designed for my goals. They offer continual support if I have questions about anything farm-related, and can always connect me with experts on pasture management, fencing, floods, soils, noxious weeds, pesticides and herbicides, creating or restoring habitat, researching grant opportunities and the like. SCD’s newsletter features local farmers and their unique projects and ideas, and they arrange a lot of educational classes and contribute to the annual Snohomish County Focus on Farming conference. They also organize many farm tours throughout the year to highlight best practices and spread knowledge.

The interesting thing about NRCS is that they are a “neutral” body, not a regulatory one. So, when working with you, if they do find that you are in violation of some environmental code or law, they won’t “turn you in” or otherwise penalize you. Their job, rather, is to educate and encourage people to learn and do the right thing. So, they are considered a strong ally to and advocate for farmers, someone you can trust to help you, not “bust” you. This makes sense to me, as I believe most smaller scale farmers do love nature, animals, and the environment, and desire to do the right thing.

But, sometimes balancing law, especially law geared towards commercial enterprise and large-scale development, with the practicality of trying to make a living as a local farmer can be hard. I have sure run into some funny environmental laws and policies that really don’t make sense for my property or situation, and found the SCD to be exremely helpful in navigating these waters (no pun intended). They do a good job of bridging the gap between farmers and policy makers, to find solutions that make sense for everybody.

NABC: The Northwest Agriculture Business Center has a nice website that I visit often to read news and articles pertaining to local farming. They also list local classes being held. I love classes!

Oregon State U: OSU is Oregon’s land-grant college, which of course, oversees Oregon’s system of Extension Offices and the like, parallel to WSU’s role in Washington. They publish Oregon Small Farm News , an e-zine I really enjoy. It’s beautifully formatted and always contains a variety of great information and advice on farming activities in the Northwest. You can subscribe to it for free.

Fruit Salsa

Posted on June 17, 2008 by fourfarmdogs

My bowl of fruit salsa looked so nice this time, I thought to take a picture. Here’s my best stab at sharing the recipe; though I never measure and easily sub-in different ingredients depending on what’s available or in season. I think you can’t go wrong when blending fruits and veggies- they all go well together!

Chop and mix together:
Tomatoes (not too many of these, as they can overwhelm the fruit flavors)
Peppers: red, orange, yellow and/or green
Hot Peppers: serranos, jalepeños, red peppers- to taste. [If you like more heat, let more of the seeds slip into the final product.]
White or yellow onion
Green onions
Apple (skin left on is ok)
Mango
Strawberries
Blueberries
Cilantro
–>Add Salt, pepper and lemon or lime juice to taste. The idea is to balance sweet, salty, tangy and spicy all together…

Fruit salsa goes great with white fish and rice cooked in coconut milk. It’s also good in wraps with the same coconut rice paired with chicken and a yogurt sauce. And, of course, it’s great for dipping tortilla chips too!