Pesky Critters

"It's mighty cold weather, you've been braving.  

Is it more winter or is it spring that you're craving?"

Well, I know what my answer is to that and it's certainly NOT more cold.  But apparently that pesky Punxatawney Phil, cute as he may be, decided that we would have 6 more weeks of winter today.  Interesting, since this weekend is supposed to be mild and, by Monday, we'll be 20 degrees over normal.  The local weather guy actually laughed about Phil seeing his shadow.

In other critter news, Finn the Cranky, after which this blog is named, had to go back to the vet today. He is close to 16 now, which is long in the tooth even for a Pomeranian.  He's been having trouble standing and walking and it seems he has arthritis in his spine.  An x-ray shows a narrowing around his spinal cord so, in essence, he has what I had 2 years ago.  Poor little guy!  Much resting on the sofa and steroids are in his future.

Doesn't seem like there's a lot of complaining going on.  I think I'll join them until the nice weather gets here.

Got seeds?

My homemade seed envelope!  Find out how to make these here.

I love flopping on the couch in front of the fireplace with a good seed catalog, but one of the best ways to get seeds is to trade them.  If you've got extras from the growing season, attending a local seed exchange can be a great way to get locally-grown and proven seeds and learn about plants that you are interested in from growers who have experience with them.  Not to mention...pie (see below)!

For those of you in Kansas City, there are a few seed exchanges coming up in the next 6 weeks.  I've added these to the events calendar for you as well.

SEED SAVERS KC WINTER SEED EXCHANGE - 5TH ANNUAL
When:  Saturday, 21 January 2017 from 11:00am to 1:00pm
Where:  Anita B Gorman Discovery Center, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, 4750 Troost, Kansas City MO 64110
Cost: FREE, but $3 to $5 donations are suggested to cover event costs (Seed Savers is non-profit)

This is Kansas City's 5th annual organic, non-GE seed exchange.  Things you can trade include: organic, heirloom, non-GE vegetable, herb & flower seeds, bulbs, starter plants, shrubs, vines, food grade essential oils, tinctures, dried herbs, dried vegetables, ferment starters, fresh eggs, pickles, jams, jellies, honey, garden-environmental-homestead books, etc.  Bring something/get something, bring a little/take a little, bring a lot/take a lot.  Please bring your things to trade in individual labeled containers (envelopes, bags, jars, pots) and date them. 

There will be door prizes and free samples, and a table with flyers, business cards, and magazines.  Learn about our expanding Seed Library, proper seed harvesting and saving and planting, and promoting biodiversity in your community, your yard and your home.   For more information:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1612347692404955/.


EIGHTH ANNUAL KAW VALLEY SEED FAIR
When:  Saturday, 11 February 2017 from 9:00am to 3:00pm
Where:  Douglas County Fairgrounds, 1930 Harper St., Lawrence KS 66046
Cost:  FREE

The annual Kaw Valley Seed Fair is a pre-spring celebration where people can share seeds, information and other resources.  The fair features a free seed exchange that includes books, catalogs and other gardening and seed-saving materials, plus exhibits, local producers and food for sale.  Please bring your saved seeds or packaged seeds to share, and envelopes, containers, or baggies to collect the seeds you select.  This is a great place to meet people devoted to sustainability and biodiversity in our Kaw Valley region.  For more information: www.facebook.com/kawvalleyseeds.

Upcoming Winter Small Farm Webinars

I'm in the process of updating the Events Calendar (see link on the right) and wanted to give everyone a heads up on one of the best resources I've found over the past couple of years.  The University of Illinois Extension presents a weekly educational series for the small farm community on emerging topics which advance local food production. And guess what....even if you're just growing for your family (like us), many of these webinars will have useful information for you as well.

Webinars will be held from noon -1:00 pm on Thursdays and are free.  Note that you must pre-register but, if you miss the webinar, they will send you a link to the archived, recorded version.

Topics include:

• Jan. 19 - ABCs of Strawberry Plasticulture Production, Bronwyn Aly, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Jan. 26 - Buying Hay: Quality vs. Cost, Jamie Washburn, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 2 - Slow Flowers: Small-Scale Cut Flower Production, Candice Hart, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator
• Feb. 9 - Out with the Old: Pruning Old and Neglected Fruit Trees, Grant McCarty, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 16 - Small Commercial Microgreen Production, Zack Grant, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Feb. 23 - Food Safety Needs for Midwest Produce Growers, Dr. Angela Shaw, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Food Safety Specialist
• Mar. 2 - Growing Your Hobby Farm into a Business, Andy Larson, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 9 - Do Your Bees Have PMS (Parasitic Mite Syndrome), Doug Gucker, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 16 - Maximizing Windbreaks on Your Farm, David Shiley, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 23 - Benefits of Mulching Vegetables, James Theuri, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator
• Mar. 30 - Soil Management for High Tunnels, Nathan Johanning, University of Illinois Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator

I've added the complete list of topics and speakers to the Events Calendar so it's easy to copy to your own Google calendar if you like.

Please keep an eye on the calendar, as I'll be updating it over the next week or so with more local and online events that might be of interest. And, if you know of any events that you'd like to share, please send them my way at crankypuppy at gmail.com.

Have a great New Year's Eve, everyone!

Upcoming Winter Webinars

If we're stuck inside, we might as well make good use of the time and learn something new, right?  The calendar is cranking back up with all kinds of events while we wait for Spring to arrive.  Here's a list of the upcoming webinars and events that I just added to the Events Calendar.  There's the usual local seed and plant exchanges, and so me great freebie classes offered through the library.  And some really good online webinar series as well. 

Lots of good stuff here, people! Here are just a few:

Weekly Webinar Series on Small Farms

The Small Farm Webinar Series is a weekly educational series for the small farm community and provides practical knowledge on emerging topics which advance local food production in Illinois. This series of online events is aimed at providing small farm producers with a look at how leading practices in production, management, and marketing enable operations to improve profitability and sustainability.

Webinars air live each Thursday at 1:00 – 2:30 pm and include a question and answer session. If you cannot attend, a link to the recorded webinars will be available to view at your convenience for all those who register.

Date Topic

Jan. 15, 2015 – No-till culture for Peppers & Tomatoes

Jan. 22, 2015 – Growing Hops for Market

Jan. 29, 2015 – Potato Production

Feb. 5, 2015 – Sweet Corn Production

Feb. 12, 2015 – Perennial Crops for Small Farms

Feb. 19, 2015 – Understanding Insecticides

Feb. 26, 2015 – Blueberry Production

Mar. 5, 2015 – Hydroponics

Mar. 12, 2015 – Effective Farmers Market Displays

Mar. 19, 2015 – Veggie Compass Record-Keeping Software

Mar. 26, 2015 – Variety Selection & Rootstocks for Establishing Apple Orchards

To register for each webinar, log onto http://go.illinois.edu/2015winterwebinars.  For any question contact Miki White, University of Illinois Extension, Small Farms/Local Foods Program Coordinator at 309-342-5108.


Free Webinar to Feature Urban Farmers Discussing Strategies for Managing Risk 

 

Urban farmers face many risks in producing safe and affordable food.  Some of the risks are common to all types of farming; however, many are unique to the urban setting, including zoning regulations, access to water, and managing contaminated soils.  While many cities in the U.S. are working to address some of the needs of urban farmers, profitability remains a challenge.

A free January 15 webinar, “Managing Risks on an Urban Farm,” will focus on the risk management strategies of two urban farms and how they have overcome several of the barriers facing urban farmers today. The webinar is being presented by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and NCAT's ATTRA program and is funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), 2012-68006-30177.

 

Title: Managing Risks on an Urban Farm

Cost:  Free

Date: January 15, 2015

Time: 11 a.m. Central Standard Time

To Register:  Go online at https://attra.ncat.org/managing_risks/
 

 

That's One Tasty Tree

March is roaring in like a lion and, with Winter Storm Titan nipping at our heels, we headed to the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center in Blue Springs this afternoon for a fun session put on by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

This is the class I tried to get into last year and it filled up the first day of registration.  But thanks for J.'s mom's fleet fingers (she was the first person to register!), we were able to get in this year.  Lots of families and kids came out to learn how to tap trees and turn tree sap into maple syrup, sugar, candy and other sweet treats.

 

We started off with a quick, very informative discussion of everything maple syrup.  Let me see if I can remember some of the points that you might find interesting. 

 

Did you know.....

 

...that American Indians were the first to collect and use maple syrup?  The legend is that it was discovered by Iroquoian Chief Woksis when he threw his tomahawk into a tree, causing sap to run from the wound and into a basket that his squaw then used to prepare their evening meal of venison.

 

...that maple syrup comes from maples trees - most notably the sugar maple, red maple or black maple?  The silver maple in our backyard really doesn't work well for this purpose, but did you know that you can make syrup from the sap of walnut trees?

 

...that the best month for sap production in Missouri is February?  That's due to the weather.  To get the sap out of the tree, you need cold nights below 32 degrees and days that are warmer than freezing.  In fact, the greater the differences in temps, the better the sap flows and the more sap you'll be likely to collect.

 

...that Laura Ingalls Wilder was fond of making a caramel-like candy from maple syrup by boiling it and pouring it onto snow banks to harden?

...that Mrs. Butterworth's syrup has NO real maple syrup in it? 

After the presentation, we were off to a taste-testing of popcorn coated with maple syrup and walnut syrup.  Since I didn't even know there was such a thing as walnut syrup, this was a great.  And the surprise is that it's MUCH tastier than maple syrup.  You can see a difference in the picture above - the walnut syrup is in the small jar on the left and the maple syrup is in the bottle on the right.  The walnut is much lighter in color and flavor.  We've got several HUGE walnut trees around us.  I wonder if the neighbors would notice if we hung buckets off of them?  *grin*

 

Then we were off to try our hand at drilling and inserting a tap into a log.  You need a drill, a hammer, and a spout.  See the hook on the spout (on the left below)?  That's for hanging the bucket to collect the sap.

 

 

With the weather below 32 degrees, the sap wasn't flowing at all, so we practiced tapping on a log.  While the kids were taking their turn at drilling, I was off snapping this picture of this interesting tree.  I wonder what kind of trauma caused this?

I love being in the woods and snow was starting to fall, so it was even more magical.  From the corner of my eye, I'm pretty sure I saw a wood fairy dart out of that tree as I turned away.

 

Back inside, I just had to take a picture of this little chipmunk before we left. 

He's an ex-chipmunk, but still tiny and adorable.  Having lived in Missouri all my life, I have never seen one of these little guys.  Ever!

 

I had some coupons for chicken feed so we hit Tractor Supply and picked up 300 pounds before heading home to batten down the hatches for the storm.  By that time, the Jeep's tires were starting to leave tracks in the snow that was starting to collect on the road.  Someone had a really bad day, because we saw 3 wrecks on the highway and some poor fellow Jeep owner had somehow gotten their Grand Cherokee perfectly balanced on the guard rail.  All 4 tires were off the road!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of that for you.

 

Oh, and before I go.....I want to give you this link in case you're interested in learning more about collecting sap and making syrup:  http://www.tapmytrees.com/preparation.html.

 

Til next time, stay warm my friends!  We're slated to hit -10 tonight.

Views from the Western Farm Show

It's Saturday, which is normally "run around" day for J. and I, but we took a couple of hours out of our busy day to stop in at the Western Farm Show that's going on this weekend at the American Royal.

We were just here for the Home and Garden Show, but this Farm Show is definitely bigger in size.  The bottom and top floors were packed with all kind of farm implements, including some pretty big boys.  When the tire is almost twice your height, you know it's used for some SERIOUS farming.

I had to practically drag J. away from the massive John Deere display.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he left a trail of drool through the American Royal.

This trailer advertising wrap caught my attention and I couldn't help but giggle.  Not very good advertising,though since, for the life of me, I can't remember who the company was or what product they were selling!

In conjunction with the show, they're holding a truck and tractor pull.  I haven't been to one of those since I was a kid and we both wanted to go, but they want $27 a ticket!  I remember tractor pulls as one of those free events that pulled you into the State Fair or the local harvest celebration.  Not that I'm being a cheapskate, but don't you think $27 is a bit much for one ticket?   If it had been more like $10, we would have gone.

Here's one of the modified old school tractors from the Pull...a modified White 2-85 called VooDoo. I think it looks like something out of the Mad Max movies, don't you?

And there couldn't be a tractor pull without the John Deere green making it's presence known.  Check out the exhaust pipe on this puppy:

Finally, I wanted to share my favorite bronze statue with you at the Royal - this is a pair of draft horses named Lottie and Maude.  Just beautiful....

I'm not sure we really got any usable information from the Western Farm Show, since it is geared more for serious farmers and not hobby farmers like us.  But, hey....it did entertain us for a couple of hours.  If you're around KC, you might check it out, as it runs through Sunday.

On another note, we've picked our solar panels and vendor.  Several folks have comments or contacted me asking for more information, so I *promise* I'll be back next time with detailed information about panels we chose, where we're buying them, etc.

Stay tuned!

Mother Earth News Fair in Topeka and Other Events

I've got some more local events for the Events Calendar and these are really good!

Hooray!  The Mother Earth News Fair that we attended last year is back again in 2014.  It looks like they're moving from Lawrence, Kansas to Topeka and that's probably because they were pretty constrained in that park setting last year.  If you're local and are interested in attending this year (I highly recommend it!), then you might want to go ahead and pick up your tickets because they're half price right now.  The Fair is the last weekend in October and tickets are just $15 per person right now for an entire weekend pass.

Oh, and for those of you who are not local, check out one of the other 3 locations: Puyallup, WA; Asheville, NC; and Seven Springs, PA.  Tickets for those locations are half price right now also.

Back to local events....the Kansas City Community Gardens and Growing Growers organizations have also released their 2014 workshop schedule.  I've added these to the Events Calendar, and you can cruise the list here:

Kansas City Community Gardens Workshops (www.kccg.org)
All workshops are approximately 90 minutes long.

February
Feb 4 - 6:00pm:  Selecting, Planting and Caring for Fruit Trees and Berry Plants
Feb 7 - 12:00pm: Selecting, Planting and Caring for Fruit Trees
Feb 11 - 5:30pm: Growing Early Spring Crops
Feb 14 - 12:00pm: Selecting, Planting and Caring for Berry Plants
Feb 21 - 12:00pm: Growing Early Spring Crops
Feb 22 - 9:00am: Get Growing a Community Garden
Feb 24 - 6:00pm: Growing Early Spring Crops
Feb 28 - 12:00pm: Vegetable Garden Basics

March
March 3 - 6:00pm Selecting, Planting and Caring for Fruit Trees and Berry Plants
March 4 - 6:00pm Raised Bed Gardening
March 7 - 12:00pm Raised Bed Gardening
March 8 - 10:30am Planning and Planting your Schoolyard Garden
March 10 - 6:00pm Vegetable Garden Basics
March 14 - 12:00pm Growing and Cooking with Herbs
March 17 - 6:00pm Vegetable Garden Basics
March 24 - 6:00pm Growing Early Spring Crops
March 28 - 12:00pm Cooking: Spring
March 31 - 6:00pm Vegetable Garden Basics

April
April 1 - 6:00pm Growing Tomatoes Peppers and Sweet Potatoes
April 4 - 12:00pm Planting and Caring for Vine Crops
April 7 - 6:00pm Growing Tomatoes, Peppers and Sweet Potatoes
April 8 - 5:30pm Growing Tomatoes, Peppers and Sweet Potatoes
April 10 - 6:00pm Get Growing -­ Water
April 11 - 12:00pm Growing Tomatoes, Peppers and Sweet Potatoes
April 14 - 6:00pm Raised Bed Gardening
April 28 - 6:00pm Growing Tomatoes, Peppers and Sweet Potatoes

May
May 2 - 12:00pm Insects in the Garden
May 5 - 6:00pm Cooking: Spring
May 6 - 6:00pm Spring Harvesting and Growing and Cooking with Herbs
May 13 - 5:30pm Growing and Cooking with Herbs
May 16 - 12:00pm Dealing with Animal Pests

June
June 6 - 12:00pm Freezing your Harvest
June 7 - 10:00am Gardening with your Family
June 16 - 6:00pm Insects in the Garden


2014 Growing Growers Workshops

February 24 - 4 to 7 pm
Farm Start-Up, Accessing Land & On-Farm Crop Storage
Location: Kansas City, KS
Cost: $15

March 14 and Saturday, March 15
Good Agriculture Practices & Food Safety Modernization Act
Location: Kansas City, MO

March 17 - 4 to 7 pm
Production Planning and Plant Propagation
Location: Belton, MO
Cost: $15

March 31st - 4 to 7 pm
Diversifying Markets: Farmers Markets, CSAs, Wholesale and Farm to School Programs
Location: Kansas City, MO
Cost: $15

April 7 - 4 to 7 pm
Spotted Wing Drosophila
Location: Lawrence, KS
Cost: $15

April 19 - 9 am to 2 pm
Introduction to Soils
Location: Kearny, MO
Cost: $30

May 12 - 4 to 7 pm
Post-harvest Handling
Location: Kansas City, KS
Cost: $15

June 2 - 4 to 7 pm
Small Farm Equipment and Drip Irrigation
Location: Olathe Horticulture Research & Extension Center (35230 W. 135th St., Olathe, KS 66061)
Cost: $15

June 14 - 9 am to 2 pm
Introduction to Small Fruit Production
Location: Powell Gardens (1609 US Highway 50, Kingsville, MO 64061)
Cost: $30

July 12 - 9 am to 2 pm
Insect, Disease, and Weed Management
Location: Lawrence, KS
Cost: $30

July 21 - 4 to 7 pm
Low-till/No-till Cropping Systems
Location: Kansas City, MO
Cost: $15

August 9 - 9 am to 2 pm
Farm Business Planning and Management Workshop
Location: Kansas City, MO
Cost: $30

August 25 - 4 to 7 pm
Introduction to Cut Flowers
Location: Kansas City, MO
Cost: $15

September 22 - 9 am to 2 pm
Scaling Up Your Business/Packaging & Grading Produce
Location: Lawrence, KS
Cost: $30

New Events Added

 

Spring is coming, and now's a great time to get out there and learn some new stuff.  As I mentioned, I'm collecting events, classes, online webinars, in-person seminars, freebie talks, demos, etc. that have anything to do with farming, homesteading, livestock and all those other goodies. 

You can find the list of upcoming events on the Event Calendar (or click the link on the right sidebar).

This week, I've added a ton of really great stuff.  You'll find these on the calendar under the date indicated (or click the link to view or add to your own Gmail calendar):

Lecture: Permaculture Design of Urban Food Forests (January 18th)
This Master Gardener lecture by Michael Almon, the developer of Forest Floor Permaculture, a nut and fruit centered forest garden in Lawrence, KS.  In the permaculture garden of perennial food crops, there’s no need to till every year, much of the weeding is eliminated with groundcovers, shade trees and shrubs will bear food, and irrigation needs will be reduced. Cost: FREE

Vegetable Gardening Workshop (January 25th)
Vegetable gardening is as popular as ever, whether in your backyard or in one of the many community gardens throughout the metro. This workshop in Olathe, Kansas will help vegetable gardeners learn more and to be successful in their gardening efforts.  The featured speaker for the session will be Kansas State University Research and Extension Vegetable Specialist Cary Rivard, Ph.D. Dr. Rivard will discuss watering, weed control and growing great tomatoes.  You will also learn new tips for eating fresh from the garden presented by Olathe Medical Center.  Cost:  Registration is $5 per person and includes refreshments.

Cultivate KC's Annual Farmers and Friends Meeting (February 1st)
Come meet other growers and supporters and learn about Cultivate Kansas City’s projects over the past year.  The event will include pie, coffee, conversation, and learning together (and, if you’d like to bring a pie or two, it would be much appreciated!). The event will have a “Dreamers and Doers” panel, and some group visioning activities that are fun and creative.  The goals of the Annual Farmers & Friends Meeting are to create a space for peer-to-peer learning; to facilitate an opportunity for growers to connect to share challenges, solutions and enthusiasm; to share information about local resources; and to give a “whole systems” or big picture vision of urban growing in Kansas City. Each year the event strives to connect our daily work as farmers, gardeners, food advocates and friends to the vision of the community we want to build with a farm in every neighborhood and access to fresh, healthy, affordable food for all people.  Cost: FREE.  Please bring a homemade (and preferably homegrown or locally sourced) dish to share.

Missouri Beginning Farmers 18th Annual Greenhouse Growers School (February 6)
This is a whole-day event in Columbia, Missouri that covers topics including growing your profits,  an intro to hydroponics, high tunnel design and construction, compost, biofuelds, etc.  Cost is $30.

Missouri Beginning Farmers Webinar Series
MBF is also hosting a whole slew of FREE online webinars on goats, beginning farm financing, and other topics.  They're all on the event calendar.

5th Annual Kaw Valley Seed Fair (February 8th)
The annual Kaw Valley Seed Fair in Lawrence, Kansas is a pre-spring celebration where people can share seeds, information and other resources.  The fair features a free seed exchange that includes books, catalogs and other gardening and seed-saving materials, plus exhibits, local producers and food for sale. Cost:  FREE

Planting and Preserving Workshop (February 13th)
Have you tried to grow enough in your garden to save for the winter, but ended up with too many hot peppers and not enough tomatoes? Do you want to preserve your harvest but have no idea where to start? This workshop in Wichita, Kansas will walk you through what you need to know to plant a garden that will fill your canning jars or freezer. During the second half of the class, you will learn about different preservation methods and what tools and materials you will need to be successful.  Cost: $5.00.

Women Managing the Farm Annual Conference (February 13th - 14th)
The Women Managing the Farm Conference was created to aid women who are helping to grow the nation’s food supply whether by design, marriage or inheritance.   "The Heart of Agriculture" is this year's conference theme.  Over the two days of the conference, presentations regarding business planning, health, managing employees and more will be interspersed with opportunities for networking and learning from others attending the conference. Pre-conference workshops will also be available this year to provide hands-on learning opportunities.   Cost: $145 through 1/30/13; after that date, $170.

KC Master Gardeners Spring Seminar (March 15th)
Join the Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City for their 13th annual Spring Gardening Seminar. There are myriad of interesting topics, including edible landscaping, seed saving and starting, pruning, native species planting, and much more.  Cost: $49 before 2/14; $69 after that date.

More Events: Maple Sugaring and Cropland Investing

I just added two new events to the calendar tonight that might be of interest.  While there are lots of online events on the Cranky Puppy Events Calendar, these two are local to the Kansas City area.  So my apologies to those of you who are not in the immediate area.

The first class is FREE and it's one that J. and I wanted to attend last year, but the class filled up within just a couple of hours of the registration opening up.  Trust me...I have this on my calendar and on my speed dial for February 1st, because I.will.not.miss.this.sugaring.class.this.year!

Maple Sugaring

Location: Burr Oak Woods Nature Center
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2014, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Ummm....maple syrup!  In our culture of a supermarket in every neighborhood; it is almost magical and spectacular to be able to make something delicious to eat out of some liquid flowing out of a tree. Savor this wonder of nature by learning how to pick the right tree, tap it and collect the sap, and then make delicious syrup from native trees. For more information, email burr.oak@mdc.mo.gov.   Note that registration for this begins February 1st at 816-228-3766 (all ages). 

The Missouri Department of Conservation has lots of great activities and classes for all ages.  Check out the list at http://mdc.mo.gov/events/location/Burr%20Oak%20Woods/heading/Burr%20Oak%20Woods%20Nature%20Center.

~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~

Investing in Cropland

Location: Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, 11902 Lowell Overland Park, KS 66213
Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2014, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Have you ever daydreamed about a house in the country, rolling farmland, and dusty country roads?  How about quitting your day job to become a farmer?  Well, it all starts with land.  On January 14th, Bill and Brad Gaughan, founding partners of Rural KC Real Estate, will discuss the opportunities, the risks and the process for investing in cropland.

 

For more information or to register, visit KCLandSeminar.com or call Rural KC at (913) 837-4665.

 

Lots O' Learning Opportunities

My fav seed catalog so far...Baker Creek Seeds!

 It's that time of year....you know, the time when your poor mailman starts muttering under his breath because you've gotten so many seed catalogs that he can't stuff them all into your overflowing mailbox?  Such is my exuberance for gardening that I think I may have to have mercy on his poor soul and go buy one of those huge rural mailboxes.  Or maybe I can ease the pain with some tomatoes and fresh eggs...hmmm, that's an idea!

So the catalogs are starting to arrive and it's a good thing, because it's so stinking cold that your breath freezes before it ever leaves your lungs.  Nope, not going outside right now.

But catalogs aren't the only way to scratch that gardening itch.  I've just spent the better part of today updating the Events Calendar here at Cranky Puppy with all kinds of online and local Kansas\Missouri workshops, seminars and online classes.  Lots of them are free or only a nominal cost and they cover all kinds of topics:

• Urban gardening\farming
• Managing a small orchard
• Fruit tree or small fruit production (blackberries, strawberries, etc.)
• Keeping chickens
• Permaculture and composting
• Organic pest management (insects, weeds, etc.)
• Pond management
• ...and more!

Some of these events require advance registration, so I recommend you browse through the extensive calendar now, see if there's anything you're interested in and get registered quickly.  Some of these are known to fill up pretty quickly - especially the Conservation Extension classes.

This is everything that I could find, but there is more to come because I'm still waiting on several of my sources to post their workshop schedules for 2014.  As I get more details, I'll be sure to post the additions here and let you know.

It's a great time to commit to learning a new skill or exploring a new topic.  What are you waiting for?

One More Reason to Eat Local

We now interrupt our normally gregarious, somewhat whimsical blog for this *ahem* disturbing news...

From Reuters:

Smithfield Foods Inc shareholders on Tuesday approved the pork giant's $4.7 billion sale to Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd (000895.SZ) in what is shaping up as the biggest acquisition of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.

The closely watched transaction, valued at $7.1 billion including debt, is expected to close by September 26.

The deal, which aims to satisfy China's increasing appetite for pork, marries two of the world's largest pork producers and had faced scrutiny over China's high-profile food safety failures, concerns over U.S. pork supplies and U.S. national security.

But earlier this month, the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment cleared the way for the deal, removing an important hurdle.

More than 96 percent of the votes cast at a special Smithfield shareholder meeting on Tuesday were in favor of the acquisition. The votes cast represented 76 percent of Smithfield's outstanding common shares, the company said in a statement.

<snip>

--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**

Anybody else worried about this?  First of all, there's no way I'm eating anything packaged or processed by Smithfield now.  I can only assume that they're doing this because the Chinese can't solve their own food contamination issues (cadmium-ridden meat or pesticide-laced milk, anyone?)  How about finding maggots in your Shanghui sausage?  Yum!

Hog Butchering 101

Some girls get diamond earrings, new shoes, or a vacation for their birthday.  Me?  I got a whole hog butchering class. And I loved it!

The Local Pig, a butcher shop about 2.5 miles from our house, does two classes: whole hog butchering and sausage-making.  I've always wanted to go to one of these and J. was sweet enough to enroll us this past weekend.

We showed up at the appointed time to find freshly made Andouille sausage sandwiches and Boulevard beer waiting for us.  Nothing like getting all liquored up and playing with sharp knives!  I'd say there were about 11 people in the class including us, so it was a nice cozy group.  

Then they brought out our victim, which I quickly nicknamed "Wilbur".  C'mon...I know you've watched Green Acres.  Admit it!

The group gathered around a large butcher block table while the owner of Local Pig and our instructor for the afternoon, Alex Pope, began the class by explaining that they only locally source their pigs from farms where the pigs are raised humanely and spend their time running around on grass rather than cooped up in a feedlot or barn.  In fact, they put their sources up on the wall for everyone to see.  In front of us, we had the two halves of a lovely Berkshire Duroc raised by J.J. Green in Higginsville, MO, which is about 50 miles due east of KC.

Then, for the next couple of hours, we drank beer and learned how to break down a pig.  Surprisingly enough, there are no bandsaws or fancy equipment needed.  All you need is a large table, a filet knife and a bone saw. That's it!  So it wouldn't be that hard to break down your own 1/2 a pig to save money.


** WARNING:   GRATUITOUS MEAT PICTURES AHEAD **

We started with the tenderloin in the middle of the pig by cutting off the leaf fat to expose it, then removing the tenderloin, which is right along the spine.

To break down the pig, you start for the read and move forward.  Step 1 was to cut off the flank.  Then remove the back leg and separate the ham.  Each person did 1 or 2 cuts and then the circle moved around so that the next person could have a turn.

As we moved forward, we exposed the chops.  Yum! 

As you cut, you have to be careful to not cut into the meat.  Many of these cuts required precision, as we followed right around the bone to remove it.  In the shot below, we're using the bone saw to cut through the ribs.  Watch those fingers!

And here's J. separating the Boston Butt (or shoulder).  He was definitely the most fashionable butcher-in-training in the class with that Hawaiian shirt.  You go, honey!

Mmmm, tasty pulled pork or pork steaks.  Pork steaks are my fav and I had no idea before this class that they came from the Boston Butt.  I guess that explains why they are so yummy.

Once we finished the first half-pig, we moved on and did it again on a second half from a different pig.  It was interesting to see some of the differences between the two.

And then, finally, we left Local Pig with 10 pounds each of the pork we had just cut up (with some final trimming help from some of the other staff).  I hit the piggy jackpot, because we cut the last Boston Butt in half (we did the first one in quarters) and I got one of the halves!  We'll be having pulled pork tonight for dinner.  :-)   And we also halve several pounds of pork belly, so we'll be making bacon later this week.

What's that?  Of course I'll have pictures for you!

Urban Farm Tour: Take 2

Continuing on from Urban Farm Tour: Part I, our next stop is to the local favorites, The Urban Farming Guys.  These folks are in our neighborhood and are very active in our neighborhood association.  What they're doing for the community is great, so I'm proud to introduce them to you.
 
The Urban Farming Guys “Myrtle Plot”(1121 Myrtle Ave., Kansas City, MO 64127)

Oh, my goodness!  So much to see here including an aquaponics fish farm, vertical gardening, worm farming and heugelculture!  They even rent plots to the community, including the apartment building next door.

I was, of course, in love with this old Victorian that they have been restoring.

Shortly after I arrived, this little guy started following me around.  At one point, he even perched on my arm.  Quite the ham, he stopped to pose for several pictures as well.

He was particularly enjoying the onion flowers.  (Anybody know what kind of onions these are?  They were close to 4 feet tall!)

And, of course, the duckweed.  Duckweed is a plant that grows on the surface of the water.  The intern that was giving us the tour explained that they use window screens to harvest it and then lay them in the sun to dry.  They then feed the dry duckweed to the fish in the aquaponics tanks.

While we were talking , a constant stream of bees from their hives were stopping by to take a rest on the surface of the duckweed and get a sip of water.

Right after this, we toured their bunny cages and were told that they take the bunny poo and reuse it in the garden.  They had several baby bunnies out for petting and how the heck I managed to NOT get a picture of a baby bunny is beyond me.  It was at this point that we lost the niece and nephew to cuteness.  We didn't see them again until we were ready to leave.

I think I was distracted by their stand of bamboo.  Now that's not something you see in KC everyday.

Our guide explained that the bamboo served several purposes: they use the stalks in the garden as trellises, the leaves are fed to the bunnies, and the whole stand provides shade and a natural screen from the neighbor's house.  Behind the bamboo are their beehives, so the bees are tucked away in a shady, protected spot where they won't be disturbed.

This is a neat place.  They welcome visitors at any time so, if you get a chance, stop by and see Jason @ the Urban Farming Guys.  Next stop....


HoopDog Studio Garden  (3314 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109)

HoopDog is a jewel shining in the deep "hood" in Kansas City.  This isn't a place you would want to be after dark by yourself, let's put it this way.  And that's coming from someone that lives in the highest crime rate zipcode in KC.

Love their logo!

The garden covers 2 city lots and, in conjunction with the chickens that are allowed to fly around unfettered, it feeds 10 people all year round.  Not only that, but it's chock full of stuff to look at - much of it repurposed materials.  For example, they use commercial muffin tins to act as lily pads in their ponds!

Here's a picture of their quonset-hut looking chicken coop.  Even though the day was hot, it was nice and cool in there.  But, alas, no chickens!  I found them hiding in various shady spots in the garden.

Those concrete pieces make an interesting kind of "wall" for the entrance.  I'm pretty sure those are concrete cores that they got from the city or the highway department.

Next to the  garden on a separate lot are the house that is home to several artists, a separate studio and this "greenhouse" in the backyard. 

The greenhouse had been converted into a lovely shady spot - I LOVE this idea.  I think the material they used to cover this is the same thing as webbing off of lawn chairs, but it was hard to tell.  They just weaved it through the openings in a goat panel that had been bent over into a U shape.

While I was there, I fell in love with a piece of art:

It's a little hard to tell, but that's a fly (or a bee - there was a slight disagreement on this point) and it's made out of a hand grenade.

Leaving HoopDog, I couldn't NOT take a picture of this dumpster adorned with images of chickens before we left to go grab some lunch.  By this point, it was well past 1 p.m. and tummies were growling and we were getting a little grumpy.  A quick stop for Minsky's pizza and calzones and then we were on our way to Independence to see ...


St. Paul Community Garden (11200 E. 36th St., Independence, MO, 64052)

This community garden was started in 2007 by 8 gardeners and it's now expanded to include 26 plots that are rented out, a fairly decent fruit orchard and strawberry beds. Of all the cool things I saw on the tour, St. Paul's had the coolest.  Check out this arched entrance to the garden!

The gardeners in attendance explained that the arch was built by the local Boy Scout Eagle troop as one of their badge projects.  It's very well built and gave lots of room for people to walk through and sit (this came in handy later!)  I took lots of pictures of how it was put together, because I'd love to reproduce this in our neighborhood.  Basically it's just a wood arch with chainlink fence bent over the top.

Can you imagine this as a shady hideaway with vines growing over it in the summer?  Beautiful!  They had started some native passion flower vine and gourds, but they weren't very far along.  I may drive by later this summer and see what it looks like.

The gardeners here were so incredibly informative and helpful...and nice.  They explained that they try to grow food in harmony with nature, so many of the plants are native to Missouri.

While they have a city water spigot on site, they are working on rain catchment systems for the gardeners to use as well.

They had a huge compost facility setup.  With no mortar between those blocks, I'd be a little afraid it might fall over.

A Monarch Waystation welcomes butterflies, and the site is a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat. This is where I took those beautiful pictures of milkweed, sunflowers, and coneflowers that I posted earlier this week. 

The paths through this garden were clearly defined by chain link (without the chain) and they were using these to support some of the plants as well.  Along most of these were various kinds of sunflowers that were about 2 to 3 feet tall.  Again, I can't wait to come back in a month or so and see how things have progressed.

 

One other thing that I found really interesting about St. Paul's was their garden shed.  Instead of the traditional barn doors, they had put in a garage door.  Now why the heck didn't I think of that?!  We have problems getting our equipment out of ours right now because the doors are too small, and we've been thinking about making it bigger.  Since you can pick up used garage doors pretty cheaply on Craigslist, this is a great idea!

Well, that pretty much does it for this year's Urban Farm tour.  There were 60+ sites, but we only made it to 9 of them in one day.  We had too much work to do to go out for another day, plus...did I mention it was really stinkin' hot??!!

I hope you enjoyed going on the tour with us.  I know we had a ton of fun and will definitely be going on the next tour in 2015.