Dill: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting

Dill is an annual, self-seeding plant with feathery green leaves. It is used most commonly in soups, stews, and for pickling. Dill is easy to grow and attracts beneficial insects to your garden, such as wasps and other predatory insects.

Planting
Sow dill seeds about 1/4-inch deep and 18 inches apart in rich soil, then gently rake the seeds into the soil. The soil should be around 60 to 70ºF for best results.
Dill does not grow well when transplanted, so start the seeds fresh in the garden in early summer. Make sure to shelter the plants from strong winds.
After 10 to 14 days, the plants should appear in the soil. Wait another 10 to 14 days, then thin the plants to about 12 to 18 inches apart.
In your garden, plant dill next to cabbage or onions, but keep the dill away from carrots.

Care
Water the plants freely during the growing season.
In order to ensure a season-long fresh supply of dill, continue sowing seeds every few weeks. For an extended harvest, do not allow flowers to grow on the plants.
If the soil remains undisturbed throughout the growing season, more dill plants will grow the next season.

Pests
Leaf spot and occasionally a few other types of fungal leaf and root diseases

Harvest/Storage
As soon as the plant has four to five leaves, you can start harvesting. Pinch off the leaves or cut them off with scissors.
If you have a lot of plants, you can pinch off entire stalks.

Recommended Varieties
Fernleaf dill, which is good in potato salads, cucumber soup, and fish dishes

Pros and Cons of Raising Your Own Grass Fed Beef

Cons

Space - Unlike chickens, cows need more than just a backyard, so you need some acreage to raise cattle. Depending upon your climate, an acre per cow is a good rule of thumb.

Cost of feed - Even with adequate pasture, you’ll have to purchase feed for the winter months. Our hay bill is usually around $900 for the year, depending on the season, and going rate.

Fencing - There’s the initial cost of fencing. We use barbed wire. It’s fairly easy to put up and unlike electric fence where you have to worry about the electrical ground, weeds/brush touching the wire, and a constant power source, barbed wire is good to go. However, cattle can be notorious for getting out of any fence. Be ready to herd them back.

Care - Cattle don’t take an extreme amount of care, but they do require some. They need a constant supply of fresh clean water, and during the winter, feeding.

Breeding - If you keep a cow to breed back every year, you either have to purchase a bull, artificially inseminate, or haul your cow to a bull or a bull to your cow every year. Unless, you’re lucky enough to have a bull in the neighboring field who hops the fence when it’s time, and then goes back home. (This only happened to us one year and was with a bull we didn’t mind cross-breeding)

Pros

Taste - You can’t beat the taste of naturally grass fed beef. I’d talked about the difference so passionately that a co-worker bought half a beef from us. (This isn’t a sales pitch as we can’t meet the demand now) After having our beef, his wife refused to ever go back to store bought beef. You can taste the difference!

Price - While the cost of feed can be a lot up front, the cost of natural grass fed beef is much cheaper to raise than to buy in the store. Our local butcher charges a $55 kill fee (divided by how much of the beef you purchase) and $.50 per lb cut and wrap. If you butcher and wrap it yourself, then this cost is eliminated. Beef tastes better when allowed to age and as we don’t have the proper hanging facilities, we hire ours out. The average rate in our area is between $2.10 and $2.75 a lb, making every cut of beef around $3.00 a pound, including your expensive cuts of steak.

Plus, you get to decide which cuts of meat you want and how it’s packaged. We do butcher our own pigs, read How to Butcher a Whole Pig here.

Peace of mind - I know exactly what goes in to our cows. We buy our hay locally from local fields so I know they haven’t been treated. Our own pasture is managed organically, even though we’re not certified. (It costs too much for our tiny operation) Our cattle are cared for humanly. I’ll never have to worry about my children eating pink slime.

While raising your own grass fed beef isn’t for everyone, if you have acreage, it’s something to consider. I love that my children grow up knowing where the food comes from. And I suspect they’ll be as grateful of that as I am now.

Even if you can’t raise your own, you can look for a local ranch, and purchase from them. Or contact your local butcher and ask for referrals.

Grow Your Own Tomatoes Indoors This Winter

Tomatoes here, tomatoes there, tomatoes everywhere. When we're adrift in a sea of tomatoes, why a column about growing more tomatoes?

Think about the taste of those store-bought facsimiles you purchased last January and you have the answer. Those pale, hard, tasteless, imitations made you long for the real thing. This winter, you can have it.

You don't need a green thumb or a greenhouse to grow vine-ripened tomatoes indoors. "Window-sill" tomatoes will do well in 6-inch pots filled with good potting soil. You'll also need the right tomato seed, seed starter mix, fertilizer, and plant stakes. Presto! Tomato salad comin' up!

Window-sill tomatoes are smaller than their outdoor relatives -- quarter-to-half-dollar-size. But don't let their small size fool you -- they come with a big tomato taste. They aren't "slicers," but they are perfect for salads or snacks.

Here's how to grow a winter tomato garden:

You can grow one plant in a 6-inch pot or two plants in larger pots. For a continuous winter supply, start one or two new plants from seed every two weeks. Recommended varieties are Pixie, Patio, Toy Boy, Small Fry or Tiny Tim. These varieties will produce small plants, but they still may need to be staked, especially when they begin to bear fruit. Quarter-inch dowels make good stakes.

Germinate seeds in a small pot with starter mix. Plant seeds about 1/4 inch deep and water. Keep starter mix moist but not soggy. Germination should occur in 5 to l0 days.

Transplant from starter mix into potting soil when seedlings are about 3 inches tall. Fertilize regularly, but lightly, beginning about two weeks after transplanting. Water plants thoroughly, but not too frequently. A catch pan under the pot will keep windowsills dry.

When plants bloom, help Mother Nature along: Tap the main stem and larger side branches with your finger. This moves the plant slightly and encourages pollination. As you tap the plant, you might see a small cloud of pollen falling from the open flowers.

Turn plants occasionally, so all sides get a fair share of sunlight. After each plant has provided a bumper crop and has become unproductive, cut it off at the base, saving the potting soil for future transplants. Toss the old plant in the compost pile.

Tips for Feeding a Horse !

Feeding a horse can be confusing. There are a large number of different feeds available and no two horses are alike. The amount and type of feed given will depend on the horse’s type, age, weight, health, workload, the climate and what is locally available.

Feed little and often – The horse’s stomach is small compared to its body size and cannot hold a lot of food.

Don't feed a heavy meal before or after work- leave about 1 to 1,1/2 hours either side of work. Hay does not have to be removed.

Mix feeds daily and remove uneaten feed- By mixing feed daily rather than mixing all the feed together when it arrives, allows the feed to be rationed and allows you to see what the horse is eating. If the horse leaves any feed or becomes sick you can remove a feed product.

When you feed your horse after work, give them 1 flake of hay. But depending on what type of horse you have give them a cup of oats or pellets.

Weight bridges are expensive and not everyone has access to one. Ask vets, dealers and studs if they have one and if they are willing to let you use it. However "changes" in weight are more important.

Feed good quality feed and forage- Poor quality feeds that may be mouldy or sour can cause colic. Cheap or bad feeds may end up not being eaten and cost more in the long run.

Weigh feed – Don’t feed by “scoop”. Weigh how much a “scoop” is for each type of feed.

Feed plenty of Forage – Grazing, haylage, hay or oat straw so the horse has something in its stomach all day. This helps keep the peristaltic movement and digestive juices going, and avoid behavioural and health problems.

If you have regular access to a weight bridge, condition score as well. A horse that has gained weight may not have gained fat, but gained muscle.

If a horse doesn’t require a feed other then forage, but other horses kept with him do, give a “dummy feed” of low-energy chaff and balancer. This will mean the horse doesn’t feel left out when the others are fed.

Saving Vegetable Seeds For Next Year !

You can save vegetable seeds from your garden produce to plant next year. Seed saving involves selecting suitable plants from which to save seed, harvesting seeds at the right time, and storing them properly over the winter.

Plant selection

Tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas are good choices for seed saving. These plants have flowers that are self-pollinating, and seeds that require little or no special treatment before storage. Seeds from biennial crops such as carrots or beets are harder to save, since the plants need two growing seasons to set seed.

Plants with separate male and female flowers, like corn and vine crops, may cross-pollinate, so it is difficult to keep the seed strain pure. A stand of sweet corn can be pollinated by popcorn from a nearby garden on a windy day. The flavor of the current sweet corn crop will be affected, and a crop grown from these seeds will be neither good sweet corn nor good popcorn.

Cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, and gourds can all be cross-pollinated by insects. Although the quality of the current crop will not be affected, seeds from such a cross will grow into vines with fruit unlike that of the parent plant--often inferior in flavor and other characteristics.

When saving seed, chose open-pollinated varieties rather than hybrids. If open-pollinated varieties self-pollinate or are cross-pollinated by other plants of the same variety, they set seed which grows into plants that are still very similar to the parent plant, bearing similar fruit and setting seeds that will produce more similar plants. Open-pollinated varieties may be "heirlooms," varieties that have been passed down from one generation of gardeners to the next, or they may be more recent selections.

Hybrid vegetable plants are products of crosses between two different varieties, combining traits of the parent plants. Sometimes a combination is particularly good, producing plants with outstanding vigor, disease resistance, and productivity. Hybrid seeds are generally more expensive as they cost more to produce.

Hybrid plants, such as 'Big Boy', 'Beefmaster' and 'Early Girl' tomatoes will produce viable seed. Plants grown from that seed, however, will not be just like the hybrid parents; instead, they will be a completely new combination of the good and bad traits of the plants that were initially crossed. It's impossible to predict just how the seedling plant will perform or what qualities the fruit will have.

Some tomato varieties are not hybrids; instead they are open-pollinated types such as 'Big Rainbow', 'San Marzano' and 'Brandywine'. Seed produced by these varieties will grow into plants very similar to the parent plants, with nearly identical fruit. Likewise, 'Habanero', 'California Wonder' and 'Corno di Toro' peppers; 'Lincoln', 'Little Marvel' and 'Perfection' peas; and 'Kentucky Wonder', 'Blue Lake' and 'Tendercrop' beans are all open-pollinated varieties that will come true from seed.

Once you have planted an open-pollinated crop, select the plants from which you want to save seed. Choose only the most vigorous plants with the best-tasting fruit as parents for the next year's crop. Do not save seed from weak or off-type plants.

Harvesting seed

Saving tomato seeds is easy. Allow fruits to ripen fully and scoop out the seeds, along with the gel surrounding them, before you eat or cook the tomatoes. Put the seeds and gel in a glass jar with some water. Stir or swirl the mixture twice a day. The mixture will ferment and the seeds should sink to the bottom within five days. Pour off the liquid, rinse the seeds and spread them out to dry on paper towels.

Saving pepper seeds is even easier. Allow some fruits to stay on the plants until they become fully ripe and start to wrinkle. Remove the seeds from the peppers and spread them out to dry.

Save pea and bean seeds by allowing the pods to ripen on the plants until they're dry and starting to turn brown, with the seeds rattling inside. This may be as long as a month after you would normally harvest the peas or beans to eat. Strip the pods from the plants and spread them out to dry indoors. They should dry at least two weeks before shelling, or you can leave the seeds in the pods until planting time.

Storage

Store seeds in tightly-sealed glass containers. You can store different kinds of seeds, each in individual paper packets, together in a large container. Keep seeds dry and cool. A temperature between 32° and 41°F is ideal, so your refrigerator can be a good place to store seeds.

A small amount of silica-gel desiccant added to each container will absorb moisture from the air and help keep the seeds dry. Silica gel is sold in bulk for drying flowers at craft supply stores. Powdered milk can also be used as a desiccant. Use one to two tablespoons of milk powder from a freshly opened package. Wrap the powder in a piece of cheesecloth or a facial tissue and place it in the container with the seeds. Powdered milk will absorb excess moisture from the air for about six months.

Be sure to label your saved seeds with their name, variety, and the date you collected them. It's too easy to forget the details by the following spring.

How to Build a Sleeping Shelf for Your Goats

Goats sometimes choose to sleep outside, depending on the weather. But they need to have access to a secure indoor area to sleep in. You meet that desire by building them a sleeping shelf. You can build a sleeping shelf for your goats in an existing barn, garage, or other building. You need very few materials to build it.

Although the directions here are for a triangular corner shelf, you can modify them to fit your particular building, or you can even make one along a full side of your building. This shelf is set 14 inches from the ground, which is a good height for miniature and full-size goats. These directions assume that the corner of your barn is square.

An added benefit of a sleeping shelf like this is that kids like the safety of an enclosed area where they can’t get stepped on, and they curl up underneath it when they aren’t sleeping with their moms.

First, gather your tools and materials:

One piece of 5/8-inch plywood (4 feet x 8 feet)

Four 8-foot 2 x 4s (one for each side brace, one for center braces and one for front)

One pressure-treated 28-inch 4 x 4

Two dozen 1 1/4-inch screws or nails

Two dozen 2 1/2-inch screws

Pencil

Level

Circular saw

Screwdriver (preferably battery- or electric-powered)

Hammer

Here’s how you build your shelf:

Cut the plywood into a triangle with one 8-foot side and two 68-inch sides.

Draw a line from each bottom corner to the top center line. Each line will be 68 inches long.

Place the plywood with 8-foot side across and measure and mark the center of the top (4 feet).

Cut the plywood with your saw along the two lines into three triangles. The center piece will be 8 feet on the bottom (full length of the plywood) and 68 inches on each side.

Cut your first two 2 x 4s.

Cut 65 inches from one 2 x 4 and 63.5 inches from another, making a 45-degree angle at one end of each.

Cut your third 2 x 4.

Cut two 42.5-inch pieces with one end of each at a 45degree angle. Fasten them together lengthwise with five 2-1/2 inch screws, making sure that the longer points of the angles are together.

Cut your 4 x 4 in half.

This creates two 14-inch pieces.

Measure and draw a level line 14 inches from the floor on the walls where you will set the frame of the sleeping shelf.

Using two screws or nails, attach the 63.5 inch piece of 2 x 4 (left side) to the 65-inch piece of 2 x 4, making a V.

The flat end of the 65-inch piece should be level with the side of the 63.5 inch piece.

Attach the 8-foot 2 x 4 to each end of the V piece with two 2-1/2 inch screws on each side through the 8-foot piece.

Sleeping shelf frame assembly.
Sleeping shelf frame assembly.
You now have a triangular frame.

Attach the combined support pieces to the frame.

Mark the center (4 feet) of the long piece of your triangular frame. Attach the combined 44-1/2 inch piece to the frame with two 2-1/2 inch screws or nails on the pointed end and four screws or nails on the flat end, with the 45-degree angles abutting the two shorter pieces and the flat end abutting the center point of the front piece. The center of the two pieces should line up with your center mark.

Place one of the 14-inch 4 x 4s upright on the top corner of the frame so that it is perpendicular to and flush with one side. Attach it to the frame with approximately six 2-1/2-inch screws at angles starting at approximately one inch from the end of the 4 x 4.

Repeat Step 9 for the front support, with your support piece upright and flush with the front of the bottom of the frame.

For additional strength, you can add more floor supports on each side of the frame.

Turn the frame over and place in the corner of your building. Check it with a level, then securely attach with a 2-1/2-inch screw every 10 inches or so in solid wall.

If your walls are not square, use shims between the frame and wall when attaching the frame.

Attach the piece of plywood to the top with 1-1/4-inch screws every 8 inches or so.

You won’t even have to invite your goats to get up on the shelf. Within a few minutes after you finish it, they’ll be jumping on the shelf and competing for the choice spot.

Goat born with 8 legs in Croatia

Meet Octogoat, an eight-legged goat born on a farm in northeastern Croatia .

Veterinarians reportedly told the goat's owner, farmer Zoran Paparic, that the condition is likely the result of an underdeveloped twin. The kid was also born with male and female reproductive organ. 

Clearly its name should be Octavio. Or Octavia. Whichever one it feels in its heart.