Okay, here's a bank that's doing something positive.  Yes, they're based in the UK, but they have on-line banking available to all.  The GREEN part is described at their Corporate Social Responsibility page http://www.hsbc.com/hsbc/csr

Their goal is to be "Carbon Neutral" by the end of 2006.  They are in the process now of an independent audit to determine if they reached that goal for the last quarter of 2005.  What is carbon neutral?  Basically they determine how much carbon they're using in their business process (heating buildings, flying people around, etc, etc) and they contribute to organizations to get an equal amount of carbon avoidance (e.g. alternative (non-carbon based) heating, trees to replace deforrestation, etc, etc)

So, if you're not happy with your current bank, maybe check out HSBC at www.hsbc.com 

 

Just want to calculate your annual carbon use?  And maybe off set it?  Look at http://www.carbonfund.org  I'm still looking into their non-profit stats (e.g. what percent of donations go to supported funds vs executives)... but at least you can check out their estimate of your carbon foot print.  Unfortunately, they don't have the ability to account for farm vehicles, but at least you can get an idea.

 

Kami

Laura posted a great entry for anyone who is struggling with their faith right now. http://www.homesteadblogger.com/gokings13/6536/Obedience+to+the+Heavenly+Vision.html?#c14695

Well, tonight Rooster got all the chickens to go on my front porch instead of back into their chicken house.  I didn't get back from the barn till after dark and there they all were on my porch with Rooster in the middle looking very proud of himself. 

I tried to coax them into the chicken house, but that meant crossing a dark scary area of about 30'... even with the help of a dog and a cat, it just wasn't happening.  So I started picking them up two-by-two and putting them into the chicken house.  Once inside, they settled into their feed and were content.  Rooster started cackling and crowing his head off.  He was NOT happy about this. 

As I was getting the last of them in, Rooster struted in making a fuss and jumped on his roost.  Since all were in, I pulled the door closed to finish feeding.   The dog and cat had also come in to watch and this has never been a problem in the past.  Suddenly, one of the young ones grabbed another and would not let go.  I broke it up once, but then he did it again.  I grabbed the aggressor to hold him while the other chicken got away.  Suddenly, Rooster rushes into the frey and thumps me on the hand holding the chicken.  Wow, did that hurt!  So I shoved Rooster back and now he's VERY angry.  I think I actually heard my poor dog gulp (maybe an unfinished yelp) behind me as Rooster tore after her.  Rooster (who out weighs her) doesn't like her and often chases her around the yard till she's yelping for help.  Now, she was trapped inside the chicken house and he was going after her.  Then the cat gets pulled into the ruckus and I have Rooster chasing the cat and dog around this small space top speed.  The rest of the chickens are in a tizzy, with feathers flying everywhere as they dodge out of the way.  And I'm in the middle trying to fend off Rooster and let the cat and dog out the door without letting Rooster out. 

So now I suspect that at least for the next couple days, Rooster and I will be competing to see where the chickens are going to sleep each night.  This should be a lot of fun.

Okay, just googled why Roosters crow and this is what I found:

"Roosters are territorial creatures and don't much like other roosters trespassing on their land. So they crow in order to establish their domain and warn other roosters to stay away or prepare to brawl."

Oh boy, this might be a long battle.

In honor of those horses that probably died today (Mar 10) in direct opposition to the EXPRESSED wishes of the MAJORITY of Americans, lets look at the good old 

United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Gee.. the name implies paid for by tax dollars and maybe intended to benifit all Americans... But, as a one-time mentor of mine used to say

"Your actions speak so loudly, that I can't hear what you're saying"

Horse Slaughter. 
For all practical purposes, there is no consumption of commercial horsemeat in America even though it is legal in many states.  Maybe some folks do it on their own farms, but the sale of it in grocery stores and resturants generally require large signs and labels that it is horsemeat.. how often have you seen these?  More evidence would be the 2006 Ag Appropriation Bill (Jun/Sep 2005) that banned the use of tax dollars to pay for inspection of horsemeat.  This was clearly intended to stop horse slaughter and passed by a 2/3 majority of representatives/senators who represented Americans.  The bill, hugely celebrated by horse advocates, was intended to take effect in Mar 2006.  Now, in Feb, less than 45 days prior to the bill taking effect and without any public comment, the USDA enacted an interim regulation (we lowly Americans don't have a vote on these) to permit the three foreign owned companies, pretty much the sole benificiaries of horse slaughter in America, to pay for their own inspection services.  Read this article from the Washington Post that describes the double-talk the USDA used to justify this action.

Mad Cow Disease (BSE)
We should all be concerned about BSE.  It is a potential source of a horrible and deadly disease.  The Europeans have seen this first hand.  According to some American authorities (the USDA included), we haven't had any incidents in the US.  BSE has been identified in three US cows.  This resulted in a boycot (ban) of American Beef by several countries, including Japan.  Along comes Creekstone Farms, producer of "Natural and Premium Black Angus Beef" who are proud of their "Certified Humane Raised and Handled" products (Animals must receive a nutritious diet free of antibiotics or hormones and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space that are sufficient to support natural behavior.) 

They want to conduct voluntary testing of 100% of their beef, that would enable them to export meet to France and Japan.  See their page at this link.  They sent staff to France to learn the exact techniques and wanted to use the exact same testing procedures as the countries did.  The USDA, after a drawn out stonewalling, denied their request to do this testing at their own expense!  See this explaination of why the USDA dis-approved their request, scroll down to the title "split within the industry".  Basically, the USDA does not want to do anything that will open the door for 100% testing because they know that the thousands of downer cows each year probably do point to more BSE in American cattle than they care to admit.  So, while the French and Japaneese are safe, we lowly American's have to rely on random, often influenced, monitoring programs that are actually designed to protect profits of the commercial cattle industry.

Raw Milk

National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

 

And there are a few others, but its getting late, so will update this post again later.

 

 

Today is the first day that the the USDA is prohibited from paying for mandatory meat inspections at the horsemeat plants as well as border inspections for the (remainder of ) fiscal year of 2006.

Originally, it should have been the entire FY 2006 (Oct 05 - Oct 06), but thanks to conference committee chairman Bonilla's (may he rot) insertion of "effective 120 days after date of enactment", it didn't become effective until today.

In theory, this should force the horse meat plants to shut down at least until the next fiscal year (Oct 06).  But, in a last minute dodge, the USDA issued an interim regulation that permited the horse slaughter companies to pay for their own inspectors.  A lawsuite was filed against the obvious end-run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Society for Animal Protective Legislation, Doris Day Animal League, and American Humane Association.

I still haven't been able to find out if they actually did stop slaughter today or not.  I imagine that if the slaughter houses had been closed today, it would have been big news on the email lists that I'm on, so I'm assuming that they might still be in operation.

 

You should read this link and through this site.  http://www.nawabirds.org/awadetails.htm

In short, all people who own birds may be required to obtain an annual license, submit financial reports and be subjected to the National Animal Identification Standard.

The one remaining wild rooster (see Introducing the Chickens) is going city.  Each morning he hangs out around the chicken house, waiting for me to let the domestic chickens out (most are hens).  Then each evening, when the chickens go in, he stands outside ranting and raving. The one remaining wild hen had taken to sleeping in the chicken house about two weeks ago.  So I think he is honestly lonely by morning. 

Tonight, at sunset when they went in, he stood outside the chicken house making the biggest fuss, cackling so loud that I could hear it echoing back from the valley.  But the chickens were in and they get their feed in the evening, so no one was even the least bit interested in 'camping out' with him. 

I let this go on while I finished up some feeding and on the way back to close up the chicken house, I thought he had gone off to pout for yet another night.  Then I stepped in to do head count and collect any eggs... there he was, on the highest spot possible, cranking his head back and forth (his way of saying I'm a big man).  So tonight he's a city kid, sleeping in with the rest.  Here's hoping that he makes this a habit.  I would feel better if they were all in and protected (and not pooping in my garage all night!)

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are. Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apol'los or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

The Canadian Geese were real active overhead, so if they're heading north, then it must be spring.  Even though this winter was a blessing in how mild it was, I'm still very happy.  Today I pulled in all the water tank heaters.  And I can't help but keep looking for the bulbs to peak out from the ground.  Tomorrow I plan to put the winter tools to bed for the summer and am hoping the ground will be dry enough to make some progress on setting up planting beds.

Okay, this gets its own category!  There is no spin cycle for this (yet), but I'm sure it will be elevated to that status in the future as the FDA finds ways to approve offering this technology unlabeled to humans for consumption.

This takes GMO (okay, not technically modified YET) to new levels of just plain gross.  In Jun of last year (2005) there was a lot of coverage about Cultured Meat... here is an article from University of Maryland (where much of the work is being done to develop this 'food source').

Here are some particularly tastey quotes:

"NASA space missions have shown that small amounts of edible meat can be created in a lab.... chicken nuggets without the chicken, on a large scale, may not be just a science fiction fantasy."

"The other method ... The mature cells could then be harvested and turned into a processed meat, like nuggets or hamburgers. " - if you weren't sworn off fast food before, you should seriously consider it now!

"The challenge is getting the texture right," says Matheny. "We have to figure out how to 'exercise' the muscle cells. For the right texture, you have to stretch the tissue, like a live animal would." - ... now we have a job for all those workers displaced when their jobs went over seas.

"...cultured meat could appeal to people concerned about food safety, the environment, and animal welfare, and people who want to tailor food to their individual tastes ... meat makers may one day sit next to bread makers on the kitchen counter." -- Can't wait to get one of these bad boys for Christmas.  What fantasy world are these people in?  this certainly sounds like a safe food... imagine the range of nutrients this stuff will have.  Here is an article that describes how home meat culturing might work.

There is a newly formed non-profit organization to promote this as the answer to the world's protien requirements, New Harvest located at http:/www.new-harvest.org.  Okay, so maybe New Harvest chould be under Spin Cycle, but they really haven't done anything to deserve it yet. 

I want to see these meat cultivator machines registered with the NAIS. 

Bet the cattle industry is thrilled that they're calling meat derived from animals "conventional meat" to stigmatize it as unclean, unhealthy, in-humane, poluting and an inefficient use of resources.

Bet Monsanto is thrilled with this just as they were in the process of patenting the pig.

Can't wait to see the PETA and Greenpeace response to this?  Will they promote it or not?

Okay, I'm old enough that doctors want to do all these tests and evaluations.  Since they've gotten pretty 'aggressive' with their recommendations, I decided to have at it and get them all done.  This has meant being put in that little exam room to wait for my turn on the doctor's schedule... when I was younger, I used to just sit on the chair quietly and wait.  Apparently, as I've aged, I've also become high maintenance.  In the last week, I've riffled through not less than three exam rooms. 

You'd be surprised what you find in those drawers and under those little sinks.  Depending on the type of doctor, this could be a good source of supplies for the farm (wraps, tapes, gloves, etc).  I just wish I had thought about that before I went.  Next time, I plan to take my biggest purse with me.

I also found out that if you're gonna stick something onto that wall mounted x-ray light board thingy, don't use the piece of paper that you're supposed to hand to the doctor.  I could NOT figure out how to get the papter back out of that thing!  I couldn't see any kind of release mechanism and only dared to push so hard on it for fear of breaking it.  (okay, the glass did end up a bit off center... but I'm not certain that it wasn't that way before I started playing with it).  In the end, the paper was sort of chewed up at the top edge where I yanked it out and the crinkles were mostly smoothed out.  But if anyone knows how those things release, let me know. It always looks cool when the ER show doctors just slap that thing up there, then pull it down again.  Maybe next time I'll take a heavy plastic with me to play with.

Those health background/surveys are also getting harder.  When I was young, I could just go down the 'no' column.  Now, I'm older and working a farm... so its not so easy.  Headaches, backaches, trouble sleeping, blurred vision...  Are they trying to rub it in or what?  And here's a new one that I just didn't know how to answer "Loss of Urine".. huh?  I personally don't really try to track those things, so can't say that I've ever lost it... obviously there's been a change in medical treatment (or a new disease) that I haven't heard of.  Near the bottom, there was the phrase "Family History" and a long line.  What was I supposed to put in there?  I put "mother 1ea, father 1ea, sibling 3ea".  I'm pretty sure they could have guessed the first two, but I guess they need to be thorough.

Finally, I think they should be required to send you some sort of letter aftewards.  Every office said I would only be notified if there was a problem.  Wonder how many people have died because there WAS a problem but all the nurses thought the other nurse did the notification.  So in the end, I've been bouncing around all these offices and (hopefully?) won't even get a "glad you were here, see ya next year".  If they gave out some sort of nice certificate, they might have an easier time getting people to waste a week running around getting poked, prodded and zapped.

This floated in from the Internet without any author indicated (if you know the author, please forward the name so I can attribute it properly). 

I've never been a 'cat person'.  When I moved to this farm, there was an established wild colony in the woods near here.  The cats here now are what remains after a year of trapping, culling, neutering, spaying to get control of that colony (as best I can tell, there are still 3 wild cats not delt with).  After this last year there is no doubt in my mind that domestic cats are not meant to or able to survive as 'wild animals'.  After the expense and effort that I've been through in this last year, I have a shoot first (the human) ask later policy for anyone suspected of dumping animals on my farm and I will gleefully dump cat litter in their front yard for ever more.

Anyway... I appologize in advance to the cat lovers out there... but I think this is cute.  I haven't personally tried it (yet).

Cleaning the toilet

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse".

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

 

There are 13 chickens living on my farm... I phrase it that way, because my neighbor purchased 6 chickens in the spring of last year, by the end of summer they had all decided to move here and since my neighbor did nothing to retrieve them, they now live on my farm.  To this day, my neighbor is free to come get the rooster and two hens that survive from that original group.  But they've grown up essentially wild (I don't feed them) and I have no idea of how he'd catch them, let alone convince them to stay over there.

Initially, they thought my front porch was a good place to roost.  I was not at all happy with that!  After some persistent and creative badgering they decided to stay off the porch, much better.  Now the wild ones roost in my garage and spend their days going about their business on the farm.

When I wasn't paying attention, the hens became mature... I figured this out the day that I grabbed for a tool, only to find it embedded in a pile of 15 eggs of unknown ages.  Imagine the joy of stepping back in a stall to hear that distinct squishy crack that only a nest of eggs can make.  Never again will I just 'hop' onto my tractor seat without looking first.  My new hobby was looking for the 'current nest' to dispose of it before it attracted raccoons, damaged something, or just exploded into a smelly mess.   Each time I disrupted the nest long enough, they found a new place.  Eventually, they used the hay that was being stored for winter... this was tolerable, so I left them stay there.

Then, late November, the black hen became maternal and decided this is the PERFECT time to hatch out some of these chicks.  She was absolutely devoted to the nest and stood her ground, even to the point of letting me pet her.  Since she was being so friendly, I didn't have the heart to take the eggs from her.  Instead, I set up a cheap dog box on top of the hay as a nest.  I gently moved the eggs into it and placed her on top of them. I was sure this would be enough to make her abandon the idea of hatching them, but nope.  This little hen fluffed herself down over those eggs and stuck to it. The other hens never gave her a break and she seemed to be going without water and food, so I started bringing her water and chicken food each day.

December was going to get really cold and I needed to feed the hay, so I set up a ‘chicken coopÂ’ of sorts in a small unused workshop and bought a heat lamp for them.  Finally, on a horribly cold day, 11 of the 19 eggs hatched out alive.  This is the first I've seen chicks hatched and I was absolutely facinated with them.  I spent the day monitoring the progress and disposing of the eggs that didn't make it.  Over the next couple weeks, that poor hen tolerated me picking her up to shake the chicks out of her feathers and play with them countless times.  

Now, theyÂ’ve all survived the winter in the chicken coop.  On warmer days, they are learning to go out to 'be chickens'  and return to the coop at night.  Because IÂ’ve handled them all since hatching, they are like a litter of puppies. They crowd around me when I enter the coop and follow me around outside the coop.  IÂ’ve been slowly increasing their distance from the coop to make sure they know how to get ‘homeÂ’ at night.  At this point, they're a bit spoiled and run back to the coop anytime something scares them or even the slightest hint of rain or snow. I'm really looking forward to this summer when they can go out in the morning to do their chores and be snuggled safe back inside the coop at night (in the early stages of training, I lost one to a neighbor dog). 

I don't want to be running electric every winter to keep them warm, so I'm hoping to build a real chicken coop this summer that includes a passive solar heating system based on the box heater designs.  Hopefully, it will be nice enough to convice even the wild pair to abandon my garage.

Anyway, that's the chickens and how the got here.  God knew I needed additional bug controls.  The excess eggs are going to members of my church who can use them.  I have a ratio of 1:1 between chickens and horses, if I could train the chickens to each to follow a horse around and scratch out the poop right there as it falls... that would be absolutely perfect, but its not too bad as it is right now  

 

You know... the spin cycle... started off as a name for what politicians did during campaigns, but is pretty much how certain groups promote their interests (sometimes called agendas). 

It's normal, healthy and WONDERFUL to live in a country were people are free to promote those things that interest them.  BUT some groups tend to use mis-direction, mis-information, okay, some just down right lie (even if only by conscious omission)... the groups that seem most prone to this are usually driven by a profit motive (or are controlled by those with a profit motive).

I think its important for the rest of the story, the other side of the story and maybe even the alternatives to be made known... So that is what is here.  Okay, and some are here because they are REAL attempts that are just SO outrageous.  It isn't my intention to bash any specific group, but you'll notice that some groups may appear repeatedly... not because my intention is to single them out, but rather because... well... they just tend to use the 'spin' more often than others.

Okay, so I've finally figured out how to get logged back on... I'm in the process of planning out plots for this year. 

 

One that I want to do is a Three Sisters demo plot for the kids that come to the farm.  I'm going to follow the planting guides on this site for a 10'x10' plot. http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html  She did a really good job of describing how to set it up.

 

Last year I experimenting with organic seeds, but for this year, since I'm still not certifying as organic, I'm going to use heirloom and (organic if possible).  There is a place near me (Western PA) called Heirloom Seeds  (www.heirloomseeds.com) I haven't been able to get them on the phone, but am hoping to be able to get the seeds from there. 

This is what I've decided on for my Three Sisters plot:

Corn:  Country Gentleman (cat#52) circa 1890

Beans: (I want to talk to them and see if I can try both without them cross polinating) - Genuine Cornfield (#220 actually used in cornfields, no date given)  AND/OR - Cherokee Trail of Tears (#237) circa 1838

"Squashes":  - Cornfield Pumpkin (#88) for the obvious reason (I'm looking for cooking uses only) AND - Sugar Baby Watermellon (#2009) (this is based on looking at 'companion planting' like at http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/complant.html)

Last year I tried sunflowers and peas... I got Mamouth Sunflower seeds... boy did I under estimate just how tall they would get!  I'm gonna try them again this year with mellons on the bottom.  I just need to find a sunflower that has a good head of edible seeds, but stops growing around at 7' or under instead of the monsters that I had last year.  They were definitely interesting, but super hard to protect against wind and rain damage.

Anyway, have finally figured out this login thingy... so hope to write more often.

Later

Kami

God has blessed me with stewardship over a couple acres of farmable land and I vaguley remember seeing a book somewhere about how to make a livable profit on small acreage... so I went to amazon.com to try to track down this book and used the search terms 'small acreage farm profit' and the number one book that appeared in the list?

    Government and Not-for-Profit Account:Concepts and Practices 

Now, I know that God will provide all that I need... but I really hope this is not Him giving me a hint...

Anyway, I'm looking for a nuts and bolts type of book on small acreage farming.  I'm in eastern Ohio and would dearly like to get at least 1/2 acre into production for this year.  I've sifted through tons of sites on various plants, etc, etc... an am overwhelmed with all the variables and was hoping for some sort of guide on how to get started. At this point, I do not have greenhouses, etc... but have some good land on a nice sunny southern slope

Any suggestions for a good 'beginner crop' so that I can begin to get a handle on marketing produce locally would be greatly appreciated.