I started taking gentleman farming seriously four years ago when the lockdowns hit. The first attempt was an abysmal failure. I think I am doing much better at sustainability.
Well I am horrible at growing tomatoes. But I am rather good at everything else. I have been using companion planting techniques for the past two years successfully.
So, beans, squash, taters, spinach, asparagus, and strawberries are the most successful. I am most proud of the olive tree growing in my front yard. No olives yet but it is still growing.
Raw milk is good. Start with unpasteurized cheese if you're squeamish ; the ageing process makes it such that you can get it at some mainstream places like Trader Joe's and it comes from Italy-where a different kind of cow is used- deep dive into the cow switch that occurred in the U.S.. Safety concerns became an issue when MASS production in dirty facilities with unhealthy animals became the norm.
The additives you speak of are just the tip of the iceberg.
Gums are supposedly not so good for the gut lining and they are in so many things these days.
Dom. you didn't need AI for the first pic; you could have taken a pic of the real bowl of ice-cream- and you can make your own icecream. Americans used to make all their own foods at home, when mothers were still homemakers and breadmakers-in the traditional sense . 😊
> > > Dom. you didn't need AI for the first pic; you could have taken a pic of the real bowl of ice-cream
I'd need a camera 😊 There's one on my laptop, but I foresee much sadness if I try to get the perfect overhead shot of ice cream with my cumbersome laptop, heh.
I have no idea how to tag people in Comments, or if that's even possible, but I have a friend, Joseph P. Macolino, whom I met in the Christian Anarchism space, who raises goats and (I think) has said he makes cheese from their milk. He's also a book author! He's among those who Liked this post; I'll see if I can get him to share his thoughts on things like cheesemaking . . .
I have no idea how to tag people either, but appreciate the mention! Yes, making fresh goat cheese is so delicious. I got the basic chevre down really well now and I've tried it against some store brands just to test...I really love the homemade one so much better! Eventually, I plan to move into hard/aged cheeses too!
My grandparents used to grow a lot of their own veggies and they would can them so we had good vegetables and fruits all year. Every year I say I'm going to start but never do. I do however buy my meat from a local farmer, so until they are told they have to go out of business by the climate mafia I should be ok with beef, chicken, and pork.
My grandparents used to make ice cream too. It was always fun to sit and add ice to the ice cream maker when it would get low, or crank it before they got the electric one.
Canning is next-level! Being able to preserve food in a healthful manner to extend its timetable, is a useful activity. I have good friends a couple of towns north of where I live who do lots of growing and canning.
Having a local farmer whom you can get to know and whose farming practices you can (maybe) observe, is almost a luxury these days. I've looked in to local organic farms who offer butchering services for their own beef and pork. One problem is quantity; they offer two sizes: whole steer/hog, or half steer/hog. That's way too much meat for me to store in my tiny freezer! I also don't eat quite *that* much meat.
What was your favorite ice cream flavor to help make with your grandparents? Have you tried making ice cream since then?
You only got vanilla. There were no flavor choices really lol. We did put fruit like strawberries in every now and then, but almost always vanilla. The cool thing was you got to make root beer floats or Dr. Pepper floats with it so I guess you could consider that the flavor. Now you got me going down memory lane and wanting a root beer float!
Root beer . . . soda is an example of something that's gotten worse over the years, thanks to high fructose corn syrup and other chemical additives in the cheap, popular brands. I hope you can find a better-concocted root beer than that for your float.
I put sliced banana and walnuts, plus a little salt into my ice cream this past Sunday. Also tried adding crushed red pepper (yes, crushed red pepper!) for a little bit of spice. Weird, I know :-D
Raised on a poultry farm w/250K birds, my family had our (un)fair share of 'friendly visits' from FDA, IRS et al. While not Amish (yet!), I can empathize with Farmer Miller. Like the Institute for Justice, the 1776 Law Center is one of a few organizations fighting the good fight. Glad to read they're on his side.
What do you recall about how the chickens were raised? Was it a "free range" farm, or was this before that term became a necessary distinction from the industrialized conditions for raising chickens?
What was your favorite and least favorite part of working on the farm?
We'd buy chicks from a local producer. When pullets, they were 'free range' until the began laying. (True, 'Free Range' wasn't in vogue then.) There field time wasn't that long. (weasels, hawks, etc) - it did save $$ on feed for a few weeks. We were a 'floor' operation. Stand alone feeders, waterers, double-decker nests on the wall, roosts ran the back wall length of the house. We (bro, sis) were indentured servants! Feeding, collecting, washing, grading, packing eggs, cleaning waterers, nests - and the really fun part: shoveling out the 'collection' below the roosts 3X yr. Nothing like the smell of chickensh*t, when it's 90 degrees on a July afternoon! As noted, all that is automated now. My father, brother, and I went out nights 3X week to control the rats. I learned all about guns and shooting moving targets by age 10 when I got my own .22.
The farm was 28 mi from the Lincoln Tunnel. Many times we'd be 'shoveling' in the afternoon, shower, dress, and be watching a B'way play by 8P. Great way to grow up.
Awesome! Thanks, Brian, for indulging my curiosity. Sounds like the farm helped raise you :-)
I bet you've got plenty of wonderful stories, and while I won't beg for the litany here, I hope you share more of them in whatever venue you find suitable . . . I'll be reading and listening!
I wrote novels for a while. Actually, they were very short novels. With not much of a plot. And not much character development. And not much of a setting. OK, they weren't novels at all; they were songs. More fodder for a chat some day?
I started taking gentleman farming seriously four years ago when the lockdowns hit. The first attempt was an abysmal failure. I think I am doing much better at sustainability.
Cheers for making progress! You're way ahead of me, who has never managed to grow anything.
What's your favorite crop(s) to grow? What crop(s) have you had the most success growing?
Well I am horrible at growing tomatoes. But I am rather good at everything else. I have been using companion planting techniques for the past two years successfully.
So, beans, squash, taters, spinach, asparagus, and strawberries are the most successful. I am most proud of the olive tree growing in my front yard. No olives yet but it is still growing.
Impressive (except for the tomato trouble, which wounds my Italian heart :-D ).
The olive tree sounds most ambitious, since it takes years to produce.
If you can get the tomatoes working by the time the olive tree is ready for olive oil, you can really have a party!
Raw milk is good. Start with unpasteurized cheese if you're squeamish ; the ageing process makes it such that you can get it at some mainstream places like Trader Joe's and it comes from Italy-where a different kind of cow is used- deep dive into the cow switch that occurred in the U.S.. Safety concerns became an issue when MASS production in dirty facilities with unhealthy animals became the norm.
The additives you speak of are just the tip of the iceberg.
Gums are supposedly not so good for the gut lining and they are in so many things these days.
Dom. you didn't need AI for the first pic; you could have taken a pic of the real bowl of ice-cream- and you can make your own icecream. Americans used to make all their own foods at home, when mothers were still homemakers and breadmakers-in the traditional sense . 😊
> > > Dom. you didn't need AI for the first pic; you could have taken a pic of the real bowl of ice-cream
I'd need a camera 😊 There's one on my laptop, but I foresee much sadness if I try to get the perfect overhead shot of ice cream with my cumbersome laptop, heh.
I have no idea how to tag people in Comments, or if that's even possible, but I have a friend, Joseph P. Macolino, whom I met in the Christian Anarchism space, who raises goats and (I think) has said he makes cheese from their milk. He's also a book author! He's among those who Liked this post; I'll see if I can get him to share his thoughts on things like cheesemaking . . .
I prefer goat milk and goat cheese. It's supposed to be easier to digest too.
I knew when I typed my comment it would turn out you don't have a camera. lol. Did you mention you don't have a cell phone?
Thanks for reminding me to mention that I don't have a cell phone (nor any "smart" appliances) :-)
I have no idea how to tag people either, but appreciate the mention! Yes, making fresh goat cheese is so delicious. I got the basic chevre down really well now and I've tried it against some store brands just to test...I really love the homemade one so much better! Eventually, I plan to move into hard/aged cheeses too!
My grandparents used to grow a lot of their own veggies and they would can them so we had good vegetables and fruits all year. Every year I say I'm going to start but never do. I do however buy my meat from a local farmer, so until they are told they have to go out of business by the climate mafia I should be ok with beef, chicken, and pork.
My grandparents used to make ice cream too. It was always fun to sit and add ice to the ice cream maker when it would get low, or crank it before they got the electric one.
Canning is next-level! Being able to preserve food in a healthful manner to extend its timetable, is a useful activity. I have good friends a couple of towns north of where I live who do lots of growing and canning.
Having a local farmer whom you can get to know and whose farming practices you can (maybe) observe, is almost a luxury these days. I've looked in to local organic farms who offer butchering services for their own beef and pork. One problem is quantity; they offer two sizes: whole steer/hog, or half steer/hog. That's way too much meat for me to store in my tiny freezer! I also don't eat quite *that* much meat.
What was your favorite ice cream flavor to help make with your grandparents? Have you tried making ice cream since then?
You only got vanilla. There were no flavor choices really lol. We did put fruit like strawberries in every now and then, but almost always vanilla. The cool thing was you got to make root beer floats or Dr. Pepper floats with it so I guess you could consider that the flavor. Now you got me going down memory lane and wanting a root beer float!
Root beer . . . soda is an example of something that's gotten worse over the years, thanks to high fructose corn syrup and other chemical additives in the cheap, popular brands. I hope you can find a better-concocted root beer than that for your float.
I put sliced banana and walnuts, plus a little salt into my ice cream this past Sunday. Also tried adding crushed red pepper (yes, crushed red pepper!) for a little bit of spice. Weird, I know :-D
Raised on a poultry farm w/250K birds, my family had our (un)fair share of 'friendly visits' from FDA, IRS et al. While not Amish (yet!), I can empathize with Farmer Miller. Like the Institute for Justice, the 1776 Law Center is one of a few organizations fighting the good fight. Glad to read they're on his side.
What do you recall about how the chickens were raised? Was it a "free range" farm, or was this before that term became a necessary distinction from the industrialized conditions for raising chickens?
What was your favorite and least favorite part of working on the farm?
We'd buy chicks from a local producer. When pullets, they were 'free range' until the began laying. (True, 'Free Range' wasn't in vogue then.) There field time wasn't that long. (weasels, hawks, etc) - it did save $$ on feed for a few weeks. We were a 'floor' operation. Stand alone feeders, waterers, double-decker nests on the wall, roosts ran the back wall length of the house. We (bro, sis) were indentured servants! Feeding, collecting, washing, grading, packing eggs, cleaning waterers, nests - and the really fun part: shoveling out the 'collection' below the roosts 3X yr. Nothing like the smell of chickensh*t, when it's 90 degrees on a July afternoon! As noted, all that is automated now. My father, brother, and I went out nights 3X week to control the rats. I learned all about guns and shooting moving targets by age 10 when I got my own .22.
The farm was 28 mi from the Lincoln Tunnel. Many times we'd be 'shoveling' in the afternoon, shower, dress, and be watching a B'way play by 8P. Great way to grow up.
Awesome! Thanks, Brian, for indulging my curiosity. Sounds like the farm helped raise you :-)
I bet you've got plenty of wonderful stories, and while I won't beg for the litany here, I hope you share more of them in whatever venue you find suitable . . . I'll be reading and listening!
Thanks Dom. Everyone should have the pleasure and experience.
The best I've done with stories (so far) has been "50 Stories -50 Years in Radio"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1724111175?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1EYc-KHfr8JkM00V93H5DjhEoTLDQQkUkzUwLSzZGEexCKvTRMa8r1Tcw_aem_AREbCfhzr_P4C-R0m6t7lh2-a172xIecMd7PNCYQf-D_0oN75KcyVU0opyB7ewxENeaXFubncwmJK_4UWdW_jVka
and "Watercolor Memories - The Story of Lauren". You might like that one. Short. Big Print. True Story!
https://www.amazon.com/Watercolor-Memories-Lauren-Brian-Wilson-ebook/dp/B0722XJB2Y?ref_=ast_author_mpb
You're a novelist, too? Impressive!
I wrote novels for a while. Actually, they were very short novels. With not much of a plot. And not much character development. And not much of a setting. OK, they weren't novels at all; they were songs. More fodder for a chat some day?