Categories
News

First American Pig Confirmed with H1N1

The USDA confirmed its first pig with H1N1 Courtesy USDA/ James Fosse Agricultural Research Services veterinary medical officers Kelly Lager (left) and Amy Vincent collect a nasal swab from a piglet to test for novel H1N1 influenza virus.

The highly publicized H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the “swine flu,” has had people across the U.S. vigorously washing their hands and applying hand sanitizer after every cough and sneeze. However, no case of H1N1 has been detected in American pigs—that is, until this week.

On Monday, the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the first case of the H1N1 influenza virus in an American pig. The sample was collected from a show pig at the Minnesota State Fair at the end of August and tested as part of a research study done between the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota, documenting cases of the flu in places where pigs and humans converge.

The H1N1 flu virus is a respiratory disease that affects pigs similarly to how it affects humans, says Peter Davies, a professor in the College of Veterinary Studies at the University of Minnesota. Symptoms include a fever, sneezing and coughing; however, some infected pigs might show no signs at all, such as the case with the Minnesota fair pig.

Although H1N1 will spread quickly when introduced to a herd, sick pigs will show symptoms for seven to 10 days and then recover. There is little risk for mortality, Davies says.

“It doesn’t appear to be any more problematic than the influenza that has been in the industry for decades,” he says.
However, the USDA, along with veterinarians and the National Pork Board, has been urging pork producers to intensify their biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of H1N1 among livestock. According to Davies, this means taking the same precautions that humans take when trying to avoid the disease.

He tells small farmers to implement sick leave policies to keep infected people off farms. Pigs are most at risk of contracting the virus from infected humans. Also, farmers should restrain from sending sick pigs to other farms or to slaughter in order to protect animal transporters and animal handlers from contracting the virus and spreading it to other livestock. (Contact the USDA for guidelines on how to slaughter sick pigs.)

“Once the virus is introduced to the herd, there’s nothing you can do,” Davies says. “It’s like having it in the high school.”

Most anti-virals are too expensive to treat sick pigs with and are not licensed for use on pigs, he says. Antibiotics can be used to prevent secondary diseases like pneumonia from occurring, but usually farmers do not administer any treatment. Even preventative measures, such as vaccinations, do not seem to give significant protection, he says, because H1N1 is not a significant threat to pig health.

The USDA and other health organizations continue to iterate that H1N1 poses no food safety risks.

“I want to remind people that they cannot get this flu from eating pork or pork products,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says. 

Although, this is the first confirmed case of H1N1 in a pig in the United States, other countries, including Canada, Argentina and Australia, have reported seeing the strain in their livestock.

The virus became known as “swine flu,” Davies says, because the H1N1 strain has elements of genome found in two different swine viruses, but it also contains elements of avian and human influenzas.

“Whether the new virus—the hybrid virus—originated in  swine or people, we will probably never know,” he says.

Categories
Farm Management

More Hobby Farmers’ Tips & Tricks

Catch a Donkey … or Llama …  or Ram

“We once took in a trio of abused donkeys that were impossible to catch. We erected a small pen in a corner of their pasture, fed them there, and within a week, could easily corner and catch them. Since then, we’ve saved innumerable hours of annoyance and effort by maintaining catch pens for hard-to-capture critters on our farm. With the advent of sturdy round-pen panels made from welded pipe, building low-cost, species-specific catch pens is a cinch. For instance, our touch-me-not llamas are easily herded into a pen created from 10- by 5-foot panels. A smaller pen can be erected in the rams’ fold, where the guys crowd in for a special treat.”

—HF contributing editor Sue Weaver tends a varied menagerie, including Nubian-buck blogger Martok, on her Arkansas farm. Follow Sue and Martok at “Mondays with Martock.”

A Little Heat Goes a Long Way

“While laying black plastic water pipe from our house to the gardens, I had my fill of pounding in tees, elbows and connectors. Then I recalled a lesson learned from a shop mechanic while working on a baler: He pointed out that it would be easier pulling the flywheel off a shaft if we heated the flywheel first. It’s amazing how little heat expansion it takes to free up a frozen shaft, and the same holds true for plastic pipe. I set up a propane camp stove and heated water to a boil while I worked. Sticking the pipe ends into the boiling water worked best, but if that wasn’t possible, I poured it over the ends. The connector or elbow slipped in, and in no time, it was clamped into place.”

—Jim Ruen, a farm equipment and tool expert, lives in Minnesota and pens the “Shop Talk” blog.

Mulch Like Mad

“A good, thick mulch works magic in the garden—keeping weeds at bay (the ones that do grow are easier to pull), retaining moisture so you don’t have to water as often, preventing cold weather damage to plants, and adding nutrients and organic matter to the soil as it breaks down. I mulch my berries, shrubs, herbs and flowers at least once a year using a mulch my clever friend created from used coffee grounds, dried cow manure and coffee-bean chaff called Latte Doo Doo. In the vegetable garden, I layer straw, grass hay, compost and burlap coffee bags. I even use soiled fleece from our sheep to mulch around our apple trees.”

—Cherie Langlois blogs about “Country Discoveries” on and off her Washington hobby farm, where she has gardened and tended animals for 20 years.

Keep Your Tools Close

“Our shed sits pretty far from the garden, so I save time by keeping my frequently used garden tools in an old army locker in a corner of the garden. It’s just tall enough for my shovel and rake, and there’s a nice little shelf on top for my pruners and trowel. Its ‘footprint’ is an 18-inch circle, so it takes up very little room. Plus, it has a lovely antiqued look and makes quite the conversation piece for visitors.”

—Green-thumbed garden writer Jessica Walliser lives in Pennsylvania and gives the practical “Dirt on Gardening.”
   
Copy Your Neighbors

“When selecting plants and flowers for your garden, a tour of your neighborhood provides invaluable information as to varieties that grow well in your area.  Gardeners who let themselves get carried away in the nursery often find that something that looks enticing on the racks will not perform well once planted in their own gardens. Many nurseries sell plants that grow well in their wholesale growers’ facilities, not necessarily ones that will thrive in your particular environment. However, seeing a plant flourishing in your neighbor’s garden is an excellent sign that the species will grow well in your own yard.”

—California-born Rick Gush lives in Italy and writes about his gardening adventures in his blog, “La Dolce Vita.”

(This article originally appeared in “Hobby Farmer’s Bag of Tricks.”)

Categories
Farm Management

Hobby Farmer’s Bag Of Tricks

hobby farmer planning
Sterling College/Flickr

Every hobby farmer, from neophyte to old-timer, has a metaphorical bag of tricks: a diverse collection of clever strategies, techniques and tools that help us save time, frustration, money, or even life and limb while caring for our livestock, crops and farms.

When we start out as farmers, our bags tend to be on the skinny side (I know mine was), and the new tricks we learn often dazzle us into “Wow, I never thought to try that before!” moments. But soon, our bags fatten up with a passel of tricks gleaned from books, ag magazines, websites, classes, other farmers and a steady diet of first-hand, hard-earned, often trial-and-error experiences. Enough time goes by, and we may come to take our own oft-used methods for granted—their dazzle dims—and even think our bags are full. Like Mary Poppins’s bottomless carpet bag, though, a farmer’s bag of tricks always has room for more.

We asked 10 farmers across the United States to dip into their own bags and pull out a favorite trick to share. Feel free to help yourself to whatever tricky technique or tool might fit your farm. (I plan to do the same.) Who knows?  The results could be pure magic

1.  Stick to a Routine

“People always ask me how I can work full time and still take care of a farm, but because I grew up on one and realize how things work, I can be really efficient. Most important—I do the same routine every day. Horses love a routine, and when they can anticipate what comes next, it makes things easy and then  usually nothing will happen to make me late for work. One time, though, the neighbor’s pigs escaped and tried to run into the horse barn. I’m running around screaming at these big pigs, ‘You’re not going into my barn!’ until finally the owner came and got them. I was late for work that day.”

—Pam Gras works as an occupational therapist and lives in a converted barn home on 6-acre Clearwater Farm in Wakefield, N.H., with her golden retriever, three cats and four horses (who reside in their own barn).

2.  Know Your Preferences and Your Pigs

“Get to know your pigs, and let them get to know you. Talk to your pigs and announce your presence when you are approaching their pens. They will learn to recognize your voice and will feel safe. Don’t intentionally make loud noises or upset them, as they will shy away from you next time you come around. When you are done handling them, give them a bit of food as a reward.

“Pigs come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Choosing a pig [breed] that matches not only your husbandry methods but also your personal preference is important. Pigs chosen for preference will bring you a sense of pride, and you will take better care of them. While preference is important, try to be objective with your requirements. Many people have color preference or size preference. Choose the breed that matches your personality, but also choose the best animals in that breed.”

—Bret Kortie is the co-rancher, along with Arie McFarlen, PhD (author of Hobby Farms Pigs), of Maveric Heritage Ranch Co. in South Dakota, a ranch dedicated to saving and promoting endangered livestock breeds.

3.  Bribe Your Cattle with Bread

“When it’s time to work our cattle and calves, we just call them into the corral from their 53-acre pasture. What persuades them to come in? Inexpensive bread and buns from the day-old bread store—an irresistible treat! We can safely separate cattle by tossing bread to other areas, and it’s invaluable for keeping mama cow busy while we’re doctoring or tagging her baby. True safety in the field! During our farm tours, the children learn the ‘cattle call’ and are delighted to see the cows running in from the fields to eat bread from their hands.”

—Cher Boisvert-Tanley, a retired chiropractor and rodeo doctor, runs Chestnut Hill Ranch Bed & Breakfast in Tennessee with her husband, George. Along with tending to their animals, the hard-working couple hosts weddings, farm tours and other events.

4. Herd Ducks with a Light-wand

“To protect ducks from nocturnal predators such as raccoons, foxes, bobcats, coyotes, skunks and owls, they should be locked in a predator-proof enclosure every night. In many locales, the safest strategy is to put them inside at least a half-hour before dark. If you’re tardy putting them in their nighttime quarters, ducks can range a fair distance from home since they’re enthusiastic foragers of earthworms and other delicacies that emerge at nightfall. [If this happens,] a good flashlight with a strong beam can be used as a light-wand to herd them back to their enclosure. By shining the light several feet behind the ducks, you can guide them to their quarters (but don’t shine the light directly at them, as this can cause panic and scattering). With the right flashlight, good technique and a little practice, you can gather a scattered flock of foraging ducks from several acres in just a few minutes.”

—Dave Holderread is the author of Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks (2000) and The Book of Geese: A Complete Guide to Raising the Home Flock (Hen House Publishing, 1981). He and his wife, Millie, raise more than 45 waterfowl breeds and varieties at Holderread Waterfowl Farm & Preservation Center in Corvallis, Ore.

5. Paint Your Cows

“To help me identify cattle out in the field, I just spray them with Quik Shot Livestock Marking Paint, which comes in bright fluorescent colors. If I have someone new do chores for me, this helps them, too, because to someone who doesn’t know the herd, they all look alike. I might number the cows, or if the cow is named Evie, I might spray an E on her. It’s also an easy way to identify an animal going off to calve, or to keep track of one coming into heat. I’ve even had neighbors stop and say, ‘It looks like #3 is going to be calving soon.’ One time, I had this fantastic advertising idea: I’d put a letter on each animal, and my cows would be walking billboards. But then my neighbors asked me, ‘What’s TEA FEBE?’ They were supposed to spell out EAT BEEF! Cows don’t know how to spell … or do they?”

—Kathi Jurkowski has raised Belted Galloway cattle on Klover Korners Farm in Rockton, Ill., for more than 20 years. She urges hobby farmers to learn more about this hardy old Scottish breed and—sorry, cows—energy-efficient converter of grass to tasty, tender beef at www.beltie.org.

Categories
Homesteading

A Walk in the Country

The changing seasons bring new things to see all the time 
Photo by Cherie Langlois

You might think after two decades of walking these same country roads surrounding our farm that I’d be bored out of my skull, but it hasn’t happened yet. Of course, it helps that I often walk with a friend, our conversations making the miles fly by. Yet even when I go it alone, boredom never threatens. You see, heading out my front door and down the gravel drive, I walk into a day and a world of new discoveries. Or at least discoveries waiting to be discovered, if only I keep my eyes and ears open and my mind uncluttered with to-do lists and worry.   

It is truly different every time. Changing weather and shifting seasons transform the fields, trees and flowers. The day dishes up sunshine, or rain, or a sudden hailstorm (or all three within the span of an hour!). Mt. Rainier shows a brand-new face each morning, when it isn’t playing hide and seek in the clouds. An array of animals domestic and wild appear, some who are regulars, others unexpected:  glossy-coated horses nibbling hay and a trio of terriers yapping at our heels; elk grazing an emerald pasture and a shy bobcat – just a tawny blur – loping across the road; eagles soaring black against blue skies and swooping goldfinches so bright they dazzle your eyes. The other day, my friend and I came upon a clean-up crew of turkey vultures feasting on a road-kill opossum. The big birds, so ungainly and homely on the ground, lumbered into the trees, but when they took to the sky, we saw them become pure grace and beauty.

Cherie's view is captivating and available daily 
Photo by Cherie Langlois

Today on my walk, gifted with a perfect Indian summer October morning, all my senses registered fall: the fragrance of falling leaves, crispy-cool air, clear autumn light illuminating gold, orange and red vine maple leaves. Black and rust-bristled Woolly Bear caterpillars crawled the roads like they do every autumn (does anybody know why?).  Suddenly, my walk had an exciting new purpose: rescue these hapless creatures from their squishy fate by scooping them up and tossing them on the other side of the road in the nice, soft vegetation.

I know. Given their probable disorientation from being picked up by a giant and thrown through space, most of them probably turned right around and crawled back in the road again, but it makes me feel good.

Hope your autumn is filled with lovely colors!

~ Cherie

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Categories
Equipment

Hand Trucks: Not Just For Appliances

I grew up certain that if my dad looked at a project and saw an easy way and a hard way, he would pick the hard one. I figured it must have been about character building. Forty years later, my son accuses me of only adopting labor-saving devices, like a hand truck, after he left home. He might be right.

Hand trucks are available today with larger wheels, appropriate for outside work as well as moving furniture and appliances. About a year ago, I bought one of the new and improved versions, and I love it. I’ve used it to move potted trees, large slabs of stone and even landscape timbers.

The great thing about it is how easy it is to secure an item in place. Once secured, the center of gravity can be lowered as much as needed for surface conditions. In the case of a long object like a large branch or long beam, attach one end to the hand truck, and it becomes a trailer axle. Moving the item is easy compared to carrying or dragging.

My son is especially frustrated when he sees me use the hand truck to easily move a slab of rock. He recalls all too well moving 90 tons of limestone chunks – big and small – that I used to build retaining walls. For most of it, he used a wheelbarrow. However, when it came to big slabs for steps, he or he and I would flip them end for end or roll them on edge to get them into place. In one case, his sister and mother were drafted, and the four of us pulled and pushed it across the lawn on wooden rollers. While the hand truck might not have been big enough for that particular slab, it moves others nicely. Of course, as my late father would probably tell me, it doesn’t do much for character.

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Categories
News

Prevent Next Year’s Late Blight Now

Take steps to prevent crops from being damaged by late blight 
Courtesy Purdue University/Ray Martyn
Take steps this year to prevent potato and tomato crops from being damaged by late blight.

Along with this year’s cool, damp weather came the threat of late blight in potatoes and tomatoes, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. Because of the fungal disease’s quick-moving and potentially fatal nature, it can reappear in next year’s crop, and small farmers should take necessary precautions.

“Late blight is a significant problem in cool, wet environments,” says Martin Draper, the program leader in plant pathology at the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, noting that the risk of next year’s crop being affected depends on weather factors. “If the weather is hot and dry, it is possible no late blight will develop. If it is cool and wet again, the disease could be worse.” 

Because of the widespread problem of late blight outbreaks in 2009 crops, the spores are likely to be more abundant than they have been in the past decade, Draper says.

The 2009 outbreak in the northeastern states was derived from a mixture of weather conditions and the transportation of late blight spores into the area, conditions that are not likely to happen again, says Dan Egel, extension plant pathologist at Purdue University.

However, Egel recommends small farmers take four steps to prevent late blight in their 2010 crops:

    1. Throw away seeds saved from this year’s crop. Late blight can overwinter and spread again next year. 
    2. Plow under the crop and all vines. Plowing starts the decay process. The more a crop decays, the more likely the late blight will die with it. 
    3. Plan for next year’s crop rotation now. Rotating the crops keeps the soil full of nutrients, but also prevents live spores from infecting new plants. For small farmers and home owners who don’t have room to rotate crops, Draper recommends removing as many of the plants as possible and throwing them away. Composting infected matter is not recommended, but can be done with the proper precautions.
    4. Pull next year’s early volunteer crop. “Next year, go back to where potatoes were grown and pull those up,” Egel says. Although it might be overly cautious, it beats having another year of infected crop.

Small farmers can identify late blight by carefully inspecting potato and tomato plants. A lot of dead leaves on an infected fruit is the first red flag, Egel says. An olive-green lesion appears under the leaf and the edges of the leaf turn white. This can then spread to the stems and fruit.

Read more about the 2009 late blight outbreak here.

 

Categories
Animals

Rats!

Bubba was eventually caught in the trap set for him 
Photo by Sue Weaver
Bubba the rat got caught in the trap.

One day last week, we heard Mom say to Dad (the feed room is right by our pen), “Did you use the corn in this can that I set aside for Carlotta?” He said no.

The next day when she came to feed us after our exercise time in the yard, part of our grain was gone.
Mom told Dad and he said he bet a squirrel was storing our food for a winter feast. Uzzi and I looked at each other and giggled. We knew better—we knew it was Bubba the rat!

Tonight, Mom was running late at milking time, so she raced out and threw open the feed room door. Bubba didn’t hear her coming, so he was standing on the grain bin big as you please. Bubba ran. Mom slammed the door. Now there’s a Havahart trap set for Bubba on the bin.

Bubba is a Norway rat, sometimes called a brown rat, barn rat or water rat. Here are some things you might not know about Bubba and his kin.

The common Brown or Norway rat
Courtesy National Park Service/Wikipedia Commons
Brown rat 

Norway rats aren’t from Norway; they originated in Mongolia and northern China. They spread throughout the world on sailing ships and came to North America around 1750. They are gray or brown. Most are up to 10 inches long with 10 inches more of tail, and they rarely live more than a year. Norway rats can drop 50 feet without hurting themselves and swim up to ½ mile on the surface or under water, even against strong currents. They are nocturnal, have poor eyesight and are color blind, but they have strong senses of hearing, smell, touch and taste.

A single rat leaves 25,000 droppings a year (who do you suppose counted all those droppings?) and eats just about anything he can find. In 1964, a man named Martin Schein discovered that their favorite foods are scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, and cooked corn kernels. Their least favorites were raw beets (yuck!), peaches and raw celery.

Humans think rats are stupid, but that isn’t so. Rats have their own social hierarchy so each rat has his place in the pack. They groom one another, cuddle when they sleep, and play games with other rats like jumping, chasing, tumbling and boxing.

Mom and Dad don’t want rats to live in our feed room (me neither, ’cause they eat our grain), so when they catch Bubba, they’ll release him near an old, dilapidated barn on a long-deserted farmstead where they have permission to relocate animal pests.

I’ll post a message when Bubba gets in the trap!

UPDATE: Bubba got caught in the trap! Mom and Dad took him to his new home. Bye Bubba. Don’t come back!

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Categories
News

Number of Farmers’ Markets Jumps in 2009

The popularity of farmers' markets have increased 13 percent from 2008 
The 5,274 farmers’ markets set up across the U.S. this year indicate an increasing consumer interest in buying local.

It seems that in a struggling economy, hobby farmers who seek to sell their crop locally have something to bank on. The popularity of farmers’ markets is on the rise in the U.S., having increased 13 percent from 2008, according to an announcement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack earlier this month.

According to the USDA, farmers’ markets open opportunities for local farmers to generate income and keep that revenue plugged into the local economy.

“Farmers’ markets connect the community to the local farmers who produce the fresh food, and play an important role in the direct marketing of produce to local farmers,” Vilsack said.

Farmers peddled their homegrown veggies, freshly baked breads and more at 5,274 farmers’ markets, up from 4,685 in 2008, according to American Farmland Trust. The non-profit agricultural protection organization applauds the community effort to support local farmers by consuming fresh food and points out how this indicates the importance of local markets in people’s lives.

“Farmers’ markets play a crucial role in bringing fresh food to areas where it’s not always available,” said Julia Freedgood, managing director of AFT’s Growing Local initiative. “By getting to know the farmers who grow their food, people are able to better understand where their food comes from, something that is hard to do in most grocery stores. This relationship between farmer and consumer underscores the fact that food comes from farmland nearby, and how without that land there would be no food.”

Vilsack agreed that the growth demonstrates the consumers’ interest in purchasing local goods. Both the USDA and AFT have implemented programs supporting farmers’ markets. The USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative and “No Farms No Food” outline the impact farmers’ markets have on their communities economically and nutritionally.

However, the rise in local farmers’ markets means something bigger in the realm of food security, notes Stacy Miller, executive secretary of the Farmers Market Coalition.

“It also represents growth in the number of people participating in nutrition and food assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and in the degree to which communities are building partnerships and connections that support local food systems and access to local food,” Miller said.

The recent boom of farmers’ markets is reminiscent of the growth in the 1980s when the link between a strong agricultural economy, farmland protection and nutritious food was established by pioneers in the industry, said Freegood. 

“It is important to reflect on past successes but also to look ahead at how to engage a new generation in understanding the importance of protecting farmland. Farmers’ markets are a great way to accomplish this,” Freedgood said.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Pumpkins

Rick's squash is called a Tonda Padana 
Photo by Rick Gush

This weekend I picked my first pumpkin. I really like growing big squashes, but my space is so limited that I have to hold myself back and just grow a few plants. This year, I planted mostly this nice green and yellow pumpkin called Tonda Padana, which means “the round type from the Po River Valley.”
 
My squashes don’t grow as big as those grown near Milan, where the fruits of this variety often weigh about 40 pounds. In the fall and winter, the markets in the northern valley all sell slices of these squashes. Here in Liguria, we don’t see Tonda Padana squashes in the markets because the local growers produce other varieties.
 
It sort of amuses me that my neighbors here ignore this variety in their own vegetable gardens and make condescending comments about the unusual fruits in our garden. A few years ago I grew a Big Max pumpkin from seeds I got in California, and the pumpkin was a bit larger than a beach ball. That did impress the neighbors, and I earned some extra respect points by passing out big slices.
 
I also gave seeds from that fruit to a number of gardening friends, but nobody actually got around to planting them, preferring instead their own tried and true local varieties. Italian gardeners are hard to impress, and it’s almost impossible to get them to try new things.

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Categories
Crops & Gardening

5 Steps to Prepare Your Garden for Winter

Plant cold-hardy crops, such as kale, to keep your garden producing through winter. Photo courtesy iStock/Thinkstock (HobbyFarms.com)

What hardworking gardener or farmer doesn’t relish the idea of time off? For us, winter is our vacation: a chance to relax, rest our bodies and minds, read, knit, sit by a warm fire and plan for days to come. I look forward to winter like a schoolgirl anticipating the summer holidays: long hours with no physical labor, just lounging and daydreaming. There are ways to facilitate this peace of mind by putting your garden to bed in a manner that keeps it productive during the cold months. I can rest even easier knowing that, although I’m not outside working, millions of garden helpers in the soil are, because I’ve taken care to protect and feed them over the winter.

1. Plan for Next Year’s Garden Now
A good way to assist in winter preparation is to have next year’s planting plan in place by the end of the summer. Crop rotation is important for crops that can harbor disease or attract pests if kept in the same place year after year. In late summer, I begin to chart my garden layout for the following year, making sure I rotate the solanaceae (eggplants and tomatoes), curcurbits (cucumbers and squash) and especially brassica (cabbage and broccoli) families. I try to place nitrogen-hungry plants, like corn, where a nitrogen-fixing legume, like peas, grew the year before.

I sometimes plant a poorly drained bed with a deep-rooting cover crop or one that I know will add significant organic matter when it breaks down. Beds that have grown heavy-yielding crops get some time off with a thick topping of compost and amendments to replenish the soil. Regardless of your rotation, it helps to know where you want to plant spring crops when it’s time to get the seeds in the ground.

2. Plant Cold-hardy Crops
In the Pacific Northwest, autumn is called our “second spring.” This refers to the chance to plant cool-weather crops and reap another harvest before the days of winter set in. The daylight hours mirror those of April and March; soil and air temperatures are more conducive to rapid germination and growth, although it’s a challenge to keep the soil sufficiently moist during the August and September heat. It’s important to pay special attention to the watering and shade requirements of these cool-weather plants.

Before the first tree leaves even start to turn, you can plant cold-hardy crops such as spinach, cole crops (broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts and kohlrabi), Asian greens (bok choy, pak choy, tatsoi), and beet and salad greens that, when started at summer’s peak, grow and thrive in the cooling days, rewarding you with some late harvests near winter’s onset. There are also crops that will hold through winter and start yielding in the earliest days of spring, such as overwintering cabbages, broccoli, onions, carrots, peas and fava beans. These are always welcomed when the cold and snow have been around far too long and I’m yearning to eat something not from the grocery-store produce section. You’ll pat yourself on the back for having planted these crops well in advance.

3. Feed the Soil
If you can spare room during the height of the summer season, plant cover crops on your soil. You don’t have to devote growing space exclusively to cover crops: You can underplant many cash crops with soil-nurturing plants and let them fill in and take over when the harvest is done. Many cover crops attract beneficial insects, helping pollination of the main crop and thwarting pests. Even the crops grown for harvest will benefit the winter soil in their own ways: Cut them off at ground level when they’re done growing, and leave the roots to decompose in the ground. They aerate the soil and create a beneficial habitat for all the organisms that populate it.

4. Dispose of Crop Residues—or Don’t!
One way to help the soil is to properly dispose of your crops when they’re finished. You can decide which crop residues you need to clean up and which ones can be left in the field to rot, becoming mulch. Many of the crops killed by frosts are fine to leave in the beds. Squash plants rot in place, and their big leaves cover a lot of ground. Tomato plants do the same, but if you leave them, the fruits that went unpicked can produce thousands of volunteer tomato plants (which count as weeds to me) the following summer. I usually try to remove the tomato vines before they get mushy and put them in the compost pile. Lettuce, spent peas, cucumbers, eggplants and basil can be left.

Prune raspberry canes and burn the prunings to prevent disease spread. I cut them down and put them in my goat pen, where they get trampled and nibbled. Notoriously invasive, any canes that might sprout in the spring will be quickly consumed by the bramble-loving ruminants.

Cut and remove asparagus stalks from their beds. Sometimes I leave them in place until spring and then cut them down—they are lovely in a winter snowscape—but I have also cut them before the killing frosts, when they’re brown, for use on other beds as an extra aerating mulch. They do a good job protecting the soil and breaking down by springtime.

Bean and pea vines are easy to pull down, and goats love them, too. Be sure to cut them off at soil level, because the nitrogen-bearing root nodules will dissolve into the surrounding soil for the benefit of the next planting.

Grain crops can be harvested and the stalks cut down to create an instant straw mulch. Some annual grains die down without being cut, and you can plant directly through the remains. Annual rye does this, as well as releasing root exudates that are allelopathic to many kinds of weed and weed seeds. I grew winter wheat last year, and because it was too far along by the time frost hit, it was killed instead of holding until spring. However, it turned out that the residue it left on that bed created a haven for soil biota. When I raked it aside in the spring, the soil underneath was soft, black, and incredibly friable—it had a crumbly texture that looked almost like straight worm castings. Pulling back decomposed residues in the spring is exciting: It’s a good indicator of how well the soil was served and how close to planting you might be. You can leave these residues on top or till them when preparing for planting to help with the tilth of the soil.

5. Mulch, mulch and mulch some more!
The most important thing you can do for your garden or farm before winter sets in is mulch the soil. Plan to mulch your garden whenever possible in the fall, if you didn’t already do it earlier in the season. It’s best to mulch as soon as plants are in the ground. I heard a gardener say that bare soil is like an open wound on the skin of the Earth, and mulch serves as a bandage to help it heal. Sun and precipitation work to erode soil, baking and hammering the surface texture. Mulching helps conserve water and inhibit weeds that would compete with the crop. It regulates temperatures, keeping the soil cool on hot days and vice versa. It absorbs and blunts the impact of water droplets, whether from sprinklers or rain and hail. Mulch helps create an environment that protects the soil, sheltering the organisms, fungi and bacteria that inhabit it.

Using either organic or synthetic means doesn’t really make a difference, other than being able to incorporate organics the following spring versus having to remove and potentially dispose of the synthetics if they can’t be reused. Any type of mulch is multipurpose: It protects the soil texture and encourages the natural organisms to do their work. It enhances decomposition, forming compost at the soil surface, which nourishes the shallow feeder roots and the deeper root zones by gradual seepage. This compost, in turn, becomes more soil, adding back many of the minerals and nutrients that get taken out at harvest.

The list of things to mulch with is long: Synthetic choices are plastic sheeting, commercially manufactured “weed barrier” products, or the black silt fencing that’s thrown away from construction sites. None of those rot, but they still serve to protect and nurture the soil and its living systems. More natural options abound and include straw, hay, autumn leaves, wood chips, rice hulls, spent grain from brewing, dryer lint, pine needles, tree bark, sawdust, bundles of sticks or twigs, small coniferous tree branches, moss, or hair. I used our dog’s post-grooming hair around my tulips: It served simultaneously as mulch and a rodent deterrent with its predator-like smell. Less conventional (and less attractive) choices include newspaper or shredded office paper, herbivorous pet bedding, and torn cotton T-shirts, towels or bedsheets.

Years ago, I flipped over salvaged carpet and covered it with wood chips in an attempt to smother the weeds in my pathways: It has since rotted and left behind incredibly dark, well-drained soil that I seeded with low-growing clover and chamomile. All weeds that push through get topped by weekly mowing. Sometimes I’ll mulch with weeds that don’t reroot or don’t have seed heads—horsetail makes fabulous mulch and can be dropped right where you pull it. Or you can use leaves of the crops themselves: When I harvest rhubarb, I lay the cut-off—and poisonous—leaves around the base of the remaining plants.

Sometimes I cover the beds that I know will be growing early spring crops with finished compost and lay a strip of silt fencing on top of it all. The earthworms and other soil creatures incorporate the compost into the ground during the winter under the protective cover of the black fabric, and when I pull it back in the spring, the bed is almost in perfect condition for planting directly. Some years, I have put incomplete compost on the beds: rotting vegetables, vines, stems, asparagus fronds and cornstalks, topped with blackened, frost-hit tomato plants and chicken-coop cleanings. Slap a piece of landscape fabric over it, walk away, and uncover it in the spring to find finished compost and happy, naturally aerated soil with a few stray stems and stalks. One quick, shallow tilling, and you’re ready to go.

5. Give Frost and Snow Due Respect
The effects of winter on garden and farm soil can be harsh, and uncovered areas will be beaten down and compacted by rain, snow and ice. While many cold-climate gardeners swear by the freeze-thaw cycle, with frost heaving doing the rototilling work, for others, the soil doesn’t do anything but sit and take a beating. Our native Northwest soil, already poorly drained and predominantly heavy clay, gets battered by excessive rains and, at my high altitude, long-standing freezes bring no heaving to speak of.

The frozen ground can be good: It will kill a lot of bad bugs and larvae that overwinter in the soil, and it helps weaken many hardy perennial weeds. But covering the soil helps mitigate the devastation that nature can bring. Snow is actually one of the best things for a winter garden: It serves to insulate and cushion any hail or ice that follow. If the snow is followed by freezing rain, plants and soil are buffered from the ice layer by the snowy pillow. Mulch under the snow adds an extra layer of protection and insulation for the soil creatures deeper down. Winter cover crops also serve to protect the soil, buffer the blows of winter weather, and give the subterranean workers protection and food to keep working during the cold season.

About the Author: Kelly Wood heavily mulches the 55 raised beds of her CSA farm in Portland, Ore.

This article first appeared in the November/December 2009 Hobby Farm Home.