Farmers Vacuum

It was three days of hard work in 90-degree heat—much much too hot for mid-May—but the garden season has officially begun. Now, to keep those pesky morning glory vines from taking over! 2.

It has a massive photo of a well-marbled raw steak on the cover, and after perusing the book briefly, my first thought was “Of course it does.” It goes perfectly with Myles' no-nonsense, no-sugarcoating attitude about his subject matter, while tipping...

The inoculation process consists of sprinkling food wastes with either a dry or wet starter, called bokashi bran in its dry form, and then basically sitting back and letting the process take control.

There are definitely those who—to be delicate—are less ambitious. The price of food—rice, bread, cheese, lentils or anything else you don't grow yourself—has to be taken into account.

“We'll be fine.” Then we learned my dad was in the emergency room with a mysterious malady. When my path crossed with my tearful wife, I didn't know that her boot had caught on the low fence and dropped her, heavy feed buckets in both hands, to her...

“The aquaculture lab is definitely unique,” Tracy says. Although Fayette County Public Schools, where Locust Trace is located, once offered a vigorous agricultural-education program, it had diminished in recent years: By 2010, the city's Eastside...

I regret that impatience now because I've had to learn a lot about what it takes to be a farmer while trying to make a living for my family. Born in 1982, I'm a Gen X/Millennial cusper, and I find that many people my age go down a similar path.

Your mind definitely has to be engaged if you want to avoid a snafu—or potentially something worse. We live about a half hour or so outside of a major Kentucky town and dedicated horse country, in an area where the land quickly turns from rolling green...

We've had a number of turkey vultures circling the property lately. Tags The Accidental Farmer Even though we live in wild-turkey country—a distillery making spirits that bear the name sits just miles up the road—I've come into little contact with...

After studying a whole bunch of designs, I created my own, based around the following rule: No bending over. This means the run is tall enough that I can stand in it to rake it out and change food and water.

Sustainability is, by definition, the ability to “maintain” something, to “keep something going.” To maintain a food system in the future given our new realities, resilience will have to be built into the system.

“To be successful, there should be a combination of internship and apprenticeship opportunities, affordable land or available land leases, and a market for the products,” Oakley explains.

Beside the farmhouse, we have a terraced garden that the former owner planted with heirloom tomatoes , butternut squash, culinary herbs, and lots and lots of mint, so we're not without farm-grown food.

I'm looking for ways to beat the heat–and slow the warming. Now I'm wondering what August has in store for us, given the global warming situation. Read Cherie Langlois' thoughts on global warming.

A farm was among a family's most treasured and valuable possessions, and the knowledge of how to manage the farm was handed down with just as much care as the property deed. Plan to profit.

Rachael Dupree Our main focus for spring cleaning has been on our basement and shed. However, others have been taking up precious real estate and have to go. Despite the springlike 70-degree temps we've had this week, tilling up a garden bed right now...

My life's dream became to one day have my own farm with a pond to raise vegetables, fruit and fish. The land itself was completely overgrown with briars and invasive species. Eventually, I outwitted the otter.

Sometimes it is physically and emotionally difficult to keep going. Oh, and hydrate with plenty of water, not just the plants but you, as well.” —Lori Williamson … throw in some experiments (even if they don't work out) … “Don't let male turkeys...

As a result, rural women are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer, the most severe form. She then calculated each patient's distance from the nearest facility offering cancer-screening services, such as mammograms and MRIs. While...

The smell lingers around the area where our propane tank, septic tank and lagoon reside, though doesn't seem to specifically be emanating from any one of those either. Tags The Accidental Farmer

I have four flats of seeds planted—a mixture of medicinal herbs and edible-garden staples—and I have a few more things, namely beans and radishes , that I want to direct-seed. I must admit, I've kind of enjoyed this drawn-out time indoors.

I have no doubt we'll have all the vegetable growers we need—it's the big grain operations where we may see the biggest loss. And all of this, along with millions of other things we can't possibly predict, will affect our farms.

I've learned that you can do a lot with sourdough, so it's not only been nourishing to our family, it's been nourishing to my creative spirit, as well. It required a rest and a rise of the dough, with 2½ hours of “folding” sandwiched in between.

Their proximity to our deck and hot tub was, well, proximate . The first few times I had to get near the hives to plant more bee-friendly flowers or to beef up the riprap retaining wall, it was pretty nerve-wracking, but I reminded myself about the oregano...

Soil pH is Key All the super-fertilizers in the world won't do a bit of good if your soil pH isn't up to par. Use too much and you might end up with lots of new leaves but not so many flowers or fruit.

So when people ask if chemicals were used, they may find the question silly, like “Was a tractor used to dig these potatoes?” And so they are not going to freely admit to using chemicals because they don't want to lose the sale, and maybe because...

It hasn't caught on like it has on the East or West Coasts. Appalachia Kevin Cottrell “Small Scale” will survive through the educated only. We've read about it in New York Times bestselling books.