I first began composting a few years ago.  It has so many benefits:  1)gets rid of our kitchen scraps without putting them into a landfill, trapped in a plastic garbage bag for all eternity, 2) gets rid of our garden waste (tops of plants, end of season plants), 3) best of all, gives us free fertilizer for the garden when the composting is done breaking down into humus.

I learned how to compost from reading books and web sites.  You can, too!  Don’t be intimidated, it’s so easy.  All it takes is a space in your backyard, away from your house our your neighbor’s houses.  (This is because of the smell, which if you keep your compost heap correctly shouldn’t happen, but from time to time (if you’re like me), you’ll end up with too much of one thing and not enough of another and occasionally have a bit of smell.  This happens for us particularly around corn harvest time, when we’re putting up bushels of corn for winter and the dozens of husks end up in the pile at once. Read more »

Hello Folks!

Hope you are enjoying the start of the week!  Here are the goings on as of yesterday, March 7th:

If you missed it, we were joined on the Farm Show yesterday by the lovely Christine Lindemer, editor of True Cow Tales, and a story contributor to True Cow Tales, Roger Stoner.

They both discussed the making of True Cow Tales, which are basically first person accounts in dealing with cattle. The stories (and poetry), are funny, poignant, and pensive.  Stories of various “Dairy Princesses” and real life cow-boys and cow-girls abound, so if you love cows and cattle, this is the book for you!  You can order it online at Amazon.com, or from the main site: www.truecowtales.com.  You can also find so much more information on the book and Ms. Lindemer at www.truecowtales.com, so hop on over.

Here is their radio interview, by the way:

By the way Ms. Lindemer is CURRENTLY looking for NEW stories from people who have lived and worked with cattle, for the SECOND installment (i.e. sequel) to True Cow Tales, so if you are a writer, or someone who wants their cow stories in the book, you can email Christine directly with your story!  Please email:  crlindemer@gmail.com  or snail mail:

True Cow Tales

PO box 961

Groton, MA 01450

We thank Ms. Lindemer and Mr. Stoner for taking the time to talk to us about cows and literature! You can still catch the show by clicking on the little radio on the right-hand side of this post!

THEN, on THIS COMING SUNDAY’s SHOW (March14): Imagine moving to anentirely different part of the country that you drove through once, and fell inlove with? Imagine moving to the untamed West, and raising a coyote whilebuilding a farm? That’s just what Shreve Stockton did, and she wrote a book, and has a popular blog of the same name: “The Daily Coyote.” We’ll talk to her next week about her experiences in the wilds of Wyoming, so don’t miss out!

The Renegade Farmer Interviews shreve Stockton
March 14th, 6pm EST

Subscribe to be a member to listen to the LIVE show!

Meanwhile! Don’t forget that we have A PHOTO CONTEST still going on over at our FACEBOOK FANPAGE!  I’ve copied and pasted the details of the contest below, so hurry and get your photos!

You know we have a Facebook page, right? Sure you do! It’s over HERE, JUST CLICK, then come on back. While you’re at it, and you sort of like what you see, just click to become a fan (of course, it’s probably easier to do all that if you already have a Facebook account. But anyway)…. We’ll wait.

Ok, back yet? Right!  So if you clicked to become a fan–firstly, MANY thanks–but more importantly, you are now ELIGIBLE to be part of OUR NEW PHOTO CONTEST that starts TODAY, March 1st!

So here’s how this goes: You might’ve noticed that the PHOTO section on our Fan page is pretty threadbare. So we want to encourage YOU, and any other fans, to start posting photos. What better way to do that then to create a contest where you can win a wonderful gift package prize!

The theme of the contest– send us your best 3 photos that best describe the word “FARM.”

*It can be anything that can describe farm: you working on your farm, your farm kids, your cute farm pets, old pics of grandpa on the combine, your rooftop garden, making a great quilt–heck, you get the idea, right?

So here’s what you need to know:
1. The contest runs from March 1st – May 1st. That’ll give you plenty of time to take pictures, or get your pictures together.
2. From May 1 to June 1 we let the Facebook fans choose ONE winner.
3. You can submit up to 3 ORIGINAL PHOTOS. No copies, nothing taken from the internet, etc. These must be YOUR photos or photos in your family.
4. Please keep it clean, folks! No nudity, or explicit/offensive material will be accepted.
5. You MUST be a Facebook Fan to participate!
6. You can either upload the images directly on the facebook photo section of our fanpage or–if that seems to crazy or difficult–you can email it directly to US and we’ll post it, no worries. Just email up to 3 images to therenegadefarmer@gmail.com.

Remember! You have up until May 1st to get us your images!!

Now–for the prizes!

Your winner gets:

*$25 gift certificate to Target
*$10 to an organic seed company (still working on which)–
*Some packets of my own herbal seed collection–flowers, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, radishes and herbs
*The most recent issue of GRIT magazine.
*One homemade peach or pear jam and one jar of organic beeswax/verbena/almond oil skin softener from Aunt Elizabeth’s Peddlery.

…and some other stuff I might throw in there.  Does this sound like a deal?  Just let me know! feel free to email me, or send over your pics!

Until next time, Friends, have a great week!

xo

Zan

Now that winter is winding down, the weather is perfect for getting out and enjoying some of that sunshine! I’ve been anxiously awaiting this time of year. The snow is still out there, but the wind doesn’t have that bite to it anymore, and you feel energized because you can tell that Spring is on its way. This is the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy a little more of that white stuff before it’s all gone.

There are so many things that you could be doing outside with your family right now. You’ll find that your little ones, especially, are more than happy to get out and stay out for longer periods of time. Most days my daughter is just begging me to let her go out! So, we’ve been VERY busy this last week. Here is a peek at what we’ve been up to:

Winter Walk and Ice Mobiles

Inspired by the book Nature’s Playground by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield

I’ve been wanting to do this project for some time now, only I haven’t wanted to go out to the woods to find materials what with the crazy weather we’ve had on most days. This week was great, though, so we donned our winter coats, found some hats and mittens and set off on  a woodland walk.

We are fortunate enough to have a wonderful little park near our neighborhood where the town sledding hill is. There is also a pond for ice skating and a trail that heads out through the trees. I figured this would be a great place to gather materials for making an Ice Mobile. We needed to keep our eyes out for leaves, small twigs, dried berries, and anything from Nature that looked neat. My daughter was all for this. She loves collecting leaves!

We managed to find some leaves and berries, and some very unique looking weeds that would work perfectly.

Hey Folks!

Wow, I actually have a chance to write a bit about farming, and it doesn’t involve any general news announcements for the Renegade Farmer? Who knew!

Haha, of course, you knew I was going to have to at least insert this bit of news before I got started: Don’t forget to tune into the Renegade Farmer THIS SUNDAY March 7th at 6pm EST as we talk to Chris Lindemer about her new book, “True Cow Tales.”  It explores various stories from across the country about COWS, from life as a “dairy queen,” to real life cow-boys and cow-girls, and a dying way of life!

If you don’t have the LINK to our show, and you want to call in or just listen live, SUBSCRIBE for membership!

Ok, now with THAT out of the way….

So I thought, since so many people are interested in beekeeping, I’d revisit installing our package bees from last year (this would be part two of THIS POST I shared with you earlier). I am still not sure what I might be doing regarding an online beekeeping class for you Renegade Farmers out there but, in any case, I hope you enjoy this little foray into setting up the Stinging Ladies!

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These bees were not like our first hive–they are package bees and do not come with their own frames of honey or brood. And their queen is also new to them and must be kept in her own little travel box, whereas the nuc hive already has an established queen….so it’s a different situation altogether.

Here are some pics of the day of installing ):

Here is the OTHER James, my landlady’s husband. He was taking video of the experience.

Read more »

Hello Farm Friends, and Fans!
So it’s time for another update on what goes on around here!

*First—if you somehow missed it, we are having a Facebook Fan Photo Contest   (say that three times, fast!). If you’re on Facebook and you’re a fan of the Renegade Farmer Fanpage, feel free to check out details on how you can enter your 3 photos to win a wonderful prize package. And..if you’re not a fan, it’s easy to join!

SO—check out THIS LINK to get all the details: http://therenegadefarmer.com/?p=481

Then, go to our Facebook Fanpage to join and ADD photos!  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Renegade-Farmer/281688147518?ref=ts

The contest goes from March 1st to May 1st so you’ve got some time to rustle up a nice prize package!

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* Next, don’t forget to tune in THIS SUNDAY as I interview author, editor and farmer Chris Lindemer about her stories of Dairy Queens, Cowgirls and cattle folk in “True Cow Tales” (you can see more of this on her site: www.truecowtales.com)

We’ll also have one of the writers for “True Cow Tales” on our chat also, Roger Stoner, and we’ll talk all things cattle and writing. Don’t miss it!
Sunday March 1st, 6pmEST
The Renegade Farmer Radio Show!

SIGN UP TO BECOME A MEMBER to listen to the live show with a chance to call in!

*And Sunday March 14th! We chat with author, farm girl, and dreamer extraordinaire Shreve Stockton about raising a coyote in the wilds of Wyoming, as documented in her book “The Daily Coyote”….

Tons of crazy stuff is afoot, folks! So stay tuned!

xo

Zan

I’ve been busy growing my large-potted seedlings over the past couple of weeks.  I start all of my own plants: tomato, pepper, eggplant, and more.  I sell many of them, and keep about half for my own gardens.

So, all of my seedlings have been popping up, making me happy, and everything has been going according to plan.  Until this monstrosity appeared, going against all that is normal and natural. Read more »

Hello Friends!

Wow, I am still as dizzy as I swoon from yesterday’s show! The Renegade Farmer Radio show was lucky enough that we had two WONDERFUL people, writers, editors, producers, and FARMERS Karen Keb and Hank Will on our show!

You may be familiar with Karen from writing and editing for a bunch of farm magazines. And you probably know Hank Will as the editor for Grit Magazine. Both live on a wonderful farm in the middle of Kansas, raising heritage livestock.

Now, if you missed the show, here’s the Interview:

So just click play and you can here the whole wonderful conversation once again! They were absolutely wonderful and I think they imparted quite a bit of practical knowledge on heritage livestock and their own projects.

By the way, if you are interested in livestock heritage breeds, or are even curious as to what I am talking about, you can check out the American Livestock Breed Conservancy HERE: http://www.albc-usa.org/

In the meantime, Karen was talking with us about her upcoming documentary about sustainability. Please check out her blog about information on that, how to support the project, and her life in general at: myhomefarm.blogspot.com

And also, you can also see all the great workings that Hank Will does at GRIT Magazine: www.grit.com

And finally, I mentioned on last night’s show about OUR NEW PHOTO CONTEST THAT STARTS TODAY, March 1st!! Read more »