Cultivating Shitake Mushrooms

April 15, 2013

Mushroom Spawn

I studied Permaculture this past winter.  Reading fellow Wisconsinite Mark Shepard’s new book, Restoration Agriculture, inspired me to read all the books I could find in the Southwest Wisconsin Library system on Permaculture.

The pioneering books by Mollison and Holmgren are great, but the best book by far is Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture.  This Austrian farmer inspired me to try and cultivate mushrooms.  So I purchased a bag filled with mycelium plug spawn from Field and Forest Products. 

Drill a hole, hammer the plug in, then seal with wax.  Repeat every few inches until the entire log is covered.  Place in a shady place and keep moist.

If all goes well, the mycelium will spend the next year colonizing the rotting log.  The following year it will produce the fruiting bodies we call mushrooms.

I don’t know if this will work or if I’ll even like Shitake mushrooms, which is the variety I’m growing.  It looked like too much fun not to try, though.  Click on the bottom photo to enlarge and see better the tools of this project.

Mushroom Tools

4 Comments | Curious farmer, Curious food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Apples in Rented Pasture

August 16, 2012

I was fortunate to rent a pasture this year, close to my farm.  I had a vet preg-check my sixteen fall-calving cows this spring, then vaccinated and fly tagged the twelve which were bred, and put them in the pasture May 1st.

They have done really well, even in the drought, because  I under-stocked the pasture.  I wanted some experience grazing the pasture before I put too many animals in and then had to feed hay or destock.

Now they’re enjoying the wild apples which grow in the woods and in the open.  The cows have a route they walk everyday, checking for down fruit.

The tree above is strange.  Half of it has no apples, the other half is loaded with apples.

I usually eat a few every time I check the cows.  Each tree’s apples taste different, but they’re all good in their own way.

1 Comment | Curious cattle, Curious food, Curious wild food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Crinkly-Ear Sow Farrowed/Restaurant Visit

June 28, 2012

The sow I wrote about earlier, (let’s call her Crinkly-Ear), farrowed.  She picked out a shady spot under an oak tree, far away from the rest of the herd.  She had twelve beautiful piglets.

When a piglet is born, it is covered in a thin membrane.  It takes a few minutes to dry and rub off.  A healthy piglet shakes off the stress of birth rapidly, and is up and struggling with its siblings for a teat.

The chef and crew at Dayton Street Grille came for a visit.  I love when a restaurant comes for a visit.  It shows they aren’t just using the “local” angle for marketing, but really care about the food they’re serving.

I took them for a hayrack ride and showed them the cattle grazing and Crinkly-Ear’s litter.  They’re holding some day-old piglets in the photo.  I drove the tractor and Shepherd provided the color commentary.

Then they got the bonus tour because a sow was farrowing up near the barnyard.  They got to see me reach in and pull out a piglet that was coming backwards.  One guy even touched the slimy newborn.  Thank you Dayton Street Grille.

3 Comments | Curious direct-market, Curious food, Curious hogs | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Planting Buckwheat

June 21, 2012

The barley/rape pig pasture, disced and planted with Buckwheat.  I planted on June 19th.  I planted it at a rate of about sixty pounds per acre.  A fifty pound bag cost me 55 dollars.

While researching alternative crops due to a crop failure this spring, (I ended up replanting corn), I came across Buckwheat.  I learned enough about it to make me want to try some.  I called my local seed supplier and they could get me a fifty lb. bag.  I wasn’t sure when or where I would use it, but I wanted to have it on hand in case I had an opportunity.  When I saw how well the cattle and hogs ate the barley/rape field, leaving very little crop residue, I decided this was my opportunity, and with perfect timing.  It’s recommended to plant Buckwheat after June 15th in Wisconsin.

I’m not sure exactly how I’ll use Buckwheat.  I’ll probably end up grazing it with the cattle and hogs.  Some of the things which intrigued me were its nutritional profile.  It’s very high in Lysine, which is the most limiting amino acid in a corn/soy diet for swine.

It also produces a very dark, strong flavored honey when bees use it as their primary nectar source.  One acre of Buckwheat can be used by bees to produce 150 lbs. of honey according to the source I found.  I would like to try some Buckwheat honey.  Maybe I can get my beekeeper friends to place a hive close.

According to Wikipedia, Buckwheat is not a grain, and can be eaten by people with gluten intolerance.  I wonder what Buckwheat pancakes taste like?

8 Comments | Curious crops, Curious food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Reaping What We Sow

July 20, 2011

Potato and Green Beans from the garden.  Corned beef from one of our cows.  Photo by Melissa.

Melissa completed her family-farm internship, found a job, and moved out.  We are going to miss her.

1 Comment | Curious food, Curious living | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Meat and Greens

June 1, 2011

“Smell this and tell me if it’s good,” Citygirlfriend said, holding an old bag of hamburger.

When I met Citygirlfriend, she didn’t really eat or touch meat.  On our first date, I served her a single hamburger, with Goosefoot Greens, (Chenopodium album), on the side.

I guess she figured, ‘When in Rome,’ because she tried to eat it.  She’s been game ever since, and usually cooks meat or eggs for every meal.  I love it.

Melissa is a vegetarian, which is ok.  What I’m really enthused about is how she’s taken to foraging for wild food.  She has developed a recipe with Stinging Nettle leaves and Quinoa.  Quinoa is a member of the Chenopodium genus, and a relative of  Goosefoot Greens.

Hamburger and Chenopodium, who would a thunk it?

3 Comments | Curious food, Curious living, Curious wild food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

REAP-Day on the Farm

July 19, 2010

REAP food group, Madison, put on a wonderful “Day at the Farm” at Jordandal Farms, my direct-marketing partners.

People turned out in droves.  I think people want to visit a farm, but are too shy to ask.

Eric and Carrie went all-out showing off their farm.  Here is one of Eric’s Jersey cows with her five-day-old calf.

Here are baby chicks in the brooder house.  Each specific livestock had a sign with pertinent information.

Eric and Carrie showed off their chickens, Jersey dairy cows, and sheep.

We brought some of our Red Angus cattle and hogs to their farm.

Chefs from some of Madison’s finest restaurants prepared an excellent meal.  Employees and volunteers from REAP made everything go smoothly.  I can’t believe this was the first time they ever tried one of these.  Here we all are after a successful Day at the Farm.

2 Comments | Curious direct-market, Curious food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Blackcap Pickin’

June 27, 2010

(Rubus occidentalis)

Come along with me we’re goin’ blackcap pickin’,
Put on long pants so you can push through the thicket.

Pick out all the black ones better leave all the red ones,
The red ones pretty sour, but the black ones are heaven.

Purple mouth and fingers, lets ’em know what we been doin’,
If they wanna get some, we can show ‘em where we goin’.

If you got a bowl then you can fill it in a moment,
If you wait ’till next week, then you wait another year.

1 Comment | Curious food, Curious living, Curious wild food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Early Spring: Finished Planting Corn

April 27, 2010

“When the oak leaf is the size of a squirrel’s ear, it’s corn planting time.”  Old farmer saying.

I finished planting corn last week.  April 23rd  is the new record.

It is an early spring.  Look at the asparagus in the old fence row.

Leave a Comment » | Curious crops, Curious food | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

Katie Couric Investigates Antibiotic Use in Livestock

February 11, 2010

I watched Katie Couric infuriate the US livestock industry over the past two days.  She reported on sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock and the “superbugs” that may develop as a result.  It was a fair report.

A little background to catch you up to speed.  The US livestock industry routinely uses a low level of antibiotics in the feed or water of birds and animals to promote growth.  This is what is meant by the term sub-therapeutic, or growth-promoting.

One of the problems with this strategy is the possible development of “superbugs”, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  I don’t know if this has been proven, but it seems plausible.

We gave this some thought on our farm and discontinued sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics years ago.  We aren’t organic, however, and we do reserve the ability to use antibiotics to treat disease.

And this makes sense to us, because, after all, this is how most people use antibiotics in their own life, (hand sanitizers excluded).

And this is a paradox many animal rights people don’t understand, but most livestock farmers enjoy raising animals and don’t want to watch them suffer from disease if there is a treatment available.

Katie Couric profiled the Danish swine industry which banned sub-therapeutic antibiotics years ago.  Contrary to predictions of the industry’s demise, the Dutch pig producers learned how to raise hogs without this crutch and their industry has even expanded since the ban.

Banning sub-therapeutic antibiotics is not without a cost, though.  The cost to raise a pound of pork increased five cents per pound.  This sounds about right.

And that’s why I’m not knocking hog farmers who choose to use sub-therapeutic antibiotics.  Five cents per pound over several years can make or break a hog farm; and it is an acceptable and legal practice in the US.

But sub-therapeutic antibiotics are not necessary and it gives the livestock industry bad press.  I wish we could come to a consensus as an industry and eliminate the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics while still reserving the ability to use antibiotics to treat disease.  But of course I’m biased because that’s the protocol for my farm.

What do you think?  Do you see the difference between antibiotics used to treat disease and sub-therapeutic antibiotics to promote growth?  Do you pay more for antibiotic-free meat?  Do you seek out the lowest-priced meat?  What is important to you?  Why?

4 Comments | Curious food, Curious livestock costs, Curious meat | Permalink
Posted by curiousfarmer

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