Brad’s Take

I was thinking about Sharon’s apocalyptic, if optimistic (she believes many of us can survive the approaching end of the American economy) Peak Oil prospects. And paint. We use paint for decoration, many of us, but some of us remember it is intended to preserve wood, too. And when we can’t afford to ship paint or cement from once side of the state to the other, let alone from China, then what alternatives do we have? Quick – everyone put in an acre of flax? And the re-learn how to press oils from flax seed for linseed oil. I need to look up why they call fabric made from the fibers of flax linen, and the oil pressed from flax seed is called linseed oil. Likely a bit of obscure history there.

What isn’t obscure is the long history of linseed oil and preserving and sealing wood – and creating a lasting and beautiful finish, too. Anyway, back to paints, if you want something brighter or more versatile than linseed oil.

From Mother Earth News, the original guide to living wisely, Make Safe, Natural Paint:

If you’d like to create a warm and inviting living space, consider using homemade, eco-friendly paints. Using natural materials is a great way to bring the outdoors in, and they’re easier on your home because they can allow painted surfaces to release moisture naturally. Plus, most commercially manufactured paints contain toxic materials or petroleum-based ingredients that are energy-intensive to produce.

The recipes an information make good reading, whether you are counting on Ace Hardware still being there after the end of things as we know it, or just want to reduce the number of toxic chemicals in the paint shed.

So I was reading Sharon’s concerns on Casaubon’s Book about Permaculture and Transition (Part 1 and Part 2). And followed to Rob’s response at Transition Culture.

The South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project

Along in the comments to Rob’s piece, Risa B mentioned the Bean and Grain Project. So I Googled that. It turns out the South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a modest start to reintroduce the practices of growing food on farmland. Currently 60% of the rich farmlands of Oregon’s Willamette Valley is planted in rye and fescue grass seed. I read about this on the Post Carbon Eugene site, Mud City Press Bean and Grain page, and the Friends of Family Farmers Bean and Grain page.

Small Farmers Journal

Now, the Friends of Family Farmers site name got me thinking of Sisters, OR, and the Small Farmers Journal – a long time and important publication to the Draft Horse, Oxen, and horse farming communities. So, I checked their site, www.SmallFarmersJournal.com. And, yep, there it is. Still publishing after 25 to 30 years.

The cover picture up today includes a farmer striding from the field, with a smile, and bundle of something under an arm, and a bushel basked of vegetables under the other.

And that got me thinking.

I told you that story, so I could tell you this one.

Containers used to tend to last a bit. When a bucket was an empty five gallon purchase of grease – the steel thing lasted until it well rusted through. While it was tight, you hauled water or whatever. After it started leaking, you just carried dry feeds and things. Rusted badly? Trash can. Or final container for used parts that might be useful to cobble up a fix for something else that breaks. “Reuse” isn’t all that new a concept.

Baskets.

I can remember having a few baskets around Dad’s farm, when I was a little nipper. I imagine they came with peaches in them, or maybe apricots. So I Googled that. Baskets, that is. And found the Texas Basket Company. They sell bushel baskets by the dozen, about 30 pounds for 12, the minimum order, at $2.53 or so each, that would be $30.36 a dozen, plus shipping and tax. Unless you want them colored – there are bunches of color options, single and two colors. And half-bushel baskets, etc.

Wow. The old-timey thin wooden baskets. Board bottom for seafood, or round bottom, etc. With care, I imagine they will gather and store apples and other fruits and veggies for years. Get together with a neighbor for a handful each, or stock up for a CSA gathering of tomatoes. And Texas Basket isn’t the only one.

Hubert.com (866-482-4357) lists many and varied styles, shapes, and sizes of baskets for active use, or fruit and vegetable presentation accessories.

Little Rock Crate and Basket lists baskets for Home Decor, for Fruit and Vegetables, and for Seafood use.

All three carry peck and bushel baskets. A peck is 1/4 bushel, in case you notice they have bushel, 1/2 bushel, peck, 1/2 peck, and 1/4 peck sizes.

The song.

I guess the song (Bushel and a Peck, from the musical show Guys and Dolls) just really harps on the bushel full and overflowing – 25% more than full.

I love you,
a bushel and a peck,
a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck!

Whatever. But baskets are still around, and at moderately reasonable prices for a durable work tool for gathering garden, field, and orchard produce, leaves and clippings, or other bulk management needs when you really don’t want to buy a plastic bucket from Wal-Mart, or another 5 gallons of paint from Sherwin Williams. Or a five gallon pail of grease.

Geekdads at Wired.com report on the book, “Little House On The Prairie”, Pa Ingalls – Pioneer GeekDad?.

Using few tools, the book follows Pa Ingalls as he builds a house – using nails when he gets to the roof. The door, without hardware?

“First he hewed a short, thick piece of oak. From one side of this, in the middle, he cut a wide, deep notch. He pegged this stick to the inside of the door….”

For other pioneer, geeky gadgets – a frame to make bales of hay in, by hand, and mangers to scalding tubs – check out Farm Appliances and How to Make Them, George A. Martin, copyright 1887, 1999. (Lyons Press, Amazon.com)

Coming out of a local restaurant tonite, I noticed the front plate on a truck. “Oklahoma Dressage Association”.

Dressage (I was told, something like “training” in French) is about riding a horse. Riding in a standard-sized arena. Riding standard test patterns.

The competition test might include various gaits – the walk, the trot, the canter. Maybe a variation on speed – a relaxed trot, a working trot, an extended trot. Maybe a change of direction – and accompanying change of “lead” – which leg moves forward first, on the horse, in the given gait. It matters, in circles, in corners, etc. The horse is much less likely to stumble over its feet or miss a stride if on the correct lead – which is the rider’s responsibility to train for and command.

But – Transition? This “rich people” exercise of buying expensive horses, buying expensive feed, hiring teachers and trainers, renting stable and practice space? Learning to work with livestock, understand “what goes in, must come out”, understanding that nutrition and practice are essential to get the expected results when you climb aboard?

To learn about finding feed, dealing with people that know hay from supplements from complete feeds, to meet people that understand large animals as livestock, as companions, and as competitors.

You might never use a horse as transportation. But being able to raise, train, and work horses takes a lifetime’s experience – and learning can start in a couple of months. Working horse farms depended on the adults knowing how to care for their horses and other livestock, and we are sadly poor in this tradition. By learning the discipline and precision of dressage, we prepare our children, and ourselves, for thinking “outside the car”. If and when the need comes.

At the least, dressage teaches the rider precision, respect, consistency, caring for the horse and learning they are dependent on the comfort and communication to and from the horse. By striving to achieve, riders learn to apply effort, overcome problems – and meet their test.

Suggestion 1: Micro forestation homesteading.
Goal: provide livelihoods, manage forests, provide food and lumber.
Problem: Threat to Western US forests.

Wired.com reports that many forests are suffering, in the Western US. The extended droughts have stressed trees, and the warm, dry temps (and decline of beetle predators) have encouraged proliveration of dark beetles and other pests and threats to trees.

Proposal: Create micro-forest homesteads. Stipulate that tree population must be maintained, average tree maturity must be maintained, homesteader must reside on the homestead for 10 years to take legal possession – and may *never* allow the tree population nor tree average maturity to decline, or the property reverts to public lands, and the homesteader is guilty of trespass and malicious mischief, and defrauding the US Government.

Sustainable forest as a means of making a living is achievable. One example in Oregon is now in the third generation of the same family, with no decline in the health of the forest. People needing a dependable livelihood can use a low-maintenance, minimum impact pair of oxen or horses for micro-logging efforts – retrieving specific hardwoods that threaten overcrowding, infested trees, and maintaining and replanting the property. Focus on minimum forest impact instead of “efficient” dozer roads and truck roads.

Suggestion 2: Urban gardening and cropping.
Goal: Improve agricultural utilization and food production with reduced transportation cost.
Problem: Increases in food prices, increasing threats to national production of food.

Urban gardens, similar to the WWII “Victory Gardens”, can utilize vacant lots, some of the building roofs that are starting to appear in various cities as ways to reduce heat concentrations, window boxes and patios are all potential garden spots. From raising a few herbs for garnish, to complete food sources for vegetarian diets and low cost protein and vegetable supplements, most people can be encouraged to learn about and practice gardening and small scale crops.

The USDA, rather than it’s historical support for chemical and machinery companies, can best serve America by focusing on increasing the amount of food available to consumers, rather than managing grain markets.

Suggestion 3: Local food sources
Goal: Reduce cost of transportation of foodstuffs
Problem: Relying on single regions of the nation for producing a Nation’s worth of food imposes an enormous burden on food prices, for transportation.

1) Create a shelf-label system for selling food products, to show the distance from producer to the shelf for each brand and type of canned and prepared and fresh food. Make consumers aware that their hamburger was produced 450 miles away, that this broccoli was sent from 1500 miles away, and that pumpkin was grown 4 miles from the store.

2) Establish a voluntary Farmers Market label, for “local” being within 15 miles, “regional” within 50 miles, and “national” greater than 50 miles from the market. Encourage consumers to look for these labels, and Farmers Market operators and vendors to use them for each batch of produce.

3) Encourage restaurants to label “local” and “Regional” preparations.

Suggestion 4) Drop NAIS
Goal: Save money, increase food production.
Problem: NAIS imposes costs, invades provacy, and appears likely to provoke black markets and scofflaws, abuse of office and scapegoat prosecutions. All without benefiting livestock industries or public health.

The National Animal Identification System appears to be a warm, fuzzy, “let’s keep everyone safe” kind of program. The reality is that permanently marking livestock is nearly impossible – just check the Racing industry to find how often a mature identification system can break down. Now imagine tracking wildlife that mingles from one group of livestock to another.

A greater threat to the nation’s health is unregulated people, entering and leaving the US without review of vaccination and health history.

The burden of NAIS regulations will force many small owners out of the business – or force them to conceal their activities. Black market food and reduced production both will raise food prices and diminish supplies.

Surely there are better uses for the people and money and effort NAIS would cost.

Thanks, Rodney, for asking.

Do not see as many posts as last year at this time.

Background

In one form or another, I have been running a “chat” board at DraftResource.com since August of 1998. Rodney is a gentleman from Texas, who owns and uses one of the heavy horse breeds common in America – the Suffolk or Suffolk Punch, as they are know in England. Heavy horse breeds were mainly developed to pull loads (draft), and are often known as draft breeds or draft horses, even though ponies and light horse breeds can be used for draft work, and many enjoy riding heavy horse breeds. The other for common draft breeds in the US are the great English Shire and the best-recognized Clydesdale, the Belgian Draft, the Percheron from France.

Feathers

Most draft horse breeds were developed to pull. Often for farm use, where field work needs to proceed even if the ground is a bit damp – or even wet. So most draft breeds have “feathers”, heavy growths of hair forming a protective brush about the feet and lower legs. Some other breeds of horse also have feathers, while the Suffolk Punch stands out as being clean legged – without the feathers that make such a sharp display of a Clydesdale or Shire hitch stepping out in a parade or around the corner of the barn.

About the chat board

I can think of several factors for the slow down.

I didn’t chase away the saddle folk. That offended a number of folk that know that heavy horse breeds are meant for harness work only. Possibly they believe that saddle work delays and distracts from harness training. And some very good people found other places to visit.

I haven’t been very active lately with draft horses. So I don’t have a lot of new experiences to contribute, I have fallen out of touch with the J R Johnston’s Tack and 4-State Draft Horse Sale (Missouri) and Kingman Sale (Kansas), etc. I try to keep my answers complete while encouraging visitors to double check everything. Ahem. Except the added fats diet, of course. That still makes a lot of sense to me.

Perhaps people are finding many of their questions already answered. There have been a bunch of questions asked, and answered.

I don’t follow the other draft horse sites – if you have some to recommend I would be glad of the information – so I haven’t kept up on trends around the community.

Of all the aspects of owning a draft horse, the one I feel most competent with – is getting started. Getting a reasonable horse, keeping it fit and well, getting started training. Depending on the vet for advice and help. And that is why the emphasis here at Draft Resource is to make it easy for the new owner to get information. You still don’t need to register to post a question.

The respected experienced hands often prefer an environment with more seasoned questions, ignorant questions – and more old friends. It doesn’t surprise me that the more experienced of my regular visitors often move on to another web site, or magazine, or organization – even though I don’t like losing friends.

Draft Horses vs. the economy

One area concerns me greatly – the rapidly rising cost of feed and supplies. In less than a year, vegetable oil and grains have nearly doubled. This is causing a lot of horse owners a lot of pain and anguish, and in some cases means the end of their horse ownership. People are losing jobs even here in north central Oklahoma – which means that money to keep horses often dries up. Where the horses are used for recreational riding I think there could be a lot of sad stories coming out this winter and coming spring.

I am afraid sponsor funds for national hitches, parades, and product promotions may dwindle a bit. The show circuits may feel a pinch as some competitors face mounting costs and dwindling resources. As competing activities dwindle

Opportunity for growth

At the same time, I think the horse loggers need to get really busy, making a case for logging for charcoal and for firewood, as well as for lumber. There is a role for sustainable grove management today, but the story isn’t getting told well.

Thanks, again, for asking!

At least, this is what I think is going on, on the DraftResource.com chat board!

Cross-posted from the chat board.

I watched my neighbor and his dad a couple days ago. They were busy breaking up and throwing all the ice off their water tank.

Here in North Central Oklahoma, we seldom get long, really cold stretches. As long as the temps stay about, say zero most of the time, with few consecutive days much below, I get along without a tank heater. Have for eight years now, since I moved here.

But I just chop a 6-8 inch roundish hole in one side of my (6′x2′x2′ round-ended) tank, and either push the ice back on top of the rest of the ice, or down under in the water. This way the ice acts as insulation, slowing turning the rest of the water into ice. I open the hole twice a day, when I feed.

Any time I run water, ice melts. Plus, we seldom get more than a couple weeks between freezing – and the ice starts melting back into tank water. The four-foots get by OK, keep weight on, spirits up. And the gold fish in the tank (help keep down algae) get through the winter OK, too. (I lose goldfish mostly when I run the tank over when filling – the new water flushes away too much of the existing water, too much change to quick for them.) I only have one fish four years now, and one from two years ago.

A hammer works fair for hole-chopping, a 24″ wrecking bar has been good for the last two winters – it hangs right on the fence by the tank.

That looked like a thankless job, watching them haul that ice out of that tank.

CNN is posting ballot initiative results from around the country.  One caught my attention:

California approved an initiative to outlaw the confinement of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens “in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely.”

I remember when we moved to a farm near Everly, IA, about 1968.  This farm had a decent two-story frame house, and sizable, if older, outbuildings (barn, granary, machine shed, etc.) The ‘hog house’ had been adapted and built up inside, so it had an alley way through it, but had a bunch of small pens build of scrap wood, mostly to the ceiling.  Dad gutted the building to a set of good 4×4 upright supports down the (wide) alley way, lined the walls with plywood, hung 2″ styrofoam for a ceiling (Iowa winters get cold), and put in a propane heater.  Then put ‘farrowing crates’ along the walls on each side of the alley way, I think about 5 or 6 on each side.  Pride of the Farm brand crates, that narrowed at the top a bit so the top bars were too narrow for an excited sow to climb out.  Later we added another eight crates to take up about 2/3rds the length of the hog house.

The farrowing crates were fairly open, pipes and bars to contain the sow from the time she gave birth to a litter of baby pigs – the goal was an average litter size of 8 pigs grown to weaning, sometimes up to 14 pigs in a single litter -  until the pigs got to two (2) to five (5) weeks old, depending on whether we needed the space right away for a new litter.

From the wording that CNN reports, the California initiative would ban the practice of using farrowing crates.

Dad turned the sows out twice a day to feed, drink, move about – and let us clean the crate.  And doctor the pigs if need be.  About an hour, hour and a half each time.

See, the crate was big enough for a really big, older sow to stand up, move forward and back a food or two, depending on age/size (Dad kept sows for breeding for a couple of years, then replaced them, so they never got really big).  There was plenty of room for the sow to lay and nurse, to either side.  Between crates we used divider boards to keep the baby pigs separate from neighbor pigs.  A crate was about 5-6 feet wide, from divider on the left to divider on the right, with the sow portion about 1/3 to 2/5 of that width, located in the center.

We put a heat lamp over the pigs in winter or cool weather (spring, fall), pig waterers and creep feeders for the pigs to take stress off the sow, and to supplement feed to assure each grew well and quickly.

And we used the crates to make raising pigs profitable.  See, left in the pasture, or in a traditional square pen, the sow lays down next to a wall or partition – and often smothers one or more pigs.  Sometimes daily.  Keeping the baby pigs alive to survive the pre-weaning days and weeks made the year to raise the sow to breeding age, the cost of procuring a breeding boar, the cost of feeding all of them, the cost of providing facilities for breeding and farrowing in line.  If you only average 6 pigs per litter, at weaning, because either the boar you used threw small litters, or the sows laid on (killed) half their piglets, then you lose  money big time.  And a *lot* less bacon, ham, and pork chops get to market.

If the California tree-huggers truly want to ban farrowing crates, as my father used them, then they are truly intent on destroying the ability to produce pork in that state.  Anyone but a backyard garden farmer, raising a pig to butcher for home use, will be put out of business.

Perhaps it is time for the rest of the nation to consider a tree-hugger embargo.  Refuse to ship products to California that would be uneconomical if produced under California law.  Let them eat Cauliflower.

I understand that a farrowing crate could, with little difficulty, be turned into a confinement crate that the pig enters before farrowing, and leaves only when the pigs are weaned.  And I would cringe at that.

I created a monster.

Step 1 – I bought a Victor (the common brand) mouse trap some six years ago. I had mice in the barn. I wanted to nail them. I got the ‘permanent’ bait ones, with the yellow plastic tab.

Step 2 – The mouse trap works. In the fall mice invade, I set the trap at a corner. About once or twice a day – when I feed the cats – there may be a mouse in the trap. Quite reliable.

Step 3 – (I didn’t have anything to do with this step) One of the barn cats had kittens, maybe 4-5 weeks ago.

Step 4 – When I find a mouse in the trap (see above), I carefully raise the snapper-bar-wire thingy, outside the barn door where the cats are waiting for me to emerge with a measure of cat food, flip the mouse out on the ground without touching the yellow tab or the mouse. Call me finicky.

Step 5 – Reset the trap, put it back in action, all without having ever touching the yellow tab. I do this by pulling the wire-snap bar thingy back, set the trigger wire up, and hold the trap vertical with the yellow tab facing up, and tilt it back a bit until the catch in the tab falls over the trigger wire. Get my fat fingers out of the way, grab the trap by the sides at the end away from the yellow tab, and gently place facing the wall at the productive corner.

One of the kittens from Step 3 found one of the mice from step 4 the other day. I noticed that two of the six in the current litter – small kittens for their age – run about as fast as I walk. I don’t do much running, so I haven’t timed their best speed, but it is plenty fast enough for them to run out from the barn as I walk up, and stay under my feet until I get to the barn door in step 4.

Now one of the part-grown kittens thinks the mouse that sometimes falls afoul of the trap (see step 4) is expected. The dang thing – a cream stripe tabby, a bit fuzzier than an American short hair, coloring is just like Mama – about went crazy, searching under my feet for the mouse that wasn’t there tonight (all the trap caught tonight was tail, and that slipped away when I checked the trap where it had been dragged under the ladder). I was disappointed to not nail the mouse; the kitten (belly full of milk) was frantic, worried about where the mouse-treat was.

A little fuzzy monster. Now I can hardly walk near the barn, for the blasted kitten under my feet.

I can’t wait until Mama teaches the oh-so-patient feline about catching it’s own supper. I mean, I am happy that I don’t have to worry about disposing of the mice, but I would really rather the cats catch what they want to eat in addition to my six year old mouse trap.

And I told them so tonight. I looked at the fuzzball (no name has come to mind yet), and said “Meiww.” I hope they all understood – I wasn’t kit-ting.