Early Birds???

Well it has begun ...

It's a couple of months earlier this Saxon, but the seed catalogs have been coming in fast and furious!

So far I've gotten catalogs from Johnnys Seeds, Gurneys, and a few others ... Generally ones I don't order from

They must all be hurting from the poor growing season  this year ... Despite what the FDA/USDA say!

Haha to them though ...

Hubby has announced that we will not be buying seed this year ...

Of course that's mostly because we bought seed last year and never got it planted since the weather was so lousy ...

Most people don't realize that seeds are good for YEARS!

You will still get 90% germination some 3 years after it gets packaged if you take care of it ...  75% after 5 years ... 45-50% after some 10 years even ... Okay maybe not that high, but it can still grow.

It of course depends on thelant too.

Annuals/flowers don't seem to last as long

Veggies may need hydrating over night to break the dermis a bit ...

We will see though ...

I want to grow me some potatoes again ...

Reds, whites, and sweets ...

Of course ... I'm gonna have to figure a way to stir them though ... But that's a different post.

Anyhow ... The receiving of seed catalogs is how a farm wife tells the passing of the seasons ...

 I guess this means Spring will be coming early this year ...

Good ...

Maybe we can get in two corn crops ... One for selling & one for preserving!

Numerology Class

50,000 farms

Dairy herds of LESS THAN 100 head

(About 17%)

1800 farms

Dairy herds OVER 1000 head

But the number is still significantly lower than 135,000 farms some 20 years ago ...

I'm sure part of this is the fear of diseases beng wider spread by mixing milks from different herds ...

But then ...

 There's something to be said for diversity ...

20 years ago I started having issues drinking milk too ...

Hmmmmm

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(Do those look like cows?)

1,800 Farms

Dairy herds MORE THAN 1,000 head

This number has tripled during the last 20 years ...

Interesting ...

I wonder where their milk goes?

I mean that's a LOT of milk every day ... Each cow will produce about 10 gallons a day with those automatic milked machines ... 

What can you do with 10,000 gallons of milk?

They have to be using it for making cheese or butter ... 

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(Not sure those look like cows) 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮

Wonder how much milk is drank daily in the US ... 

Wonder how much is dumped because it past the "sell by" date ...

Hmmmm

Bringing in the sheaves

I have gotten the new crop numbers for winter wheat

Montana 73%. (last year it was only 53% at this point)

North Dakota 67%

Idaho 91%. 

Oregon 37%

Washington 23%

there are concerns of North Dakota about the winter frosts now doing damage to the crap that remains on the stalk - A good snow cover will help with this

And as you can see, the further west you go the lower the oats

These numbers are for the good/excellent category

I do not see any numbers for the fair/port category ... I guess AGday just doesn't want to share that information

Cotton Picking Crop

Bit of TRIVIA TIME

WHICH STATE PRODUCES THE MOST COTTON?

A) Mississippi

B) Alabama

C) South Carolina

D) Texas

E) Oklahoma 

Answer in a moment ...

First lets look at the progress of cotton harvest

77% Nation-wide

DOWN 6%

83% is the 5-yr avg

TX 57% in (down 22%)

OK 56% in (down 12%)

I would assume that the drop can be linked to the cooler/shorter summer & early winter-like weather so far this season.

Cotton -while it does make a great yarn & thread - is one crop I have never wished to plant.

Maybe it was the Sally Field movie where they showed the damage cotton picking does to the hands ... more than likely it was the American Girls book "Meet Addy" where they describe what it's really like in the fields.  

I have no desire to stick my fingers amongst a bunch of nails to pull out a tiny bundle of fluff -- I'd rather pay for it!

Okay - now that question above

TRIVIA TIME ANSWER

D)  Texas 

Produces the most cotton in the USA ...

Imagine that!

I thought it would be one of the "Confederate" states

Trivia Time

WHAT HAS MORE VITAMIN A?

a) 23 cups broccoli

B) single sweet potato

What do you think?

Nope, can't make the photo smaller ... Sorry

Sweet potatoes are probably my favorite veggie .... Well, no that's not wholely true either - my absolute favorite is COOKED SPINACH - yes I'm a strange one.

But I don't like canned spinach ... Hubby hates it with a passion so I have to work it in.

He dislikes sweet potatoes too.

I've found people who hate sweet potatoes/yams -- they are two DIFFERENT vegetables, by the way -- either think of them covered in maple syrup or marshmallows ... YUK, even I wouldn't eat those!

You want them baked, whole if possible but pierced so they don't burst on a cookie sheet because they will weep, then sliced, buttered and S&P ... THATS IT ... No sugar, no cream, no marshmallows, no maple syrup ...

Canned yams can even be good if you drain them well and pop them into the microwave ... Mash them and add as little butter as possible.  Because they are canned, they've been processed so they are already basically cooked you just need to reheat them ... But they are going to be a tad water-logged - if they picked them too early, just before they ripen, or too late, where they are getting a bit over-ripe - I highly suggest adding a pinch of salt and mashing them up!  It will hide quite a bit of flavor that's missing if they aren't at their peak.

You can can your own as well ... Check out the website Pick-Yoour-Own.com or .org - I can't remember off hand - they will have complete instructions

I thought I had a video on canning sweet potatoes up on my YouTube channel but apparently I do not -- must have erased it before it got uploaded .... iPads only have so much room you know :-/ 

Well, that's enough distraction ...

ANSWER:

Which has more vitamin A?

--------> ONE sweet Potato of course! 

Even though the average sweet potato contains about 1 cup of flesh, it contains much more vitamin A & Betacarotine 

We learned with our first born  that if you feed your child too many sweet potatoes when they are infants they can begin to look jaundice -- their livers are not developed enough to strain the beta carotene out of their system and it collects just under the skin .... Interesting -- start feeding them other veggies and it will go away in a few days.

Yes it's true --  flamingoes turn pink from eating too much shrimp .... Infants turn ORANGE from eating too much sweet potato!

They both will also pee on themselves as well, but that just during that awkward pre-potty training time.

Chick chick chick

Tuesday, 7 October 2014 on the television show "egg day "I saw a news report about the new law in California.

Basically what this law says is that chickens that are going to sell eggs in the state of California, must have the following measurements in their living space:

§ room to stand up completely erect

§ room to spread their wings completely out

§ room enough to turn around in comfortably without hitting the sides of the confined area

Attorney general's for five states (Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Georgia, Tennessee) brought a lawsuit saying that the law was unconstitutional sense if EFax the agricultural practices in other states.

The federal judge in California said that the lawsuit "lacked legs" in California ... that the attorneys Gen.'s for the five other states failed to show that the law does any harm to the people and not corporations ... 

this law goes into effect 15 January 2015

well it looks like this is going to apply just to eggs – it does make one wonder about other products brought into the state of California.

what about meat products, beef, chicken, pork, wow, etc.

what about milk?

what about milk products: cheese, butter, cream, cottage cheese?

what about products made from things we get from other animals – leather and wool?

California is the most regulated state, when it comes to products sold with in their boundaries, then any other state in the Union!

Trivia Time!

This was an interesting trivia question from "In The Kitchen With David" today on QVC (yup I watch/buy from there ... even if it is cheap-crap from china ... it's cheap)

WHICH COUNTRY IMPORTS MOST OF THE WORLDS SQUASH?

a) Australia 

b) United States 

c) Brazil

d) Costa Rica

TRIVIA #2

SQUASH WAS A FAVORITE CROP AMONG THE EARLY COLONIALISTS?

(He means pilgrims, for clarification)

a) True

b)False

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ANSWERS:

#1

b) United States

According to the AMRC (agricultural marketing resource center) 95% of squash we import in US comes from MEXICO.

Last year ALONE - US imported $317 MILLION worth of squash!

I wonder how much of that wound up in your store-bought pumpkin pie???

You do know, of course, that there is NO pumpkin ... I mean ACTUAL pumpkin .... in your store-bought pie ... Right?

My brother used to work for Mrs. smiths pies .... NO PUMPKIN ... They use all squash.

There is a variety of Hubbard squash they use which has the word "pumpkin" in its name -- so they beat the whole "Truth In Advertisement" law .... But nope .... No pumpkin ... None at all.

Save the US Pumpkin crop ...

Make your own pie.

It's really quite easy !

Here's a SUPER easy recipe from PickYourOwn.com  PUMPKIN PIE 

http://www.pickyourown.org/pdfs/pumpkinpieshoppinglist.pdf

NOT my recipe! but I've used it ... It's very easy, very good ... BUT don't make a ton of it and put it in your fridge for a couple of days ... It will BUBBLE up & out of your container ... I learned my lesson.

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#2

b) False

While the Native Americans DID show the Pilgrims how to plant/harvest squash, they didn't really start to appreciate it until the long hard winters set in! Because then they didn't really have a choice, I suppose it was the only thing left.

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