Author Archives: Quail Run

Carrots and Beets

We had a killer crop of beets and carrots this year.  They loved the deep mulching methods we used this year and all our hard work sure paid off with the root vegetables.
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Fresh beets and carrots are absolutely the best and we all enjoy eating them fresh roasted or raw, but these lovely ladies are meant for canning, to be stored for food when the winter winds howl.  The first of August we will be planting our fall crop of beets and carrots, those will stay stored in the ground until the first hard frost and then they will be roasted for autumn dinners when the land turns golden and smells of earth and pumpkins.
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Goats on Pasture

The Goats are almost three months old now and fully weaned, its time they go to pasture and be trained on the line.
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Part of the purpose of our goats is weed control and sustainable grazing. Grazing animals can be very destructive to the land if their grazing isn’t focused and managed.  On the flip side, land that isn’t grazed by herbivores will become over grown and unhealthy, quickly pulling more from the soil then adding back.  They synergy between the grasslands and its herbivores is slowly becoming recognized and honored.
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When a herbivore eats the grass the roots of the grass die back a little, leaving organic matter and open channels in the soil for beneficial microbes to feast on and water to run down.  Then there is a flush of new grown, invigorating the grass, making it stronger and producing more roots to break up the soil and provide for those microbes I love so much.  In turn the herbivore leaves its manure, full of nutrients and seeds to further bless the land.  A pasture can be easily over grazed, if animals are kept on it continually with out a rest period, it becomes distressed and can’t sustain new growth. That is where management comes in.  We no longer have vast prairies with massive herds of buffalo and birds doing the job, we now have to facilitate the process, by using rotational grazing and letting the pasture rest in between grazing.
IMG_6694Here on our farm we don’t have vast pastures, we have small meadows and paddocks, but that same principle applies, just on a smaller scale.  We set the goats out daily to graze, watching carefully so as not to over tax the land and then move our animals so the plot can rest and rejuvenate, making it more fertile and productive.

Unwelcome Visitor

We try to live with nature as much as possible.  We will tolerate a pest until it becomes a danger to humans, pets, live stock, or our gardens.  And when it does become a problem, we try to relocate and discourage it, before we dispatch it.   We had such a visitor the other day, one that I would usually watch slither away, but because of the location of this visitor and because it was not letting itself be known, I felt it was a safety issue, and had to dispatch it.

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I am by no means a snake expert, but I believe that this guy is a Great Basin Rattlesnake or Crotalus oreganus lutosus.  Aimee and I stumbled on this guy when we were getting ready to get into the van.  Aimee noticed the pit viper head immediately and I verified it by looking at the tail.  I later identified it as the Great Basin Rattlesnake by it’s coloring and other pictures on the internet.

The color pattern usually consists of a buff, pale gray, pale brown, olive brown or yellowish brown ground color, overlaid with a series of 32-49 dorsal blotches. These blotches are dark brown to black in color, with pale centers and pale borders, and are often irregular in shape and wider than they are long. There is also a series of lateral blotches that are indistinct anteriorly, but become more distinct posteriorly and eventually merge with the dorsal blotches to form crossbands. Older specimens sometimes have a faded pattern, or they may have uniformly black blotches, with the dorsum of the head also being black [Source]

As noted above, I  would usually relocate snakes, but this one was within 10 feet of our front door, and was not using its rattle.  So I instantly felt like I needed to dispatch it, instead of herding it to another location.

It surprised me that this guy was not rattling.  He was coiled, just sitting there looking at us.  He was sitting behind our chipper/shredder, which I moved to take this picture and to figure out a way to get him to uncoil so that I could take care of the threat.  After doing a little more research, I came across an article (“Rattlesnake danger grows as more serpents strike without warning” July 22, 2001) that explains that rattlesnakes are now not using their rattles and are more likely to attack without warning.  The Great Basin Rattlesnake is also more timid.

The quickest, and best way that I have found to dispatch a rattlesnake is to put a shovel blade just behind its head and decapitate the snake.  But you NEVER want to approach a coiled pit viper.  They have the ability to spring and attack the distance of their body when they are in a coiled position.  So you want to get the snake to move on, so you can dispatch it while it is not coiled.  And this guy was not going to uncoil for me.  And he only rattled once, and that was for a second after I poked him with a sprinkler pipe to get him to uncoil and move off.

So, I figured that vibration/noise would make him move.  So I fired up the chipper/shredder.  He only looked at it, did not move an inch.  So I then turned the shredder so that it was now blowing at him.  This did the trick, the uncoiled and started to move away from the shredder.  I then walked up behind him and with a shovel decapitated the snake.

The problem with snakes, is that they still can move, rattle, and bite after they have been dispatched.  This one was no different.  After I removed his head with the shovel, I went to pick the head up, with the shovel.  His body-less head then bit the shovel.  Never, try to pick up a snakes head, even if it is removed from the body.  They always have the ability to inject venom through their fangs.  I then dug a hole, and promptly buried the head.  I then removed the rattle, and then put the body of the snake away from the house to let nature take care of it.

The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources in an article titled “Rattlesnake safety tips – DWR” lists several things to do when you encounter a rattlesnake and how to protect your property from them.  Rattlesnakes are actually illegal to kill in Utah (R657-53).  The law does have an exception for “reasons of human safety.”  -28(6)(a) “Great Basin rattlesnakes, Crotalus oreganus lutosus, may be killed without a certificate of registration only for reasons of human safety.”  I agree that they should usually be left alone, and would usually leave them alone, especially if it was in the wild, but because it was a safety risk for me and my family I dispatched the snake.

 

Interesting Visitors

Over the last few days we have had some fun visitors of the insect variety, they were unique enough that we had to investigate further.

Solifugae

The first one is called a Solifugae, or as some people would call them a camel spider, wind scorpion, or sun spider.

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There are a lot of urban legends about this guy.  Everything from them being big enough to eat birds, run at really fast speeds, and that they are deadly to humans.

Well, they are all false.  This guy eats ground-dwelling arthropods, and other small animals, does not pose a risk to humans.  It can run fast, but only at a top speed of 10 mph.  It does not have any venom glands or any type of venom-delivery apparatus.   But they can give you a very powerful nip with their mouth parts or their chelicerae, but it is nothing medically significant.  They like to avoid the sun, and will move to get away from it.

Carrion beetle

This visitor is a Silphidae  it is also called a carrion beetle or burying beetles.

IMG_0419This guy is one of natures cleanup beetles.  Specifically, it is know for taking care of dead animals.  These guys have wings but no longer use them.  They can be found worldwide and belong to a family of 183 species.  I have to admit, these guys, like the camel spider are also a pretty misunderstood visitors.

The Silphidae adults feed in a saprophagous manner: they colonize the carrion during all four stages of decomposition, which are fresh, bloated, decay, and dry. The main areas of decomposition for adults are during both the bloated and decaying stages. The Silphidae larvae mainly inhabit during the decaying and dry stages of the carrion. The primary food source for the subfamily Silphinae is the maggot mass present on the detritus. The Nicrophorinae will colonize the body earlier in decomposition in order to avoid competition with maggots. If there is a sufficiently large maggot mass they will not colonize the carcass. The parental care exhibited by this subfamily is that the adult beetles regurgitate food into the mouths of the young larvae until they are mature. Silphinae colonize later in the decaying process and the adults eat the maggot mass, sometimes leaving little maggot evidence left to estimate a post-mortem interval. In the case of the sexton or burying beetles, Nicrophorinae, the adults will bury small animal carcasses and lay their eggs on it. In some species, a slight depression is made on the detritus for maturing larvae that the adult beetles feed and protect. In both subfamilies the larvae are observed to eat the decaying organic material while the adults mainly consume the maggots. Flies are the major competitor of Silphiade for detritus. If a carcass is infested with maggots, many of the Nicrophorinae will abandon the carcass while members of Silphinae will feed on the maggots.[Source]

Sounds like something that Gil Grissom would really like to find during one of his Crime Scene Investigations.  These guys are not considered a nuisance to humans, they also have a large distribution.  They have been know to become pests to farmers and will use crops as a secondary source of nutrients.

An interesting side note to this guy.  I found him next to our garbage can as I was taking it out to the street for pickup.  In the garbage can, there were several gophers that I had trapped during the week.  Looks like this guy was just trying to find a new place to lay its eggs.

 

Spring Babies

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We all love the babies here on the farm and the last of the spring babies have arrived!  Rabbits can be bred all year long, but they tend to struggle in the heat and a pregnancy only adds to the difficulty, so we take a break in the heat of the summer. We also take a break in the cold of the winter, not because it hard on the rabbits, they love the cold, but it is a bit more difficult to manage kits in the freezing weather, they need to be kept very warm and it is easy for a kit to chill and die very quickly. So here we are the very last litter of the spring birthing season, they get to hang out in the house with us during the heat of the day and in the evening they get to go be with mom until morning.  Rabbits only feed their babies once or twice a day and spend the rest of the time ignoring them.  It is a survival instinct, by only visiting the nest once a day they don’t attract predators to their babies. Once the baby’s eyes open, at about ten days, they will become adventurous and follow mom around.  When the babies are six weeks old they are separated by sex and moved into big grow out pens to wait until they are big enough to process.

How do I feel about processing our own meat. I don’t love it, and the day I do will be the day I quit eating meat. Rabbits are prey animals, they are meant to be eaten to fulfill the measure of their creation.  Our rabbits are very much loved and cared for and when the time is right humanly dispatched and processed, then eaten with much honor and thanksgiving.

Own it, Fix it, Move on..

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As an IT professional, I can tell you that the more systems you work on, and the more power you are given over those systems, the more likely you will mess something up.   And I have also learned that the quicker you accept the fact you messed up, and concentrate on fixing the problem, the faster people forget about it, and the quicker you can let it go.

There was one time when a junior systems administrator (SysAdmin) did something that caused a group of people to lose some data that they had been working on for a while.  When the mistake was discovered, everyone kicked into fix-it mode.  We started looking into backups and other options to restore the data.  In the end, we found that we could not restore the data, that because of a simple mistake, lots of time and money was lost. While we were trying to find a solution, I looked over at the junior SysAdmin, and noticed what he was doing.  Instead of owning the problem, and trying to fix it, he was looking through the logs to see if he could shift the blame to someone else.  He knew what he had done and had not told anyone about it. The sad thing with this situation, is that if the SysAdmin would of owned it, and started fixing it in the beginning, the data would not of been lost.  But because he was trying to hide his mistake, a time threshold passed, and the data was no longer available for restore.

I once also had a similar situation happen to me, I did something similar to the above example.  Once I knew what I had done, I owned it, called my boss and explained to him what happened.  Then we worked on finding a solution.  The solution was to call Tech Support and see if they could fix what I had screwed up.  I called and explained to them what had happened, and I remember the tech support guy saying, “Yup, you should of not of done that.  Why would you…”  I interrupted his next sentence and said to him, “Yup, I know, but we can’t change that now.  What do we do to fix it?”  Lucky for me, about an hour later, we had rebuilt the array and no data was lost.  But, if I would of spent time trying to hide, or deflect what had really happened, then there would of been no way to restore the data.  The issue we were working on was only fixable because we were able to concentrate on fixing it before a time threshold was reached.

I learned the philosophy to Own it, Fix it, and Move on fairly early in my IT career.  But I have found it harder to apply to other aspects of my life.  It is an essential lesson and I think that society needs to learn and apply.  You can just ask Aimee, and she will tell you that this is something that I have not perfected, and still need to work on.  I have also found that by writing about something I need to work on, it helps solidify that concept in my mind.  That is the main purpose of this post, this  is to help solidify the Own it, Fix it, and Move on mentality in other areas other than in just my IT career.

First, I am sorry.  But life is not fair, and it was never intended to be fair.  Everyone has their problems that are unique to them.  That is one of the things that makes life so interesting.  Imagine a world where things really were equal and fair.  It will never happen, and why?  Because of human nature and our ability to choose. But the other side is also true.  Because life is not fair, there are people who can excel in areas, by their example and experiences, they can make society a better place.

I know at least two people that because of medical issues could throw up their hands and scream at life.  Life has given them some trials that would seem unfair.  They have had to fight some very significant health battles.  But they both have been an inspiration to me.  They both have their hard days, but instead of complaining about how hard life is for them, they have used their struggles to help pull people along, and to share their light.  I am not going to mention them by name, because I know that they would feel uncomfortable if I did.  But they are a perfect example of how life can be unfair, but you can take that, and turn it into a positive and make society better.

Second, people make mistakes, and do things they know they should not do.  You can be the best parent in the world, and your child will still push boundaries and do things that they know you have taught them not to do. Most of the inventions that have brought society forward, have been because someone has made a mistake.  They have learned from that mistake, and have tried to fix it.  And in the process of fixing it, they have help to make society a better place.

Third, taking responsibility is hard.  And a lot of times taking that responsibility or having others take responsibility for their actions does make you look the fool.  But you know what?  Everyone at some time looks the fool.  It is part of life not being fair, and people messing up.  The lesson to learn is how to shake it off when you do look the fool, because everyone at some point will, and then move on and make society better by the lesson you just learned.

I am a father of nine children.  And being such I have a unique prospective.  I can tell you that all nine of my children are completely different.  Sure, they have the same parents, but each of them have their own struggles (yes, they are not equal), they have made mistakes in different ways (yes, even after we have taught them not to do it.), and they have all tired to avoid responsibility.  And they have all done it at different times, about different things.

But one thing I have tried to teach them all, is that no one is responsible for your actions.  You are responsible for your actions.  Yes, life is not fair, get over it.  Yes, you will screw up, own it and take responsibility for your actions.

The news lately has made me so mad.  I am so tired of society always trying to assign blame to something besides the person who has done the wrong deed.  In my opinion, not taking responsibility for your actions,  is one of the worst things that we are teaching the future generation.  We are teaching them, that it is okay for them to identify as they wish, act as they want, and to blame it on something else.  Society is teaching them to avoid responsibility and to blame something else for the way they behaved.

Sorry, your actions are your actions.  They are not caused by your Race, Sex, Genetics, Childhood, etc.  Those things may influence who you are, but the should NEVER be the reason for bad behavior.  And yes, society is telling you that you are not responsible for your actions, it is because of how unfair the system is, etc.  Ultimately, you are the one that murdered, raped, bullied, or destroyed property breaking laws in the process.  No matter how much society will try to give you a way out, it was your actions that caused it.

I think that taking responsibility is a sign of maturity.  Anyone who has kids sees this evolution over time.  At first the child will try to avoid responsibility, lie and all costs to avoid responsibility and the negative impact that action may cause.  But over time, they see that responsibility is a powerful tool.  Responsibility has the ability to make one better, give confidence, and build up that person in the eyes of others.  I think our society has taken a step back in regards to maturity.  The previous generations knew what responsibility meant, and worked to gain it.  Society now, is like a two year old, that has not yet learned that responsibility is power, and they are still trying to not look the fool, or to get in trouble for their mistakes.  Society needs to mature, and put the blame where it should be placed.  It should be placed on the individual, and that individual needs to take responsibility for their actions, and stop allowing society to give them a scape goat.  I say it does take a village to raise a child, and that village is currently raising a bunch of narcissistic brats.  But it takes the individual to transform from child to adult.  It takes the individual to mature and own it, fix it, and move on.  And in the process learn the true value and power of responsibility.

People need to Own it, Fix it, and Move on.  My question to you is this.  When you live in a society that suggests that you take no responsibility, rely on others to fix the problems, and encourages you to play the victim and to not move on, how do you teach your children those values?  Instead of society maturing, and growing, it plays the part of the two year old and tries to avoid responsibility in all forms.  How do you think we can turn things around, and have people mature, so that people own their mistakes, find ways to fix those mistakes, and then move on with the maturity the experience has given them?

What is all the buzz? – Cicada

IMG_6669Cicada are an interesting insect.  And they are not something you see or hear very often in the high desert.  We have a couple of willow trees in our front yard, and they have been buzzing with the sounds of cicada.

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I guess the cicada like the sap of the willow trees.  You can hear them coming from other parts of the yard, but the number in the willow trees overshadows the other locations.  The cicada feed off the sap of trees and other plants.  They don’t usually don’t cause harm to the trees.  They don’t bite, or sting, so they are harmless to people as well.  I think the birds on the farm are going to find them very tasty.  I am tempted to capture one and see how well the chickens like them.

Here are a couple of interesting facts that I found out about cicada that I did not know until I started to research them.

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1- There are several different types.  There are the type that you only see every 16-17 years (periodic cicadas), and then there are a type that make their appearance every year or annually.   I believe that is the type we see here in Utah, because we hear them every year, but not in as great a number as this year.

2- They don’t rub their wings or legs together to make their buzzing noise, but they have special chambers that they have in their body that they then vibrate to create the buzzing noise.  The expand and contract these chambers which make a special adaptation of their exoskeleton vibrate.  The males are the ones that are making the noise. You can listen to their buzz or song here.

3- They regulate their temperature using a form of evaporation.  They will excrete the sap, in the form of water, that they feed on.  This makes them pretty unique because they are doing the same thing that mammals do, they are in essence sweating.

4- They also have a rich history in old texts, and lore. “Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer’s Iliad, and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They have been used in myths and folklore to represent carefree living and immortality. Cicadas are eaten in various countries, including China, where the nymphs are served deep-fried in Shandong cuisine.” [Source]

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Adult cicada emerging from exuvia

[amazonjs asin=”1590786734″ locale=”US” title=”Cicadas!: Strange and Wonderful”]

[amazonjs asin=”1433970406″ locale=”US” title=”The Bizarre Life Cycle of a Cicada (Strange Life Cycles (Gareth Stevens))”]

Plantain, Nature’s Band-aid

Plantain is another favorite medicinal weed of mine. This plant can easily be found in lawns, cracks of sidewalks, along roadways and in abandoned fields. Plantain is native to Europe and Asia, and now can be found throughout North America.There are two main varieties of plantain: broad leaf and narrow leaf, both can be used medicinally and have the same action as each other.

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Broad leaf plantain

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Narrow leaf plantain

Here at Quail Run Farm we cultivate the narrow leaf plantain in our orchard meadow.  It is one of the plantings I use around the base of our fruit trees. Plantain is a “pioneer plant” when the soil is harsh or has been disturbed plantain likes to come in and clean things up, making the environment more suitable for other plants. That is why you will find plantain along sidewalks and roads, and one of the reasons I have chosen it for planting in the Orchard Meadow.  The land here is very abused, very infertile, lacking organic matter and vitality.  Plantain has a deep tap root, it will going down into the soil, nice and deep breaking up hard dirt and adding organic materials.  At the surface it is great for “chop and drop”, several times a year I can just cop the leaves and leave them right on the ground, thus adding organic matter and mulch, helping retain moisture and add fertility. However my favorite thing about plantain is its medicinal properties!
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One of plantain’s most common uses is as a poultice for stings, bites, scrapes and rashes. The simplest way to harness plantain’s healing powers is to crush a few fresh leaves, and apply to the affected area. Replace fresh leaves as necessary. The fresh plantain “juice” takes the pain away and seems to work wonders at staunching blood flow and closing wound edges. It’s also wonderfully refreshing and soothing to sunburn.

Plantain infusion (tea) can also be used as a soothing wash for sunburn, windburn, rashes, or wounds. To make a plantain infusion, simply add a small handful of fresh plantain leaves to a cup or two of water, and bring to a gentle boil. Turn off heat, and let steep, then strain out the leaves. The infusion is best when fresh, although it can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

http://www.prairielandherbs.com/plantain.htm

Whenever my children have a cut or insect sting, I walk out to the meadow, pick a leaf and chew it up (my kids think that is so gross) and apply a bit of the macerated leaf to the wound and cover with a band-aid.  The pain and irritation go away quickly and in the case of a open sore, heals very fast.

Plantain leaf ointment can stop itching faster than anything I’ve ever used, and it eases even the most intense itches. From diaper rash to flea bites, eczema to dry skin, plantain turns tears of pain to smiles of relief. New mothers swear by plantain ointment as a diaper cream, both to prevent and to treat diaper rash. It relieves the itch of heat rash and poison ivy/oak rash, too.

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In the winter time, however, there is not fresh plantain available, it is sleeping deeply under the snow and frozen ground. My favorite way to preserve plantain for medical use is to make an infused oil.  It’s a very simple process that I will walk you through.

After picking the plantain leaves I do a quick shake to get dust off, but I do not wash the leaves.  Any water left on those leaves may promote spoiling while it is infusing, and because my orchard is not sprayed I don’t need to wash off any herbicide, and any other things that may be clinging to the leaves are good for our immune system and microbiology. I chop the leaves roughly and then pack them as tightly as I can in a quart canning jar, over that I pour olive oil, using a chop stick or butter knife to get out as many bubbles as I can.  The jar is then labeled with a date and stored in my pantry for six weeks.  When the six weeks are up the leaves are strained out and the oil is stored in a cool dark place.  This oil will be good for about a year.  The oil can also be used to make an ointment by adding bees wax, something I will be experimenting with this summer.

Plantain, another glorious weed, a treasure chest of healing right at our feet.
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Spring Greens

One of the first vegetables on the farm is lettuce, pretty little leaf lettuce.  It has a rather short growing season, when the fiery heat of the summer rolls in the lettuce likes to grow bitter and make seeds.  We are experimenting with methods to keep the lettuces cool and hopefully prolong the harvest.  But for now we will enjoy the pretty little fresh greens on our table and hope our customers do the same.
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Comfrey Harvest

When the comfrey starts blooming it’s time to harvest! I so love the pretty purple flowers of the comfrey plant. When the comfrey produces a long stalk and flashes her blossoms its time to start cutting.  Through out the season I do pick the big, broad leaves for infused oils, but it is that long stalk that I look for to dry.  The stalk has a concentration of the healing compounds that comfrey is so well known for.
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Comfrey-the-comforting, also known as knit-bone, strengthens and heals the bones, the skin, the ligaments, the tendons, and the mucus surfaces of the intestines, the lungs, the sinuses, the throat, the vagina, and the anus. It contains two alkaloid groups: alantoin and PAs. Alantoin is responsible for comfrey’s ability to heal any injury – from bedsores to vaginal tears, from lacerations to piercings, from abrasions to severe burns – quickly and thoroughly. Comfrey leaf infusion (not tea, not tincture, not capsules) is very high in protein, macro- and trace-minerals, and every vitamin needed for good health – with the exception of vitamin B12.
Drinking comfrey infusion has benefitted me in many ways: It keeps my bones strong and flexible. It strengthens my digestion and elimination. It keeps my lungs and respiratory tract healthy. It keeps my face wrinkle-free and my skin and scalp supple. And, please don’t forget, comfrey contains special proteins needed for the formation of short-term memory cells. Comfrey (Symphytum) leaf is free of the compounds (PAs) found in the root that can damage the liver. I have used comfrey leaf infusion regularly for decades with no liver problems, ditto for the group of people at the Henry Doubleday Research Foundation who have eaten cooked comfrey leaves as a vegetable for four generations. Comfrey is also known as “knitbone,” and no better ally for the woman with thin bones can be found.. Its soothing mucilage adds flexibility to joints, eyes, vagina, and lungs. Comfrey leaf infusion used internally and as a sitz bath is excellent at easing hemorrhoids .
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IMG_6417Comfrey is quite easy to dry, but there are some considerations.  The leaves are quite big and hold a lot of moisture, therefore they need to be dried loosely.  Typically a person will gather a large bunch of plant materials, tie it in a bundle and dry.  This won’t work with comfrey, I have ruined many batches by doing it this way, the comfrey will mold, and we don’t want that.  Instead I have found that it is just as easy to hang each stalk on a nail and it drys very quickly this way, with out the mold.

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My herb drying racks, I love it when it is nice and full.

IMG_6419IMG_6420After a couple weeks the comfrey will be nice and dry.  At this point I will chop it up and store it in brown bags in a dark dry place.  The reason I use brown bags is so any moisture that is left can be wicked out, instead of growing mold. I will use this through out the year in herbal infusions and poultices.  Comfrey is one of my favorites for the garden, and for the body.

You can read more on Comfrey here: Comfrey