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Thank you to anyone who has left a comment.  We learned recently that our comments section wasn't working, so I apologize if you never got a response.  Unfortunately early comments disappeared somewhere into the internetesphere.  The problem should now be fixed and we look forward to any future comments!

Choosing Seeds

Ches and I have chosen most of our seeds from the lovely Seed Savers Exchange.  It was hard to narrow down our choices, and with Seed Savers there are always the neat, unusual items that can be hard to resist.  We have a selection of heirloom seed tomatoes  summer and fall squashes, lettuces, radishes, okra (yum!), peppers and more.  February is the month I find myself most missing fresh-from-the-garden produce.  I keep switching which seed I am most excited about, but I think for today it is Ground Cherries.  They are actually a type of tomato that grows in a husk and has a sweet flavor.  I have never grown them myself but always buy them at the Farmer's Market and I am told they are prolific plants that will thrive and takeover wherever you put them!

We knew we wanted to buy most of our seeds from Seed Savers because they already had most of what we wanted, but shortly after placing the order I was extra glad went with them after reading the article "The Four Steps Required to Keep Monsanto OUT of Your Garden".  I had not realized some of the names Monsanto seed was being sold under, or that they were buying up heirloom seed names!  Highly recommended reading for those who swap spring fashion magazines for spring seed catalogs!

The Seed Assortment!  

What's the matter...chicken?

Okay, first let me get it out of my system and tell a couple of chicken jokes:

Why did the chicken cross the road, roll in the dirt, and cross the road again?
 Because he was a dirty double-crosser.

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
To prove to the armadillo that it could be done.

I'm sure there are much better one's out there.  If you have a good chicken joke please share it in the comments!

This is a cool mobile chicken coop from Rooster Hen Farms

One of the first purchases Iron Fish Farms will be making this spring is our first set of laying hens.  We want to keep them in mobile coops (probably starting out with triangular coops that can be pulled forward to fresh grass each day).  We'll be building our coop, so aesthetically it will likely be function over form.  I want them to have access to fresh grass each day, for it to be light enough for me to move it myself, and for the coop to provide good protection at night.

Down the road I could see graduating to a mobile chicken tractor like they use at Polyface Farms.  They run the chickens 3 days behind their cattle rotation, just as fly larva are hatching from the cow patties.  It keeps the chickens happy, the flies down, and helps continually build soil.

The big question now is what kind of chicken to get?  I have heard good things about Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, and Barred Rocks.  I think all three are pretty birds, and I've read that they have calm natures.

Column 1:  Silkie, Buff Orpington, and Barred Rock 
Column 2: Frizzle Bantam
Column 3: Golden Polish and Rhode Island Reds*

*Chicken photos from: thefeaturedcreature.com, fowlvisions.com, & wikimedia.org


I'm excited!  Your chicken-related jokes, comments, breed info, and haiku's are all welcome in the comments section!

Where have All the Farmers Gone?

I will wash the dishes while you go have a beer 
Where is my Marlboro man 
Where is his shiny gun 
Where is my lonely ranger 
Where have all the cowboys gone 
Yippee yo, yippee yeah

The Paula Cole song, Where have all the Cowboys Gone? has been inextricably lodged in my mind as I've thought about this post.  I have to admit I didn't know much more of the song than its eponymous chorus.  When I took a deeper look at the lyrics, I had to laugh that the archaic cowboy isn't so much gone as he has set down his beer to help with the dishes and accepted that smoking causes cancer.  He has evolved.

I hope we will someday be able to say the say when we ask ourselves, "Where have all the farmers gone?"  that they have similarly evolved --not necessarily still looking like the farmers of children's books yet all the better adapted to meet the modern needs of their environment.

According to a 2011 NPR interview with the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture the average age of the American farmer is now 57 and the US "had a 30 percent increase in the number of farmers over the age of 75 and a 20 percent decrease in the number of farmers under the age of 25".  Documentaries like Food, Inc.  have powerfully documented some of the cultural shifts that underpin this declining demographic.  Many family farms have transitioned from being small, independent businesses where a farmer was free to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit to mono-crop operations that are often in debt to mega-food manufacturers.  

However, amidst these grim numbers are more hopeful stats on the diversifying nature of farmers.  According to Farm Aid, the number of  farms managed by women rose 13% between 1997 and 2002, and roughly 1 in 10 farms is run by a woman.  Also, the average age of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm is 43 --indicating that younger farmers are taking on innovative, sustainable farming methods.

At Iron Fish Farms, we look forward to joining the leagues of other farmers who are helping the modern cowboy to re-emerge...  Yippee yo, yippee yeah!