Thread Creek Farm

Today Ginny, Emma and the kids drove over to Scotts Michigan to visit Tillers International, an organization that shares sustainable heritage agricultural particles with the world. They specialize in teaching farmers in the developing world sustainably grow their farms and feed their families using the power of oxen.

We were there to look at their herd of Milking Shorthorn cattle. The Milking Shorthorn is a triple purpose breed; it provides ample milk for a small scale dairy, they are good beef animals and the steers make good oxen. We are interested in getting a few heifer calves (a heifer is a female cow that has never been bred) to breed to a beef type of bull to produce a beef cow that has an ample milk supply and a “beefy” body type. The Milking Shorthorn herd at Tillers is exclusively grass fed and they never use hormones or prophylactic antibiotics on their animals. We were very impressed with how docile the cattle were and how well they were gaining on grass. We were less sure about those horns! We are not used to cows with horns!

While we were there we were also able to see their flock of pasture raised chickens. We’re getting ready to order our first batch of chicks to raise as pastured broilers and we were very pleased to see the birds in the flesh looking so great. A very small girl got a chance to see a VERY large horse up close and personal (look close, there is a fence between them!) and she also spent some time loving up the Alpine milk goats. The staff and volunteers at Tillers international were so welcoming and helpful, we had a great and very informative time.

Today was such a busy day here at the farm. The morning started with a visit from our friendly UPS man who brought our seed potatoes and the new movable electric mesh fence for the chickens. It was still a bit to wet to plant the potatoes, so we got the chicken fence up and going. Rusty the rooster and his hens (the Gloria’s, named by our preschooler) are really enjoying their nice fresh pasture. Then we had a visit from the Grand Blanc Fire Department. They came out to practice their prescribed burning skills. Unfortunately it was too wet for any of the vegetation to catch fire. This is probably our last window of opportunity this season for a burn, but maybe we’ll get lucky. Looking forward to being able to get out into the fields again soon, hopefully tomorrow.

We have enrolled our market garden and sweet corn field in the Certified Naturally Grown Program. To be accepted you must use no synthetic chemicals on your fields, conserve water and soil, and use organically grown seeds for your crops. CNG is a grassroots alternative to USDA Certified organic. The USDA program charges between $500 and $2000 dollar to have a third party auditor certify a farm. These costs put USDA certification out of the reach of many small organic farmers. CNG charges about a hundred dollars for membership and the audits are done by fellow CNG farmers. Each farmer must be inspected and also inspect another farmer each year. Farmers aren’t allowed to trade inspections. Because the farmers doing the inspections are neighbors, they know what is going on in the area better then an inspector who just comes in for a day and leaves. Certified Naturally Grown is working hard to help small organic farmers get the recognition they deserve and unite local consumers to their farmers. Thread Creek Farm is proud to be part of the effort. You can read more about Certified Naturally grown at: www.naturallygrown.org

At the far north east corner of our farm is seven acres of old growth sugar maple – beech forest. It was judged to be to wet for farming, so our ancestors left it as a sugar bush to make maple syrup instead of clearing it. We get to enjoy all the native ephemeral spring flowers that go thru their whole life cycle in just a few weeks between when the ground begins to warm and when the forest canopy leafs out and closes up. Pictured are white trillium.

We have four Kiko does that are helping us clean up our pastures. Goats, unlike cattle, prefer to eat broad leaf plants, especially trees and shrubs. Given a choice, cattle prefer grasses. Since we’ve had so few cattle for so long, the trees, shrubs and forbs have really gotten out of control and are taking over our pastures. Instead of digging them up or spraying them with herbicide, we are feeding these unwanted plants to our goats. We keep them in a portable electric mesh fence. We leave them in a pasture until they have eaten all the trees and shrubs bare and grazed down the grass. Then we move them on to a fresh pasture. Over time repeated defoliation will kill or at least severely set back the unwanted plants. We think this is a great option, and the goats are really fun to watch. Click the bold title to see a video of the first minutes of the goats in their current pasture. GOATS GONE WILD

The unseasonably warm temperatures this spring have meant that we’ve been able to get a head start on our outdoor projects. Ginny and Emma worked picking jimsonweed seedpods in last years corn field so they don’t become this year’s jimsonweed plants. On an organic farm this is one of the main ways we control weeds – by hand. Our Walker family from Owosso came over and the ladies spent the day clearing last year’s market garden off. Mike worked on cutting up deceased farm implements to take to the scrap yard. Meanwhile Bran was busy welding up a new and improved stand for the new diesel barrel we ordered. Even our younger family members have work to do. Bran and Emma’s daughter takes care of the chickens, and the baby keeps us company from his play pen. We move it out to the fields while we work when the weather is nice – nothing out here but good clean dirt

This is the time of year we plant oats as a cover crop. A crop cover crop goes into a field before the main crop to improve soil health and fertility and to help prevent weed growth. Oats are a good early season cover crop because they will germinate in cool soil. In this picture Ginny is using the grain drill to plant oats in the field that will be our sweet corn patch this year. We can hardly wait till August to sample it.

As we were gearing up for spring this week we made an awful discovery, our big John Deere tractor – the workhorse of our farm – was dead in the tool shed. So we made some calls and hired a wrecker and had it taken into the shop to be worked on. We’ve got our fingers crossed and are hoping for the best. In the meantime if the worst happens a great friend has offered to loan us a tractor if ours isn’t ready in time to pull the corn planter.

We’ve been seeing signs of spring every where lately, the pussy willows are out, the spring peepers are peeping and the bees are foraging on the spring flowers. Today we had a visit from Don Schram, owner of Huron City Bee Company, Michigan’s only Certified Naturally Grown apiary. Thread Creek Farm is hoping to be the second!

The Certified Naturally Grown

philosophy is that by allowing natural selection in honey bees we will produce a stronger more resilient bee that can take cold temperatures and fight off pests and diseases without any chemicals or medications. Our hives have been untouched for three years now, and we were happy to discover today that they are thriving and healthy. We’re planning to split them up to make more hives once we’re sure spring is here to stay.

A huge thank you is in order for Don, we really appreciate his guidance in the bee keeping area. John Evatt was the bee keeper in our family until his passing in 2008. This was our first time opening the hives without his expert guidance. It is a testament to his skill that the two hives we have here at the farm are not only alive, but thriving after so many years without intervention.

The 2012 seed catalogs started trickling in before Christmas, now the deluge has arrived and it’s time to order. There are so many tantalizing options, new and old, it always takes us a long time to decide what we should order. This year we have a brand new helper on the farm too. Last year we tried a new variety of Italian broccoli, Romanesco, that was a big hit. We’re excited to pick out some new and interesting veggies this year!