Chicken Thistle Farm CoopCast

Latest Episodes:

035 Farm equipment finds on craigslist, fall vegetable garden succession planting, the business of farming full time Aug 26, 2012

Show notes

Updates around the farm this week: Our Daycation here in NY, A new to us hog feeder, O2 and his bum leg, Turkey ordering, prepping greenhouse for fall. In the Veggie Patch: Fall Succession planting update in the garden and in the greenhouse, CSA spotlight - Edamame. In the CoopCast Community:We get mentioned on some blogs ( and ) where they say we are a good farming podcast - COOL! And we bundle a bunch of reviews and questions together from the community to have a conversation... We ruminate about going full time as a farmer and answer the following questions (from James and "farmer on hiatus", amongst others): Is our aim to do this full time? How much land do we have? DO we want farming as primary occupation? Are we "Big enough to sustain" our farm?

034 Greenhouse gardening and soil fertility, growing livestock feed on your farm, preventing Botulism when canning vegetables Aug 20, 2012

Show notes

A update light week on the farm with: No poultry pens to move, Normal weather for a change on the farm, Turkeys and layers doing well, Pigs have their first weigh in. In the Veggie Patch we talk: Greenhouse soil fertility and design, Low tunnel greenhouses you can build, End of garden season discounts. In the Coopcast Community: On a listeners suggestion Andy is trying Oral Ivy. Sheree asked about growing grain for chickens and supplementing them with veggies/greens from the garden. Brice suggested we invest in some livestock guardian dogs. In this weeks Farm U we learn about the science behind preventing Botulism when canning vegetables.The bacteria lives in all soils and we talk about terms relating to it and defeating it when canning: Spores Anaerobe Soil Pressure and temp pH

033 A great farm animal becomes sausage, growing potatoes in the vegetable garden, getting attached to livestock when farming Aug 13, 2012

Show notes

Updates this week on the farm: We learned that Ollie is no more on the farm we took him to, Hay and livestock trailer, The seasons final chicken processing, 5 gallon bucket waterer gauge, And a question - what makes you happy when farming? In the Veggie Patch: Tomatoes and canning, Succession planting, We discuss the results of the above ground potato growing method (from coopcast 014) Questions, Conversations and Ruminations: We get asked all the time "Don't you get attached to your animals?" Can you care about the animals you eat for meat? Is it better to not like them? Is that why we've gone to a system of mistreatment?

032 Successfully moving our sow to pasture, storm damage on the farm, antibiotics in livestock and their meat Aug 05, 2012

Show notes

This weeks updates include: Hermione's move to the pasture reuniting her with her piglets, Club station cool (what is it)... a shade cloth shelter for pigs when there is no other shade around, We are sold out of pork and share some lessons on ordering / selling pork halves, Chicken processing coming up next weekend, Weather has been hot and dry and the rain has come with a price, Shattered window and shredded turkey shelter. A new segment called The Veggie Patch focuses on the vegetable gardens and gardening techniques we use (because you, the listeners asked for it!) Tomato planting, labels and harvesting, Basil planting techniques in northern climates Farm U inspired by a listener comment on the use of antibiotics on the farm. Is the meat tainted? Why don't you want antibiotics used in livestock What constitutes safe or good use of antibiotics on a farm?

031 Moving pigs to pasture, inspiring a homestead, farming choices and antibiotics Jul 31, 2012

Show notes

It finally rained some, Turkeys enjoying life on the lawn / pasture, A successful pig move Building a holding paddock / corral in pasture, using the livestock trailer correctly, ready with food to distract and lure, singing the praises of homemade sorting boards! In the CoopCast Community: Dive_wombat - emailed a very interesting article along from down under about chicken prices as a result of the US drought Email and package from Steve in VA with a nifty system to monitor water bucket levels buckets The Stewart Homestead had a bit of their homesteading inspired by our talk of Cornish X chickens and pigs. The Farmers Choice - We had a pig with a problem. What do we do? What is it the issue when a pig hold it's head to the side and shakes it and what to do and when to do it? Judging and transparency in the natural farm community leaves a lot to be desired. Hear our discussions about what our choices was and why, as well as the details about how we managed the situation and administered antibiotics orally to a pig.

030 Dual duty pastured turkeys, marketing your farm, building a root cellar Jul 24, 2012

Show notes

Fertilizing the lawn with pastured turkeys, We have the barn back and are busy drying garlic, 9 weeks and less than .25" of rain, TOTAL, Nugget, Snowflake and nameless are growing up, Hermione is in heat again and piglets are ready for a move, We eat good: Bruschetta recipe 1 loaf fresh baguette or Italian bread 2-3 different fresh picked tomatoes 2-3 T good olive oil 2-3 cloves garlic (mashed) 3-4 springs each of fresh oregano, basil and parsley all chopped fine Fresh cracked black pepper and salt to taste (optional) fresh grated hard Italian cheese (your choice) In a bowl combine all ingredients and stir together. Cut bread into slices. Spray with olive oil and place on a medium hot grill until grill marks appear. Spray exposed side of bread with more olive oil and flip. Immediately place heaping spoonfuls of tomato mixture on the bread and close the grill cover for about 2-3 minutes. Remove and consume with beer, wine or cold ice tea! In the CoopCast community: Lisa asks about managing problems with raccoons in corn, Austin is interested in our methods of marketing and growing our small farm, Melanie has a BUNCH of farm business questions which we touch on but will cover more of in the future, Another question about starting a CSA. On this episodes Farm U: Building your very own root cellar is a lot easier than you think Building Location, location, location Humidity Temperature Storage Options

029 Pastured poultry processing day and the challenges of vegetable gardening in endless heat and no rain Jul 17, 2012

Show notes

This weeks Farm Updates: Endless heat and no rain at all, What's the impact of this weather on our gardens, our animals and the nations food supply. Pigs and turkeys, Kelli loves the greenhouse (and all the garden spiders) We had one of our big chicken processing days Questions, Conversations and Ruminations Although it's one of the days of hardest work on the farm we find chicken processing days very rewarding. In this segment we share some of our thoughts as we reflect back on the first chicken processing day of 2012

028 Sow in heat, predator attack on pastured chickens, Agribon hoops / low tunnels in hot weather Jul 09, 2012

Show notes

Around the farm and gardens: Hermione's standing heat and hormones, Piglets are bigger than piglets now, Predator attack on the Cornish X birds in the pasture, Lost 3 birds and now the defense plan Preparing for 1st chicken processing event next weekend Coopcast Community / Farm U: Susan I. asked: why wean piglets and not just let mama do it? Holly wanted to know what we feed our pigs? Scout wants to know about the low tunnels we use in the garden: Which type of Agribon do you use? Are you primarily using it for pest control or do you have the type that provides frost protection as well? Do you use the manufactured hoops to support it above your plants or are you using some other method?

027 Weaning pastured pigs (mistakes and success), a dry farm is looking for rain, questions about chickens, hens and a rooster Jul 01, 2012

Show notes

A very Happy 4th of July to all our listeners (or Canada Day), folks listening in the UK... sorry :) Around the farm: Not normal weather for sure. Very hot but the gardens are surviving Rabbits under hoop the hoop Chickens on pasture get processed in 2 weeks Chicks and turkeys in the brooders are doing well Pigs - a very special weaning story What we did that was wrong in terms of setup, planning and moving large animals What we did that was right and that we would do again when weaning piglets What we did that was desperate and stupid What we would never do again because being smarter would let us avoid that CoopCast Community: An iTunes review where a listener is going to make some simple changes for healthier chicks and pigs Stewart Homestead likes Andy's humor (and thinks this should be a comedy podcast, ok, not really, Andy added that) but they ARE going to try Cornish chickens and their own pigs Plants between the rocks said this podcast is a "Skillful blending of planning implementing and evaluating", and we decided they are listening to another podcast and accidentally commented on us! MikeE on Facebook posed a question about a rooster when his neighbors are not fans. A plea to remind us of topics we said we would talk about but have forgotten about!

026 Growing cold weather crops in summer heat on the farm, predators in chicken pasture, common sense and research in farming Jun 24, 2012

Show notes

Updates around the farm and gardens: How to keep cool weather crops happy when it's always over 90F, Keeping broilers cool in the pasture with box fans, Predators and pastured poultry, Still weaning the pigs, Thinking about moving the turkeys out sooner. This weeks DOUBLE FEATURE Farmers Choice: Conventional farming isn't all bad so don't treat it that way, The difference between researching and just confirming your opinion.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Chicken Thistle Farm CoopCast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected