We don’t take the time to pay much attention to hay storage, but it’s an important topic to visit. Without proper storage techniques, quality loss becomes a big problem. Also, the risk of accidents involving fire increases dramatically. So, we’re going to take a brief look at some of the basic tips you need to know about hay storage. Let’s get started.
Read MoreIs running a farm that has a high eco-efficiency level a massive challenge? You might not think so, but many farmers would disagree. They are under the impression that keeping their farm green and making it efficient is a steep slope to climb. Is it really, though? Of course not. In fact, we would argue that as long as you know the right steps to take, going green is easy. We are living in an age where farms are more intensive than ever. A lot of the processes are not completed by machines. But even with that machinery, it’s possible to keep your farm eco friendly.
Read MoreToday, we’re going to talk about farms and the environment. More to the point, what can be done to ensure your farm is environmentally friendly? Have a read of the three tips below:
Read MoreAs the world progresses into technology, building, creating revolutionising, so does the risk of damage to our ecosystem. We can see it as each year passes. Hotter summers, colder winters. Global warming is taking hold. While some people aren’t taking much attention to what is going on around them, there is action that everyone could take. Sometimes focusing on your own ecosystem can have a bigger impact in years to come. This is taking into consider the likes of soil, water and air in your surrounding area. With that in mind, here are some tips on how you can preserve your ecosystem and encourage people to do the same. The more people who get involve in small changes, the bigger impact it can make.
Rain is a fundamental part of everyday weather. Some people get more of it that others. But what we can all do is save that rainwater. Installing a rainwater tank in your water to collect rain from the roof, gutters and what falls into can be a great water saver in the future. Rain water can then be used up for things like watering your garden on the hotter days. Therefore underground water reserves in the ground.
We can all recycle a plastic bottle and tin can. We should hopefully have different bins that aid us to be more thoughtful about our environment and recycling. But there is still a problem with waste. This is why it’s worth trying to make more of your recycling habits. Perhaps reusing things or recycling things further. Our ecosystem can be affected by waste. The chemicals it can give off but also the damage it can cause to the land.
While you can’t exactly plant hundreds of trees to replace the ones that are being demolished each day, you can make more use of your outside space. Plant trees. But also think about your local community. Perhaps there are green areas that could be used better.
Buying products in the home that can be recycled is a great way to protect your ecosystem. But also buying products that have been created with recycled goods is just as effective. You are making a point of using alternative products and actually seeing that they are just as good. This may encourage other people to do the same. If people were more responsible with the choices they make they could be helping preserve the ecosystem more than they realise.
Finally, making changes to your general habits can be a great way to preserve your ecosystem this summer. Especially as the weather is so good. You could consider leaving the car at home and walking to your destinations. Not only are you saving on the carbon footprint you make, but you are also getting regular exercise.
I hope this has enlightened you in a few different areas where you could make a real change.
There are many people out there who believe that agriculture now makes up only a minute fraction of the world’s labor. That farms across the world are disappearing by the second. Replaced by food-creating machines that spew artificial food products into the world by the truckload. It’s true that the agricultural life has been largely eclipsed by post-industrial, city-centred businesses. But an eclipse doesn’t mean that the eclipsed object has ceased to exist. It merely means that it’s not so easy to get a look at.
Read MoreWhen it comes time to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you probably turn to your fridge or pantry for supplies. But there's a really cool new source that you might want to investigate to add necessary produce to your daily diet: your backyard.
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Celebrate the upcoming Bill Johnston's Pirate Days with a nautically themed Vino & Van Gogh event from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11! Presented by betterArts and held at Better Farm in Redwood, this event will be held OUTSIDE and offers an extension option for any artists who would like to bring their child or children along!
Instructor Angela Silva, a teacher at Alexandria Bay Central School, will lead the guided, outdoor paint class. Adults will create a large anchor painting -- and for those who bring their children along, the kids will create a smaller painting that can be attached to the anchor painting (see image above!).
As always, materials will be provided; as will bottomless beverages (wine for adults, iced tea for the children!) and endless finger foods to delight parents and children alike.
Bill Johnston was a renegade after the Patriots War who blew up the British steamer, Sir Robert Peel, hid among the 1000 Islands, and was hunted by US and Canadian authorities. The annual Bill Johnston’s Pirates Days is a 10-day celebration commemorating some of his exploits; featuring family fun and special events ranging from an authentic pirate invasion and sword-fighting to live music and arts installments. Channel your inner pirate and kick off Pirates Days at Better Farm!
Cost is $30 adults, $15 children under 16. Register here.
Shay (left) and Rachel show off their scones and elderberry jam.
It was domestic bliss at Better Farm yesterday as sustainability students Shayna Jennings and Rachel Magathan did some preserving and baking to host a small tea time with Better Farm residents.
Utilizing elderberries picked locally last season (and kept frozen in a standing basement freezer), Rachel set about making the jam while Shay took charge on the scones. Within the hour, several people from the farm were enjoying a proper high tea outside. Here's how the ladies pulled it off.
Ingredients
Directions
Ingredients
Instructions
Two things to note here: the jam will bubble up so you do need to use a big pan (a preserving pan, if you have one). To know when the jam has set, put a saucer into the freezer and after 10 minutes, spoon a blob onto a cold saucer. Leave it for 10–15 seconds, then push with your finger. If it has formed a skin and wrinkles when you push, it has reached setting point.
Elderberry jam recipe from Gin and Crumpets.
Better Farm's sustainability students last week foraged wild edible plants on the property for a farm-to-table meal.
Nina, Steph and Levi headed out into the woods, fields, and pond to find cattail, nettles, burdock and thistle for inclusion in Vietnamese pho, a traditional noodle soup.
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Continuing with the success of betterArts' winter and spring installments of guided Vino & Van Gogh paint 'n' sip series, the organization is offering two very special summer classes that will be held outside at Better Farm.
Bring a picnic blanket or towel to our first-ever OUTDOORS paint 'n' sip event, held outside in paddocks where horses and alpacas roam! Enjoy a guided painting workshop from beginning to end, bottomless wine and finger foods. All materials provided! Cost: $30. Register here.
This event is open to parents as well as their children! As always, we will be offering bottomless beverages and endless finger foods to delight parents and children alike! This event will also be held outdoors at Better Farm. All supplies provided! Cost: $30 adults, $15 children under 16. Register here.
Better Farm welcomes Grateful 4 Grace from June 27-July 3 for a week of green-building projects, team-building and workshops.
Grateful 4 Grace is a non-profit group traveling all over the country to offer helping hands on projects that further a sustainable mission. From their website:
Combining our love for humanity and the love we have for our planet, we have set out to help others help others become more consciously sustainable. With the universe as our guide we plan to gather in effort to grow our sustainable-minded collective consciousness that will produce what we consider to be a balanced environment that all species can live harmoniously with. To accomplish this we are traveling across the world helping intentional communities and organizations that are currently helping with similar causes become self-sustainable.
Twenty people from Grateful 4 Grace will be staying at Better Farm to help us construct an amenities station next to the Art Barn with compost toilets and solar showers fed by rainwater. We will additionally be constructing a smaller version of the amenities station next to our new solar-powered tiny home, greywater filtration units, and working on other farm-related projects throughout the week.
The public is invited to help us on this project and gain valuable hands-on experience in construction, green building, sustainability, and alt-energy concepts. To sign up, just email info@betterfarm.org. Lunch and refreshments will be provided!
Volunteers are welcome to join us from Tuesday, June 28, through Saturday, July 2, at Better Farm between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Fifty hens were rescued today and brought to Better Farm to be rehabilitated, rehomed, and given the cushiest of retirements after a lifetime of tough luck and discomfort.
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Better Farm hosted its first-ever solar workshop on Sunday, covering the basics of how solar energy works, introducing basic hardware for setting up your own solar kit (including information on inverters, wires, panels, and more), hands-on experience actually installing a kit on Better Farm's Tiny Home, and take-home packets so students could have reference for DIY'ing their own solar setup on any small cabin, shed, work room, studio, apartment or barn.
The workshop was taught by Allen Briggs, who has lived off-grid for years and has extensive experience wiring and installing solar and other off-grid systems.
The first commercial use and development of a solar panel was by Bell Telephone in 1954. However, DC systems have been used since the mid-1920s in rural areas of the US. Most were powered by wind generators.
In short, a solar panel is a silicon and wire lattice encased in glass that allows photons from the sun to react with electrons in the silicon. Silicon is made up of positive and negative electrons that move freely throughout the migration hole the wire lattice provides. When the photons react with the silicon, the electrons become excited and start moving repeatedly in the panel. At the same time, the positive and negative repel away from each other. This process creates electricity, which is funneled out through wires at the bottom of the solar panel and lead to a storage battery.
First, we start with the solar panel, the wires from the panel connected to a charge controller. From there, we connect to the battery. Wires also branch off from teh battery and connect to an inverter and system monitor.
Solar panels should be set up facing south, so the panels get sun the whole day. Most solar panels are angled from 32 to 52 degrees in order to collect the maximum amount of sunlight.
For full instructions, click here.
