Old Dogs, Old Tricks
Edmund went away for a long weekend, which meant I was on livestock duty and also that the animals weren’t on their best behavior. On Friday I was drinking my...
Garth Brown |
Blog
Old Dogs, Old Tricks
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Trees of Power Book Review
I met Akiva Silver at the NOFA conference last year, where he gave a talk on the history, uses, and cultivation of hazelnuts and chestnuts. I very much enjoyed the...
Garth Brown |
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Egg-In-A-Hole, Shame of the New York Times
It’s blessedly rare, but there are moments when you see or read something that isn’t just wrong, but is wrong in a very particular way, a way that gives a...
Garth Brown |
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Invasive Sheepcies, Part III
This winter I wrote about invasive species in Part I and Part II of this series, and how I think they’re only the serious threat they’re made out to be...
Garth Brown |
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Fox Vs. Turkey
There are mornings when the cold is as brittle as a burnt match, with an acrid, dry sting when it blows across your face. These don’t just feel like nothing...
Garth Brown |
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How to be Good at Everything
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall,...
Garth Brown |
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New Roof
Last month Garth wrote about our manageable “catastrophe” when the plastic sheet over our pig hoop structure ripped during a 50 mph wind gust. I quickly ordered a heavier duty...
Garth Brown |
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What Is Clean Meat?
One of the primary concerns with industrial agriculture is that it produces unhealthy food. This can be a fear of additives or pathogenic contamination, but just as often it has...
Garth Brown |
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Pigs Are Terrible Game Theorists
At first glance feeding time for the older pigs is a classic zero sum game. There’s a limited amount of grain, and when it’s gone there won’t be any more...
Garth Brown |
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Great Eggs in January
If you look at the label on a carton of Cairncrest Farm eggs you’ll read that they are ‘truly pastured.’ It’s not my favorite phrasing, but the word ‘pastured’ alone,...
Garth Brown |
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The Storm That Wasn't & The Cold That Was
It would be an overstatement to say the storm this past weekend was a non-event, but it was certainly less of one than was forecast. Instead of 18-24 inches, closer...
Garth Brown |
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Invasive Sheepcies Part II
Long-time readers of our farm blog will remember other things I’ve written about our ongoing cow-bro science experiment grazing bamboo (#1, #2, #3, #4). When I tell people that I...
Garth Brown |
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Averting Disasters
As a new year begins I’m struck by the peculiar syncopation of seasons and daylight. Sunrise and sunset shift so predictably that it is possible to know the exact time...
Garth Brown |
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Invasive Sheepcies
A lamb invasion sounds like one of the least threatening hordes imaginable. A mass of skittish, timid animals that spook at the slightest sign of danger doesn’t strike fear in...
Garth Brown |
