Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2018 i Farm and Ranch Living

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE, you’ll meet Andrew Barsness, the young farmer on our cover who didn’t grow up on a farm but is making a go of it in Minnesota. Like any grain farmer, he battles broken equipment, mishaps (combine fires!) and ever-changing crop prices. And last year he battled the weather: A hard frost damaged two-thirds of his soybeans before he could get them harvested. Who but a farmer could take a hit like that, chalk it up to bad luck and keep going? Not many, I’d guess. For all who care about farming’s future, the statistics on young farmers are cause for concern. According to the USDA Census of Agriculture, the number of farmers under the age of 45 dropped 26 percent between 2002 and 2012. Data from…

SHOWING THE ROPES This is a photo of our friends’ daughter Faith showing her pig in the Larimer County Fair 4-H show ring. She is in our 4-H club and is an awesome example of what 4-H does for kids. She’s a hard worker and a great role model for her peers. Although Faith is competitive, she is the definition of good sportsmanship, always lending a hand to those who need help—even if that means cleaning a pen or washing a hog for someone else. AMBER HERSH CARR, COLORADO 1 BREAKFAST BUDDIES My 20-month-old daughter, Lexie, loves her calves so much! Here she is watching them eat. They are her best friends. KARI PIERCE AVA, MISSOURI 2 CAUGHT RED-HANDED McCoy loves to help himself to his aunt’s fresh garden tomatoes.…

Nobody loves her kids more than Tammy Dunakin. But she doesn’t have any qualms about making them earn their keep. “Goats are about the most eco-friendly way to rid property of unwanted vegetation,” says the founder, CEO and head goat wrangler of Rent-A-Ruminant (rentaruminant.com). Tammy, who spent most of her life on farms, runs a new breed of landscaping business from her land on Vashon Island, Washington. She quit a high-stress job in a trauma center to focus on her goats. “One day, while gazing at my goat pen, I thought, You guys look bored,” she says. “I decided they really needed a job to make use of their talents.” With four-chambered stomachs and a propensity to chew their cud, Tammy’s ruminants are eating up this unique job opportunity. “Goats…

PAVING THE WAY My son Beecher, now 5, is the fifth generation on our family cattle farm. I took this photo when my husband and I were expecting our second child. Beecher loves tractors, so we decided to share our news with a pregnancy announcement featuring the big-brother-to-be on his favorite tractor. He was very excited about becoming a brother—or maybe just excited about another chance to pretend he’s driving a “tacter.”…

Q: How do you advertise your farm’s meats and eggs directly to customers? BRITTANY JONES TAYLOR, TEXAS A: Ten years ago, we were doing four farmers markets each week, but we were struggling because we had no steady income off-season. Around the same time, we began raising turkeys and needed a method of distribution for the Thanksgiving birds after farmers market season had ended. And so we developed an email list, gathering names and email addresses at farmers markets and festivals (this was before we had a website). We developed multiple Farm Drop locations throughout the area and began advertising our off-season products through the email list. Using this method, we can serve customers in a large geographical area (including two states and the District of Columbia) over a single…

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LUNCH IN THE FIELD My nephew, Matthew Bearrows Jr., is ready to head out to the field with his dad. He just had to have his lunchbox! STEVE BEARROWS ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS MYSTERY TOOL We add a Mystery Tool Monday post to our Facebook page every week. This photo, submitted April 9 by reader Jeff Tucker, received several guesses online. Do you think it’s a gate hook, scale or part of a square baler? An Armadillo Surprise It’s normal for some critters to make a home under the slab of our shop/storage building, but we rarely see them. It was quite a surprise to see these young armadillos out grazing in broad daylight. Living in the country is great. JOSEPH AND DIANA MELE QUITMAN, TEXAS Tractor Paint Q&A Question: The John…

I’m Andrew Barsness, an organic grain farmer in Minnesota. My grandparents were farmers; I was a college freshman when they died in 2010. With the future of the family farm in question, I decided to try my hand at farming. Lacking an ag background, I learned how to farm through a mishmash of resources: online farm forums, equipment manuals, my grandfather’s notes, YouTube, neighborly advice, my mom, lots of trial and error—and, eventually, a degree in agricultural systems management with a focus in farm and ranch management from the University of Minnesota. I farm 156 of the farm’s 270 tillable acres, renting the land from my mom and aunt. I started transitioning this part of the farm to organic in 2016; it will be officially certified this year. As I…

POPCORN... is planted in late April or early May and is harvested in late September or early October—which happens to be National Popcorn Poppin’ Month. goes through a natural drying process on the stalk so it will pop. yields are measured in pounds, not bushels, because popcorn is sold by the pound. It’s also heavy: one bushel of popcorn ears weighs 70 pounds. fields look about the same as other types of cornfields, but popcorn ears are about half the width of an ear of field or sweet corn.…

It started 40 years ago, when two brothers, Dennis and Doug Seyb, invited a few friends over to their 1,000-acre farm in southeastern Iowa for a Labor Day weekend fish fry. Dennis loved to fish and was looking for a way to share his catch of bluegill from the farm’s ponds. The brothers bought a few cases of beer, set up some lawn chairs, and a tradition was born. The following year they invited a few more friends, who brought friends themselves, and the Seyb brothers started thinking: With this growing crowd, why not roast a pig? After all, they had hogs on their farm. From that point on, the Seyb Family Annual Pig Party became official. They even have T-shirts made, and each year they feature a new pig-themed…

We hid a drawing of a horseshoe like the one above on page 40 of the June/July issue. Then we drew names at random from all the readers who found it. Each winner received a year’s subscription to Farm & Ranch Living. We hid another one in this issue. It could be hidden anywhere, so keep a sharp eye out. Enter the contest on our website at farmandranchliving.com if you find it. From those submissions, we’ll draw additional names and send those readers a year’s subscription or subscription extension to Farm & Ranch Living. No purchase necessary to enter to win. Purchase will not improve your chances of winning. The sweepstakes is open to legal residents age 18 years or older of the U.S., its territories and possessions, or of…

FIRST ASSEMBLED IN BUCKS COUNTY, Pennsylvania, in the early 1800s, this bank barn has been in the Leatherman family for 10 generations. Over time, the family used the farm less frequently as more factories sprang up around the farmstead. Howard Leatherman offered the barn to his son Dean and his wife, Sondra, for use on their developing tree farm in Hesston, Kansas. Dean tabled the idea, but after Howard’s death in 1996, he approached the family about relocating the barn to their Sha-Na-Kee Farms. Family and friends assisted with the careful deconstruction of the barn, labeling the pieces and stacking them on semitrailers for transport to the Kansas plains. The frame, the original fieldstone foundation and a small cast-iron toy horse embedded in a piece of the original concrete floor…

Favorite Bread & Butter Pickles I made these pickles while growing up, and I love them because you can eat them with just about anything. The tradition continues: Both of my children love them, too. PREP: 45 min. + standing PROCESS: 10 min./batch MAKES: 11 pints 20 cups sliced cucumbers (about 12 medium) 3 cups sliced onions (about 4 medium) 1 medium sweet red pepper, sliced 1 medium green pepper, sliced 3 qt. ice water 1/2 cup canning salt 6 cups sugar 6 cups white vinegar 3 Tbsp. mustard seed 3 tsp. celery seed 11/2 tsp. ground turmeric 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. ground cloves 1. Place cucumbers, onions and peppers in a large bowl. In another large bowl, mix ice water and salt; pour over vegetables. Let stand 3…

1 Friends carve up the roasted pig while a hungry pooch waits for scraps. 2 Liza Alton and her sister Amy Alton-Stonebrook strike a pose during the annual Des Moines River float trip. 3 Signs are prepared for the buffet. 4 The pie section is always a popular stop on the buffet line. 5 Dennis Seyb’s and Liza’s great-nephews, Sam and George, momentarily pause from eating. 6 Doug Seyb heads to the buffet line with friend Steve Jones. 7 Guests line up outside the granary to serve themselves dinner. 8 Just like an annual race or concert tour, new T-shirt designs are created every year for the Labor Day weekend party.…