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Chickens have been domesticated for thousands of years, are kept on almost every continent around the world, and are a commodity and a mainstay of human civilization. Ducks are in a way as well, especially in certain areas- but their popularity is small in comparison. Why is that? Why do people seem to prefer chickens over ducks? Why do chickens get so much attention and ducks happen to be sort of a sideline? As a keeper of both, I ask myself this a lot- and for good reason. Here’s why.

Ducks are Healthy

Given basic good care, ducks are healthy animals. They have excellent immune systems, and are hardier in cold and even hot weather than chickens. There are some breed specific exceptions to this rule but overall, a duck will give you a lot less to worry about in terms of sickness than a chicken will over its lifetime. There are so many terrible diseases that befall chickens compared to ducks- even some diseases that have vaccinations ready and waiting should you think you need them. There are no vaccinations for ducks, as they don’t need them.

Ducks are Hardy

Ducks take cold, wet, and snow in stride. They wait out hot weather without much fuss. They seem to ENJOY those cloudy, cold, wet, windy miserable days that make chickens (and humans!) sick with annoying upper respiratory infections and other such nonsense. They will play in the snow in temperatures well below zero. When chickens are hunkering against the house with the cold north winds tossing up their light and fluffy feathers each way, ducks are out in the thick of it rooting for worms and bugs in the middle of the field. When it’s hot, a small kiddy pool of hose water keeps them happy, and if you have a pond, even better. You won’t see a pant or a complaint from a duck.

Ducks Provide Really Well

Despite what many people think, there are breeds of duck that lay better than the best laying breeds of chicken, even in the cold and snow, such as the Khaki Campbell. A duck will also lay better and longer than a chicken will. Expect an egg a day with a well laying duck for 5 years or so. Chickens typically top out at a year, and then production suffers. Duck eggs are delicious, more nutritious, and more “gourmet” than chicken eggs. Duck eggs are excellent in cooking and baking, and they’re rich and beautiful eaten fried or scrambled. Square eggs are a great novelty for kids. Ducks also taste heavenly- their flesh is all dark meat and delicious, and easy to prepare. Processing duck is a lot like chicken, and with the right equipment is also just as easy.

Ducks Live Happily with People

Domestic breeds of duck are very friendly animals and often make loving, long lived pets. With a light in a coop, ducks reliably coop up at night in a secure space and enjoy nesting in clean straw and bedding. They make excellent and gentle garden pest eradicators- as they don’t scratch or eat new plant seedlings and destroy garden beds like chickens do. They’ll leave your tomatoes alone, eating the grubs and bugs that want to eat your tomatoes. They are quiet animals and don’t crow loudly, making them good choices for inner-city birds.

Ducks are wonderful birds to have on the homestead for food, and wonderful, healthy pets. They have many advantages over chickens. Consider adding some ducks to your flock!

I don’t know how many of these bubbles I have been through but greed is always at the heart. It doesn’t seem to matter if is make millions growing organic certified food or plant lemon myrtle plantations people get sucked into the greed and easy lifestyles touted as saviors. A honest business grows or declines with the market based on supply and demand. Simple economics 101 is if supply is high and demand in low the price will be low. Most of these niche systems do initially have low supply have high demand so prices are extremely high but the markets are so small that even modest increases in supply means the price drops considerable.

To give you a idea currently alpacas are currently selling at 70-90% reduction of there asking price a few years ago.

The best way to avoid these mistakes is completing a business plan. In there should be realistic expectations of market expansion and what competitors can enter the market. Building a brand will also help weather some of the downside.

Phrases to look out for:

– solid investments

– a perfect “phased retirement opportunity”

– retirement opportunity for empty nesters, especially those seeking an escape from the corporate rat race.

– minimal or no farming experience

– free 300 page guide

– turn $35,000 to $1,000,000 in ten years

– peace of mind

– tax advantages

Perennial herbs are wonderful additions to the garden. They’re easy to grow and cultivate, beautiful, and offer many uses- uses such as flavoring food, for making teas, making natural medicines, for cleaning and freshening, and even decorating. Perennial herbs offer beauty and function. Here are our 5 easiest perennial herbs to grow that deserve a spot in your garden or landscape.

• Thyme: Thyme comes in two forms- growing upright, or spreading. Both versions are wonderful plants to have in the garden. Creeping thyme specifically makes a beautiful dried or fresh herb for cooking, but it also makes a wonderful air freshener. In the garden, it grows very well in hot, dry places along paths, or can even take some treading on in between stepping stones. The purple or white flowers are long blooming and are a favorite of many pollinators, specifically for wonderfully helpful honey and native bees.

 

• Mint: Mint can be a bully, but in the right places it can spread happily and fill an area with useful, aromatic goodness. Use mint to take over a spot where other stuff won’t really grow well, and keep it contained by a deep, root-busting yearly trench around the perimeter you have your mint growing to keep it from spreading. Mint can be used in savory foods and sauces, in sweet foods and sauces, in drinks both cold (think about a refreshing mint julep in the middle of the summer!) or hot (a tea that soothes a sore throat in winter). Use mint to freshen air. You can mix it into natural cleaning products to add a wonderfully clean smell to your surface cleaners. Use it in homemade soap and shampoo recipes, as well as a breath freshener or in homemade toothpaste. Like thyme, the flowers are numerous, long blooming, and valued by pollinators.

 

• Lavender is an old herb that has as many uses as mint, and makes a stately and beautiful statement in the garden. Beautiful greyish blue foliage mounds and purple spikes of beautiful flowers are very welcome to pollinators. Long-lived, it also grows well in dry conditions in the hot sun. Lavender is a calming, restorative herb and can be used in household product accordingly. Satchels, cleaning products for the home and body, in medicinal tonics, and cooking are all basic uses of lavender. Wonderful fresh, it also dries very well and is an essential in the best potpourri recipes.

 

• Echinacea is a US native plant that has also been domesticated and changed for the garden, with big purple or white flowers, and now even additions of red and orange blooming Echinacea’s are easily found. Very hardy, long lived, tough, and an essential plant for wildlife (pollinators and birds alike!) cone flower is a standard perennial for every garden. As an herb, it’s incredibly healing. Usually made into teas or added into soaps, it possesses very powerful restorative qualities and also makes a great preventative herb.

 

• Sage is a standard herb in most red meat dishes, but is also an incredibly strong healing herb. Made into a tea, it works wonderfully for cold and flu symptoms in the face and throat, and has been shown to help ease menopausal symptoms. In the garden, many types of sage are available and all are very beautiful. Another long-lived plant, its toughness will astound you. The flowers are loved by butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as bees and other pollinators.

We hope you enjoy our 5 favorite easy perennial garden herbs!

Having a beautiful garden can seem complicated and expensive but if you follow these steps, you will see that is something you can do with little money. Make the project design and creation of your garden. Divide the project into phases of your garden for you to go by gradually creating the garden of your dreams. Consider consulting a landscaper and get their opinion, although we can give you some tips on how to make a garden with little money.

 

To make beautiful and economic gateways for your garden, you can use cobbles, gravel, stone or concrete. If you use pieces of gravel, it is recommended to select small-less angular gravel 1/4 centimeter- and avoid rounded gravel or other stones.

 

To furnish decks and patios we suggest you choose chairs and economic tables as you can find in DIY centers or even thrift stores. The best prices for garden furniture are usually found in late summer. In another article, you will find tips on how to decorate a space.

 

To make a garden, if you have enough space you can also place a water closed loop, so you will not waste water and be more economical. In stores home improvements are available pumps and fountains that can be installed in the garden, terrace or patio.

 

Before planting grass, make sure this is appropriate to the climate of the area where you live, as it does not support well the hot, dry climates. If you live in a region with high temperatures and / or slightly moist, it will be convenient to opt for an alternative to grass. Thus, you can be useful our articles on how to choose or how to put artificial turf artificial turf.

 

You can create flowerbeds with a garden hose to achieve curved, and then install edges to define them better. You also interested to know how to care for plants in a grow bed.

 

Be advisable to enrich the soil with compost and other accessories in accordance with the advice of qualified personnel. To make it even cheaper, you can see in this article how to compost at home.

 

It is convenient to plant trees, shrubs and native or indigenous flowers in your area, as these are more likely to thrive and do not need a major commitment and investment to keep them in top condition. It is also recommended to plant evergreen trees

 

You can add torches, outdoor lamps, lights on poles or candles to create a cozy atmosphere at night. You will find here some more tips on how to illuminate terraces and gardens.

There is risk in just about everything. As adults we should be free to evaluate these risks verses the benefits. Many of the left of politics love to use government to ban things that could cause harm. It is ironic that the same system they advocate turns against them and bans freedoms they enjoy eg. raw milk.

If you want to ban knives, guns, fast food, GMOs, vaccines, fireworks, sweeteners, Monsanto and you advocate giving power to the government, don’t be surprised when they ban raw milk, unvaccinated children, medical cannabis and others.

Stop supporting the coercion of others by advocating banning. Using political power to get things you want banned does backfire. Punish those who do wrong not everyone and use persuasion instead of coercion. Is it really that hard to understand?

 

Global population is anticipated to grow to reach over 9 billion by 2050. This means the agricultural production needs to increase by 70% at least to meets its growing food demands to feed the entire population. There is a limit to agricultural land and de-forestation is no more a viable option while excess use of fertilisers and pesticides have heavily polluted the land and gave rise to serious sociological and ecological problems. It is imperative that farmers now harness the power of sustainable agriculture for the sake of ecology, instead of only focusing on economic viability of the crop.

 

Sustainable agriculture is the way forward and offers farmers the way to transform their farms into giant recycling centres. It enables farmers to turn crop waste and animal manure into fertilisers. It not only does save them money but it also helps them conserve natural resources. Sustainable production also reduces the requirement for chemical and pesticides use, making the transition to organic and clean farming process much smoother and feasible.  We list down few things that you can easily do on your farm to turn your farming into sustainable one.

 

Crop Rotation

It is one of the oldest and the simplest of all the methods to maintain the health of the soil. Crop rotation has a logical order and if followed properly, crop grown today will help replenish the nutrients that got depleted from the soil by previous crops. For example like planting grains after legumes or row crops after grains or planting barley after wheat to maintain the soil fertility while reducing soil erosion and weather damage. Besides maintaining soil fertility, crop rotation prevents transmission of disease and pest.

 

Crop Diversity

Crop diversity helps farmer protect their crop against pest and disease. Crop diversity can also be done by planting crop variation of the same species. Variations are good to ensure genetic diversity making crops stronger in return. Unfortunately crop diversity is on decline for past few decades.

 

Cover Crop

This is another natural way to fight insect while at the same time enhancing soil quality, fertility and water conservation. Many cover crops have no direct economic value. They are planted around edible crops. Clover is one such example of cover crop which protects soils during winter, filters water and suppresses weeds. Cover crops are also good way to replenish organic matter and promote good soil microorganisms.

 

Integrated Pest Management

This implies the use of various techniques to create an effective pest control system. The first step in the process involves identification of pest, since not pest all needs to be eliminated. Many pest don’t cause major damage and so it’s not a very clever idea to start a full fledge war against them. Leaving them would make better financial sense. Pests can also be prevented using pest resistant crops, crop rotation and using beneficial insects. IPM also makes use of specialised chemicals to fight insects and pests that targeted towards specific pests and not the beneficial insects or wildlife.

 

Soil Fertility

Some of the techniques farmers can employ to improve soil health includes soil tillage. In this practice farmers plough their fields and turn them to aid airing of the soil. Farmers can also leave some crop residue on the ground before they till to enhance the richness of the soil. One of the natural ways in which many farmers around the world are increasing their soil fertility is by adding organic matter such as manure or cover crops.

 

If you want to learn more about sustainable agriculture why not take our world renowned Certificate in Sustaianble Agriculture Course. Once completeing the course you get a certificate to place on your wall.

1/ Growers Receive a Higher Percentage from Non-Fair Trade Coffee Sales
2/ Fair Trade Is Essentially a Marketing Organization
3/ Consumers Are Charged Much More for Fair Trade Coffee
4/ Growers Are Paid Very Little for Fair Trade Coffee

Solution: Buy direct traded coffee as the grower gets more profit instead of it going to these marketing organisations. http://ministrygrounds.com.au/ is a great place to buy ethical coffee especially the single origins.

Read more at

Have you ever come across a situation where you have provided proper nutrition and sufficient irrigation to your crop, yet the yields still don’t meet expectation? Well, it’s time to reconsider all the factors that are important for healthy crop yield. Most of the farmers assume they have taken care of all the factors required for good production by taking care of plant nutritional needs such as application of high yielding seeds, proper irrigation and plant protection needs such as pesticides. You might have provided all the nutrition, but is the plant getting this nutrition? If you are feeling confused, this article is just for you.

If the soil is too compact, chances are your crop might not receive nutrition or irrigation you are supplying them. Soil with high bulk density also means low soil porosity. This is referred as density and reflects the soil’s ability to provide functional support such as movement of water and solute and soil aeration. Bulk density beyond certain threshold limit indicates impaired function. High bulk density soil can restrict root growth and movement of air and water through the soil. This will result in shallow plant rooting and poor plant growth leading to poor crop yield and reduction in available vegetative cover that protects soil from erosion.

If the water is not able to infiltrate into the soil, the soil compaction can accelerate the rate of runoff and erosion from sloping land or water logged soils in flatter areas. Under certain circumstances soil compaction is beneficial such as arid condition where soil compaction restricts movement through soil profile. However under humid conditions compaction decreases yield.

There are two main types of soil compaction namely surface and sub-surface. Surface compaction can be elevated using normal tillage operation. Subsurface compaction below the normal tillage depth remains. Breaking subsurface compact soils has resulted in remarkable yield increase in several cases. In many of the cases farmers suspect of ‘subsurface compaction’ in their field but have no idea of measuring it. A diagnostic tool that easily helps a farmer to diagnose subsurface compaction is an soil penetrometer also know a soil compaction meter.  This tool will easily help you determine if subsoiling compaction exists and at what depth. A penetrometer is a 30-degree circular stainless steel cone with a steel shaft and a pressure gauge. The gauge reads in pounds per square inch (psi). To detect soil compaction penetrometer is pushed into the soil at the rate of 2.5cm per sec. Reading between 400 to 500 psi indicates potential soil compaction. Repeat the test ensuring the areas compared have similar soil moisture content.

Deep tillage is only a temporary measure and an expensive one, besides there are plenty of adverse effects of deep tillage while combating subsurface compaction. So it is imperative to conduct a penetrometer test periodically to determine chances of possible soil compaction and take necessary preventive measure to prevent soil compaction. Any practice that naturally improves soil structure and decreases bulk density should be employed.

How hard is it to shoot a clay target in the dark? You can have a stab but the result won’t be ideal. A farm is a business and business decisions need to be based on data/logic so the best outcomes can be achieved.  The farm is a dynamic business where variables change all the time so having access to the latest data reduces this variability.

 

Soil nutrient testing eliminates the guess work and equips you with information that helps in production of healthy plants and thereby ensures maximum yield. The facility for soil nutrient testing is available fairly easily through your local cooperative extension or private laboratories. Soil nutrient testing provides comprehensive and informative test and is available at a low price if used correctly.

 

Routine soil testing is imperative to figure out nutrient deficiencies and surplus, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and soil pH. Soil testing results helps in selecting appropriate fertiliser and amendments to take corrective measure against deficiencies and other problems and thus results in optimisation of uptake of fertilizer nutrients in plants. Optimum nutrient uptake is important as fertilisers claim for sizeable portion of overall crop production expenses.

 

Soil nutrient testing is going to help you for below three reasons

• Present Status: It lets you know the status of your soil fertility and nutrient requirement.
• Corrective measures: It helps you evaluate the suitability of the current management practice over time, requirement for adjustment of existing fertilizer program and helps in ensuring optimum yield.
• Diagnostic: It helps you know the exact reason for poor yield or poor growth. The test will also show if there is an accumulation of mineral elements that are toxic to plant.

 

The best time to take soil sample

• Before you start land preparation
• After harvesting
• Whenever there is an outbreak of insects or diseases
• Whenever you have a doubt about the amount of fertilizer required
• Whenever you prepare batch of potting mixture

 

Once a farmer has a fair idea of the current nutrient status of the soil and therefore can plan more efficiently future strategies. This knowledge will also inform if any ameliorants are required to correct the soil’s physical or chemical imbalances. Not only does soil testing helps in taking corrective measures but also helps in identifying opportunities to improve farm productivity through efficient soil fertility management. A farmer can also design an appropriate nutrient plan based on certain productivity targets.  Monitoring soil nutrient status over time will help farmer identify patterns that can help build long term strategies besides helping him fine-tune inputs. The best of all, soil testing will help a farmer realise improved budgeting of farm financial resources through efficient cost effective nutrient decision.