Summer at Better Farm: a Storify

By Mike Brown

Here's a short tour of what's going on around the property at Better Farm

Part of what we do here is repurpose old stuff. That toilet had gone to s**t, so to speak, and so we put it out to pasture:

1. New sink and toilet planters at the greenhouse: dig it

   
   
2. I love the design on this.  It isn't done yet—I think Nicole wants to paint some Rosie the Riveter features on the old woman in the middle:

3. Cooperatively created by @betterfarmers american gothic with chicken sunflower deer w/heads cut out for peoples faces

   

   
   

4. Second snakeskin I've seen today. Pretty big pic.twitter.com/8MRMiRS3

   

   
   

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5. 

   @mikedelic maybe you should be wearing shoes #SnakeBites

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   @Chewstroke lol no way im a medicine man and the snakes are my allies

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7. every year i try again with this piano, repainting and replanting

8. Cherry tomatoes planted in painted piano grow slowly #drought pic.twitter.com/wzsg8Rtz

   

   
   

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9. Wildflowers pic.twitter.com/Pllk7B9D

   

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10. We have bands play off the back porch of the art barn to this natural amphitheater area pic.twitter.com/eJoogzBa

    

    
    

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11. i like snakeskins and snakes and also like that other people fear them

12. Nother snakeskin up in the barn pic.twitter.com/hJCq6RJy

    

    
    

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13. Wildflower of paint peels back from broken glass #art pic.twitter.com/0rec6s9n

    

    
    

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14. very hippie here

15. Hood ornament on the spacebus dig it pic.twitter.com/X9rZit2c

    

    
    

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16. i pulled that farmstand down off a flatbed truck with some other idiots and we all almost died lol

17. Another roadside attraction pic.twitter.com/NBoEodkd

    

    
    

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18. love this turkey

19. The freaky turkey guards the garden gate pic.twitter.com/j5HTDKHf

    

    
    

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20. 
    

Tomorrow: Ag Tour Open House!

Tomorrow is Day 1 of the Farm & Food Family Open-Door Weekend in the North Country, highlighting the goings-on at farms all over the Thousand Islands Region. The fun is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. tomorrow, and 12-4 p.m. Sunday.

At the Better Farm stop tomorrow, we'll have several live musical acts, arts and crafts for kids, some roadside attractions, tours every 30 minutes, refreshments, and a 2 p.m. barbecue. Be sure to come by at that time to also check out the Aristocrats, a great New Jersey-based band visiting us for the festivities.

Click here for more information.

Our Babies Grow Up

Remember these guys?

Well, with some TLC, a heat lamp, and many times their body weights in starter feed, our roost of baby bard rock chicks have grown their adult feathers and been introduced to grassy fields. Check out these lookers:

Even our handicapped, lovable runt Scooter (who has turned out to be a rooster!) has made the transition. Here he is last month:

And here's our injured chicken, Destiny's Child, hanging out last month:

 Here they are acclimating to their new living situation (Scooter in foreground):

The chickens' new home was made back in May, and perfected in the last few weeks with a sealant paint job, French-style doors, and an aluminum can roof. The coop is mobile, and the enclosure we have them in functions as a movable paddock to ensure 365 days of fresh foraging potential (and the chickens helping us to keep the tall grass at bay):

Many thanks to all our volunteers and interns for doing so much work for these birds, and to Penny and Steve for entrusting the babies to our care!

Edible Wild Plants: Mullein

Photo by Kathrine Birch

Mullein is an easy-to-grow herb, often seen in disturbed areas such as fields and ditches. A multi-purpose herb, mullein offers many healing abilities from its flowers, leaves and root. Mullein is also a lovely addition to landscaping. The stalk can grow 6 feet high, and the leaves can grow up to 2 feet across. Try growing a beautiful specimen in an area that bees can enjoy the blossoms, and birds can eat the seeds. You can also find it growing will all over the North Country!

Mullein has a myriad of uses. Every part of the plant is used at different times in its life cycle. The thick, soft leaves are used to treat respiratory illness. They have been shown to loosen congestion and help clear the lungs. The tiny hairs on the leaves can be irritating, and any teas should be filtered very carefully to avoid this problem. A tincture would alleviate this issue, although it is extremely bitter. 

Mullein flowers also provide a soothing and cleansing effect to the skin. As a wash, they are an easy treatment for minor wounds and scrapes. These same flowers can be picked throughout the growing season, placed in olive oil and left to infuse. The resulting infusion is wonderful for earaches that do NOT involve a ruptured eardrum. Add beeswax to the infused oil, and you will have a balm that makes a great addition to any baby's changing table. The delicate skin of a baby's diaper area can benefit from a light layer of this mullein balm.

Mullein root is used in urinary tract issues. The plant has a long taproot, making it difficult to harvest, and nearly impossible to transplant. When harvesting, be sure to use a spade and dig when the soil contains some moisture.

Finally, mullein is a wonderful indicator of a soil's contamination level. When looking for wild mullein, only harvest from straight, vigorous stalks. The crooked stalks indicate a high level of chemical contamination in the soil.

Here's how to prepare mullin for its healing qualities:

Things You'll Need

• 1/2-gallon glass canning jar with lid

• 1 quart 100-proof alcohol

• 2 tbsp. honey

Preparing the Herbs

• Harvest two quarts of mullein stems and flowers by making an angled cut near the base of hte plant. Don't take more than 50 percent of the total plant so as to leave plenty behind for future use. Shake the leaves free of any dust or insects. You can give the stems a rinse, but this isn't necessary unless the plant was covered in dirt.

• Break the stems into pieces and place them into the canning jar. If using purchased dried herbs, the herbs will already be processed. Fill the jar halfway with herbs but don't stuff them in. They will need to have room to fully absorb the tincture solution.

• Pour one quart of 100-proof alcohol into the jar. Vodka or brandy is commonly used for making tinctures and is easily purchased in liquor stores. If alcohol is not desired, use a quart of plain white vinegar instead.Add two tablespoons of honey to a quart of water and mix this in with the alcohol. Mullein is a mucilaginous plant, which makes it so valuable as an expectorant. The honey will pull out the mucilage compounds to give you a more effective tincturePut the cap on the jar and shake it a little to allow the herbs to settle into the liquid. It is important that the solution--called the menstruum--completely covers the herbs. Any herbs that are exposed to air during the tincturing process will eventually spoil and destroy the tincture. Add more menstruum if necessarTightly cap the jar and label with the date. Place the jar in a cool, dry location for at least three weeks. The tincture will strengthen the longer it sits. Check on the herbs every couple of days and give the jar a turn to prevent settling. Check to see if menstruum needs to be added to the jar.

Making the Tincture

• Place a colander over a pot and line with cheesecloth. You will be wringing the liquid out of the herbs, so use a piece that is big enough to make a small bundle.

• Gather the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze the liquid from the herbs, wrenching as much liquid out as you can.

• Discard the mullein to the compost pile and pour the new tincture into a clean glass jar for future use.

Garlic Harvest

Our 2012 garlic harvest.

Organic garlic can run you up to $2.49/head in the grocery store—or you can grow your own, and get up to 10 heads for $2.49. And then, when your garlic is ready to pick, you can save the hardiest heads and replant those in the fall... meaning that for less than $3, you can supply your family with garlic for years. For a larger, Better Farm-size family, it will take more than that. But we're still saving hundreds of dollars over the course of the next several years by planting and growing our own.

Here's everything you need to know for harvesting your own garlic (click here to learn about planting).


When to Harvest

•  Dig up the garlic bulbs once the leaves begin to dry and fall over, usually in late July or early August. 
• Dig carefully around each bulb to loosen the soil, then pull up the bulb by the leaves.
• Inspect the flower stems for bulbil formation on hardneck garlic once they form in summer. Bulbils resemble small bulbs packed tightly together at the top of the stalk. They are covered in a papery fiber. Cut off the garlic stalk with a sharp knife once it falls over. Remove the entire stalk, cutting it off at the soil level.
• Separate out the largest, healthiest-looking cloves for use as seed stock. Larger cloves generally produce larger garlic bulbs when planted.
• Hang the heads by their leaves in a warm, dry place for two weeks. Brush or shake off any remaining soil once the bulbs are dried.

How to Store

• Brush off any soil clinging to the bulbs. Leave the stalks and roots on the bulbs, while they dry.
• Allow the bulbs to cure, or dry, for three to four weeks in either a well-ventilated room or a dry, shady spot outside. Sunlight can change the flavor of fresh garlic.
• Once the tops and roots have dried they can be cut off.
• You can also further clean the bulbs by removing the outer skins. Just be careful not to expose any of the cloves.

How to Plant
Separate the cloves and plant each one individually. Use the larger outer cloves for planting and use the smaller inner cloves for cooking.

Pan-Fried Squash Blossoms

Yes, those lovely flowers on your zucchini plants are edible! Here's a simple recipe that adds a great side to any dish.

Fried Squash Blossoms
3/4 cup cornstarch (and/or breadcrumbs, garbanzo bean flour, etc.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 egg, slightly beaten (or you can simply use soy or almond milk)
10 to 15 squash blossoms

Stuffing (optional!):
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta (or equivalent extra-firm tofu, crumbled)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (or equivalent vegan version)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp bread crumbs
Vegetable oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

First, make the batter. Combine the first 5 ingredients, and then stir in the egg (or vegan equivalent) and water until smooth. Store in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. While the batter is chilling, prepare the squash blossoms.  Carefully separate the flower petals without breaking them and remove the pistil in the center. Combine the cheese, mayonnaise, oregano, and breadcrumbs until smooth. Carefully add about a tablespoon of this mixture to each blossom and twist the top of the flower tight.
Heat enough oil in a frying pan—about an inch deep—to accommodate the blossoms. Get the batter out of the fridge and dip each blossom in batter, coating it. Carefully place each batter-covered blossom in the hot oil and fry until golden crisp on both sides. Remove and drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Serves 3 to 4.
Recipe from Made by Michelle

Next Saturday: Ag Tour Open House!

Better Farm is participating in next weekend's Farm and Food Family Open-Door Weekend from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 21, and 12-4 p.m. Sunday, July 22, in conjunction with the 1000 Islands Ag Tour.

At our stop, visitors can enjoy tours of our organic gardens, demonstrations of sustainability initiatives, art demonstrations, arts & crafts for children, and much more.  Vegetables, art and other items will be available at our roadside stand and in our art gallery. Saturday's events will additionally feature live music and a cookout with refreshments.

Other  Jefferson County agribusinesses on the tour will include dairy, livestock, fruit and vegetable farms, wineries, butcher shops, and farm supply businesses. This is a great opportunity for agricultural businesses to show the public what their enterprises are all about. Some special programming has been scheduled to include facility tours, product tastings, equipment demonstrations, games or activities for families and children, product sales, and more.

For those of you who haven't stopped by Better Farm yet, that will be a perfect weekend to see what our synthesis of sustainability and creative expression looks like. The open house is supported by Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corporation, the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, and the Jefferson County Chapter of Adirondack Harvest. Be sure to check out the event's Facebook page! 

The 1000 Islands Agricultural Tour is a project undertaken by the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council that maps and compiles information about local farms in a free brochure. Visitors can follow the map, listen on cell phones to an audio tour, and stop in at the local operations. Similar to historic buildings tours or wine trails, the 1000 Islands Agricultural Tour allows you to sample local wines, veggies, fruits, honey, cheeses, ciders, and more—and visit with unbelievably adorable barnyard animals, alpacas, horses—and now, all the diverse, creative creatures calling Better Farm home.

Easy Organic Pesticide Recipes

By Jaci Collins

Pest control in an organic garden always requires ingenuity and experimentation. The past few weeks, we’ve been testing out a few natural pesticide recipes as an attempt to keep down on insect populations that are invading our plants. A simple recipe (which requires reapplication after rain) is 2 tablespoons of soap (a non-toxic/biodegradable brand is best) per 32 oz of water. Spray this mixture all over the plant and under the leaves. If you are having issues with insects chewing up your plants foliage, simply add 1 tablespoon of hot sauce or cayenne pepper to the above recipe. For more information,

click here

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betterArts Teams up with Antique Boat Museum; Welcomes Nautical NYC Artists

The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton is for two weeks hosting a group of visiting artists out of New York City who are spending their days building two boats inspired by the museum's art exhibit, Floating Through: Boats and Boating in Contemporary Art. Part of the artists' visit will include time spent at Better Farm through a sponsored artists residency hosted by betterArts.

For the exhibit, the Antique Boat Museum is showcasing recent work from some of the most influential artists working with boats as a subject or medium. The boats employed are traditional, historic, or salvaged, similar to the boats in the museum's own collection. Though the genesis and content of these works can be quite different from one-another, with this common thread they comprise a unique message; a new way of appreciating the continuing activity of boating. In turn, these stories of old boats and unique excursions add unexpected context to traditional narratives of boats and boaters past.


A collective of artists-in-residence will be working in tandem with that exhibit by constructing two boats in the museum's studio space. Of that group, Mare Liberum is a free-form boat-building and waterfront art collective, based in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn, New York. Finding its roots in centuries-old stories of urban water squatters and haphazard watercraft builders, Mare Liberum is a collaborative exploration of what it takes to make viable aquatic craft as an alternative to life on land. The full roster of visiting NYC artists includes: 

• Jean Barberis, Artistic Director of Flux Factory  
• Ben Cohen, Director of the Gowanus Studio Space 
• Dylan Gaulthier and Stephan von Muehlen of Mare Liberum

betterArts has teamed up with the museum to help sponsor the artists, and will be hosting the group at Better Farm for part of the visit as part of the betterArts residency program.

Here are two shots of the studio space in Clayton:

For their first project the artists are crafting a boat out of paper mache and testing its seaworthiness in the St. Lawrence River. For that project, the artists first took a discarded boat from the museum's collection and covered it with plastic. Then, to adhere craft-grade construction paper to it with a glue (similar to Mod Podge) and clamp it:

Once the cast has been made, the interior boat will be removed and the artists will see if the paper boat floats.

Stay tuned for coverage of the artists' stay at Better Farm! In the meantime, here are some more shots of that lovely studio space in Clayton:

The Antique Boat Museum is located at 7 Mary St., Clayton, N.Y. For more information about betterArts residencies, click here.

Turnips!

Noah Bogdonoff and Amanda Treco tackle our turnip crop.

By Amanda Treco
With turnip harvesting season upon us, we found ourselves with a wheelbarrow full of turnips and no idea what to do with them. We decided to freeze most of the turnip yield for later use because turnips tend not to last well after harvesting. Here's how we did it:


The first step in preparing the turnips is to cut off the turnip greens. These can be used in cooking and are similarly flavored to mustard greens. Smaller leaves are preferable for eating since the larger leaves have a bitter taste. This taste can be lessened by pouring off the water from initial boiling and replacing it with fresh, cold water. The turnip roots themselves are tasty raw and can also be cooked in a wide variety of recipes ranging from sweet to savory. After peeling and cutting the turnips into cubes, we prepared the turnips for freezing by blanching them in hot water for two minutes, and then transferring them into ice cold water in order to stop the cooking process. This step is crucial because it helps the turnips retain their nutrients.

We ended up with six airtight containers to be frozen. After doing some research, root vegetables seem to best for up to a year after freezing. Hopefully this plentiful bounty of turnips will be put to use in tasty and nutritious recipes this coming winter.

Aquaponic Setup Complete!

Aquaponics in action!

Our aquaponic growing experiment is complete! The seeds are planted, the light is on, the water is circulating, and the fish are doing what they do best—swimming around in the water, eating, hanging out, and fertilizing the tank system.

Here's a quick synopsis of how we got to where we are:

First, we consulted with a dear friend who works for Brooklyn Farms about how to set up our tank, what supplies we needed, and how the whole thing works. He started us out with these marching orders:

• Purchase at least a 40-gallon fish tank, with two corner filters and gravel for the bottom
• Fill the tank with water
• Two days later, add fish. At first, only add feeder fish. Some will die—and when they do, leave them floating in the water. As the feeder fish break down, they'll be ammonia-based waste. Bacteria will slowly colonize and turn ammonia into nitrite (ammonia and nitrite are both toxic to plants). After that, more bacteria will colonize and change nitrite into nitrate, which is usable fertilizer.

Next up was letting the whole system grow into itself, so to speak. The water underwent weekly nitrogen and pH tests until everything was just right. Then it was time to pick up our grow bed, water pump, tubing, light and grow bed medium. The last two on that list came from the newly opened North Country Hydroponics in Watertown. With all the supplies at the ready, it was time to build the stand for our grow bed, borrowing from a design that utilized PVC tubing. We instead used wood scraps we had on the property:

Intern Director Jaci Collins, left, with Carl Frizzell and Noah Bogdonoff

Then we hooked up the pump and tubes so the water came up out of the tank and over the pea gravel in the grow bed (we also poked holes at one end of the grow bed so the water could drain back out into the tank):

Finally, it was time to plant the seeds. But how do you plant seeds directly into gravel? Here are some tips we gleaned online:

1. Select your seeds. To grow directly from seed rather than seedling, use small seeds such as carrots, herbs, radishes, lettuce or other salad greens.
2. “Broadcast” the seeds over your aquaponic system by gently tossing them on the growing surface -- in this case, the water of the growing beds. Allow the seeds to settle into the gravel at the bottom of the bed. Distribute the seeds as evenly as possible.
4. Insert seeds into seed-starting media if you're attempting to grow larger plants such as beans, cucumbers, melons or peas. With your index finger, push seeds into the center of starting media such as rockwool or peat sponges. Distribute the media evenly throughout the growing beds.
5. Clean young seedlings thoroughly under a water faucet, removing all dirt before attempting to plant them in your aquaponic system. Arrange seedlings evenly, gently securing their roots with the gravel of the growing beds.
6. Keep the fish-to-tank volume ratio at about 2:1 as you grow your seeds. Feed the fish daily -- fish consume about 1.5 percent of their body weight each day. Maintain consistent water quality and pH levels, and clean your filtration system and tubing once a month. When plants appear, trim or harvest them as needed for each individual plant type.

(Tip: Seeds that require lots of acid, such as blueberries, generally don't perform well in aquaponic systems.)

Now we wait for the seedlings to appear. Stay tuned!

For more information on this process, click here.

Free Photography Workshop Set July 12

A free photography workshop, "The Art of Portrait Photography", is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at

Better Farm in Redwood, N.Y. Sponsored by area non-profit betterArts, the course will explore different facets of portrait photography, including lighting, posing, and manual camera settings. Those attending mus have their own cameras with manual settings. The instructor for this course is Erin Fulton, a professional photographer working out of Redwood. Pre-registration is required—interested parties may RSVP to info@betterarts.org or (315) 482-2536. Better Farm is located at 31060 Cottage Hill Road in Redwood.

betterArts is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the arts throughout Redwood, N.Y. and surrounding areas through the provision of free and low-cost workshops, residencies, private instruction, studio and gallery space, performances, and events. Learn more at

www.betterarts.org

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Skeeter War

Summer's here, which means you've probably tried everything from sprays to citronellas to ward off mosquitoes. But if you're finding your B-12 supplements and dryer sheets aren't cutting it, you may want to try the following method, gleaned from Coolest Gadgets:



You've likely heard of a million gizmos that claim to repel mosquitoes with chemicals, ultrasound, or plain ol' scents. Here we’ve found a couple of contrasting approaches to mosquito control, depending on your budget!

The hi-tech solution (shown at top left) is the Mosquito Mega-Catch from Hammacher that uses flashing LEDs, pheromones, and ultra violet light to lure the blood-sucking insects towards the machine. As they get close, they’re sucked inside by a negative airflow. It’s been claimed that one of these machines devoured 1200 mosquitoes in a single night, and at $200 dollars this gadget’s not overly expensive.

Of course there are people for whom $200 is unthinkable, and these are most likely to be the people whose lives are threatened by the malaria parasite. The low-tech solution, developed and perfected by schoolchildren from Taiwan, uses a 2-liter soft drink bottle, filled with a sugar solution, to which yeast is added. The yeast ferments the sugar producing CO₂ gas that acts as a magnet for the mosquitoes. If the top of the bottle is cut off and replaced in an inverted position, the insects are trapped. The yeast will continue to produce CO₂ for two weeks.

Here are the DIY directions:

1. Cut the top of the bottle as shown in photo at top right.
2. Put 200ml hot water in the bottle, stir with 50gram brown sugar. Put the sugar water in cold water to cool it down til 40C (temperature)….
3. After cooling down, put the sugar water in the bottle then add the yeast. No need to mix the yeast with the sugar water. When yeast ferments, it creates carbon dioxide.
4. When you cut the bottle, dont throw the top part away because that’d be needed for step 4 – you see they put the top upside down to fit into the bottle….
5. Put black paper around the bottle since mosquitos like dark places and carbon dioxide. This mosquito trap will then start working. Mosquitos fly around the corner, so the best place to place the trap is at some dark corner.

DIY mosquito trap found via Neatorama. 
Mosquito Mega-Catch found via Ohgizmo and Uncrate.