BCM's moved out to the Big Coop on December 17, 2020

 The BCM's were moved out to the HHS family farm chicken coop on December 17. The chicks are growing fast!  They now occupy the old coop three's cages.

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BCM hatch on 11/14/2020

 From Friday Nov 13 through Tuesday Nov 17 a total of 20 chicks hatched.  The reason for the long delay between hatching is that HHS experienced three power outages during the first 14 days of incubation process. 

Egg Size and Weights

 Egg Size and Weights

Did you know ?

California Agriculture

What is a specialty crop and how many California specialty crops are grown at the farm?

• California Specialty crops are fruits and tree nuts, vegetables, herbs and spices, nursery, floriculture, and horticulture crops.
• California produces more than 400 different commodities, many of which are specialty crops.
• We grow an average of 130-150 specialty crops at the farm each year.

California Agriculture

• In 2014, the most recent year for which a full crop-year report is available, California’s 76,400 farms and ranches received $54 billion for their output.
• California’s agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities.
• The state produces nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
• Across the nation, US consumers regularly purchase several crops produced solely in California.
• California produces 99% or more of 14 commodities that are enjoyed throughout the United States, including artichokes, dates, kiwifruit, olives, pomegranates, and pistachios.
• Specialty crop categories:
  • Fruit and Tree Nuts (Almonds, blackberries, figs, grapes, lemons, oranges, pears, pecans, pistachios, walnuts.)
  • Vegetables (Asparagus, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, carrots, celery, eggplant, garlic, lettuce, mushrooms, squash, tomatoes.)
  • Culinary Herbs and Species (Basil, cilantro, cloves, ginger, lavender, nutmeg, oregano, sage, thyme, vanilla.)
  • Medicinal Herbs (Baldo, foxglove, marshmallow, passionflower, pennyroyal, pokeweed, senna, tansy, witch hazel, yarrow.)
  • Nursery, Floriculture, and Horticulture Crops (Christmas trees, ferns, holly, magnolia trees, marigolds, oak trees, pansies, poinsettias, roses, tulips.)

California’s top-ten valued commodities for 2014 are:

• Milk — $9.4 billion
• Almonds — $5.9 billion
• Grapes — $5.2 billion
• Cattle, Calves — $3.7 billion
• Strawberries — $2.5 billion
• Lettuce — $2 billion
• Walnuts — $1.8 billion
• Tomatoes — $1.6 billion
• Pistachios — $1.6 billion
• Hay — $1.3 billion

Irrigation at The Farm. This is what is used at the LA County Fair Farm.

• The farm uses a drip irrigation system called T-tape; t-tape is a commercial drip tape that will last approximately 5 months to 6 years depending on the type selected. Our tape is rated for 5 years.
• The brand of T-tape used is John Deer, compression fitting (no glue, snaps together) in a .67 gph size. The pressure through the irrigation tape is 20-30 psi.
• The size of tape we use at the farm provides approximately 2/3 gal per hour at each hole, each hole is spaced 8” apart.
• Our system runs off a weather-based irrigation timer that allows for four different programs. As the weather changes, it will automatically adjust accordingly.  Each program is set according to what is planted in certain areas.
• The timer is a computer-based 2 wire system.

Pesticides, Insecticides, and Herbicides

• Because the farm is organic all pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, composts and other products used at the farm are organic and must be approved by OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute).
• Pesticides are pyganic (plant-based) which are less toxic to humans.
• Spinosad fungus that acts as a natural insecticide
• Detergents like insecticidal soaps
• Bacteria compounds
• Desicants (dehydrate insect)
• Neem creates oil which insects by odor, oil clogging pores, cuts through cuticle layer, and acts as a growth regulator.
• Phosphorus based fertilizer and fungicides
• Fungal problems require a higher level of phosphoric acid.
• Herbicides used on the farm are based on citrus oils and other desiccants. 
• Traps for aphids and mice are used.

Soil

• There are 5 different soil types that gardeners and growers usually work with. All five is a combination of just three types of weathered rock particles that make up the soil: sand, silt, and clay. How these three particles are combined defines your soil’s type—how it feels to the touch, how it holds water, and how it’s managed, among other things.
• The type of soil that gardens and gardeners love is loamy soil. It contains a balance of all three soil materials—silt, sand, and clay—plus humus. It has a higher pH and calcium levels because of its previous organic matter content.
• Loam is dark in color and is mealy—soft, dry, and crumbly—in your hands. It has a tight hold on water and plant food but it drains well, and air moves freely between soil particles down to the roots.
• The feel test for loam yields a smooth, partly gritty, partly sticky ball that crumbles easy.
• Native soils are used in the planter boxes here at the farm; decomposed granite was used for walkway areas.
• Calcium is added to the soil at the farm due to a deficiency caused by the types of plants that we grow.
• The only imported soil at the farm is near where the squash is grown.

Careers in Agriculture

• The most obvious careers are directly related to the farm or ranch. Only 10% of Americans are involved in traditional farming.
• There are approximately 22 million people who work in agriculture-related fields.
• Today’s agriculture offers over 200 rewarding and challenging careers.
• Agricultural careers may be divided into various categories.
• These include:
  • Agribusiness Management
  • Agricultural and Natural Resources Communications,
  • Building Construction Management
  • Agriscience
  • Resource Development and Management
  • Parks and Recreations
  • Tourism Resources
  • Packaging
  • Horticulture
  • Forestry
  • Food Science
  • Fisheries/Wildlife

High Winds

 Today Southern California was hit by very high winds, gusts up to 80 mph.  The winds hit the farm at just after 10 AM this morning. The weeping willow tree in the farm lost a major branch that crashed down on the coops metal roof.  No damage to the roof and no loss of any chickens to report.

This video was taken just after some major wind gusts.

New Batch of Eggs in Incubator

 Today I drove to the Magic Mountain area of Valencia and purchased a dozen Copper Maran Eggs that should be fertile.  I found the seller online through Craigslist.  There are several sellers online. He was the only one that specifically had the Copper Marans that was within an hour's drive from my house. Many sellers have backyard mix breeds and have many colorful eggs. I am hoping I made a good choice. We will find out in 20 days.

Along with the 12 eggs I purchased the sell included a few extra Maran eggs and a few olive color eggs, and a gray egg, for a total of 19 eggs.  I placed the eggs into an incubator today, 10/24. The expected hatch date is Nov 13th.

The eggs on the top carton in the image below are the current range of egg colors we have.

HHS Chicken Flock

 

Student Pages Begun

 Students in Mr. Connor's Computer class will help in the creation of webpage content for the HHS Family Farm page beginning this week. Please check out the student pages.

Parts of Garden Brought Indoors

 With the summer heat being especially warm this year...August high 115 degrees, September, many days over 100 and October the same I brought in vulnerable plants such as the strawberry. Many of the strawberry plants I could not keep wet enough. I brought about 30 plants indoors to get out of the heat.

Outdoor Distance Teaching

 With the Pandemic ongoing in America, many schools are having their teacher distant teach from their students. With those criteria, I experimented by taking my classroom on the road during the week of Sept 18- 25. During that time I taught from the states of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

Here was my classroom during that week.

This was my view

And this is how I prepped for the class.

First week of the Academic 2020-2021 School Year

 The new school year began as it ended last school year with distance learning.  Bummer. The good news is we had five chicks hatch today in room 1.  The other good news is that we set up a hotspot out on the coop allowing us to run a camera 24/7 which offers two-way audio as well! Also through the use of google meets we were able to set up a live cam feed of the chickens.

Visit to the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship Whitefish School District, Whitefish High School, Montana

 Today I had the opportunity to visit the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship on the Campus or directly adjacent to Whitefish high school in Whitefish Montana.  I had heard about the school through my youngest son who currently works for a Landscape Architectural firm in the Whitefish.  On his recommendation, I made sure to visit the center while vacationing in Whitefish.

The facility was more than I expected. It was two stories with an attached greenhouse. It was set up with all of the latest technologies. Smartboard, solar array, automatic ventilation system, and I am sure much more that I missed or did not realize what I was looking at.  There is also an attached garage next door with its own mini John Deere tractor parked in the driveway.

I hope to collect more data on how the center came to be, what all is contained in the facility, it's cost, and how the program will be run by the school district. I was told that both the elementary students as well as high school students use the facility.

Whitefish HS Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship 

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New Prep Area

More Changes Happening on the Farm

After demoing the kitchen/sink/compost area I could not let the garden go without a sink area to wash fresh vegetables. So today I made two new tables to go along with a table built yesterday for the area around the pepper tree.

Tribute Painting to Rockstar Complete

On Monday, July 13 I spent the morning painting the trailer with Rockstar.  The design was created by Megan Cavarez. Rockstar was our Polish rooster.  Rockstar lost his life protecting the flock from a coyote. During the COVID school shutdown, someone cut the back fence on campus allowing predators on to the campus. Rockstar and two other roosters lost their lives protecting the hens. Lost were roosters Godfather, PIP, and Rockstar. Rockstar was the oldest rooster we had in the flock. With these three guys gone, the responsibility for the protection of the flock now falls to Godfather 2 and The Rock.  These two roosters are approx 11 months old. (Images coming)

Removed prep tables from behind Room 1

I took down the wire top that would hold newly planted or seeded 1020's.  I made a real table out of the two wired tops and moved it under the pepper tree. My goal is to use the pepper tree area for washing fresh vegetables and having BBQs. Etc.... I think I will be building a table along the wall. There are two electrical outlets and water on the wall.  Today I did not have any schd 40 PVC pipe to do that type of work.

Made some changes in the Garden

Today, I removed the table/sink area from the garden. I just feel it took up too much space for the benefit it provided. In its place I am not able to roll in the blue and black salad bar planters that can now be used for experiments.  In fact the whole area can be used for educational purposes.

Vegetable Cart

My younger brother Andrew's kids are all above kindergarten and he was unloading some things. One item was a bike trailer.  I have had the trailer for the entire year and with covid I finally had some time to begin work on it.  My idea was to convert the kid trailer into a vegetable hauling trailer.  Work began in earnest in June.

On my Window!

Preparing the Chicken Trailer with Artwork

I stopped by school late Tuesday night  and grabbed a computer and projector to add some artwork to the trailer.

A Hot One!

Today reached 97 degrees. The chickens all followed me over to the garden as I was watering.

Garden Harvest

The garden has gotten a bit out of control.  Back in March me and my two sons picked all of the weeds in the ground garden area. Fast forward three months and the weeds are winning. But even with the weeds plants are prospering.  Today, i picked the fourth go around of green beans, harvested more corn, and picked another cucumber.  I also moved the containers holding strawberry plants into the raised garden bed nearest the chicken door. There is much more shade in this area and I hope that they will do better there.

This photo shows the growth of a passion fruit vine. The vine was transplanted from my home in early March. I planted two vines. Both vines have reached the top of the structure.

The green beans this year are plentiful. Today was my third time harvesting. I know that Megan has harvested too.

We have grapes on the grapevines!

 Today's harvest....Green beans, corn, & a cucumber.

Tiny Trailer work

In late May Megan Caveraz and myself set out to complete the tiny trailer project which the students had been working on prior to the Coronavirus shut down of the schools.