Raising Pregnant South Poll Cows with Nursing Calves

When should I wean my South Poll calf from its mom?

The South Poll great mothering nature means less work for you, the farmer. But it also raises the question, When should I wean my calf from its mom?

At Never Tread, we practice regenerative farming methods which means we allow the calf and cow to self-wean. There are rare occasions when we help a yearling bull wean himself but it’s rare and the intervention between them and us is minimal.

A lot of conventional wisdom says that we must intercede in this natural process. But for beef cattle, like the South Poll, there is no need nor room for conventional wisdom. The mother cows usually kick their nearly yearling calves off about a month or two before they give birth again. We have, on occasion, had mother’s who don’t kick their calves off. But these cows are eventually culled if they do this for every calf. On occasion, these South Poll cows only seem to do it with one calf in particular – such as pushy calves who are also dominate within the herd of younger cattle. We don’t bother culling these mothers often but it does put them on the docket for consideration.

Anyway, we like the regenerative approach to weaning calves. There are many reasons but the number one reason is that animals are much smarter in their behaviors than we think they are. To assume they need our intervention with such a natural concept as weaning a calf is a wrong assumption, at least for this breed.

Other reasons include:

· Calves and mother cows know what a calf needs in nourishment better than we do. This means healthier calves, longevity in life, and overall healthier and less prone to disease cows

· Encouragement for mother cows to be able to use their instincts in rearing calves. When we interject ourselves, we won’t know if they have good mothering genetics or not

· Better regenerative practices by lowering the amount we handle the cows and interrupt their natural instincts

· A notable increase of stress with the mother cow and calf if separated. A notable increase in stress of calf if using nose rings

Of course, you may have a cow like mentioned above who can’t seem to wean a demanding yearling who clearly doesn’t need to be nursing anymore. We’ve had that only happen once and it was between a South Poll mother cow and a young bull. But during the time of the year where we separate them to better time calving season for the spring, we had to separate the mother and the adult bull.

She didn’t seem to mind so much, now that she only had to worry about nursing her young calf. But the bull bawled for a few days before he decided he’d rather play with the other yearling bulls and try his hand at challenging the herd bull too. When the duo met back at the same pasture a few months later, guess who was weaned and never bothered his mom again?

Although we try hard to never intervene at Never Tread and let the South Poll be, sometimes it happens, even on accident. But with minimal human intervention, the mother cow was never stressed during the process.

If you follow regenerative practices and raise beef breeds like ours, then following the mother cow’s instinct of naturally weaning is best. She will know when it’s best to focus on her pregnancy while she nurses her current calf – don’t worry about when you need to wean her calf.

How to Handle South Poll Cattle When They First arrive

What to do when your South Poll cattle first arrive

Your herd of South Poll cows are on their way, whether you hired a hauler or brought them to your farm yourself (How to have your cattle delivered). There’s one more thing to consider before finally getting starting in South Poll cattle: what to do when they first arrive to your farm.

It’s best practice to set up a small area that prevents stressed cows and bulls from breaking through fences or jumping them. We personally like using a movable metal corral. It is set up right where trailers can back into. The side panels can swing out and act as a chute from the trailer to the corral.

Know that any breed, even the docile South Poll, will be stressed during hauling, especially if they aren’t used to it. And with that, any breed of cattle are capable of leaving your farm either by way of forcing themselves through fencing or jumping them.

The next best practice is to assure yourself that stressed cattle may not act with their typical cow-minds when they are unloaded for the first time on your farm. The third best practice is to have an idea, a contingency plan, of what you may do if your cows act unexpectedly and try to run away.

Some businesses that specialize in herding cattle may be available in your area to help gather runaways. The majority of run aways tend to coincide with new cattle arriving on farms. Maybe you have a network in your area to stay on the lookout for escapees or a handy farming neighbor may volunteer to help get the runaway cattle too. In any case, be prepared for this scenario so you’re not taken by surprise if it happens!

Luckily, we haven’t had this issue with any South Poll cattle we’ve brought to the farm. They are unloaded into the corral when they first arrive, with water already setup and available to them. Then we leave them alone for awhile and observe them from afar to see if they are calm, stressed, or panicked. If they’re calm, we let them into the pasture with only a poly-wire for internal paddocks. If they’re stressed, we may follow Temple Grandin’s advice and allow them at least 10-minutes to adjust to their new environment. If they’re panicked? We leave them in there until they all calm. This may include placing hay in the corral to keep them fed, basic salt and/or minerals, and ample water which we may add a bit of organic apple cider vinegar or organic molasses.

To summarize, these are a few best practices to enact so you can best handle your South Poll herd once they arrive to your farm:

1.       Set up a small area to back the hauling trailer to such as a corral

2.       Know typical cow-mind may not be working due to stress of hauling

3.       Have a backup plan

4.       Give them time to adjust to this offload area

a.       Have water already available

b.       Have hay ready to be placed in the corral if needed

c.       Have minerals ready to be available or ACV and molasses for water additives

We hope this helps give you assurance on how to handle your South Poll cattle when they first arrive to your farm and what to do.

Are South Poll cattle good for beginning farmers

Are South Poll are great for beginner cattle farmers

SP cattle are an excellent choice for new farmers. To read more in-depth about South Poll cattle straight from the source, read through the South Poll Associations’ official article.

But if you’d like our experiences with them, then read on. We started our farm in 2019 and chose South Poll cattle because of all the reasons most people choose them: heat-tolerant, fly resistant coats, good mothers, and docile. The latter two are why we went with them.

As new farmers, jumping right into cattle husbandry was daunting even with our past experiences. But never had we bought a new herd , had them delivered, and integrated intensive rotational grazing with little fencing besides an old perimeter fence.

When the delivery truck arrived, the cattle were hot and stressed from the 8-hour drive right in the heat of summer. No shade, really. No water. No feed. They were annoyed. We unloaded them into a small fenced-in pasture. They were worried but the moment they hit green grass and found the water, their famous temperaments began to come through.

Initially, we thought they wouldn’t want us around while we sent up poly wire. But our presence didn’t bother them much. Maybe a glance here and there, even the bull. They preferred to pay attention to the tall grasses they were in instead of becoming anxious of there surroundings.

The next day, we started rotationally grazing them. It helped that they came from a breeder [LINK] who practices rotational grazing and that is something you’ll want to look for in a South Poll breeder [LINK}.

So, are South Poll cattle good for inexperienced cattle farmers? Yes!

Are there behavior issues with South Poll bulls?

Fast forward a few months. During calving season, we moved our heifers and cows to a separate pasture and put the South Poll herd bull and the yearling bulls back in the smaller one they were delivered to. This is the moment that concerned us – when the herd bull became bored.

He was bored because he was stuck in a small pasture, constantly ‘playing’ or more like establishing dominance, with the yearling South Poll bulls without a herd of females to follow around. Buckeye, was his unofficial name and Buckeye became bored.

He never did challenge Alex when he was in the pasture, moving them rotationally. But he enjoyed pretend-charging the perimeter at us. And that was that – time to find a buyer for Buckeye and hope our little yearlings get the job done next breeding season. Our tolerance for any non-docile behavior is nil for our herd – that’s why we decided on the South Poll breed but Buckeye seemed to fall slightly out of the typical behavior expected.

Luckily, we found a buyer right away who wasn’t turned off by Buckeye’s behavior.

Fast forward again. The loading trailer came and Buckeye was easily moved into a corral. Then he willingly and obediently loaded onto the trailer. If you’re wondering, we checked in a few months later to see how the South Poll herd bull was doing and there were zero issues and only docility and ‘the best bull ever’ comments.

Do South Poll bulls have behavior issues? Maybe, when they’re bored. And I’m sure there are others who may say they aren’t much different from other bulls. But from our experiences, we’ve never come close to experiencing any dominance displays from bulls since Buckeye’s slight variance from the South Poll expectation. Though keep in mind, minding proper cattle handling procedures, such as keeping an eye on your bull at all times while in the pasture is always important – no matter how docile they are.

Are South Poll cows good mothers?

Another reason we went for South Poll cattle as beginner cattle farmers were their ease of calving. Neither one of us had experience with manually pulling a calf so the thought of wrenching one out of a cow during labor was far from our capability. And it was and still is, far from our wants as farmers.

We chose the breed because they are supposed to be good mothers. Good calving, good mothering instincts, and paired with low-docility – they are supposed to not try to charge and kill any farmers entering their space in the pasture around their newborn.

Is this true? Like, actually true?

We’re headed into our fourth full calving season and yet to have to pull calves. Even when we’ve grazed non-SP cows in our herd and bred them to our South Poll bull, the calves come out small but healthy. If you were to ask us their typical weight at birth, we can’t tell you because we never take them from their mom, even to just weigh them. But if you had to buy them a coat for the winter, I’d say buy an extra-large dog size. At least for the first few days.

Like most healthy calves, the South Poll calf, no matter how small, is up and running about 24-hours later. The burst of true energy, the kind where you can’t catch them if you had to hits around the 3-day mark.

The South Poll moms are calm and gentle with their calves. Their protective instinct ranges from barely there to worried mooing. But never have they ever charged us in the pasture though they are quite uncomfortable with us in that first 24-hours.

We’ve never experienced a cow abandon her calf nor have we had a cow offer to nurse a calf that wasn’t her own, even when we really wish one of them would. They rarely have an issue at weaning time, though weaning time is left to good genetics and mother nature. They usually kick their yearling calves off about a month or two before having another calf. But even the ones who don’t, haven’t had an issue nursing their newborn while maintaining weight, growing their calf, and staying healthy.

To say South Poll cows are good mothers, we’ve learned, is like asking if oranges are orange. Although, we did not know that for sure when we started with them but now, I can hardly believe we ever considered any other breed based on the South Poll’s mothering genetics!

Never Tread is a mission-based for-profit business. We support the pursuit of life through the choice of healthy foods and lowered exposures to environmental toxins, liberty through the freedom to practice regenerative farming, and happiness through encouraging families to centralize their lives with homesteading practices. If you would like to support our mission to keep information on these as accessible and free as possible, please visit our Patreon page.

Rotational grazing and what to do during calving season

Should I rotate mySouth Poll cows during calving seasons?

Usually, with the great South Poll mothering genetics, calving season and rotations aren’t terrible.

Our fullblood South Poll mothers don’t hide their calves to keep safe. They will place them in dryer areas which is a good reason to avoid hay ring feeding during calving season. But in general, our mothers don’t hide their calves.

This trait lends itself to a more uninterrupted rotational grazing plan. However, at Never Tread, what we’ve tried and like is during peak calving season when most are the calves are expected, we give the herd a much larger paddock than normal and allow them to stay for about a week or two. It’s important to make sure there is plenty of grass in this calving paddock, provide minerals for new mothers, and plenty of fresh water.

Because newborn calves only stand to nurse during the first day or so, rotating them is difficult and hard on them. The mother’s a re good about not leaving their side but sometimes, they think if they move on to the next paddock, they will be able to go back and retrieve their newborn calf too. It’s much more efficient for our time to give these South Poll mother’s more than adequate space to calve and raise their little ones for a week or two before moving the herd.

But once peak calving time is finished, we go back to our usual paddock moves and the calves and South Poll mother’s have no trouble at all adapting. It may seem like it at times, that the calf is left behind in the last paddock but at a week old, they choose to go to the other side of the wire and sleep. We make little effort to ever force the calf back into the paddock once they reach this capable stage. The only time we do is if the herd is moving farther than just the paddock over.

Anyway, after peak calving season, we only pause rotations for any South Poll cows that are calving outside of this window. We only pause for about two days because usually, on the third day, the calf has the strength to follow its mother. But when we do these modified rotations, we leave the last paddock available for the mother to go back and fetch her calf if it stayed behind to sleep.

Overall, rotational grazing during calving season can be easier on you and the South Poll mother’s if you modify your grazing plan during these times.

When to cull South Poll cows

How do I know what South Poll cows to cull and when?

Once you’ve established your herd and you’ve gone through a calving season or two, it may be time to consider culling the South Polls (SPs) that don’t align with the genetics you’re wanting for your farm.

For our farm, we prefer to keep to the known traits South Polls are famous for. Heat-tolerance, docility, good mothering, and fly-resistance are specific to our needs.

south Poll heat tolerance

Since we practice regenerative farming, we have no structures for our South Poll herd. We use the natural space of the pastures to give shade and wind breaks when needed. Plus barns promote disease in cattle due to poor ventilation, standing in manure, lack of fresh grass and ability to graze as-needed, among other issues. But even with tree cover, heat-tolerance for the Ohio summers is a necessity. Any South Poll that can’t handle grazing during the mid-day, on the hottest and most humid days are on the docket for potential culls. This isn’t to say they aren’t allowed to rest in the shade during the summer but they must be able to handle the heat and humidity Ohio can throw at them.

One way we look at heat-tolerance genetics is whether they pant or foam at the mouth on these days. Can they manage to keep with the herd when they head to grass? Do they hover over the water trough longer than usual? These are a few ways to find out if your South Poll cow may need culled due to poor heat genetics. We’ve only seen these traits in non-SP cows we’ve had on our farm. Even the lower half percentages seem to gain the heat-tolerance trait.

south Poll docility

Docility for our South Poll herd is a must, including in bulls. Although it’s good practice to handle the herd safely especially during breeding season or calving season. We rarely physically hand our cows, only in rare instances like pregnancy testing. Outside of rotationally grazing everyday, they are corralled and transported to our lease once or twice a year. We need our herd to handle the stress of entering the corral and willingly load onto trailers. This is part, routine and them learning that they are going to fresh food and in part, temperament. On a side note, it’s been interesting to watch our easiest loaders in the herd – the herd bull. He loves going to the lease to be reunited with his South Poll cows.

If your cows struggle with the routine of rotational grazing, they may need to be culled. If after time and routine, yourSouth Poll cows struggle with the hauling process, they may need to be culled.

south Poll good mothering

Of course, this is a must.

Overall, we look for excellent mothering genetics. Easy labors, good mothering instincts, and not allowing other calves to nurse are just a few of these South Poll traits we look for. This rivals in importance for our farm with the docility trait. We want both. Heat-tolerance so far, seems to be a standard of the SP trait and we haven’t had to worry about culling for heat-tolerance yet. Docility, we’ve culled one or two. And good mothering, we’ve had to cull for one or two. But now our SP mothering genetics are exactly where we want them to be.

south Poll fly resistance

A final factor of the traits to look for when culling South Poll cattle, at least at Never Tread, is fly resistance. Seems to be that it’s either clear that the genetic trait has passed on and is expressed or it’s clear it didn’t. This is a trait we do cull for but it’s the last and least important trait for us at this time of writing.

Since we don’t use any pesticides on our herd or on our pastures or through feed or minerals, it’s important to keep this trait in mind while we decide who to keep and who to cull. Flies can and will cause pinkeye. Pinkeye usually resolves itself in healthy cattle given appropriate minerals and a wide variety of fresh food to eat. Sometimes it doesn’t, but it mostly does. That’s another trait to consider – hardiness with disease.

But back to fly resistance. The trait passed on makes the coat oily so the flies do not like to stay on the cows coat, even on their face and eyes. The fly resistance trait is important in the long-term health of your herd to keep down pesky pinkeye every summer.

We hope this quick list is helpful as you determine when and how to go about culling your cows for good genetics.

How to have your South Poll cattle delivered

How do I have my South Poll cattle shipped

Whether you’re new to cattle farming or a current farmer, having your herd shipped or delivered to you can be a stressful endeavor.

After all that time of searching for a breeder and coming to an agreement, it takes even more time to find a shipper for your cattle if you don’t have the truck and stock trailer for your farm at the moment. Many people choose this option to have their cattle shipped and delivered even if they do have the equipment to haul their own South Poll cattle.

Anyway, if you’re lucky like we were, our breeder kindly found a reputable hauler for us. We paid for the shipper though and asked the questions to ensure our cattle would be treated well and humanly and would arrive in a timely manner. Our cattle hauler preferred to be paid in full once the cows were all delivered live. He took check, cash, or money orders.

If we needed to purchase South Poll cattle again, we would look to hire a shipper that had at least similar qualities to his business such as:

·         Efficient: the hauler stopped only for gas and personal food breaks

·         Reliable: the cattle hauler kept in contact with us from pick up day, ETAs, and when he was close to the drop-off

·         Trustworthy: the hauler only picked up our South Poll herd and no one else’s. He also did not let the cattle stay in the trailer for unnecessary times during stops

·         Fair: the hauler’s price was fair and provided a receipt

·         Above-average equipment: the hauler used an open-air trailer

But not every cattle shipper will be as great as this guy was!

One time, we sold a cow from our farm. We acquired her as farms often do, through a simple trade. She was a registered Belted Galloway. And if you want to know one thing about Belted Galloways it is: they are not heat-tolerant with their thick coats. The cattle shipper the buyer found did not discuss his plans for the day of pickup. On one of the hottest days of summer, the shipper was going to stay for most of the day at a livestock auction, after picking up the Galloway. His intention was to leave her in the enclosed trailer in the sweltering heat for hours before buying his own cattle from the auction. Two problems: 1) the cow would’ve probably died in the heat from heatstroke and 2) the cow would’ve been exposed to illness from the auction-bought cows. We immediately called our buyer to let them know and they and the cattle shipper worked it out easily. Communication is key! This shipper wasn’t a bad one – it was a topic that he didn’t consider was important to the buyer. We all learn, even the cattle shippers!

But let’s circle back to the pros of the hauler we hired.

It’s good to ensure the hauler won’t be making unplanned stops that are unnecessary, like stopping at an all-day cattle auction. The breeder can only guarantee that the livestock left healthfully. What happens between the breeder’s place and drop-off is between you and the cattle hauler hired. And really, what best practice can you agree on with the hauler besides getting an update at the time of pickup, an ETA or two during the drive, and a heads-up with the hauler is near? It keeps both hauler and farmer accountable to make sure both businesses have their time respected.

Another best practice is to ensure the hauler won’t be picking up cows outside the herd you’ve bought. South Polls usually come from closed herds with no vaccines or medications. So to introduce any other cow from any other herd means you may have your brand new herd of healthy cattle exposed to illness-harboring others. In addition, especially during the heat of summer, you want to make sure the hauler isn’t stopping unnecessarily because no matter how hardy the breed, even the mighty South Poll genetics, stress will occur and you don’t want to add heat-stroke to that list too.

Of course, it’s good to make sure the price for the hauling fee is fair on both ends. If it seems too good to be true, it might just be. You may end up with an inexperienced cattle hauler who puts your investment in jeopardy or even just wastes your time as you wait for them to arrive eight-hours after they said they would.

One benefit of making sure the price for the cattle hauler is fair on both ends is that you are more likely to find an experienced hauler and they are more likely to have better equipment including trucks that are less likely to breakdown during the trip and heavy-duty trailers that can handle larger groups of cattle at once.  We also preferred the open-air trailer compared to the enclosed for the health standards of the herd we bought. Open-air is easier to be cleaned out and if it doesn’t get cleaned out, which you should request, at least the cattle will be exposed to fresh air and not confined to any potential illness that may waft up from previous cattle’s manure and the like.

To put it simply, these are a few questions to ask your South Poll cattle hauler to help make sure they arrive on-time and healthy:

1.       How long is the drive

2.       Are you picking up other livestock

3.       What stops do you have planned

4.       How do you accept payment and when

5.       What do you need us to have prepared to unload

We hope at Never Tread that we’ve made it a bit less stressful and a little easier to get your South Poll cattle, or any livestock, shipped and delivered to you. 

Never Tread is a mission-based for-profit business. We support the pursuit of life through the choice of healthy foods and lowered exposures to environmental toxins, liberty through the freedom to practice regenerative farming, and happiness through encouraging families to centralize their lives with homesteading practices. If you would like to support our mission to keep information on these as accessible and free as possible, please visit our Patreon page

Raising South Poll cattle in Ohio Winter Weather

South Poll cattle are a heat-tolerant breed. They’re a new breed and one of the few that are strictly an American created one. To learn more about the South Poll breed and their history, read more at the official South Poll website.

Are South Poll cattle able to handle Ohio’s winter weather?

Back to that heat-tolerant trait. What’s that mean for raising the cattle in areas with colder climates? Ohio is moderate, really, with relatively mild winters. By no means, do we have consistent winter weather but typically Ohio sees 0 degrees maybe a few times and we might have up to a few feet of snow during a blizzard. Overall, our winters are mild which means cattle can handle our weather.

But when we first purchased our South Poll herd from Tennessee, we weren’t sure if our winters would bother the cows too much or not. The first winter we had was barely considered a true winter because it was in the 40’s, wet and rainy nearly the entire season. The South Poll cattle handled it well but that was expected once the Ohio winter proved to be more of a spring.

The following winter was the normal for Ohio. A few weeks of teens and single digit temperatures, snow and ice. The cows barely noticed! Our lowest percentage of South Polls at the time were ½ with several that were purebred. It didn’t seem to matter the percentage, they easily survived the Ohio winter without a problem. Most grew in a shaggy winter coat, even if it was only an inch or so longer than their typical summer coats. Our slickest coated cow whose winter coat is barely noticeable never skipped a bit in grazing or health.

We practiced both hay bale unrolling and hay ring feeding where appropriate and we managed the herd throughout the winter by leaving them in larger sacrifice lots. We rotated them twice in these larger lots to reduce the animal impact on the soil as the snow and ice melted and created mud. We were prepared to move them to a third sacrifice lot that winter but luckily, the wet weather refroze. Typical Ohio weather!

Anyway, this year, a blizzard rolled through and Ohio saw unprecedented wind chill factors – up to -30 for several days in a row. It felt like we were going through our first real winter with the South Poll cows once more as we waited to see what would happen with such a heat-tolerant breed.

But again, the South Poll breed proved to be excellent and easily adaptable to our Ohio winter weather. Coats were covered in ice, wind chill was dangerous to be in, but the cows grazed any grass that was growing above the light snow dusting and the ice before making their way to the hay.

We did use one of our larger paddocks that has a ravine with tree cover for the herd since our pastures don’t offer much wind breaks except for in this spot. But the South Polls, even the younger ones, would come out of their hiding spots to come out and graze.

So, do the heat-tolerant South Poll breed tolerate the Ohio winters?

It’s a resounding yes for us.

Never Tread is a mission-based for-profit business. We support the pursuit of life through the choice of healthy foods and lowered exposures to environmental toxins, liberty through the freedom to practice regenerative farming, and happiness through encouraging families to centralize their lives with homesteading practices. If you would like to support our mission to keep information on these as accessible and free as possible, please visit our Patreon page.

Lemon & Honey Glazed Baked Chicken Breasts

Lemon & Honey Glazed Baked Chicken Breasts

We love fats from healthfully raised animal, organically raised ingredients, and absolutely no cane sugar recipes. Learn more about this healthy eating from the WAPF website.

“This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from sales made through these links, at no extra cost to you”

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Let’s get right to it - read more about our favorite fried chicken and things below the good stuff (below the directions)

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Ingredients, nutrient-dense:

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy-free Chicken breast

• Redmond’s Salt, mined in the USA

• Freshly ground and organic pepper

• Local and organically gathered honey

• Organic, freshly juiced lemon

• Organic, freshly zested lemon rind

• Freshly ground, organically and locally raised herbs and spices (optional)

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy-free animal fat of choice

Ingredients, simplified:

• Chicken breast; Parted from whole chicken

• Salt [2 TSP or to taste]

• Pepper [2 TSP or to taste]

• Honey [1/4 Cup]

• Lemon juice [1/2 Lemon]

• Lemon zest

• Herbs and spices (optional)

• Animal Fat of choice [enough to grease the pan]

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Lemon & Honey Drizzle Chicken

Directions:

1. Part the whole chicken:

• Find the chest of the chicken and the sternum which separates each side of the breast

• Carefully insert knife against one side of the sternum. Allow the rib cage to gently guide the cut

• Repeat on other side

• Continue to scrape of meat from each side until all is gathered and set in a covered dish in the refrigerator for other dishes

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the Salt + Pepper + Herbs and Spices (optional) + Honey + Lemon juice

4. In another bowl, mix together lemon juice and honey

5. Grease a stainless steel or glass bakeware with animal fat of choice

6. Lay breast on bakeware and brush or spoon Honey and Salt mixture on the top side of the breast

7. Place in heated oven + at halfway point, take out the breasts and spoon Honey and Lemon mixture on top. Place back in oven.

• Bake approximately 45 minutes at 350 F or until fully cooked

• Check with thermometer

• Don’t undercook – don’t make yourself sick

• Don’t overcook – chicken will be dried out

8. Grate lemon rind and sprinkle on top

9. Allow to cool slightly and serve

• Organic sour cream mixed with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and dill make a refreshing dip

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Baked chicken breast is delicious and versitile - it can be a full meal or cut into pieces for salads or be the focus of a chicken melt sandwich. No matter the end result, this recipe keeps it simple to showcase the delicious taste of pasture-raised chickens.

To offer the best taste and the most nutrient-dense dish follow the guidelines of the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon. All ingredients should be sourced as locally and as organically as possible.

But it’s not easy to make every ingredient the healthiest - so do what you can for today and next time, add to it!

When I started the Westin A. Price diet, I bought what was possible for me at that time - organic lemons. Now, several years later, sourcing the best and most nutrient-dense ingredients is no longer time consuming: it’s easy!

The mix of herbs is up to you - I like to keep it simple until I know for a fact, that I enjoy the herbs! Everytime you try the recipe again - try another mix.

Garlic powder and onion powder are great additions but are NOT LOWFODMAP friendly. I repeat, not Low FODMAP friendly - we’ve tried and learned the lesson.

We’ve also learned that sage and thyme can be triggers for SIBO, so if you give them a try - use in small quantities.

One more thing - honey is low FODMAP is small quanities, work up to what you like and what works best for your body.

Enjoy your nutirent-dense Lemon & Honey Baked chicken!

(This is not medical advice - please seek medical professionals for diet recommendations)

Healthy Fried Chicken

Healthy Fried Chicken

We love fats from healthfully raised animal, organically raised ingredients, and absolutely no cane sugar recipes. Learn more about this healthy eating from the WAPF website.

“This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from sales made through these links, at no extra cost to you”

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Let’s get right to it - read more about our favorite fried chicken and things below the good stuff (below the directions)

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Ingredients, nutrient-dense:

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy-free Chicken breast

• Redmond’s Salt, mined in the USA

• Freshly ground and organic pepper

• Local and organically grown spelt or Einkorn flour

• Freshly ground, organically and locally raised herbs and spices (optional)

• Organic arrowroot (optional)

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy & grain free, raw milk

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy-freeEgg (optional)

• Local, pasture & organically raised, soy-free animal fat of choice

Ingredients, simplified:

• Chicken breast; Parted from whole chicken and cut into small pieces

• Salt

• Pepper

• Flour of choice

• Herbs and spices (optional)

• Arrowroot (optional)

• Milk

• Egg (optional)

• Animal Fat of choice

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Fried Chicken Directions:

1. Part the whole chicken:

• Find the chest of the chicken and the sternum which separates each side of the breast

• Carefully insert knife against one side of the sternum. Allow the rib cage to gently guide the cut

• Repeat on other side

• Continue to scrape of meat from each side until all is gathered

2. Cut the chicken breasts

• Small pieces for “chicken nuggets”

• Thin long strips for “chicken fingers”

3. Mix milk and egg (optional) together until its’ creamed

4. Set chicken breast in a bowl with + milk + egg (optional)

5. In a separate bowl, mix the flour + salt + pepper + herbs and spices (optional) + arrowroot (optional)

6. Heat skillet to medium and add animal fat of choice

• The more fats, the more crispy the fried chicken becomes

• Butter crisps best but reheats soft

• Lard fries soft but reheats crispy

7. Dredge chicken through flour mix and place in skillet

8. Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness or until browned

9. Flip over and allow to finish cook for 3-5 minutes or until fully cooked

10. Check with thermometer

• Don’t undercook – don’t make yourself sick

• Don’t overcook – chicken will be dried out

11. Allow to cool slightly and serve

• Dip with Ketchup or homemade Ketchup

• Dip with homemade Maple or honey Mustard

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I love fried chicken. So when we switched to a back to basics lifestyle which included a healthy and nutrient-dense way of eating, I was disappointed. My fast food runs were finished. But luckily I found the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook one day while searching how to heal ourselves naturally. It also sparked the regenerative agriculture spark which led to a 180 in my families life - we now run a regenerative agriculture farm - working towards providing my family with 100% of its’ dietary needs.

Sally Fallon, the author of the book, recommends food to be fried in my favorite things, butter and lard! Thank God for her because it made the transition from fast foods to healthy home cooked meals possible and relatively easy (except that I still needed to learn to cook - her book taught me that too, thankfully).

Every ingredient chosen to make fried chicken should be as nutrient dense as possible - like freshly ground pepper to reduce oxidization effects and pasture raised, locally sourced chickens. However, we only can do what we can do and sometimes having each ingredient perfect isn’t always possible. And that’s okay! That’s why I wanted to start farming -

Anyways, if you choose to use butter, like the grass-fed, organic or organically raised, and raw butter, awesome - but if you can only get your hands on KerryGold from the grocery store, well that’ll work until you find something else! Finding lard in the grocer is another story - it might be impossible to locate it and locate healthful lard.

Something I want to share is that frying in butter tastes amazing but it doesn’t reheat as crispy as lard does. Lard is the exact opposite! If I know it’s going to be a meal that is reheated more than eaten fresh, I’ll use lard.

The mix of herbs is always fun - I think it’s best to start simple; throw in a dash of cayenne and some oregeno. Everytime you try the recipe again - try another mix.

Garlic powder and onion powder are great additions but are NOT LOWFODMAP friendly. I repeat, not Low FODMAP friendly - we’ve tried and learned the lesson.

We’ve also learned that sage and thyme can be triggers for SIBO and in tasty quantities that you’d use in fried chicken, they can become not LowFODMAP friendly too.

Enjoy your nutirent-dense fried chicken!

(This is not medical advice - please seek medical professionals for diet recommendations)

Bugs & the Shagbark Hickory nut on a Regenerative Farm

Bugs & the Shagbark Hickory Nut on a Regenerative Farm

The delicious, one-of-a-kind Shagbark Hickory nut is worth the hunt through the woods. But let’s talk about the ugly side of this wild edible nut harvested on a regenerative farm.

If you’re here, reading this article, then you’re probably familiar with regenerative farming practices. On our farm, we work hard to ensure our practices are strictly regenerative. It’s not always possible, and that’s okay – read here about our first two years of working towards 100% regenerative farming successes and failures.

Hickory Nut Weevil Infestation on Our Regenerative Farm

However, our farming practices applied to the food forest is already 100% regenerative – we’re just adding to it. In that light, harvesting from a land that is self-reliant means there will be follies.

After harvesting the nuts after they fall to the ground, we inspect for possible signs of weevil infestation, hull the nuts, float to sort out the bad nuts, reinspect, and then cross our fingers.

It’s a downfall to solely natural practices; there will always be a bug hiding somewhere that we can’t find even through our thorough sorting methods. It’s an ugly thing to see a white larvae grub wriggling around in a crushed hickory nut after tedious sorting.

It’s not a well-researched concept either – how to know a nut inside of a shell has larvae inside – so I’ve gone about testing some theories I’ve found. To cut to the chase, it’s about preventative measures – as there’s no 100% guaranteed method of sorting out 100% of the bad nuts on a regenerative farm.

The only method that truly does sort out the bad nuts, whether the meat is underdeveloped or if there is a Hickory Nut Weevil larva inside, is to float the nuts in water. If they sink, they’re mostly good. If they float, they’re definitely bad.

Methods to sort the infested nuts from the good Hickory Nuts

That leaves a small margin of possible bad nuts left in our “good nuts” sorting. Some advice I’ve found and tested to sort these bad guys out:

• Look for a hole: great idea – but it means that the larvae has already burrowed out of the nut and into the ground to continue developing

• Look for discoloration: difficult to assess - what’s the definition of discoloration or is it slightly different browns or is it large spots or small? Too many nuisances to consider!

  • Tested it; mediocre results. Lot’s of good nut meats inside these discolored nut shells.

• Look for a “cigarette burn” brown spot: great idea – however, after testing, it didn’t appear to hold true.

  • Lot’s of great nuts had these types of spots on the shell.

• Place the nuts that sank into a refrigerator for 48 hours, the larvae crawl out of the infected nuts.

  • Wish it worked, it didn’t - I tried both refridgetaor and freezer and room temperature

So what’s a regenerative farmer to do? Wait it out - Let the nuts dry in the shells and wait for the infested ones to make themselves known OR crack and sell the nut meat so that I can screen each one. Let’s look at some preventative ideas first to stop the Weevil cycle from affecting future harvests.

Preventative measures to reduce Hickory Nut weevil infestation

I could spray insecticide throughout the soil but that’s not regenerative. I could dust Diatomaceous Earth (DE) around the trees and the branches I can reach. But I’d kill a lot of wonderful and productive insects in the process. So, time to pivot and look at other options.

A few interesting and regenerative ideas I’ve found to prevent these infestations:

• The first technique I will be researching and possibly applying to reduce the weevil larvae infestation is the application of nematodes, specifically Steinernema carpocapsae Nematodes

  • Read more about what I’ve found about the goods and bads of this natural technique [coming soon]

• The second technique will be encouraging some natural predators to the area, specifically birds

  • Read about how this technique will work [coming soon]

• The third technique will be adding rotational grazing with either chickens, turkeys, and/or ducks.

  • Read more about how the food forest rotational grazing with poultry will work

    [coming soon]

How to Hull and Shell a Shagbark Hickory Nut

How to Hull and Shell a Shagbark Hickory Nut

To hull a Shagbark Hickory Nut is all in the wrist – grab a hammer, any size you like and a flat hard surface. Oh, get the Shagbark Hickory nut too. Hit the center of the hull – the nut should come out easily. That’s it guys, that’s it. This article is over.

Hulling a Hickory Nut is easy - shelling is not

Just kidding – hulling the nut is easy but shelling it is a whole ‘nother story. We’ve tried several ways to crack open our hickory nuts. Our goal is to keep as much nut meat intact as possible. We’ve tried hammering it 1/3 below the old stem – it did okay. Lot’s of intact nut meat, but it mostly exploded the shells with fragments of nut meat inside, leaving lot’s left to manually pick out. Plus, safety glasses are needed.

We’ve tried the vice grip – works great, but again, lot’s of nut meat fragments left. On a small, family scale, having to spend time to pick the meat out is reasonable. On a scale for profit, it’s not reasonable. Also, those eyes, going to need some safety glasses.

One tactic we’ve tried, if you don’t mind picking the meat out, is covering the nut with a towel, and hitting it with a hammer. Of course, lot’s of nut meat is fragmented but it’s all in one spot, making a family friendly pastime a little easier (and maybe safer for the eyes).

Other methods of shelling a Hickory Nut

What’s left for us to try?

• Soak and crush

• Custom hickory nut crusher made out of stone

  The options are slim but to sell hickory nuts profitable, an efficient way must be developed!

Until then, I will pick the delicious nut meat out of the shell fragments. I don’t mind; it’s as worthwhile as picking crab meat out of the smallest part of the crab leg.

How to Efficiently Harvest Shagbark Hickory Nuts in the Woods

How to Efficiently Harvest Shagbark Hickory Nuts in the Woods

The day I discovered our own little patch of established Food forest on our property is the day I learned everything I could about how to harvest the Shagbark Hickory nut.

Here is everything I’ve learned and what I personally do when harvesting Shagbark Hickory nuts as efficiently as possible -

Firstly, our Hickory grove is younger and is mostly located on an incline which makes clearing out the inedible weeds more of a chore than normal. It also makes for an interesting harvest. I can’t use tool for nut gathering easily on the uneven terrain especially when the multi-floral rose takes over in late summer [one day, I’ll rotate some goats through there to knock them back permanently].

So how to harvest the small green-brown nut when leaf litter and dead organic material litter the floor?

Before the nuts fall, I mark main “hot spots”, where the previous years nut hulls lay on the ground. Sometimes it’s right near the trunk and in small low spots that are scattered on the hillside. For other trees, the hulls lay perfectly underneath the branches with no movements. To make efficient time while harvesting, these “hot spots” are marked with a flag – so on days that I don’t have a lot of time to gather and harvest, I can quickly find these spots and gather what’s there already.

About two or three times a week, I take the time to fully search around each Hickory Tree to find any nuts that I’ve missed. This has been the easiest way to harvest these trees in an unmaintained and uncultivated forest setting.

Turning the Food Forest Hickory Grove into a Regenerative Practice -

In the coming years, this grove will become a cultivated part on our farm – from clearing out the underbrush to clearing canopy space for young hickory trees to compete – each harvest year will become easier and more efficient.

If your harvesting in areas that are clear or flat – look into purchasing nut gathering tools to save pressure on your back. I’m looking forward to when these tools can be used on our farm!

Read more about Shagbark Hickory Nuts in the Food Forest and check out the article, Discovering and Developing the Food Forest.

Hickory Nuts in the food forest: A Regenerative Farm Bumper Crop Opportunity

Hickory Nuts in the food forest: A Regenerative Farm Bumper Crop Opportunity

This is the first year I fully get to dive into discovering what exactly lays hidden on our farmstead. There are wooded fence lines and ravines scattered about – that have been totally unexplored by us, until today.

We’ve been zeroed-in on the farm operations - built fences, repaired fences, cleared fences, and developed water lines for the South Poll Cattle herd and Hair Sheep flock this year. This has left little time to explore. Now that fall is here and that all of the fencing and water lines are nearly finished, it’s time to find what our farmstead has to offer.

After reading the book Farming in the Woods by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, I truly couldn’t wait to see what our own “food forest” was already providing. So, a walk through these unexplored areas yielded a great result – tons of Shagbark Hickory and Black Walnut trees everywhere.

This first year, we’ve have spent hours foraging for the hickory nuts scattered around. It’s been a fun fall treat to do with the family. We’ve hulled and sorted all the Shagbark Hickory nuts; they are stored and ready for our customers to purchase.

Of course, I’ve kept a lot back for our family – this is the best tasting nut I’ve ever eaten. It’s a maple-rum like flavor that has outdone the taste of pure maple syrup.

The Beginner’s simplified guide: Discovering and developing a Food Forest

Discovering and developing a Food Forest

The Beginner’s simplified guide

This year, we’ve had the opportunity to discover our property from end to end and everything in between. The most exciting discovery this year was the 100 + edible nut trees strewn through the woods.

Checkin’ out the Canopy to Define Which Term to Use: Forest and Woodlands

Let’s talk about the word “woods” often used in the English language to describe everything from patches of trees to sprawling thousand acres of trees – according to my new favorite book, Farming the Woods by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, naming the type of “woods” is dependent on the canopy. If the canopy of the woods is nearly 100% covered by the tree canopy with few openings, the “woods” is defined as a forest. A majority of the canopy being covered by trees but still has open spots of sunlight coming through is considered woodlands.

The Farmstead’s Forest was Full of Black Walnuts and Shagbark Hickory Trees

On our property there are several acres of forest and several acres of woodlands – I’m excited to develop both of these areas into both forest farming and forest gardening. Forest farming will come naturally as the mostly young Black Walnut and Shagbark Hickory trees are dropping their nuts to the ground. The few mature trees around (this property was selectively logged long before us, about 25 years ago) have a huge bounty that I’m waiting patiently to fall to the ground to harvest.

The discovery of these edible nut trees is exciting for both farmsteading purposes and also in our farm business operations. The discovery has led to a host of learning experiences for every age in the family and the discovery has led to a new low-input and low-overhead bumper crop that we can count on every Fall (as much as one can depend on Mother nature).

I want to leave you with this article, as I want to spread the excitement of discovering your own food forest (or woodlands).

The Steps to Discover Your Own Food Forest

• Take walks along animal paths

• Photograph each different tree – Take photos of bark, leaves, leaf structure, limb structure and ground litter

• Check the ground for litter – old leaves, old nut shells, companion plants growing

• Go to Google or your favorite search engine and find a starting place – start with your specific country/state/providence/etc and type in something like, “natural forests in XYZ area”

• Narrow down your searches after you’ve gathered what type of trees grow naturally in your area – one might try “MYstate DNR tree ID” or “what does thistreeleaf look like”

• Document what trees match your photos

• Go back out on your walk, mark the trees to be used in your own food forest with impermanent means (flags, stakes, paint) so that you can practice finding them easily

• On this walk, be sure to count the trees and guesstimate their ages to determine if or when they may start producing foods

Now that I’ve walked through the above process, I have moved to the next step which is planning on how to develop this food forest and woodland areas best.

Development Plans for Forest and Woodland Cultivation

Fall 2020

Young Honey Locust trees (the trees with crazy thorns bunched together on the truck and limbs), were competing in the canopy with young Black Walnut trees. The Honey Locust trees will be Coppiced or a variation of that.

Young saplings are competing with sunlight amongst multi-floral rose bushes and other non-edible weeds such as Poison Ivy and the Virginia Creeper Vine. These non-edibles will be removed and piled into hügelkultur mounds in the woodland areas.

All non-edible weeds will be removed from the creek bank and will be marked for Sedge and Rush seedings for a light Riparian buffer.

Hügelkultur mounds will be initiated with all dead brush that is cleared out.

Winter 2020

Continuation of Fall 2020 projects

Spring 2021

Mark with flags all young Black Walnut and Shagbark Hickory saplings

Finish hügelkultur mounds and begin planting edible bush plants

Seed Sedges and Rushes along the creek bank for a Riparian buffer

Plant several edible producing bushes and trees in selected spots

The Farmstead’s Plans to Intergrate the Food Forest into Business Operations

All in all, exploring and discovering our own food forest had a wonderful outcome – existing trees ready to have their produce harvested was an added bonus to our business operations and our own personal table. The planning and developing to further our food forest and woodlands will be one of the lowest overhead costs to produce bumper crops. Black Walnuts and Shagbark Hickory will pair wonderfully with the additional selected bushes and trees we will be planting in the Spring of 2021. I’m excited.

Please reach out to us if you’d like some help with your own food forest discovery and development!

Ag. in Ed. | Fourth Panel Discussion

Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!

The Fourth Discussion

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Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.

There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before continuing the fourth discussion, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.

Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing and delivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a community youth group who focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.

Click Here to read an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.

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Terms used:

Ag and/or Ag Ed may be used interchangeable for Agricultural Education

The term FFA is used below. FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national organization that is implemented in schools throughout the U.S. It  prepares students for an education and career in leadership, science, and business for agricultural pursuits.

Learn more at https://www.ffa.org/

4H refers to the community-based national organization that promotes a multitude of education and skills. In rural communities, 4H groups usually focus on agricultural topics. 

Learn more at https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-h/

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The fourth topic:

(NTF asked): If you had the option to incorporate any aspect of Agriculture into your curriculum and/or the local schools curriculum (that you either don't have time to cover or is not offered/allowed), what would you add?

Ryan – Middle School Science Teacher in a Rural School District

“I am lucky enough to be in a school-district that allows me to design my own curriculum in the best way I see fit. While I do incorporate many aspects of sustainability (such as renewable energies and pollution) into my curriculum, there are many opportunities to introduce agriculture into many of the various topics that I teach. As I enter into this new school year, I am going to challenge myself to educate my students on how food is grown and prepared and what their healthiest options are.”

Debra – High school Agricultural Education and FFA teacher in a rural school district

“I would like to add back in more financial/budgeting that they can all apply to real life applications.”  

Karlee – High school Spanish teach in a suburban/densely populated school district

“I would like to see the district adopt an Agricultural Education Curriculum or FFA to give students more than one path through high school and help peak their interests. For my own class personally, I would love to attain funding to do a local Spanish Speaking community outreach to give families the resources to live independently or improve quality of life. This could include sustainability, local community gardens to secure cheaper and healthier food for their families and much more.” 

Melissa – Home school educator in a rural area

“Something I'm always desiring to add more of in our studies is learning the names of things in nature, whether it be the weeds (flowers) coming up in our field or the birds we see coming to our feeders. I think giving things a name gives more importance to things and therefore gives us all a reason to desire to take care of our land better.” 

Katie - Lead educator for youth program located within the city of Columbus, Ohio

“For older students, I would focus very specifically on topics surrounding food justice, and answering hard questions around food accessibility: why is it that sugar & sweetened beverages are marketed specifically to young people & people of color? Why do areas with less net income, on average, have fewer options for fresh fruit & vegetables? If you buy a tomato at a store for a dollar, versus at a farmer’s market for a dollar, where are those dollars going? Why are the top crops in the United States corn, soybeans, and wheat? What is Monsanto? How have lobbyists impacted America’s food system?” 

“The answers to these questions give us good ideas about the deep cultural, racial, and economic fractions in our food system, and offer a starting point for how to fix them.” 

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The fifth topic will add additional insight from our panel!

Read the conclusion and continue reading here.

Click Here to read more about our panel participants.

Find the first discussion Here, the second discussion Here, and third Here.

Ag. in Ed. | Third Panel Discussion

Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!

The Third Discussion

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Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.

There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before continuing with the third discussion, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.

Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing and delivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a community youth group who focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.

Click Here to read an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.

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Terms used:

Ag and/or Ag Ed may be used interchangeable for Agricultural Education

The term FFA is used below. FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national organization that is implemented in schools throughout the U.S. It prepares students for an education and career in leadership, science, and business for agricultural pursuits.

Learn more at https://www.ffa.org/

4H refers to the community-based national organization that promotes a multitude of education and skills. In rural communities, 4H groups usually focus on agricultural topics. 

Learn more at https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-h/

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The third topic:

(NTF asked):

There's no argument that well-rounded curriculums are important to a student’s learning, but there is an argument that certain subjects, such as Agricultural Education, are outdated or too unimportant to the modern time to keep in schools.  How does/could Agricultural Education enrich your students’ academic and non-academic life?

Ryan – Middle School Science Teacher in a Rural School District

“Coming from an education background, I will say that the American Education system has become entirely too hyper-focused on meeting ‘standards’  and mandated testing. While I want all of my students to be fluent readers and to be well versed in mathematics, I know that many of my students are not necessarily going to need to know the definition of ‘superfluous’ or recite the Pythagorean theorem. However, identifying healthy options of food or learning how to grow their own fruits and vegetables on their own property would be beneficial to ALL of my students. While I love my job as an educator, I do, at times, feel ashamed that we are not preparing kids for their futures in a practical sense of being able to support themselves in a positive and healthy way.”

Debra – High school Agricultural Education and FFA teacher in a rural school district

“Ag Ed prepares students for real world applications both academically and non-academically.”

(refer to https://www.ffa.org/ for more information)

Karlee – High school Spanish teach in a suburban/densely populated school district

“I believe there are many components of Agricultural Education that can benefit all students no matter the subject matter. We are often encouraged to consider Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences in our instruction. One of these intelligences is Naturalistic learning. What this means is a student may learn best when their content is integrated with the environment. While this may be difficult to do every day, it is certainly not impossible. In Spanish class, we learn about a lot of culture and current events. Much of this culture revolves around economic crisis, poverty, and developing countries. In Cuba during the 90s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there was an economic crisis called ‘The Special Period’. It was a time of great hunger and despair for the Cuban people as they lost their trade and resources. Many were forced into veganism due to shortage of meat. At their most desperate times, they ate rats, cats, and Zoo animals. Then came the small-scale agricultural boom. People decided to try their hand at growing what they could wherever they could. This might have been a parking lot, patio, their yard if they had one. This helped ease some of the burden they had.”

There are community projects in Spanish Speaking countries that aim at creating more independent individuals and teaching them how to better their quality of life. Project Chacocente is a non-profit that helps Nicaraguans move out of the Managua city dump where they were living, to rural Masaya where they are taught sustainable farming, how to build a home, and where they are given an education. Small divisions like these are helping remove the cycle of extreme poverty from some of the most destitute areas simply through sustainability practices. (see http://www.outofthedump.org/) 

(see https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/how-cubans-health-improved-when-their-economy-collapsed/275080/ for an interesting take on the
crisis)

In Venezuela today, the country suffers from economic crisis due to political unrest causing its 70% of imported foods to be cut off. People stand in line all day to buy bread but bakers are unable to produce demand based on how much wheat they are allocated each day. Some of the bakers resort to making desserts instead that they can sell for more profit. Some are resorting to eating scraps from the trash or re-purposing found items to sell. A popular thing to do is take vegetable scraps from the trash and make a stew or vegetable medley to sell. If Venezuela were more independent and had sustainability practices, they wouldn't have been hurt so much by this crisis. (see https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/03/news/economy/venezuela-food-prices/index.html?iid=EL)

These are just a few of the things that we discuss in my Spanish classes that all center around Agriculture or sustainability. 

Melissa – Home school educator in a rural area

“I think growing up in the outdoors and having chores like feeding the chickens or tasks on butchering day, give them experiences that the majority of kids do not have today. Not only will that give them some really interesting life experiences to share with others as they grow, [but] I believe they are learning how to do unpleasant things because they enjoy the result (like getting paid to help with the chickens or eating the food that comes after butchering day). One of my sons has been tending to a watermelon plant all summer, and I can see the patience that is developed in him looking at how big it has gotten every day. He will (literally) reap the fruit of his labor.”  

Katie - Lead educator for youth program located within the city of Columbus, Ohio

“I think those who argue that agriculture is ‘outdated or too unimportant’ to teach in modern schools is seriously fooling themselves on the needs of our planet and population. Thorough, well-documented, research has already shown us that we will have a hard time feeding the growing population of the world. Perhaps those who believe agriculture is too outdated are thinking that agriculture is only for older farmers in fields and fields of corn and wheat. In this case, I agree! Monoculture should be taught so kids know what NOT to do! :) “

“The lessons and work we do with students in the garden has a significant impact. To name a few: 

● The garden offers nearby students to grow, play, and learn in one of the few green spaces around. 

● 96.5% of the students coming to us from a local elementary school qualify for a free school lunch, meaning their family’s income is 130% below the federal poverty line. The [Columbus] Hilltop area, where Highland Youth Garden is home to, is considered a food desert, with little access to fresh foods. Students regularly try fresh fruits and vegetables in their classes and in other programming, helping to introduce them to items they might have not otherwise had access to and supplementing some of their nutritional needs. 

● As previously mentioned, concepts covered in garden class almost always support Ohio Learning Standards. This means that they learn a concept in their classroom, and then come over to the garden to have that concept reinforced in a different environment, all while focusing on gardening, environmental education, and nutrition. 

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The fourth topic to will discuss how Agricultural Education may enrich a students academic and non-academic life.

Click here to continue reading

Click Here to read more about our panel participants

Find the first discussion Here and the second discussion Here

Skip to the conclusion!

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Ag. in Ed. | Second Panel Discussion

Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!

The Second Discussion

---

Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.

There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before continuing with our second discussion, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.

Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing and delivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a community youth group who focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.

Click Here to read an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.

---

Terms used:

Ag and/or Ag Ed may be used interchangeable for Agricultural Education

The term FFA is used below. FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national organization that is implemented in schools throughout the U.S. It prepares students for an education and career in leadership, science, and business for agricultural pursue.

Learn more at https://www.ffa.org/

4H refers to the community-based national organization that promotes a multitude of education and skills. In rural communities, 4H groups usually focus on agricultural topics. 

Learn more at https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-h/

---

The second topic:

(NTF asked):  Different aspects of agriculture - Our farm focuses on regenerative agriculture while other farms focus on monocultures. There is a wide range of agricultural topics. How do you think your students view agriculture?

Ryan – Middle School Science Teacher in a Rural School District

“Being that our town is surrounded by thousands of acres of sprawling corn and soybean fields, I believe when students hear the term “agriculture”, they  rows of vegetables covering a massive amount of land. I know the families of many of my students have vegetable gardens in their backyards, but I feel that many students do not make the connection that their vegetable garden is in fact a form of agriculture on a smaller scale.  In this sense, I do feel that it would be great to educate students on this smaller scale agriculture. Often times, the healthiest food we can get can come from our own backyards.”

Debra – High school Agricultural Education and FFA teacher in a rural school district

“Most of my students are pretty open minded, thankfully.  They are very interested in expanding their prior knowledge and open to improving their current operations to improve the operation and making it more sustainable. “ 

Karlee – High school Spanish teach in a suburban/densely populated school district

“I don't personally think that my students consider Agriculture at all. [My school district] is not known for its farming, although that isn't to say it doesn't exist at all. There is a very active Farmer's Market community during the warmer months and a lot of small personal farms around (see https://www.marketwednesday.com/) Our student demographic doesn't revolve around a farming or agricultural community though.” 

Melissa – Home school educator in a rural area

“I think they understand that there are many different types of farming. When we're driving past the big ag farms, we talk about how they are not the best for the land but also about how they developed and why our food is not grown the way it is. The farming we've done also has focused on being good and healing for  land so they are aware of the reasons why we do that and why we believe it is the best way to farm.  I don't know that any of them will choose a career as a farmer, but I do think they have a wide understanding of what it means to be a farmer today.  We know a lot of the farmers in our area, so we see them regularly at the farmers market. Our kids know what it looks like to be a farmer on both small and large scale.”  

Katie – Lead educator for youth program located within the city of Columbus, Ohio

“I don’t want to speak for my students, you’d have to ask them! What I’ve noticed personally: for our younger students, it’s a challenge to get them to connect food with farming. For them, food comes from grocery stores, corner stores, or from food distribution centers. Living in an urban setting, our garden is one of the few green spaces around. “

“For our older students, particularly our high school students that participate in our 8-week summer “Green Teens” program, views of agriculture are broadened significantly. At the beginning of the program, we chat as a group about stereotypes of farming; their ideas of what farmers look/talk like, where they come from, etc.”

“We try hard to break this stereotype during the program. We welcome guest speakers into the garden on a regular basis, so our Green Teens are talking with professionals at universities, consultants, large-scale organic farmers, and many small farm owners who attend farmer’s markets. By the end, they see clearly that a background in agriculture can take you many directions, not just the typical mono-crop farming that we are most familiar with from media”

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The third topic to will discuss how Agricultural Education may enrich a students academic and non-academic life.

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Ag. in Ed. | First Panel Discussion

Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!

The First Topic

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Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.

There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before beginning our first discussion, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.

Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing and delivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a community youth group who focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.

[[Click Here to read an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.]]

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The first topic: Agriculture and its’ potential and actual impact in an educational curriculum.

The wide variety of topics the agriculture encompasses can range from biology to chemistry and from finance to legal. Livestock, crops, soil health, watershed conservation, and forestry are typical subjects when students are learning about agriculture. Chemistry is a hot topic as well. Monoculture farms utilize the chemistry field to determine the type of chemical needed to cover miles of acreage and to continue to keep their cropland producing high yields. Those in the agricultural education field know that ag. ed. teaches other aspects such as finances; grant writing and book keeping are only a few of those items. The legal side of agriculture is another important component: companies such as Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund protect small farmers across the United States against unnecessary regulations.

With the wide variety of subjects that agriculture touches, it is a surprise that agricultural education isn’t a part of every schools curriculum. Our panel explores this idea and whether formal agriculture education would benefit or detract from their students education.

(NTF asked): Why do you believe Agricultural Education and/or FFA is a part of the formal education within your school? 

Should the above be a mandatory subject(s), even for a short time)?

Agricultural Education and/or FFA are not usually offered outside of high school-aged youth. Should it be available for other age groups?

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Terms used:

Ag and/or Ag Ed may be used interchangeable for Agricultural Education

The term FFA is used below. FFA, formerly known as Future Farmers of America, is a national organization that is implemented in schools throughout the U.S. It prepares students for an education and career in leadership, science, and business for agricultural pursuits. Learn more at https://www.ffa.org

4H refers to the community-based national organization that promotes a multitude of education and skills. In rural communities, 4H groups usually focus on agricultural topics. Learn more at https://4-h.org/about/what-is-4-

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Ryan – Middle School Science Teacher in a Rural School District

“Coming from a rural school district, agriculture plays a vital part to my town’s economy and work force. Many of my students are involved with family farming or participate in FFA and 4H.  While these students are aware with the ‘ins and outs’ of farming, those students who are not from an agricultural background probably know very little about the importance of agriculture as a practice.”

“As an educator in a middle school, I know that with all of the standards we are required to meet, it would be very hard to incorporate a mandatory agricultural class into the everyday curriculum. With that said, I do feel that every single subject has an opportunity to include education in agricultural practices. Our school does require students to take a health/nutrition class but that mainly deals with ‘what’ food they are eating. I do think it would be very beneficial to also teach our students about ‘where’ their food is coming from and teach them that the foods we eat are not all produced in the same way -- some are healthy, others are unhealthy. As a 7th grade science teacher, I introduce topics to students such as the food web and chemistry. Both of these topics provide me opportunities to relate the content to agricultural practices as well.”

Debra – High school Agricultural Education and FFA teacher in a rural school district

“Agricultural Education and FFA [for our school] is a formal part of the education in our school!  We are very proud to be Home of the FFA Jacket… Which gives us a rich heritage for our program unlike any other program in the country. Agricultural Education has something to offer to everyone!!” 

“I do think it should be mandatory for at least 9 weeks for all students.  Ideally, I would love to teach a life skills class but unfortunately, we don't offer such a class.  I would like to teach things such as basic tool use, changing oil in your car, checking fluids or tire pressure, sewing on a button or sewing a hole in your pants, how to process your own food (can green beans or tomato sauce, etc).” 

Karlee – High school Spanish teach in a suburban/densely populated school district

“Agricultural Education should be a class in all schools, but not a graduation requirement at this time. Much like my class, Spanish, it is considered an elective. If it were required you may have a large group of students forced to take a class they have no interest in. Regardless of the benefit of learning about Agriculture, you may be sacrificing the quality of your course by making everyone take it. I believe by including it into a graduation pathway much like STEAM, or career center, students would be able to build a small portfolio prior to graduation that would allow them to seek Agriculture related education or jobs after graduation.” 

“There are courses that have Ag components in them, such as biology, and zoology. Students are able to utilize the land lab at the back of the school, a large pond with a diverse ecosystem that the students and teachers help to maintain and grow. Some general education teachers grow fish in their classroom to populate the ecosystem. I myself have a large fish tank with about 10 fish that we take care of and help grow. (see https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190102/aquariums-latest-learning-environments-at-westerville-north) Students in Biology courses take part in growing produce for the local food shelter, W.A.R.M and growing flowers and plants outside of school building. (see https://www.smore.com/32nvm ) Some Biology students take part in hatching chicks and learning how to identify their sex and track growth. Some students have the opportunity to work with Monarch butterflies. I think that any of these existing projects could also be covered in an Agriculture or Sustainability course at the High School level.”

Melissa – Home school educator in a rural area

“I don't believe there is/are any Ohio homeschooling requirements that state that agriculture must be taught.  We live on a few acres, so teaching agriculture has become a normal part of our everyday lives.  The kids know what it’s like to be a part of butchering days, they understand that our food doesn't come from packages in a store, we teach them what time of year to plant and harvest, and the reasons why it's important to grow your own food.  They don't always care or want to participate, but I am thankful to give them a basis for understanding.”

Katie – Lead educator for youth program, Highland Youth Gardens, located within the city of Columbus, Ohio

“Classes and curriculum dedicated specifically to agriculture are not available in the formal education of the participating schools at Highland Youth Garden, nor at any public school that I know of in Columbus; that said, I notice some of our teachers using basic gardening/plants as a learning tool, especially in science classes.” 

“Should it be mandatory? In my opinion, students should absolutely be able to opt into classes and topics that interest them. In the same way that not everyone will be a mathematician, but everyone must learn some basic forms of math in school, I think that, while not everyone will grow up to be farmers and gardeners, everyone should learn about their food: where it comes from, how it’s produced, the dangers of certain types of food, and how to make healthy eating choices. In the same way that there are higher math courses for students who have special interest, so too should there be advanced courses in high school for students to learn more about sustainable agriculture and our food systems. The biggest difference between math & food systems: poorly designed math problems aren’t causing irreversible global warming and severe destruction to our only home, poorly designed food systems on a national and global scale certainly do.” 

“What may be even better than one specific “class” on agriculture or food systems is project-based, interdisciplinary teachings that cover several subjects, including agriculture! As the lead educator at Highland Youth Garden, I strive to design curriculum that is food & garden-based, but that supports the already existing public-school curriculum. For example: my 6th grade class did an entire project on hydroponics. They learned how to read seed packets (practicing critical reading skills & deducing conclusions from limited information), set up & cared for the seeds in a hydroponics tower (how to follow complex directions & spatial reasoning), and tracked the seeds’ progress on sprouting and harvesting (charting skills, mathematics). All the while, these students were learning not only about ancient Mesopotamia as apart of their common core classes, but also how Mesopotamia had incredibly advanced forms of irrigation and hydroponics for their crops. This is a “project-based” lesson that incorporated reading, spatial reasoning, mathematics, food studies, agriculture, and history, all rolled into one

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The second topic to discuss is what views and opinions do students have regarding Agricultural Education.

Click Here to read more about our panel participants.

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Third discussion topic
Fourth discussion topic

Conclusion

Ag. in Ed. | The Introduction to the Discussion Panel

Welcome to the Agricultural Education Panel Discussion!

The Introduction

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Five well-rounded volunteers are participating, bringing a wealth of knowledge, information, and encouragement to the world of Agricultural Education and its importance in educational curriculums.

There are five topics that the panel discusses. Before beginning our discussion that will span the next few weeks, let’s introduce the panel…each hand-picked to represent a variety of educators and a variety of learning environments.

Ryan, Debra, and Karlee are teachers that work closely with students, developing anddelivering comprehensive lessons in the traditional setting. Melissa is a
homeschool educator, managing lesson plans while creating and tailoring the best educational environment for her children. Katie is an educator for a an urban-based community youth group which focuses on bringing agriculture close-to-home for kids that do not have agricultural education within their schools.

Below, is an in-depth introduction of each of the educators participating in our panel discussion.

[[Click below to jump to the first discussion topic: Should Agricultural Education be implemented in formal curriculums?]]

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Ryan

Ryan is a Middle School science teacher in a rural school district in Central Ohio. With a background in Landscape Architecture, Ryan brings creative and engaging lessons to his students about various science topics such as the atmosphere and weather, energy transfers, the periodic table, and food webs, all while relating the content to sustainable and environmental practices. While Ryan wants students to become well-rounded science students, he also wants them to become responsible stewards to the world around them.

Follow Ryan’s suggestion for continual learning for students…https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/

 “I use this website as a means of keeping my students up to date on ‘science things’. Science is never stagnant so I want students (and adults) to stay up-to-date on the world around them.”

Debra

Debra was raised on a beef farm in rural Ohio. She pursued her passion and gained her degree in Production Agriculture and Secondary Education. She is in her 19th year as an Agricultural Educator in a school district that emphasizes agricultural education and is known as the “Home to the FFA Jacket”.

Continue to learn more about Ohio’s FFA program at https://ohioffa.org/

Karlee

Karlee is a Spanish Teacher in a Suburban/highly populated school district in Central Ohio. She is an active co-advisor to the International and Spanish Clubs which seek to promote inclusivity and education through events through several community-based organizations.

Melissa

Melissa is a homeschool teacher, teaching formal and informal educational curriculums tailored specific to her children. A graduate of The Ohio State University and a multi-faceted entrepreneur, to include professional photography and professional philanthropy endeavors; Melissa brings a wide variety of topics and skills to her education plans.

Find Melissa’s current project here: http://simplyonelife.org/about-us/

Melissa and her husband Brad are developing and initiating their non-profit, School of Kingdom Writers.

Find more of the organization and how to donate here: https://sokw.org/

Katie

Katie is the lead educator at Highland Youth Garden.

Find more about Highland Youth Garden: https://www.highlandyouthgarden.org/

Read below for more from Katie and this innovative community endeavor.

Highland Youth Garden is a non-profit urban agriculture project founded in 2009 in the Hilltop, located on the westside of Columbus, OH. The garden spans nearly half an acre on three plots of land, is home to a large high tunnel, and produces nearly 4000 pounds of food yearly. Highland Youth Garden ’s mission is to enhance the Hilltop through growing food and educating children and neighbors through regular garden classes, summer programs, special events, volunteer engagement, and more. 

During the school year, around 375 students from two nearby elementary schools spend time in garden classes. These classes support their normal classroom curriculum, learning about topics like gardening, nutrition, cooking, and environmental science. Students also may join the Garden Club, a weekly, 2-hour after school program where students can dive deeper into gardening, cooking, and activities at the garden. 

In addition to educational programming for children, Highland Youth Garden also hosts an 8-week summer Green Teens program in which local teens spend nearly 130 hours in the Garden earning money doing gardening projects & maintenance, cooking, and learning essential job & life skills. During the summer months, groups of children from local summer camps and summer schools also join us in the garden weekly. 

Highland Youth Garden also hosts weekly volunteer days, participates in the Westgate Farmer’s Market twice a month, and throws monthly Community Celebrations that provide healthy, garden-inspired meals for children and neighbors and a place for the community to gather. Children and teens help plan, set up, and run these special events, offering more opportunities for these students to engage in experiential learning and be leaders in their community.

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The first topic to discuss is whether Agricultural Education should be a encouraged within curriculums.

[[Click here to continue to the first panel discussions]]

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Conclusion