Farmer's Market Nutrition Program and Senior Farmer's Market Nutrition Program (FMNP and SFMNP)

Just last week my farm became eligible to accept these checks from WIC participants and Seniors.  This great program gives eligible people the opportunity to taste just how good a freshly picked "just that morning" tomato can taste!

The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) provide WIC recipients and eligible seniors with resources in the form of fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs from approved farmers' markets in Pennsylvania.  The purpose of the FMNP and SFMNP is to increase the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables with low income seniors and WIC recipients, and to expand the awareness, use of and sales at farmer's markets.

Farmers Accepting the checks:
The PA Department of Agriculture is responsible for authorizing individual farmers.  Only farmers authorized by the State agency may accept and redeem FMNP and SFMNP checks.   Individuals who exclusively sell produce grown by someone else or purchased from a wholesale distributor can not be authorized to participate in the FMNP.

Eligibility:

FMNP- Recipients must be on the WIC program to receive this benefit.

SFMNP- Seniors must be 60 or older by December 31st of the program year and meet the income eligibility guidelines.  Income eligibility is basis on 185% of the federal poverty income guidelines.  The guidelines are published each year by the United States Department of Agriculture.  Call the Potter County Office on Aging to see if you are eligible.

How the Program Works for  recipients: 
Eligible WIC recipients receive the FMNP during their quarterly WIC visit during the months of May - September.  Eligible Seniors recipients receive the SFMNP by going to a distribution site in their county. Distribution site information is available by calling the county aging office in the county the senior resides.  Recipients are given a list of participating farmers and farmers' markets when they receive their checks.  These checks are redeemed for fresh fruits and vegetables grown or growable in Pennsylvania.  Each eligible recipient receives 4 - $5.00 SFMNP checks to redeem at a qualified farmers' markets or roadside stands.  There are over 1,000 FMNP participating farmers at 800 farm stands and 190 farmers' markets in Pennsylvania.

And some of us are at the Coudersport Farmer's Market in the Courthouse Square on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.!

These checks are available every year and sadly, only a small portion of them are ever redeemed.  If you think you, or someone you know, is eligible for FMNP and SFMNP checks, ask about them at your WIC office or local Office on Aging.  This is a chance to taste some yummy fresh fruit or even try something new!

Survival Skills with Russ: How to Butcher a Chicken

Tomato Hands

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time picking suckers off the tomato plants.  I didn't realize quite how staining tomato plant juice can be!  These photos are after multiple scrubbings and washings. You can bet I'll wear gloves next time!

I've spent the past few weeks planting and digging into the earth to plant seeds that will grow healthy and clean food for myself and others.  These hands may be rough, ripped up, and sadly in need of a manicure, but these are the hands of a gardener!

Deer Sighting And Our First CSA Week

 I was preparing to work on this blog this morning, when I heard my schnauzer, Candy Cane, barking and turned to see a doe running and almost jumping over the dog in her haste to get away.  A minute later the dog started barking again and I looked to see the doe standing her ground and watching the dog.  Out of curiosity, I walked out to see how close to the doe I could get.  I was about 20 feet away from her..

...before she turned tail to run another 20 feet away.  I wonder if there's a 

little fawn hiding out in that growth?  

We had our first CSA pick up this past Friday and Saturday.  The baskets contained salad greens, beets, garlic scapes, free range eggs, maple syrup, jelly, herbs (tarragon, parsley, chives, and oregano), and chow chow. 

We look like we'll have a good basket for next week, but our third week's basket may hold less as we wait for the gardens to put forth their bounty.  That's part of being in a CSA and gardening in general - you enjoy joys of the bounty along with the sorrow of the dearth.  Once things get going though... (God willing) watch out for the tidal wave of vegetables!   

One of the most delightful things about a garden

is the anticipation it provides.  

 ~ by W.E. Johns, 

Why There Are Three

No, the bears didn't get the fourth hive up behind Jennigans Auto Body!  

We moved it to our house for pollination of our own gardens.  The gentleman who was going to sell us the Russian bees that we planned to set up for our gardens lost his hives due to contaminated pollen patties and we weren't able to find any others suppliers that we liked as well.

Roundup Linked With Birth Defects

As a follow up to yesterday's report on pesticides, I found this report on the herbicide, glyphosate, the chemical upon which the trademark named herbicide, Roundup, is based.  This herbicide report comes from the European Community.  In common practice in the United States, farmers use Roundup to kill the growth fields before they plant.  Many, many homeowners commonly use Roundup to kill weeds in their yards and make it look "tidy".

Here are excepts from the report, "Roundup and Birth Defects:  Is the public being kept in the dark?" from Earth Open Source 2011.

"Research published in August 2010 showed that the best-selling herbicide Roundup causes malformations in frog and chicken embryos at doses much lower than those used in agricultural spraying.  The malformations found were mostly of the cranofacial and neural crest type, which affect the skull, face, midline, and developing brain and spinal cord."

"The issue is of particular concern now that Monsanto and other producers of genetically modified seed are trying to get their glyphosate-tolerant crops approved for cultivation in Europe.  If the EU Commission gives its approval, this will lead to a massive increase in the amount of glyphosate sprayed in the fields of EU member states, as has already happened in North and South Americas.  Consequently, people's exposure to glyphosate will increase."

To read the full report, go to Round Up and Birth Defects.

For more information about the use of the commonly used herbicide, you can go to:

Pathogen in Roundup Ready Soy and Corn Could Lead to Calamity, Scientist Warns  from Mother Earth News

Monsanto and the Roundup Ready Controversy from SourceWatch.org

Need a weed killer in your garden?  Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and spray away.  It may require more applications then chemical herbicides, but it's not going to have the side-effects of the chemicals either!

EWG Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen

Washington, DC - Environmental Working Group has released the seventh edition of its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce with updated information on 53 fruits and vegetables and their total pesticide loads. EWG highlights the worst offenders with its “Dirty Dozen” list and the cleanest conventional produce with its “Clean 15” list.

Go to the site at Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen for more information and to download a PDF file you can print and fold to take shopping.

EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Dirty Dozen

Buy these organic

1

Apples

2

Celery

3

Strawberries

4

Peaches

5

Spinach

6

Nectarines
– imported

7

Grapes – imported

8

Sweet bell peppers

9

Potatoes

10

Blueberries
– domestic

11

Lettuce

12

Kale/collard greens

Clean 15

Lowest in Pesticide

1

Onions

2

Sweet Corn

3

Pineapples

4

Avocado

5

Asparagus

6

Sweet peas

7

Mangoes

8

Eggplant

9

Cantaloupe
- domestic

10

Kiwi

11

Cabbage

12

Watermelon

13

Sweet potatoes

14

Grapefruit

15

Mushrooms

The Chicks Get Split Up

The chicks outgrew their single pool, so I split them up.  I put the laying chicks in one pool and the meat chicks in the other pool.  The differences between the two types of chickens is amazing.  The cornish rock cross chicks (the yellow ones) have been bred to grow fast and be butchered quickly. They feel hefty when I pick them up.  The laying hens feel about one-third the weight and size of them!  

You can see a difference in the chicks in how they approach their food.  The laying hens in the top picture see their food and are picking at it - they're more concerned about me with the camera - while the meat chicks are a solid block of yellow on top of their feeder.  

I tend to slightly underfeed the meat chicks.  I find that, if given the chance, they will almost eat themselves to death.  By slightly underfeeding them (meaning they don't have food available every minute of the day and night) I find that they don't have the fantastically rapid weight gain and growth that leads to feet and leg problems.  These chicks actually grow up and will be able to spend a portion of their lives pecking and running around outside!     

New Pig Watering System

For weeks and weeks I have hauled buckets of water down to the pig pen and poured them into a giant-sized dog dish looking thing - only to watch the pigs take a big drink, lie down in the dish, and then tip the whole thing over and wallow in the resulting mud.  It's pretty funny to watch them flop themselves down and wallow around - but then a little while later they're squealing for water and it's exhausting to have to keep hauling it to them!

I don't want to take credit for this pig watering system idea.  Maybe it's been around and I've never heard about it.  But, I read about in in one of my favorite magazines - either Mother Earth News or Countryside - and adapted it to what we have available.

To create this, I got a 1/2-inch pig nipple waterer at Tractor Supply Company and a water barrel at Worth W. Smith Hardware in Olean.  I found that the water barrels sold locally tended to have been used to store toxic fracking chemicals, while the Worth W. Smith ones had been used to store cappuccino mix.  Guess which one I would rather use for the pig I'll be eating next winter?

Pig nipple waterer

The design is like a giant-sized rabbit water bottle.  Fitz cut a half moon out of the top of the water barrel so that he could reach down into it, then drilled a hole near the bottom of the barrel and inserted the nipple waterer valve.  Rubber gaskets on the inside and outside of the drinker keep it from leaking and a nuts hold it all in place.  He put screen over the hole he had cut out so that insects can't get into it and it was ready to go.

We attached it to a fence post so that the pigs, as they grow larger, won't push against it and knock it over.  After the pigs came to look at it they took about one second to figure out how to use it.  They walked up, bit the valve down, water went into their mouth, and that was it.  You can see from the water underneath, they have figured out how hold down the valve so that it drips onto the ground and they can create a wallowing hole.  They're not dripping too much and the little bit of mud makes them much more comfortable so I'm happy to let it go.

Don't forget to Barn Hop over to Homestead Revival!

USDA's New Healthy Eating Icon

The United States Department of Agriculture came out with what I feel may be a better way of figuring out if you're eating healthy enough.  Each day, when you fill your imaginary plate, the majority of your plate should be vegetables, followed by a lesser amount of grains, then fruits, and the smallest portion on your plate is a protein, with a side of dairy.  I like the simplicity!

According to the ChooseMyPlate press release, "MyPlate is a new generation icon with the intent to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at meal times."

You can find much more information (there's even a coloring page for young children) about this new icon and eating healthfully at ChooseMyPlate.gov

Fitzgerald's Family Farm 2011 Summer Share/CSA Program

Our Summer Shares/CSA are officially SOLD OUT.  Hurray!  We're limiting ourselves this year as it is our pilot year and we want to be sure to do a really great job with it!

For more information, or to get on the list for next year, go to Fitzgerald's Family Farm.

Smell-O-Vision Needed!

The lilac shrubs beside my back porch have bloomed.  This is when the invention of smell-o-vision is seriously needed!

I am thinking of the lilac-trees,

  That shook their purple plumes,

    And when the sash was open,

      Shed fragrance through the room.

      ~The Old Apple-Tree 

Bear Trap

As I was driving down the hill from my house I saw the local Game Commission with their bear trap along the road.  I wondered if they had been setting up the trap and stopped to chat.

"No," he told me.  He had received a call that a deer had been hit and needed to be put out of its misery.  We walked over and the poor deer was already dead in the weeds by the road.  "Most of the calls we're getting now are for bears," he said.  Bird feeders (including hummingbird feeders) and grills with a good meat smell are very, very attractive to bears and they'll go right up on people's back decks to get to them.

Yesterday, Fitz saw what he estimated to be a 300 pound bear come out of the forest in front of his car.  It ran across the road, vaulted across the guard rail, and ran through some people's backyards.  

I cross my fingers in hopes that the bears find enough to eat in the wild and don't decide to make my beehives their dessert!


"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
                                    -- Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner