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Why I like farming 🚜

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Why I like farming 🚜

Farming is real. It’s a bit of a war against natural order – fighting weeds, bacteria and disease but also is highly dependent on sustaining natural systems and remaining close to the land. It’s about mud and blood, manure, life and death.

Farming is dirty – after all its about turning mud and manure into crops and ultimately feed or food. Livestock poops a lot. Bugs, bacteria and mold can be gross but it’s part of the natural processes and the cycle of life that so much of urban life is distant from.

How to Easily Catch Spotted Lanternflies Using a Water Bottle | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

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How to Easily Catch Spotted Lanternflies Using a Water Bottle | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

For an invasive pest, the spotted lanternfly is a beautifully colorful insect with delicately spotted wings that unfold to reveal a striking pastiche of red, white and black. But don’t be fooled—this planthopper can be destructive, feeding on nutrients sucked from inside plants and leaving behind sugary honeydew that later turns to sooty black mold.

The insect is native to Asia, where it traditionally feeds on the tree species Ailanthus altissima, commonly called tree of heaven. Insect predators keep the spotted lanternfly’s population in check in its native habitat, but in recent years, the species has begun to spread worldwide, likely through global trade. After being found in Pennsylvania in 2014, the damaging pest has now been spotted in nearly a dozen other states.

Finger Lakes invasion of spotted lanternfly predicted | News | fltimes.com

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Finger Lakes invasion of spotted lanternfly predicted | News | fltimes.com

GENEVA — The Finger Lakes may be invaded by the spotted lanternfly soon.

The insect is an invasive pest from Asia that feeds primarily on trees and a variety of plants, including grapevines, hops, maple, walnut and fruit trees. It arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014. They have spread to Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and now New York, starting on Long Island and in downstate areas.

They pose a risk to state agricultural and forest health, as they use their sucking mouth parts to feed on the sap of more than 70 plant species, making the plants vulnerable to disease and attacks from other insects. Officials worry that the spotted lanternfly will harm the state’s grape and apple crops.

Modern agriculture can make people forget how different livestock fit together on the homestead πŸ·πŸ„πŸ

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Modern agriculture can make people forget how different livestock fit together on the homestead πŸ·πŸ„πŸ

High performance animals like used on professional dairies such as Holsteins or Yorkshire pigs on hog farms can make people forget why different stock is raised for different purposes. Professional farms feed a lot of grain and grass in controlled rations so it’s easy to forget animals unique strengths.

Goats are browsers, they are best for cleaning up areas of brush and woody areas. Their thing is brush not pasture, they aren’t miniature cows.

Cows on the other hand are grass eaters. They turn land that isn’t good for crops into valuable forage that cows can uniquely break down grass and turn it into milk and meat. Grass grows a lot of places where other crops won’t.

Pigs are organic recyclers. Dairy farms had them traditionally to drink waste milk not fit for human consumption. Homesteaders gave them food scraps and spoiled bread.

Fire dependent presidency

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I think the next president should run on the platform of more controlled burns on fire dependent ecosystems. 🌲🌾πŸ”₯🌿🌲