Greenleaf Farms

This article from Martha is in June/July 2019 Martha Stewart Living magazine.  She no longer seems to have Ameraucana, and no roosters in her Bedford, New York house (she sold the place in Litchfield) but lots of hens for a multi-coloured basket.

Found this old article from 1920 in the New York Times archives about using hollyhock seeds (rose of sharon) for poultry.  Hollyhocks put out alot of seeds during the bloom, shake those stamens, and you can safely give it to the chickens.  Of course as a winter food is problably a lot more than anything you can reasonably harvest, but who knows?  Maybe you have a lotta Rose of Sharons and few hens and it may work as a treat.

From Food & Wine, a green chicken dish.

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Tightly roll them up lengthwise and secure with toothpicks at 1-inch intervals.
2. In a large saucepan, combine the vinegar, 3/4 cup of water and a pinch of salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the chicken and cook over low heat until just white throughout, 10 to ?12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a work surface and let cool slightly. Discard the toothpicks. Slice the chicken crosswise into 1-inch-thick rounds.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil with the mixed herbs and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken, turning to coat evenly in the herb oil. Let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature and serve with crusty bread.

If you let your grass clippings on the soil, eventually the grass will trun to thatch.  This article, at the end, and most who advocate that practice, ignore that problem.  Instead, bag it, and compost it and everyone will be happier. 

How to Prepare and Use Compost

Remove grass and sod cover from the area where you construct your compost pile to allow direct contact of the materials with the soil's microorganisms. This recipe works well.

• 1st layer: 3-4 inches of chopped brush or other coarse material on the very bottom, touching  the soil surface. 

• 2nd layer: 6-8 inches of mixed scraps, leaves, grass clippings, etc. 

• 3rd layer: 1 inch of soil serves as an inoculant by adding microorganisms to the heap.

• 4th layer: (optional) 2-3 inches of manure or coffee grounds, to provide the nitrogen needed by microorganisms.

• 5th layer: Repeat steps 1-4 until the bin is full. Put a tarp on it, to help heat up the process and keep water out.

The USDA released a report July 21 submitted to the Agricultural Marketing Service National Organics Standard Board regarding whether or not products cultivated via hydroponic or aquaponic farming qualify as organic.

According to the National Organics Standards Board Hydroponic and Aquaponic Task Force, both hydroponic and aquaponic farming should not qualify as organic because they do not improve soil quality, which is a mainstay of organic farming..  Read more here.

President Obama signed into law, a bill requiring a Federal labeling standard for foods containing genetically modified ingredients (commonly called GMOs) 

Two weeks ago, Congress passed the legislation which would require food packages to display an electronic code, text label, or some sort of symbol signifying whether or not they contain GMOs, according to The Associated Press.

The exact details will need to be worked out by the Department of Agriculture, which will have two years to write the rules. Read more here.

In June 1938, the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (“FDCA”) repealed much of the former Pure Food Act and created a more detailed regulatory scheme. It carried forward the 1906 Act’s emphasis on outlawing adulteration and misbranding of food. The operative paradigm of the FDCA is to provide consumers with food content information and let them decide whether the food is appropriate for them to eat.

When the FDCA was enacted in 1938, it too did not define what constitutes “natural” or “organic” food. It defines the word “food” as “(1) articles used for food or drink for man or other animals, (2) chewing gum, and (3) articles use for the components of any such article.”[21] “Processed food,” in turn, “means any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling.”

The FDCA distinguishes food from drugs. A drug includes “articles intended for use in the diagnoses, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals” as well as “articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals.”[23] When food producers make unsubstantiated health claims to promote their food products, they risk having their food categorized as an unapproved, hence an unlawful new “drug.”

This page is from C.S. Valentine's book, which I am currently reading.  I trimmed out the nonessential paragraphs so you could focus on the topic at hand.  Mr Valentine gives a very good account of how breeds "click" and come together -- and how no matter what anyone says, it is very much a combined effort.  In some cases, like the Araucana, it was a decree and the APA just made the bird ignoring all the research previously done and giving it their own imprimatur.  That alas has made the Araucana and Ameraucana a bit a problem from the Livestock Conservancy's pov as it does not recognize it's original South American heritage.

But they are exceptions.  

Most breeds come together as he mentions and it takes a while for a breeder and his vision to coalesce and get a following.  A good example is the American Salmon, which is supposed to be a rather de-feathered version of the Salmon Faverolle -- alas it is too plain for my tastes, but Gary Underwood is pursuing it with his merry band of 5 nonetheless.  One thing rather interesting though of this bird is its dark coloured chocolate eggs...Marans watch out.

This article on Hanselina is from 1984.  Back then only Agway, the farm cooperative out of upper New York State, was the only way for most to buy chicks unless they knew a breeder who would sell them some.  Now there are lots of hatcheries including your local Tractor Supply.

So what's the diff between hatcheries and breeder chicks?  Quality for the most part.   Most breeders are giving you chicks from their show line, so if you are good at culling and breed hard, eventually you can get a top flock.  With hatcheries that will rarely if ever happen.  

So how do you know a breeder from a hatchery?

Ask the seller, though some like Mt Healthy, Ideal, Hoffman and McMurray admit these are not show birds, but what you are getting is some stock to start with and replenish with show birds that you buy from breeders if you are interested in line improvement.  Some people aren't, and they just want a pretty bird, but if you are interested in a good showable line that you will be keeping for years, make sure you know what you are getting from whom.