Make the Most of Winter Months at Your Eco Farm

BY DARBY SIMPSON

This article first appeared in the February 2020 issue of Acres U.S.A. Magazine. The author creates educational content, including a podcast and online courses, on pastured livestock at grassfedlife.co.

One of the things I most enjoy about our particular niche of livestock farming is the seasonal aspect of it all.

Because we live in the Midwest, we have a true winter, and as such the predominant portion of our farm’s meat production takes place from the beginning of March through late November. As you may have no doubt discovered, the old adage of “make hay while the sun is shining” came from this mindset of going gangbusters for nine months while the weather allows. This of course is followed by a well deserved three months of winter, and by the time late October rolls around I’m physically and mentally ready for the production season to come to an end. Once Thanksgiving hits, a big mental hurdle is reached and a sigh of relief can be felt in the Simpson Farmhouse!

With only our cattle to care for through the winter months, I have the opportunity to take a much needed and extended physical rest in December, January and February. The further I get into my personal farming journey, the more convinced I have become that we are hard wired by our Creator to work cyclically throughout the year, just as nature does. In nature, you see a slow start followed by months of intense production, which then culminates in a dormant time of rest. Like nature, I feel revitalized and ready to hit the ground running come spring.

Personally, I don’t mind working as hard as I do for nine months out of the year because my batteries get recharged during the winter break. From a farming standpoint, our longest day of the week remains Saturday, since we do a weekly indoor farmers’ market from November to April. Now that isn’t to say I don’t have things to do — that is never the case on a farm and if you own a business. However, I can chip away at things or work on small projects as I choose rather than working like I do during the rest of the year.

Darby Simpson is farmer and educator in Indiana.

All of that said, however, winter offers us a great opportunity not only for a physical break but also to make the rest of our year physically (and mentally) easier as well. I’m not one to make any resolutions once January 1 rolls around, but after a month of limited physical work in December and with the holidays behind me, I do find myself recharged and thinking about the coming year. This has become my greatest opportunity to read and plan ahead for the upcoming season. While I’m getting a respite from the daily rigors of farm work, I can do a lot of things that will save me time, money and frustration — not only the upcoming season, but possibly for many years down the road.

For instance, for many years we have built a large section of fence each spring. I have used my winter break to plan, route, measure and prepare a cost estimate for that project. Once I have my plan in place, I call the contractor that assists us and get my name in line for the upcoming spring. Obviously, fence makes your life easier and allows you to grow your business if you are raising cattle, pigs or lamb. If you don’t plan ahead you’ll never know if you can stick to your budget or get the contractor to show up before the middle of summer. Around here, there are few livestock fence contractors to choose from and even fewer good ones. They all book up fast, so waiting until April or May to make that call is a huge mistake.

Fence is one of the greatest investments we have made to date. Long term, our cattle will be the backbone of our financial income stream, and the fence makes them the easiest and most enjoyable part of my day from a labor standpoint. A well-thought-out system makes cattle very easy to manage, but attempting to plan that system on the fly after the contractor shows up is a very bad idea. Taking the time to sketch it out, mark it in the field, mentally chew on it and revise it before construction begins is a wise use of time — time that winter affords me. I can also put together a very accurate cost estimate in a spreadsheet, making certain that I have appropriate funds set aside to complete the project.

Another thing I have tackled in winters past is our poultry production schedule. Much like the fence contractors, dates can book up for poultry butchering if you wait too long (especially for turkeys; I schedule mine a year in advance). It is also a good idea to have your hatchery dates planned out in advance, particularity if you order in larger quantities. Just try calling a hatchery a week or two before you need 600 chicks and see what happens!

By late January, I will have all of my poultry hatch dates lined up and butchering dates scheduled for the year. This not only helps me by locking up dates in advance — it also helps our butchering and hatchery plan as well. With all of these dates planned out, I’m now ready to advertise and begin selling slots in our bulk chicken program. Since I know my production dates, I can list the pickup dates and times right from the start for our customers. I have to do all of this anyway, so it makes sense to get it done early so I don’t have any surprises later in the spring. And our customers like knowing in advance which dates they will be headed to the farm to get their bulk chicken orders.

Like any bulk program we offer, we collect a deposit up front from our customers to secure their spot in our bulk chicken program. They get a discount for paying up front, and we get some much-needed cash heading into the spring. We then use that cash to pay for the first batch of chicks, feed, bedding, supplies, etc. Last year, we took a portion of that cash to purchase some of the fence posts we needed for our added grazing plan. As you can see, sitting down and intentionally planning in advance when you have the time to do it pays dividends all the way around! There is nothing worse than waiting until the last moment, when you are already swamped with day-long farm work in the spring, to try and schedule something as crucial as a contractor or butchering date. One frustration can lead to another, and before you know it your whole summer is a mess.

I also use my winter break to read any farming books that I need to, to attend a farming conference or to study up on something in particular that I might be adding in the upcoming year. Perhaps there is an online course I want to pay for and take; winter or early spring is a great time for me to make that purchase and block out some time to absorb the course. At Grassfed Life (grassfedlife.co), we offer a number of online video courses, and I can tell you that a lot of content is watched during the winter months when folks can afford to sit, learn, digest and implement what I teach. There is always something new to learn, and for me the best time to do it is while I only have a handful of cattle to care for in the winter months.

Lastly, we also take time during the winter to evaluate our marketing strategy for the upcoming season. Applications for summer markets begin going out in February and are often due by the end of March or the start of April. If you are considering changing, adding or starting farmers’ markets, winter is the time to be researching them to find out which one is right for you. We also begin planning when we’ll be offering bulk pork purchases as well as how many beef we’ll be selling retail vs. bulk. Again, we solicit our customers who make those bulk purchases for a deposit, which is then used to help offset the purchase of livestock, feed and equipment for the upcoming season. In the case of cattle, I’m always working two seasons in advance, so collecting deposits in February and March of the current year will allow me to add additional stocker cattle in April that will finish late the following year. My customers’ cash deposits become the cash flow mechanism to implement our two-year strategy, so planning and marketing is absolutely crucial.

What about your upcoming year should you be planning now? Are you going to add any new species to your operation this year? Is it time to scale up an existing enterprise, and if so, what is your marketing strategy to sell that product? Are you finally ready to build some permanent fence? Will you be applying for any grant? If so, when are those applications due? I would suggest writing down what big-ticket projects you want to accomplish, enterprises you want to begin or expand and new skills or knowledge you would like to acquire. Once you have that done, list out some key dates you need to meet and put your plan into action!

Take advantage of the wintertime and use it to both rest and plan. I believe you’ll find that your summer will be much more enjoyable — and profitable — as a result.

Living on his family’s seventh generation farm, Darby began his own farming enterprise in 2007 after reading Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin. For more information, visit grassfedlife.co.

How Probiotics Can Prevent Honeybee Colony Collapse

By Martin James

I have always been fascinated by honeybees. I started keeping my own hives at the age of 9. I’ve been keeping bees professionally now for over 15 years. Through all this time, my fascination with the bee and the hive has never gone away. I may not know all the bees by name, but I at least know their families!

As a professional beekeeper, I have been subject to the same build and collapse cycles that others have dealt with. Early on in my professional endeavors, I recruited my sister Karla to help me. She has spent a lot of time with nutrition and natural healing and we have applied many of those principles to our beehives as well. Still, even with careful tending and attention to diet and nutrition, we had the cyclic collapses of our hive populations. It was very frustrating and financially challenging to keep a business going when our workforce kept dying every few years.

*Martin James and his sister, Karla Bingham, examine hives at the Slide Ridge Honey operation in Utah.*

I had investigated and heard about many different claims to solve the colony collapse problem, but the cycles didn’t change. The problem was still there, and it was getting worse. So, when I was approached by Ken Hamilton of Bio Minerals Technologies, who said he could cure CCD, I was very skeptical. At first, I dismissed the claim, but I eventually agreed to meet with him and at least hear what he had to say.

That meeting was the beginning of a journey that has changed the lives of my bees — and myself! His solution was relatively simple. He identified the cause of CCD as an accumulation of environmental toxins that caused an eventual deterioration of the beneficial gut microorganisms of the honeybees. In their roles as pollinators, bees are exposed to an extremely toxic cocktail of agricultural chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, etc. These toxins were killing off the beneficial microorganisms in the bee’s gut, which weakened the immune system and the bee.

In addition to the environmental toxins, there is also a shortage in trace minerals in almost all agricultural operations today. People have been farming for generations, but they seldom, if ever, replenish the trace elements in their soils. The lack of trace elements also contributes to the reduction in immune functions, further weakening the bees.

The solution was to provide a high-quality probiotic and broad-spectrum trace element supplement to be mixed into the bee syrup and patty. As we discussed his analysis and proposed solution, it made logical sense, but the real test was in the application. He hadn’t tried it before, and my bees were his guinea pigs.

My first step was to just see how the bees would react to it (i.e. would it kill them?). I took some of the liquid probiotics, opened up a couple hives, sprayed some on the bees and the top bars, and stepped back to see what would happen. As it turned out, the bees loved it! They lapped it up and wanted more.

The result of the probiotic was also audible. When I went into the bee yard and opened the hive, I could hear an angry, high-pitched buzz from all the bees swarming around me and the hives I had opened. They were bouncing off my bee suit and face shield and they were audibly and visibly upset. As soon as I sprayed the probiotic, the result was almost instant. As the bees lapped it up, the sound changed. It went from the high-pitched, angry whine to a lower-pitched, contented hum. The bees were less aggressive and they all settled down and simply went back to work!

*Slide Ridge Honey has found success in applying probiotics to its hives.*

My next test was to mix it into my syrup and patty and feed a group of test hives through the winter and see how they fared. That winter was a good year for all our hives, but my test group came through very strong and without any problems. As we started preparing all our hives for the almond pollination, we incorporated the probiotics and minerals into our regular feeding regimen.

That was over four years ago. Since that time, we have not had a single collapse event. We may lose a colony occasionally, but that is just part of the normal process. Our general winter loss rates are between 5-8 percent. Our almond orchard grading is consistently at the upper limit. Our hives always grade at the maximum strength and the vigor and health of the bees is noticed by the orchard managers.

One of the interesting results of these supplements is in the general behavior of the bees themselves. They are calmer and much easier to work with. They are less excitable when we move them around or need to get into the hive. In fact, we don’t use smoke any more when we work with our bees. Instead, we just spray some liquid probiotic onto the open hive and the bees settle right down. The difference is especially noticeable when we help someone else move their hives. Their bees are a lot meaner than ours!

Another example of the effectiveness of the supplements happened our first spring after we incorporated the probiotics and minerals into the general feeding plan. We brought our bees back from the almond pollination and put them into our spring holding yards where we can work on splits and preparing the hives for honey placement. We had one large holding yard where we had just finished the splits for that group. There were around 1000 hives that were almost ready to go up to their summer locations.

We were at that yard on a windy afternoon, finishing up some of our hive work, when we heard a terrible sound. It was a roadside sprayer! Some contractor was out spraying the sides of the highway in a 30 mph wind, against all regulations and even common sense! Our holding yard was half-a-mile or so away from the highway, but the wind carried the poisons right to us. We watched the bees in the air just drop dead around the hives.

We chased down the sprayer and told him very firmly to stop immediately, but the damage was done. Our expectation was for a total loss of those 1000 hives. We had seen similar events before, so we knew what to expect.

We kept feeding the bees with the supplements, hoping that some of them would survive, but we didn’t have much hope. We eventually moved them out to their summer ranges and just hoped for the best.

When we checked on those hives later that summer, not only were they not dead — they were thriving! The bees were healthy, the hives were strong, and they were producing large amounts of honey. We actually harvested a record amount of honey that year, including from the “damaged” hives!

By all reason, those hives should have failed. Instead, they prospered. Our only difference between previous occasions is the introduction of probiotics and trace elements into their diets. The stronger populations of beneficial microbes in their guts created a stronger immune response that enabled those bees that were not directly hit with the spray to recover from such a concentrated toxin attack.

The stronger immune systems manifest themselves in other ways as well. We no longer use any antibiotics with our bees. We used to treat our hives with antibiotics twice each year to control diseases such as foul brood. Since we started the probiotics and minerals, we eliminated the antibiotic treatments. The bees just don’t need it. We haven’t seen any foul brood in our hives in four years, without antibiotics!

The benefits go beyond just the health of the bee and the hive. Our queens breed easier and lay better than they ever have before. Our hives are stronger for spring splits. We consistently get three and sometimes four nucs from a single hive! The stronger reproduction gives us yet another income stream as we sell nucs and packages every spring, to individuals, and to regional retail locations. No longer do we spend the spring recovering from the previous year’s losses. We lose very few, so we can grow as we want to and still sell off our excess.

The difference is also notable in the quality of our honey. We have always had good honey, but when we introduced the probiotics and minerals, the quality was even higher! We sent some honey samples to a large national food distributor, so they could evaluate it and decide if they wanted to buy it. When they got the results back from their lab they called us and told us our honey was their new international standard. It was the purest honey they had ever tested (it tasted pretty good too)!

We have been sharing our success with many of the small beekeepers in our area. Helping and sharing have always been an important part of our business model. We have always been a resource for those who keep a few hives and need some help, or who want to learn more. Many of these small beekeepers actually keep their hives with ours during the winter and they come with us into pollination. We try to teach all of them our methods so that their bees can be healthy too.

Those smaller “partner” beekeepers that follow our nutrition and health maintenance programs have results very similar to ours. However, some of our small beekeepers run their own nutrition and maintenance programs. Those beekeepers are still subject to the cyclical crashes, even while our hives continue at full strength. We have seen that illustrated very clearly over several winters, with some of these less careful beekeepers losing up to 100% of their bees. Yet our loss rates remain in the single digits.

At this point, the probiotics and trace elements are a standard part of our feeding plan. The bees need it and they are a lot happier when we provide it. The cost is minimal, and the returns are significant, because we just don’t lose our hives anymore!

Our sharing has expanded not only regionally, but nationally and even internationally. The requests for our nutritional products grew to the point where we started packaging them and selling them to distributors and even retail chains that serviced beekeepers and their needs. Our objective is to get as many people using these principles as possible because the bees need it!

Through the years, beginning with a 9-year-old boy, there have been many beekeepers who were willing to share their hard-earned knowledge with me. I would repay them poorly if I didn’t share the lessons that I have learned and the many experiences I have been given. To that end, we also donate 5% of all our bee nutrition profits to Project APIS, a non-profit organization directed by both beekeepers and scientists, to fund and direct research designed to enhance the health and vitality of honeybee colonies.

If you want to know more about what we do and how we do it, we welcome your conversations. I love to talk about bees, especially with other beekeepers.

Martin James owns and operates Slide Ridge Honey in Mendon, Utah.

4 Step-By-Step Vermiculture Systems

By Rhonda Sherman

Let’s take a look at the major types of vermi-systems that worm farmers are using to grow earthworms and produce vermicast. I’ll start with the simplest — a windrow — and then cover pits, bins and continuous flow-through bins. For more details on how to harvest vermicast from various systems, refer to The Worm Farmer’s Handbook.

Windrows

Windrows are linear piles containing bedding and feedstocks that will eventually reach heights of 24 to 30 inches (61-76 cm). They are typically 4 to 8 feet (1.2-2.4 m) wide and however long the space allows. Many people living in milder climates, such as the West Coast of the United States, have established outdoor windrows for vermicast production, though windrows can also be set up inside large buildings.

A front-end loader, skid steer, shovel, or pitchfork can be used to make a windrow. Simply spread a 6- to 8-inch-deep (15-20 cm) layer of bedding of the desired width and length on bare ground and add 1 pound (0.5 kg) of Eisenia fetida earthworms per square foot (0.09 m2) of surface area. It’s important to smother vegetation first so grass and weeds don’t grow into the windrow, which would interfere with harvest. Since composting earthworms do not burrow, you don’t have to worry about them migrating out of the windrow into the soil. After the worms have settled into the bedding, apply feedstock in a layer 1 to 1½ inches (2.5-3.8 cm) deep, and wait until the feed has been consumed before adding more.

During cold weather, 3 to 4 inches (7.6-10.2 cm) of feedstock may be applied to the top of the windrow to help keep the worms warm. Although many worm growers have success with outdoor windrows, some folks report problems with excess moisture, anaerobic areas and predators such as moles and birds. Vermicomposting in windrows is a slow process that can take up to 12 months to produce finished vermicast.

The Wedge System

Some people use a variation on windrows called the wedge system. As with normal windrows, this vermi-system can be used either outdoors or inside a structure.

Those using the wedge system maximize space by applying feedstock in layers at a 45-degree angle against a finished windrow. Worms in the windrow will eventually migrate to the fresh feed. Keep adding layers of feedstock until the second pile reaches the depth of the first windrow, and then start a new wedge windrow. The worms will keep moving laterally through the windrows toward the new food. After three or four months, each wedge windrow can be harvested.

A wedge can be created from a pile instead of a windrow. For example, at Arizona Worm Farm, Zach Brooks starts a wedge by creating a 3-cubic-foot (0.08 m3) pile of pre-composted food waste, horse manure, mulch and shredded cardboard at the corner of two low walls. He adds 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of worms to the pile. Once a week thereafter he adds 1 inch (2.5 cm) of the same pre-compost to the outer slope of the pile. He also adds a light layer of mulch over the compost because it helps keep the wedge cooler and makes the vermicast more fungal dominant.

*This inexpensive vermicomposting shed was constructed of concrete blocks, shade cloth, tree limbs and yagua leaves in the Dominican Republic.*

It takes four months for the wedge to “grow” 1 foot (30 cm) in length. When the wedge reaches 6 to 7 feet (1.-2.1 m) long, Brooks starts harvesting the wedge from the back end. Two hundred pounds (91 kg) total of feedstock is added to one wedge, and they harvest 100 pounds (45 kg) of vermicast. When I talked to Brooks, the ambient temperature was 105°F (41°C), but in the center of his wedges the temperature was in the high 70s (about 25°C).

Pits or Trenches

Pits, or trenches, have been used for decades. As with other vermicomposting systems, you lay down moist bedding, add worms and apply thin layers of the feedstock on top. People like pits for vermicomposting because they are simple holes in the ground — no construction required. The earthen sides provide insulation against both hot and cold weather. Some people choose to line their pits with cement blocks. However, raising earthworms in pits can strain your back from bending over so often. Another disadvantage is that pits can be flooded by heavy rains.

A successful trench model was established in North Carolina in the early 2000s. A hog manure vermicomposter named Tom Christenberry was having trouble with his continuous flow-through bins overheating, so he created a trench system that allowed the ground to help moderate excessively cold or hot temperatures. Inside a pole barn he dug five trenches 4 feet wide by 200 feet long by 21 inches deep (1.2 × 61.0 × 0.5 m). Between the trenches were hard-packed dirt and gravel lanes that would support a tractor.

*Inside the shed in the Dominican Republic, worm beds lined with concrete blocks are on each side, with empty space in between for carrying out earthworm husbandry tasks.*

To feed the worms, he drove a tractor straddling the top of a trench. The tractor pulled a manure spreader that was calibrated to deposit hog manure into the trench, and a worker would then use a rake to evenly spread the manure 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep across it. He carried out this feeding process weekly using raw hog manure that had been flushed out of a barn and run through a solids separator.

Before you commit to setting up a pit system, ask yourself whether you will be able to handle all of the bending that it will require to apply feedstock, check the worms and bed conditions and harvest the vermicast. I used to think I could work with pit systems, but I now realize that I couldn’t deal with getting on my knees, bending over and reaching down into the pit on a regular basis.

Bins

Worm bins are a type of containment system that can be built, purchased, or repurposed. They are set up like the previous systems described — with moist bedding on the bottom, worms added on top and then feedstock applied in thin layers on top of the bedding.

To make worm bins, worm growers often repurpose discarded items, including refrigerators, livestock tanks, tubs, barrels, wooden or plastic boxes, mortar trays, plastic buckets, washing machine tubs, and other containers. If such containers have solid bottoms or sides, drill holes for drainage and airflow.

Earthworm beds and bins can be built by hand from a variety of materials, such as lumber, plywood, concrete or cinder blocks, fiberglass, structural clay tile, poured concrete, or bricks. Wood is one of the most popular materials, but raw wood may decompose within 4 to 10 years, depending on the climate and other factors, so many folks will cover it with plastic or coat it with raw linseed oil. Avoid using redwood, cedar, or other aromatic woods to construct the bins; they contain tannic acid and resinous saps that are damaging to earthworms.

Here are two different styles of concrete-block worm bins: one at Camden Street Learning Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina (A), and the other at a farm in the Dominican Republic (B).

Worm farmers throughout the world build concrete-block bins, often on bare ground. They are inexpensive, easy to obtain and won’t rot. Concrete also provides more insulation than plywood, so it will keep your worm bed warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Remember that birds love to eat worms, so if your bins aren’t lidded you should use netting to keep out avian predators. Always keep direct sunlight off the worms, too, by either locating the bins in a well-shaded area, placing them under a roof, or covering them with lids.

The worms in my Worm Barn at the Compost Learning Lab live in two MacroBins. These containers are manufactured by a company called Macro Plastics to store and transport vegetables. When I first saw one, I immediately thought, This would make a good worm bin! and decided I had to acquire some.

The MacroBin is constructed of impact-grade copolymers and has smooth surfaces and ventilation slots on every side, as well as the bottom. It is approximately 45 inches long, 48 inches wide, and 34 inches high on the outside (1.1 × 1.2 × 0.9 m). The inside of the bin is approximately 41 inches by 45 inches by 29 inches (1.0 × 1.1 × 0.7 m). It can accommodate 1,300 pounds (590 kg) of materials and can be lifted by a forklift from any side.

The MacroBin costs about $230, with discounted rates for bulk purchases. I wasn’t aware of anyone else using these agricultural bulk containers as worm bins until I saw 10 of them set up for vermicomposting while touring a composting site in San Diego.

Garry Lipscomb and Bill Corey, the owners of NewSoil Vermiculture LLC in Durham, North Carolina, made bins out of plastic 55-gallon (210 L) drums for the commercial operation in the basement of their home.

Many worm farmers repurpose plastic IBC totes (intermediate bulk containers) to make worm bins. They are large tanks used to store and transport 275 to 330 gallons (1,040-1,250 L) of liquid or bulk materials. IBC totes cost less than $150 new, with versions housed within metal cages available for approximately $100 more. These tanks are being repurposed for a variety of uses, so it’s pretty easy to acquire them used at a lower price.

Editor’s Note: This excerpt was also published in the February 2020 issue of Acres U.S.A. magazine.

This excerpt is adapted from Rhonda Sherman’s book The Worm Farmer’s Handbook: Mid- to Large-Scale Vermicomposting for Farms, Businesses, Municipalities, Schools, and Institutions (Chelsea Green, 2018) and is printed with permission from the publisher. It is available from Acres U.S.A. at acresusa.com or by calling 800-355-5313.

Ways with Worm Farming: Understanding Vermiculture–From Simple Set-ups to Complex Systems