CATEGORIES

AN ANNUAL AFFAIR

Combine a designer's best advice with the year's new varieties for a summer's worth of showstopping containers

RICHARD HAWKE

Try and try again

A Big Role for SMALL GRASSES

The unexpected benefits of small native grasses

GOLDENSEAL

A woodland herb worth guarding

Metabolic Disorders in Cattle

Manage these body conditions in your herd with diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

HISTORIC Hogs

The Hereford breed has a bright future.

Acorns = Better Pork

By feeding your hogs acorns, you can reduce your feeding costs and get better pork. Pigs can safely consume acorns as part of their diet, unlike other livestock. Pigs were historically pastured in woodlands in the fall to consume the falling nuts, chestnuts and acorns. This provided much benefit to the forest and was great for the hogs.

Recognizing & Treating Bloat

Growing up on my father's dairy farm, bloat was a condition that I gained a familiarity with early on.

Feeding Layers

What to feed laying hens should be top priority as egg-laying hens must be fed correctly to achieve their potential.

Microclimate Trouble Spots

Spend enough time gardening in one place and you can get to know it well.

Santa Carota BEEF

For 35 years, the Pettit family has been upcycling waste carrots for cattle feed, challenging traditional ranching practices while producing exquisite beef.

Kohlrabi

You probably plant lots of brassicas in your garden each year; after all, brassicas include garden staples such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale. But there's a good chance you aren't growing one of the most interesting members of the Brassica oleracea family: kohlrabi.

beyond TRADITION

Raise these alternative animals on your hobby farm.

Midsummer Garden

Keep those vegetables growing late into the year with these planting options and advice.

Sheep HOOF CARE

The key to good sheep hoof care is keeping an eye out for problems and moving to prevent serious issues.

ELECTRIC BORDERS

Here's what you need to know before you buy a portable electric fence.

Meet Holly Callahan-Kasmala & Chrisie DiCarlo

In Maryland, best friends of 40-plus years share a passion for good food, laughter and, most of all, poultry.

ON TRACK

Animal activity trackers, also known as pet location trackers, let you keep an eye on your pets or livestock from your phone or computer.

Choosing a DAIRY GOAT

A number of considerations will determine your ideal dairy goat breed.

Parasite PATROL

Keep your worm treatments effective with these three valuable tools.

GIVE ME Shelter

When Kathryn Spann started raising dairy goats in 2008, she thought wooden sheds built on skids would be the ideal housing for her herd. The shelters could be attached to a tractor and moved, ensuring the herd had a safe space to escape the elements and allowing Spann to practice pasture rotation without building individual shelters in each pasture.

BREEDING BASICS

The traditional goat breeding season in the U.S. is between late August and the early part of January, according to Angela McKenzie-Jakes, extension animal science specialist at Florida A&M University.

milking how to

Goat milk is liquid gold, but you have to get milking right to get it.

Natural FIBERS

When visitors drive up to our Northern California foothill farm, they immediately notice the fluffy, long-horned beasties dotted all over our pastures. If they have never met us before, these visitors will always tell us how they love seeing our beautiful \"sheep\" and ask what we do with their wool.

Notes ON NUTRITION

Dairy and meat goats have specific feed needs, and they're not the same.

WHY KEEP Goats?

My love affair with goats began because of one simple thing: goat cheese. It was love at first bite when I first tried the creamy, tangy spread in college. For almost two decades, it was an infrequent treat because of the high  price tag of a dollar an ounce. (That was back in the 1990s!) When my family decided to move to the country to grow our own food organically in 2002, I knew I had to have a couple of goats so that goat cheese could become part of my regular diet.

HEALTHY GOAT, Happy FARMER

Goats may be hearty, but they still need their keeper's care in order to live long and be healthy.

CHOOSING A Meat Goat

Once you've mastered the basics, keeping goats for meat is pretty easy.

Spot & Treat

Parasites happen, but proper management keeps things under control.

Around the World With Herbs

Looking beyond familiar mediterranean favorites, we can find flavor in the tropics