Agriculture Writing Samples
by Lisa R. Hooker
Proposed plant would turn soybeans into biodiesel fuel
Appeared in October 27, 2003 edition of Business First of Columbus.
View article here.Fresh melons and vegetables...delivered
Appeared in the March 2006 issue of Country Living magazine, published by Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc., Columbus Ohio.
Fresh vegetables are one of the joys of summer, but most people are too busy to plant and tend a garden, or they don’t have the space.
Tim and Christy Cook have the answer: support their New Century Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
“It's like having your own garden, but we do the work,” Tim says.
CSA allows individuals and families to enjoy locally grown fresh vegetables. Each week, supporters may pick-up their produce or have it delivered.
New Century CSA is a South Central Power customer. The Cook's Circleville farm has supporters in Pickaway, Ross, Fairfield, Franklin Counties.
“This is my full-time job. We work eight acres for the CSA and it's our third year of operation. We do all of it ourselves, even the deliveries. My parents help us tremendously, too. They’re here just about every day helping out,” Tim says.
New Century CSA offers 17 fruits and vegetables. “We have just about everything. Regular and cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, musk melon, bell peppers, banana peppers, corn, zucchini and onions,” Tim says.
It also grows cucumbers, beets, snow peas, yellow squash, green beans, watermelon, cabbage and red and white potatoes.
All vegetables except sweet corn are grown without chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Chemicals may be used to spot treat for insects or diseases, though.
A few items are ready as early as mid-June, but most are available from late July through September.
“People sometimes get confused when they see all of the produce items in the grocery, but stores often buy from other regions to offer them here all summer long,” Tim says.
New Century allows customers to customize their weekly orders. If a certain item is not to their liking, another in-season item may be substituted.
Cook cautions each item isn’t available every week. “Every crop doesn’t come on at the same time. Availability follows the natural growing season.”
CSA supporters sign-up at the beginning of each growing season. “We have full shares and half shares. A full share generally is enough for a family of four each week. A half share supplies enough for a family of two,” Tim says.
New Century CSA supporters receive detailed information about quantities, harvest dates and share cost. Delivery is additional, based on mileage. “We'll go anywhere if there's enough interest,” Tim says.
Just like New Century CSA's crops, consumer interest is growing.
“The first year we had 49 supporters who had a share in our farm. In 2005, it nearly tripled to 129 supporters. We’re excited to see what’s in store for 2006,” Tim says.Lambs: A sure sign of spring
Appeared in the April 2005 issue of Country Living magazine, published by Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc., Columbus Ohio.
It all started with a 4-H project.
“Our son Eric’s first project was two market lambs. That was in 1985. Our daughter Monica’s last 4-H show was in 1999,” says Vicki Rutherford.
Her husband Mike adds, “We just progressed with the animals through the years and kept working with them even after the kids were grown.”
The Rutherford’s own about 40 cross-bred ewes at their 10-acre Rushville area farm in Fairfield County. They are South Central Power consumers. Mike also owns a commercial printing business in Somerset and Vicki works as a registered nurse for an obstetrics office in Lancaster.
The Rutherford’s ewes produce market lambs for today’s 4-H members. “We sell the lambs to kids in Hocking, Perry and Fairfield Counties,” Mike says.
While it’s possible for ewes to have lambs more than once a year, the Rutherford’s only lamb annually.
“The gestation for sheep is 150 days, so you have to figure when the lambs will arrive. We start breeding in September, so our lambs start arriving the last week of January through mid-March,” says Mike, referring to the extensive notes they keep on each ewe, her offspring and breeding ram.
A typical ewe can successfully breed for five to eight years. When breeding, ewes are placed in a field with one of four rams. Mother Nature takes it from there. Most years the ewes produce 60 to 70 lambs for the Rutherford’s.
“We like to have twins, because the mama can feed two at a time. With triplets, we have to hand feed the third one three or four times a day. Every so often, though, a mama with only one lamb will allow another ewe’s lamb to nurse,” Mike says.
Newborn lambs weigh six to nine pounds. Those cute little babies grow into 200 to 250 pound ewes.
When lambs are born, they are placed in a lambing pen with their mother for three to five days while they bond and nurse. “Then we put them in a bigger pen with more ewes and lambs, but each mother knows which lambs are hers,” Vicki says.
When the lambs are about three weeks old, their diet is augmented with special pellets.
The Rutherford’s have observed through the years that sheep are similar to people.
“They’re individuals. One ewe will come right up to you and another is more shy. One ewe is protective of her lambs, another isn’t as interested. They each have their own personalities,” Mike says.
The Rutherford’s maintain a base of 40 ewes, so they do keep some of their lambs as replacement breeding stock. Lambs that don’t make the grade, as well as the ewes that are no longer good breeders, are taken to market and sold.
“On a farm, it’s a business. We take good care of our animals and make sure they have what they need, but we know eventually they’ll go to market,” Mike says.Listening to the Prairie
Appeared in the June 2001 statewide section edition of Country Living magazine, published by Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives, Inc., Columbus, Ohio
Every American is dependent in some way on our nation's central region prairies. The vast grasslands of North America are among the most productive agricultural lands on earth. Today, farmers and ranchers are reinventing agriculture to preserve their way of life, cultivate the prairie lands and diversify production and output.
The prairie history and ecosystem, as well as new farming approaches, are showcased in the Smithsonian Institution's touring exhibition "Listening to the Prairie: Farming in Nature's Image".
This national exhibition comes to Ohio this summer during its three-year tour. It will be on view in Lancaster at the Fairfield County District Library from Saturday, July 7 through Wednesday, August 15. It then moves to the Marion Campus Library of The Ohio State University from August 30 through October 11.
Organized by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Forces of Change program, the tour is coordinated by the American Library Association, Public Programs Office. The exhibition and tour were made possible through generous support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
"The Fairfield County District Library is very pleased to be one of only 20 libraries across the country to host "Listening to the Prairie." It speaks well of our library and our entire community," said Joyce Harvey, coordinator of outreach and public relations services.
The OSU Marion site also is featuring its reconstructed nine-acre prairie at the campus nature center. "Ohio has remnants of prairies, so we're blending in our local programming and tours of our prairie," said Betsy Blankenship, head librarian.
This exhibition is significant in that it is complete; some Smithsonian touring exhibitions are actually smaller pieces of a larger exhibit. Using a 1,200 square foot modular panel exhibition, visitors of all ages will enjoy the stunning photographs, colorful mural, interactive and 3-D components, a windmill replica and self-guided audio tour. An interactive shopping cart of household goods even explains how each item from the prairie relates to consumers around the world.
Prairies are found in 13 states: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Surprisingly, they are not fixed regions, but shift over time and in reaction to the weather. Prairies can be classified as tallgrass, which grow more than seven feet tall and shortgrass, which grow less than six inches tall. Mixed grass regions encompass both.
"Listening to the Prairie" examines the transformation of North America's central plains from vast grasslands into cropland and grazing pastures. The exhibition delves into the machinery, the railroads that moved materials quickly, farmer-friendly government policies and the work ethic of prairie settlers that made the transformation possible.
The exhibition also explores the human impact on the region - from the first crops grown by Native Americans to the 1800s frontier pioneers. Life on the prairie today is viewed through the experiences of four progressive farmers and ranchers. Their alternative production practices keep farm productivity high and cost low, with minimal environmental damage.
Although operations vary from region to region, prairie farmers and ranchers find working with nature supports profitable farms, promotes environmental stewardship and maintains the viability of rural communities.
Farming practices that work with the natural cycle of the prairie are: selecting crops and livestock that are well adapted to the local environment and planting fields year round to enrich soil and prevent erosion. Grassland agriculture also includes rotating crops and grazing animals frequently to keep the land fertile, re-using plant and animal wastes as crop fertilizer, and planting pasture in native species to nourish livestock and wildlife.
Since the 1950s, most farmers have shifted from raising a variety of crops and livestock to cultivating large acreage with only one or two crops. Specialization does allow high production through cost-effective use of expensive machinery and bulk buying power for seeds, fertilizer and pesticides. However, by raising a variety of crops and animals, prairie farmers can hedge against pest outbreaks, severe weather and market shifts.
The willingness of farmers and ranchers to change is the cornerstone of successful American agriculture. Common practices now were alternative practices 50 years ago. Today's farmers and ranchers continue to adopt new approaches to keep their operations productive and profitable, while safeguarding the environment. It's likely some of today's alternative practices will become tomorrow's conventional methods.
"Listening to the Prairie" opened in November of 2000 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. It began touring in April.
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