Fullblood vs. Purebred Maine-Anjou Cattle: What's the Difference?
For me, there are a number of reasons I breed these particular cattle
1. They are pre-dispositioned genetically to gain weight and get fat on natural grass, not grain.
2. They are easy to work with, not wild and more like big pets.
3. If you are going to raise cattle, raise pretty ones if all other things are different.
4. Fullblood Maine-Anjou genetics are important. It is difficult to find a steer that wins a stock show competition that does not have significant Maine genetics.
5. The Fullblood grass-fed beef is a superior product if the cattle are raised properly.
In France, where Fullbloods are the only Maines, the beef is considered number one for chefs and high end restaurants. Over 50,000 cows produce beef that gets a significant market premium over other breeds, including Angus in Europe.
The Maine-Anjou known as purebreds are black. They are the product of genetic engineering. A red and white Fullblood bull or cow is bred to an Angus cow or bull and the resulting offspring will be a black hided animal (in most cases). If you take that offspring and breed it again to a Maine-Anjou (black or red hided) you will get another black offspring, but a higher percentage of Maine-Anjou blood. The resulting animal, which I call cross bred cattle, will have some of the characteristics of
Angus and some of the Fullblood Maine-Anjou.
Why would anyone do this? It's simple......money. Black cattle sell for a higher price than any other color due to the marketing of the Angus cattle association. When you buy Certified Angus Beef is is not all Angus. The program includes any cattle with a hide that is 51% black. Thus any breed that has been crossed with Angus will qualify. I think the label is misleading and does not tell the consumer what they are buying. So, to play the money game, cattlemen of all breeds started to mix their herds with
Angus and almost every breed has black cattle that can be registered as purebred.
I believe that each original breed had their own strong points and weak ones. If you are only breeding for beef, a good F1 (first time) cross of one registered original animal with another that is mixed or another breed will normally give you a larger offspring with more meat. Breeding Fullblood Maine-Anjou cattle to any other cattle will result in a superior animal with more commercial value. It will often provide more beef that will grade higher.
Cattle breeds are kept going by cattlemen that stick with the basics and do not go with every marketing option available to them. Nolan Ryan Beef has a marketing program for cattle that are generally brown and white or red and white. It has the correct focus, the quality of the beef and not the color of the hide.
The bottom line for me is the Fullblood Maine-Anjou we raise are a good commercial venture for our farm and we offer a superior product, whether beef or breeding stock, versus our competitors.
I include below websites that will give you more information on the breed.
Manitou Canadian site
Red of the Country The French Association site, not always working
Tasmania, Australia Interesting site from the island off Australia
Australia The Australian association website
European breed description Interesting information on the breed from Germany
Breed Information European perspective
sersia Site for the technical into breeding
American Maine-Anjou Association
Greer Farm Texas Grass-Fed Beef: Healthy and Safe
Grass-Fed 100% All Natural Texas Beef from The Greer Farm
Our Cattle
At the Greer Farm, we strive to provide the best grass-fed, all natural beef possible for our customers. Our herd is fullblood Maine-Anjou which have a disposition to finish on grass. Our cattle live their days in a low-stress environment rotating between pastures so they have fresh green forage. This way of life suits the cattle and they remain naturally healthy. We do not feed antibiotics, hormones or any other artificial supplements. Our beef cattle are finished on lush Northeast Texas pastures with supplemental rich alfalfa hay.
What Our Cattle Get
NO antibiotic-laced feed, No steroids, NO hormones, NO growth implants, NO animal by-product feed, NO preservatives and NO unhealthy feed lot confinement.
Our cattle do get lots of fresh green grass, plenty of clean water, all the shade they want under trees, all natural grain (for grain finished cattle), lots of care and daily attention, and most important lots of tender loving care. We pamper all of our cattle in every way possible.
Grass-fed beef is healthy for you. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A and E, beta-carotene, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and beta carotene. You avoid the risk of mad cow disease. For more info on the health benefits of grass-fed beef please see Jo Robinson's excellent site at eatwild.com or just Google “benefits of grass-fed beef”. Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is another excellent source of information.
Some of our customers desire traditional grain finished beef. If you like more marbled beef, we can meet this need using all natural antibiotic-free grain at a slightly higher cost. We do what we can to meet your needs. Cattle grain finished are fed on pasture grass and supplemented with alfalfa hay and natural grain (no artificial additives) for 60 days or more prior to harvest. In general, grass-fed beef will be leaner, having less fat, and have a richer flavor. There are many sources of cooking techniques for grass-fed beef. Grain fed beef will be more marbled and tender. Being raised on the farm, it will be distinctly different than feed lot grain finished beef.
Processing
Our cattle are humanely harvested and we use a local family owned meat processor. Our butcher takes personal interest in your order and follows old-fashioned care in preparing it. Each piece is wrapped in plastic and white butcher paper with the date of processing, your name and the type of cut. You can select the thickness of your steaks and roasts and make all the cutting and packaging decisions. The shank, soup and marrow bone are also available if you like to make stock and soups.
All our beef is dry aged and hangs in the cooler for at least 21 days before processing. When beef is dry aged the meat is affected in several ways. This process evaporates some of the moisture from the muscle creating a richer beef flavor. Dry aging also allows the beef's natural enzymes to break down the fibrous tissue, relaxing the proteins in the muscle and naturally tenderizes the meat.
We offer our beef for sale as a single whole piece, two sides (one half) or four equal split quarters. A split quarter has all the same cuts, but is a lesser quantity. We offer a discount if you buy one half or more. We also offer 1/8 portion if we can find someone else to take the other 1/8 (of split quarter) Our current price is $3.00/lb based on hanging weight (plus the actual cost of grain for grain finished cattle). For example, a recent 1,290 lb. steer in the pasture weighed hanging 772 pounds after harvest. After cutting and packaging, this was 640 lbs of finished packaged beef. A split quarter was 160 lbs of packaged beef. This included shank bone, marrow bone and soup bone for stews and soups.
Payment is based on hanging weight. In this example for a split quarter, you pay us $3.00 per pound, the butcher for harvest $6.25/quarter, and cutting and packaging, $0.52 per lb. Finished, frozen and packaged beef averaged $4.29 per pound. A split quarter is about 2-1/2 freezer shelves. Many of our customers buy with their friends or family and divide a split quarter or half between themselves.
Cuts of Beef
In this example, the actual packages received are as follows:
Brisket 1
Short Ribs 3
Chuck Roast 4
Sirloin Steak 6
Rib Eye Steak 6
Round Steak 1
Jerky Meat 4
T-bone Steak 5
Soup Bone 5
Cheek Meat 1
Marrow Bone 1
Ground Beef 36
Stew Meat 14
Liver 6
Stew meat, Ground Beef, Round Steak, and Liver in 1 pound packages. there are two steaks per package in this example.
Availability
We know you have a choice and have priced our beef to be competitive with other family farms. We believe that you will be very satisfied. If you desire to purchase beef, availability is on a first come, first serve basis. Once we are able to confirm your order, we will request a $200 deposit. Please give us a call or email if you have any questions.
Thank you for supporting our family farm
Proverb of Belize
Meaning: "Quoted in support of old and experienced partners"
My thought is this has more meaning now than 40 years ago.
Being Part of Something Larger Than Yourself
NTCC has a slogan: "Start Here. Go Anywhere". That slogan is appropriate for any community college. My mom started her higher education pursuits in a community College and so did I. Our son in medical school got there in large part because of NTCC. Eva and i are proud to support this college and we hope that the scholarship will start one or two students on their pursuit of a better life through education.
Greer family makes donation to NTCC agriculture department
Mr. and Mrs. Sid and Eva Greer (right) recently presented a check for $1,225 to Dr. Charlie
Apter (second from left), Northeast Texas Community College Director of Agriculture, and
Mr. Chad Henry (left), NTCC Instructor of Agriculture. A portion of the funds will be used to
help purchase supplies for an upcoming NTCC agriculture Field Day to be held at the NTCC
Farm on March 27. The remainder of the funds will be used to establish the James Kafer
Agriculture Scholarship. This memorial scholarship is being established in memory of Mr. Greer's
late uncle, Mr. James Kafer. According to Mr. Greer, "My uncle was in his mid-80's and had
been a farmer, warrior, union pipe fitter, rancher and cowboy his whole life. He was bucked
off his horse a few months ago and died as a result of the accident. This scholarship
is our way of honoring him and everything he meant to us." For information on this or other
scholarship opportunities, please contact the NTCC Development Office at 903-434-8115.Vegetables: Planting and Planning for Summer
Potatoes are normally in the ground in our area already, but I have always had better luck planting later. This year we are going to experiment with a number of unusual varieties to see if they grow well here, produce a nice crop and can be sold in the Dallas chef's market easily. If you are wondering about growing your own potatoes, as a rule of thumb a single seed potato can be cut into 5-8 tubulars. that is a piece of a potato with one or two eyes on it. This small piece will keep the potato alive in the ground until it sprouts and sets roots; normally 2 weeks. You plant the tubulars every 12 inches. If all goes well, we will plant 70 pounds of tubulars and hope to harvest 700 to 800 pounds of potatoes.
The varieties we will plant are Yellow Finn, Rose Finn Apple, Bintje, Ozette, German butterball, French Fingerling, Desiree, Caribe, Austrian Crescent, Banana and All blue. I will share with you more when we receive them and they are planted.
Because Eva uses shallots in a lot of her dishes, we are planting Old German Shallots and Dutch Red Shallots. Economics of scale comes in here also. A small bag of 3-5 shallots cost as much as 50 shallot plants that will provide 300 shallots.
In the greenhouse, we are slowly filling shelves with trays of jiffy pots containing seeds for our summer vegetables that we transplant as soon as the ground is warm and there is NO chance of frost.
Today we planted Red Short Vine Tomatoes, Early Silverline Melon, Brandywine Tomato, White Tango Eggplant, Listada de Gandia Eggplant, Cavila Green summer Squash, Striped German Tomatoes, Wood's Prolific Bush Scallop Squash, Cilantro, Butternut squash, Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash, Sweet Genovese Basil, Eight Ball Summer Squash, and Mrs. Burn's Lemon Basil. More will be planted as we have time.
In the next week or so we should see the seedlings emerge from the soil and rapidly grow into nice plants to transplant so we have an early start in the garden. This was also a day I really missed Karl not being on the farm. He liked setting the seed and starting the transplants. Memories are nice, even if they make you a bit sad. Most farmer's live a solitary life even if in a partnership with a spouse or significant other. That's just the way it is.
Stay tuned for more on our vegetable gardening.
Winter in Tennessee: A Very Short Story
Most of us go through life with little change. Our days turn into weeks, months and years and what change we experience is so slow we hardly notice until one day we realize we are much older, not as spry and there are fewer days to the end than there were. This story is a window into two lives taking a different route than they had been living and the change with its challenge is peaceful. Living on the land, I can appreciate every word of the story and their concerns that needed to be addressed. I like the ending.
LIVES
Winter in Tennessee
By KEVIN WILSON
Published: February 20, 2009
The New York Times
After years of renting rooms in other people’s houses and tiny apartments that we didn’t even bother to decorate, my wife and I finally purchased our first house: a cabin on a few acres in the woods of southern Tennessee. The structure itself was nondescript from the outside and spare on the interior, but the view of the pond out back was pretty, a peaceful expanse of calm water.
It was winter, and the house needed a lot of work before we moved in. As I proceeded to rip the skin from my fingertips trying to pry old linoleum from the floors, I began to feel less confident about our decision. The place seemed smaller than I remembered. At night, the woods were dark and deep and not at all lovely, and stray dogs howled for hours on end. The cabin, a post-and-beam construction lacking nails, ticked in the cold and sounded as if it were slowly falling apart. While I was trying to replace the busted fixtures on the bathroom sink, I thought longingly about how, when we were renting, this was all someone else’s problem.
On our second day in the house, I took a walk across the property along the edge of the pond. The January air was near freezing, and every living thing was gray and silent. About 20 yards out, I noticed something floating in the water, a small hump of an island, bobbing in the wind. It took several minutes of staring to realize I was looking at the body of a deer.
I hurried back to the house where my wife was unpacking dishes and explained the situation in the broadest of terms. A dead deer. Floating. In our pond. “What do you want to do?” she asked.
“Maybe it will just sink,” I said, without much confidence.
“Should we call someone?” she said. “Is there a service for this kind of thing?” It was a Saturday, and we lived in the woods. No one was coming to help us. It was getting colder outside, and the edges of the pond were already frozen. The deer would soon be held in place by the encroaching ice; we would look out at it every morning through the long winter. “Well, what do you want to do?” my wife repeated.
“I want to get it out of there,” I told her, and she nodded her approval.
Back outside, I realized that the deer simply was too far away from us to retrieve with a long stick or a rope. So I took off my boots and socks and began to roll up the cuffs of my jeans, before realizing that nothing was going to prevent my jeans from getting soaked. “Should you just go in naked?” my wife asked. No, I decided, a man needed clothes on when he pulled a dead deer from the water, or else things got weird.
I took a cautious step into the pond and felt the thin layer of ice at the edges give way. What was beneath it was indescribably cold, the earth slick and unsteady under my feet. I focused on the dull curve of the deer’s body, step by step, until I was only a few feet from the animal, my hands raised above my head as if I were being held at gunpoint. It was impossible to quell the nervous feeling that the deer was not really dead, was merely sleeping or had created some elaborate trap for me and that I was walking into a situation more complicated than I anticipated.
My fingers totally numb, I cautiously gripped two of the deer’s legs, surprisingly solid in my hands, and pulled the body back to dry land. After several strong, solid tugs, its body came to rest on the grass, water spilling from its mouth, its eyes wide open.
The deer was beautiful. Because of the cold, there was no sign of decay; its fur, though freezing to the touch, was slick and soft. The white flag of its tail was pristine. And then we finally noticed a small entry wound, a gunshot, on the deer’s right flank. Otherwise the animal was perfect. My wife pointed to my feet, which were turning a bluish pale. “Aren’t you freezing?” she asked, and I resisted the urge to say something rude and ruin the solemnity of the event.
The ground was too hard to dig a grave, so we covered the deer with fallen tree branches and leaves. We would have to dispose of the body eventually, but not until the weather warmed up. I was shivering. “We need to get inside,” my wife said, and she put her hand on my back, nudging me toward the house. The grass and leaves crunched under our feet, and we made our way to our new home, the lights on, waiting for us. Inside, my wife wrapped me in a blanket, found our teapot in a box and put it on the stove to warm. The posts and beams clicked and whined with the effort, not of falling apart but of keeping itself together.
Kevin Wilson is the author of a story collection, “Tunneling to the Center of the Earth,” to be published later this year.
Onion Planting Time
I thought of this song normally sung to 100 bottles of beer all day Monday. It was a hard day on the farm. I had previously tilled a portion of our land set aside for vegetables in anticipation of mid-February Onion planting. Monday was plant onion day! Since I plant by the moon, this was the best day for some time.
For several years we have been experimenting with growing Candy onions. Eva and I had attended a seminar in Oklahoma held by the Kerry Center for Sustainable Agriculture and learned that this particular onion is very sweet, easy to grow in our area and is easy to sell retail or wholesale in the Dallas Farmer's Market.
Our first crop was produced from seed we planted. Karl and I built a hoop house and spread out thousands of seeds as small as a grain of salt mid October. If you every wondered how the 1015 onion got its name it is because the seed is planted on October 15 or very near to that date. In February, we dug the small individual onion plants known as sets and placed them in our vegetable garden. Planting the seed saves money if you consider the hoop house an investment. I have a package of seed that has not been used. 5,000 seed costs a lot less than the pre-grown sets, but it is a lot of work with the results not known for months after planting.
We were blessed this year by the company of new friends that dropped by to talk about gardening. I felt a bit like Tom Sawyer getting his fence painted as they tolled by me planting the sets all morning. After lunch, I continued on by myself and before the day was over Eva joined me. About dark, I could hardly get up off the ground.
To plant the sets, I laid out my rows (245 feet long) with string. There are a total of 9 rows. There are three rows per five foot tilled bed. I plowed a fertilizer trench about 3-4 inches deep between each row of onions and evenly distributed 13 cups of a special onion fertilizer in each trench (1/2 cup per 10 feet). For planting, I built a device to put a row of holes in the row under the string the correct depth (1 inch) and 4 inches between plants. This speeded up the planting process and each onion set is perfectly in line and spaced correctly.
We planted about 6,600 individual plants!
Today, I will re-install our irrigation filtration system and lay T-tape along the fertilizer trenches so I can start to irrigate the plants. Onions need about 30 inches of water over 100 days and should never get dry.
Did you know that an onion has a ring for each leaf you grow. Therefore, you can determine how your onions are doing by watching the leaves.
If successful, maybe next fall we will experiment with planting garlic to go with our onion crop.
Our first Candy onions planted 2/22/07 and dug 6/18/07
The three varieties we planted this week are below complements of Dixondale Farms.
Candy
This yellow onion is the most consistent winner at county fairs across the country. If we had to recommend one onion for everyone to try, it would be this one. Some boast about producing 6" onions. Each year we hear more customers comment that they can't grow enough Candy to supply the folks at the local market. Stores surprisingly well for a sweet onion. Hybrid, stores approximately three months, matures in 100 days, globe-shaped, yellow.
Red Candy Apple
Red Candy Apple is a red intermediate day hybrid that is as sweet as candy—so sweet that you can eat it like an apple. Compared to the Stockton Red, the Red Candy Apple offers improved sizing, better interior color and an intense dark red skin with very mild taste. This red onion's color moves inside as the bulb matures and the interior produces beautiful red rings after curing. Remarkably uniform, this new development also features a high percentage of single centers in its solid, firm bulbs.
Red onions are generally more expensive for consumers than yellow or whites due to lower yields and pack-outs in processing. Other contributors to their popularity are that reds are beautiful and make food dishes beautiful. Because of their higher concentration of quercetins, red onions are also very healthy. Quercetin is a flavonoid—an antioxidant compound that helps delay or slow damage to cells and tissue of the body. Recent studies on its health effects suggest that quercetin may help fight diseases and disorders such as cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers.
Deep red, flattened globe shaped, sweet, hybrid, grows up to 4", stores approximately two months, 95 days to harvest.
Borettana Cippolini
This yellow onion is often referred to as a summer "mini" onion. It is very flat (1") which makes it nice for braiding or keeping in a small basket in the kitchen. Plant them as close as 2" apart to make cute, flat onions great for shish-ka-bobs or 4" apart for onions that will fill up your saucer or hamburger. This is a long-day variety that may produce too large of necks in short day areas. Makes a great specialty item when harvested and marketed with tops still attached. Open pollinated, stores approximately five months, matures 110 days, very flat, yellow.
Cooking Basics: The Art of Good Food
With the economy declining and people more focused on saving money, many are now buying fresh food and cooking their own meals instead of eating out. There are many articles and news programs pointing out the decline in the number of us that eat our meals away from home and the increase in those cooking with fresh food products. More surprising is the sharp increase in people preparing to plant their own garden this year. We have had several calls from those seeking guidance and at the East Texas Fruit and Vegetable Conference this year a large number of those attending were first time gardeners.
Cooking basics will help you stretch your food budget and improve the quality of your meals. It will surprise you how good home cooked meals can be and what you can save by cooking your own meals. Eating out does not have to be the only way to have a savory meal. Many are also changing their lifestyle and eating more healthy. All this means cooking from scratch with fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. Did you know that most people overcook chicken, fish and pork? Just knowing the right way to cook will improve your meals instantly.
The three cooking basics classes, now scheduled for March 7, April 25 and May 16, will still be of great interest to brides, but also any new cook or someone that wants to sharpen their kitchen skills by getting back to the basics. These classes will show you how to use fresh food and reduce your need for processed ingredients. Over the course of the three classes, you will learn how to measure properly, make a gourmet salad, prepare sauces, cook with pasta and techniques to prepare fish, chicken, pork or beef. Learning to use herbs and seasonings to enhance flavor will be a special part of the classes. We will cover several techniques of cooking such as roasting, broiling, sauteing, pan searing and baking. Every class will have an easy and scrumptious dessert that everyone will be proud of.
Healthy, tasty, and enjoyable meals will be a snap to prepare after you brush up on your basic skills. These classes are sure to change your outlook on cooking, giving you a greater understanding, more comfort, and joy in the kitchen.
To make these classes more affordable, the price of a single class will be $60 and if you take all three they will be $55 each.
Classes will start at 11:00 AM at the farm. More details on each class will be posted on our website soon.
Chef Eva
Chef Eva in Our Local Newspaper: Texas Cooking Classes on the Farm
Chef Eva Greer Makes Cooking Magical
The Daingerfield Bee
February 11, 2009
Chef Eva Greer mixes ingredients while explaining a dish to students at the Feb. 7 cooking class she conducted. |
By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@etcnonline.com
A love of food has evolved into teaching others the magic of cooking for a local woman. Chef Eva Greer of Daingerfield grew up in Belize and moved to the United States to attend college as a foreign student. “I attended Tulane University and also Loyola University, both in New Orleans,” Mrs. Greer said. “I was in pre-med and then changed my major to medical technology.”
Her love of cooking led her to attend the Culinary Arts at the Art Institute in Houston. “This is a God-given love for cooking that I couldn’t throw off,” Mrs. Greer said. “All my life I loved to cook. I followed my mother around when she was cooking, and then I began cooking on my own. “I went to chef school as I wanted to have something to do where I could meet people, and I could go back to doing what I loved to do. The chef school was a two-year program and I finished it, even though my family moved to London. I stayed behind to finish the last three months of school.”
Mrs. Greer said cooking is hard work.“It is hard work, but I get so involved in doing it,” she said. “I do work making up recipes. I have done that for Pilgrim’s Pride in the past. I would average between three to six recipes every three months, and all of them had to do with chicken. It got a little hard at the end.”
A few years ago, Mrs. Greer began teaching cooking classes at Northeast Texas Community College. “I stopped doing that and in June of last year I started on my own,” she said. “I have had four prior classes and now am doing two more. I plan to do one or two every month.
“We have such a good time. We have some men coming to the class, and we get to eat all the time. Some classes are demonstration only as they are too large, and others are hands on. I try to mix both of them. I have had as many as 14 in a class, but I try to keep it at 12 maximum.”People have attended the classes from Dallas, Fort Worth, Paris, and Longview. “I have had a young man, age 12, who has attended two of my classes,” Mrs. Greer said. “He just loves them, and he is really into cooking. He said he wanted to come to all my classes. He was the only young person with all the adults, and it didn’t bother him at all. Many of the people who attend are good cooks already, so it is a challenge for me to have them leave with learning something from me. I give a lot of tips as we go along that aren’t in the recipes, and everyone leaves with a set of recipes.
Mrs. Greer held a class Feb. 7 on aphrodisiac foods for Valentine’s Day. The next class will be held Feb. 21 and will feature cooking Cajun for Mardi Gras.
When to Plant Vegetables? Planting by the Moon, Soil Temperature or Date
The broccoli and carrots Javier planted in the fall are doing okay. We have some to eat now. It's amazing these plants stand the temperature in the teens and survive. Over 4,000 onion sets are ordered and on the way to us. A few years ago we grew out own sets from seed planting them on October 15 (1015- the name of one onion). It is easier to buy the sets than mess with the tiny seed and then transplant those in February.
In any case, planting time or date is function of what method you use or when you have time to do it. My dad said that potatoes needed to be planted when there was no moon. He also said if you planted peas on certain days or they would just flower and never produce pods.
We try to use an almanac, but no two have the exact same planting dates. I have the Farmer's Almanac and today is a day to plant flowers. Planting by the Moon has a lot of resources for those wanting to use this ancient method. Using this handy chart you can just look at the zodiac sign for the day and you know what to do. Below is a general chart with the zodiac sign for a day, if you can plant and what activities are good in this period. There is a site that has a single chart that has almost all the information you need at one place. Try this link.
Aries
No Planting
Cultivating, weeding, destroying pests, harvesting
Taurus
Root crops, especially potatoes & bulbous plants; flowers for hardiness, beans, cabbage, hay, lettuce, onion sets, radish, turnip, leafy vegetables. Peach, pear and plum trees.
General maintenance
Gemini
No Planting
Cultivating, weeding, destroying noxious growth & pests, harvesting, mow lawns to retard growth.
Cancer
Planting reliable seeds and transplanting should produce good results.
Asparagus, barley, beets, berries, bulbs, carrots, corn, lettuce, potatoes, roses, herbs, wheat, deciduous trees.
Irrigation; bud and graft.
Leo
No Planting, none, never, not at all, ever!
Destroy weeds and noxious growth/pests. Deaden trees. Mow lawns to retard growth, harvesting
Virgo
Plant flowers & vines. Don't plant vegetables or trees.
Cultivation, destroy weeds etc.
Libra
Seeds for hay, corn, fodder, grain. Flowers for beauty, bulbs. Barley, beans, beet, cabbage, carrot, peas, squash, tubers, vines
Cultivate, weed
Scorpio
Beans, berries, cantaloupes, cauliflower, cereal, chicory, eggplant (aubergine), peas, potatoes, pumpkin. Flowers for abundance.
Do not dig potatoes! Sturdiness is a special quality of Scorpio
Sagittarius
Onion (seeds), endive, leeks, garlic, peppers, radish, potatoes, European trees such as oak.
Harvesting, destroying weeds.
Capricorn
Bulbs, potatoes, root crops, beans, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, onion sets, radish. Flowers for hardiness. Fruit trees.
General maintenance
Aquarius
Absolutely not.
Cultivation, extermination, harvesting
Pisces
Broccoli, bulbs, Brussel sprouts, carrot, celery, cress, chicory, cucumber, endive, horseradish, parsley, peanuts, radish, pumpkin. Flowers for abundance. Deciduous trees.
First Quarter Moon Above ground crops. Begin new projects.
Second Quarter Moon Above ground crops. Nurture & tend to new growth.
Third Quarter Moon Root crops. Finish off projects and tasks. Harvest.
Fourth Quarter Moon Begin compost heaps and worm farms.
Remove noxious growth, weeds and pests. Harvest. Have a nice rest and chill out a little. Compost heaps started in the fourth quarter under Cancer will be amazing.
If you want to be even more specific use this chart. It includes a lot of data points and is plant specific. Other methods of planting are more basic. This includes soil temperature. Seeds will not germinate unless the soil is warm enough. This list is pretty accurate and includes the number of days for germination. If the soil temperature drops below that indicate for a plant, expect it to stop growing or to wither. I have planted on the right moon day too often, but when the soil was too cool and have had to replant more than once. Seed is not such a loss, but buying more tomato plants can be.
Bean, lima 85 degrees F 7 to 10 days
Bean, snap 75 to 80 degrees F 7 days
Beet 75 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Broccoli 65 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Brussels sprout 68 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Cabbage 68 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Cantaloupe 80 to 85 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Carrot 75 degrees F 12 to 15 days Cauliflower 65 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Celery 70 to 75 degrees F 10 to 14 days
Collard 70 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Corn 75 to 85 degrees F 7-10 days
Cucumber 70 to 85 degrees F 7 to 10 days
Eggplant 75 to 85 degrees F 10 to 12 days
Endive 70 to 75 degrees F 10 to 14 days
Kale 70 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Kohlrabi 70 to 75 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Lettuce 65 to 70 degrees F 7 to 10 days
Melon 80 to 85 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Mustard Greens 70 degrees F 5 to 10 days
Okra 80 to 85 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Onion, bulbing 70 to 75 degrees F 10 to 14 days
Onion, bunching 60 to 70 degrees F 10 to 14 days
Parsnip 70 degrees F 14 to 21 days
Pea 65 to 70 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Pepper 78 to 85 degrees F 10 to 14 days
Pumpkin 70 to 75 degrees F 7 to 10 days
Radish 65 to 70 degrees F 5 to 7 days
Rutabaga 65 to 70 degrees F 7 to 15 days
Spinach 70 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Spinach, New Zealand 75 degrees F 10 to 15 days
Squash, Summer 75 to 85 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Squash, Winter 75 to 80 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Swiss Chard 70 to 75 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Tomato 75 to 80 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Turnip 65 to 70 degrees F 7 to 14 days
Watermelon 75 to 85 degrees F 7 to 14 days
If you live in East or North Texas you can also use a normal planting guide based on time periods for spring and fall. Texas A&M produced this list.
Vegetable Planting Dates for the Northeast Texas
Average last spring freeze date - 3/15; Average first fall freeze date - 11/15
CROP
SPRING PLANTING DATE
FALL PLANTING DATE
Asparagus
2/1 - 3/15
N.R.
Beans, Bush
3/15 - 4/15
8/1 - 9/1
Beans, Pole
3/15 - 4/15
8/1 - 9/1
Beans, Lima
3/15 - 4/1
7/15 - 8/15
Beets
2/1 - 4/1
9/1 - 10/15
Broccoli (plants)
3/1 - 3/15
8/1 - 9/15
Brussels Sprouts
N.R.
8/1 - 10/1
Cabbage (plants)
2/1 - 3/1
8/15 - 9/15
Cabbage, Chinese
2/1 - 2/15
8/15 - 9/15
Carrots
2/1 - 2/15
8/15 - 10/15
Cauliflower (plants)
2/15 - 3/1
8/15 - 9/15
Chard, Swiss
2/15 - 4/1
8/1 - 10/15
Collard/Kale
2/1 - 2/15
8/15 - 10/1
Corn, Sweet
3/1 - 4/1
8/1 - 8/15
Cucumber
3/15 - 4/15
8/1 - 9/1
Eggplant (plants)
4/1 - 4/15
7/15 - 8/1
Garlic
1/15 - 2/15
9/1 - 10/15
Kohlrabi
2/1 - 3/1
8/15 - 9/15
Lettuce (leaf)
2/1 - 3/1
9/15 - 10/15
Muskmelon (Cantaloupe)
3/15 - 5/1
7/15 - 8/1
Mustard
2/1 - 3/1
9/15 - 10/15
Okra
Needs Hot Weather
4/15 - 7/1
Onion (plants)
2/1 - 3/1
Parsley
N.R.
8/15 - 10/1
Peas, English
1/15 - 2/15
8/15 - 9/15
Peas, Southern
4/15 - 6/1
7/1 - 8/1
Pepper (plants)
4/1 - 4/15
7/1 - 8/1
Potatoes (Irish)
2/1 - 2/15
8/15 - 9/15
Potatoes (Sweet) (slips)
4/1 - 5/15
N.R.
Pumpkin
4/1 - 5/15
7/1 - 8/1
Radish
2/1 - 4/1
9/15 - 10/15
Spinach
2/1 - 3/1
9/1 - 10/15
Squash, Summer
3/15 - 4/15
7/15 - 8/15
Squash, Winter
4/1 - 4/15
7/1 - 7/15
Tomato (plants)
3/15 - 4/1
7/15 - 8/1
Turnips
2/1 - 3/1
10/1 - 11/1
Watermelon
3/15 - 5/1
7/1 - 8/1
Watermelon (Seedless)
3/25 - 5/1
7/1 - 8/1
No matter what dates you use or combination of them. For certain you will enjoy wonderful, fresh vegetables during the summer if you make an effort to plant something. Even if you live in the city you can place a few tomato plants in a flower bed or a few okra stalks. It takes very little to grow enough to feed a family in the summer no matter where you live. If in an apartment, you can use plastic tubs on a patio.
Good gardening
Beecher Speak
Henry Ward Beecher
Oh the Places You Will Go (from a farm)
FFA, others worked on the farm. Sometime we helped out by buying a pig in our county agriculture show or giving things to raise money for the kid's ag program.
One young lady was Alta Halbert. Alta came to the farm and worked after school in the barn, feeding, bathing them and doing what ever was needed with our show heifers. She went with us to the Fort Worth Stock Show for several years assisting with their care, feeding and showing them in the show ring. Alta also cared for and showed her own heifer that we provided. In 2003, Country World published an article about Alta.
Alta did not have all the luck in the world. her father died suddenly of cancer and she did not get into the University of Texas as Austin as she desired. She got into the provisional program and headed off the UTArlington. There she liked that campus and stayed rather than transfer to Austin after she met the GPA criteria. After graduation last year, she entered the graduate Nurse Anesthetists program there.
Alta has been very successful and I am sure will continue on and be even more successful. Eva and I are proud to have played a small part in here success mentoring her and supporting her dreams.
One of my favorite books is by Dr Seuss, Oh, the Places You Will Go. I have given away hundreds of them over the years. I believe the "kid" in this book can be someone just graduating from high school or college, or it can be an adult changing career seeking something different. Perhaps it had some influence on me to leave the corporate world and move into farming and ranching. Maybe, just maybe, Dr. Seuss was my mentor.
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there
in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.
You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!
Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.
I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.
And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.
But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.
You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
---Dr. Seuss
Breeding on the Farm: A Bull's Tale
Everything went fine until we introduced two different bulls to the ladies. Then all hell broke lose. The two paddocks were next to each other and had only a high woven wire fence between them. I never gave it a thought, but we were setting ourselves for problems. However girls being girls and boys being boys, the problems started soon. As an example, this link is video of excited Hereford bulls.
This is how hot cows and heifers excite bulls.
They come into heat and just stand next to the fence where the bull can be teased and excited. Once ready to breed, they are in standing heat and do not move about.
If you do not believe me that cows are teasers, check out these two great California Cheese videos on youtube: video1 and video2.
We have a young bull that is in his second season. His name is Bruno. Being young and agile, he tore through the electric fence around the hay barn and jumped the fence to get to the other side. Never mind he was immediately met by an older and much bigger bull as soon as he got there and therefore did not have any fun. When Eva and I went to put out hay that day she said the bull was missing. Sure enough, Bruno was standing near the cows looking rather sad. No one was paying any attention to him except the other bull.
I gave Eva a wood club and had her stand ready to open the gate as soon as I had Bruno headed her way. As luck would have it, one of the girls wanted to tease him and run along. I think she was just taunting him. Eventually, I was able to separate her and send her back to the herd and Bruno made a bee line for the gate. He wanted to be back with his own girls. I thought that would be the end of our problems.
A week or so later Eva and I were back to feed and she pointed out that Riddler, the older, larger herd bull was hanging over the fence gate steel brace. Sure enough, one ton of bull was half over the brace; suspended and not able to go froward for backward. A cow in standing heat was about six feet from his nose. His brass nose ring was totally erect and he was very agitated if you know what I mean.
Moving a 2,000 pound bull that is mad is not an easy task. Luckily the tractor was there with hay forks on it, so I eased up, with Eva's guidance, and placed the fork under Riddler's front legs and raised him up. He slipped back into his paddock. That was not the end of our problems. The lady in waiting was still standing there and moved her rear end closer to the fence. Since Bruno had already learned he was no match for Riddler, he was no where to be seen. Riddler surveyed the situation and took a run at the fence and almost knocked it down. I had a stick and Eva a club so we got him to back off. I knew we needed to do something.
I thought that maybe I could put some wood pallets on the ground with rolled hay bales on top of them to make a barrier. After moving many pallets and a few rolls of hay Eva pointed out all the cattle were coming to eat the hay. If I did not move the bales, in a few days my barrier would be eaten and gone.
Karl had strung electric wire on the northeast fence a few years ago and it was still there. I decided to go and get it and place it so it would deter Riddler. I left Eva with her club to swat the bull when he approached the fence and retrieved the wire. I then realized I had no charger and the bull was again very agitated.
We decided to move all the females in that breeding group to another pasture that was not common to the other breeding group. Using alfalfa hay as a treat and bait, we got everyone to move except the bull. After some encouragement (screaming, waving arms, throwing hat and chasing him,) he too moved to the new paddock. I shut the gate on the circle where we move from one paddock to another and thought that was all we needed to do.
Wrong! Before I had time to collect myself Eva pointed out the bull was not in his paddock, but was in the circle trying to get to the cow in heat that had moved down to where Riddler was. She was not helping our situation at all and Bruno was still being a wimp. I did not see any fence or gates mashed, so could not figure out how he got into the circle. We moved him back and when we turned around he was back. Eva, being more observant that me, saw that one of the fence panels on the circle had never been tied to the post. It was not obvious. This acted like a saloon door and Riddler just pushed through and it sprung back and you did not notice it had moved.
I did not have any wire to bind it, so I used bale twine that was in the truck. It was now approaching dark, getting cold and we had to do something. I told Eva to stay there with her club and gently persuade Riddler to stay on his side of the fence every time he came near. I would go back to the farm (10 miles) and get everything needed to build a piece of electric fence. She was already cold and had no coat. She found a beach towel the dog had been laying on in the truck and wrapped up in it.
By the time I got back, it was dark. The lights of the truck did not indicate Eva was still there and Riddler was standing just by the fence. I then saw a huddled little bundle of beach towel on the ground and my first thought was he has stomped her into a little pile. Not so, she moved and had just bundled up to get away from the wind. I brought her a warm field coat and we both had head lamps. It was really getting cold with the north wind blowing.
It took perhaps an hour or more to get 200 feet of fence by the circle installed with a wire gate and solar charger. By the time we had finished, Riddler has lost interest and moved on to be with the herd. I am not sure if it is the electric fence or what, but that has been over six weeks ago and he has shown no desire to get back into the other paddock. He is now a contented bull. Perhaps it's because he has found true love.
Feel Like Hugging a Tree? Try Eating Green
50 Ways to Eat Green
The Bon Appétit Guide to Cooking Up a Greener World
Click here
Valentine Evening Dinner Special
During the year, we are honored to host various private luncheons and dinner parties. This year, Valentine's Day is on Saturday, February 14, and we are doing something different. Imagine the elegance of the dining room: fine linens, candlelight, sparkling dinnerware and a romantic menu. Our circa 1850's dining room can accommodate two separate dinner groups of 10 each. Consider getting together a group of your friends and reserving a table for an extraordinary evening. Cabin rentals are available for those who want to spend the night at the farm. The menu offers a choice of entree.
Menu
Tomato & Artichoke soup with Crab Meat
and
Mixed field Greens Salad with Goat Cheese,
Wontons and Greer Farm Blueberry Dressing
Choice of
Beer Tenderloin with wild Mushroom Duxelle and Greer Farm Blackkberry Gastrique
or
Salmon Roulade
Served with
Potato Flan
Roasted Asparagus Bundle
Homemade Bread with Chipolte Butter
Bete Noir with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Sauce
Coffee, Texas Homestead Tea or Regular Iced Tea
$80 per person plus sales tax and 18% gratuity
What to do in February on a Farm?
We can now harvest some broccoli that has grown over the winter and its the perfect time to plant a few early spring vegetables like sugar snap peas. We are skipping potatoes this year since we are on a low carb diet. If we had them later, we would for certain eat each and everyone. I suppose we could plant some for a farmer's market and sell them to those that are skinny.
Bird watching is wonderful in February. No leaves on the trees prevent you from watching so many species that are on the farm at this time. We saw our first red headed woodpecker this week. Adding bird food to the many feeders we have hanging on trees will bring the birds closer to the cabins and farmhouse. Nearby Daingerfield State Park also has many birding opportunities. We just received four new bluebird houses. One is a replacement for the one hurricane Ike landed a tree on top of and three are for our bluebird trail. The male scouts will be here in a few weeks. We will soon clean the Purple Martin houses and get them ready for their late winter scouts to check out housing. It is amazing how many birds come back to the farm year after year and nest in the same place.
Of course, you can come to the farm any time for a Texas vacation in a log cabin. We had two friends this past weekend that came back for a second visit to just relax and visit. I think they spent a few hours on the lake in a paddle boat or canoe. It is still a bit cold for a kayak if you tip over. You can not do that in the frozen north this time of the year, but on our farm there is so much to do. Imagine a nice bottle of wine, a stack of magazines (we furnish a unique mix) or a good book, music and one of our porch rockers. Just imagine the sounds of nature. Gosh, so many stars at night.
Some get a bit restless and we have miles of trails and country roads to walk or mountain bike. You can climb to the top of Greer Mountain (not so tough unless you are totally out of shape). The view is great now and it will soon be gone when the trees leaf out. Lay on the ground on a bed of oak leaves once on top and look up at the blue sky. See the hawk circling overhead? Sit on a log at Sid's place and imagine a Caddo Indian camp not so far from this site, but long ago. Dream about the primitive cabin I want to build in that grove of oaks just on the slope of the hill. No electricity, just candles. No running water, just a gutter catching rain water in a wood barrel. No toilet, just an old outhouse a bit away from. No windows, just screens. It will be a place to sleep outdoors, yet not be carried off by insects at night. I also see an Adirondack shelter or two near the cabin or on the mountain top for those times you want to do something different. Ah, what you can dream of when in the forest. Perhaps, just maybe, there is a tree house to sleep in too. You just never know when a dream becomes reality.
Ever kiss your sweetheart in the woods? The 14th is Valentine's Day and its a weekend. Rent a vacation cabin, take a long walk and just hold hands. Talk and dream. Remember and laugh. Sit in silence and watch the sun go down over the lake. Cuddle. For certain, these can be February activities on the farm.
You can watch the baby goats play. They love to jump and spin around like a helicopter. The chickens are getting back to basics and you can collect eggs and then make an omelet. Feed a steer or heifer with Sid or pamper the horses with a treat.
Pick up a jar of blackberry or fig jam from the house and have a peanut butter and jam sandwich for no reason at all.
Do you like to cook or just eat. It does not really matter. When you attend a cooking school class at the farm, the very least you do is eat and the most is learn some great culinary techniques and recipes. Chef Eva's cooking classes at the Greer Farm Culinary Institute for Food Excellence (I just made that up) are something you do not want to miss out on. There are many classes during the year. We even offer a log cabin rental discount of 20% if you take a class. How can you beat that?
Our farm is alive with activity every month. It is a vacation spot you will want to return to. Whether its birding, sitting by the lake, rocking on the cabin porch, fishing, boating, hiking, feeding animals in Old McDonald's farmyard, attending a cooking class or just doing nothing, February is an great time to have a farm stay.
So, I think I have answered the question. February may be near the end of winter, but there is oh so much to do on a visit to our farm.
Enjoy the music and the sun at Greer Farm in February.
