Green Horsemanship

Apr 22, 2009 06:01

Today is Earth Day in the Northern Hemisphere. How is your farm going green ( Read more... )

farming, eco-friendliness

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Comments 45

xihateyourx April 22 2009, 11:48:15 UTC
-we also compost our own manure and spread it on a NEIGHBOR'S field. I don't like manure anywhere near my farm hahaha
- we use fly predators and fly traps to cut down on the amount of fly sprays and pesticides we have to use. We try to use herbal fly sprays as much as possible
- We have a composting toilet which means we don't use the septic tank, or any water at all,in fact.
- recycling glass, plastic etc. and adding small bits of cardboard or plastic to the compost pile when possible. also, when we get bagged bedding (we generally use bulk) we get paper bags and shred the bags to throw in with the bedding.

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halfpass_19 April 22 2009, 16:15:44 UTC
we get paper bags and shred the bags to throw in with the bedding
That is awesome! Go you!

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xihateyourx April 22 2009, 16:16:37 UTC
its a pain in my butt but it helps :)

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12to15steps April 22 2009, 16:58:26 UTC
That is very clever - I've never heard of that, but it makes a heckofa lotta sense. Cool!

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ilikerivers April 26 2009, 04:51:07 UTC
What fly predators do you use? And what do you make your own fly spray with? I've been thinking about making my own fly/insect spray from essential oils but haven't done research yet into what essential oils are okay with horses.

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a_quick_one April 22 2009, 16:40:41 UTC
We spread our manure on the fields. Sometime this year, we are supposed to be getting a heater which runs on manure to heat and provide electricity the barn. :)

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xihateyourx April 22 2009, 17:01:42 UTC
wow, never heard of that before but it sounds fantastic!!! Any info online about it?

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a_quick_one April 23 2009, 04:23:55 UTC
No idea - one of our boarders works in environmental sustainability in NYC, and got the Dodge Foundation and Rutgers to give us a grant for it somehow. We're supposed to be a model for them. They came a month or so ago and hauled off barrels of manure to study. :)

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athystle April 23 2009, 10:53:30 UTC
The farm in this link is 1 mile or less from here. There is a lot online about it. They make all the electricity and heat from there manure for the whole farm, including all their mexican housing. They are a family of 15 children and one of them designed their digester.http://www.walker-process.com/pdf/08_PlantProfileGervaisFamilyFarm.pdf

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emidala April 22 2009, 16:52:45 UTC
We:

- mend wraps, saddle pads, blankets and other fabrics as much as possible before buying new things. You get far with a needle and some thread ( ... )

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12to15steps April 22 2009, 17:00:19 UTC
Yes, yay local hay. It's great being in a part of the country where the local hay is GOOD! And we rotate pastures too.

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bella_cheval April 22 2009, 17:48:57 UTC
YES. We found a local hay grower who has provided us with some excellent timmy and timmy/orchard grass hay the past couple years. We were having to buy from a guy in another state because no one around here had decent hay, but when this guy's name came up and my hubby went to see the hay, it was like "where have you been all this time??"

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xihateyourx April 22 2009, 17:02:08 UTC
"bitch pleasantly" lol
is that possible?

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bella_cheval April 22 2009, 17:46:27 UTC
****We compost our manure too, and there's folks around our little town who come up to get the better-aged stuff for their gardens. This winter I'm going to use some to try and get a section of yard fertile enough to start growing something other than weeds!

*** We use old bath towels instead of paper towels when possible.

***Ordering from Smart Pak and other companies that are eco-friendly;

***We try to use products that are earth-friendly where we can;

***Encourage bats and insect-eating birds to hang about the barn to help keep the bug population down, plus we're going to start using fly predators this year.

That's just a few things right now off the top of my head.

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