EMAU FARMS- SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

By Peter Emau Today, we go we walk through goats in Pasture in EMAU FARMS LTD .

By Peter Emau One goal for EMAU FARMS LTD in 2019 was to grow finger millet varieties for potential human, animal or poultry feed.  We used a sustainable system of gardening. Here is a photographic walk through of different varieties of Finger Millet growing; and the status of their growth Finger Millet- Musei Variety-100% FSG Plots seed heads on 21Sept2019 planted on 28May2019 Finger Millet- Musei Variety 19 Finger Millet- Ekama Variety- FSG Plot 100% Seed heads on 21Sept2019 planted on 28May20 Ekama Millet Variety Finger Millet Zambia Variety - 61.5% Seed Head on 21Sep2019;  Planted 28 May2019 Finger Millet Zambia variety- Seed Head Close-up Finger Millet Zaire Variety - 72.7% Seed Head on 21Sep2019;  Planted 28 May2019 Za ire Variety- Seed Head Close-up Finger Millet Zaire Variety - 73.3% Seed Head on 21Sep2019;  Planted 28 May2019 Zaire Variety- Seed Head Close-up Finger Mille...

By Peter Emau As summer comes to a close and fall begins, we today 21 September 2019, have a general walk through the farm and take stock of the produce. Sorghum plus Amaranthus Sorghum Finger Millet Amaranthus

by Peter Emau Goats, like deer, are browsers when feeding.That is goats prefer to feed on leaves, offshoots and weeds.  Therefore,an essential component of sustainable agriculture with regards to raising goats is the capacity to provide browsing as a source of pasture for the goats.  Here we have provided cuttings of tree branches (mostly maple trees) with plenty of leaves for the meat goats in our small farm in Mansfield Ohio   Goats browsing leaves in the morning in mid July Chickens can be considered optional grazers .

By Peter Emau A farmer dedicated to sustainable agriculture continues to seek an understanding of how nature works, especially, the effects of chemicals on soil.  This is because, f rom soil we get our food.  A variety of salt-based chemicals are often used on roads or drive-ways to de-icing in winter in many areas with snow. Some of the salt, however, may get washed into nearby agricultural land.  Therefore, here is another experiment: EF2019B Comparing the effects of magnesium/calcium-based salt with Urea-based salt (pet safe) on soil sedimentation.  Jar #0 has nothing added (negative control);  Jar #1 has a quarter teaspoon of rock salt (Sodium Chloride);  J ar #2 has half teaspoon of rock salt:  Jars # 3 and 4 have a quarter and half teaspoon, respectively, of urea-based salt.  All jars have soil and water added so that soil is 15% volume in 500 mL jar.  Then mix vigorously to suspend the soil and...

 by Peter Emau For a farmer dedicated to sustainable agriculture, one question to ask is what effects the massive amounts of salt (applied on  the roads and driveways to melt snow ice in Winter) has on natural soil structure or texture.  As the snow melts, salt is carried away into nearby land where it may affect soil structure.  Soil texture affects growth of plant roots and growth soil microbes- both of which are the basis or healthy gardening and pasture for animals. Therefore, I tested the effects using simple soil sedimentation test.  Basically, get soil from up to 20 cm depth in the pasture, add it to jars up to a third of the jar, then add different amounts of salt.  Jar #2 has no salt.  Jar #4 has a quarter teaspoon of salt.  Jar #6 has half teaspoon of salt. Add water to all jars bring total volume to 500 milliters and shake to create a soil suspension so that soil is approximately 25%(v/v). Assuming 1 teaspoon is 5....

When farming according to or consistent with nature, one of the first steps is real-time monitoring the plant growing seasons for- based on weather patterns for the farm.  Another is real time monitoring of soil texture- as part of creating and sustaining healthy soil with adequate moisture and full of microflora as nature intended for plant growth. Here using simple technique of soil sedimentation (i.e place soil sample in a jar, add water, shake and let settle)- we have determined the soil texture as shown in the photographs below. We used two jars of different volumes (small and large) to minimize variation due to volume, if any. Glass Jar A- small size Glass Jar B - large   After 48 - 72 hours settling, we identified the clay, silt and sand layers (marked as shown).  Then by measuring total length, and intervals between the layers, we calculated the percent clay, silt and sand.   Then, using thee percent values in soil texture triangl...

Peter Emau One objective of EMAU FARM's sustainable agriculture program is to establish and preserve grains such as finger millet- that has been used for many generations as stable food in many regions of the world. Birds, including poultry, also love to eat millet. In May 2017, we started with the initial goal of testing if finger millet and sorghum can grow in gardens of Mansfield, Ohio. This hypothesis was based on the hot summer seasons in Ohio - closely similar to tropics- which we confirmed by measuring the rates of spring warming and summer temperatures (see http://amukurat.blogspot.com/2018/09/comparison-of-rate-of-spring-warming.html).  Therefore, we planted a few seeds of finger millet (India origin) and sorghum (Russia, origin) - received from the National Plant Germplasm Service- USDA. Planted the seeds on 22 May 2017 after the last frost and when both soil and ambient morning temperatures were above 55F (seehttp://amukurat.blogspot.com/2018/09/comparison-of-r...