Troubleshooting Sprinkler System

In fact, I'm writing this one day after an April snowstorm dumped 8 inches of snow on wet ground that had previously been inundated by heavy rain and a hailstorm. Needless to say, there's going to be some mud! And while mud is an expected side effect...

Feed-through System A feed-through chemical known as an insect growth regulator disrupts the pupal stage of the fly life cycle. Your supplier's customer-support representatives can help you determine what type and how many you need.

A Schedule In Sync With Nature Wilderness farms follow the cycles of nature. By that very definition, they must avoid erosion, pollution, environmental degradation and resource waste.

Markets For Christmas Trees Susy Morris/Flickr Christmas tree production costs $5 to $10 per tree from establishment through harvest, but can yield annual returns per acre between $600 to $1000, according to the Oregon State University Extension Service.

Owners of the machinery set the terms of the loan (the amount time it can be used before being returned) and if it is a gas powered item, members agree to return it with a full tank.

Wherever you see footprints or wheel tracks, you're dealing with some level of compaction, which can lead to a 15- to 50-percent reduction in crop yields, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Stack the third layer perpendicular to the second layer and so on to lock the stack in place and make it more stable. Hay is a generic term for grass or legume plants that have been cut, dried and stored for use as animal feed, particularly for grazing...

Soil type influences the plants that can grow. This expert can help you learn about the plants growing in your forest, including the poisonous or rare ones—in both cases, avoid them! You'll likely want to spend more time on your own with field guides,...

Before reseeding a spent pasture, it's important to get in there and work the land. It's arguable that soil washed away is a constantly renewing layer of waste and manure, and a catchment area of unmolested grass on the drainage end can be a big help,...

Fish can hold their breath about as long as we can! But a more typical threat to the aqua-harvest, as with other crops, is Mother Nature's unpredictability. There is even evidence that the Romans bred fish in captivity.

Use this visual diagram of an aquaculture pond to consider the best way to build your operation. If done the right way, freshwater fish farming can be a great value-added opportunity for your hobby farm.

Persimmons Janet Tarbox/Flickr Pigs love persimmons . Liz West/Flickr When those farmers of yesteryear set their herds free in the woods to fatten up, oaks were the trees they most had in mind.

This will allow the corn to outcompete the beans and not get overtaken. One great way to make the most out of these crops is to plant a second, faster crop alongside them in their beds.

Some crops will be in the field for more than one season. Divide Your Garden Into Plots Parson's 2-acre farm is divided into 13 separate plots, but your farm might only have four to eight, depending on its size.

They believe that our interconnectedness with nature plays a major role in its vital functions. It is, after all, where our bread and butter come from, both literally and figuratively.

Because you're confining livestock to an area smaller than where they normally live, you need to pick up after them. Once you have a sacrifice area constructed and you establish a plan for using it during very wet or very dry seasons, you should see positive...

But for farmers committed to it, the economic and environmental benefits are tremendous. Preventing cattle from rubbing on the trees is also easily managed. Livestock Cattle or meat goats are most often grazed in a silvopasture, but horses, sheep and...

According to Bob Scowcroft, the Executive Director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation in Santa Cruz, Calif., farmers making the switch to organic receive a premium for certified organic products.

There might be a demand for it in your area if you live near the mushroom-growing industry, such as in California, Florida and Pennsylvania. Here's how to do it well on any scale. “Farm animals should not be able to enter streams or rivers.

Providing cover can be as important as planting food plants for insects. Leaf mulch won't blow away, and you will appreciate the windbreak slowing down blustery breezes during fall harvesting.

Implementing a rotational mowing plan, where you mow one section of a fallow field or grassland once per year, minimizes habitat disturbance and allows the plants to have varying age structures, which in turn provides nesting ground for a wider variety...

Of course, I don't mean that your animals shouldn't drink secondary water sources or from streams. To be safe, just clean it all up. Overall, keeping your water troughs clean is simple and easy, but you have to stay on top of it and clean them regularly.

I always wanted a couple of cows. (It's a joke only in the loosest sense—the humor lies in the fact that, nine times out of 10, this is exactly where he is.) I'd had a few conversations with the cows on the farm bordering my grandparents' land when...

Whatever type of equine facility you are interested in, there are some basic tasks that will pretty much be a given: Create Productive Pasture Horse farms—and small-acreage horse farms, in particular—easily become overpopulated with horses, making...

Most watermelons, however, are too big and heavy for vertical gardening, but with slings, you can grow icebox and personal-size varieties on sturdy trellises or netting. (Another common use is to keep birds and deer out of your garden.) Choose netting...

Although winter feeding can cost a little money or labor, grass will grow as long as there is water, soil and sunlight—a low-cost fuel source to keep your “machine” up and running.

In addition, if theft occurs on your property, having photo records of your inventory and tools along with model and serial numbers can make tracking and retrieving stolen goods much easier.