My Farm and my sideline Business

Stephen Tobey

I am Stephen Tobey. I am one of the founders of Leap of faith Farm. My wife and I founded it in 2009 in a small community in New Mexico, South of Gallup. My Sandi Lady and I made a profitable Farm on 2 Acres. We brought new technology to Farming in New Mexico.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She got sick so we shut down the farm, and we moved to the Phoenix area. Where She worked at Wild Horse Casino and I Volunteered as a teacher at Tri-City Christian Academy (a wonderful School). My wife got worse and died on the operating table, Feb. 25, 2020, so July 15. 2020 I moved back to Vanderwagen New Mexico, to revive Leap of Faith Farm. On 20 acres that was a ranch.  this web page is to tell its story. And my challenges and my sideline business to make my dream come true. I’ll tell you more next week.

Agriculture In A Nutshell

The word agriculture means “tak­ing care of the fields”—in other words, what we are used to thinking of as farming. And, in fact, agriculture and farming mean just about the same thing. But usually we would say “agriculture” when we mean the entire work and science of using the earth to produce food and other plants that are valuable to us; and we would use the word “farm­ing” to mean some particular branch of this, for example dairy farming, or chicken farming. You will note that the word “science” was used in the paragraph above.

Agri­culture is as much of a science as engi­neering, medicine, or any other scientific fields to which men and women turn for their life’s work. Many different sciences go to make up the whole work of agriculture. Many different sciences have helped in making agriculture the respected and profitable work it is today. This has not always been so. Farm­ing used to be laborious, poorly paid work. A farmer had to work hard in his fields all day long, just to raise enough food for his own family. Usu­ally his wife had to help, and had no time for comfortable living; his chil­dren had to help, and had no time to get good educations.

Today the young man or woman of a family in the field of agriculture will go to one of the hun­dreds of agricultural colleges and uni­versities in the United States and will learn to make the family’s farm even better in the future. In this encyclopedia there are separate articles on dairy farming and cattle farming and farm machinery and other branches of agriculture. In this article we will tell about what agricul­ture used to be, how it has changedArticle Search, and what it is today. how agriculture has changed There have been farmers as long as there has been history and for tens of thousands of years before that.

Greenhouse Kits: Where Do I Start?

If you want to get your own greenhouse it can be easy to do. First decide how you will use it (to winter over plants, get an early start on seeds, grow cool or warm weather crops, or a combination), and find out what greenhouse will best work for your plants. There are many different greenhouse kits to choose so it’s important to read lots of information about greenhouse kits to make an informed decision and know your greenhouse is right for your area and your crop.

When looking for a greenhouse kit, you will also have to consider size. Measure how big of space you have for the greenhouse (preferably in an area of your yard that gets southern exposure). You may be fortunate to live on acreage and space is not an issue. A majority of hobby greenhouse kits start at 8?x8? or 8?x12?. Anything less than 8? wide does not give you much room to work comfortably in your greenhouse. If you have a smaller space, there will be less kit options to choose from. You may need to consider a custom designed unit and look for greenhouse covering options.

If you have never used a greenhouse beforeArticle Search, you may find that a cold frame would work better for you until you know how you will use your greenhouse. It will be less expensive and you can use it during two seasons to let you grow a bit longer out of the year. This will give you the chance to see and learn how growing under cover can open up your growing possibilities. What you choose is up to you. There are many greenhouse kits and companies that are ready to help you along the way. You just have to get online and find a greenhouse that works for you and fits in your budget.

Advantages of Hydroponic Horticulture vs Soil Gardening

Here are many differences between hydroponic horticulture and soil gardening: Control over your crop by simply adding nutrients in the proper amounts to the water. The system put into place will circulate and recirculate the water, in turn using much less water than a soil garden, while continually feeding your crop as well as nourishing it with the proper amounts of plant food and vitamins. This is equivalent to fertilizer in a soil garden, however, the amount of extra attention that growing plants in soil requires is substantial. The proper amount of watering and care as well as fertilizer, pulling weeds and watching for the pests and insects that might take over your garden in the outdoors could be all consuming.

Premixed store bought nutrients assure that your plants are obtaining the right amount of nutrients from the water to grow properly. The premixed hydroponic nutrients contain the necessary elements that your plants need to grow healthy and strong. Rarely will your plants become deficient in nutrients and start to get yellow leaves, but if this were to occur, all that would be necessary is to dump the water and start with fresh water and nutrients. The nutrients in fertilizer for a soil garden is much more difficult to diagnose. Many times directing you to a reference or resource book or possibly visiting a greenhouse or nursery to look for assistance on how to treat and nurse your plants back to health.

Continue reading

Gardening: Hydroponics Gardening

Many gardeners are beginning to switch to Hydroponics gardening for many different reasons.  These types of gardens are small and can easily be grown inside and are perfect for most vegetables, especially the red tomato.  Also the equipment required for Hydroponics gardening is not expensive and they are relatively easy to manage.Hydroponics gardening is the growing of plants without soil, in other words, “dirtless gardening”.  There are many methods of Hydroponics gardening, most of which work better than regular soil gardening because it is easier to give the plant exactly what it needs when it needs it.

Plants will only receive what you give them; therefore you will be able to regulate the pH, nutrients, nutrient strength, water amount, and light amount.  This makes it imperative that you research the kind of plants you will be growing so you know what they need to survive.Hydroponics gardening is only as difficult as you make it.  It can be complicated if computers with sensors are used to control water cycles, nutrients, and light for the plants.  However, it can also be as simple as a hand watered bucket with a single plant.  The normal home Hydroponics system is usually made up of a few basic things: a growing tray, light (natural or artificial), a reservoir, a water controlled pump for watering (or some type of watering equipment), and some form of air pump to give oxygen to the nutrients.

The growing medium used in Hydroponics gardening can be any number of things, such as Rockwool, perlite, coconut fiber, gravel, sand, vermiculite, or even air.  You can get instructions from a gardening store or online or buy separate parts and build your own.  There are also kits already assembled for sale in gardening supply stores.There are certain micro-nutrients that are necessary for healthy plant growth including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, cobalt, boron, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc.  These nutrients are absolutely essential to plants and if missing could cause the food to not be as healthy and in some cases even cause health problems for those who eat it.  It is very important that you use a quality fertilizer when Hydroponics gardening.Another important aspect of Hydroponics gardening that must be closely regulated is the pH balance.

When the pH balance varies the plants will lose the ability to absorb nutrients that it needs.  The ease with which the pH in Hydroponics gardening is tested and controlled give it a huge advantage over regular dirt gardening.Even though there are hundreds of different variations, Wick, Water Culture, Ebb and Flow, Drip, N.F.T., and Aeroponic are the six most basic types of Hydroponics gardening systems.  Hydroponics gardenin is easy, affordable, and you can have fresh produce, flowers, herbs & spices all year long!

Five Questions on Natural farming

Natural farming does not use the chemicals, herbicides as well as artificial plant foods that typical farming does. These chemicals can stay in the land along with on the item itself. Organic farming approaches often leave the soil in better problem over the long run as well as consume much less power and also water than standard farming. These concerns would point to chemical-free farming being much more environmentally friendly. Nonetheless, organic farming covers a very extensive selection of farming (plants dairy products and also cattle) and straight contrasting the environmental effect of organic farming vs. conventional is almost difficult. Suffice to state that the majority of people think the use of pesticides is dangerous to the setting as well as therefore makes organic farming a lot more eco-friendly.

Does Organic Food Preference Better? It shows up that this is a typical understanding, actually a survey from the UK’s Organic Body the Soil Organization suggests that most people who purchase organic food, think it tastes better. There is also a supposed scientific research mentioned by “The Organic Facility” that claims that organic food preferences a lot better. There have been lots of various other studies done that are inconclusive. There does not appear to be any sort of legitimate research study that conclusively mentions that health food preferences better than standard. Taste is extremely subjective and also could additionally be affected by storage space and also delivery of the produce.

Is Health food A lot more Healthy? Numerous natural fanatics think that organic food has more nutrients in it. Nonetheless 2 major researches one by the London School of Health as well as Exotic Medicine as well as another done by Types of food Requirement Company (FSA) contest any sort of claim that there is considerable dietary take advantage of eating organic food. Freshness of the product, storage space problems and also cooking techniques will make a larger difference in nutritional positive aspects than whether it is organic or standard.

Is Health food Safer for You? The level of chemicals used in conventional farming has actually created a worry that conventionally grown foods are covered with chemicals and also for that reason poisoning the consumer. There is no doubt that consuming pesticides is a bad point, but is the amount of pesticides typically taken in when consuming traditionally farmed types of foods unsafe? Not according to former Specialist General Dr. C. Everett Koop, the EPA or even the FDA. A number of studies have concluded that the quantity of pesticide deposit located on US grown up plants is not harmful.

However, there are still lots of health specialists that elevate worries specifically on the effect of babies. There are also problems for the farmer that is applying chemical as they go through a much better exposure. Health food is possibly much safer, yet there is no conclusive evidence that the levels of chemicals on conventional types of foods are dangerous.

Does Natural farming Make Less than Typical Farming? Today natural farms on the typical returns regarding 92 % of exactly what is generated by traditional agriculture in the USA. In less established countries natural farming returns over 130 % of conventional return. This is primarily due to the plant foods that are offered to the US farmer, yet not to creating countries. Some opponents of chemical-free farming case that if all of us switched over to natural farming, there would be globe large scarcities of food.

Continue reading