Author: Myron Horst

Maryland is Becoming More Small Farm Friendly!

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It has been discouraging the past number of years with all the reports of how the government is making things harder for small farmers and is supporting the big factory farms. We have some good news. Maryland Department of Agriculture is developing a certification and inspection program that will enable small farms to process chickens and rabbits and sell them to stores, restaurants and at farmers markets. Currently farmers are only allowed to sell chickens and turkeys to the end user at the farm under the Federal exemption. Several of us attended the processing training course on May 6. I was impressed with how they are going out of their way to make things as easy as possible for us to be certified. They are looking for ways to keep our costs as low as possible. The requirements are very reasonable and are basically what we have been doing already.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is recognizing the demand for locally produced food and is helping you to be able to get it. A new law was also recently passed that reduces the permits and costs for farmers selling at farmers markets.

The next question is, when will we start selling chickens in the stores? We do not know. We are not sure if that is a direction that we want to go or not. We are currently selling eggs in eight stores in Maryland. To sell chickens even to one store would mean significantly increasing our production as well as processing one day a week rather than just once a month. Processing chickens is the least fun job and it is hard work. We are not sure at this point if we want to take on the additional work that would be required to sell to the stores.

Farm Pictures

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Our son, Joel, grinding organic corn for the chickens. The corn is ground fresh each morning. About 50% of the vitamins are lost in the first 10 hours after a grain is cracked, and almost all of the vitamins are lost within 72 hours. The corn is mixed with a protein, mineral, and vitamin concentrate mix that we get from Organic Unlimited in Pennsylvania.


These are the potatoes in our garden. We saved large potatoes from what we grew last year and used them for seed potatoes this year. The plants on the right are Yukon Gold and are about 2 feet tall. The four rows on the left are Kennebecs and they are about half the height. Last year we purchased seed potatoes and the Kennebec plants were the largest and the Yukon Gold’s were smaller with smaller yields. The 3-D electric deer fence around the garden worked well last year and so far this year.

The Importance of Local Food – Lessons from Haiti

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Last month, on March 20, the Washington Post ran an interesting article titled "With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can’t Feed Itself". After reading the article, I realized that our national agricultural situation in the United States is similar in several ways to Haiti – we import about half of the food that we eat, and the cheap food imports have caused many farmers to go out of business. As a nation, we can no longer feed ourselves.

Thirty years ago, Haiti imported only 19 percent of its food and produced enough rice to export. It was able to do that in part as a result of protective tariffs on rice of 50 percent which were set by the father-son dictators Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier.

When their reign ended, the United States and Europe pushed Haiti to tear those market barriers down in the interest of "free trade". In 1994, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was freshly reinstalled to power by Bill Clinton, cut the rice tariff to 3 percent.

The Haitian farmers, unable to compete with the billions of dollars in subsidies paid by the U.S. to its growers, abandoned their farms and moved to the cities. Today, Haiti depends on other countries for 51% of the food that it needs and 80% of the rice. For the Haitians, their dependence on imported food has been a disaster.

Last month, after being in Haiti, Bill Clinton publicly apologized for championing policies that destroyed Haiti’s rice production. On March 10, Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake. I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else." Clinton is to be commended for seeing the consequences of a failed policy, apologizing for it, and now working to rebuild the agriculture in Haiti.

Here in the United States, the same "free trade" policies have destroyed our ability to feed ourselves. Like Haiti, we import close to half of all our food. When I was young, America was called the bread basket of the world. Today, cheap imports from China and other countries have forced many American farmers out of business. Many of the farms that remain are large farms that are heavily subsidized by the US government.

The difference between the food situation in Haiti and here in the United States is that we have money to feed ourselves and we have not had a national disaster. A war, or a breakdown in relations with China could change our food situation rather quickly.

Fortunately, millions of Americans in recent years have realized the importance of supporting small local farms and eating locally produced food. The demand has grown considerably for locally produced food. However, it is still difficult for small local farms to compete with cheap imported food and food produced by big corporations. As a result, there are few new farms starting up. Currently in the U.S. there are millions of unemployed people. Our high unemployment problem could be ended if we brought our food production and manufacturing back home. Support your local farmers. They need you and you need them. Let’s learn an important lesson from Haiti – it is important that we, as a nation, are able to feed ourselves.

A link to the AP article: “With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can’t Feed Itself” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/20/with-cheap-food-imports-h_n_507228.html

A related article is one I wrote in our newsletter two years ago " Creative Destruction Related to Farms". In it are some excerpts from the Federal Reserve describing how they used financial engineering to reduce the number of farms and factories in an attempt to create a higher standard of living for Americans. https://www.jehovahjirehfarm.com/articles/2008/05/12/creative-destruction-related-to-farms/

The Flood of March 14 & 15, 2010

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This year was the first time that our road was flooded by the Monocacy River since we moved here three and a half years ago. The road flooded slightly once earlier this year during the night and receded again in time for people to go to work the next morning. This time, we were flooded in for two days – Sunday and Monday.


This picture is taken from the lawn of the little white church on Ed Sears Rd looking toward Park Mills Rd. The water is almost covering the guardrail on our road. The Monocacy River normally flows on the other side of the trees to the left. Sunday afternoon we had a good time meeting neighbors who had come down to the river to see the flooding.


The new "boat ramp" on our road. No mail today!

A Snowy Winter

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We survived a very snowy winter. All the snow added a lot of extra work here on the farm and it prevented us from getting a lot of other work done outside that we had hoped to get done this winter. However, in spite of all the cold and snow, the hens and the animals did real well. The hens actually increased egg production.

The name of our farm means "the Lord will provide" and it happened again. The Lord provided two snow blowers for the big snows when there were no snow blowers to be found. One was free. It was sitting on the sidewalk in downtown Gaithersburg all weekend during the first big snow storm in February with a big cardboard sign saying ‘free’, and no one took it! It didn’t run, so we put a new ignition coil on it and it ran well. It was our lifesaver in clearing the drifting snow during the second snow storm.


Cathy’s kitchen garden resting under a blanket of snow. Two beds of spinach, planted in the fall, survived the winter and are growing nicely now that it is warming up. The spinach was covered with clear plastic on hoops all winter.


The snow created a beautiful wonderland here on the farm. Here we were plowing snow so that we could gather eggs and feed the hens.


Two of our children, Melody and Luke, posing with their snow chicken. The snow hen even laid a snow egg!


The hens loved to eat the snow. You can see the snow sticking to their beaks.


Our power went out during the first snow storm in February. Our son, Joel, hooked up the milker to the lawn tractor with a long v-belt and milked Daisy, our family cow.

Eggs are a Superfood

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Eggs should be considered a ‘superfood’ because they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods and boost health and tackle obesity. That is what researchers say in a study released this month. The researchers analyzed 71 research papers that examined the nutritional quality of eggs and their role in diet.

Dr Carrie Ruxton, a lead author of the reports, said, "The health benefits of eggs would appear to be so great that it’s perhaps no exaggeration to call them a superfood – they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. Eggs are not only low in calories but are packed with nutrients that are essential to healthy living. They are an ideal food at every stage of life, as well as being easy to cook and enjoyable to eat."

Some highlights of the report:

Despite being low in calories, eggs are a rich source of protein and are packed with nutrients essential to good health, in particular, vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and choline.

Eggs contain the richest mix of essential amino acids crucial for children, adolescents and young adults. A proper balance of the amino acids is required for proper growth and repair. ("If you have children they are going to hurt themselves!" – Myron)

The high levels of antioxidants found in eggs mean they could help prevent age-related macular degeneration – a leading cause of blindness.

One of the key findings was that eggs are an important dietary source of vitamin D. One egg provides more than 20% of the recommended daily allowance. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked with a host of medical conditions including poor bone health, cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, immune disorders and mental health problems.

Eggs could play a significant role in dieting and weight loss.

The latest reports show that one or two eggs a day have no effect on total cholesterol levels for most people. This reverses previous reports that stated people with high cholesterol should not eat eggs.

To read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1256489/Eggs-superfood-boost-health-tackle-obesity.html.

Of course this report is about normal grocery store eggs produced with conventional feed. We strive to provide you with an even better superfood – a Jehovah-Jireh Farm pasture raised egg produced with organic feed. You can taste the difference!

Monsanto – Too Big to Fall?

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Here in the Washington DC area you often hear Monsanto running ads on the radio touting how they are helping farmers feed the world and how they are supporting sustainable agriculture. However, Monsanto is anything but a supporter of sustainable agriculture. They are a giant agricultural chemical and genetically modified (GMO) seed corporation that has done much damage to sustainable agriculture. Many people have lamented how Monsanto has been able to "legally" run rough shod over farmers in developing a monopoly in the agricultural world.

Last month, a little reported, but very significant event happened. France’s Supreme Court ruled against Monsanto, saying that the agrochemical giant had not told the truth about its best selling weed-killer, Roundup. Monsanto had falsely advertised Roundup as being "biodegradeable" and claimed that it "left the soil clean".  Roundup is not biodegradable and it does contaminate the soil.

For years we have been told that when Roundup is sprayed it kills plants, but when the chemical comes in contact with the soil it is neutralized. It has been said so often that many believe it to be true. France’s Supreme Court’s ruling shows proof that Roundup is not neutralized in the soil. The use of Roundup is one of the leading reasons why Monsanto has developed genetically modified seeds. The plants grown from their genetically modified seeds can be sprayed with Roundup and will not die. That enables farmer to spray their fields with Roundup and kill the weeds after the corn or soybeans have come up and not harm the corn or soybeans.

Keep watching. Someday – maybe in the distant future – but someday, Monsanto and their Roundup will likely disappear, never to be seen again.  "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." (Psalm 37:35-36)

Monsanto’s philosophy is built upon the evolutionary mindset that there is no God and that genetic selection (including genetically modified organisms—GMO’s) is THE answer to improving food production and feeding the world. What is being missed is that while genetic improvement has increased food production, the nutrient density of the food has decreased along with human and animal health. More food has to be consumed to supply the needed nutrients and as a result, obesity is increasing among children. The majority of people and animals today are either on pharmaceutical drugs or natural supplements to try to have some semblance of health. This is a testimony that Monsanto’s method of genetic selection is not THE answer.

God created the soil full of minerals in the Garden of Eden. The soil has been declining ever since. It has been documented that in the last 60 years that the mineral density of the soils has significantly decreased. We need to first rebuild the mineral and organic density of our soil. Then we can select for genetic superiority. The seeds that have been genetically selected by Monsanto to grow in mineral depleted soils do not have the proper genetic expression to grow in nutrient rich soils and produce nutrient dense foods. Many organic farmers and gardeners have discovered this and that is why there is a growing interest in heirloom seeds. The heirloom seeds in improved soils produce higher protein food and nutrient density. Along with the nutrient density is a significantly improved flavor. Our mouths tell us what food is best for our bodies by how good the food tastes.  When a tomato looks like a tomato but acts and tastes more like a tennis ball, you can be sure that that tomato was genetically selected for some other quality than nutrient dense food. Listen to your mouth and eat what is good! If it has a poor taste quality it is poor quality food. That is true of meats and eggs as well.

Links to articles on Monsanto
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8308903.stm
http://www.midnorthmonitor.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2160916  – An article showing how the "inactive" ingredients, the trade secret ingredients, that make Roundup more potent have been found to cause human liver cells to die.
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20080627/n1

The American Chestnut Orchard

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As many of you know, the American Chestnut Foundation has an American chestnut breeding orchard located here on our farm. Recently a new sign was put up so that you can see where the orchard is located. The orchard is located on the right side of the lane, up the hill behind where the sign is located. The American Chestnut Foundation is working to develop a blight resistant American chestnut tree by cross breeding the American chestnut with the blight resistant Chinese chestnut. The cross bred chestnut trees are then back crossed with an American chestnut a number of times until a blight resistant chestnut tree is obtained that is 15/16 American chestnut. Currently, there are about 500 trees in our orchard. The oldest trees are four years old and the youngest ones were planted this spring.

The American chestnut was at one point the most important tree in the forests from Maine to Georgia. The chestnuts provided abundant food for many species of wildlife. The wood is beautiful and is great for cabinet making and furniture. In addition, the wood is excellent for outdoor projects as well. It has the rot resistance of redwood, but it is much harder and more wear resistant. In 1904 an imported fungus caused a blight which started killing the American chestnut trees. By 1950, approximately four billion trees on some nine million acres of eastern forests had been destroyed by the blight. Only a very few American chestnut trees remain today. When the American chestnut trees died out, a lot of wildlife went with them because a lack of food. The oak tree replaced the chestnut in many areas. However, the acorn does not compare in food value to the chestnut.

Chestnut orchard sign
Chestnut orchard
This is the entrance to the chestnut orchard. Note the deer fence to keep out the deer.

When I do volunteer work, I often feel like I receive a greater blessing than the ones that I help. This has been true in our work in caring for the chestnut orchard the last three years. When we moved here, the chestnut orchard was the worst piece of ground on our farm. The Department of Natural Resources had sprayed RoundUp and killed all the vegetation before they planted the chestnut trees. As a result, instead of grass, it was the most awful plot of thistles and other weeds! The trees grew poorly. For the next two years, I would let the thistles grow until they started making a flower bud, and then I would mow the orchard. I know that some of the people from the American Chestnut Foundation thought that I didn’t mow often enough and that my plan for getting rid of the thistles wouldn’t work.

This year I received the blessing from my labor. I discovered that in taking care of the chestnut orchard I had learned an important lesson on how to take a poor plot of ground and turn it into a highly productive soil. In addition the thistles are gone! The thistle plant is at its weakest point when it is starting to produce a flower. Its energy is being put into making seed rather than into growth. By repeatedly cutting it at that stage it is weakened and eventually killed. The chestnut orchard is now the best plot of ground on our farm. It was in the chestnut orchard that we discovered how to increase the brix (sugar and mineral content) of the pasture. This summer the brix of the clover in the orchard was as high as 17%, up from only 7% last year. We are using what we learned in the chestnut orchard to improve the soil on the rest of the farm.

So how did we improve the soil in the chestnut orchard? We did it by letting the grass grow tall and then mowing it short. The roots on grass go as far down in the soil as the grass is in height above the soil. If the grass is four inches tall, then the roots are about four inches deep. If the grass is a foot tall, then the roots go about a foot deep into the soil. When the grass is cut, the roots die back to the same amount that is left above ground. By waiting until the grass was a foot or more tall before we mowed it, it meant that we were adding a lot of organic matter a foot or more deep into the soil in addition to the grass clippings that were added on top of the soil. In other words, we are creating topsoil a foot or more deep. Not only is organic matter added to the soil, but also carbon is being sequestered in the soil as the roots die back. The grass takes the carbon out of the air in the form of carbon dioxide and puts some of it in the roots.

The results in the chestnut orchard this summer were amazing to me. I noticed significant growth in the trees throughout the summer. Last year the tallest trees that were at the end of their second growing season were about 42 inches tall. Last year the American chestnut foundation said that our orchard was one of the best growing orchards in Maryland. This year, with a similar amount of rainfall, the tallest trees at the end of their second growing season were seven to seven and a half feet tall! This was accomplished without any fertilizer.

So why doesn’t this principle of soil building work on your lawn? It is because a lawn is not left to grow a foot or more tall over and over through out the summer. If a lawn is cut when it is six inches tall, it is only adding organic matter into the top six inches of soil. The deeper the top soil, the better the growth of the plants. That is one reason why raised beds tend to be more productive. They add topsoil on top of the topsoil in the soil which increases the total number of inches of topsoil for the plant to grow in.

Two year old tree
This two year old chestnut tree is 7 1/2 feet tall. The 2×4 is 8 feet long.

Tree planted this spring
This is one of the chestnut trees that was planted as a seed this spring.
You can see Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

The Incredible Edible Pasture-Raised Egg

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I was surprised when I started researching recently on the nutritional value of eggs. Eggs are a much more valuable food than what I realized.

Eggs supply a high quality protein

Our unfertilized pasture-raised eggs are a meat free food that supply a high quality protein and other nutrients that are necessary for healthy body development and function. The nutrients in an egg were put together to provide all the necessary nutrients needed for a baby chick to develop all the body organs, strong muscles, and strong bone structure. Because each of us are continually replacing each of the cells in our organs, muscles, and bones on a regular bases, eggs are an important food to supply the necessary protein and nutrients for all age groups from young children to elderly people.
After a mother’s milk, an egg contains the highest quality food protein known. The human body is able to absorb 97% of the protein in an egg. In addition, an egg supplies all the amino acids essential for humans in the amounts necessary for normal body function.


Scrambled eggs with leftovers of corn and peppers stirred in. Other variations
are potatoes, sliced squash, or other vegetables. For a little extra pizazz, beat a little mustard into the eggs before you cook them.

Control appetite to control weight

Eggs taste very good, but imagine trying to overeat on eggs — let’s say a dozen eggs at a time — a 900 calorie breakfast. The very thought of it almost makes a person feel sick. Eggs satisfy, without encouraging a person to overeat. In addition, studies have shown that when eggs are part of a breakfast, they help reduce snacking on less nutritious and more calorie laden foods throughout the day. Eggs provide a satisfying meal that keep the stomach from emptying too quickly and causing a craving for more food. At only 75 calories per large egg, eggs contribute few calories for all the nutrients that they provide.

Delicious, Nutritious, Affordable Fast Food

Few foods are as easy and fast to cook as an egg. Eggs come packed by the hen in a portioned serving container – the egg shell. It only takes minutes from the time an egg is taken from the "fridge" until it is ready to eat. About the same time or less that one would have to wait at the drive-through at McDonalds on the way to work for a junk breakfast. Eggs can be quickly be prepared in a  variety of ways – scrambled, fried, poached, soft boiled, or hard boiled – making eggs an excellent fast food breakfast.
Not only are eggs easy to prepare, but they are also affordable. At 30 to 35 cents per egg, a breakfast of two eggs and toast costs less than a dollar. Eggs are economical, especially when compared with other high-protein foods. Amazingly, the highest quality protein food is also the most affordable. For those on a tight budget, eggs are an excellent choice.


Fried eggs topped with salsa and cheese. Gourmet fast food!

Cholesterol in eggs

There are a substantial number of studies in recent years that show that dietary cholesterol has only a small effect on blood cholesterol. For healthy people, one egg a day (and one study found up to three eggs a day) has no detectable effect on heart disease risk. These findings are important because eggs can provide older people with an affordable, easy to chew, highly nutritious food.

When it comes to cholesterol, pasture-raised eggs tend to be significantly lower in cholesterol. Mother Earth News did a study of 14 pasture based farms and found that the eggs from pastured hens had 35% less cholesterol than eggs from confined birds.


Eggs poached in chicken broth. Our pasture-raised eggs can be dropped
into boiling water or broth without them breaking apart.

Important in making some recipes work

Eggs have several important physical and chemical properties that make some recipes work. Eggs thicken custards, puddings and sauces; emulsify and stabilize mixtures such as mayonnaise and salad dressings; coat or glaze breads and cookies; bind ingredients together in dishes such as meat loaf and lasagna; retard crystallization in boiled candies and frostings; and leaven some types of baked goods such as sponge cakes.

Eggs are truly an amazing, valuable food – the incredible edible egg. To read more, check out the following websites:

Egg Nutrition Center: http://enc-online.org/
The Incredible Egg website: http://www.incredibleegg.org/default.html
The American Council on Health and Science:
http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.493/pub_detail.asp
Mother Earth News Egg Study:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/uploadedFiles/Eggs%20chart.pdf

Producing High Brix Food

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A number of people have requested information on how to produce high brix food and how to increase the brix of the pastures.

Producing high brix food is not achieved overnight. It takes three to eight years to get the nutrients balanced in the soil so that high brix food can be produced. When you first get your refractometer and start testing your vegetables it is discouraging discovering how poor they are. However, it becomes exciting as you see the improvements in the brix reading, taste how much better high brix food is, and you know you can’t buy this quality of food in the stores.

The best way to know what minerals should be added to your soil is to do a soil test. It needs to be a weak acid LaMotte soil test such as is done by International Ag labs, not the usual strong acid soil tests performed by most labs.

The first year, in the fall of the year, plow the soil and apply soft rock phosphate at the rate of 100 pounds per thousand square feet or 10 pounds per 100 square feet. After applying the soft rock phosphate, apply high calcium lime at the same rate. Do not use dolomite or limestone with more than 5% magnesium. Magnesium releases nitrogen into the air and messes up the soil balance. We get lime from Frederick Farmers Coop in Frederick. It is called Thomasville lime (Old Castle) for $3.05 for 50lbs. Soft rock phosphate is available from Lancaster Ag for $11 for a 50lb bag. They will ship UPS. Lancaster Ag also has garden blends to help gardeners produce high brix food.

Producing nutrient dense, high brix food is more involved than just putting down soft rock phosphate and limestone.

There are also foliar sprays that you can apply to increase the brix. Our tomatoes, potatoes, squash, and cucumbers were low brix and I could not find a foliar spray that raised the brix. I remembered that in the Bible it referred to the land of Canaan as a land flowing with milk and honey.  I tried two cups of raw milk and a little honey per gallon of water. It raised the brix of the leaves of the plants from 7 brix to 10 brix. It raised the brix of the clover in the pasture about 5 brix.

A foliar spray that we used on the green beans and the sweet corn that raised the brix and produced 28 brix sweet corn was:
Per Gallon
6tbsp     molasses – we used feed grade
8oz.       cola soda – a source of phosphoric acid
1tsp       Hydrated lime
3tbsp     liquid fish
1tbsp     seaweed powder
14tbsp  apple cider vinegar

If you want more information, I encourage you to check out the websites listed below.  I also recommend reading the book Nourishment Home Grown by Dr. A.F. Beddoe. Refractometers that test the brix reading are available inexpensively on eBay. Get one that reads in the 0 to 32% range.

Weston A Price Foundation – High Brix farming and gardening
http://www.westonaprice.org/The-Quest-for-Nutrient-Dense-Food-High-Brix-Farming-and-Gardening.html

Soil tests and articles – International Ag Labs
http://www.aglabs.com/soilTesting.html

Supplier – Lancaster Ag, Lancaster, PA
http://www.lancasterag.com/catalog/garden/intro.html

High Brix Gardens
http://www.highbrixgardens.com/

Brix Book and articles
http://crossroads.ws/

Test equipment and articles
http://www.pikeagri.com/
Check out their user guides – plant sap analysis and compost guides

If you are a farmer, we highly recommend the Carey Reams seminars that Pike Agri has. They are well worth the cost. They take you to levels of agriculture that you did not think possible, such as how to produce alfalfa that is 28% protein, grows 12 to 17 feet tall and produces 20 to 30 tons per acre! Carey Reams was hired by the nation of Israel, when they first became a nation, to show them how to turn the desert into highly productive farmland.