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    Farm Insurance


    2010 - 07.16

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    Insuring a farm is similar to insuring a business because the equipment and multiple buildings will need to be covered in addition to the residence. There are many misconceptions about what is included in this type of coverage and what the insured is protected against. The following is a basic overview of the truth about farm insurance and all that it includes.

    Insurance for a farm or ranch includes coverage for the home and personal property like appliances, furniture, electronics, and clothes. It also covers farm structures and buildings as well as farm personal property. The insured can designate specific farm personal property to insure or the coverage can encompass the personal property used in the farming operations.

    This coverage also provides payment for specific types of loss when the home is either damaged or uninhabitable due to a covered reason. Coverage for farm machinery, structures, and buildings may be expanded to include additional losses due to accidents such as building collapse. The liability coverage include in the policy protects the farm owner against bodily injury or property damage liability due to a covered incident.

    The specific dangers covered by this policy include theft, vandalism, fire, lightening, windstorms, hail, smoke, and explosions. Livestock are covered if they are attacked by wild animals or dogs, shot, electrocuted, or if they drown. Medical payments are covered for individuals who are accidentally injured on the premises. This does not include the insured, his or her family members, or any employees of the working farm.

    The truth about farm insurance is that it covers not only the main residence, but other structures. It also provides protection for personal property, farm machinery, livestock, and visitors to the premises. This insurance is both broad and flexible, due to the optional additional coverage that the farm owner may purchase.

    Approach Agricultural Investment For the Private Investors


    2010 - 07.15

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    The current climate can be defined by three key characteristics; lack of visibility, low interest rate, and the very real threat of inflation caused by quantitative easing and austerity measures. Essentially investors are nervous about stocks and shares because such limited economic visibility it is impossible to value companies and predict growth or depreciation in the value of shares, also we have lost the risk free income that we would normally accrue from cash deposits because interest rates are so low, and inflation will eat into our cash, effectively reducing our wealth.

    So how does agricultural investment solve our problem? Let’s take this opportunity to look at the simplest and most transparent form of investing in agriculture; farmland investment. Firstly farmland shares a positive correlation with inflation; having proven to grow in value quicker than the rate of inflation rises, therefore this type of farmland investment allows investors to grow their capital even in an inflationary environment. Also this mode of agricultural investment enables investors to capture income by renting their farmland to a commercial farmer who will work the land, this effectively replace the lost risk free income that cash would normally provide. Thirdly, investing in good quality farmland has an infallible track record of being low-risk, with a lack of supply and increasing demand for food pushing up values consistently. It is easy for a person of logic to see that demand for food will continue to rise in line with population growth, and there are fundamental limits to bringing any more farmland into production.

    So agriculture investment in this form certainly fits the bill when weighed against the current economic climate, and provides investors with all of the ticks for their boxes. So how does one approach agricultural investment in the form of investing in farmland? The answer to this question is long and complex and many factors must be taken into consideration to ensure your agricultural investment turns out to be a profitable one.

    Firstly one must consider location, UK, Europe, The America or Australia all present opportunities, but my advice will always be to invest locally, or at least within a structure that allows any future dispute to be handled locally.

    Secondly consider the business model, do you want to buy the land and rent it out, or do you want to share in crop yields? I would always prefer to shoulder the commercial farming risk with the tenant farmer and simply enjoy a stable rental income as any default is easily handled by evicting the farmer.

    So agricultural investment, does provide income, growth and capital preservation, especially it times such as these, but anyone considering an agriculture investment should at least take on the services of an expert consultancy who will have the investors need at security as their priority. Whenever considering a farmland investment for my clients, it is paramount to properly qualify the requirements of each investor, only then is it possible to recommend a suitable type of agricultural investment.

    Battleground


    2010 - 07.14

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    Warsong Gulch

    Warsong Gulch, commonly referred to as WSG, is a ten on ten capture the flag battleground. It is a two base environment with the Horde base to the north and the Alliance base to the south.

    Zerg

    This is my personal favorite strategy. This strategy is a big offensive plan. It involves either sending all or most of you players to the enemy flag. Your team will all rush the flag and try to kill the enemy flag carrier on your way back to turn in the flag. You can leave two members to defend your flag just to slow the enemy flag carrier for for massive offensive group to get back and kill him. This strategy seems to be highly effective and is recommended.

    Balanced

    This strategy is as it sounds, your team sends five players on offense and leaves five for defense. This is highly effective teams who zerg. This can often lead to long drawn out battles. This strategy is recommended if you notice the opposing team is zerging against you.

    Arathi Basin

    Arathi Basin, know as AB, is a capture point battleground. For every control point your team has, you gain resources. The first team to 1600 resources wins. The five points are; Blacksmith, Farm, Stables, Gold Mine and Lumber Mill. This battleground is a 15 v 15 battleground.

    There is only one main strategy here and that is to split your 15 players up into well balanced groups. Each group should have a healer and a mix of range/melee with different crowd control abilities. In this split you should decide which groups are going to which points. Ideally you team can hold on to three of the five points and win. I recommend only holding three of the five if you are with a random team. Holding the tree points with balance teams is almost a sure shot win. With this plan you should see much success in Arathi Basin.

    Eye of the Storm

    Eye of the Storm, or EotS, is a mixture of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. It consists of 4 capture points and a neutral capturable flag. The four points are; Mage Tower, Draenei Ruins, Fel Reaver Ruins and the Blood Elf Tower. In EotS you obtain points by holding points and capturing the flag. The more control points you have the more points you get for capturing flags. There are a few different strategies to win this battleground.

    Zerg

    This strategy works best with a heavily geared team. Your team should split up into four groups. The main plan of this strategy is to control all four points as fast as possible. With extremely geared groups you can achieve victory within 5 minutes. Once your faction caps the first two points closest to the original point spawn, 2 players from the groups in charge of those points should stay to defend them. The rest of those groups should push the towers to the direct north or south and help cap them. With this power you should be able to take to last two points and win quickly.

    Wild Animals, Crops, and Farm Animals


    2010 - 07.13

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    In FrontierVille, there are three different categories of things you should focus a lot on. These categories are: wild animals, farm animals, and crops. There are currently four different wild animals in FrontierVille but you can surely expect more as the game progresses. So far, FrontierVille has included the Grizzly bear, the fox, the groundhog, and the grass snake. These animals appear when you do a certain action. The Grizzly bear normally appears when you start chopping down an oak or pine tree. The fox appears randomly. The groundhog appears when you harvest or plant trees and crops while the grass snake appears when you clear rocks and skeleton remains. These wild animals are annoying to deal with, especially in the beginning. They take up one to five energy points to clobber or to get rid of. This is annoying in the beginning because you have very little energy points to start off with. However, if you have a few energy points to spare then clobber them away. These wild animals get you a lot of experience points, gold coins, and food. You can also collect items which are based on wild animals collections. For example, if you complete the grizzly bear items collection then you can gain 50 experience points (this may change at a later date as FrontierVille is still adjusting a few features here and there).

    The next important aspect of FrontierVille is the crop. Like FarmVille, there are many different types of crops you can grow and harvest. Each crop has different costs, bonuses, and profit margins. For example, the clover is the cheapest you can grow and it only takes five minutes before you can start harvesting them. Unfortunately, they do not give you much in return. As your game progresses, you want to target crops like peanuts in high yield. You can gain a lot of profit at the end which is useful because there are some missions which require you to earn 100,000 to 200,000 coins. In the beginning, trees are pretty good to start off with. You just need to plant them once and then you can continue to harvest them as much as you want. Like the wild animals, you can also collect collection items and get bonus experience points.

    Finally, farm animals are just as important as crops. You have to feed them a few times before they reach their full potential. You can continue to feed and receive bonus from farm animals. At the moment, there horses, oxes, chickens, geese, and cows.

    Tractors Are Like Mother


    2010 - 07.10

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    When tractors were introduced, farmers quickly found that engine driven tractors were more economical to use, as compared to keeping animals for tillage, and tractors began selling widely. In many cases agricultural machinery dealers received cattle for the barter for tractors and they and in turn sold the cattle in the meat market. The Farmall is one of early tractors and the most familiar and famous names in tractor history. Tractors were made to be work horses, so niceties were minimal. This included foregoing a fuel gauge.

    Tractors are most useful for cultivation purposes, so a tractor or tractors have been a must for farm owners, but tractors are also used in excavation, in manufacturing and industry, or on construction sites. Farm size, availability of labor and custom services, crop selection, and cultural practices, such as choice of tillage system, all affect the selection of an optimum equipment set and, ultimately, the number of tractors necessary to farm. Although demand for tractor power generally increases with farm size, many commercial farms operate efficiently with a single tractor.

    Tractors are designed to operate at different travel speeds, but the final drives are not designed for all possible torques theoretically available. The engine may range from about 12 to 120 horsepower or more and tractors over the years have been typically offered in the range of 20 to 400 horsepower. Engine power is transmitted to a gearbox typically having 4 to10 speeds (these transmissions are manually switched via a control lever to determine how fast the tractor can go) and through the differential gear to the two large rear-drive wheels. Some farm tractors can reach speeds up to 25 miles per hour, but slow speeds are necessary to give the farmer more control while doing field work.

    Farm tractors are designed to be operated with additional weight or ballast when pulling heavy loads to reduce wheel slip. Insufficient ballast can cause excessive wheel slip and increased fuel consumption. Tractors need large tires to avoid compressing the earth, and to avoid digging in. Thus only the rear tires really need to be large and the front tires can be small and smooth unless the tractor has four wheel drive. Tractors used on ground of irregular contours have tracks so mounted that their left and right front ends rise and fall independently of each other. However, soil undulations induce tractor and machine vibrations, reducing driver’s comfort and their capability of controlling the linked machinery.

    Tractors are usually used to pull, or in some cases, push objects and are designed to pull either large loads at slow speeds or lighter loads at higher speeds. Field speeds up to 10 mph are typical, but rangeland applications usually vary from 2 to 5 mph. Tractors can be generally classified as two-wheel drive, two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, four-wheel drive (often with articulated steering), or track tractors (with either two or four powered rubber tracks).

    Tractors are equipped with a hitching point below the rear axles to prevent roll over. Unfortunately, some people will attach to a point above the rear axle in a foolish attempt to get more weight/traction on the drive wheels and this can lead to disaster. Also, if a tractor is used to free and tow a stuck vehicle, the operator should hitch the vehicles front-to-front and drive the towing tractor in reverse, which minimizes the risk for rollover, by transmitting all the engine power of the towing tractor through the chain to the other vehicle.

    Tuberose Bulbs


    2010 - 07.01

    Posted in Farming, Introduction, Tips | No Comments »

    The tuberose flower’s extracts are used for developing middle notes in perfume since the Middle Ages. The tuberose is botanically known as Polianthes tuberosa and is a perennial plant of the agave family Agavaceae. Tuberose is a dominant flower used in most Indian cultures and festivals. No important religious ceremony is complete without offerings or decorations of this white scented flower. It is as important as the marigold flower when it comes to traditional rituals.

    Tuberose
    The tuberose grows 18-24 inches in height with lots of long bright green slender leaves clustered at the base of the plant that taper towards the top, and smaller sized leaves that grow on the flower’s stalks. The flowers grow on elongated spikes up to 18-20 inches in height, producing clusters of fragrant waxy white flowers that bloom successively from the bottom towards the top of the spike. Each spike easily contains more than 50-60 flower buds. The flowers emit a strong scent that gets stronger during night time. The flowers are primarily night blooming, but bloom under the hot sun too. In Iran, oil is extracted from the flowers to create perfumes that are complex, exotic, sweet or floral. Tube roses are easy to grow and can be easily propagated through tuberose bulbs, and division of rhizomes or clumps.

    Planting Tuberose Bulbs
    If you are wondering when to plant tuberose bulbs, do it late winter (after last frost date) to early spring and early summers too. Tuberose bulbs are easily available, or one can even use bulbs from existing plants. A note here, tuberose seeds are also sold, but they are not true tuberose seeds, as flowers with sterile seeds do not set.

    Tuberose needs plenty of sunshine irrespective of where they are grown; in flower beds, or pots or containers. Choose soil that is well draining and loamy with plenty of organic compost, peat moss, ground bark or decomposed manure added. Tuberose grow better in drier soils than water retaining ones. Tuberose bulbs are generally grown in clumps, so dig a hole to the depth deep enough to hold clumps yet leave the tip of the tuberose bulbs at the soil level. Space each clump 8-12 inches part. Water around the clumps well and then withhold watering until the green tips emerge. But make sure the soil does not dry out completely either.

    Once the tip emerges continue watering sparingly. More the foliage, more flower stalks should be expected. Although fertilizing is not essential, an application of a light liquid fertilizer can be added. But around the plants, never close to the clumps. Flower stalks can appear anywhere between three to four months around mid summer to late summer or early fall. Studied successive planting will yield a bloom right up to winters.

    Slugs and snails are the only pest that can harm the tuberose plants, while excess water can set rot in the tuberose bulbs. If you intend to use tuberose as cut flowers, cut only three fourth of the stalk and never the leaves. Once the flowering season is over, remove bulbs or leave them to multiply in the ground. Expert gardeners recommend that the bulbs flower better in the second year if left in the ground undisturbed. Divide clumps every 2-3 years. If you do want to take the tubers out, allow the plant leaves to wilt and fall to the ground naturally. Dig around and scoop out the whole clump. Dust off all dirt, sprinkle some germicidal powder and store in mesh bags in a dry ventilated area.

    Grow more spring bulbous flowers:

    Facts About Sunflowers–1


    2010 - 07.01

    Posted in Farming, Introduction, Techniques, Tips | No Comments »

    I have always liked this beautiful flower and had been planning to write about it for as long as I can remember. I knew that I needed to gather information first, and that itself would take me some time. A few days ago I began the research, and this is what I have put together.

    Writers and poets of the past have captured the beauty of the sunflower in words. Photographers and artists, amateurs or professionals have not been far behind. A friend gifted me a painting of a sunflower a few days ago, (That is what inspired me further!) it is now one of my prized possessions, displayed in my living room for all to see.

    The national flower of Russia; dates back to nearly 3000 years. The Great Russian ruler Peter while visiting Holland was so fascinated by the sunflower, that he took the seeds back to Russia.

    It has been found that in Peru, the Aztecs worshipped sunflowers. They did so by placing sunflower images made of gold in their temples and crowning princesses in the bright yellow flowers. Interesting?

    Well! Now that I have your attention, here are more flowery facts:

    Vegetable Gardening With Yams Or Sweet Potatoes


    2010 - 06.17

    Posted in Farming, Introduction | No Comments »

    The real yam is definitely a tuber from a tropical vine and is no relation at all to a sweet potato. “True”yams are often confused with a sweet potato and the sweet potato suffers from the same fate. The “true”yam is a very popular vegetable in Latin America,caribbean and Africa. Yet it is hard to find this elusive vegetable in the United States but it is gaining in popularity. The yam maybe located in local Asian and African markets.

    It is possible that it could be located in some local American groceries but you would have to search.Why is all of this so important and who really cares? Well it is a compeletly different vegetable than the one passed off as a yam. It also has some very excellent nutritional value which I will go into a little later in this informative article.

    The true yam is found in several hundred varieties with the fleshy part including many colors such as white,ivory,yellow or purple. The thick skin of the yam is usually brownish black. Here is the part where a difference is encountered as your sweet potato may grow 8-12 inches long your yam can grow to SEVEN FEET. You will also find when cooking a true yam that the texture is slippery and has a starchy appearance.

    The taste can be described as somewhat earthy and hardy.This does not describe the well known Yams that appear on many American holiday plates.The real answer to the headline is your holiday yam is really a sweet potato. It has been sold as a yam but it is really an orange-colored sweet potato.This resulted from producers of this type of sweet potato trying to distinquish it from the white-fleshed sweet potato recognized by most people.

    This is not to infer that yams are not a desirable vegetable since they are a great source of vitamin B6. The high consumption of vitamin B6 has indicated a reduction in the risk of heart disease. The “true” yam will most likely be sold in chunks or pieces sealed in plastic wrap. It would definitely be a struggle to wrestle with a seven foot tuber weighing nearly 150 pounds. The yam is also a good source for potassium which assists in controlling blood pressure. A storage protein known as “dioscorin” may also be of benefit to those suffering from hypertension.

    “True” yams usually can replace a sweet potato in any recipe calling for sweet potatoes. There is one condition that sets it off from sweet potatoes;a yam can’t be eaten in a raw state as they are toxic prior to cooking. it is not wise to store uncooked yams in your refrigerator but keep them in a cool dark place that is well ventilated for up to ten days. You should not store them in the sealed plastic bag but should be stored loose.

    After all of that you can really enjoy “true yams” by making a puree of the yam and adding a little milk and season with tamari,coriander,cumin and cayenne for a delectible taste. A good stir fry can be made adding chunks of it to fennel,onions and mushrooms. Isn’t it time you tried something different? I am sure this vegetable will be easier to find in large cities than in rural areas but it is certainly worth the time to seek it out.

    You can find out more about vegetable gardening by going to http://www.gardenersgardening.com/vegetablegardening.html

    When to Plant Potatoes


    2010 - 06.17

    Posted in Farming, Introduction, Tips | No Comments »

    One of the most versatile vegetable, potatoes can be boiled, fried, mashed, grilled or baked, and it all taste yum. Although, potatoes are available round the year, using your own home grown ones have a different charm altogether. This article is an attempt to answer all queries about growing potatoes starting from when to plant potatoes and all the way to harvesting them.

    The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop which belongs to the Solanaceae family, commonly referred to as a nighshade family. The world’s fourth largest food and staple crop, potatoes are an absolute favorite among children and adults, alike. Read more on vegetable gardens.

    Growing Potatoes

    Potatoes are grown from tubers, ’seed potatoes’ as they are popularly known. There are dozens of different potato varieties; early, second early and maincrop potatoes. So choose the one you are looking for as per need. Let me get down to answering a few basic questions about planting potatoes before getting into the details. Read more on growing potatoes indoors.

    When to Plant Potatoes?
    Potatoes should be planted from mid-March or early April, when the soil temperature is closing to a 45º F.

    Where to Plant Potatoes?
    Potatoes should be planted in a location that receives full sun, and in a loose, well-drained moisture retentive soil.

    How Deep to Plant Potatoes?
    Depending upon the size of the seed potato, plant them in loose soil at a depth of two to five inches deep.

    How Far Apart to Plant Potatoes?
    The spacing completely depends upon the variety. Early potatoes should be planted 30 cm apart in rows spaced at 45 - 60 cm, and second earlies and maincrops should be spaced at 38 cm apart in rows spaced apart at 75 - 80 cm.

    Method of Planting Potatoes

    Now let’s get down to the best way to plant potatoes and soil preparation, and chitting. Potato seeds are not tiny seeds, but special seeds that are actually small sized potatoes or tubers. Four to six weeks before planting the potato seeds, one needs to sprout them. Place the potato seeds in trays or boxes in a light airy location with plenty of light either in late January or early February. Each seed potato has a number of ‘eyes’, keep that side facing upwards. The seeds will start to sprout, and will be ready for plantation when the sprouts grow about 1 to 2 cm. This entire process of sprouting seed potatoes is known as ‘chitting‘. Chitting helps the tubers to establish and grow faster, for un-sprouted seeds take longer to sprout in soil and at times, produce a smaller crop.

    Now let’s get down to soil preparation. Choose a location where potatoes have not been grown for last two years. To get a good crop, give the location a three year rotation for growing potatoes. Till the soil deep, and add in just a little peat moss. Fertilizing is not necessary at this stage. Experts recommend a location that has been manured the previous winter. However, the addition of some compost or a little peat moss is beneficial. The use of fresh manure is a strictly no-no as it tends to cause scab on the potatoes. Ready the rows and trenches as per the variety of the potato seed. Handling chitted seeds carefully, gently press or set them into the trench with the shoots pointing upwards, and cover the potato seeds very lightly with soil. As the sprout grow bigger, keep mounting the soil higher. This will give the young potato plant protection from frost and weeds.

    Watering potato plants as they begin to grow is very important to ensure the health of the tubers. Keep the soil well watered throughout the summer, especially during the flowering period. The flowers borne are white, pink, red or purplish blue with yellow stamens. The potato seed variety some times also determines the color of the flowers, such as; white flowers generally have white potato skins, while colored flowers tend to have a more pinkish to brown skins. Preferably water early in the day. When foliage dies back naturally, cease watering for a week or so to allow the tubers to mature.

    Harvest potatoes 2 to 3 weeks after the plants have finished flowering. Early potatoes can lifted from June until September, even when the foliage is still green, whereas second earlies and maincrop varieties can be lifted September, however, before lifting the crop, cut back the foliage to ground to give the potato skins sufficient time to toughen up.

    Learn more about growing this wonder veggie:

    Growing Potatoes in Bags


    2010 - 06.17

    Posted in Farming, Introduction, Techniques, Tips | No Comments »

    Many farmers prefer to grow potatoes in field. But if you are city dweller, even a piece of dirt becomes a rarity. So how to grow potatoes in city? Growing potatoes in bags is your answer. (you can also grow them in a potato tub, I like this method better ). Growing potatoes at home is very interesting.

    How to Grow Potatoes in Bags?

    Get a bag of compost. Properly empty it in a place where it can be stored for a long time. This is because potatoes wouldn’t need all the compost at once. Cut the compost bag properly because this is where your potatoes will be growing. Next you roll the top of the bag below half way mark. This shall give support to whatever compost that you are going to put in it. Don’t roll it all the way down because that wouldn’t be of any use.

    Put a small layer of compost at the bottom of the bag. Now place some seed potatoes on top of this freshly put compost layer. Two or three seed potatoes will do. Now cover these seed potatoes with another layer of compost and water it for a while. See that it does not get wet too much. It only has to be adequately moist. With this all the preliminary stages for growing potatoes in a bag have been covered. Read more on growing sweet potatoes

    After a few days (maybe a week), you will see that there is a shoot coming out of the compost. The time interval may depend on weather. Once these shoots come out you add some more compost to the bag so that they completely covered again. Well if you need to unroll the bag do it just so slightly. Again moist the compost just so that the newly formed shoots may sustain. Again allow these potatoes to grow.

    Until now I have been repeating, not to soak the compost. But do not let it dry out as well. In every container gardening you shall find that the material in it dries very quickly when compared with actual ground. As water is needed for any life to grow you will need to moist the the compost every now and then. (I recommend once a day.) This way you will keep a close watch on potatoes also.

    When the potato plants mature, you will see that they have distinctly come out of the bag and they can no more be called shoots. In some cases they become quite big also. Wait for them to flower. Once they have finished flowering, your baby potatoes in compost bag should be ready. If you want your potatoes to be grow, then you can wait for a week or so for them to grow.

    Now that you have taken out the big plump potatoes, what will you do of the left over compost? Well spread it over your vegetable garden. Do not use the same compost again for new potatoes. This will not only spread diseases in potatoes, but your efforts will also be wasted. Growing potatoes in bags always requires fresh compost. Read more on growing potatoes in tires.

    Growing potatoes in bags is not such a difficult task. All you need is patience and good care for the vegetable. When you have home grown potatoes, the satisfaction you will get is unparalleled. Hope that the above tips for planting potatoes are satisfactory.

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