Photo by Cherie LangloisBourbon Red turkeys , a inheritance livestock breed
This four - part celebration of biodiversity on my farm would n’t be complete without mentioning the inheritance farm animal breeds and heirloom plants that subsist and maturate here .
In recent years , “ heritage stock ” has become a popular terminus used to denote the genetically diverse , traditional stock breed that have been raised on farms in the U.S. and other land for one C . Unlike the uniform , high - output animals found on mill farm , inheritance livestock strain possess important attributes that make them specially well - suited for our hobby farms : superior mothering skill , high disease resistance and excellent foraging power , for starters . Many of these historical stock hover on the threshold of extermination ( those that have n’t vanished already ) , and that ’s seriously spoiled news for agriculture . As the author stress inTaking Stock : The North American Livestock Census(McDonald and Woodward Publishing , 1994 ) , a record put out by theAmerican Livestock Breeds Conservancy : “ Agriculture depends on transmitted diverseness for its long term health and constancy . ”
Our farm is ( or has been ) house to the follow inheritance breeds : Bourbon Redand Royal Palm turkeys , Plymouth Barred Rock and Buff Orpington chickens , andJacob sheep . ( teach about other uncommon stock breeds from theALBC . )
Photo by Cherie LangloisAmish bust peas , an heirloom plant
Like inheritance livestock , heirloom plantsoften have long , interesting histories . Essentially , heirloom plants are open - pollinated cultivar developed and grown during earlier fourth dimension and passed down from generation to propagation . “ Open - pollenate ” means the plant can cross course without human help and will engender true to type when you save and sow itsseeds . For deterrent example , if you plant Amish Snap Peas and save the peas for planting next year , you get more Amish Snap Peas , provided no crossing occurred . ( Methods to prevent this vary with industrial plant species . )
Many of the seeds marketed for modern gardens and farm , however , are cross — artificially pollinated plants that staunch from crossing two diverseness , each highly inbred to produce certain hope characteristic , such as disease electric resistance or uniform size . seek to save and plant these ejaculate , and you might get nothing at all or else a works with completely different characteristic .
I became enamored withheirloomsseveral years ago after writing about them forPopular horticulture : Heirloom Farm and Garden , and have been assay more delicious , coloured , easy - care change in my garden each twelvemonth . Some of my favorites so far : Amish Snap Peas , Scarlet Runner Beans , Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce , Forellenschuss Lettuce , Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard , Red Russian Kale , Vates Collards , America Spinach , Purple Tomatillo , and ( of class ! ) Black Beauty Zucchini .
If you feel like try out with heirlooms yourself , correspond out theSeed Savers Exchange . If you already produce them , I ’d be interested in see about your favorites before I place my next ejaculate order !
~ Cherie
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