Vegetable Gardens

Every farm needs a vegetable garden. Baker Heritage Farm's primary purpose is to raise heirloom vegetables, herbs, and fruit. The initial objective is to determine the best viable produce for the soil and climate (including labor, input cost effectiveness, volume, etc.) using unaltered (not genetically modified) heirloom seed.

Baker Heritage Farms is planning on planting at least two vegetable plots in 2012. One will be for family consumption and will be located on top of the front hill. The family food plot will have fewer restrictions than the test plot (see below), but will still be grown in a chemical free environment.

The second plot, the Test Garden, will be approximately 137 feet by 28 feet and will be limited to heirloom seeds.

The test garden plot has been untouched by chemicals for at least the past 11 years and, as far as can be determined, for many additional years before that. Staples such as corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuce, sunflowers, squash, pumpkins, and others. The test plot will initially be tilled; however, future tilling methods will be based on location, density, type of crop, and cover crops. No chemicals will be used (such as herbicides, insecticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc.).

The initial intent is to grow consumable vegetables to supplement (and eventually replace) family food needs with healthier and more wholesome food products. if successful, excess produce will be donated to local churches and food banks.

Baker Family Farms does not currently plan to grow "organic" crops; however, all crops will be grown naturally and will not be chemically altered (seed or plant).

Plot Development Starts, Part I - Chickens

Plot development has started at Baker Heritage Farms.

Heritage chickens will initially be raised for egg and fertilizer production. Eggs will supplement family food needs while providing a healthier product, with excess eggs being donated to local food banks and sold on a small, retail basis. Chicken litter will be used as fertilizer on various produce plots as well as for making all natural compost.

If successful, 2013 operations will including raising additional chickens for breeding and meat production.

Our initial choice for chickens is the Silver Laced Wyandotte.

Silver Laced Wyandotte's are the original Wyandotte variety. They have a heavy body and small rose comb. The hens are hardy, energetic and faithful layers. They were admitted to the American Standard of Perfection in 1888 and originated in New York. They work well in either confinement or free range.

• Average Size: Hen - 6.5 pounds; Pullet - 5.5 pounds; Rooster - 8.5 pounds; Cockerel - 7.5 pounds.
• Purpose: Dual, egg laying and meat production.
• Egg Color: Brown
• Average Egg Production: 200 per year.
• ALBC: Recovering status, considered a sustainable heritage chicken breed. 

Chicken Coop

Due to the variety of animals expected to be raised on the farm, isolating animals is a priority. As a result, the plot chosen to house the chickens needed to be in an area that would not be used to house other poultry or stock and would be isolated from other types of poultry. The area chosen for the plot to house the chicken coop is behind the main home. While the goat pen will be on two sides of this plot, cross contamination should not be an issue (more on the goats will appear in a future post).

The pen will be approximately 1,000 square feet and will contain a hen house. It is anticipated that 25 Wyandotte Silver Laced pullets will initially be purchased by mid to late March. The pen is ready to be fenced once the hen house is constructed.

The Land We Farm

LeFlore County is mainly in the Arkansas Valley and the Ouachita Mountains physiographic sections. Topography differences range from the nearly level flood plains of the Arkansas, Poteau, and Kiamichi rivers and major creeks to the steep mountainous areas in the southern part of the county. Most of the drainage is into the Poteau and Kiamichi Rivers by way of creeks and streams.

Soil, water, timber, coal, natural gas, stone and gravel, fish, wild game, and scenic beauty are the main natural resources of the county.

Soil, the most important natural resource in the county, produces pasture and hay, timber, and crops. Farm ponds are a source of water for livestock and are used for fish production. Sandstone is the most common surface rock in the area (it is excavated and used in building construction). Fishes, wildlife, and game are abundant. Crappie, bass, and catfish are the most common fishes in lakes and rivers. The habitat has abundant cover and food for deer, dove, turkey, quail, squirrel, and duck and for fur-bearing animals such as mink, beaver, fox, and bobcat.