January 2010

In this issue of The Green Horse

Message from Alayne: Preparedness in the New Year
KCD Native Plant Sale!
Product Review: Hot Chillys Long Underwear
Wintertime Mud Management Tip: Gutters and Downspouts
February Learning Adventures
Educational Events

Message from Alayne: Preparedness in the New Year

Alayne and Bob in Monroe, WA by Cheryl James

The devastating earthquake in Haiti and human suffering it has caused is nauseating and heart wrenching. As we go about our daily lives here in the United States, it is hard to fathom the depth of pain and sorrow happening so close to our shores. Few of us are able to physically go to help, but others of us can provide a little help financially by making donations to a favorite charity. One option is to donate $10 to the American Red Cross, charged to your cell phone bill, by texting “HAITI” to “90999.”

Read how veterinary and agriculture groups are organizing response efforts and addressing the needs of animals in Haiti Veterinary Outreach Efforts in Progress Haiti from the January 14, 2010 article on TheHorse.com.

Once again, this disaster reminds us of the importance of preparedness. While none of us can prepare for or know everything to expect, it is so important to be prepared as best as you can for the types of emergencies specific to your region. The East Coast has been in the grips of a cold freeze. The West Coast is bracing for major rain and wind events. Many of us live in earthquake prone areas and, as we just witnessed, there’s no season and no warning for their impressive fury.

Take a moment to consider your emergency needs, for the humans and animals in your families. Here are a few of the many things Matt and I have done on our farm to prepare for storms and disasters:

Generator. We have a generator that runs the barn and the well for water for the whole property. We can run extension cords from the generator up to the house to power selected items in the house such as the refrigerator or microwave.
Alternate heat source. In case of electrical power failure in cold weather, we have two additional heat sources, propane and wood-burning stove. We keep a good supply of each fuel on hand, especially in cold months.
Outdoor propane grill. We have propane on hand for our outdoor grill, which can be used for cooking in the event of a power outage.
Flashlights and batteries. Multiple flashlights with extra batteries are placed in convenient locations, especially near entrances. We also have headlamps and hand crank flashlights. Several varieties of these are in our horse trailer and truck. A good source for inexpensive batteries is your local warehouse store, such as Costco or Sam’s Club.
Radios. We have battery-operated radios, a hand-crank radio and a battery-operated weather radio.
We carry Emergency Preparedness Kits, in each of our vehicles.
Emergency training. Both of us have had emergency medical training and are current in first aid and CPR. Matt is certified as a CERT member (Community Emergency Response Team), a national program through Homeland Security, administered by FEMA.

Having lived in Alaska where mistakes can be sobering and deadly, we learned to have supplies on hand as a course of life. But another part of being prepared comes from our daily living in a rural area, owning horses and a farm; there is so much to be responsible for and resourceful about when you are “on your own.” I’m sure that’s something most of you can relate to!

There’s no time like the present for review and preparation. Check out Horses for Clean Water’s free Tip Sheet on emergency preparedness. Sign up for some first aid training—for people and horses. Go shopping for needed supplies.

As for the Haitians, to quote our president, “Despite the fact that we are experiencing tough times here at home, I encourage those who can to reach out and help. It’s in times like these that we must show the kind of compassion and humanity that has defined the best of our national character for generations.”

Best wishes for the year ahead,

Alayne

Now Available: HCW DVDs

Here at HCW we’ve been working hard to come up with the best ways to help you have horsekeeping success. We recently worked on a few short DVD presentations and they are now becoming available for purchase through Amazon and CreateSpace.

The first DVD is Manure Management on Horse Properties. Purchase this 11 minute video from Amazon or CreateSpace via the links here:

Purchase via CreateSpace

Purchase via Amazon

The second DVD is Mud Management on Horse Properties. Purchase this 11 minute video from Amazon or CreateSpace via the links here:

Purchase via CreateSpace

Purchase via Amazon

We will post announcements as the other DVDs are released.

KCD Native Plant Sale!

Bob enjoys native plants, too!

One of my most favorite times of the year is late winter/early spring when conservation districts hold their annual native plant sale. This is a fun and easy way to pick up some wonderful trees and shrubs at a very low cost. Contact your local conservation district to find out about this tree sale. You can buy from any conservation district—you don’t have to live in that county.

If you live in Western Washington, check out the King Conservation District’s Native Tree and Plant Sale page, which also lists contacts for other CD plant sales.

Native plants have many benefits over non-natives such as:

Disease tolerance
Better adapted to our climate than non-natives
Require less care, watering and no pesticide use
Cost less
Very attractive
Offer food and shelter to a variety of beneficial native animals

The cascading blooms of Ocean Spray

Landscaping with native plants can have many wonderful benefits for horse owners including:

Providing mud reduction—Many trees use quite a bit of water each day. A mature Douglas fir tree can use any place from 125 to 150 gallons a day. Other types of water loving plants include willow, dogwood, cottonwood, aspen and cedar.
Dust barriers—Native plants can help cut down on dust from your arena that blows on your neighbor’s property. Generally a buffer of at least 20 feet deep is recommended which combined evergreens, deciduous trees and shrubs.
Visual screens and buffers between neighbors—A row of evergreens makes a nice privacy screen between you and your neighbor who may not enjoy the view of your horse paddocks as you do.
Provide summer shade and winter sun for livestock—Well-placed deciduous trees and shrubs provide cooling shade in the summer while bare branches in the winter allow for more warming rays.
Summer cooling of buildings—Evergreens make less roof mess than leafy deciduous trees and provide much appreciated shade in sunny summer months.
Erosion control—Trees and shrubs perform an important function of holding valuable topsoil in place, keeping it from getting washed away by rain or wind and potentially causing a surface or ground water problem.
Encourage beneficial wildlife (to eat bugs or rodents, serenade you, entertain you, etc.)—Encouraging insect-eating birds and bats to move into yards and barn areas is an excellent means for reducing the flying insect population.
Low-cost/low care landscaping—Native plants can provide attractive landscaping while housing, sheltering and providing food for the wildlife that serenade or entertain us. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Migratory Bird Management reports that homes in neighborhoods with large trees for birds are worth more than similar homes in neighborhoods without trees.

Red Flowering Currant is a favorite of hummingbirds.

There are two ways to purchase plants from the KCD:

Pre-order now thru the end of January by filling out an order form (downloadable from www.kingcd.org) and mailing, emailing, or faxing it in with credit card payment or check. Plant pick up is March 5th and 6th.
Come to the KCDs walk-up sale on March 5 and 6. These are plants not sold/leftover from the pre-sale.

Pre-Order pick-up and Walk-Up Sale are:

Time:
March 5, 2010, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
March 6, 2010, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

Location:
Both Pre-orders and Walk-Up Sale are at
KCD’s office
1107 SW Grady Way
Renton WA 98057

For questions on the KCD Plant Sale:

Jacobus Saperstein
425-282-1912 or 206-890-8212 cell

Quote of the Month

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
—Unknown

Product Review: Hot Chillys Long Underwear are perfect for the cold snap hitting much of North America!

by April LaLande

Don’t let the cold get you down!

What is our favorite way to ignore the winter blues and make it pleasant to be outdoors with our horses? This year the winner is Hot Chillys Peachskins long underwear! We have tried a lot of long underwear, but our new favorite doesn’t add excess bulk, can be comfortably worn under riding clothes, and keeps you toasty and warm for as long as you want to be outside. So comfy in fact, some of us even sleep in them.

Wintertime Mud Management Tip: Gutters and Downspouts

Installing gutters and downspouts to divert rainwater away from your horse’s confinement area will dramatically reduce mud. In an area that gets 39 inches of rain annually, 14,000 gallons of rainwater would run off a double stalled run-in shed (14 feet by 32 feet) in one year! You can begin to imagine that by diverting thousands of gallons of water away from your horse’s pen, you will greatly reduce the amount of mud you have. Good sites to divert clean rainwater to include a pond or wetland on your property, an undisturbed area of your pasture, or even a rain barrel or other storage system. Be sure to protect downspouts so your horses don’t destroy them. This can be done with heavy PVC, hot wire or by simply making the downspout area inaccessible to horses. For more information on reducing mud in horse paddocks, see Horses for Clean Water’s Goodbye Mud and Dust Tip Sheet.