Andrea Chesman: Full of Beans

The seasons march on, but some foods stay the same.

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the summer dining season, if not the actual beginning of summer. For some this means picnic suppers. My summer begins when I can fire up the grill and start eating on a screened-in porch with a view of the river. I’d like to say that my summer begins with an early harvest, but the veggies are still tiny seedlings, the peas only 6 inches tall. My garden is all potential right now: a delivery of composted manure; a newly dug bed on a sunny slope; germinating beets, carrots, lettuce, and spinach.

What to eat alfresco when you are still eating last year’s harvest? Why, baked beans, of course.

Baked beans are a picnic tradition in the Northeast. They travel warm in a Dutch oven and can be made in advance or baked slowly underground in a bean hole. The bean hole is a well-established tradition in New England that may date back to Native Americans, who prepared beans seasoned with maple syrup, bits of venison, and bear grease. They baked them in a pit dug into the ground. It is thought that early European settlers adopted the bean, which is a New World food, cooking it with molasses or maple syrup and salt pork. Beans baked in cast iron pots buried in the ground became a lumber camp specialty and remains popular in New England — and especially in Maine — to this day, particularly for public suppers and community gatherings.

Vermont used to be a center of bean agriculture. There were bean elevators north of Burlington in the same way that there are grain elevators in the Midwest. Trains sent the beans to Montreal, Boston, and New York and returned with tourists, who even then enjoyed Vermont’s rustic charms. Then during World War II the government set bean prices at a low of $.85 a pound, to encourage meatless eating at a time when meat was rationed. But there was no ceiling on milk prices, so Vermont farmers switched to more lucrative dairy. Local bean growing is slowly returning as milk prices tank, but demand far exceeds supply.

Dried beans are a long-season crop. They do best in the flatlands and valleys, not in my short-season mountaintop garden.

For cooking baked beans I prefer navy beans, though yellow eyes, soldier beans, and Jacob’s cattle beans are popular choices around here. I don’t bother with a bean hole; a 300°F oven does fine for me. And what goes best with baked beans for a summer supper? Why, hot dogs, of course. And coleslaw. Welcome to summer. I’m feeling full of beans.

Sunday Supper Baked Beans
Makes 6 servings

The two-stage cooking process (beans are boiled, then baked) is necessary to achieve a perfect texture. Once the bean comes in contact with the acidic flavorings (ketchup, coffee, and so on) the skins will soften no further, so they must be cooked to tenderness first. This is a fairly classic baked bean recipe, tweaked a little for greater depth of flavor. In the vegetarian version below, chipotle chiles replace the bacon for a touch of smoke.

2 cups dried navy or pea beans, soaked overnight and drained
8 cups water
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup pure maple syrup or firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brewed coffee
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
4 ounces thick-cut bacon, diced

1. Combine the beans with the water in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until just tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Skim off any foam that rises to the top of the pot.





2. Transfer the beans and their cooking water to a bean pot or covered casserole. Add the onion, maple syrup, ketchup, coffee, soy sauce, mustard, ginger, and bacon, and mix well.
3. Cover, and bake at 300°F (no need to preheat) for about 3 hours. Check occasionally, and add more hot water if needed to make sure the beans remain moist. On the other hand, if the beans seem too soupy, remove the cover during the last 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Vegetarian Baked Beans
Omit the bacon. Add 2 tablespoons chopped chipotles in adobo sauce, and proceed as above.

Adapted from Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman © 2010
All rights reserved

Visit Andrea's website

Sue Weaver, Livestock and Animal Expert, Will Answer Your Questions

Sue Weaver has been writing books for Storey Publishing since 2007 and blog posts for InsideStorey since 2009. She is a wealth of knowledge on raising animals, and she’s a great writer to boot.

I look forward to each new post from Sue — I am always moved by them. Her posts have enlightened and informed me, they have brought me close to tears, they have made me smile — even laugh out loud, and they have made me fall in love (she has some very adorable pets!).

Esme

Possum

Baby Sam (June 2010)

Her goats have more personality than some people, and her sheep produce the most adorable lambs (see this year’s new arrivals). Sue has taken in a stray pig, she has raised chickens in her house, and she knows more about goat history than any person should. Sue even wrote a post about milking moose! If you have a question about an animal, Sue most likely has an answer.

Mischievous goats

In early April one of our blog readers posted a comment on Sue’s post Having a Cow. She needed advice on how to train an “unpredictable” and hard-to-handle steer. She and a friend of hers went to great lengths to save him from the slaughterhouse, and she needed to make Egbert trustworthy or find him a new place to live.

Sue responded with brilliant advice.

There are so many people who raise animals — some raise them as pets, others for self-sustainability and for the market. Some have been caring for livestock for years, while others are new to raising animals. Regardless of years and experience, new situations arise, and there are questions that need answers. The goal is always the same — to raise happy, healthy animals.

If you have a question about training, raising, caring for, or the behavior of your cow, donkey, sheep, goat, pig, chicken, or any other pet/livestock animal, Sue wants to help. Post your questions in the comments section, and she will answer you in a blog post.

Sue Weaver sold her first freelance article in 1969. Since then her work has appeared in major horse periodicals, including the Western Horseman, Horse Illustrated, Chronicle of the Horse, Flying Changes, Horseman’s Market, Arabian Horse Times, the Appaloosa News, the Quarter Horse Journal, Horse’N Around, and the Brayer. She has written, among other books, Storey’s Guide to Raising Miniature Livestock, The Donkey Companion, and The Backyard Goat. Sue is based in the southern Ozark Mountains in Arkansas.

Read Sue’s blog: Dreamgoat Annie

Debbie Sams: Rounded Shoulders, Collapsed Chest

Part 6 in the “Deep Seat” series

Problem

The root of this problem is often that the rider has her hips tilted backward and chest collapsed. The shoulders just add to the fetal position (Illus. 19). When an adult female rider’s shoulders are rounded, you will notice that her bra strap often falls down over her shoulder and she is continually putting it back.

Illus. 19 and 20

Solution

Adjust the hips as needed — When a rider is slouching, she is often leaning back too far with her hips. If this is the case, she should bring the hips into a more upright position.

Lift chest — Imagine that there is a mushroom growing up under your rib cage, as illustrated in Sally Swift’s book Centered Riding.

Shoulders back — Pull the shoulders back after you have lifted your chest. A useful image for this problem is to imagine that someone is poking his finger in between your shoulder blades (Illus. 20).

Pull your shoulder blades together — This will straighten slouching shoulders.

Read Part 1 (Sticking to Your Horse with a Deep Seat) in the "Deep Seat" series
Read Part 2 (Deep Seat versus Light Seat) in the "Deep Seat" series
Read Part 3 (Deep Seat Problem and Solution) in the "Deep Seat" series
Read Part 4 (Arched Back — Problems and Solutions) in the "Deep Seat" series
Read Part 5 (Torso Leaning Forward — Collapsed Chest) in the "Deep Seat" series

Debbie Sams teaches English and Western riding with an emphasis on dressage. At her Springer's Stables in Broadalbin, New York, she also teaches drill team and vaulting. Her farm gives pony parties and holds horse camps for scouts and local community college and elementary school youth programs, as well as for the Sacandaga Bible Conference and Retreat Center. Debbie has been teaching drama and drill team on horseback since 1979; in 1985 she became a Certified Horsemanship Association Instructor. She is the author of 101 Drill Team Exercises and has also put her horse knowledge to work in writing for such publications as Practical Horseman, Equus, and the Northeast Horseman’s Journal.

Bring Homemade Hot Sauce to the Potluck

Yesterday we had a picnic at work to celebrate three new summery titles — Hot Sauce!; Lobster!; and Tag, Toss & Run — perfect for a picnic. I will tell you more about our delicious and fun gathering in a later post. What I want to talk about here is the ultimate condiment.

 The condiment station at our work picnic.

Call me weird. I don't like mustard, ketchup, relish, or mayonnaise — not on my hot dog, not on my burger, and not on my french fries. In my opinion salsa gets the number one ranking in the condiment department. It can be hot, it can be mild, it can have a tropical twist, it can be garlicky, or it can be citrus-y. It is low-calorie, it is good for you, and it goes with almost everything!

I dip my fries in salsa, I slather it on grilled chicken sandwiches, I add it to pasta salads, I add it to tossed salads. It goes good with fish, bratwurst, grilled vegetables, and, of course, chips. And now, for the first time ever, I've had it on lobster. Three words here — Oh. My. God.

The season of cookouts and outdoor gatherings is upon us. If you have a potluck to go to, you must bring a homemade version of the ultimate condiment as your offering. I did.

I made a hot sauce and a salsa for our work picnic. I used recipes from — you guessed it — Hot Sauce!. Here are the recipes I made, and now you can make them too.

Picante Sauce - Makes 4 cups
This herbal sauce surprises with the subtle smokiness it gets from the chipotle. Chipotles are among my favorite chiles — fragrant and complex, with a smoky heat. They are made by cold-smoking fresh, ripe (red) jalapeños. My husband, Joe, built a smoke pit in our backyard and smokes a batch of red jalapeños once a year, when he cranks up the pit for ribs or pork butt for a party.

Ingredients
    6    dried chipotle chiles, stemmed
    4    ripe tomatoes, stemmed
    6    fresh red jalapeño chiles, stemmed
    1    small yellow onion, peeled and quartered
    3    medium garlic cloves, peeled
    2    tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
    1    cup water
    ¾   cup cider vinegar
    1    teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
    ½   teaspoon salt
    ¼   teaspoon ground allspice
          Freshly ground black pepper

1. Soften the chipotles by soaking them in a pot of hot water for 20 minutes or so. Drain, and remove the seeds if you want a milder sauce. Combine the softened chipotles in a blender with the tomatoes, jalapeños, onion, garlic, and cilantro, and pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add the water, vinegar, cayenne, salt, allspice, and black pepper to the chipotle mixture and purée until just smooth, about 1 minute, being careful not to over-blend. 
3. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool before bottling. Refrigerated, the sauce will keep for up to 6 weeks (for long-term storage, see instructions on page 51).

Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa - Makes 2 cups
Use only fresh ripe tomatoes. Bufalo makes a terrific red sauce from fully ripened jalapeño chiles, which give their sauce a ripe, fruity tang rather than the grassy, herbal flavor you might expect from a green jalapeño sauce.

Ingredients
    4    medium ripe tomatoes
    1    small red bell pepper
    2    garlic cloves, chopped
    2    tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
          Juice of 1 lime
    1–2     teaspoons hot sauce
    ¼    teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to broil.
2. Place the whole tomatoes and bell pepper on a baking sheet and broil, turning once or twice, until charred, about 8 minutes for tomatoes and 4 minutes for the pepper. (You could also char them on a hot grill, turning frequently.) Put the pepper in a bag to steam and loosen the skin.
3. Skin and core the tomatoes, removing most of the seeds, and chop. Skin and core the bell pepper and chop. Combine the tomatoes and peppers with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

Recipes excerpted from Hot Sauce! © 2012 Jennifer Trainer Thompson.
All rights reserved.

Grow Your Digital Library — Bulletin Bundle Garden Giveaway

Do you know about Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins? We’ve been publishing these short, to-the-point guides for over 25 years, and there are now almost two hundred of them in print (and even more are available as eBooks)! Each one covers all the key information you need to do a project right. We started in the garden, but now our bulletins cover all kinds of sustainable skills: crafts, building, raising animals, cooking, and a whole lot more.

Now we’re giving them away — every 2 weeks a few lucky readers will win a Country Wisdom Digital Bulletin Bundle!

Our first giveaway also starts in the garden with Grow 15 Herbs for the Kitchen, Grow the Best Blueberries, and Grow the Best Tomatoes. We’ll be giving away five of these bundles. Entering the giveaway is simple, and the winners will be picked on Friday, June 1.

Retweet to Advance!

• Just retweet our Grow the Best Bulletin Bundle tweet (#StoreyGardeningGuides), and you’ll be entered in the giveaway.
• Five winners will be chosen at random 1 week from today.
• The winners will be announced on InsideStorey, Storey’s Facebook Page, and Storey’s Twitter Feed.

Prize Includes:

• Three digital versions of Grow 15 Herbs for the Kitchen, Grow the Best Blueberries, and Grow the Best Tomatoes — nine files total. You will receive an ePub file (for iPad, Nook, Kobo, Sony, and other eReaders), a Mobipocket file (for all versions of the Kindle), and a PDF (for PCs and many other digital devices). These are all DRM-free files.
• Your bulletins will be delivered electronically. An e-mail address will be required for delivery. We will not save, sell, or use this e-mail address for any other purpose.

Philip Schmidt — Maker Faire Was Fantastic!

Maker Faire* was fantastic! Definitely a good fit for PlyDesign.

Attached are some shots of the space. The aesthetic at the Faire is very casual and workshoppy (all in a good way), so having the BLADs** from the book worked well; people just stepped right in to check out the stuff. The lamp seemed to get the most attention (possibly from the simple fact that it lit up), and Henry Boyle (contributing designer to PlyDesign) brought in several pieces that filled out the space nicely.

Philip Schmidt, PlyDesign author, manning the booth at Maker Faire

The banner and portfolio [put together by Storey’s marketing design team] were absolutely key. The banner legitimized the entire booth. And people were really drawn to the portfolio. Most of those who stopped to glance at it took the time to flip through the whole thing.

Booth visitors were really drawn to the portfolio.

In addition to handing out BLADs for PlyDesign, Phil and Henry also
promoted themselves with a very cool business card display.

Matt Wolpe (contributing designer to PlyDesign) and Kevin McElroy (coauthor with Matt Wolpe to Storey’s upcoming book, Reinventing the Chicken Coop) stopped in for a while, and we talked about the Faire's being a good idea for their book. In fact, there’s a whole building devoted to self-sufficiency and urban farming stuff, called “Homegrown Village.”

All told, five of the book’s contributors stopped in during the Faire. Henry Boyle definitely gets the gold star — he was set up before I even got there. He spent a lot of time at the booth on both days and was critical for discussing techie stuff with visitors. A huge help overall.

Henry Boyle, PlyDesign contributing designer, gets a gold star
for his dedication to the PlyDesign booth at Maker Faire.

Personally, it was a lot of fun for me. A great first experience with live book promotion.

— Philip Schmit, author of PlyDesign

*Bay Area Maker Faire was held at the San Mateo County Event Center, San Mateo, California. Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. Check out the Bay Area Maker Faire site to find out more about the event and for information about upcoming Maker Faires around the country.

**Book layout and design: a printed marketing piece put together by Storey’s marketing design department to show a sampling of the book's content.

Chad Kelly — West Austin Studio Tour a Success!

Last weekend Chad Kelly, a contributing designer to PlyDesign, participated in the West Austin Studio Tour (Austin, Texas). He sent us a cool pic of his studio and commented on the event.

It was great. I got the BLADs* and had them by the door when people walked in, along with the book sitting on the console that was in the book. I got a lot of questions about PlyDesign — what it was about, how I ended up with things in the book, etc., etc., etc. Quite a few people took the BLADs and some business cards, so it all seemed positive! I guess time will tell, right? I mean, no one woke up this morning and called me right away to make ’em something, but maybe soon!

*Book layout and design: a printed marketing piece put together by Storey’s marketing design department to show a sampling of the book's content.

Video Chat Tonight with the Editors of Greenhorns!

You may have seen the promotion on our Facebook and Twitter feeds for Thursday night's "Virtual Book Tour" with Greenhorns editors Zoë Ida Bradbury, Paula Manalo, and Severine von Tscharner Fleming, and perhaps you were wondering, "What the heck is a Virtual Book Tour?"

Well, wonder no more!

A Virtual Book Tour is just like going to see an author in person at a bookstore or other venue — except you don't have to find a sitter, drive, park, or even put on pants! All you have to do is turn on your computer (no special equipment needed, though if you have a webcam you can turn it on, and the author will be able to see you as well – in which case, you might want to put on those pants!).

Just like a "real world" author event, you'll get a chance to watch a presentation, see a demonstration, or hear a reading. In this case, Zoë, Paula, and Severine — from their farms in Oregon, California, and New York, respectively – will talk about how their book came together and how they found the contributing essayists (at least some of whom we hope will be in the audience!), as well as the trials, tribulations, joys, and sorrows of being a beginning farmer and the camaraderie found within the Greenhorns and New Farmer Movements. A slide show of images from Severine's feature-length documentary film The Greenhorns will run in the background.

You'll also have the opportunity to chat with other members of the audience and ask the authors questions.

So pop a bowl of corn and settle in in front of your computers for an entertaining and informative hour with Greenhorns, Thursday, May 24, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time. Follow the link below to RSVP, and we'll see you there!

Click Here to Sign Up for Greenhorns Video Chat

Direct-Sow! — Advice from Storey's Garden Group

Advice from our Storey garden group leader, Carleen Madigan, came in on Friday to remind the garden group members who have not done so already to take our carrot, parsnip, spinach, bean, fennel, anise, and lettuce seeds home to direct-sow.

I had already taken home my seeds and direct-sown some. But I did take Carleen's advice and put a couple of zucchini and pumpkin seeds directly into the dirt.

In addition to direct-sowing some squash, I managed a few other garden tasks over the weekend. I transplanted some herbs into larger pots and transplanted a bunch of lettuce seedlings (do you call mini-lettuce plants “seedlings”?). I also started more lettuce in seed-starting cells. I did this rather than direct-sowing them because of limited garden space. I will rotate these new mini-lettuces in once I harvest some of the lettuce already in the allotted lettuce patch.

My allotted lettuce patch has a mix of Romaine,
green leaf, and red leaf lettuce growing.

And then, back at work Monday morning, Ilona Sherratt, one of the Storey garden group members, e-mailed the advice below to the group. It is definitely useful for any gardener who still has lettuce seeds and garden space. I thought the blog readers could benefit from her advice.

“Mix all your old lettuce seeds together and broadcast them in small patches (I do 2' x 2' squares) from early spring to late June. All kinds will come up. As they grow you can eat the thinnings, then let a half-dozen plants grow to heads. I also let some of my lettuce plants go to seed, and they will self-sow. I have some nice leaf lettuce growing in my garden right now that came up from last year’s plants.”

Heather Smith Thomas: Notes from Sky Range Ranch — My First Foal, Part Four

Summer passed quickly, and soon it was time for the fair and our 4-H classes. Since Scrappy and Khamette were my mare-and-foal project, I’d kept detailed records on everything I did with them. I would take them to the fair and show them in the mare-and-foal class. I wanted Khamette to be very well trained and well mannered, rather than flighty or hard to control.

I had a wonderful summer working with Khamette, teaching her
many things. Here, my brother Rocky holds Scrappy while I take
a photo of the foal, but I wasn't a very good photographer,
and this old photo is blurry!

The fairgrounds had several rows of box stalls and tie stalls, and I wanted to take my mare and foal a day before the horse classes started, to be sure of having a box stall, since I would have to leave Scrappy and Khamette there for a couple of days. My dad brought a bale of hay in our jeep and a small sack of grain and my feed tub and water bucket. I would carry water for the horses from the hydrant at the end of the barn row. We didn’t have a horse trailer, so rather than borrow one I decided to ride Scrappy and lead Khamette the 14 miles to town. I wanted to lead the filly rather than let her follow behind her mama because I didn’t want a passing vehicle to frighten her out into the highway.

Khamette had outgrown her baby halter by then, so I bought her a fancy foal halter, with a nice long lead rope. I also had a leather lead shank that I planned to use when showing the filly at the fair. I practiced riding Scrappy around the barnyard and leading Khamette, and she led very nicely alongside her mama.

We started our trip to town early in the morning, before it got hot. I rode Scrappy and led four-month-old Khamette alongside. She trotted now and then to keep up with Scrappy’s swift singlefoot gait as we headed down the dirt road. By the time we reached the highway, we’d already met one car, and Khamette was frightened, but she stayed close to Scrappy as the car went by, reassured by Scrappy’s calm attitude.

The filly kept up with Scrappy and didn’t seem to get tired. We made the trip in 3 hours and headed into the fairgrounds. There were already a few horses there, and Scrappy whinnied nervously. Khamette was wide-eyed with curiosity and mild alarm, looking at all the strange sights and strange horses. I found the stall where my father had left my buckets, hay, and so on and got the two horses settled in. Scrappy nibbled a little hay but spent most of her time looking out the open top door, watching all the activity around us. Khamette was almost too short to look out over the bottom door, but by stretching her neck she was able to watch, too.

My dad drove me back home to the ranch so my brother Rocky and I could ride Ginger and Nell to town that afternoon. We wanted to have them there overnight as well, to be ready for the 4-H classes and horse classes the next morning. This was the first time we had ever stayed overnight at the fairgrounds, and we thought it would be fun, sleeping in sleeping bags next to our horses’ stalls.

Rocky holds the foal while I take a photo of her for my 4-H record book.

I was nervous and excited the next morning. In the previous years’ horse shows, I always had jitters when riding Ginger or Nell in the open competition or 4-H judging, hoping I wouldn’t make mistakes. And this time I had three horses to show. I was glad the riding classes came first because these were something I’d done before. My brother and I both placed in the top third of our class and happily rode back to the barn to put our horses away and get Khamette and Scrappy ready for the mare-and-foal class.

I’d hung Khamette’s new halter and fancy leather lead strap (for the 4-H judging) on a nail, high on the stall wall, out of the foal’s reach — or so I thought. Somehow, Khamette grabbed it, pulled it down, and chewed the leather strap, making it all wrinkled and tattered. I straightened and smoothed it as best I could, but it still looked crumpled.

Rocky helped me lead them out of the stall and down to the arena, where the mare-and-foal class was about to begin. Scrappy was nervous and snorting, and Rocky had his hands full keeping her down to a prancing walk, while I led the skittish foal alongside.

In spite of being nervous and excited with all the other horses nearby, they behaved reasonably well, and I was able to show what Khamette and I had accomplished in our summer of lessons. When it was our turn to perform in front of the judge, Rocky held Scrappy, and I led Khamette away from her, leading her up and down the arena at a walk, then a trot and brought her to a stop — to let her stand for a moment before backing up, then picking up her feet. Then I led her in a big circle in both directions. As I led her back, her very impatient mother was whinnying and pawing the ground.

I was delighted to receive a blue ribbon for my mare-and-foal project when the class was over but totally surprised to also receive the 4-H trophy for best project. This award was based on my detailed record books, scrapbook, and performance in the horse classes. The trophy was a beautiful bronze mare and foal, standing on a wooden plaque. This was very special. I gave the trophy to my parents for safekeeping while Rocky and I led Scrappy and Khamette back to their stall — where I gave the filly a huge hug.

After the fair was over, we took the horses home. I rode Scrappy and led Khamette, and Rocky rode Ginger and led Nell. It had been a very exciting 3 days!

This photo was taken after we brought
Scrappy and Khamette home from the fair.

School started the next week, and I didn’t have much time to work with the horses. I turned Scrappy and Khamette out into the Cheney Creek pasture until it was time to wean the filly. In November I brought them down again, put Khamette in the big round corral, and left Scrappy in the main corral. They whinnied at each other and paced the fence for a few days until they got used to the separation. After Scrappy’s udder was no longer full (her milk was drying up) and Khamette realized she could get along without Mama, I let Scrappy go back up Cheney Creek with the other horses. The filly didn’t whinny for her anymore. Instead, she looked forward to my coming to feed and brush her every day after school. She remembered all her lessons and good manners, and I was looking forward to when she’d be old enough to ride. It had been fun and a great learning experience for me, raising her from a baby and doing all her training myself.

My First Foal, Part One
My First Foal, Part Two
My First Foal, Part Three

Heather Smith Thomas raises horses and cattle on her family ranch in Salmon, Idaho. She writes for numerous horse magazines and is the author of several books on horses and cattle farming, including Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses, Storey's Guide to Training Horses, Stable Smarts, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Your Calf, Getting Started with Beef and Dairy Cattle, Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle, Essential Guide to Calving, and The Cattle Health Handbook.