Posts Tagged ‘manure’
As we were beginning to modify our planting beds back in February, we were fortunate enough to have a family friend let us borrow a Honda Rototiller (
Model FR800 if you’re curious) to break some ground. When compared to hand hoeing, this tiller was a godsend; but after one 10 hour day of non-stop tilling back in the spring, I was out of commission for a couple of days afterwards. The Honda certainly had some power to it, but harnessing that power effectively resulted in more fatigue than I could handle. It was time to explore our options.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed about some farmers (and a lot of dudes) is an almost rabid desire to own giant pieces of machinery. Someone even told me “if you are going to farm, get a tractor.” Period. Sure, owning a large tractor that I would get to sit on would be the least physically demanding way to go, but could our land (and our bank account) deal with such a purchase? For us, the answer to both questions was a resounding “no”. Our main area of cultivation is only 3/4 of an acre. If we provide enough room at the ends of our rows to turn a tractor around, our growing area would be significantly reduced (perhaps even reduced to the point of not necessitating a tractor!).
So a full-on tractor is too big, but an 8hp roto-tiller is too small…fortunately, the tradition of small farms had continued on in Europe through the latter half of the 20th century, and a few manufacturers still produce a tool that falls somewhere in between: the “walk-behind” tractor.
After a few weeks of cogitating, weighing pros and cons and consulting with other, more experienced farmers, we decided that this was the way to go. Depending on the model, a walk-behind tractor can offer more power than even the heaviest duty Honda or Troy-Bilt tiller, but the real value lies in the walk-behind tractor’s versatility. Although it is oriented to be operated like a tiller, the biggest advantage of a walk-behind tiller is the presence of a PTO (power take off) that allows for any number of implements to be attached.
There are two main manufacturers of “walk-behind” tractors:
BCS and
Grillo (both in Italy). Peaceful Valley offers a pretty wide range of the BCS tractors, and most of the local mechanics are more familiar with them. We picked up a
732GX, the smallest of BCS’ “Professional” line, and a
30” tiller attachment. Besides having an 11hp engine, the BCS is all metal-to-metal direct drive, no belts. This helps maintain torque in tough situations…situations like, say, breaking up rock-laden, clay soil in the Sierra Foothills…?
It took a little while to get used to it, but as you can see in the pictures, the BCS has been able to efficiently handle what I’ve thrown at it so far. I was able to incorporate semi-composted horse bedding into about a third of an acre of previously unworked soil in one morning of work. The BCS tiller is also a great tool to incorporate cover crop matter into the dirt; our summer buckwheat cover was turned into “organic matter” in just a few minutes. Awesome! The BCS is also small enough for us to be able to go in and work the soil beds one at a time, and our pre-existing pathways do not need to be adjusted to accommodate its size.
(Aside: for those who might be interested in my method, we wet down the horse bedding as we unloaded it, creating “instant hot compost piles” which we then spread over the area a week or so later. Even though this step is not necessary, given that food won’t come out of here until next May or June, we wanted our winter cover crop to have as much readily available nutrition as possible. Deeper penetrating roots + greater nitrogen fixing efficiency by legumes = better results for next year’s crops.)
Any cons so far? Given our heavy clay soil, the action of the BCS’s tiller will eventually create an impenetrable layer of hardpan. Luckily, a “
subsoiler/ripper” attachment exists, and we already have one on order. This attachment is essentially a single, deep chisel that cuts a groove into the subsoil, allowing roots and other good stuff to penetrate deep into the ground. I also had a little trouble with the bolts and threaded pieces on the “quick-release hitch” coming undone as a result of vibration, but that was easily fixed with a few drops of
red Loctite.
Overall the BCS has shown itself to be just as its long-time proponents described: rugged, dependable, powerful, easy to use. What is most exciting for us is that we seem to have found a piece of machinery that makes moving forward with the farm project a much more comfortable thought :D
I should learn to be more careful on this Internet thing. It turns out I was being stalked by Vanessa and Matthew of Willow Springs Farm. They found out I was going to Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply last weekend by, now this is how fiendishly clever they are, actually reading my blog entry. I know, right?
They invited me over after I picked up a bunch of tomato and melon starts to replace the ones that didn’t in our greenhouse (As my mother used to say, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.”). They were having a plant sale themselves, so while Vanessa took care of the customers Matt and I geeked on farm stuff. Then Vanessa came back over and they showed me the rest of their farm. What a great day!
Vanessa and Matt have a wonderful setup and they are some of the nicest and most passionate people I know. If you have a chance to stop by their farm at another plant sale or their booth at the market, be sure you do! It’ll make your day.
I was on my own this weekend, so I plugged in my iPod and listened to Dream Theater while I double dug rows for 59 starts. The 200 basil starts we planted last week (They did okay in the haunted greenhouse) seemed to have survived the ice storm. I reset the drip line so that they can get a better drink when it gets warmer.
I put in the t-posts for the deer fence 10’ outside of the rabbit fence but didn’t put up the fishing line yet. It turned out that my neighbor, Kevin, was up and I went over to hit him up for some tractor help in moving some of my other neighbor’s (Dave) horse manure.
Kevin didn’t like driving his tractor down the steep and slanted hill, so he lent me his one ton pickup and filled it with 3 or so cubic yards of composted manure. I got to unload it into the end of the veggie field. The tailgate wouldn’t come down and I got to do it all with a shovel. And while I fancied myself a figure in a Diego Rivera painting, once I dug out a place to stand in the truck bed it went easily enough. Sort of a zen thing. I finished up after a while, swept the truck perfectly clean, returned it, and set off on the three hour drive home.
The week is supposed to be warm and clear for the tomatoes and melons. The trees are doing great and apricots are coming out right on time. The electrical needs in the field shed are being more than met with three portable batteries and a 15 watt solar panel. We have as much water as we need. If life was any sweeter it would cause cancer in laboratory rats.
Well we just had another spring soaker, but before the rain I managed to get a bunch of ground work done and begin the regular outdoor plantings. This spring has been warm, but its been wet. My field was just barely dry enough, but I new there’d be more rain coming, so I went for it. I started by mowing and disking the ~4.5 acres of cover crop and spreading lime over everything. With only a few days for cover crop breakdown, I spread rock phosphate, some azomite, cow manure, and chicken…
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I wrote a little while ago about my soil fertility plan for the coming year, and in this post I’ll break down some of the costs. For a brief review, my plan consists of manuring (for nutrients & organic matter), mineral amendments (for P, pH, Ca, and micronutrients), and cover cropping (for O.M. and N). All amounts are for 6 acres and costs include freight. Manures - bulk truckloads Chicken Manure - 8 yards per acre - $2000 Cow Manure - 10 yards per acre - $1500 Minerals - bought in…
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Gardeners will often talk about their favorite type of manure, and I myself am not immune from such opining ...but when you have numerous acres to cover the decision is often made by factors of cost and convenience. While it may be ideal to envision a farm that raises animals to generate manure for it’s vegetable fields, limited acreage and limited human energy make this a difficult proposition for vegetable farmers. So purchasing chicken manure is the most common choice, as it’s high…
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I love the field I’m farming ...primarily for it’s town-accessible location, and also for the good drainage over most of the site. The soils are all loams, with some nearer to clay loams and others almost sandy loams with a bit of gravel. These changes reflect differing topographic positions across the site, as you move from an old floodplain down a small slope to an ancient river channel. With regard to soil fertility, however, the place could use some help. Unlike most of the…
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Yeah! Pete and the intern crew just finished planting out the onions today. There are now ten 100 foot beds planted, each with 4 rows with roughly 3 plants per foot = 12,000 plants! This year we grew Copra, New York Early, Mercury, Purplette, Ailsa Craig, Gold Coin, and seed-grown Shallots. Now it’s just a matter of weeding and watering. I also just finished applying fertilizer to the next acre of ground. I used a drop spreader to apply lime at 1 ton per acre and soft rock phosphate…
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The rain finally stopped this weekend, and although our field is completely saturated we were able to plant our bare root strawberries. They were beginning to sprout and begging to be put in the ground. The rain is a blessing, as we are in a serious drought, yet it makes it difficult to get a head start on the season. Strawberries like well-drained soil, so we made sure to put in lots of composted horse manure in these beds. Our soil is mostly clay and heavy so hopefully the manure will…
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