Gardening Time Again

Yes, it's that time again. The weather has been very cool and wet here. I didn't get my cabbage and broccoli started as early as I'd hoped, but it seems like Spring is waiting on me to catch up! I turned the garden spots weekend before last:

The tractor is a M-F 270 with Howse rototiller. They both belong to my dad. I used to have an old Ford 600 with plow and disc, but I sold them when he got the big diesel. Mom and Dad live just a few hundred yards away and across the road from us.

No, I we aren't "Back-to-Edeners", or even "Organic" (trademark, copyright, rights reserved by big Ag Inc.) We have been using a modified version of the Mittleider Method for the last 12 years or so and we use no pesticides. I have found that when plants get all their minerals that they are much healthier and pests are not as apt to bother them. I do add back all of the chicken and bunny poop that I can as well as some of the animal bedding. Check out the Mittleider Method at Food For Everyone. It's guaranteed to make you into a good gardener.

Anyway, I tilled up 3 spots: our regular garden, a new small fruit patch, and a potato patch. I also plan on planting about 1/2 acre of field corn but that comes later.

After the garden spot was tilled:

The kids couldn't resist running around barefoot!

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David Bradley Walk Behind Tractor and Engine Swap

"A scythe is great for your back but very hard on your patience" - Patrick at Far Better Farmstead It all started when it rained 80 inches this summer. Yes, I said 80 inches! Needless to say, I didn't get to put up much hay with my scythe and rake. I did do one good cutting, but should have got 2 or 3 and even the one cutting didn't cover the whole field. As much as I like the scythe, I started wanting a quicker way to cut a small amount of hay. My fantasy rig is my old 600 Ford tractor with a sickle bar, rake, and old square baler. I sold the 600 several years ago and have regretted it every since. My second fantasy was a BCS or Grillo walk behind tarctor. You can get a sickle for them and many other implements as well. Both options are out of reach of our budget right now, so that's why I call them fantasies rather than options! As I searched around the web, I found out that Sears used to sell a walk-behind tractor called the David Bradley.

Outdoor Wood Furnace

It's that time of year again! Every year about mid-October we fire up the wood furnace and it stays lit until April or so, depending on the weather. This will be our 5th winter with this stove, so we have plenty of experience with an outdoor wood furnace in case anyone is interested. I know what the advertising says and I know what the reality is. So let's get started! Purchased in 2008, our wood furnace keeps us really warm!

Building a Whizbang Wheel Hoe

I am a fan of Herrick Kimball from the Deliberate Agrarian . I have read every blog post at his web site, built a whizbang chicken plucker (see it here ), and own most of his books. So imagine my joy on Christmas morning when I unwrapped a Whizbang Wheel Hoe kit from Herrick's Planet Whizbang web site. The contents were just some metal pieces, bolts and washers:

Far Better Farmstead

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