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!

Comments

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. ...

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:

Whizbang Wheel Hoe After a Full Garden Season

Is summer already gone? It is so hard to believe that September is half gone. Despite lots of hard rain, about 75 inches here, our gardens did very well. I have been planning a post on the gardens (and lots of other posts, too) but we have been very busy just enjoying life here on the homestead. Anyway, the one new tool we used this year that really stands out is the Whizbang Wheel Hoe. The picture above was taken after a full garden season of almost daily use. The handles darkened a little from our dirty hands and the blued finish on the blade wore off with use, but the hoe held up wonderfully. How did it perform? Superbly! If you "stir" the dirt with it every other day or so, there will be no weeds. There were times we didn't do that, even for a full week when we went on vacation, and our garden was the most weed free that we've ever had. We still had to use a regular hoe between the plants, but this thing is very quick and easy down the rows. Herr...

Far Better Farmstead

Search This Blog