I’ve been meaning for a while now to write a post about some of my favorite tools, equipment, etc. around the farm. So here they are’ in no particular order. Each description will tell you why I like the item.
1) Drip irrigation system
I have a t-tape system from DripWorks. I love this system because once it’s out in the field, watering is literally a matter of turning the hose on or off. Our field is too big to irrigate all at once on our residential well, but I have valves installed on each row so I can just irrigate whichever rows I prefer on a given day. And when I run out of valves, I just run a little extra t-tape at the end of each row so I can switch rows manually- still not too hard to do.
There are a couple pitfalls of the system. First, it’s a pain to pull all the t-tape out of the field in the fall. We’re going to experiment with t-tape winders this year. Second, mice chew on the stuff both out in the field and when it’s in storage, so there is always mending to do. Third, it can be a pain to cultivate around. This year I got around that problem by putting it out really late, but that meant I was watering in transplants by hand and I HATE DOING THAT.
2) The stirrup hoe
Oh, how I love the stirrup hoe. With smallish weeds and dry soil, this thing makes cultivating actually kind of fun. It slices just under the surface of the soil like a razor blade and the weeds become dessicated. It also works very well for hacking at bigger weeds, better than a regular hoe. I have a Glaser hoe blade with a super-long handle that I got from Johnny’s. An extra-long handle means you can stand up when you hoe and it’s much easier on the back.
3) Felco #2 pruners
My first “favorite tool” is Felco #2 pruners. I love the red handle to keep them from getting lost in the garden. I love how they cut everything from a tree branch to tiny flower stems with relative ease. I first used these at a job where I was regularly pruning roses with them. During Christmas Tree Season at the same job, they were my favorite tool to cut up tree branches for making ornamental fir and pine bundles. We used many different types of pruners at that job and the Felcos were always taken first! I use them now for cutting flowers, bramble canes, and giant weeds of all kinds. They even cut twine if they are sharp (I only sharpen mine once a year or so…)
4) My troy-bilt rototiller from 1979.
Usually I get aggravated with older power equipment because it’s hard to start, smoky, loud, and breaks a lot. But I can start this rototiller myself, and it has a recoil start! It’s simple to use, and only aggravates me when I have to cut long weeds out of the tines or when it dumps gas on the ground (ok, it has a little carb issue.) I can rototill between all of my rows and not use an entire tank of gas. And I like the way it looks, sitting out in the field with a galvanized washtub over the engine to protect it from rain (not that we’ve had any rain lately.)
5) My cheap harvesting knives
I bought a couple cheap harvesting knives last year. One was advertised as a broccoli knife, and one was a lettuce knife I think. They are both from Johnny’s. I have a small serrated one with a red handle, and a bigger straight knife with a brown handle. The brown handle blends in with the dirt too well, but I love the knife because it cuts through lettuce like butter. And greens. And my finger! Ouch. The serrated knife is nice for broccoli, okra, and summer squash, and I am looking forward to using it on pumpkins, etc. this fall.
6) The rotary mower
It’s like mowing, but faster, and with an added element of PTO danger. What’s not to like?
In an ideal year, all transplants would gradually be placed outdoors during April and May. Each week, one or two new things would be planted in the garden and only the pepper plants and sweet potatoes would remain to be planted at the beginning of June. This would leave plenty of time to put down plastic mulch, drip irrigation, and row covers gradually, as these items were needed.
This hasn’t exactly been an ideal year. I planted most everything during the one ten-day dry spell we’ve had. Because of my haste, the rows are not straight, and plastic mulch didn’t make it down under as many of the transplants as I’d have liked. All the rain has given the weeds ample time to germinate and I’m spending a lot of time hoeing, hand weeding, and wishing the rows were straighter so I could do a little more tractor cultivating. However, there haven’t been many days dry enough for that anyway.
But even when everything isn’t perfect, I still love it. Being out in the sun, rain, mosquitoes, and flies, pulling foxtail grass endlessly, sitting on thistles, dodging poison ivy, getting drip tape wrapped up in the rototiller tines, and standing on the hot pavement every Saturday morning bright and early are all parts of the best job in the world. I see the sun rise and set. I eat fruit warmed by the sun at the peak of ripeness. I watch hummingbirds, discover barn swallows, and am surprised by toads. Even weeds have pretty flowers sometimes. I am in the fresh air and obtain free exercise and a tan. I get to drive a tractor. I pick fruit and vegetables by the pint, quart, bucket, bunch, bushel, and hundredweight. I sleep a blessed, oblivious sleep on nights when I’ve been working in the field. There are always new problems to solve and interesting things to think about.
Besides the pure enjoyment of the outdoor physical labor, there is the satisfaction of doing something to make this little piece of ground better. Organic matter is being added to the soil. Erosion is slowing down, rain is being soaked down into the ground instead of running off. Zillions of microbes of every kind are coming to life and doing everything they do to support life. The ground is making a recovery from its deadening dependence on external inputs.
And as if this weren’t enough, people who care about what they eat are getting a chance to eat wonderful food that comes from 25 miles away from their home instead of the average grocery store food that travels something like 1200 miles. And I get to meet these people! I love this.
We had almost 2 inches of rain on Thursday.
The cows arrived on Friday. They were less than thrilled about the whole moving experience and within 10 minutes, three of the five cows had found the highest bit of electric wire and managed to get under it. Mr. B. and I took off after them. Mr. B. put our 2.5 year old in the “baby backpack” and high-tailed it across the very muddy adjoining fields. The cows were off our property, heading for who knows where. I was running across the field also.
Now I’m sure it was obvious to anyone who was watching that neither of us knew anything about cattle, and any time we tried to run or walk faster those cows would start running too. I have no idea where they were going, but the corn and beans around us are all still miniscule and so there wasn’t really anything for the cows to stop and eat. Since this is a family website, I won’t mention all the epithets for the cows that were going through my head at this point. The thought of the rather large amount of cash we had just shelled out for these creatures, the knowledge that two of them were still back there unsupervised and maybe getting out as well (we lowered the fence right away, but I had no idea how seriously they would try to join the herd) and the sight of large cow feet stomping through the mud and tearing up my neighbors’ crops were combining to make me totally miserable. Also there was the adrenalin rushing through my body as I tried as hard as I could not to lose my shoes in the mud. I remember praying, “PLEASE GOD HELP US CATCH THESE COWS!!”
In a feat of superhuman strength, running (or walking as fast as he could) through the mud, with an extra 30 lbs or so on his back, Mr. B. was able to get in front of the cows and get them to turn back.
We kept on our journey. The cows retraced their steps, went back into the pasture (but still outside the wire), into our yard, back across the street into the other neighbors’ soybeans, all over the place. A few times they tried to get back in and rejoin the two steers who had not escaped. A steer got back under the fence and rejoined his brothers, but the 2 heifers were too big and just got shocked by the fence and got even madder than they already were.
After about 2 hours of this delightful adventure, our 2.5 year old was ready for lunch and a nap. I brought him in the house and started calling everyone I could think of on the phone. My first call was to my farm mentor, who tipped us from the point of “thinking about cows” to “getting cows” this year. He gave me some suggestions of what not to do, and said if they were still out the next day we’d have to find someone with a rodeo hobby to come out and rope them. I called our neighbor with horses to see if he knew any rodeo types, but he wasn’t home. After that I figured I’d better call Farmer Y, who rents our land, since the cows were out there stomping on his crop.
Farmer Y and his family kindly agreed to help. I called Mr. B., who was still out in the field with the cows, and let him know they were on the way. The cows were more tired now and were back in our pasture eating the nice long grass, but were still *outside* of their electric fence. Farmer Y, his dad, and his grandfather came over with two trucks and a rope. I was in the house getting the child to take a nap at this point. Once he was asleep I went out to see what was going on and if I could be of help. The cows were still out with Mr B, Farmer Y, and Farmer Y Senior herding them around. Grandpa was keeping his distance and just watching everything unfold. They’d made one unsuccessful attempt to corner the recalcitrant heifers back into the fence, but had failed.
I went back inside and got on the phone to see if I could find more help. I won’t mention all the people I talked to, but I was on hold for the Animal Control officer when the men came back in and said they had gotten the cows back in. The cows had been out for a little more than 4 hours.
We had nice farmer chat and a drink out in the driveway afterwards, mostly about what a wet year this was. Grandpa said it wasn’t as bad as 1974, when he didn’t get his corn in until the end of June and then didn’t get anything for his effort. When talking to the three generations of family farmers, I noticed even more than usual what newcomers Mr. B. and I are to this area and to farming, and how different we are from the “normal” farmers in this area.
The cows are doing fine, and are staying in their fence, and are getting the hang of rotational grazing. We are doing our best to befriend them so that if they ever escape again it will be easier. Now that we’re not chasing them all over the county, the cattle are actually less work than chickens- they feed themselves!
Warm weather came for a few days and we were very glad. The seed-starting house is overflowing, with trays and pots on the floor as well as the benches.
We planted the first brassicas outdoors, under plastic mulch, two weekends ago. The drip irrigation has been sort of shoved out into the field in a very disorderly fashion to water them. This weekend I made a few experimental passes with the cultivator. A few hundred onions made it into the field along with some salad greens and parsley.
The weeds are also getting off to a really healthy start. At the old place my main garden enemies were warm season grasses like crabgrass and nimblewill, lamb’s quarters, a few broadleaf perennial weeds like dandelions and plantain, and the hated bindweed. Here, the broadleaf weeds are less severe except for the unfortunate presence of Canada thistle, but in the annual weed department we have foxtail grass galore with a heavy dose of ragweed- at least two kinds. Someone with more soil science knowledge than I could likely give me some great soil insight based on this information, but I suspect that longtime use of herbicides has something to do with the difference.
I am using multiple approaches to weed pressure this year, based on what I learned from various talks at the MOSES farm conference. First, we are using a lot of transplants. Starting out with a larger plant should help to shade out competing weeds or keep them from germinating. Second, we have acquired cultivation equipment that should allow us to shallowly cultivate around the plants and in the rows in order to disturb newly-germinated weeds. The use of this equipment is largely dependent on the weather. Hand cultivation will still be used on some crops, but unlike last year it won’t be the *only* method of weed control. Third, the area of the garden where Indian corn and pumpkins will be planted is going to get a good “stale seed bed” prep, with multiple cultivations over the course of a few weeks in order to exhaust the weed seed bank in the top soil layer. Fourth, we will continue to use cover crops in unplanted areas both to suppress weeds and to enhance fertility. Buckwheat and oats will be used this year. Fifth, we hope to acquire some livestock to eat down the pastures and therefore reduce the number of weed seeds created in non-crop areas. Sixth, we are experimenting this year with black plastic mulch under certain crops, both for weed prevention and to keep the soil warm and moist. It’s under the brassicas now, and we plan to use it with tomatoes, melons, and at least some of the other cucurbits.
The chickens are prospering and enjoying the outdoor life. Our “old lady” hens have become free rangers now that they’ve proven they will still lay their eggs in their house and come home in the evening. We have a good system for the meat birds (a Salatin-style pen) but the pullet house is still awaiting additional revisions in order for the pullets to have good outdoor access.
Filed under: Mrs. B.
Well, it’s now 2009. Since I last posted, we have:
1. Planted the lily bulbs
2. Removed half of the deck on the back of the house
3. Cut down the largest pussy willow bush I had ever seen, also in the back of the house
4. Received the giant cold frame. It’s still in the box.
5. Insulated the chicken house for the winter
6. Completed three seed orders
7. Worked with someone on getting a cooler. Still working on it.
8. Got a few more CSA members, thanks to localharvest.org. Yay for free advertising!
A lot of other things have gotten done too, but those are some of the highlights. I doubt you want to know the details of the organic paperwork that I’ve been working on. The thing I’m most skeptical about actually getting done this winter is fixing the fences- it’s a huge, intimidating job.
Filed under: Mrs. B.
More than you’d expect!
We planted about 40 lbs of garlic and shallots during the end of October and early November. I just got some lily bulbs on clearance and need to prepare their area & get them in the ground this week. The garden area still has drip irrigation tubing that must be removed for the winter, and that area still needs to be mowed. Our hens are still laying eggs every day and still have to be moved. CSA applications for next year are being processed and deposits will be arriving soon.
The most important cold-weather work on a farm, though, is looking over last year’s records and planning for the future. We had a successful 2008 according to the criteria of our long-term plan. I’m trying to decide which farm improvements merit immediate attention for 2009.
The idea of a big cold frame (or small unheated greenhouse, if you want to think of it that way) has a lot of appeal. My seed-starting setup last year got the job done, but I was always out of room and I got really tired of hauling buckets of water up the stairs. The cold-house would allow more room for the seedlings, would get them out of the house earlier in the spring, would be easier to water, and would allow me to start a few early tomato plants for top dollar tomatoes earlier in the spring.
We certainly need more cold storage space. Last year, a lot of compromises were made with what got to go in the refrigerator and what didn’t. A walk-in cooler would be ideal, but I don’t have even a ballpark idea of what they cost. Two or three more refrigerators might get us by for another summer.
I am immensely happy already that we bought a tractor this fall. The plan is definitely to buy some type of cultivating attachment for it, in addition to the disk, plow, and mower that we already have. I am thrilled with the very idea of how much weeding time this will save.
Speaking of weeds and bugs, there is the issue of how much solar mulch, row cover, etc. to get. I didn’t make good use of these things in 2008, partially because of the early weather problems, the fact that I didn’t HAVE any solar mulch, and because of time constraints. It looks like grandma and grandpa might be around a little more in 2009, so hopefully I’ll have time to put row covers on and take them off when needed!
Another infrastructure-type improvement to the farm would be some fence mending. Neither of us have any experience fixing woven wire fencing, but the raw materials are all here (well, maybe some fence pliers will be acquired.) I am really interested in the potential fertility enhancements to my field that would be provided by a beef calf or two. Not to mention the beef!
The seed catalogs are arriving by the day, too, reminding me of the purgatory of washing seed starting containers that awaits me soon, and of all the things I haven’t tried growing yet. Happy November!
I didn’t grow up on a farm. I never spent much time around farm equipment other than a few old tractors that Dad had around at various times. So I’m definitely learning about the implements as I go.
Last week I got to plow for the first time. My complete instruction on plowing was what I had read in “Grow It,” a book written in the 70’s for back-to-the-land types. It included a drawing of a field with a pattern showing you which way to drive around the field, and an explanation of the type of furrows you should expect to make. My tractor is a 1953 Ford, which isn’t exactly overpoweringly strong for the job of pulling a 2-bottom plow through heavy soil.
So here are a few things I learned on the job that were not included in the book I’d read.
1. There’s no need to put the plow all the way down. In fact, my tractor can’t actually pull my plow if I put it all the way down. The more I plowed, the more I realized the benefits of not putting the plow down too far.
2. (Closely related to (1.) If you get stuck, the first thing to do is lift the plow up a little bit. 80% of the time, this got me going again.
3. The first time you plow, you’re going to have to do it again later, because it takes some time to get the hang of turning corners, knowing when to pick the plow all the way up (the book I read seemed to assume I’d be keeping the plow down the whole time, but my field is too small to do that AND make it around the corners), and figuring out exactly where to drive in the next row so as to not leave an unplowed line between furrows.
4. It’s good to keep an eye on the plow when in a trashy field, because it can get fouled up with straw, grass, weeds, or whatever. Wear gloves for pulling these things out of the plow.
5. Plowing is very satisfying, but is quite slow work. I thought often about how much slower it would be with horses or oxen who’d need to rest periodically. I’d say that even with my inexperienced hand and slow tractor I was able to plow this 0.75 acre area in an hour or two. I think the standard for a horse or ox is to plow an acre a day!
I found harrowing the field with the disk a bit more fun than plowing, since I got to drive faster and didn’t get stuck. Tonight I’d like to plow again, if the rain holds off.
Filed under: Mrs. B.
Digging sweet potatoes is a LOT of work, but they are worth it. There are a lot of them.
Filed under: Mrs. B.
August has been kind to us. This week we are selling basil, cucumbers, melons, okra, tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, flowers, and the very, very last of the garlic.
I’m not sure what September holds. We’ll have tomatoes, flowers, and peppers, and I’m not sure what else. The fall planting was done rather late and it might not be ready until October.
This is the time when I’m going to work harder at collecting names for our email list, and prospective CSA members for next year.
I think we’re buying a tractor in the next few days! Hopefully I’ll be better about posting pictures of it than I have been at posting pictures in general lately.
Filed under: Mrs. B.
The cucumber beetles are descending in hordes. Every time I go out to harvest, thousands of them fly off the cucumber plants & I seem to always bring a few in the house.
Two fat tomato worms were dispatched to the chickens yesterday. Makes for happy chickens!
