wednesday the 2nd

With Tuesday distribution behind us, we felt we had a little more room to breathe in the morning. So, we took a "tour" of the farm and made up our "to do"s.

A few images from our whirlwind tour.

Beans in E that I direct seeded with the Planet Jr. A little on the thick side, but D says we'll go with it



Squash in F!



A wonderful view across A (winter squash) through B - E (squash... melons).



..and yes. Raspberries. Finally!



We reconvened in the office to map out priorities and the "who does what?"s.
I pulled the TRACTOR card for the day. The whole day.

C, D, & F all needed chisel plowed in preparation to till.. in preparation to plant. It was important that these rows be tilled well (read: straight as an arrow) as we were to host the next CRAFT visit. Our topic: Mechanical Cultivation. How can you have efficient cultivation if you don't have straight rows? Indeed.
So, I hopped the John Deere, took off the Brillion from the previous week and hooked the chisel plow up.

The view from the cab as I back up to the implement:



It took a couple hours to plow, but the job got done, and that right well.

Next up? Tilling. ....straight.

Happy with the job (after an initial flub or two)? Definitely.



I also tilled Kohlrabi under so we could spin on Buckwheat.

My last task of the day was "dispatching" peas.
With the pea beds having grown fast and furious and the members picking with the same fervor, D figured it time to till them under. So as not clog the rototiller tynes, I pulled all the drip tape and headers (not really to "not clog the rototiller tynes" on this one, but more as a rule) mowed the peas down first and then plowed them row by row.

For reference: Before, Mowed, Tilled







They will add great organic matter to the topsoil for next season's crop.
Thanks peas!!

After work and dinner, E and I view an old VHS tape all about mechanical cultivation. The farmers/demonstrators were from farms all over the northeast. Most with large(ish) operations. I was happy to see that I knew/used a good portion of the implements that were demonstrated. I must say that I was a bit put off by a couple farmers' overuse of mechanization/fossil fuels. A 6-nozzled trailing flame weeder?? That they were looking forward to augmenting the following season?? C'mon.
Lot of useful info though.

Looking forward to keeping things as human-powered as possible on my own farm. We shall see if I can avoid the fossil fuel monster.

Dig.