Posts from — March 2009

The title says it all…………..

Fert and Till from Chris Jagger on Vimeo.

I helped our friends at Barking Moon Farm pull the plastic on this hoophouse. When I first saw the frame I was blown away on how gigantic it was. Josh said it’s around 16 feet to the peak. But now that it’s filled out with plants, it looks amazing. Something about the gigantic feel and the diffuse light make it very cathedral like. Love it.

Once you reach about 9 acres or so I feel a mechanical transplanter can start to pay for itself. We currently only grow 6 ourselves but I can see how it can become a necessary tool quickly. I like the style of these transplanters, plus you can get a packing-sled instead of packing wheels allowing to fit 3 transplanters in a 48″ bed.

Via the Greenhorns

A set of videos to help guide new farmers in the right direction. Cool footage for sure.

Check it out here

So I’m very pro-worker in the world of farming. But if there continues to be a shortage of young farmers, then I suspect that those of us that have chosen to farm should probably be as efficient as we can. Maybe with some automation, instead of having 10 people on 1 farm of 15 acres, there could be 2 people on 5 farms of 10 acres. I’d be interested in costing the infrastructure costs out and see what it’s feasibility actually would be…..

Here’s why I write about this.

And the company who makes these transplanters has several other videos of their innovative products. I was stuck on their site for quite awhile watching videos…..

http://fieldtransplantsystems.com.au/

I mounted a MaterMaac fertilizer spreader I bought from Market Farm Implement in Pennsylavania. It runs on the 12 volt DC of the tractor. You mount the control box up in the cab. The box regulates the rate of flow. Pretty simple design actually. I’ll be using this setup to spread fertilizer and rototill the beds for planting all in one pass. I’ll get some video up after I take it out on it’s maiden voyage.

Just food for thought.

Some of you might hate this. Some of you may love this. A little of both for me. What do you think?

We bought a Jang hand push seeder this year from Mechanical Transplanter Company in Michigan. The seeders are made in Korea. We’re going to be networking with other farmers who have bought this seeder to collaborate on which rollers and gear settings work best for specific seeds. We don’t have any video of the seeder in action yet but I did come across an interesting setup of a gang of the seeders following behind a rotary hoe prepping the seed bed. An effective use of effeciency for sure.

Watching and reading about people that are growing on a scale much larger than yourself can be highly beneficial. It’s really easy to take ideas from a grander scale and adapt them to your own scale. I’ve been watching videos from a grower in Australia that goes by “bestleeks” Their farm is Peter Schreurs and Sons in Victoria Australia.

I love all of their innovative equipment. Much of which I think is built in house. But my favorite is the planting hole puncher for leeks. It reminds me of the Imperial Walkers in Star Wars

Since my friend Josh at Slowhand Farm turned me on to Eatwell Farm out of Dixon California, I’ve been thoroughly intrigued by all the great systems approaches that Nigel has towards vegetable farming. He finds innovative tools to accomplish his tasks but always in a way that has his workers best interests in mind.

Here are two videos that illustrate a couple of their awesome cultivating tools

Nigel has a great blog too that I enjoy reading and getting updates on what he’s got going on at Eatwell.