It is time for a newer, better, stronger, faster, more powerful tractor. You start this journey with the idea in mind to help the little farm become more productive, efficient, economical, practical, and just all together more of what you need and don't have that is get more done in less time with less effort and more output, right?
That is what is wrong with the American farmer today. He just thinks about profits. Well, I am a production minded fellow who has a farm also. I get told all the time you are working too hard. I like to relax also, but let's talk about what produces. Does a tractor grow anything? No. It plants, harvests, plows, cultivates, fertilizes, sprays pesticides and requires maintenance; and let us not forget payments for the loan to pay this thing off.
A tractor is the farmers worst enemy. First, let us start where the farmer should be thinking about--the soil. Ever hear of hard pan farming? That is where the moldboard plow takes you to. Do you know where that is? About ten or twelve inches below the surface is the hard pan where the soil is so hard that the roots of the corps the farmer is trying to grow cannot penetrate. The farmer thinking that he is smart turns the soil over with at plow then plants his seeds in mineral soil hoping that his seeds will germinate and grow roots down into the humus that he has turned over, but they never make it that deep. I ask you how many times a year does a farmer crisscross his fields plowing, planting, fertilizing, and cultivating to produce that profit?
The problem here is that soil compacted by the tractor prevents roots from penetrating to a depth which enables them to benefit from moisture and nutrients in the soil. Farmers compensate for this by providing synthetic fertilizer to replace those lost by plowing.
Farmers are forced by the need for more profits to plow larger fields, to put more into production to pay for more equipment to pay for the loans and debts brought about by his very means of production. He lives under the hope that this and every year will provide more return than his costs of production. He must pay his bills, feed his family, and save for a better life. I have never seen a farmer laying on a beach. Who wants to be a farmer? The life just isn't glamorous, easy, or profitable. Better to go into the business of selling fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and tractors. They are the ones making profits.
I like the idea of doing nothing. I don't use a tractor and thus no soil erosion. I plant in the fertile humus layer. Seed germinate in the most nutrient rich part of the soil--the top. Soil isn't compacted by the use of heavy equipment unless you include my wheel barrel. I sew and reap. That is the way of it. The way of the farmer. Soil stays where it it suppose to doing what it was meant to do--produce. Soil was made to work right side up. Maybe that is what I should call my way of farming--Right side up farming verses upside down farming. I like that. I am a right side up farmer. Roots grow down into the soft dark muck. Plants grow up into the warm sun nourished by a soil alive with everything needed to make it grow without chemicals, compaction, or confusion. I don't have to kill the soil to produce a crop. The soil is the right place to sew my crops.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Rain Falls Up
Everyone knows that rain falls from the sky at least it has since Noah's day. But did you know that through capillary action in the soil that moisture is drawn up from the ground by an physical property of the soil where roots of plants and trees can get it? It is one of the reason that plowing fields is so devastating to soil. It destroys the soils natural ability to retain moisture. That is why you see so many irrigation systems running full steam to replenish what the plowman has destroyed.
Gardeners have known for along time that mulch covering the ground helps the soil to retain moisture because the sun is not allowed to bake the dirt into a hard crust.
The problem here is how does a farmer do all that is required to produce a crop without the use of all that equipment and methods? The other problem is of scale. What we talk about may work on five or fifty acres, but what about 500 or 5,ooo, or 50,000 acres? Mulching becomes unthinkable, or is it unthinkable not to mulch and cover the ground? Large or small, the principles are the same. You are farming in and with nature not on it or beside it. Why wouldn't you return to the field most or all of the byproducts of production. We are too much into the feed it to the cows mentality. Feed the cows cow food. Return to nature what belongs to nature. Most farmers produce a crop by forcing nature to conform to their way. When nature reacts, the farmer modifies his fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides killing or curing as he sees fit.
So the story ends with rain falling from the sky and either there is too much or too little, but the farmer is never satisfied because he overlooks the fact that rain falls up.
Gardeners have known for along time that mulch covering the ground helps the soil to retain moisture because the sun is not allowed to bake the dirt into a hard crust.
The problem here is how does a farmer do all that is required to produce a crop without the use of all that equipment and methods? The other problem is of scale. What we talk about may work on five or fifty acres, but what about 500 or 5,ooo, or 50,000 acres? Mulching becomes unthinkable, or is it unthinkable not to mulch and cover the ground? Large or small, the principles are the same. You are farming in and with nature not on it or beside it. Why wouldn't you return to the field most or all of the byproducts of production. We are too much into the feed it to the cows mentality. Feed the cows cow food. Return to nature what belongs to nature. Most farmers produce a crop by forcing nature to conform to their way. When nature reacts, the farmer modifies his fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides killing or curing as he sees fit.
So the story ends with rain falling from the sky and either there is too much or too little, but the farmer is never satisfied because he overlooks the fact that rain falls up.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Trash, old car parts, old fences, wire, garbage of all sorts
When my wife and I purchased this land, we knew it was filled with trash heaps and garbage. What we didn't know was that once we gathered much of the stuff that we could assemble an automobile. There was an old mobile home that someone had pulled onto one area and burned what they could and left the frame. There were old bricks, concrete blocks, broken this and that. It was as if they had just emptied the trash on the property. We also own the river that flows through the property. I began this last summer to clean it up also. I have pulled bottles, broken glass, railroad spikes, telegraph wire insulators, bb gun stock, metal pots, cans, many other objects.
The river amazes me that there is so much life in it. We have beaver, otter, muskrat, fish, crawdads, trout, and whitefish. Water crest grows on the river banks and we used that to make a meal with beef. Other wildlife that we have here are deer, black bear, moose, elk, mountain lion, coyote, and wolf. We do have a natural farm. The moose recently discovered my fruit trees, but I suspect that coyote will chase them away but not before damagaing my trees.
I think nature is one of the biggest incentives to natural farming. I don't need to kill nature and destroy the environment to farm. I just don't do what normal farmers do like plow, fertilize, kill weeds, and kill bugs.
Fukuoka talked about making many, many mistakes. I am making mine and maybe you'll make some of yours, but make them we will. One thing that struck me in reading Fukuoka was that he said to observe the natural state, discover what grows well, and find out how it is grown. He thought about how others grew rice and asked himself, "Why not do nothing? or Don't do that." so I am attempting to farm without tractors. Everyone has them. I use hand tools or simpler tools to avoid heavy equipment compressing the soil.
Most of this farm has been used for grazing so it was planted in a fodder grass called Reed Canary grass that is difficult to control, but I seem to be making a dent in it. I mow with my scythe and mound up the grass. I will spread my seed in the form of seedballs then replace the straw that was cut over the planted seedballs.
The river amazes me that there is so much life in it. We have beaver, otter, muskrat, fish, crawdads, trout, and whitefish. Water crest grows on the river banks and we used that to make a meal with beef. Other wildlife that we have here are deer, black bear, moose, elk, mountain lion, coyote, and wolf. We do have a natural farm. The moose recently discovered my fruit trees, but I suspect that coyote will chase them away but not before damagaing my trees.
I think nature is one of the biggest incentives to natural farming. I don't need to kill nature and destroy the environment to farm. I just don't do what normal farmers do like plow, fertilize, kill weeds, and kill bugs.
Fukuoka talked about making many, many mistakes. I am making mine and maybe you'll make some of yours, but make them we will. One thing that struck me in reading Fukuoka was that he said to observe the natural state, discover what grows well, and find out how it is grown. He thought about how others grew rice and asked himself, "Why not do nothing? or Don't do that." so I am attempting to farm without tractors. Everyone has them. I use hand tools or simpler tools to avoid heavy equipment compressing the soil.
Most of this farm has been used for grazing so it was planted in a fodder grass called Reed Canary grass that is difficult to control, but I seem to be making a dent in it. I mow with my scythe and mound up the grass. I will spread my seed in the form of seedballs then replace the straw that was cut over the planted seedballs.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Where to Start
I've purchase an old farm/homestead in Washington State to live hopefully for the rest of my life. I have read One Straw Revolution by Fukuoka and want to try his methods. I have committed myself to his four principles of no cultivation, no herbacides, no pesticides, no fertilizers. Washington State has much fertile soil, but where I live it is rocky. The land is overrun by grass with a few weeds. I intend to grow grains, fruit trees, and vegetables.
I hope to make many mistakes, but I have the guide of many people all over the world who have Fukuoka-sans advice and first hand experience so I hope to learn and grow.
I have started by clearning some of the tall grass and hope to plant some grain for laying over winter. The earlier that I can take advantage of the spring thaw. I have planted some fruit trees. I'll see how they fare over winter. Fukuoka has mentioned that most fruit trees have already been altered by man need some sort of attention. I just planted mine from the nursury. I shall see just how much maintenance.
My hope is to just get started and see what grows well.
I hope to make many mistakes, but I have the guide of many people all over the world who have Fukuoka-sans advice and first hand experience so I hope to learn and grow.
I have started by clearning some of the tall grass and hope to plant some grain for laying over winter. The earlier that I can take advantage of the spring thaw. I have planted some fruit trees. I'll see how they fare over winter. Fukuoka has mentioned that most fruit trees have already been altered by man need some sort of attention. I just planted mine from the nursury. I shall see just how much maintenance.
My hope is to just get started and see what grows well.
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