Let's Get Ready to RUUUUUMMMBBBLLEEEE!!!!!!!!!
Legume Plan
497,
crop layout,
crop plan,
crop planning,
farm layout,
farm overview,
legume plan,
naming conventions
This is kinna a "Note to self" so I don't forget where to plant what.
So, given the fact that beans are a 'continuous producer' and irresistible to deer and rabbit, it makes the most sense to me to plant them nearest to the house where we can keep the closest eye on them. The three types of peas that are going to be the first in the ground are of varying heights so I need to make sure not to plant the tallest variety first thus obscuring the view of the rest of the field. This led me to design this little close up planning/tracking tool. You'll see it evolve throughout the season as I tweak it to make it more useful. The naming convention for where the crops are going looks like this example: "Soybeans in 497A1". So Soybeans are going in field 497 in row A in the first 10ft. (or 10% of that row if the row is shorter or longer than 100').
FOILED!!!
Have been looking for 55 galllon steel barrels to make a 'bio-char production oven.' Let some folk know that I was looking for barrels. They suggested a salvage yard about 30 minutes away. I called said salvage yard and asked them if they had any barrels for sale, 'yup' they said, I asked if the barrels had lids, '(slight hesitation) yup' they said. 'I'm on the way' I said. Drove 30 min out there and sure enough, the barrels had lids, on both sides, that were non-removable. Not what I was looking for. 2 hours down the drain. Spent the rest of the day cleaning out the chicken coop nest boxes, and preparing some row markers in anticipation of bean planting coming up later this week.
Read more...Crop Plan 2010
Here's a sweet little snap shot of a 'seed plan' excel worksheet that I made up. If you have one you like to use better, pretty please drop me a comment with a link so I can improves mah methodologies. If you'd like to download your own copy, click here.
Current Status: 28 Mar 10
Weather:
45 degrees and raining
Plants:
Next to plant: Soy beans, string beans, snow peas, dill and cilantro
Planted: 5 types of hops
Plant Status: Dill and cilantro seedlings emerging but still in propagation domes
Animals:
New additions: 2 male kittens approx. 8 weeks old, will be assigned to counter-mouse duty
Chickens: 3 weeks into laying, 2 weeks into free-ranging freedom, still dropping eggs anywhere they want in the coop and roosting in the nesting boxes
Dogs: Dora keeping cats in line and teaching them how to hunt rodents
Current Projects:
Cold Frame construction, Hen house improvements (add more roost poles)
Soft-Shelled Eggs
1. The hen got freaked out by something and dropped its egg before it was ready (possible explanation given some gunfire going on near the shed yesterday - and no it wasn't mine)
2. Calcium deficiency (unlikely but possible, I need to find some oyster shell to make available to them)
3. Hen with an immature shell gland (possible but unlikely given it was an isolated incident).
To other budding chicken kingpins, here's a decent resource on egg troubleshooting. Read more...
Current Farm Layout - March 2010
To help y'all visualize where the magic happens here's an overview map of the farm with the location of the various fields and how many rows I am going to try to plant/manage this season.
Click on the photo to make it larger and see it all in detail.
Pro-Tips: Tractor Safety #263 / Smarter Not Harder #833
On the list of shite I wish I'd been reminded of before having my pucker factor achieve 'frequent flyer status,' this would top the list:
How to decrease your chances of rolling a tractor you are strapped to whilst using ground engaging implements (plows, tillers etc..) on a slope: Keep your UPHILL tire in the furrow of your last pass.
A tractor will flip when the center of gravity (COG) of the uphill rear tire breaks the vertical plane created by the downhill rear tire's COG and the COG created by the two front tires (usually at the mid point between the two front wheels). This can be mitigated by keeping your uphill rear tire as close to level as possible and going SLOW (since you're using ground engaging equipment you should be in low gear anyways). What you're looking out for as you're going slow is an instance where there is dip in the path of your downhill tires and a bump in the path of your uphill tires, this is where you get close to exceeding the 'tip angle' of your particular tractor (they make gauges for this that indicate your 'tip angle' but your sense of self-preservation is apparently just as accurate as those gauges).
Here's a great resource for tractor safety tips -- best I've found so far. If you have one you like better please drop a comment cuz I'm all about not dying on, or because of, a tractor.
And so it begins....
If someone told you they were going to take a flying leap off a bridge and they were somewhat sure the backpack they were wearing had a parachute in it, (or was it stinky laundry?) you'd wanna watch, if it didn't cost you anything, wouldn't you? Of course you would. Cause you're sick. I'm here, in part, to fulfill that need for you.
So here's the situation: Kristie (my wife) and I have moved from Austin, TX, to Pittsburgh, PA. We'll be buying a house in the O'Hara area of Pittsburgh (north central) soon. Mom has purchased and moved into a 68-acre plot of land near Kittanning, PA (about an hour north of central Pittsburgh). The property spans a valley (thus the name Serenity Valley Farm) and is approx. 75% wooded and 25% fenced pasture; the pastured area used to have a few horses on it but has not been used for agricultural purposes, to my knowledge, in the past. The majority of crops north of Pittsburgh are, like the rest of the country, seemingly focused on corn and soybean production. If the trucks carrying the produce from Mexico and California stop rolling in, I'm not too excited about the prospect of trying to eat tofu and corn fritters for the rest of my life.
Solution? Grow it my damn self.
And so, Serenity Valley Farm is born. Here are our major goals:
1. Convert 68-acre plot of land into a self-sustaining farming operation that supplies consumers of organically grown vegetables and farm products primarily between Kittanning, PA and Pittsburgh, PA.
2. Chronicle the learning process here on this blog so that it might serve as a resource to other beginning growers in the region. This means you're gonna hear me talk about 'Tips-N-Tricks' and 'Uber-Fails' as I discover numerous wrong ways to do things, hopefully those 'wrong-ways' will not involve catastrophic physical injury (my main goal is to go the first year without a rollover on the tractor).
3. Become active in improving the 'food chains' of Western Pennsylvania. This region's dependence on produce from outside the local 'food shed' is staggering.
We're entering the 'pre-growing' season here so it's a busy time, I'm breaking ground, on hill sides, that has been pastured land for at least a decade, with a 29HP tractor and a rear-tine tiller. This is the near equivalent to you going outside to cut your lawn, for the first time in 4 months, with a pair of scissors. So, I'll try and update as much as possible, but I'm gonna be busy and sore. But like mah bumper sticker in high school said: "You gotta be tough if you're going to be stupid." Read more...
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