Hudson, Thanks for the questions. My soil is sandy , I had more compaction issues when I used a tractor and a rototiller. The e mini bike is pretty light in comparison. Regular surface composting helps a lot.
I am exploring how to utilize solar electrics to augment hand tools like a wheel hoe. I still do plenty of hand labor ! Yes there are tractors that are better at what I am doing but maybe exploring how to retire them while the choice is optional makes sense to other minimalist out there somewhere. I am not expecting miracles , just trying to see if I can grow food without fossil fuels.
It's such a pity there's not more people focused on making simple farming tools and implements. I have a friend here who I met in the last two years who is a bike enthusiast and makes cargo bikes and trailers and all sorts of human powered devices but I'm having a hard time convincing him to turn to farming tools!
Leon, Always farmers have been “a jack of all trades” and some are very very innovative but we are also often isolated with little or no contact with other farmers. Innovation isn’t shared much , there isn’t even an ag forum on substack. Maybe because our numbers are small, or our incomes limited, that small tools to help us aren’t worth manufactures efforts to supply. Farmers where I live are something way less than 1% of the pop.and primitive ( manual ) farmers are like fairy dust.
Hudson, I am interested in How to grow food without fuel. We know we can get by with hand tools. It is just a little more difficult than using some small electrics to help.
Plenty of e tools available ,string trimmer with Shakespeare brush head. E chainsaw for tree work ,e minibike tiller for seed bed preparation and light cultivation.
Interplanting of either successive crop or cover crop is infinitely better than any hoe.
Culture wise, germinate weeds. When a tiny green spec, use a rolling basket at 1/8 to 1/4 in deep. Kills live weeds. Doesn't bring up more seed, and leaves a perfect seed bed.
Beds with walking aisles is the only way to veg farm. Hand or fuel.
I use Coleman's 42 in with hand grown crops. 30 in bed, 12 inch aisle.
I refuse to compact root zone by walking or driving between each row.
Hudson, I am still interested even if it doesn’t scale much beyond a big big garden. My family farmed with horses, the tack was still in the tack room , but the draft horses had gone before I was born. We drove ponies. Glad their are still people who could drive a team.
You can do anything you are physically able and have at least a couple seasons experience. Plant a garden at home. Join a community garden. Part time job at a local CSA farm.
Hudson, Thanks for the questions. My soil is sandy , I had more compaction issues when I used a tractor and a rototiller. The e mini bike is pretty light in comparison. Regular surface composting helps a lot.
I am exploring how to utilize solar electrics to augment hand tools like a wheel hoe. I still do plenty of hand labor ! Yes there are tractors that are better at what I am doing but maybe exploring how to retire them while the choice is optional makes sense to other minimalist out there somewhere. I am not expecting miracles , just trying to see if I can grow food without fossil fuels.
Interestingly enough, the Roundup crowd practices true "no till." (Some people, anyway)
They would call your weed cultivating methods "tillage."
How would you terminate cover crops? Without dedicated beds, compaction must be an issue.
I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong. I'm pointing out things that are relevant to me and the soil.
It's such a pity there's not more people focused on making simple farming tools and implements. I have a friend here who I met in the last two years who is a bike enthusiast and makes cargo bikes and trailers and all sorts of human powered devices but I'm having a hard time convincing him to turn to farming tools!
Leon, Always farmers have been “a jack of all trades” and some are very very innovative but we are also often isolated with little or no contact with other farmers. Innovation isn’t shared much , there isn’t even an ag forum on substack. Maybe because our numbers are small, or our incomes limited, that small tools to help us aren’t worth manufactures efforts to supply. Farmers where I live are something way less than 1% of the pop.and primitive ( manual ) farmers are like fairy dust.
Check out Elliot Coleman's small seed hand planters. Far cheaper and at least as good as any Earthway types.
The hand greens planter is superior to anything I've ever seen. At a single digit percentage if the cost.
There are! We have more and better equipment than ever! Much of it very soil and Earth conscious.
Hudson, I am interested in How to grow food without fuel. We know we can get by with hand tools. It is just a little more difficult than using some small electrics to help.
Plenty of e tools available ,string trimmer with Shakespeare brush head. E chainsaw for tree work ,e minibike tiller for seed bed preparation and light cultivation.
Cultivation aka weeding mostly, correct?
Interplanting of either successive crop or cover crop is infinitely better than any hoe.
Culture wise, germinate weeds. When a tiny green spec, use a rolling basket at 1/8 to 1/4 in deep. Kills live weeds. Doesn't bring up more seed, and leaves a perfect seed bed.
Beds with walking aisles is the only way to veg farm. Hand or fuel.
I use Coleman's 42 in with hand grown crops. 30 in bed, 12 inch aisle.
I refuse to compact root zone by walking or driving between each row.
The tillage, seedbed prep and cultivation tools I'm referring to aren't something you would be familiar with. Understandable.
You are missing a very important dynamic. SCALE. I farm 800 acres, in three states, with a list of product longer than your arm.
Aside from my Goat cheese dairy in NM, by my lonesome.
Who said no fuel? I use 4 tractors and 1 combine, a pickup all with diesel ICE.
I produce a point or two above 70% of my own fuel from soy and hemp seed.
If I had to, I could do 100.
I realize most can't. I'm prepared to go with mules on my home place in Missouri and draft horses in Wisconsin.
Hudson, I am still interested even if it doesn’t scale much beyond a big big garden. My family farmed with horses, the tack was still in the tack room , but the draft horses had gone before I was born. We drove ponies. Glad their are still people who could drive a team.
http://localharvest.org is a listing of nearly every CSA farm in the country.
Devour what Elliot Coleman does. Don't attempt it without years of experience. He has so many great ideas along the way.
Ideally, sounds like to me, if you could find one cash cow, and really enjoy the garden for yourself.
http://NCAT.org and http://ATTRA.org will have endless jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities….
You can do anything you are physically able and have at least a couple seasons experience. Plant a garden at home. Join a community garden. Part time job at a local CSA farm.
All three. 😉