'No-till farming' revolution grows in Indiana

This is interesting: only days ago, Tuesday, the Most Beautiful Woman In The World, had a dental appointment down the valley… bit tender that: after thirty-five years, her dentist is unwell and they parted agreeing to see each other next year…
The highway being in a state of disarray, we took the lake road and just north of town there is field of around twenty-five acres along side of which we once lived.
It is and has always been the subject of deep and serious plowing after which it must be raked to break up the clumps and prepare it for planting.
The truck farm across the road plows about half that deep.
Almost all of the other fields we saw that day were either low-till or no-till acreages.
Because it was quiet, I pointed those things out to my wife in the way that men sometimes do.
In the way that women sometimes do, she asked one or two basic questions about why it mattered and they were answerable… or I thought so.
Then, we listened to music.

plowing deep, the furrows of your minds, and the fertile grounds therein allow the pleasant strains of the music to heal the rude cuts , not just into the earth, but into the harmony, the one where you see thru each other's EyEs....and finish each other's sentences....and just kind of know what each other means...ahhh, tender moments......

It seems counterintuitive on first impression to look at fields full of dead surface vegetation on no-till acreage. However the dust bowl stories of giant dust clouds of what formerly was quality topsoil made famous by John Steinbeck are the best evidence of the validity of farming aimed at soil conservation. Occasionally men are dragged kicking and screaming into the age of science, and now the way that so many farmers have come to embrace no-till farming shows us that often the old ways are fatally flawed.

Just one of the benefits of living in the Village: We either are reminded of or we learn about what is going on all about us.

Deep tillage plowing, the old way, was probably based on the need to bust up the ancient, gnarly root systems of millennial natural trees, shrubs and weeds without which we would not have survived long enough to look back with condescension.
It is hard to imagine agrarian cultures having made their work harder than it needed to be.
The fact that we tend to cling to failed, expensive and out-dated methods is  the only remaining reason for President Obama to get up in the morning.

I believe a major problem for 19th Century homesteaders on the Great Plains was the root system of the buffalo grass which could be three feet thick.  This was great for sod houses, but terrible for planting.  There were some innovations in plow design that helped, as well as more modern mass production and better steel.  The prairie grass is a thing of the past, so we can do something new.  Interesting.

Stoney's 12:55 is the perfect companion piece to the article provided by Mr.P. I just happened to have watched "Places In the Heart" yesterday about cotton growing and today I am lucky to have the topic fully visually enhanced, the old fashioned way without virtual backup. It is fascinating and as a Chef whose entire career was based on ingredients rather than trend I shall now move on to more virtual info on this topic.

Happy Sunday everyone! Eat hearty.

awakened this morning by a crawling itch that turned out to be the first tick of the season, crawling on my arm...eeeyyyeewwww

Just dropping by to say hi. Am in Singapore for a little over a fortnight, will leave on the 1st May. Have been stuffing myself silly with food; and trying to catch as many people as possible, especially the older ones. Will try and post more photos later, here's one to start:   http://www.petermanseye.com/photos/593801 ;

SF--Have Chicken Rice for me!!

ChefDeb ~
The secret to fifty year marriages is the ability to convince the duller half that he is, here and there, marginally more interesting than the radio or… the wind.

I totally agree with Stoney's observation as to why deep tilling used to be required.

Having volunteered on a prairie restoration progect for a few years taught me that native plants, especially the mature ones, have root systems that run deep and hold on for dear life.

My job was removing invasive species and left over stuff from the 1500 acres that used to be farm land. Illinois used to be 75% prairie but that has been reduced to about 20% ....... A whole lotta corn don'tcha know.

A mature prairie is a sight to behold. Something is in bloom from spring 'till early winter. There are times in the summer, especiall twilight time, that would make Monet's heart beat like a racehorse as he scrambled to find his brushes and canvas.

If any off the local farmers are tilling deep, it is probably the invested cost of all of their legacy equipment. I am quite certain that they don't shoot themselves in the foot every year because their intentions are bad. Not much dirt in the air around here.

Enjoy your Sunday

Finally, a machine has been made that will penetrate the hard clay of the Virginia Piedmont so that the hugh tiller doesn't have to chop up the clog soil.  Now farms around here can consider "no till" planting.

RoadYacht, remind me to get you a flea collar.....lol

Stoney has a dull side? someone has got to be mistaken about that.

I have noticed on the way up north there are few farms trying this out. I'm not sure how many people feel about it or even if they have noticed it.

Wednesday nite I bought the DVD of Fractured Fairy Tales from that old Moose & Squirrel Cartoon. I have watched a few of the episodes & in Snow white they are using OUR Coin Operated Mirror, or did we buy our Coin Operated Mirror from the Moose & Squirrel? If so I hope we got a good deal on it.

unemployed plow animals, standing forlornly in the fields, how sad.....send them love...

Centuries old traditions are not to be tossed out for the new but rather integrated as they prove to be successful into the process. Just got my shipment of Man in Black Tequila from Mr. Friedman. It is made from 8,9, or 10 year old Weber Blue Agave grown in the fertile Jalisco Highlands in Tepatitlan, Jalisco Mexican. Kinky's video speaks to its goodness- http://youtu.be/tBnOIpzyiwY - And as we often talk about here, clean abundant water is instrumental to any agricultural process and I defer to the farmers to know best for who better to protect the land; their investment in time, energy, money, and the FUTURE. I will be passing out samples at my event tomorrow night and I remember and agree with Willie Nelson who says "As long as there's a few farmers out there, we'll keep fighting for them."

Wheat
Turnips
Barley
Clover
That's the first thing I learned about agriculture. Crop rotation.
My days of digging virgin soil and hacking through the pesky subterranean jungle of robust roots are over. Gardeners have used no-dig methods for years with good results. Growing something with a good leafy top which suppresses the surrounding weeds helps, but you do have to hoe and hoe and hoe 'cos the weeds will do better than your more desirable plants. That or use weedkiller (no thanks!)
Once my plants are established in a no-dig area, I hand-weed along the rows and put down a really thick layer of compost which is weed free, retains the moisture in the soil and also feeds the soil, then, between the rows of cabbages or whatever ..... the trusty flame gun! The thing is ancient and runs on pressurised paraffin. One day it will explode, but in the meantime, it does a grand job of shrivelling weeds into oblivion. Anybody want some curly kale? I have far more than I can eat - and they were grown no-dig. The patch is now weed free.

vinegar...it's not just for salads,you know....an excellant weed destroyer, but if the weeds are edible, you have dressed weed salad

http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/,

http://www.vinegartips.com

Om no-till farming I can't make an intelkligent commenet, BUt I'M WORIED ABOUT NACHISTA's not drinking.  Dehydration causes kidney failure, NACHISTA< and you don't want that (nor what accompanies it).  80 oz liquid daily, I'n told -- some you get in fgruits and vegetables; most you must drink.  Don't depend on parties: DRINK, dear!!

Peter Lake, I am enjoying my Sunday -- as you suggest -- by digging in the dirt.

Mine is mainly a flower crop.

Plus a few veggies in containers.

Had hundreds of roses this year. Best season ever.

Lotlot, good for you! Dirt is meant to be dug.

PL: Or rolled in.  Dirt, I mean.  Where's Floyd?  Didn't you have him last?

Georgia, don't be concerned, typically I drink tons of water...especially at the day job.  Saturday and Sunday this week were abnormal.  Normally I drink no soda but will carry a nalgene bottle of water with me or my camelbak bag.   The last few years I've had to grown my veg and herbs in containers (no place for a garden in the ground) and I can attest to the fact that a lot of these plants kill the soil they are in.  Every year I've had to mix in dry manure into the potting soil before planting or the plants don't thrive and I have to feed the plants about twice a summer.  I do love playing in the dirt.

Our ancestors could have only used something like animal bones for doing the digging.
I glanced out of the window this afternoon and there was a huge handsome dog fox cautiously exploring my garden. At first, he stayed around the shrubs, the became bold enough to take a drink of water from my garden pond, then had a mouse/vole hunt on my overgrown lawn. He crept around so daintily and when he heard a little creature in the grass, he'd do a vertical take off and pounce on it. He wasn't red haired like you see in picture books, he was sort of wolf coloured, with a slendid bushy tail.

"A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself." - May Sarton, novelist and poet.

How many folks here, on the eye, have ever plowed a garden with a mule? I do know for certain one member who has, and it isn't me.

What is a vole, Hazel?  Are they only found in your part of the world, because I've seen the word in print, but they were from English children's books mostly - and I don't hear people here talking about voles, so I"m wondering if they've got some sort of fancy European pedigree. Or are they field mousies with a fancy name? 

PARK4~ A vole is a mouse size and colour creature that has a short tail. The vole family have an assortment of types, we have land voles who live in burrows and water voles who live in holes along riverbanks. The cat brings in voles as a present for me, but she will not eat them 'cos they taste yukky. Not that I have ever tried one myself, I'll just take the cat's word for it.

It never occured to me that little woodland things like that have a taste - uck.  I hope voles don't feel inferior because cats don't like to eat them...it's sort of a mixed blessing...bad for a vole's confidence I would imagine.  So it's a mouse with a short tail...see, it gets short-changed in everything.  Pity the poor vole!  We need a National Vole Day.  I wonder when there's an opening on the National SomethingorOther day calendar...

PARK4, let's declare a Nothing Special Today Day.