Farming: Part 13: Now It’s All Up To Fate

Farming is hard. On the other hand, I’ve made some progress:

Plowing turned mother earth into corrugation. The disk did an ok job hammering corrugation into a fluffy chunks of sod mixed with dirt that was like driving through a milkshake. It took a while.

The super heavy disk made the soil actually more hilly. To smooth it I tried the drag. Alas it was mostly tangly bits of steel that fell apart. (Plus I dropped it on my foot which made me dislike it.) It was still too rough to plant.

Finally I parked the Foxinator’s tractor and got out mine. I hooked up my lighter disk, reveled in the luxury of a padded seat and a gearshift that wasn’t threatening to castrate me and put in several hours. This did wonders. Still lacking a drag I chained about 10′ of telephone pole diameter log (next year’s firewood) behind the disk. Inelegant but it worked.

My tractor served me well until it conked out. Damn.

Lacking a planter I manually stuck in some seeds that are a combination of vegetable garden and “I wish I owned a seeder”. If they succeed I may mention them later. If not, this was all an experiment.

The rest isn’t seeded yet and in truth the field is only half done but I’ve got the tools and they’re working. It’s a big area, it’ll take forever. I’m in it for the long haul and will go at it a little at a time from now on. This year’s plowing and disking is all about paving the way for next year. Also I’m happy that I no longer look like a complete dipshit who can’t plow a field. I much prefer my current status as a complete dipshit who can plow a field.

This extra space will be broadcast seeded with my hand crank “tactical” seeder. That’ll take a while but since I have no harvest implement it’s mostly for ground cover to compete with weeds. I’d rather have deer forage than more *&*^%$ weeds. (My theory is that next year’s plowing will be much easier since it was cultivated this year. So deer “feed” is just my holding pattern while I gear up for more practical cultivars. Plus I should have plenty of easy pickings come hunting season.)

I’ve also plowed the mother of all firebreaks around the perimeter. Next spring the field can be carpet bombed and it’ll be safe. Unless, of course, I can just plow again and don’t need to resort to fire.

I have no harvest implements. I’m biding my time, hoping to find a few more implements like my excellent plow; either a seeder or mower or harvest equipment or whatever. Hopefully something in fair shape. It seems best to keep my options open and buy what shows on the market. Then I’ll simply plant and harvest whatever I can mechanize rather than the other way around. It’s a theory. It could be a bad one.

So now you know everything there is to know about “farming” on a budget of (almost) zero. Knowing what I’ve been through, you might want to hug your rototiller.

A.C.