GOING (BACK TO) NO TILL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qMpP0MiZLgWhen Hannah and I first started farming, we wanted to be no till farmers, because who doesn’t? Tillage increases erosion, kills soil biology. It decreases microbial diversity, releases carbon, breaks up fungal chains. It’s not good. But our skill level as farmers all those years ago was not quite adequate enough to know how to manage a professional garden space under a no till system.Why? Well, the way we chose to go about it was a lot of work. We had to push giant round bales over our garden every year (which required the garden to be empty of plants—not great for business or photosynthesis). That would usually take several back breaking hours as those things were massively heavy, often rotten, and filled with briars. Then, we would rake the hay out evenly. The next spring, we would pull that hay back and plant into it.However, what would happen is that weeds would inevitably come up through. And not from the soil—they would germinate and grow ON THE MULCH. The hay, in this sense, was both a soil cover and growing medium, which was confounding and difficult to manage. Weeds proliferated and we could not keep up with it. The soil was happy—the farmers? We were beat. It was a lot of work, plus I quickly learned that you really have to have a strong sensitivity to the needs of plants to be able to make a living farming on a no till system, and successfully keeping any garden, let alone one covered in weeds and hay.So we went to a light tillage system a la JM Fortier and have slowly been trying to figure out ways of getting back to a no till farm without killing ourselves. We describe our plans and ideas for transitioning into a no-till system in the above video, but don’t hesitate to pick it apart (especially the science stuff—I really try to be accurate, but I chose to cook and drink heavily instead of going to college, so...).Essentially, starting this summer (but really being in full swing by the Spring), we will start putting down heavier layers of compost over broadforked beds. Then we will always keep something growing in every bed—though at first some of that will simply be cover crops. We will seek out wood chips and leaf mold for the paths, though we may still have to manage those paths with hoes until we can find enough mulch to cover over 80 paths!I explain more about how and why in the video, but that’s the gist (not to be confused with The Gist, which is a great podcast that has nothing to do with farming. Usually).Anyway, let us know what you think and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button so you can follow our journey back to no tillage, no digging, happy soil, guilt-free farmers! - Jesse
A (BITTER) SWEET SURPRISE.
Yesterday, I was having some anxiety. I was sitting in our tiny little room of the barn worrying about my bees, sure that they must be starving, running low on their winter stores and desperate for spring weather. We had noticed them behaving somewhat erratically the day before, and I was positive that this must equal doom.And so even though it was snowing outside, I decided I had to do something. I quickly made up a modified biodynamic bee tea (I used honey, spring water, chamomile, and sage) and we headed off to give them some food. Upon checking the first hive, I was pleasantly surprised to lift the lid and see the circular bulge of bees huddled around the top board - a sign of health! I gave them their tea and then moved to the next hive. It was a weak hive from the very beginning, always less productive and lively then the other. And sure enough, I opened the hive and saw that it was done for. It contained only a sprinkling of half-frozen bees, barely able to move, and near the entrance of the hive - a mouse nest. The hive must not have been strong enough to keep out these invaders and the mice had taken up a cozy winter residence. And as sad as I was to lose the hive, I quickly realized that the entire top super was OVERFLOWING with honey. We removed the box and rushed back down the hill, spending the rest of the blizzardy day harvesting nearly 20 pounds of miraculous honey. The strange balance of life on a farm, the good and the bad, life and death. Out of the sadness, a little sweetness.- Hannah.
WINE SHOPPING.
With the overwhelming quantity of work ahead of us back in Bugtussle, it's hard not to be at the farm right now. But the reality is - we have our cabin money (CONTINUED THANK YOU'S!), just no real money to live on, thus our little sojourn to Nashville. We'll try and earn enough cash over the holidays so, come February or thereabouts, when we head back to the farm, we can stay put. For keeps. That's the goal, and so far so good!As Hannah mentioned a few days ago, I'm doing some shifts at a great local wine shop called Woodland Wine Merchant here in the city. I worked there almost two years ago over the winter and the owner, Will, offered me some holiday work which I couldn't pass up.Their selection is wonderful, on par with any big city wine shop and in many cases, better. Beyond their expansive selection of items like bitters and amaro, they carry much of what got me into farming in the first place: natural, organic, and biodynamic wines. It is deeply satisfying to turn people onto these wines, wines I believe in and stand behind, from farmers I wish to support. So although it's a bummer on nice days to not be on the farm at the moment, it's nice to feel good about the work I'm doing, and the shop I'm helping.So if you're in Nashville, stop by! We'll talk shop and I'll introduce you to some of my favorite people (the staff) and favorite health tonics (the wines).À votre santé, as they say in French––to your health.- Jesse.