IT’S HARD TO WORK ON A MOVING TRAIN.

My mentor Eric Smith from Bugtussle Farm used to say often that, “it’s hard to work on a moving train.” It’s a phrase I have always loved and now, as a farm-owner, one I find almost relentlessly illuminating. Especially when you’re in the middle of the season, but even when you’re not, a moving train offers an obnoxiously accurate analogy for a farm business. Farms feel like locomotives: there is a mass of power and work that goes into getting a farm going that, when wanting to change something, makes your options 1) take the train off the tracks, which is financially impossible for us. Or 2) get out there and find some time to do extra work. And we have run into this reality in many areas of our farming but especially of late in our no-till transition. For one, we are attempting to turn a normal, (low) tillage garden into functioning no-till business mid-season which means that we are still having to deal with many of the weed and compaction issues generated by our previous practices... while trying to grow food and make income. That part of the train, in other words, is still in motion—the pistons chugging ahead mercilessly—while Hannah and I are hanging out of the cab windows attempting upgrades. And to be sure, Hannah is very pregnant. Because that’s the reality. As a farm that is increasingly four season (making everything “mid-season”) we can’t just shut the business down for six months to remodel. If we want to do this transition, we have to put in the work while we are already putting in a ton of work. And we do want to, if not need to, transition. Simply, no-till is the only longterm solution that fits our overall farm goals and ideals, making these upgrades a necessity if we want to keep farming for a few more decades. The hard work you do in a year should always (when it can) go towards making next year easier. My back is not getting any younger. The tractor is not improving with age. The weeds aren’t just going to stop enjoying bare soil. We have to think more holistically about what we’re doing—indeed, a royal and first-person plural “we”. Every year we have to ask ourselves, if we’re going to work on this train is it going to make the train more autonomous? Because if not, then why are we risking ourselves to do it? This idea of an autonomous garden isn’t new—indeed, it is just permaculture. It is what Fukuoka saw in the dog on the beach. And honestly, it’s the basis of any successful business—cut down on the work that doesn’t add value. So should it not also, where it can, be the basis of market gardening? There is nothing wrong with planting and harvesting annuals every year—indeed, there is something very delicious about it—but it’s everything else that goes into that work that we want to reduce. The soil disturbance and thus erosion. The time spent cultivating. All of it. All the muda. All the unnecessary work.We could let the train keep running as is, of course, but eventually I’m not going to be able to shovel the coal. I’m not going to be able to do the repairs. I’ve got to start now, getting the train in shape while I’m still in shape to do it. It’s a wild ride, and a bit risky, but we’re already seeing some improvements. The train is already running better. Plus, I’m enjoying watching it go from coal-powered to solar. From machine tillage to biological. I’m enjoying the thought of less weeding, more time spent with my family, and frankly a train that can quietly and regeneratively drive itself. -Jesse

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