Cultivating a small field with more than a hoe!

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Change of plans.

Decided adding even one more breed of animal is just too much for our little 2 acres to be sustainable. Pigs won't work. For just meat and "soil turning", it's not worth it. We'd need an additional goat just for the pigs' milk. Buy barley or other grain for them. Space to raise turnips and other root veggies.

So ...

Year 1
Spring: borrow/rent/hire automatic cultivator to till the entire 1/2 acre. Let in girl goats and chickens to "till" it too. (3 months)
Summer: Rope off individual "fields". Use seed spreader (we have) to plant various things, like 3-sisters, milo, alfalfa, etc.
Fall: After harvest, take up ropes, and open gate to let in girl goats and one flock of chickens. (3 months)
Winter: Let sit (goats/chickens in their winter accommodations).

Year 2
Spring: Put girl goats and that flock of chickens back in there until almost planting time. Use homemade drag-behind hand cultivator to stir it up.
Summer: Put down ropes again, and plant (using roation method).

And Repeat.

May not get great yields first few years, but after a while, with about 6 months worth of chicken and goat poop there (per 12 months), it'll be wonderful and ever-so fertile!

About the horse poop: we have a neighbor who's offered his 3 alpacas' poop to us but Hubby just hasn't done it. Perhaps in the spring, after the 1/2 acre has been cultivated and before we let the critters in, Hubby might do it. We'll see!


Edited: typos

 

[Theo]

MyKids, I hope you keep posting as you carry out your plan. It is very interesting! I should post some pictures as I try to recondition my scruffy little pasture. I want to grow some field crops too. I think I want to end up with mini-fields for corn, wheat, beans/potatoes and squash that are 20' by 100', with an extra 20' x 100' strip as a fallow "field". I'm sure I can grow all the potatoes and squash I could ever want in that amount of space, and from what I've read, that would be plenty of wheat and corn, too. Beans are tough in our climate.

Turning the livestock into the area in fall to clean up the stalks and drop manure is a good idea. Right now my livestock is 4 chickens. One day I'll have goats too!

 

[sky the chicken man]

There's a tool called a U-bar or a "broadfork" that is great for loosening established beds. Unlike a tiller, it just lifts the soil without turning it, and doesn't create a hardpan, which on balance is generally better for overall soil health anyway. It looks like a giant digging fork with two handles. I use mine to work an estimated quarter acre of intensive veggie gardens year round with ease. It works best in fairly loose types of soil but I find it quite useful even in the heavy clay that I have. More efficient than a hoe, but doesn't need gas like a tiller. They come in different widths and tine lengths. They can be hard to find, which is a shame considering what a great tool they are. I got mine, an Elliot Coleman design, from Johnny's Seeds, and it was worth every penny.

 

[Wannabefree]

Hey sky! Thanks for the information

 

[FarmerJamie]

Here is one version: broad fork

 

[winstonlacewing]

two folks farming 1.3 acres by hand with a broadfork: www.manofarm.org