Crazy Bedshaper Adventure

We've decided to do all our vegetables up on raised beds because it helps with drainage, it gives us a place to walk while harvesting, it helps us guide the tractor over the veggies without running them over and it is where we run our irrigation water. Last fall I sort of fashioned one out of a cultivator frame that worked very poorly and I had to readjust every time I needed to use the cultivator. So we decided to build or buy a real bedshaper so that we can have nice tall uniform beds with wider furrows between them for walking.





Since commercial bedshapers cost anywhere from $2,000-4,000 I thought it would be worth a try to make one myself. I figured maybe $500 in materials and a few days labor and I'd be up and running. Its been a heck of a project - I learned one thing, I need to take some classes on welding before I try to embark on any more welding projects. My welding was awful, but the darn thing hasn't fallen apart yet! Here you can see our contraption turned up on its side. I'm the guy with the hat and cool safety glasses above, and this is my friend Dalton who spent the day helping me with this frustrating farm tool. His safety glasses were not as cool, but I like him anyway. He only planned to stay until lunch but agreed to stay until 5 so we could see if the thing fell apart when lifted by the tractor. Fortunately it did not!

Look at that it hasn't fallen apart (yet)! It still needs a couple few hours work, but it already works better than the old furrower. Once I get it all adjusted properly and working well I'll take some picture of the beautiful new beds and share them with you.

-Don

Return of the Spinach Harvest!

It may only be February, but we'll soon be harvesting the spinach we overwintered. I planted spinach into November as an experiment to see if it would overwinter - it sure did. After a little rain and sun they took off! As you can see it is really muddy right now, so I can't really get into the field. As soon as it dries off - maybe midweek - we'll start supplying hungry Tulsans with their first spring greens. You'll find it first at Natural Farms!

We only have one bed at this level of maturity, but there are three more beds that will come on two weeks later.




The spinach is in the front, and right behind it is two beds of turnips that also overwintered. The turnips are still at least two weeks out - but that isn't long!

During those two weeks I'll be at the farm mostly doing construction projects. Building a bedshaper sled, building a cooler, building a harvest wagon, etc. I love carpentry projects.

-Don

Where's Waldo?

Before the rain this Sunday, I went out to the farm to disk up some new land before the soil got muddy. I checked on the South field which is about 3 acres to see how the cover crops were getting along. The weather was gorgeous, I swear it was 70 degrees outside and the wind felt warm. It is only February, but I think we are headed into a warmer than usual spring.




The South field looks great, the Austrian winter peas are recovering from cold, dry January and the wheat is beginning to thrive. We chose peas for a winter cover in order to incorporate some nitrogen into the soil, and wheat to help choke out weeds. You can see in the photo that they are a thin green layer holding the soil together.





While out in the field I saw a little red speck in the thatch, and it reminded me of one of the virtues of natural farming. Since we don't spray any chemicals, all the bugs can thrive among our crops. While that means some of our produce will have some pest damage, the beneficial predatory bugs will keep it under control. Bugs such as this little ladybug beetle that was romping around in our peas. Do you see him in the picture? I guess it really isn't that hard to see a little red speck in a sea of green and brown. I guess if this was really Where's Waldo the ladybug would be crawling across a pile of fresh picked strawberries.

-Don