Tilling the no till

It is time to break up the ground for this round of winter cover crop.  I have a lot of horse manure being delivered soon to be spread on the field, but in order to get it ready to accept compost the top crust needed to be broken a little bit.

I picked up the disc from Randy's shop.  He had welded angle iron to the flimsier parts with great success.  When I picked it up, Randy wanted to show his dad the bee hives I have, so he came and hung out for a minute and got a free intro to bees lesson.

When they left, it was back to work.  After playing with the adjustment, I finally feel like I got it cutting into the ground like I want it to.  I neglected to mow before discing.  The disc knocks down anything standing and with a couple more passes should be cut into butter.  The compost will be applied over the top, and I will make a few more passes with the disc.  Then comes my truck pulling a chain harrow to make everything nice and flat.

The first pass reveals the dirt underneath.

Hello from the tractor's seat

I know it is late notice, but if any one is interested in stopping by this weekend to experience getting a field right for planting, equipment run down, and a short talk about soil nutrients and cover crop get on the guest list now by emailing Sustainablehomesteadinstitute@gmail.com and for further details.