I'm feeling kind of stuck on making a decision on prepping our soil for planting and I'm hoping to get some help from more experienced folks.
We live in Indiana and have a fairly heavy clay soil, especially when it's wet in the Spring. Last year, a neighbor plowed (disked I think they called it?) and then tilled about an acre for us. This year, we are partnering with another organic farmer who lives about 15 minutes from us to produce for markets & CSA's with which he's already established. So we need 2-3 more acres plowed & tilled. Right now there is a grass hay mix that has been there about 10 years. Before that, it was a subsidy farm, but my point is that the soil hasn't been worked or planted in about 10 years.
Once the beds are initially plowed & tilled, we prefer to maintain them with a more permaculture approach. I covered our one acre plot last year before winter, for example, as well as all my raised beds. They are already ready for planting with little hassle. But not these new beds. They need attention - real attention, with heavy-duty equipment, I'm thinking.
This week they are predicting a dry spell of 5 straight days with a couple of those days over 75 degrees. This is amazing for our area. Last year, it was too wet to plow & till until June. If it dries out enough to prepare those 2-3 acres by the end of this week, we - and everyone else in our farming county - will be very, very happy. And very, very busy. My first thought would be to ask the same neighbor that helped us last year, before I realized that they are going to be doing the exact same thing on their land, and I doubt that they'll have time to swing on over to ours as well. Those last two dry days will probably be dawn to dusk work for them on their own land.
So I'm trying to figure out our options. We don't have enough money to buy a tractor right now. Our friend (and farming partner) uses his parent's land to grow on and thus, his parent's equipment. We don't have the transportation ability (trailers, etc.) to bring their equipment to our land, plus his parents have made it clear they'd rather he not haul their equipment around.
We could rent something maybe, but I'm not sure what to ask for or what we could use. Should I ask for a tractor with a disk? Or just a tiller? A walk-behind device is $100/day plus $50/implement. The heavy-duty tractors are about $200/day plus $150 per implement. Ideally this would be a one-time expense but I want to be sure we at least would get the right thing if we're paying that much. And of course, I don't want to sound like an idiot at the rental place.
Anyone know equipment well enough to help me out with this decision? Thank you!!!
We live in Indiana and have a fairly heavy clay soil, especially when it's wet in the Spring. Last year, a neighbor plowed (disked I think they called it?) and then tilled about an acre for us. This year, we are partnering with another organic farmer who lives about 15 minutes from us to produce for markets & CSA's with which he's already established. So we need 2-3 more acres plowed & tilled. Right now there is a grass hay mix that has been there about 10 years. Before that, it was a subsidy farm, but my point is that the soil hasn't been worked or planted in about 10 years.
Once the beds are initially plowed & tilled, we prefer to maintain them with a more permaculture approach. I covered our one acre plot last year before winter, for example, as well as all my raised beds. They are already ready for planting with little hassle. But not these new beds. They need attention - real attention, with heavy-duty equipment, I'm thinking.
This week they are predicting a dry spell of 5 straight days with a couple of those days over 75 degrees. This is amazing for our area. Last year, it was too wet to plow & till until June. If it dries out enough to prepare those 2-3 acres by the end of this week, we - and everyone else in our farming county - will be very, very happy. And very, very busy. My first thought would be to ask the same neighbor that helped us last year, before I realized that they are going to be doing the exact same thing on their land, and I doubt that they'll have time to swing on over to ours as well. Those last two dry days will probably be dawn to dusk work for them on their own land.
So I'm trying to figure out our options. We don't have enough money to buy a tractor right now. Our friend (and farming partner) uses his parent's land to grow on and thus, his parent's equipment. We don't have the transportation ability (trailers, etc.) to bring their equipment to our land, plus his parents have made it clear they'd rather he not haul their equipment around.
We could rent something maybe, but I'm not sure what to ask for or what we could use. Should I ask for a tractor with a disk? Or just a tiller? A walk-behind device is $100/day plus $50/implement. The heavy-duty tractors are about $200/day plus $150 per implement. Ideally this would be a one-time expense but I want to be sure we at least would get the right thing if we're paying that much. And of course, I don't want to sound like an idiot at the rental place.
Anyone know equipment well enough to help me out with this decision? Thank you!!!
