What is the deal with the steel? Old vs New

G-pig said:
I guess we are going a little off topic-- but thats our thing here in the ATH forum.

I am not going to speak about forestry, because I don't know much about that (although I suspect that, just like farming and growing of food, there are probably some stupidly simple solutions to it's issues).

No till farming is gaining a little steam even amongst mechanized farmers, and despite them not even doing it particularly well its paying off. they just plant, harvest, and dont till it all up the next year. All the root systems stay in and some of the "waste" (not much) stays on top. The results are pretty impressive. Even more impressive is the result of almost 40 years of mulching in conjunction with no tilling, seen here;

[video=youtube;wffoeYUFK7k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffoeYUFK7k[/video]

at about 1:28 you can see the black carbon rich soil. It keeps the "weeds" down and some people report never having to water. The added benefits of not needing to till the soil every year saves untold amounts of work. Not having to water nearly as much (or ever) saves input. Home gardeners could grow way more food with the same amount of work using no till. The biggest obstacle for a lot of people i've talked to is the "complication" factor. They dont want to get a tiller, fertilizers etc. Simple is good.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting G-Pig.
We bought are house about seven years ago. We could plant next to nothing in the flower beds. Its a heavy clay soil. I amended it first couple years which was better. Tilled it in. And added mulch. The last few years I have been just adding mulch and some sand. The improvment has been dramatic. Not sure how the sand becomes part of the soil but it seems to. We have enough squirels that they do some tilling.
 
I do love the off-topic content of this forum!

There is a farmer here in Quebec who uses a no-till system, and he farms about an acre and a half with nearly zero mechanized assistance. He's been using the land where he is for maybe 5 years now (?) and is able to do some really impressive intensive farming on it now. He adds a massive quantity of compost every year, given, but he is also able to feed on the order of Hundreds of people a year off of his 1.5 acres. I think around 100+ weekly veggie baskets, plus selling at two markets a week as well. Pretty impressive results, all around.

As for the forest, I could well imagine that any deadwood left behind would go a long way towards maintaining and improving soil conditions for future growth. One of the nice things about Canada is the vast swathes of forest that still remain untouched, meaning that I have a much better chance of owning a nice big wood lot to manage someday that will still exist as a natural habitat.

Sorry to jump into further derailing this conversation, but I find the homesteading aspects of this forum to be absolutely wonderful! In the spirit of the original conversation, I would be Very interested in seeing the results of some tests on older axe heads! Perhaps some in bad condition? Cracked eyes, etc?
 
Repliqwtl said:
I do love the off-topic content of this forum!

There is a farmer here in Quebec who uses a no-till system, and he farms about an acre and a half with nearly zero mechanized assistance. He's been using the land where he is for maybe 5 years now (?) and is able to do some really impressive intensive farming on it now. He adds a massive quantity of compost every year, given, but he is also able to feed on the order of Hundreds of people a year off of his 1.5 acres. I think around 100+ weekly veggie baskets, plus selling at two markets a week as well. Pretty impressive results, all around.

As for the forest, I could well imagine that any deadwood left behind would go a long way towards maintaining and improving soil conditions for future growth. One of the nice things about Canada is the vast swathes of forest that still remain untouched, meaning that I have a much better chance of owning a nice big wood lot to manage someday that will still exist as a natural habitat.

Sorry to jump into further derailing this conversation, but I find the homesteading aspects of this forum to be absolutely wonderful! In the spirit of the original conversation, I would be Very interested in seeing the results of some tests on older axe heads! Perhaps some in bad condition? Cracked eyes, etc?
Click to expand...

Fukuoka sort of pioneered the no till in way of growing grain. There hasn't been much headway in no till grain growing in cold climates though, Bonfils method being the only one comes to mind.

I like Ruth Stout's mulch approach a lot too. Compost adds extra work for what amounts to the same thing I suppose, in way of adding organic matter to the soil. A lot of hippy gardeners around here put far too much work into their compost it seems like. My brother way over grew vegetables last year so just starting mixing them back in with the mulch. eventually they reach the moisture, decompose etc. Take note that the Podoll garden in the video had no perceivable deficiencies and a ridiculous organic matter content. Thats important to note, for us the first year of no till certain things didn't take well to the soil as it was-- apparently copious mulching remedies that over time. The problem with the no till is balancing it with quicker results. I do think that can be done too, but it turns more still to mulch addition. My vision of the scythe is being integral to small/medium scale no till/mulch based gardening.

I went on a couple of forestry walks etc. which, despite being insistently called "small scale" were completely ridiculous. Tons of machinery, hydraulic splitters, etc. I think it comes down to not over cutting, leaving plenty to go back, and keeping the damn machines out of the woods so you dont molest all the young growth and scar the crap out of the forest floor. That would be this laymens approach. Things like pruning with a long pole saw improves lumber quality while also getting dead wood on the ground quickly. I cant think of a reason why forestry couldn't be vastly improved.
 
Repliqwtl said:
I do love the off-topic content of this forum!

There is a farmer here in Quebec who uses a no-till system, and he farms about an acre and a half with nearly zero mechanized assistance. He's been using the land where he is for maybe 5 years now (?) and is able to do some really impressive intensive farming on it now. He adds a massive quantity of compost every year, given, but he is also able to feed on the order of Hundreds of people a year off of his 1.5 acres. I think around 100+ weekly veggie baskets, plus selling at two markets a week as well. Pretty impressive results, all around.

As for the forest, I could well imagine that any deadwood left behind would go a long way towards maintaining and improving soil conditions for future growth. One of the nice things about Canada is the vast swathes of forest that still remain untouched, meaning that I have a much better chance of owning a nice big wood lot to manage someday that will still exist as a natural habitat.

Sorry to jump into further derailing this conversation, but I find the homesteading aspects of this forum to be absolutely wonderful! In the spirit of the original conversation, I would be Very interested in seeing the results of some tests on older axe heads! Perhaps some in bad condition? Cracked eyes, etc?
Click to expand...

I love the content of this forum. Pretty much as interesting as it gets on BF, its a real privilege to learn from some of these gents
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top