Tuesday, April 15, 2008

spreading compost

Yesterday I spread compost on the fields ALL DAY. With this rig:



Okay, I got a few trays of lettuce & parsley & pac choi planted in the greenhouse too.
But mostly I was working my clutch foot & this bad-ass joystick



scooping up compost with this bucket,



dumping it into the manure-spreader,


driving down to field Z (where the potatoes will be planted in a few weeks), yanking open the back, turning on the PTO, & watching compost (& rocks) spin out crazily onto the field. While trying to keep a straight line & even distribution. And then coming back up the hill to do it again. Oh, the smell of diesel.

Last night I went to a potluck of the Mid-Hudson Valley Growers Network. It was hosted by Liberty View Farm http://libertyviewfarm.biz/ which grows 7 acres of apples "naturally grown" (organic but not certified). They have this awesome "Lease-a-Tree" program, where anyone can pay $50 and get to "lease" an apple tree for one year, and come & pick the apples of course, 80-100lbs. I think this is a great idea, a spin-off of the CSA idea.



They also have chickens. All sorts of different breeds, laying all sorts of different eggs. They even have a "Charter-a-Chicken" program! For $50, you get to "rent" a chicken for a year-- you get a photo & description, visitation rights, & 2 dozen eggs. It's apparently a hit with the city folks who want a piece of "the farm". They're even putting in a web-cam in the henhouse!


Really creative stuff they're doing with the chickens-- these nest-box towers where the eggs roll to the sides, paintings for them to look at :).... and the best was this drip-watering system which allows them to drink without getting their water all dirty!

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