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Sol Cycle Farm
United States
Приєднався 26 чер 2021
Sol Cycle Farm aims to make our organic farm net energy positive, which is in contrast to modern farming--an over-powered, fossil fuel guzzling, energy sink. We develop and trial energy thrifty, optimally powered equipment and the healthy use of human labor doing good work. Farming is often damaging to the soil, so we give our fields rest and employ cover crops and pastured-livestock in rotation. Paying close attention to the biodiversity that weaves around us, we enjoy the predation of birds and bats on unwanted bugs, and love the prolific populations of bees of all kinds on our crop blossoms. The sun is also called sol, which waxes and wanes, leading to seasonal cycles. Our favorite tool, the Corvallis Mini Electric Tractor, or COMET, quietly helps us work with the land. Co-developed with Bountiful Backyard, it is human scaled and gentle, and we can hear the birds and feel the breeze, making the days tending crops mostly pleasant. #organicfarming, #organicagriculture, #FILF
Sowing Potatoes
When I think back to my schooling days I honestly can't recall that I learned much about potatoes. Maybe that they came from the Andes and the Incan liked them. And the Irish adopted them and then had a blight. But it is kinda crazy that folks in societies like ours, what anthropologists describe as the era of High Energy Modernity, can skirt through life without knowing how to grow the simplest and most energetically rewarding of all crops. It wasn't until my 30s that I learned what to do, and only because I chose to seek out this kind of knowledge and skills. It ain't rocket science, but it is the food that feeds rocket scientists, potentially.
Anyhow, here is a primer on how to plant potatoes, with a description of the reasons for this method from a plant morphology perspective. There are many specific ways to do all this, of course, and what I am doing is adapting my methods to the soils and equipment on my farm. Much of what you do when farming is take the general and make it specific for your circumstances. There are no ideal ways, only optimizing for circumstances. No two years are the same, no two farms are the same, but I have found it helpful to see how other people solve for their circumstances. Always learning, maybe improving. So it goes.
In this video you see a bunch of students out helping me plant. These are Oregon State folks from the Organic Growers Club. I am a partner with them on a CSA. Most of the time I am farming on my own, but then maybe 1-3 times a week some of them come out and help with big chores. Hard to find a nicer group of young people and thankfully they are learning how to grow plants and tend the soil.
#potatoes #organicfarming #organicfarmingtraining #plantingpotatoes #electrictractor
Anyhow, here is a primer on how to plant potatoes, with a description of the reasons for this method from a plant morphology perspective. There are many specific ways to do all this, of course, and what I am doing is adapting my methods to the soils and equipment on my farm. Much of what you do when farming is take the general and make it specific for your circumstances. There are no ideal ways, only optimizing for circumstances. No two years are the same, no two farms are the same, but I have found it helpful to see how other people solve for their circumstances. Always learning, maybe improving. So it goes.
In this video you see a bunch of students out helping me plant. These are Oregon State folks from the Organic Growers Club. I am a partner with them on a CSA. Most of the time I am farming on my own, but then maybe 1-3 times a week some of them come out and help with big chores. Hard to find a nicer group of young people and thankfully they are learning how to grow plants and tend the soil.
#potatoes #organicfarming #organicfarmingtraining #plantingpotatoes #electrictractor
Переглядів: 120
Відео
Sheeping Off Cover Crop
Переглядів 362 роки тому
So I am a veggie farmer but it is really important for me to have livestock around. I know many folks are negative on animal agriculture, but there are many differences between the nightmare of industrial confinement operations, the growing of commodity crops to feed poultry and hogs, and what I am advocating. A pasture full of perennial plants does wonders to the soil health, and when you walk...
Livestock Integration and Soil Health
Переглядів 612 роки тому
Imagine a world where each year an awards ceremony is held honoring excellence in farming. And let us make this more ridiculous by pretending I am a winner in this particular year, perhaps as Director of Veggie Crop Cultivation, and must go up to the podium wearing my best flannel shirt, and give a speech. Oh, how humble I will be. Really, really, this could not have been done without the lives...
Early Spring Garlic Cultivation
Переглядів 1122 роки тому
When the soil is moist and a bit packed from the Winter, cultivation is very different from what it is like in the Summer. Yet many crops grow well when planted in the Fall to mature in the following Summer. Last Fall, for example, I planted onions and garlic, and now as the Spring arrives I am faced with needing to weed. The dominant cool season weeds here are small grasses in the genus Poa as...
A Perspective and Math on Reducing Fertilizer Demand
Переглядів 1002 роки тому
With the war raging and commodity prices spiking, I am reminded why I got into farming, and organic, mixed farming in particular. There really is no need to be putting synthetic nitrogen on crops, at least in the long term. For the short term many soils are addicted to this input, but in this video I explain how not to be. For perspective, consider nearly 80% of the air is nitrogen. And it gets...
Chickens and Farm Scale
Переглядів 682 роки тому
Hey, buddy. Yeah, you over there. Look at these chickens. Mostly laying hens plus one happy rooster. While you are mesmerized by their beauty, grace and silliness, allow me to monologue about some really important stuff. Ok? Large, commodity farms expertly remove human labor from agriculture by mechanizing as many tasks as possible, leveraging cheap energy supplies, chiefly fossil hydrocarbons....
Seed Cleaning with Winnow Wizard
Переглядів 1,2 тис.2 роки тому
It truly is difficult to overstate the importance of seeds to human societies. So as a farmer who plants a lot of seeds I also am keen on harvesting my own. The complexity tends to come when you want to turn a harvest into more or less pure seed that can be replanted. I have some experience with this from being in the Willamette Valley and having some history with the very large seed cleaners i...
Golf Cart Cowboy
Переглядів 1022 роки тому
Dear Video Viewers, You look good. Hey, I want to tell you about something new. I am now known around these parts as the Golf Cart Cowboy. My son Curtis told me so. Let me backup a bit. There was a debate on whether I was a real cowboy. I think Curtis has settled it by creating a new category of cowboy, the Golf Cart Cowboy. This was in response to quips like, “You need a horse.” “You need a si...
Snowmagedon Lite
Переглядів 442 роки тому
Well, well, well, we made it through another year. Remarkable. And at the end of 2021 a modestly severe Winter storm hit the farm. How did we fare? The farm is at 45 degrees north latitude about 50 miles from the Pacific Ocean. While the ocean moderates extremes in temperature we still get cold enough for snow, usually a couple of times a year. The video shows our crops buried in about 6 inches...
Beets and Sheep
Переглядів 292 роки тому
Most of my videos are directly practical, but now and then I espouse on "the big picture" and philosophize, and probably talk to much. This is one of those videos. I mean, look at the title. What the heck to beets and sheep have to do with each other, aside from the fact both are frickin' delicious. Well watch and I explain, or read on... You see, the real world is made up of systems. Interacti...
Fall Crops
Переглядів 602 роки тому
Folks in town keep asking me if I have anything to do on the farm this time of year. Ha! This video will clear up any misunderstanding. You see, we run a CSA that distributes for about 10 months and gosh darn it, people don't do the smart thing and hibernate for the Winter. So here we are harvesting and distributing food even when the sun is low and the fog gets in and chills the bones. Some cr...
Mini Electric Tractor
Переглядів 3,2 тис.2 роки тому
Something that has bugged me for years is the nearly complete dependency of the modern food system on fossil fuels. So much needs to change to wean ourselves from hydrocarbons, and I have written a lot on the topic, especially The Future is Rural (2019) (www.postcarbon.org/publications/the-future-is-rural/). In this vein, one small part of the farming system I am working on uses a small electri...
Potato Harvest
Переглядів 552 роки тому
You know I do get plenty of time to think while working on the farm. One of my habits is writing haikus about the crops. Just roll the phrases around in my head. Here is a potato haiku, alright? The best Incan gold Is an earthen Solanac Tubers to live on That's right folks. Potatoes are tubers from the Andes, and are packed full of calories and minerals. You saw what Matt Damon was able to do o...
Garlic Planting
Переглядів 672 роки тому
October is the best time around here to sow garlic, which gets growing just a little before holding tight over the Winter and then busting with vigor in the Spring. It is a relatively easy crop to be good at. Just make sure the place you are planting is reasonably well drained. You mostly have to worry about diseases various fungi, viruses, and mites. Anyhow, here I show how the garlic cloves n...
Seed harvest
Переглядів 212 роки тому
Maybe you are used to seeing images of combines harvesting corn in the Midwest or wheat on the Great Plains. Those are seeds and they are grown at commodity scales in places like the U.S., so small farms tend not to grow them much. But there are many seed crops that make good financial sense for small farms to grow using simple hand tools and techniques. The value of these seeds is on the order...
Winter squash weeding with Terrateck wheel hoe
Переглядів 5383 роки тому
Winter squash weeding with Terrateck wheel hoe
Very ingenious.. 😎
Light weight solar panels can be better than cloth roof.
Those tractors are cool but when it comes to garden the farmall 140 is the king
As a gardener, this is ingenious. As a cook, this hurts my brain because they cooked the starch in a backwards way.
Explain how you would do it please.
Love the video. Best DIY explanation on using the Pottiputki. Many thanks. QUESTION: But I have to ask you what gauge Pottiputki are you using? I have a big Spring plant out (of Vetiver grass @ our nursery) pending here in Australia next September and the Pottiputki seems preferable to the bend over strain we get using augurs on electric drills. Certainly better than crowbar-ing the soil! (I was doing that last week on marginal lands with clay soil) With a couple of Pottiputkis I can use the fam without needing to contract out.
I have both sizes actually. I generally like the smaller one, 55 mm? Our starts are usually the size of 72 count 1020 trays, if that makes sense from your perspective. Let me know if you need further explanation.
@@SolCycleFarm Yes I know what trays you mean. This is our current practice: ua-cam.com/video/vNlEOpSPAH8/v-deo.html Augurs -- but unfortunately working a lot closer to the ground.
@@growvetiver1796 Yea that can make the back hurt. As long as the soil is soft enough the Pottiputki should work great as an alternative.
soil test for the before and after the feather meal? to see if your math is correct
it is really hard to do that as what happens is when you apply a fertilizer is it decomposes over a period of time and as it does gets incorporated into the living plants and soil organisms. So a rather complex situation and I wouldn't know how to sample to capture what is going on.
This tractor is for life ! if it breaks you can change the battery , the motor or whatever you want ! no more planned obsolescence and no more fuel prices
Genius ! do you only use the electric tractor now ?
No. I borrow a tractor from a guy who farms next to me. My hope is to add some additional features that will allow me to mow and do some primary tillage with this. Probably a strip tillage with a power harrow that runs off it's own motor. In concept stage at moment.
dont see the math working your? just trying to be clever it seems..
10k seeds nice counting
Why go through the trouble of making gel when your seeder will plant them for you?
Because carrots are notoriously slow to germinate and die easily from drying out. I think I explain this in video.
Thanks for going into the math on the gel approach. I have seen videos that don’t even bring up the need to get the ratio in the right ballpark.
Hello, first time seeing this method and first time here, my friend .
You know, I’ve paddled my kayak to get crabs, clams, abalone, salt water fish and fresh water fish. But I’ve never paddled my kayak to get milk.
Good save. Please wear at least at least life vest. A wet suit would also be preferable. With that opaque cold moving water you’ll never be sure as to depth and/or snags.
Can you discuss the importance of not counting your chickens before they hatch?
Good suggestion. I have a lot to cover so that one will need to wait until 2026.
How does your electric tractor compare to the Soletrac electric tractor?
Different leagues. Soletrac is much bigger and is a commercial product...or at least I think it is available to buy now.
Awesome video. Keep those videos coming.
Will do! I know how much you want them. Will you consider horse farming please?
@@SolCycleFarm Instead of horses consider oxen. They are more docile, can pull a ton of shit, and it is easier to train people to handle them. An added benefit is you can eat them if they don’t cooperate.
@@jimkaneko1692 Good idea. They don't turn around easily so you end up having very long fields.
I have now a grassy area. How should I prepare soil before sowing a cover crop (if till is a no-go )? I was thinking about sheet mulching but the area is about 1 acre, so probably this is too much work.
I would till it a few times before sowing a cover crop. Sheet mulching an acre is not reasonable.
I have tried various methods and this time I have used the method that you described. I have soaked my seed for four days before I made the cornstarch mixture. I planted mine plus minus 1 cm deep and the carrots started showing signs on day 10. So, in total it is 14 days from soaking the seeds. In my opinion this method is by far the easiest and the quickest with the best results.
Good karma bro
This was a great video. The part where you're running with the cow or from the cow...😄
Congrats bro, So nice! Greetings from Spain!
Cool as. I can see it working alot better with front wheel drive so it is pulling not pushing
*Never* combine corn starch with hot water. Always start with cold, else it won't "set" properly. Sheesh...
This year we are doing as you say. May have an updated video about it. Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, you can dissolve it in cold water and then put both together in hot water.
A great video of real world American small scale sustainable farming practice. Keep up the good work.
Thank you sir. Btw....do you know how to farm with horses? If so, please do bring soon.
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Wow! That's a lot of yellow bins!
Woah that’s me!!
FIRST
epic!