[daniel grover]

photo

[daniel grover]

Image upload.

[daniel grover]

Hey,

I see that there’s an issue uploading this photo–I tried to upload it myself unsuccessfully. I am contacting Devin to see if he can help us figure this out.

Daniel

[daniel grover]

Thanks, Erika! And do they cover the dairy side of your operation too?

[daniel grover]

I’m here! Charly–there have been several posts/week consistently over the past few weeks. Check out the dates on the “What’s New” page…

[daniel grover]

Bringing new animals onto the farm is going to be about patience and perseverance. It will probably take time for them to settle in, to feel comfortable, to learn about the place. Like with any horse training, you’ll have to read their reactions to your farm to decide how quickly you want to challenge them, introduce them to new tasks, etc. They will let you know what to be alert to. Spend time leading them around your land, paying close attention to anything that spooks them.

When we brought new horses to the farm last season, flapping greenhouse plastic and remay were big deals for them. Lots of snorting and sidestepping away as we went past. Overtime, by calmly leading them past the greenhouses every day, they started to relax.

I also second what Jared said about ‘fence line grazing’. You can start out with two paddocks that are close to one another and then reduce the distance until there is only a single fence between the two groups. Eventually, open up the fence in between and let them mix. I don’t have a lot of experience grazing cows and horses in the same paddock. But I have grazed horses just behind dairy cows so that they could touch noses over the fence. After the first few days it became totally routine for them.

Good luck and let us know how it’s going!

[daniel grover]

I wouldn’t worry too much about setting up beds for your garlic. Instead, I’d mark out 36″ on center rows and then plant straight single rows of garlic. You can use a string or a long 100 or 300′ tape to set out straight rows and then just plant to the string or tape. A tape and two people is a nice way to do it because you can both use it to measure three feet off of your previous row at either end of the field and simultaneously set up your straight line for planting. Set a rock on each end of the tape and then start planting, using the tape to measure out your nice, even spacing.

This method will get you close enough to good rows that you could cultivate them if you’d like. But if you’re mulching, you probably won’t cultivate anyway.

Not mulching is also an option though in some cases (planting depth and soil type seem to be factors here), the garlic can be frost heaved out of the ground. No good.

If you do want to practice with your cultivator or you really want beds for whatever reason, most veggie farmers using a straddle row cultivator set up a V shaped pattern of sweeps for bed forming. You need to make up a middle bracket which spans your two gangs and which you can attach a center sweep to. I believe that there is a photo of a set up like this in Stephen’s book. I’ve seen different versions. David Fisher has a really nice welded bracket. Donn has also built a couple of different types of brackets.

With this set up, the middle shank is in place for bed making and then is removed to cultivate. I like to set the outside shanks very slightly lower than middle ones so that they really dig out and mark your rows. Additionally, there is sometimes a board drag of some kind behind the cultivator which evens out the bed tops. David uses one successfully. I’ve had mixed luck. I think soil type really matters here.

My two cents.

[daniel grover]

Password reset email also ended up in my spam folder. I guess at this point this bug is just a spam filter issue, not a functionality issue.

Daniel

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by daniel grover.

[daniel grover]

I did not before–I just re-registered and sure enough, it was in my spam folder.

How can we make it less likely these emails will end up in spam folders?

[daniel grover]

hey there,

the photo upload problem is related to the file size. Try saving the photos at a smaller size and then re-upload.

Daniel

[daniel grover]

Hi Anthony,

I’d love to see pictures of the disc forecart and plows. I’m also curious about the #9 Reg. Good rubber? Any cracks or anything else wrong with the mower body?

Daniel

[daniel grover]

Looks like a lot of fun, Jay! Look forward to hearing more about it and possible future collaborations. Tell us more about what broke and how you fixed it, please!

Daniel

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by daniel grover.

[daniel grover]

Hello! I am in oley, pa. Don’t know much about oxen but good to know there’s another teamster nearby!

[daniel grover]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

[daniel grover]

Jared and others who were having trouble posting photos–Can you try again now?? I’m wondering if recent updates to the site will have fixed this problem.

Please let me know here on this thread!

Thanks,

Daniel

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