[Richard Williams]

Where is this located?

[Richard Williams]

Now that they’ve been in production for a few years, I would love to hear from anyone who has been using the pioneer homesteader. Is there anyone who has been relying heavily on one in a market garden who might care to write something about it? I’ve been searching for a McD or similar riding cultivator locally but to no avail (a few in the bushes but very rough). We grow about 3 acres of vegetables for CSA and market. I’m considering the homesteader with all tools except the plow and possibly disc since we already have those. Not being able to cultivate the wheel tracks seems like an obstacle.
This looked like the best thread to add on to.
Thanks in advance! Still have snow on the ground and temps well below freezing in the next week here in west quebec.

Richard

[Richard Williams]

Such great information here, thanks. Our crop plan has always included a healthy safety margin, even up to 30% depending on the crop, not that I ever plan on destroying a third of the row due to poor aim or hastily-adjusted machinery (or bugs, disease, drought, poor germination or whatever else) but this way when it does happen to something essential we still have enough to put in the CSA baskets and fill the table at market.
Looking forward to a lot fewer hours behind the wheel and a lot more with hands on the lines this year.

[Richard Williams]

Hi folks,
I have a question along the same lines, and figured I could add it on to this thread to keep them together.
We have about 4 acres in production each year, with about 2.5 acres being vegetables and the rest cover crop. We’ve been working with the tractor so far, but last year we bought a team of fjords and did all of our fall discing with them. This year we intend to use them for cultivation as well, but transitioning away from the tractor makes row spacing a bit of a puzzle. Currently we work on 60″ centre-to-centre, meaning crops are either one row at 60″ apart, two rows at 30″ or 3 at 15″, with 30″ for paths. Is it feasible to use a single-horse cultivator with 30″ between the rows? I figure if an 18hh belgian can fit down a 36″ row, that Bart and Buck at 14.2-14.4hh and with equivalently small hooves should be able to cultivate 30″.

I have my eye out for a mccormick straddle-row cultivator, with the plan being to widen the rows to 36″ when one shows up. Possibly moving the tractor tires out to 72″ for certain implements, like what Erika described above. I am particularly pleased with our Williams tool system tine weeder (lely tines with sweeps for the paths) and would need a bit of time to assemble a horse-drawn replacement. Due to the limited acreage suited to vegetables at our farm, I’m starting to think of a separate rotation for high-value, quick-turnover greens, which we would manage as intensively-planted 60″ centre-to-centre beds using our BCS walking tractor and hand tools. I think this would allow us to reduce the density in the rest of the field without sacrificing income.
Changing the spacing is tough! Row cover, arches, irrigation, machinery, yield data and so on all need to be adjusted. Even our caterpillar tunnels, which we dismantle and relocate each May, are based on 60″ centres.

Any more first-hand experience with the process would be appreciated. I welcome your thoughts!

One more related thought – can any of the new riding cultivator frames (homesteader, I&J) be adjusted to fit 36″ or thereabouts? They all seem pretty wide.

Richard

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