[wild millers]

Jay, your right in seeing the difference in chain angle and I think your also right about the change in draft.. good eyes. This set up we run only for the tine weeder, as we needed all the room we could get up front of the machine. So we removed the two drop pieces from the evener and hooked the chain right up to the evener instead. We felt we could justify this only because the tine weeder is such a light draft tool that it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference.. So that said, we do run the chains at the straight pull setup with the drops for all of our other uses of the machine.

[wild millers]

This is the best picture I have of the evener apparatus. Although we have modified it a bit for this tine weeder adaption, the general idea is the same. It seems that the trouble with three abreast would stem from the fact that its designed as a riding cultivator and would come with the same issues as trying to rig 3 abreast on an old riding cultivator..mostly because the tongue doesn’t shift, and you have two points of pull connecting into the frame instead of one. Maybe someone else has a better idea on how to make that happen though…

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[wild millers]

Jay, I don’t have any experience with a unicorn hitch, though it seems that it would be asking a lot of the “unicorn horse” as they would presumably have two feet in the furrow and two feet on the land.
We don’t have the plow attachment for the homesteader so I can’t add much to thoughts on plowing with the machine either but it seems like a 4 up hitch would be a bit more comfortable for the horses if you need more draft..then again, plowing sod would be primary tillage.

[wild millers]

Very cool, I like how you set out behind the wheels. The one thing about our setup is that, even though it may be a small issue, the wheels run behind the weeder and may pack back in weed seedlings pulled up by the tines.

[wild millers]

Your welcome.. Just wondering if you are able to get the full 7′ of tine weeder to ride out behind the wheels on the JD or if it is trimmed down to fit between them? Would be nice to see a picture sometime, that sounds like a great low cost solution for transporting the tine weeder…and making use of the big old JD.

Looks like my pictures ended up in a different order than I intended them to in the post above and one was left out of the tine weeder in the young onions so here it is.

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[wild millers]

The mineral oil trick has worked for us in the past, the key is getting the timing just right though. To get the whole planting treated this way on time is a really time consuming endeavor for us so we stopped doing it and we have also moved to simply cutting the tips or warning customers that they may find some insect life in their corn. Though we have seen very reduced if not eliminated insect pressure in our later plantings of sweet corn with no treatment at all. While the early plantings always seem to suffer.

[wild millers]

Because we needed to get this fence up quick, we decided on using 50 rolls of plastic poultry fencing. Though we don’t typically like using plastic materials in the gardens, this seemed appropriate for the low cost and the ease of re-use.

We got the fence up this morning then got some spring plowing done right next to it for the early potatoes. Here’s a picture in which you can see the garlic crop in the forground, then two rows of pea fence in the middle of the plot. Also our friendly neighbors house right behind who doesn’t mind me using his lawn as a headland.

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[wild millers]

near horse, I like how rugged and simple that idea is and for a house garden I might try it someday (that is if I can find an extra livestock panel that’s not in use.) My trouble is that  were dealing with hundreds of row feet of peas and cut up livestock panels sounds like a very expensive option.

 

dominiquer, about how far apart did you space your posts to keep it strong enough?

Thanks for the thoughts..

[wild millers]

We started with about 8 different varieties almost as many years ago and have culled down to our 3 favorite at this point. We didn’t know the name of those originals varieties to begin with although we do know that at this point we have one rocambole type that we have named “Wild Millers Choice” because it doesn’t grow very tall in the field, but it’s not to be underestimated because it consistently gives us door knob sized heads. (Both Annalisa and I also don’t stand very tall in the field) Then two porcelain types, one I think is German extra hardy but the other we call “Lovely Luoma” after our sister in law whose maiden name is Luoma and both she, her husband and this plant grow very tall.

Besides these differences we tend to believe in the idea that there is really only one variety of garlic, but because it’s grown in so many different soil types, over time it has taken on different characteristics of the parts of the world in which it is grown. I see some credence to that just because some of our varieties started out spicy and have mellowed out over the years we have been growing them. It seems our soils grow a less pungent garlic. Don’t know if there is really any truth to all that but we like to think so, anyway its more fun to cultivate “your own variety” of the great garlic.

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[wild millers]

Garlic is one of our favorite crops, we’ve been saving our seed and building the crop for 7 years now and the past two years have planted between 15,000-20,000 plants. We spend a full season preparing for planting in the fall which includes at least two fully grown out cover crops with manure spread on between them. Buckwheat early in the season which is known to be good for making P more available, followed by peas and oats planted early august. We feel this helps with out competing the weeds and adding lots of organic matter. Then typically plant the garlic right into the pea and oat residue after mowing it. Mulching with straw on top of that to insulate for the winter. It seems to us that this gives a slow and steady release of nutrients to the garlic as all the organic matter breaks down and less of an intensive nitrogen application all at once which would give the weeds the same boost in the spring right when they are looking for it.

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[wild millers]

As far as the ground rod goes.. we simply use an old tedder tine. When they break usually its at the spring, leaving the spring and about 10 inches or so of rod, makes for a convinient step in, clip on spot for the ground wire, and handle for pulling it back out again. This works well unless the soil gets really dry in which case we will dump a little bit of water over the ground during watering chores.

[wild millers]

You may have already started your construction on your new coops, but I had a few thoughts on design. We started with 4 chicken tractors for our flock of 50 hens that all moved side by side. Had  simple drop down wheels and giant wheelbarrow handles on the other end so one man could move the tractor. We stopped using this design and built our coop on an old 4 wheel running gear, set up with flexible poultry netting around it. Mostly because we are often traveling quite far between chicken moves. Depending on the time of year and where the crops are at, we may be on a portion of the market garden one day and then out on the grass pastures the next. This simplified our chores and I feel is easier on the pastures and our backs. We now move this wagon with 200 hens behind the for-cart every day in the summer. At night we close the door, which is about 2 1/2 feet off the ground and have never had a predator problem. So I guess something to consider is how far your moving the hens and how frequently you plan to move them.  I am very pleased with having the coop on wheels and would recommend it. Good luck

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