Feeling like a farming failure…

[Andy Carson]

OK, let me fisrt start out by saying that I’m not giving up. But, man, I’ve got a lot to learn… I planted rye in two one acre plots last fall with the hopes of incorporating it this spring and planting into it again. Big mistake. I thought I might beat back the rye of one plot for a while this spring, but it’s definately gone now. The rye is chest high now and growing as fast as ever… I am loosing hope for that plot. Looks like I’m going to have about two acres of rye, and god knows what I’m going to do with that… I tried finding a neighbor who might want it green, I have a neighbor with horses who is scared of it because “it’s weird” a beef farmer is scared of it because he thinks it’s going to be too rich, and my local dairy farmer can’t afford the time to come get two acres worth of rye (even for free). At least I could commiserate with my neighbors about the weather. The clover that was going to be turned under for corn is nearly knee high, and I think that plot has dried out enough I could probably plant, but my neighbors say corn planting time is past. I did get my peas in, but it seems I’m going to have 1 planned crop out of 5 plots. Pretty poor… This was a heck of a year to have as my first real year, but I suppose it could only get better. It was really unexpected that with all my inventing of equipment and adapting of techniques, it was the combination of crop choice and weather that have made this year so tough. Just wanted to share my experience. This sure isn’t easy! Like I said, I’m still not giving up.

[sickle hocks]

We could start a club, Andy…what a learning curve + weather wild cards + trying to keep too many balls juggling in the air…there isn’t enough of me.

My rye has just been poking through over the past few days…a bit spotty with the broadcasting but maybe it will thicken up. Zero germination of the clover I seeded with it.

Oats not up yet. Throwing grass seed out into a bunch of dust just hoping we get some rain this year. Discing it in super lightly and rolling, their is some moisture under the soil mulch but the top is so dry. Tried some test plots of quinoa and amaranth and orca beans to see if i could grow them dryland without irrigation and i think they will be a complete bust. (the quinoa and amaranth so tiny that i didn’t place them very deep but the top dried right out on me.

I’m actually jealous of your two acres of chest high rye….Could you order a good scythe online and make a simple one horse drag rake of some kind and then make some loose rye hay stacks for your horse?? guess maybe it’s too wet for that down there, and you’re probaby crazy busy too…wish i could loan you some cows they are a nuisance…

[Robert MoonShadow]

Have you considered the allopathic (sp?) of the rye? If you mowed it down & let it sheet-compost, between the smothering layer & the release of allopathic chemicals, you’d be knocking back a lot of your weeds. ATTRA has some good info about using it as a cover mowed down & planting produce in rows in it. So, since it will reduce the weedload, improve the tilth, and if the plot isn’t going to be used now for this year… lemonade out of lemons? I wouldn’t want it to head up into seeds, myself.
Just a thought.

[dominiquer60]

One mans trash is another mans treasure.

I know you don’t see your rye as trash, but I am drooling over the thought of having another 2 acres of rye to bale for clean straw. We just made 45 bales off of less than an acre, I imagine yours would yield much better. Robert’s idea sounds good, but if you just want to get it off, see if someone could bale it and find some organic vegetable farmers to sell it to, well as long it has not gone to pollen yet.

Glad you are not giving up, some years are just heavier on the learning end than the sticking to the plan end.

Erika

[mitchmaine]

geez andy, all this time i thought losing crops and breakdowns was success at farming? anyway, wondering if you couldn’t plow down your rye? or a tractor neighbor for you. i’ve turned under some pretty deep rye with horses. the landed horse trods it down and it gets turned under on the next pass. i found out last fall not to cut it first, if you intend to bury it. that was a mess. baling it would be a quick fix too, like erika said, and you could use it for bedding and compost and it would make the slow route back into the soil. best of luck there. mitch

[Tim Harrigan]

@Countymouse 27369 wrote:

… my neighbors say corn planting time is past.

That might be for them but it depends on a number of things. They probably have 95 to 100+ day hybrids, yours might be less than that. If you have good growing conditions throughout the summer and fall you could still have a good corn crop. Maybe you can shift some of it to a short season sweet corn. If you can get an acre of corn planted in the next 2 weeks I say go for it. You are not the first one to get buried under a rye cover crop, it does raise the stakes when you rely only on tillage for control. The tail that wags the dog.

[Andy Carson]

Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement everyone. I have to say that as mad as the rye has made me, it is amazing at weed control. Absolutely zero weeds where the rye is. Granted, no planned crops either, but I’m really impressed with the rye in this way. I really wasn’t expecting this as the fall growth was not impressive. I really wish rye itself was more useful because it’s sure easy to grow. I have read that rye can be fed to chickens and pigs, but only if mixed in at 25-50% of the total feed ration. Other than that, I have no use for it directly. The corn seed I bought seed for is bloody butcher, which I have seen listed as 100-120 days depending on the seed source. Good idea about the shorter season corn though. I’ll have to check this out. I hope I can get some use out of my bloody butcher seed next year, it wasn’t cheap. One of the “lessons” I learned last year was to make sure to buy your seed early. Maybe that’s not always the best way to go, as I may have to buy seed twice…

[dominiquer60]

If you want to get a jump on some of the long day corns try transplanting them. I am experimenting with Hickory King which can be a 120 day corn, it is supposed to be a southern favorite for grits and hominy. I plan on mostly failure this year with the hopes of at least a half dozen ears to save for next year. You can shorten the day length on open pollinated varieties if you save seed and select for it. A friend in Michigan did this with Goliath, his seed was 115 day and is now 105 for him. I planted a pound of Hickory King in flats and ended up with about 1,000 plants, they are doing well. Also it is a white variety so if it does cross pollinate with our field corn I can select for the white kernels instead of the yellows.

Anyway just a thought for you to consider for next year, it is a little labor intensive at first, but I think that once I fiddle with my variety for a couple years it should fit into our system more efficiently.

Erika

[Mark Cowdrey]

http://www.ezfolk.com/lyrics/qrst/r/rye-whiskey/rye-whiskey.html
😀

[LStone]

@Mark Cowdrey 27392 wrote:

http://www.ezfolk.com/lyrics/qrst/r/rye-whiskey/rye-whiskey.html
😀

So much for making lemonade out of lemons, but Andy would that be an option? Good luck man, and everyone else.

Larry

[Andy Carson]

I am actually concidering harvesting the grain. It would get my feet wet harvesting a small grain, and that would be a useful thing to have experience doing. It opens up lots of possibilities from a crop selection standpoint. I would probably end up mixing it into animal feed in smaller percentages. It might help… I am only going to get serious about that if I can’t find anyone who wants to trade the standing rye for something (like some field work). No takers so far. I actually looked into the whiskey mostly out of curiousity. The regulatory issues of making and selling spirits seem like something I don’t want to get into, however, and the capitol investment is not small. I shouldn’t drink that much whiskey either, or I really ever get any farming done! 😀

[Carl Russell]

I would say just feed the soil. Cut it and let it compost into the soil for you, or scratch up the sod, and plant what you wanted.

And frig, corn will grow now. We haven’t planted our yet, and I see no problems with that. You may not hit the hot early market, but you’ll get corn.

Nothing wrong with a learning curve…. just hard to swallow sometimes when you had other expectations.

Keep up the good work.

Carl

[near horse]

@Carl Russell 27403 wrote:

Nothing wrong with a learning curve…. just hard to swallow sometimes when you had other expectations.

Expectations are the balloon that’s popped by the pin of reality.

Nobody would take you up on some free grazing?

Anyone who’s farming at all has been through something like this – the nature of the beast. Just keep on plugging Andy (BTW – you don’t have to use the grain alcohol to drink, if you went that route AND the fermented/distilled grain left over is a good protein feed). Lots of nice simple still plans online – easily within the fabrication skills of Andy Carson, Ltd.

Good luck.

[Robert MoonShadow]

@near horse 27404 wrote:

Expectations are the balloon that’s popped by the pin of reality.

Nobody would take you up on some free grazing?

Anyone who’s farming at all has been through something like this – the nature of the beast. Just keep on plugging Andy (BTW – you don’t have to use the grain alcohol to drink, if you went that route AND the fermented/distilled grain left over is a good protein feed). Lots of nice simple still plans online – easily within the fabrication skills of Andy Carson, Ltd.

Good luck.

Foxfire books have several plans/explanations in several books, that are, in fact, so easy that they can even be adapted by prison inmates…trust me, on this one {just don’t ask how I know}. :rolleyes:

[Tim Harrigan]

:oHey Andy, how is that new planter working?

[Author]

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