Interesting farming video from Nordell’s

[Andy Carson]

http://www.extension.org/pages/Video_Clip:_Ridge_Till_and_Cover_Crops_from_Vegetable_Farmers_and_their_Sustainable_Tillage_Practices

I watched this video yesterday and it blew my mind. I had been approaching farming with horses with the mindset that all the tillage and planting procedures would be basically the same as on a tractor based farm. The main difference, I thought, would be that horses supply the traction. The practices shown in this video, such as minimal tillage and the extensive use of cover crops, are not like any farming I have been involved in. I guess it goes to show me just has different farming can be. I used to work on a 1000+ acre wheat and lentil farm in northern Idaho and am starting a 5 acre diversified farm in western PA. Very different… At any rate, I am curious if the type of practices demonstrated in this video are “normal” for horse farming on a small (less than 10 acre) scale. I make an effort to try to “walk” before I “run” and would like to try the most standard techniques first and only modify them if they don’t work for me. All the techniques in this video make sense to me, but it is just so different from what I’m used to seeing, I just have to ask “is this normal???” If so, I have alot more planning to do!

[Andy Carson]

Also, if anyone has any books or other referance material that discusses this type of farming and techniques associated, please pass this on. It seems I have alot to learn!

[Marshall]

I can’t get it to work on my computer at work so I am going to give it a try tonight while getting the wood stove going. Sounds very interesting.

[Anthony]

I cannot vouch for how ‘normal’ such practices are, but the Nordells have been evolving their systems and techniques for over 25 years and writing extensively in ‘Small Farmer’s Journal’ under a column entitles ‘Cultivating Questions’. They have an article most issues. They also give workshops at conferences, usually in the winter. They have a 73 minute DVD (which is very similar to their slideshow presentation at workshops) and a booklet of 8 articles (most have appeared in SFJ over the years, one was written especially for the booklet and distribution at workshops). Write to:

Anne and Eric Nordell
3410 Rt 184
Beech Grove, PA 17771
$15 + $3 s&h for the DVD, $10 + $3 s&h for the booklet, send check or money order.

Here is a link to the title article from the booklet: http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/June09_Nordells.pdf

They also have a yearly ‘beginning farmer’ workshop at their farm, columbus day weekend. It is usually organized through PASA., with registration a few months prior (it fills up).

Both horsepowered vegetable farms I have worked at are familiar with and implement many of their practices. They have systems that make sense and are well thought out and can also be adapted to one’s particular situation, though it will take many years to reach their achievements.

Here’s a thread on a similar topic with techniques that spring from their ideas: http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=2918

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Anthony, your post of the related thread was what made me look into this video in the first place… Everything the Nordell’s are doing on the video seems to make alot of sense to me, and the fact that they publish so often gives me a good feeling that their techniques are accepted and good to incorporate. I’ll be checking out the media for sure. Hell, maybe I’ll even go to the workshop! I could probably use a little formal instruction…

[dominiquer60]

Having read their articles it seems that they looked at a lot of old crop rotation plans(COWS, Corn, Oats, Wheat, Sod) and horse powered techniques, then starting devising a plan that would meet their needs and goals. So while the basis of their methods is from old school normal farming, they get to take it to a new level with a little help from modern science and their own experiments which have been many. Like Anthony said they have spent years with these techniques, tweaking and custom fitting it to there operation.

These techniques are not strictly for horse powered farming, and the Nordell’s claim that it can be adapted to tractors as well. Of course using animals will be more sustainable than tractors, but if you are going to use a tractor this has got to be a better way than plow, seed, spray, spray, spray, harvest methods. We are slowly trying to incorporate more of these methods into our tractor powered market garden, I know they will work because I have used some of these techniques on other tractor farms. The thing to keep in mind is that every farm is different and you will have to alter the Nordell’s ideas to meet the needs of your farm.

Erika

[Marshall]

Well I finally got home and had a chance to watch the video. It was very interesting. I think there are several things I could incorporate. I will just have to do it mainly by myself.

[Carl Russell]

Countymouse;16792 wrote:

….. At any rate, I am curious if the type of practices demonstrated in this video are “normal” for horse farming on a small (less than 10 acre) scale. …..

One of the beauties of this system is it points out how adaptive we need to be when considering animal power. If we just calculate horse power needs based on the tractor model, then substitute horses, we can get the work done, but we don’t take advantage of the flexibility that animal power can provide. When we use animal power we need to think holistically about the farming system that we are setting up in order to capitalize on the natural power available in earth-based life systems. Horses cannot be expected to supply the power to overcome nature, so looking at the big picture of how nature plays a role on your farm will not only make using horses more functional, but will invigorate your whole farming enterprise.

I don’t think Eric and Anne would care if we thought they were “normal”. They are such down to earth people that we would be living in a rare time if they were. Let’s hope for the future.

Carl

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