05/18/2023
Looking out at the objective for the weekend, and plowing the first furrow.
Our farm business model is wholesale crops, garlic and salad greens. We rotate our garlic planting every year for 5 years to avoid pests and disease, and to support soil health. This weekend we will turn over sod for our 4th garlic field. The sod will get flipped by plow, disked in several times to break up those hardy sod roots, harrowed, and planted to cover crop. The earlier we can start working with a crop field, the better we can farm it out of weeds and increase soil fertility to grow a successful garlic crop. This field will be planted to garlic in the fall of 2024.
To us, the art of the horse drawn plow is a special scene to witness. The team has to be working together so that the angle of draft is correct for the plow to cut a straight strip of sod. If you’re doing it right, the strip of sod will curl and flip upside down next to the plow as you walk/ride along. This ensures that the grass is unable to photosynthesize and the roots can start to break down. It’s a difficult task for everyone involved, and takes a lot of patience, thinking, encouragement and strength. But when your team is pulling even and the plow is humming along, the sound and sight of that sod flipping beside you is pretty satisfying. Stop by on Saturday to see what it’s all about! Come for a few minutes or stay for the day. 10am-4pm potluck lunch picnic
