As we were beginning to modify our planting beds back in February, we were fortunate enough to have a family friend let us borrow a Honda Rototiller (Model FR800 if you’re curious) to break some ground. When compared to hand hoeing, this tiller was a godsend; but after one 10 hour day of non-stop tilling back in the spring, I was out of commission for a couple of days afterwards.  The Honda certainly had some power to it, but harnessing that power effectively resulted in more fatigue than I could handle.   It was time to explore our options.

An interesting thing I’ve noticed about some farmers (and a lot of dudes) is an almost rabid desire to own giant pieces of machinery.  Someone even told me “if you are going to farm, get a tractor.” Period. Sure, owning a large tractor that I would get to sit on would be the least physically demanding way to go, but could our land (and our bank account) deal with such a purchase? For us, the answer to both questions was a resounding “no”.  Our main area of cultivation is only 3/4 of an acre.  If we provide enough room at the ends of our rows to turn a tractor around, our growing area would be significantly reduced (perhaps even reduced to the point of not necessitating a tractor!).

So a full-on tractor is too big, but an 8hp roto-tiller is too small…fortunately, the tradition of small farms had continued on in Europe through the latter half of the 20th century, and a few manufacturers still produce a tool that falls somewhere in between: the “walk-behind” tractor.

After a few weeks of cogitating, weighing pros and cons and consulting with other, more experienced farmers, we decided that this was the way to go. Depending on the model, a walk-behind tractor can offer more power than even the heaviest duty Honda or Troy-Bilt tiller, but the real value lies in the walk-behind tractor’s versatility.  Although it is oriented to be operated like a tiller, the biggest advantage of a walk-behind tiller is the presence of a PTO (power take off) that allows for any number of implements to be attached.

There are two main manufacturers of “walk-behind” tractors: BCS and Grillo (both in Italy). Peaceful Valley offers a pretty wide range of the BCS tractors, and most of the local mechanics are more familiar with them.  We picked up a 732GX, the smallest of BCS’ “Professional” line, and a 30” tiller attachment.  Besides having an 11hp engine, the BCS is all metal-to-metal direct drive, no belts. This helps maintain torque in tough situations…situations like, say, breaking up rock-laden, clay soil in the Sierra Foothills…?

It took a little while to get used to it, but as you can see in the pictures, the BCS has been able to efficiently handle what I’ve thrown at it so far. I was able to incorporate semi-composted horse bedding into about a third of an acre of previously unworked soil in one morning of work.  The BCS tiller is also a great tool to incorporate cover crop matter into the dirt; our summer buckwheat cover was turned into “organic matter” in just a few minutes. Awesome!  The BCS is also small enough for us to be able to go in and work the soil beds one at a time, and our pre-existing pathways do not need to be adjusted to accommodate its size.

(Aside: for those who might be interested in my method, we wet down the horse bedding as we unloaded it, creating “instant hot compost piles” which we then spread over the area a week or so later. Even though this step is not necessary, given that food won’t come out of here until next May or June, we wanted our winter cover crop to have as much readily available nutrition as possible.  Deeper penetrating roots + greater nitrogen fixing efficiency by legumes = better results for next year’s crops.)

Any cons so far? Given our heavy clay soil, the action of the BCS’s tiller will eventually create an impenetrable layer of hardpan. Luckily, a “subsoiler/ripper” attachment exists, and we already have one on order. This attachment is essentially a single, deep chisel that cuts a groove into the subsoil, allowing roots and other good stuff to penetrate deep into the ground.  I also had a little trouble with the bolts and threaded pieces on the “quick-release hitch” coming undone as a result of vibration, but that was easily fixed with a few drops of red Loctite.

Overall the BCS has shown itself to be just as its long-time proponents described: rugged, dependable, powerful, easy to use.  What is most exciting for us is that we seem to have found a piece of machinery that makes moving forward with the farm project a much more comfortable thought :D

The last couple of weeks I have been spending lots of time marketing for my initial CSA season which starts the first week in May and runs through October (6 months, 26 weeks).  I made a brochure with pictures and all the information that I have been handing out to anyone that is interested as well as just talking about it as much as possible and explaining the idea to everybody I know.  I am looking for about 20 members and so far I only have 5 signed up so I’m really pushing to get more… Read the rest of this article »

Hello all, Everything is going good here at Ellwood Canyon.  With a break in the rainy weather I am making a big push to prepare my next section for planting.  Here is a step by step of the process: 1)Planted peaceful valley’s soil builder cover crop mix in December. 2)Mowed and turned under the cover crop just as it began to flower the 3rd week in February (the flowering stage is when legumes are at their highest nitrogen fixation point). 3)Let the ground sit for a couple weeks to… Read the rest of this article »

The calendar has turned and we are happy to call our straw bale field shed project complete.  Of course, things are never complete, and the interior walls still need to be finished, but the building is winter-ready and is sound and stable.  In addition, we’ve got a 2400’ vegetable field and two orchards planted with cover crop and some additional unplowed field sown with mustard seed, part of our ongoing efforts to amend and improve our soil and improve drainage by breaking through… Read the rest of this article »

Gardeners will often talk about their favorite type of manure, and I myself am not immune from such opining ...but when you have numerous acres to cover the decision is often made by factors of cost and convenience.  While it may be ideal to envision a farm that raises animals to generate manure for it’s vegetable fields, limited acreage and limited human energy make this a difficult proposition for vegetable farmers. So purchasing chicken manure is the most common choice, as it’s high… Read the rest of this article »

(THIS IS FROM A FEW DAYS AGO, SORRY!) Just ended a two day period for Fruits according to the Biodynamic calendar.  It was a busy one as the last fruit period was too cold and wet to plant our many fruit seedlings and starts.  The fruit category consists of those plants which have their “fruit” in the realm of the seed such as beans, peas, lentils, maize, tomatoes, cucumber, pumpkin and etc.  We were able to do some preparations prior to this period in planning for all… Read the rest of this article »

We just had to run down to the farm and put lots of stuff away into the greenhouse, as there were suddenly large rain drops falling from the sky…  It was cloudy all day, but the weather report said no rain until Sunday, and I foolishly trusted some all-knowing meteorologist rather than my own eyes.  I think it’s over now, but it rained enough to make a difference. As far as fungus goes, I really want to learn how to inoculate our soil with this miracle fungus tea that Billy learned… Read the rest of this article »