Thursday, 23 June 2011 11:22

Maybe I got a bit ahead of myself on the last post. Before you can hope to harvest anything, you have to plant a seed! And if you are farming even on a small scale, you need something to take each seed, drop each on in the soil at the correct depth, and cover the seed up with soil.

Historically, many of our farmers have planted by hand. Land rental on Fondy Farm ranges from 1 acre all the way up to 10. Remember, an acre is about the size of a football field. Now that is some work! Can you imagine crawling back and forth, back and forth, back and forth along 10 football fields!?!?

This year, we have been given another option. We purchased a small tractor (Allis Chalmers G) as well as a planter (Planet Jr.). The tractor was built in the 1950s, and the planter is based on a design first manufactured in the 1860s. This is not new technology--but how useful it is! On the heavy clay soils we are farming, I am not sure we could ask for a better planter and tractor. The "G," as the small tractor is affectionately called, is small and very accessible to a novice tractor user. It also has the unique characteristic of mounting the implement you are using directly underneath your seat. This allows the driver to have a perfect view of what is happening while driving--increasing precision and concentration. These qualities are extremely helpful when weeding vegetables, as it allows the farmer to get much closer to the crop, killing more weeds and requiring less hand weeding.

Our farmers have really taken to these machines, and have planted sweet corn and beans in a fraction of the time it took them by hand. They love the new equipment!

Stay posted for more info on the machines being used on Fondy Farm.