Agropraxis Farm

The oxen and work horses from Tiller's International plowed the pasture. It had been about  10 years since the field was used for anything but rotational grazing. The light sandy-loam was sliced and turned by traditional methods. The draft animals put their power into the yoke or collar to pull the plow.  Into their respiratory system went air, the oxygen transported  to their muscles to create power.  Flesh and bone doing the work.  Not a metal machine consuming a finite resource inefficiently with partial combustion and pollutants as by-products.

I have an affinity for simple tools and machines.  A well made hoe, scythe or precision seeder are appreciated. I use a motor powered tools if the outcome is superior to other methods. A tiller, tractor and skid-loader are capable of a lot of useful work. Some of the farms I’ve been on will fire up the tractor, put on the load forks to put a couple of hundred pounds of feed on the truck. A thoughtful approach would indicate that muscle power could have accomplished the same in similar time. By choosing to use draft animals the byproducts contribute to the ecology of the farm. 

This past week was a good one to get some early crops in and prep for future plantings. More onion starts, potatoes and carrots were attended to. We had a few cold nights. The strawberry patch required row cover to shield from frosts. The early warmth this spring  resulted in the Earliglow variety to flower earlier than I can ever recall. All looks good going forward…

Farmer Pete