There were a lot of projects in 2014 that I have not discussed on my website but plan to in the future. Some of these projects include a 4,000 gallon pool used as a Tilapia aquaculture project and a 8×24′ greenhouse lean to that is under construction on the south side of our house. I also built a top bar beehive and several different styles of chicken tractors. These will be future post subjects.

  On our small farm we try to limit our purchased inputs as much as possible. So one of the biggest jobs we have is producing our own hay. While I like the function of the Ford 501 mower when it works and it does fit well on the 8N, it is a lemon. Of all the equipment I use the 501 mower needs the most repairs. I can only cut about 20 acres before something breaks. I have tried everything I can think of to hone it into a reliable machine, and have thus far failed. These mowers have a good reputation so I am looking for a second one to try, and use my current one for parts. In my search I will not turn down another brand either, and do have a backup Ford 515 mower to try.

Last spring I purchased a case six row cultivator to be cut down to two rows. Even at only two rows it is still pretty heavy and my 8N doesn’t like to lift it very fast. I could use some weight on the front of the 8N when the row cultivator is lifted. The 861 however handles it like it were a twig. Cutting it down to two rows gives me plenty of parts into the future. The cultivator is a big improvement over the older one I was using.

During the last year we have purchased many more pieces of equipment, rounding out our inventory. Early in 2014 I bought a Auger cart that is in good shape for $350. Since my combine only holds 25 bushels a cart is very handy to have on the larger fields I have planned in the future. We also purchased a small grain bin, a Suzuki Samurai which doubles as a UTV for us and a rotary hoe.

 

Late last summer I broke ground on two acres to be planted in Austrian Winter Peas. The peas didn’t get very big before winter and I don’t expect them to overwinter. I will be planting that two acres in corn and the peas were planted to prepare the ground for corn. I have ordered a different type of popcorn to try; Japanese hulless. Since this field is on the very back of our property I plan on fortifying it with electric fence this time.

I plowed another acre of ground next to the Reid’s corn field and planted it to wheat. I planted the remaining wheat from my first planting way back in 2011. I am planning on discing under the Reid’s corn stuble and planting oats there this spring. When both crops are harvested I will join the two fields giving me two larger crop areas of 2 acres each. Small stuff for a row crop farmer, but huge scale for a gardener. I am going to try to keep all the crop fields that are cut out of the large field at the farm in acre increments. This will allow easy calculation of yield, seed and other figures.

I have measured the large field and will be building two gates. These gates will be place half way north to south between the south property line and the already established cattle watering locations on the north end. The gates will dividing the large field into thirds going east and west. These will be future cattle watering locations and I will be trenching water lines to them. I have already sunk grounding rods in these locations so I can rotate the cattle through the large field.

Our chickens diet has been supplemented by home grown grains again this fall. We had a special 6 grain blend of chicken chow made from home grown and purchased corn, homegrown buckwheat, homegrown cereal rye, homegrown wheat, homegrown fescue and some left over austrian peas for extra measure. To give them a good snacktivity they get corn on the cob all winter as well. The corn on the cob is a premium mix of popcorn, sweat corn and field corn.

While a lot more happened in 2014 this gives you an idea of what we accomplished so far and what we are working towards for some future goals.