We use a woven polyester fabric in many applications on the farm here, due to our dry climate and high prevalence of weeds. Drip irrigation tape is laid down underneath the fabric, and then seeds or starts are planted in holes.
I was accompanied by the boy and his motorbike that evening. I often plant in the evenings because it is just too hot to do it during the day and I don't wake up early enough to do it in the mornings!
The field behind us is being leased by an organic farming outfit, but these guys are not your small-scale sustainable organic farm. They too use woven polyester fabric, but theirs is laid down by a tractor which rolls it out and buries it as they drive along. Then two guys sit in little chairs that get pulled behind the tractor and drop seeds into holes in the fabric that are punched by a wheel. They have yet to plant their tomato and pepper starts, and I'm curious to see how that goes, because mine all had to be dug in by hand through slits in the fabric.
Every time I see those guys there are three or four of them out there standing around the tractor scratching their heads trying to figure out why it isn't working. It's pretty funny.
4 comments:
Sounds familiar with the tractor nex door, Jen. That which makes life easier makes life more complicated.
Love your new motorbike, Scotty! You look very good riding it.
Love,
Nino
I've seen photos of lots of that equipment at some of the sustainable ag meetings I've been to.
Funny thing is, I bought one of those Earthway seeders and hate it. It's manual, of course, but I still much prefer planting by hand. It's just unreliable in the way it drops the seed, making for irritatingly spotting planting. Jim likes it for his corn, though.
I like doing lots of things by hand, but there are some tools that I sure do appreciate.
I thought of you tonight, as I had to wait until almost dark to water & trim my tomato plants... today was the hottest day so far & I'm sure it would have been considered temperate by your standards :D And yet my Scotty watered his peppers this morning, against my advice, and at least one of them died from boiled root :'(
Ohman, I love your description of everyone standing around the tractor scratching their heads. That is awesome.
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