Week of March 22 2010 : Plow

This winter has been dedicated to capital improvements. When people think of farms they usually think of big, green John Deere tractors. I am certainly one of those people! But once you really get involved with growing, on a personal, local market scale, then you realize that tractors are not necessary.

So the capital improvements this year have focused on post-harvest produce quality and marketing. Food-grade transportation totes. Refrigeration. A legal for trade scale. Side walls for our canopy.

But there was one operations improvement: a new plow.

Three years ago, after I gave up adjusting the cone clutch on my 1970 Sears Rotospader, I bought a BCS 732 2 wheeled tractor with a rototiller and snow thrower. Each year I try to add one implement. Of course I buy my implements from Earth Tools.

Last year was a Palladino flail mower to chop cover crops like sorghum sudangrass and cash crops like sweet corn. Yeah it lives up to the hype. Not only does it shred corn stalks, it shreds cobs too.

This year is the Berta rotary plow. It will be used as primary tillage and to build raised beds. One feature I discovered is the quick hitch is reversible. The plow can be attached in a fixed position such that the plow is level when one wheel is in the open furrow. The plow can also be attached so it swivels. Nice.