# one acer homestead



## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Hello all i am starting a one acer self sufficent homestead i built my house out of two old mobile homes and i have a garden and some grape vines and a small orchard started with 12 apple trees and 5 pear and a couple of peach trees we have a deep well set up and septic getting ready to install a hand pump heat with wood but my concern is what should i do next to become more self sufficent my wife and i both work and have no bills pay for everything in cash i quit working for the man and went to working for myself we have bout a year supply of food on hand just like to see what others would recomend to do next maybe a root cellar


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

If you haven't grown vegies before, put in a small plot. If you have, put in a bigger plot and begin improving the soil. Work on your preserving methods, dehydrate, can and explore other ways of extending your harvests. Read, read and read some more, plenty of people out there have already been through it and have heaps of good ideas. Get a heap of infrastructure finished before you get too much into the daily grind of self sufficient living, it's hard to fit in a day building or fencing when you have 1/2 ton of vegies to process or compost to turn.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Welcome to the forum first off. Sounds like you are well on your way to getting it done. I would think about getting a few chickens. Rhode Island Reds or some white Leghorns. Not too many at first, just some to cut your teeth on. Maybe see about acquiring more land. Soon enough your going to want to grow some grains for bread making and such. 

BTW: What general area are you in? (I figured Southwest Virginia. What major town?) Lots of folks here from that area. Might be a big help down the road.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Like JustCliff said, chickens would be a good next step. They are easy to keep, can forage for their own food if necessary and provide excellent fertilizer for the garden. We started out with 6 hens and a rooster. Very easy to manage and they will reproduce once they are comfortable with their surroundings. A couple goats might be a consideration as well but do some research first. Goats can be a bit challenging. Make sure you're set up for them BEFORE they arrive. We learned that the hard way. 

Set your garden up to grow vertically as much as possible. You can produce a lot more with a smaller footprint. Go to local auctions and estate sales to pick up old gardening tools. They are much tougher than most of the new stuff out there.As Wellrounded said; if you've never had a garden, start small. There can be a steep learning curve when growing much of your own food. One bad season can wipe you out if you don't have any backup. Use a lot of heirloom seeds so you can save the seeds from one year to the next. 

Good luck with your homestead. It sounds like you have a good start.


PS. Using some punctuation and capitalization would make it much easier to read your posts.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Thanks all for the replys. I am wanting to get chickens after i get a new coop built for them. I had some last year and a fox got in and kill all of them. I was thinking of small dwarf goats but not to shure of type to get and maybe some rabbits. We raised rabbits when i was younger and did good. I have been doing a 80x100 garden but had problems with dust from gravel raod. There is good fishing within walking distance from me. We live near lots of farms some dairy and boar goat. Sadly land is very high near me and right now we are stuck with the one acer but i have acces to land next to me that i hunt. We do can and buy what we are short on from local sorces mainly the orchard. I refuse to buy any thing from the stores unless i have to. We make our laundry detergent. I cut almost all my wood in national forest and clean up yards from stotms. We are in wythe co.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

We go to the Wytheville livestock exchange (small animal sell ~ goats & sheep). They used to have a indoor fowl sale but that was before the new rules & regs. but the last I heard they were going to sell them outdoors. 

Best of luck with your homestead.


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## db2469 (Jun 11, 2012)

sw_va said:


> Thanks all for the replys. I am wanting to get chickens after i get a new coop built for them. I had some last year and a fox got in and kill all of them. I was thinking of small dwarf goats but not to shure of type to get and maybe some rabbits. We raised rabbits when i was younger and did good. I have been doing a 80x100 garden but had problems with dust from gravel raod. There is good fishing within walking distance from me. We live near lots of farms some dairy and boar goat. Sadly land is very high near me and right now we are stuck with the one acer but i have acces to land next to me that i hunt. We do can and buy what we are short on from local sorces mainly the orchard. I refuse to buy any thing from the stores unless i have to. We make our laundry detergent. I cut almost all my wood in national forest and clean up yards from stotms. We are in wythe co.


Congrats...you're doing well!


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Should i go with raised beds and change location of my current garden due to the dust. I would like to do some type of root cellar. My only cocern would be our yard is almost flat and have hard clay and rocks. We have a large outbuilding 30x30 that i use for a garage and wood work shop. There is a 12x16 provelian that i thought about turning into a greenhouse. Our kids love being in the garden and helping us around the yard. I know we need to start composting but not to sure whats the best way to go bout it. We plan to install atleast 10 rain barrels around the house and shop as soon as we can find a good source of food grade barrels. I have just a little fenceing lift to do we used cattle fence wire around all the property. Thanks again for all the help


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

A root cellar would be good. If the economy starts to tank you could buy potatoes and carrots to store there. Otherwise it's a great place to store some of your vegetables without having to can them.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Have you thought about an above ground root cellar? I have seen pictures of them. I don't think they would keep food near as cool but it would still keep it for a while.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

I have thought about above ground but i have came up with very little useful info on it. We grow lots of pottatos corn and tomattoes each year. I have been canning them and freeze them.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I was looking around at a few things on veggie storage and found this site today. Maybe it can be of use.
http://www.emergencyhomepreparation.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2285


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

We put a pump house around our well. We made it big enough so that we could put shelves on one side. We then added a box with some dry play sand in it. That is where we stored the carrots and potatoes for the winter. One light bulb was enough to keep it from freezing. In the garage we had a pantry that was well insulated and away from an exterior wall with a heavy moving pad hanging inside the door. The door was kept closed at all times unless we needed something from there.

Now warm climates this may not work but the water flowing through the pump house was enough to keep it cool in the summer.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Like JustCliff I would recommend at least looking at the above ground root cellars, especially if you have hard clay because that usually means poor drainage. An above ground version can be just as good at temperature regulation as a below ground, it just depends on how much fill you use. We are in a area with extremely cold winters so we need about six feet of fill for reasonable frost protection Other areas may need a lot of dirt for the summers instead.
The sand method for root crops is amazing, we have had beets last over a year in a tub in a unheated/cooled room in our house


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

Sounds real good! My awesome SO and I are working towards getting a place n being as self sufficient as possible. You're living the dream bud!

What are you doing for power? Internet at home? Also I'm looking into beekeeping, initially for personal consumption, but also as a barter and possibly sales item, but that's a ways off...


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## Transplant (Jan 10, 2013)

sw_va said:


> Hello all i am starting a one acer self sufficent homestead i built my house out of two old mobile homes and i have a garden and some grape vines and a small orchard started with 12 apple trees and 5 pear and a couple of peach trees we have a deep well set up and septic getting ready to install a hand pump heat with wood but my concern is what should i do next to become more self sufficent my wife and i both work and have no bills pay for everything in cash i quit working for the man and went to working for myself we have bout a year supply of food on hand just like to see what others would recomend to do next maybe a root cellar


Root cellar would be good. I would add some chickens and maybe a couple of goats for milk and meat. Raise rabbits and maybe fish also for meat. Might even look into getting a pig and raising it.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

What would be the best way to construct a above ground cellar. Our well is over 300 feet deep water level is about 100 feet down.What would be a good way to deal with the dust from the gravel road in the garden. We dont use any chemicals or anything in our yard or garden. Thanks again everyone


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

The best way to make a root cellar IMO depends on a lot of things like your local climate and soil, what kind of materials you have available, what you have experience working with(concrete, wood, steel, brick,etc.)

With regards to the dust, does your county have any sort of program where they will "oil" the road in front of your yard for a fee? If not are you allowed to do this yourself. Other than locating the garden as far from the road as possible all I can suggest is some sort of windbreak fencing (slab or privacy) and trees or other tall vegetation between the garden and the road.

Just a few products that are available
http://www.envirosafechem.com/main.php?section=3&subsection=1&product=43
http://www.duststop.ca/


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

sw_va said:


> What would be a good way to deal with the dust from the gravel road in the garden.


Calcium chloride flakes.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

I can move the garden but i would have to rework the yard next to the cow field. It has a slight sloop to it and a few large rocks. Would it be best to go back with raised bed instead. I have work with wood and metal lot over the years. We have mild to extream temps.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

You could put a wind break at the garden to take care of the dust from the road ... It could be a fence or a live hedge ...

Just a thought ...


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

sw_va said:


> i would have to rework the yard next to the cow field. It has a slight sloop to it and a few large rocks.


I have a sloped section of garden as well. I find it somewhat advantageous as it prevents "ponding". The slope is to the south which allows the sun to hit it at a better angle and dry things out quicker. On the downside, it also allows the soil to to erode away during a real heavy, prolonged downpour.

The rocks you'll probably want to get rid of. They're really hard on the tiller.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Well we have came up with a good layout on the homestead. Plan on adding two goat lots where my old garden is now. The lots will be 200x80. Plan is to triple the orchard size. Root cellar in the far side of yard next to where the new garden will be. Still un sure of whats will best way to build it. Looks like we will need to haul some new soil to add to the front yard. Have everything drawn out just need to get more prices on some supplies. Almost got the wife convince to let me buy a tractor.


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## cedarguy (Nov 19, 2012)

This might give you some ideas. We are planning on building somthing like this, hopefully this summer.

http://robertchristine.blogspot.com/2010/02/root-cellar.html


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

sw_va said:


> Almost got the wife convince to let me buy a tractor.


You need to keep your ear to the ground and *really look* to find the good deals.

I bought a '49 Farmall C with fenders (worth $300 by themselves!) and a full cultivator set-up (worth another $300+) for $250!!. The guy bought it at a farm auction for scrap and got it running - and it would idle - but not throttle up.

He tried everything he could think of and gave up on it.

What was the the problem? 
A paper wasp nest in the intake manifold!!! At idle it had enough vacuum to pull fuel/air mix through the paper nest... but open the throttle and the paper wasp nest was such a huge restriction that vacuum at the carb went to ZERO, quit pulling fuel, and the engine would quit. Yes, it took me a lot to figure this one out as well.... I had never seen that before!

Another great find was a near new Chinese diesel tractor (single cylinder with hand crank) on Craigslist. I bought it for $400 from a guy who couldn't figure out how to get it started (it came with his newly bought property). He thought it had bent valves or something.... problem was he didn't know where to find the compression release lever! It starts very easy and runs smooth and clean.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I cut down on quite a bit of the dust problem by letting the front part (about 60’) of the property go wild and planted a row of Leyland Cyprus. All the small trees, holly and other stuff seems to help cut it down. On calm days or when the wind is blowing into the garden you just have to make an artificial rain shower to clean the plants off.

Sounds like you are off to a good start and packing quite a lot onto 1 acre! I have 1.5 acres, half acre wooded and the front dust break and could never get all that into what is left!


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Everbody round here will scrap their stuff. They would rather let rust away before they sold it. I let the area next to garden grow up all last year. It did not help the people around here wont slow down. They all think 60 is good for dirt roads. Called and got estament to rent backhoe for weekend. They want 350.00 for three days. I will be able to get started in two weeks if the weather is good. So instead we are going to rent the backhoe and buy a bigger garden tractor. Today i finshed building myself a golf cart for the homestead. Its set up to haul and pull for work. I will beable to pull a plow in behind it and push with the scrapper blade on the front.


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## deetheivy (Aug 7, 2012)

Have you seen or read anything on square foot gardening, it supposed to maximize space. I haven't tried it yet so I can't say personally, but I will deffinately be trying it as soon as I can. It is an easy google find. Sorry I don't have more but I am about out of time on my use with this computer.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

sw_va said:


> Everbody round here will scrap their stuff.


You have to be patient -and always looking, watching and "asking around". 
Auction sales and Craigslist - both have good deals and bad, but still need patience to get the good deals.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Apple tree graphing at williams orchard. On march 30 @ 10am free to watch but $2.50 for root stock. Its on west lee hwy in rural retreat. Good chance to learn something useful for the homestead. I seen this in the news paper figured pass it along if anyone in this area would want to learnhow to do it.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Tried to till a new garden it went bad. Bent the tines on the tiller so its out of the question. So i guess we are going to start building some raised beds. Started to plant some shrubs along the road to help with the dust.


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

As far as the dust think of a "wind break" sort of barrier.Bamboo is good, but can get out of hand if not kept under control...


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Been reworking my land thinking of growing some wheat. How much wheat would grow in a 50x100 area. I was going to move my gardens to new areas. After doing that i am doubleing my orchard. As i start on the lower half of the land there is about 20+ wild cherry and cedar trees. Thought about cutting them down and planting somw more walnut and shagbark hickory and some chestnut. What do you think thanks to.everyone.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

sw_va said:


> How much wheat would grow in a 50x100 area.


That is a little under an 1/8th an acre. If you don't irrigate or fertilize and have adequate soil, figure about 20-30 bushels per acre.... or about 4-5 bushels of wheat (about 250-300 lbs) of wheat from 50x100. If your family ate 1lb of wheat per day, that would keep you fed for close to a year.

Now, if you have access to good water (inexpensively) and can add some good nutrients, and keep the weeds and critters out, you could push it up to 80 bushels an acre, or about 10 bushels (600 lbs) from 50x100, if all goes well.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

If you do everything right and get a really nice stand of wheat, you will have a lot of straw left over after harvesting. If you have livestock, you can use it for bedding, then use all the straw/poop mix and compost it. Till it back into the soil and after a few years you will have a very rich garden spot!


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

That would be good. We are getting some new rain tanks. They will be the 300 gallon there will be atleast 6 of them for now. I might get one extra set it up on a stand and use it as water source for the garden. We dont use alot of wheat maybe 3 lbs a week if that.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

sw_va said:


> some new rain tanks... I might get one extra set it up on a stand and use it as water source for the garden.


IBC totes come around that size, and are stack-able on top of each other. I see them on Craigslist for $50-$75 each. It's what I am using.



sw_va said:


> We don't use a lot of wheat maybe 3 lbs a week if that.


I am sure you can find a market for fresh, home grown wheat!! It could always be a barter item as well. Where will you get your seed from?


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Thats the totes we are getting but they cost around 100 each here. I will use the extra wheat as a barter item. Now i have to find a hand mill to make flour.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

sw_va said:


> Thats the totes we are getting but they cost around 100 each here. I will use the extra wheat as a barter item. Now i have to find a hand mill to make flour.


What's your budget?

I bought a nice used Nazko Sunshine (I think same folks as Retsel?) and I love it because it is real stone ground flour.

A friend's family has a Family Grain Mill and they like theirs.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=149819

Quote: "Hi, I found this thread while googling and want to say I got a grain mill last summer after doing a lot of research. I agree that the Family mill is the easiest to turn. That means the kids and the wife can 'share the joy' of home milling. People say they need to mill the wheat through twice to get fine flour, but the effort is very light.

The Wonder Junior is almost identical to two other mills, the Sunshine Nugget and the Retsel Uni-Ark. In fact, those three owner-operated companies are within spitting distance from each other near Pocatello, Idaho. Somehow, they're sharing a design without suing each other over trade secrets.

I got a Retsel Uni-Ark at a good price because they had a special deal with a 12" flywheel and 'power bar' extention handle. I got both the stone wheels and the steel wheels.

I make a lot of sourdough bread for a hobby, so I use two or three times a week. I think it's much better drill some holes on a bench or table to mount the mill rather than using the clamps. I've seen people using their hand mill on YouTube, and the clamps just don't look so solid. 3/8" bolts with wingnuts means that it only takes a moment to mount the mill sturdily.

The stone wheels are the best for grinding flour -- bar none. If anyone is thinking about getting the steel wheels, I say that they're kinda crude and don't grind as fast as the stone wheels. I use a genuine Corona mill for, oily seed and wet grinding. So if you forgo the steel wheels and the clamp, you can get the Wonder Junior (not Deluxe) for $169.95, the Retsel Uni-Ark for $136.95, or the Nazko Sunshine Nugget for $169.95.

Nazko and Retsel also sell an unpainted version that's even cheaper. The Silver Nugget is $149.95, and the Retsel Uni-Ark Basic is only $117.93. That's a super deal, but they say it has the steel wheels instead of the stone wheels. Since both the stone and the steel replacement wheels for that mill cost the same, perhaps they would be willing to sell it with stone wheels for the same price. If I was buying again, that might be the approach I'd use.

On the other hand(!), I'm in my late 50s and all that grinding was OK for the muscles, but I started getting joint pain in my rotator cuff and my lower back. I don't want to tease the wrathful god of arthritis, so I motorized it a few months ago! Cost me about $150 for pulleys, shafts, bearings and a used 1/3 hp motor. So much for survivalist living. I could go back to manual pretty quickly if I needed.

By the way, the folks at Wonder Mill made a new video claiming the Wonder Junior is faster than the Country Living. Ain't no way these little mills are faster! The Country Living and the Grainmaker cost more and they're worth it. Their steel grinding wheels are first class and bigger than the Junior, Nugget or Uni-Ark's. I recently wrote up an article on a bread blog which did some math and ran my own tests about grinding speed. It's here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22534/country-living-vs-wonder-jr-grain-mills


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## Bobbb (Jan 7, 2012)

LincTex said:


> That is a little under an 1/8th an acre. If you don't irrigate or fertilize and have adequate soil, figure about 20-30 bushels per acre.... or about 4-5 bushels of wheat (about 250-300 lbs) of wheat from 50x100. If your family ate 1lb of wheat per day, that would keep you fed for close to a year.
> 
> Now, if you have access to good water (inexpensively) and can add some good nutrients, and keep the weeds and critters out, you could push it up to 80 bushels an acre, or about 10 bushels (600 lbs) from 50x100, if all goes well.


Hot damn, you could even harvest that with a scythe. Sure it would be work but it's not that large of an area. What do you think, an afternoon or maybe a whole day out in the field?


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

Now i need to decide what to do with all the wild cherry. They grow on the south side at the edge of the woods in front of the house. I hunt thr woods and would like to have something growing at the edge and mabye 30 feet or so in it of something that we could eat and also bring the aniamals in closer. On the north side there is oak and shagbark hickory. In my flower bed we have around 10 young hickorys started.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Bobbb said:


> Hot damn, you could even harvest that with a scythe. What do you think, an afternoon or maybe a whole day out in the field?


Yeah, about that - pretty easily. 
The only aspect I haven't nailed down with small-scale wheat is what to do about a planter. I suppose you could hand sow the seed and light till it in.

All the old 6 foot "pony drills" are scrapped, and larger 10 and 12 foot models still bring over a grand around here. I have enough experience with "Air Seeders" I think I could scale one down. That could give rows that a light cultivator would work with. In the absence of herbicides, that would be important for weed control.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Can you have the road oiled to cut down on the dust? The shrubbery and trees will help some but the most effective method will be having the road oiled. Be sure to have county permission and to have someone with the real thing do it. Used motor oil isn't a good option. It will float away in the rain.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

LincTex said:


> Yeah, about that - pretty easily.
> The only aspect I haven't nailed down with small-scale wheat is what to do about a planter. I suppose you could hand sow the seed and light till it in.
> 
> All the old 6 foot "pony drills" are scrapped, and larger 10 and 12 foot models still bring over a grand around here. I have enough experience with "Air Seeders" I think I could scale one down. That could give rows that a light cultivator would work with. In the absence of herbicides, that would be important for weed control.


We till the soil up very fine with my Troy-Bilt tiller then broadcast the seed. We hand rake it to get some dirt over it then watch it grow. If you plant it thick enough the wheat should choke out the weeds. (Rotate your crops to keep weeds down.) It's okay, even beneficial, to plant grains thick so don't worry about that. You can also do dried beans that way with the same results plus they replenish the soil rather than drain it of nutrients.

If you rotate crops and keep the weeds controlled with crops you can cultivate you shouldn't have a weed problem the one year you plant grain/beans. My grandfather used to plant soybeans with a wheat drill to smother weeds in the field. The soybeans came up quickly and produced such a thick canopy that the weeds couldn't survive.

Winter wheat is planted in the fall so you can till up the soil and kill the weeds then plant the wheat. It will grow up then go dormant in the winter but in the spring it already has the roots established and grows quickly, getting a big head start on the weeds. You can harvest it in late spring/early summer before the weeds have a chance to take over. Depending upon your growing season you can probably get another crop of something else on the same ground after harvesting the wheat.

We plant summer wheat here. It works well also. If you leave a little grain on the stalks after threshing, the chickens will pick through the straw and scatter it for you in the chicken house.

I've never heard of cultivating wheat. The stalks are thin and I'd be afraid of knocking them over with dirt from the cultivator.

Steve


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Good point on the weed control. Cultivation between rows might work, dunno. But establishing good ground cover will make a huge difference with weeds. We often used to double seed with 6" spacing drills, one angle then another or at 90degrees, cereals can compete pretty well if given the chance. 
Broadcast seeding has also gotten a bad rap, don't get me wrong the drill was a great invention, especially in terms of consistency of germination and crop staging at harvest. However, if not using chemicals, broadcasting and then working in with either disc, harrows, or cultivator can be great, very little open spaces. We have all kinds of ways to seed and yet I just planted a field of green feed this way.

There are other things that can be done as well, before chemicals it was common here to work and seed the field well, with wheat for instance seeded a couple inches deep, then harrow the field (or rod-weed or use a spring tooth cultivator) before the wheat emerged. This would kill a lot of tiny weeds and ensure the grain had a chance to get established before the weeds.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

mosquitomountainman said:


> I've never heard of cultivating wheat. The stalks are thin and I'd be afraid of knocking them over with dirt from the cultivator.


I hadn't, either. 
I was speculating whether it would work, since air seeders plant on 12" centers. A report by MSU in Bozeman stated they lost an organic wheat crop in 2005 partly due to "unacceptable weed competition"
http://www.montana.edu/news/5704/or...-100-bushels-per-acre-in-bozeman-last-harvest


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> There are other things that can be done as well, before chemicals it was common here to work and seed the field well, with wheat for instance seeded a couple inches deep, then harrow the field (or rod-weed or use a spring tooth cultivator) before the wheat emerged. This would kill a lot of tiny weeds and ensure the grain had a chance to get established before the weeds.


Interesting!!


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

We are going to plant the wheat this fall decided on a 70x50 patch and 30x50 patch of alafa for the rabbits.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

LincTex said:


> I hadn't, either.
> I was speculating whether it would work, since air seeders plant on 12" centers. A report by MSU in Bozeman stated they lost an organic wheat crop in 2005 partly due to "unacceptable weed competition"
> http://www.montana.edu/news/5704/or...-100-bushels-per-acre-in-bozeman-last-harvest


Modern agriculture relies heavily on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The common practice in Kansas was to kill the weeds with herbicides prior to harvest so the they'd be dead when it came time to run the combine through them. (Obviously - hopefully? - if they were organic then MSU probably wasn't using any "cides.")

My grandfather was "organic" before it was a catch phrase. He relied on crop rotation and cultivation to keep weeds down. He also used wheat after beans so that the wheat would suppress the weeds. He occasionally had a patch of weeds in the wheat but he would just run the combine around them. Crop rotation is a necessity in organic farming. Hot composting will save a ton of headaches by killing weed seeds in the composting process. It can be done with mechanized equipment in large batches but it's usually done by hand. (Hot composting is the process in which natural decay and biological activity heats the compost as it decomposes. Cold composting takes longer and doesn't create enough heat to kill weed seeds.)

He was also known for pulling weeds by hand. My sister and I had our first paying "job" pulling weeds in a seventeen acre soybean field along with my grandfather and grandmother. We were too young to know it was supposed to be boring and tedious. We loved it! It took us all about a week working in the mornings while it was still cool (relatively!).


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

sw_va said:


> We are going to plant the wheat this fall decided on a 70x50 patch and 30x50 patch of alafa for the rabbits.


Alfalfa is great in small patches. We grow some too. I get about three cuttings per year even this far north. I cut ours (daily in amounts needed to feed the rabbits) using a hand scythe and also dried/stored some for winter use. We only wintered over the breeding stock. The rest were butchered in fall.) We don't have any rabbits now so I'm in the process of reverting that patch back to garden space.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

mosquitomountainman said:


> kill the weeds with herbicides prior to harvest so the they'd be dead when it came time to run the combine through them.


This is common everywhere, since Roundup is so damn cheap on scale. In areas where swathing was needed to get the grain cut and dried down, farmers now Roundup the whole field and straight combine it.

I don't think it helps at all with the weed seeds. They still find their way into the grain tank.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

LincTex said:


> This is common everywhere, since Roundup is so damn cheap on scale. In areas where swathing was needed to get the grain cut and dried down, farmers now Roundup the whole field and straight combine it.
> 
> I don't think it helps at all with the weed seeds. They still find their way into the grain tank.


It doesn't kill the seeds and the combine just scatters them out the back so that they can grow new plants next year. Thus, once they begin it's a never-ending cycle!

They have to kill the weeds though because if they don't the green weed stalks will gum up the combine.


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## sw_va (Mar 24, 2013)

We dont use and chemicals on our property. Everything is done with by hand. I have decided that i am going to cut the trees down and plant the nut trees there and some more fruit trees.


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