Our methods and equipment

Our methods and equipment...

On this page, we feature our farming methods or equipment so that we can educate readers about our practices and promote our business partners.

Our Tractor

P. Bradley & Sons in Harrisonburg, Virginia, helped us locate a Montana tractor. This 4WD 45 HP beauty has a great front end loader and durable backhoe, which both help us since we have a lot of building to do in these early farm years. Additionally, Jeremy at P. Bradley helped us get a great post hole digger with two augers so we can set poles, posts, and trees.

Sowing the pasture--our harrow rake

Once an areas is cleared, we have to seed it. At a minimum, getting some reliable vegetation on the ground prevents erosion. Since our farm's goal is to be an orchard and vineyard, we will not sow row crops. As a results, we want to put down a ground cover that (1) prevents erosion; (2) is reasonably durable to foot and tractor traffic; (3) improves soil health; (4) assists future tree and vine plantings. Therefore, we don't till our soil, but instead, we break up the surface to prepare it for seeding. We use a harrow rake from Northern Tool and Equipment.

Ground cover--White Dutch Clover, Red Clover, and Alfalfa

We combine White Dutch Clover, Red Clover, and Alfalfa as our ground cover. First these plants all fix nitrogen from the air into nodules on their roots. These nodules naturally aerate your soil, which benefit the soil's health.

Second, when you mow clover and alfalfa, some of the roots--complete with their nitrogen nodules--die off, placing organic material and natural fertilizer straight into the soil.

Thirdly, we can spread the clippings onto the surface for organic breakdown or we can place them into a compost system. Alternately, we can harvest hay for other uses.

Finally, clover flowers attract bees. In turn, these bees pollinate other flowers in the area, notably our apple blossoms, which increases our expected crop yield. Of course, we also hope that more blossoms can help us forestall colony collapse disorder (CCD), which is a national agricultural crisis.

Currently, we buy our red clover and alfalfa from Wade's Farm Seed in Marlinton, WV. We buy our white dutch clover from OutsidePride.com.

Our barn

We are currently taking bids and finalizing our plans. As soon as we complete it, we will post the picture here with a link to the vendor whom we chose. Our goal is a barn that will last a lifetime. It doesn't make much sense to build a barn and then spend time maintaining it--there is enough maintenance on the farm's crops and equipment. Durable, long lasting, and low maintenance, our barn needs to secure our equipment as the farm's reliable business center.