Anyone in N FL?

[Katharine]

Is there anyone in my "neck -o- the woods" around the Gainesville area who would be willing to share some information with a small start-up family farm? We're new to farming and there's only so much you can learn on the internet and thru books, before you really need someone to physically SHOW you some bits! I think it's best put this way- I'm smart enough to know, that I DON'T know everything/anything yet about crop farming. Also to really add to the pile, we are GOING to do it without commercial chemicals period.

We need someone to show us how to plow and till our soil basically. I know that there are variations in how you set your disks and all sorts of things but I have no idea and would really like to get this show on the road for a fall crop for our CSA.
Thanks,
Katharine

 

[JBMac]

Good Morning,

I live on a small farm in High Springs, close to you, I imagine. I grew up on a large farm that grew mainly cattle and hay. I don"t have an incredible amount of row crop experience, but I do have a degree in Agronomy (mainly specialized in forages)from the University of Florida. I know the principles and where to find resources. I"d be happy to come by your place sometime and let you pick my brain (might be slim pickin"s). Send me an email and we"ll set up a time convenient for the both of us.

John

 

[Anonymous-0]

You are in for a treat if you think you can do this easy without chemicals. I don't know what you intend to grow, but some things are almost impossible to raise without them. Unless you have a large supply of manure on hand one crop is all that will do very well on a piece of ground without adding fertilizer to it. Bugs will eat it up depending on what you raise. Cabbage is prone to being eaten up by loopers. Flea beetles are another big problem on some crops along with horn worms and other various creatures. With organic fertilizer(manure) you will definetly need a good cultivating tractor and a hoe. Lots of weed seed are spread from the use af manure. Organic farming is quite possible, but lots of work

 

[Anonymous-0]

Look, I hate to tell you that you cannot grow without chemicles. Plain and simple. Has the soil you are using ever been farmed recentally? you will need to improve it. How big is your tractor? I would help you out, but Im in ohio.

Good luck with organics.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

I farm without chemicals.No chemical fertilizers,
pesticides or herbicides.Not 100% organic but almost.Vegetables that are local grown without chemicals here sell for twice the price of chemical grown.Its really the wave of the future.Get a subscription to Acres USA as a start.Read Eco Farm and Minerals for the Genetic
Code by Charles Walters.When you are finished those two books you will understand more about your soil than most farmers.Anything I can help with give me an email.

 

[Walt Davies]

I'm amazed that someone would take on a farming project without any prior experience but on the other hand I'm glad to see that you have the guts to do it. You can only learn so much from books that are written by people who have never farmed. I would visit your neighbors farms and learn what they do do to till there ground as it varies a lot from place to place and crop to crop.
You could also hire a farm hand with experience in your line of produce it would be a small cost for now but would be worth it to learn what you need to know to do it on your own.
Good luck with your project.

Walt

 

[SCUBAInstr]

I don't live in North Fla., but I sure do love Ginnie Springs!

 

[Katharine]

Hi Guys,

Thanks to some for the helpful advice and to others for the sarcasam and to others for the non-belief. (People used to laugh when they were told the world was ROUND too....)As I mentioned in my previous post, I was looking for help, nothing else. I'm not trying to start a fight with anyone but here are some things for you to consider:

1.) I HAVE been growing and selling our produce, meat and eggs in smaller quantities than what you probably deal with, but I AM already doing this from our farm in raised beds. I just need to know how to operate an old style 2 or 3 bottom plow properly.

2.)If any of you boys were to actually be more open minded and think that possibly you might be able to LEARN something also, than more farmers would not be going out of business, their farms up for auction and equipment being sold off because of the high over-head and lack of profit, along with ailments caused by the chemicals and the constant need to add more pesticides, poisions, fertilizers and chemicals.

3.)It is a bit more work my way, but I have a variety of things on our farm and can expand numbers slowly as my clientel require more. I have a steady supply of chicken poop and compost which we use generously and it produces beautiful large tomatoes, peppers, okra, lettuce and cucumbers to name a few. We grow certain varieties of flowers and other plants with our veggies to keep the nematodes out of the soil, the hornworms off the 'maters and the slugs and snails out of the soil and off the leaves.

4.)My style of farming is called Community Supported Agriculture and you should try getting some information on it, because you might be interested to know that with this kind of farming, MY crops will all be SOLD and PAID for before they are even GROWN, no MATTER WHAT. I will only need a minimum of 10 customers, and I will have more than paid for my "Old tractor with all her smoke and blow-by" and be able to afford the repairs in CASH this winter and then some. I won't have the worry of what the market will bear for my crop, trucking/shipping it anywhere, or if the bugs DO all eat my crops, (but if you know ANYTHING about companion planting and rotation it's easy, I've BEEN doing it already) because my money will already be in the bank. My customers of which I already have an established base from the trial runs that we have done for the last TWO YEARS are all very excited and are eagerly awaiting for us to get the land tilled and planted so that they can plunk down their $400 PER family of 4 and $250 for a family of 2 for 20 weeks worth of fresh Certified Naturally Grown vegetables. Eggs and meat are EXTRA, at $2.00 a dozen for eggs and over $3.00 per pound for CHICKEN. Do you know, around here FRESH, UN-PASTUREIZED cow's MILK sells for OVER $10.00 a gallon?? Home-made goat's milk cheese is even MORE expensive and people willingly PAY it. Can YOU do that?

5.)Check out www.localharvest.com - We have a store on there and it takes CREDIT CARDS and it costs US NOTHING but %15 of each order and THEY do all the paperwork.

Check out these links if you want to learn:

http://www.naturallygrown.org --for the certification

www.bravehost.com - for a FREE website

www.localharvest.com - for a FREE internet store

Just keep in mind- We are ALL learning in one way or another, the day you STOP learning is the day you have died.

Katharine

 

[Anonymous-0]

See if you can get hold of ShepFl who posts here some times. Has a Oliver 55 and does some veggy and pine tree farming? He got a disk plow last year and was working up some sandy soil. Search archives for ShepFl postings/threads. Any Amish in your area? Another thing to check is small Tobacco farmers retiring the past couple years since growing laws changed- cutivating tractors and some transplant equipment good for veggies. What is your market crop/area? Can't recall from your recent postings about size of farm land or working equipment you have. RN

 

[Katharine]

Hi RN!

Thanks for the tips, I haven't heard or seen Shep on here in awhile, was just talking to "george MD" about him the other day seems he's gone missing for a bit..

We have 5 acres, 30 layer chickens, 3 geese, some Guineas for snake-control in the coup, 2 pregnant sheep and virtually no neighbors immediately close, but we do live on a busy paved county road and sell directly from our farm and over the internet. I have three subdivisions where a majority of my customers all come from and customers who drive for an hour to get to our farm also, who are all horse-people or city people and don't have time/inclination to grow and do what we do. We're also going to start selling "hay rides" in the wagon for a buck or two a head, minimum party of 4.

I don't have sandy soil, our property is all old cow pasture (WELL fertilized and full of good grass) and in places am very close to the water table so I have to watch that! No Amish anywhere for a few hundred to a thousand miles, that I know of, aren't they more in PA?
Katharine

 

[Katharine]

US TOO, but they're EXPENSIVE, try Fanning Springs, MUCH cheaper and prettier we think....

 

[Traditional Farmer]

You are definitely on the right road.Let me add the
Gene Logsdon book "Contary Farmer" to my list of must read.For what you are doing a good tiller for your tractor would be the best tillage tool you could buy.On several acres of gardens and truck patches I chisel plow every Spring (may not be necessary in your sandy soil) and then rototil with a 5ft tiller.I plant and cultivate with several older Sears,Bolens and Allis Chalmers garden tractors.No big investment but works fine.Also have almost no insect problems as my soil is rich in organic matter,has been mineralized and is balanced.BTW I'm no young Idealistic Young thing I'm 50+ years old and have farmed all my life and run beef cattle and meat goats.>Like you said one should never quit learning and trying new ideas.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Katherine, I don't know if that was directed at me or not, but I wasn't being sarcastic. I was merely telling you that on a very large scale organic farming is lots of work and an uphill battle. Without very good farming practices your land will be worn out in two years. I too raise my garden crops this way without chemicals or man made fertilizer and know from first hand experience that it is harder to do. That was my point to you. All my fertilizer comes from horse manure which is the best. The chicken manure will burn crops in the same way to much man made nitrogen will, if applied to heavy. It is very hot. I also am in no danger of going broke and having to sell any of my 932 acres,14 tractors or equipment. I come from a family that has farmed in this country for 200 years and none of them have ever gone under until their death. I even raise as much of my hay and field corn without chemicals or fertilizer that is possible. I rotate my crops religiously between corn, beans and red clover to boost nitrogen levels the natural way. I also use as much manure from my 90 cows as I can gather up. I am sorry if you were offended by my honesty, I was just trying to stress that this requires lots of work and very good crop management. I have watched scores of farmers go under, but I am here to stay.

 

[Katharine]

Georgeky,

Sorry George, but I didn't ask for opinions, actually. I asked for anyone in MY AREA who could help with showing us how to use a plow. PERIOD. No offence meant, I am sure, and NONE taken.

The world is a big place, filled with many ways of doing the same thing, for different reasons.

 

[Katharine]

Hi Loren!

I am about 6-8 miles South of Gainesville in Archer, just off of CR 121. We have just purchased our first tractor (not our best choice, apparently) but it is a '68 Ford 3400 3 cyl Diesel with a bush-hog and we like it. For the other equipment, (and I'm sure to everyone else's amusement on here), we'll be renting it for the first season until our money comes in then purchasing what we need.

Katharine

 

[Anonymous-0]

You are absolutely right, you did ask if someone was close enough to help. I am not, and wasn't sure you knew what you were getting into as farming by any method is a tough row to hoe. I do see by you mentioning the plants that do help with various aspects of organic farming that you do have some idea about this. No offense was taken by me. Just trying to help. Good luck.

 

[Peabo]

You might need to see HOBO on the 8N board. He usually posts a link for people like yourself that are looking for information on plowing. I want get in his business and will let him post the link or either you might can just search the archives for it. He seems to be a good guy. Good Luck with the farming, I think it"s cool what ya"ll are doing!!

Peabo

 

[Anonymous-0]

One thing I say a lot- get good fences put up- Experience. Sheep? Hair sheep like Katadin or Dorper don't need shearing, couple other hair breeds also around that take the heat-Barbados/Criolla. Irish bed/French bed gardens good for moist soils, 'Italian plowing'- furrows/ lands together usefull large gardening practice with tractors in low wet ground. RN

 

[Katharine]

Hi RN,

Yeah, wish someone would have told me a while BACK about the dang fences! Also the fact that they PREFER the most expensive plants and LOVE the thorny ones! Ahh well... live, learn and RE-PLANT, that's my motto. Roses, Azalea's, Crepe Myrtle, Lilies, Lemon Tree, etc....

We have one Southdown Babydoll Cross from a Jacob's Cross. The Southdown is all white and looks pure, but isn't. The Jacob's Cross is pure, but unregistered. Beautiful wool on both, had them sheared beginning of Spring, easier to pay $5.00 each to have done! Both are due to lamb soon, the Jacob's will be first as her udders are bigger, the other will probably be in Sept. Both are bred by a Kahtadin! What a mess, but hey, they are more for our small petting zoo...

 

[Katharine]

Hi PEABO!

Thanks and I will. We enjoy the he%@ out of it, specially with the tractor now. Hubby is puter geek (that's his day job, the farm planning and implementing is mine pretty much, but we share on the weekends and the kids pitch in) and so this is all new to us, but we have been getting better each year. YES, we're city folks who moved out to the country, but I don't think we're doing too dang bad!

 

[Gary in Geneva]

Sorry to hijack the thread.

How did he worm them without chemicals and treat them for horn flies? That is the only things that I am currently using chemicals on our cattle for.