When we decided to farm and make a CSA, Zach and I went shopping.  Zach had been reading a book about market gardening, and in it he found this ultra-compelling section dedicated exclusively to a BCS tiller, or walk-behind tractor.  I’d never heard of them.  So we looked into the different models, considered our budget of wait-staff cash tips and credit card hoard, and dove in.  Of course, if something is going to be called a walk-behind tractor, it had better do something beyond just till.  In this case, the BCS has a PTO, or Power Take-Off, which is the spinning gear that drives implements on tractors.  So we found a really sweet attachment that we just knew would be useful, really useful.  We bought an Italian-made Berta Rotary Plow for our new (used) machine.  It cost more than the flipping tractor, but we needed it.

We decided to put our new plow to work, and proceeded to plow a good ¾ of an acre, with a machine whose soil-working width is 12 inches.  We spent literally days on a task that later would be accomplished with a bottom plow (the right tool for the job, as it were) in 2 hours flat.  I think there was something of a notion in our heads back then at the Beginning Time that if we sacrificed our bodies and minds, right off the bat, to the altar of our great Cause, if we demonstrated a fierce and righteous appetite for suffering in our work, we would be rewarded by instant bounty and great farming karma.  We were not.  But we didn’t despair.  We just abandoned the rotary plow, the useless son of a gun.

Since then, we’ve used it here and there to dig shallow trenches, which it is really splendidly good at, and that’s pretty much all.  This whole time, mind you, I’ve been hearing the voice of Joel at Earth Tools up in Owenton, Kentucky, telling me how this plow is an excellent tool for making raised beds, all the while shoveling the paths up onto the beds with absurdly tireless enthusiasm, 150 ft at a shot.  And then, just yesterday, it occurred to me that we had at least eight new beds to make asap, which wasn’t even in the top 5 items on our prioritized farm task list for this week.  Joel started speaking to me again, more or less as soon as I picked up the shovel to make the first bed.  I ignored him for about 45 minutes, and then had a brilliant idea.  I thought we might try that rotary plow to make our beds.  I took the tiller, our exalted bit of steel, off of the BCS, and bolted on the plow.  It took me roughly an hour to form up all eight new beds.

So, yes, I’m a bit slow on the take.  And please don’t talk to me while I’m working, because I’m easily distracted.  Even if it’s about using a different tool.

Here’s to tomtens, and shoemaking elves, and the relentless pursuit of new discoveries of old (good) ideas.  With all of my concentration,

Noah Shitama
Swallowtail Farmer

Ps.  I promised Jane I’d be brief with this one.  So I’d better stop typing now.

Recipes:

Roasted Grapefruit

Slice grapefruits in half at the center, against the grain. Use a spoon to separate fruit from the rind around the inside. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 in oven for about 10-15 minutes. Enjoy this warm delicious citrus treat over a salad or by itself.

Collard Green Surprise

1 Pkg Cognito Farm Italian Sausage
Bunch of Collard Greens
2 Garlic Cloves
1/2C Glades Ridge Chevre

Cook the sausage in a large covered skillet over medium-low heat until done all the way through, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and cut into 1/4 inch cubes, setting aside.

Slice collard greens into strips and add to the same skillet, keeping as much juice in the pan as you’d like. Saute over medium heat for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic.

Cover with lid and turn down to simmer for another 10 minutes, until greens are completely tender. Take off the heat, and put greens into a serving bowl, tossing with sausage and crumbled goat cheese. Enjoy!

“So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute…Give your approval to all you cannot understand…Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years…Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts….Practice resurrection.” 

– Wendell Berry (The Country of Marriage)