Class #9

Class #9

Cover Crops
At the farm we are using Bell Beans (inoculated, hand cast and raked in), red clover and Vetch. All are nitrogen fixing.
Sew cover crops before or just after 1st rain- Oct. 15th.
Cover seed well from birds (esp. turkeys and quail)-use row covers
Varieties:
Grasses-barley, oats, wheat (fibrous root ball, not damaged by frost)
Legumes: fava, bell bean, vetch, clover, peas (may freeze then fall and get rust)
Buckwheat, flax
Local, feral weeds
Special mixes of seed
Garden plants can be used as cover crop: Knee high sweet pea, kale.
Till or cut and use tractor, rototiller or shovel to turn cover crops into the soil
Wait a minimum of three days, two weeks is better, before planting.

If Disease Strikes a Field
Mustard is a great crop for "fumigating" a field. It cleanses the field.
Birds clean the fields: leave them food overwinter.
Hard frosts are good for killing bugs and mildew
Solarizing soil "the refiners fire" (black plastic)
Let soil dry out.

January-February
Growth slows and plants want to bolt for spring. Root crops lose their sugar. Steiner said the forces are being pulled in.

Land Use
Equinox Transitions: on Equinox both summer and winter processes are supported.
One third of the farm is still planted with summer plants at the fall Equinox, and one third can be planted with winter starts. At the spring Equinox, one third of the farm is still planted with winter crops, and one third can be planted with summer crops. The other third of the land is fallow. In "herbal ley"-perenneal cover crops in permanent and rotational basis.
More on herbal leys:   http://2womenon2acres.com/what-is-a-herbal-ley/