This is going to be a lot of work...
As always though, it is nice to have help. For a while now, we have been using animals to clear the land for us. Basically, we open up a portion of the raw land overrun with briers and thorns for the animals to work on. After a while, they eat it back to raw soil. At that point, we cover it with mulch to suppress those plants from regrowing. Here are a few short videos about it.
WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER WITH ANIMALS - VIDEO 1
WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER WITH ANIMALS - VIDEO 2
In that second video, you could see our hogs and the goats we borrowed from @bluerthangreen & @allforthegood beginning to work on a new section of the property. Here is what that portion looked like the other day.
I know that it may look like we have destroyed part of the earth by doing this. Hold on, I can explain!
Basically, to have a bunch of Poison Ivy and Green Brier on a section of land doesn't really help us. Neither do non-edible shrubberies. Our goal is not to get rid of the plants or forest on our land, but rather to replace the existing one with one that we prefer.
We would prefer to have a mixture of food-bearing plants and medicinal herbs growing on our property. If we can grow a lot of our own food supply and also have enough to share, swap, or sell to others, this will be far preferable for us.
Since @bluerthangreen has a dump trailer that I can borrow, and since we can get free mulch nearby, I took down part of the fence so that I could dump this load where I wanted it. The mulch will cover the soil for now, and eventually build it up. It'll prevent weed growth and retain moisture, and in time, we will begin to plant a mixture of annual and perennial food plants.
This is what another part of the land looks like right now, where we planted some peppers to put the soil to use for the time being. They have grown very well there so far, and we can't wait to get more growing next year. In case you're wondering, these happen to Ghost Peppers, one of my personal favorites!
Once the trailer is in place, getting the mulch out is no problem. With a simple push of a button, it unloads itself!
Sure, I have to spread it around a bit, but I like a bit of hard work. Actually, I am currently in the best shape of my adult life right now, thanks to all of the hard work I am putting in on our land!
After I got it spread, I evaluated the situation. I'll need another load for this portion, but all of the old plants should now be removed. We will use the space for annual crops until we are ready to sculpt the land with swales and such to help control runoff and retain water from rainfall. When we combine some shaping of the land with soil-building and mulching, we should be able to water our plants less and have them stay moist for longer.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-progress
Until next time…
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Nice work @papa-pepper, wish I had a place around here for free mulch. We do have a place to get mushroom compost up the road away, but it ain't free!
Keep on improving that land and it will pay off soon!
Nice comment @jed78
Mushroom compost is ok but you can convert your waste to both your plants and yourself... Keep it up
Oh I'm clear on that, been composting my own stuff for years now, but free mulch is free mulch!
Sure...do also find time to check my blog posts for many related beneficial tips...😉
Thanks my friend, you know I'm working on it!
Real hard work from the main man...all the @peppers are up to the task for sure.. keep it coming...upped...
Amazing post!
I do a bit of apartment gardening but this is way more fulfilling - of course having more land is always better and satisfying in many ways!
Like many others I too like the part where the animals "do their work" by eating what you don't need. They can do what costly machines may do with a lot of effort - from humans who operate it.
You have some awesome work going and it's always a pleasure to read your updates. Keep it up - and thanks for your posts!
If you have time, it would be great if you could please check out my Missing Steemit FAQ, my latest post.
Nice post @papa-pepper
You remind me of farming with my late dad. I guess i'll have to go back to my roots.
Glad to hear I help bring back the memories!
Nice video in post.@papa pepper thanks for sharing .
Great posting @papa-pepper , a lot of sweat equity (and blood I'm sure) going into the land for long term benefit.
wow! awesome. I really like your big farm, you can put any crop!
Very good job @papa-pepper. this post became a science for me as a farmer. Thank you very much :-)
Nice work over there bro.... May be next time you can call me for assistance.... LOL..... Your farm is big though. I may not really last long..... Cos Imma kinda lazy.... 😢
LOL - at least you are honest!
This looks awesome, I'm getting ideas for our place!
What would you say are your top 10 plants to replace with?
@knownassam i have followed you and i hope you follow me back and we upvote each other thanks
Thank you.
Ten would be hard.... there are so many. I've started a video series on plants on the homestead, which I will begin to release later today. Until then, I'll have a think on it.
Too many. I'd probably do a top 50 HA.
But I'm curious to know what' you'd think.
Sounds good. Will creep your plants series when it's released ;)
Here again! At first when I read the part where you wrote the animals would work on the farm, i guess i lost myself there. I sincerely thought they were trained to do it maybe with their legs or mouths but i didn't think that you meant they would eat it.
Reading your posts keeps bringing me close and closer to animals!
I am thrilled by the ongoing work.
Glad to hear it. By allowing the animals to do what they would do anyway in a way that works for us, we can all enjoy it and get the job done sooner! Thanks.
Its great that you put the goats and hogs to work clearing the land. Looks like they love to munch at the green buffet! It looked like one of the little peppers was riding a goat in the 2nd video - very cute. They seem very comfortable with the animals. My father looked after the pigs when he was a boy growing up in Europe and he always trained the biggest one to carry him.
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Hello @papa-pepper
I find this post very educative because it reminds me much of animal husbandry, a vocation I am planning to go into very soon. Thanks
@eurogee
Looking Good ! Wow, NICE dump trailer, almost like cheating, lol. (AND FREE mulch ! FTW !) btw, On wild land, ever considered turkey's ? man, they fert and take it to raw ground, would be an awesome addition to the hogs and goats, plus. you get to eat them ...
and after, can leave pens open or dump them out, they free rage eat, and really wont stray (To stupid to run off)... Just saying ... of course chickens do the same, but turkeys are incredible defoliators ... Keep up the good work Bro !!!!
Hugs to you and yours !!!
Read More, Reason More ... JTS
Good suggestion, and we are open to anything!
Great I am following. I am living in the building on the high floor and I have enough. Just waiting for the meltdown to do the same as you
Animals and there mulch are very useful because they help in growth of various plant and animals. The mulch is very useful in form of compost like organic manure and fertilizers form.
Nice humanbable post @papa-pepper.. we have to love animals, they are important for us like we need other necessary things in our life.. we should treat them with humility.. you are doing good job, you consider them part of your family.. hats off..
well done on growing! have fun and keep them safe, and don't eat them. (the animals)
Both videos are very nice
Impressive techniques in gardening.... Go ahead! Thanks
nice post keep it up ^_^
Those happy hogs don't even know they work for you, that's smart! And I can't wait to see the transformation to a perennial garden. Amazing hardwork!
I have just a few Persimmon and Gooseberries planted so far, but there will be more to come!
Great smart work @papa-pepper.
I think so too. They like to do it and eat, and it makes my life easier. Once they are done eating it there, I can clean up pretty easily and cover it in mulch. Thank you!
Well done. Great idea using the mulch. You should see really good results from that area now. I went to the "Back to Eden" method in my garden and also made "Bio Char" for it and had really good results in everything I grew there.
Bio Char is a good one too! Very familiar with the Back to Eden method.
You might like this post if you haven't already seen it: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@papa-pepper/grow-your-own-soil-drills-tilling-and-building-the-soil-without-breaking-a-sweat
Yes I think I remember that one when I first got on here. I really need to get some of those. Very good article. I recently started with "Comfrey" and it does much the same. It can have roots 10 to 12 feet deep or more. It is a bio accumulator and mines nutrients from deep in the soil and stores it in its leaves. You can chop and drop the plant up to 3 times a year to feed surrounding plants. Awesome as a fertilizer kick starter also. Creates tons of material for compost. Loaded with tons of good stuff that the old timers loved. It is also called knit bone and was used in cell regeneration and mending broken bones. Spreads well and takes over an area easily by root division so be careful where you plant it. Super good for new areas that need help. Think I need to write an article about it.
I applaud your work in successful farming always @papa-pepper
Thanks @mushthafakamal!
Great job @papa-pepper its looking awesome!🙋
It's starting to! Thank you!
Your welcome ! I will hopefully be doing the same next year !!💕👌👍✌❤
Cleaning the land and fertilizing at the same time and then apply mulch to stop regrowth and retain water into the land. Good move @papa-pepper
Thank you. So far so good, step by step in the correct direction!
Hey, @papa-pepper! You have been busy. I can see all the changes in your homestead in the past little while. It is amazing what can happen in a short time. Free mulch is always good and dump trailer even better! Can't wait to see what happens next...
I am thrilled to see how you are preparing your land. Your talk of a food forest and such really gets me going. I just finished up with some permaculture classes and can't wait to incorporate much of what I just learned as well. The importance of swales can't be denied. I'll be following this one closely.
what is it as organic fertilizer?