Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Claudia & Linda" <dragonhill2@netzero.net>]

It wouldn't exactly be "no-till" but one way to clear the Johnson grass
would be to get a few feeder pigs and an electric net.  Set up your net in
one spot and let the pigs clear it for you.  They'll dig up and eat all the
tender roots, fertilize, grind up the tough grass stalks and leave them as
mulch. When they have sufficiently cleared that patch, move them to the next
area, rake level the area they have cleared, seed it to whatever grasses or
crop you want, possibly using seedballs and lightly mulch.  The pigs will
need shelter and water.  You can provide water in a 55 gal. plastic drum
with a water nipple screwed in near the bottom that they will learn to drink
from.  This will prevent them from spilling water in a trough and making a
mudhole that compacts the earth.  By limiting the area they can graze you
force them to completely clean up the area before moving them to the next.
By the time they've finished their job, or maybe even before, you should
have some good size market hogs to offer and a good start on clearing the
Johnson grass.

Claudia