Market Farming

["David Inglis" <mhcsa AT bcn.net>]

Hi Alex,
Excellent post but I am left with some questions.
Where can the documentation from Dr. Ivan Smith and Steve Riochs work be
found? OU?

What do you mean by 'cold composting' and why do you consider it superior?

Why leave compost on the surface rather than incorporating it into the top
two or three inches were it would be safer from losses?

How can high density plantings be used on a larger scale without committing
to hand control of weeds? This has proven the hardest component of bio
intensive to bump up to a viable scale for us.

If green manures are a foundation for the "Complimentary Agricultural"
approach are they incorporated in the beds or removed and composted as Sir
Albert Howard recommended?

Why do you think Rioch got higher yields than Jeavons and is that on a land
unit basis or per 'man hour'.?

For twenty years I have been trying to build a machine based approximation
of the great results I got with 'biointensive methods' on a very small scale
when I first started out, with mixed success.
We grow sixteen or so acres of veggies. One year veg one year green manures
on permanent beds [ if I don't loose them in the greenmanure ]
Beds are set up using first a Yeoman keyline plow[ Jeavons fork] for deep
tillage which is seldom necessary now and is usually done in conjunction
with a growing green manure crop.
Beds are spaded with a Celli spade plow 10 inches deep [Jeavons spade] then
raised and 'stalebedded/raked' with a Williams tine weeder with home made
adaptations.[Jeavons rake] which is also our main weeding tool along with a
set of basket weeders. These three operations can be done in about six hours
per acre or approximately what it used to take me to double dig 100 square
feet of bed. My fellow equipment jockeys consider this slow but on my scale
it is well worth it.
As I mentioned above, our biggest challenge has been getting high planting
densities that can be mechanically weeded. Any suggestions or comments?
We still use hand tillage in our 6000ft.sq of greenhouse. Mostly surface
tillage after the initial bed preparations.
I look forward to your response to any or all of the above.
Yours  David Inglis
Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.
Housatonic. MA.