permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

johnny gregory wrote:
> Frank and others,
>
>      I'll have to look at my 1/2 v trencher and see if its mfr. put a stamp
> or plate on it. It was used and I don't remember any insignia. When I'm at
> the farm I'll look for you. The plow idea is possible, too.

I was going to comment on your trenching scheme a while ago. Scott is right 
about using
a tillage tool to cut drainage channels along slopes to direct water to areas
normally missed during rainfall. Maybe a 1/2 V trencher would be useful in 
channeling water
to areas where it is needed that otherwise would be dry. The discussion on 
using swales and
berms to do this works very well also. Maybe a mixture of several methods 
would be the most effective.
One device that was not mentioned is the one row hilling discs implement, a 3 
point hitch tillage tool.
Tillage in and of itself will help terrain to absorb and hold water so I 
would suggest plowing
and maybe harrowing (or the reverse). You could follow this (or skip the 
previous the previous step)
with hilling discs. This will create deep furrows with a high, wide hill 
between, probably deeper than
what you could achieve with the V tool but not as deep as a moldboard bottom 
plow. You could use this to
channel water to your trees though a better use would be to channel it toward 
a berm or swale. In this instance
hilling should be used judiciously to carefully direct water to areas where 
it can be absorbed. Too much hilling
and too little planning on how to make it go where you want and stay put 
without undo erosion will result in overall
loss of water to your fields and a lot of erosion. Hilling discs are good for 
channeling water, creating swales
and creating raised garden beds. I have a one row hiller and recently bought 
a 7' toolbar, with connects for 3 point
hitch, to transfer the discs to so that I can hill up a really wide raised 
bed, ready to plant.
Another implement that you could use is the Yeomans Keylline Plow System. You 
can buy the points, shanks and other
attachments from Market Farm Implement in Pennsylvania. See this document for 
more info:
http://market-farming.com/tractor-tillage-equipment+methods.txt
(and for a gardening handtool sourcelist: 
http://market-farming.com/gardening-hand-tools.faq)

Frank should consider getting the Keyline System and a one row hilling discs 
implement; with those two tools
he could manage fields and pastures and work garden and orchard space.
--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/pcwiki/index.php/london