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permaculture - [permaculture] Keyline system, raised beds, tractor implements & other pics of my farm, 4 acres in production

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>, Growing Small Farms <growingsmallfarms@lists.ncsu.edu>, triangle@lists.carolinafarmstewards.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Keyline system, raised beds, tractor implements & other pics of my farm, 4 acres in production
  • Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:40:03 -0400


Regarding the large production raised beds I use that I have written about in
the past:

Here are shots of raised beds on the 4 acres I have in vegetable production on my farm produced using a John Deere 3020 tractor, a Roll-A-Cone hiller-bedder, a Howard Rotavator, a tillage tool (spring shank cultivator)
and a 3 bottom plow. I have Three Yeomans plow shanks which will be mounted on the 6' toolbar pictured below (YeomansPlowToolbar.jpg) and applied to the entire acreage when soil moisture in low enough to avoid compaction.
I farm on a number of converging slopes so erosion is a problem, access by tractor is also. I plan to build small temporary earth dams across all the beds on all slopes at 100' intervals to limit erosion. I have lined the bottom edges of widest slopes with dozens of 5' round bales to catch nutrients and soil and limit nutrient-rich water loss - this is shown in: catchment-erosioncontrol.jpg. The tall, long raised beds were prepared on the flats and along the slopes on the contour; they usually contain all rainfall and dispense it gradually during dry times, by capillary action to the growing beds. During heavy rains the beds look like chinampas. At the lowest point on the West side of my property, below the driveway, I have constructed a small wet-weather water impoundment. This fills with nutrient-rich water overnight in a large rain. I have planted duckweed, cattails, papyrus and water lillies in it. The duckweed seems to have taken off as of today. Frogs breed readily in this nurturing environment - have had only one mosquito bite all summer thanks to them - the tadpoles love the duckweed - the cattails are sprouting new growth 2 weeks after planting.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/farmpix/recent-Summer2006/

bottomplow-tillagetool-YeomansPlowToolbar.jpg 200KB 640x480x16M jpeg
catchment-erosioncontrol.jpg 197KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds1.jpg 189KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds2.jpg 237KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds3.jpg 225KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds4.jpg 249KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds5.jpg 213KB 640x480x16M jpeg
raisedbeds6.jpg 196KB 640x480x16M jpeg
Roll-A-Cone-Hiller-Bedder.jpg 174KB 640x480x16M jpeg
smallpond.jpg 156KB 640x480x16M jpeg
YeomansPlowToolbar.jpg 163KB 640x480x16M jpeg

LL





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