tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7851574739661452863.post4990968194845684071..comments2023-05-30T04:54:47.560-05:00Comments on a Girl on a Farm: rain is a good thing (I'm even glad to hear snow is on it's way)agirlonafarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12174293745917509072noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7851574739661452863.post-78586128558013618362012-02-03T14:41:18.614-06:002012-02-03T14:41:18.614-06:00About ten years ago, somebody gave me a big box of...About ten years ago, somebody gave me a big box of about 6 years worth of 'Small Farm Journal' which had an ongoing column written by Anne and Eric Nordell.<br /><br />Soil fertility was mainly built and maintained with cover crops, with half of the farm in either cover crops or fallow at any given time.<br /><br />There is a little information about their farm at:<br /><br />http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/features/1204/nordell/index.shtml<br /><br />I can't seem to find any reprints of their columns (I learned about most of it by reading those old 'Small Farm Journals"), but some of the information might be available if you look hard enough (I think there are some videos on YouTube about their farm). <br /><br />I don't have a market garden, use horses, and I'm not completely organic, but I manage the garden in a similar way with cover crops and compost. Plant winter wheat in the fall as a cover crop, plant oats in the spring, sorghum (or sorghum-sudangrass) in the summer. Winter peas, blackeyed peas in the summer, turnips or canola in the winter, etc.<br /><br />I don't know about Nebraska's weather, but I would start by broadcasting some oats and running the cultivator over them as a green manure crop. Let them grow and till them in before planting your garden this spring.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11412944120622315804noreply@blogger.com