The Tractor

                               So today marks the addition of eight new wheels added to the Kolb Homestead; one truck and one tractor. There were a lot of projects put on hold for want of a transportation device, but once those were obtained the flood gates of work opened. In the last post we were working on some preparing some garden beds to over winter and a chicken tractor. Well now they are firmly on their way to completion. The truck was something that we had been after for awhile and we had gotten it a few days before the tractor. It was an amazing purchase; cheap, reliable, and our dog loves to ride in it. But for all that the truck is it was the tractor that gave me that false sense of “Oh Man I’m totally a farmer now”. It is pretty amazing how quickly I felt graduated into the ranks of the experienced farms as the delivery person was standing on the tractor rattling off words like PTO, crank drive shaft. I didn’t really know what they meant but I knew that they were manly words; so I would just nod with agreement as he spoke.
Still, despite all the unwarranted confidence, and a pretty in-depth explanation of the tractor, my survival instinct took over and I will be spending the majority of the evening curled up with the operator’s manual. There is a lot of reading involved in farming, but it is always for the better. Some else’s experiences and knowledge can carry you a good distance before the sometimes inconvininent lessons of your own experiences set in.

                       Along with the first for wheels (the truck), came two pairs of hands. Mary Lu and Tom Orr stopped by the farm to help out. In two days of work we weeded some old beds from what looked like the civil war days, created a bed around the shed, cleaned out the shed, organized that very shed and created a massive anaerobic compost heap (AKA: the biggest compost heap in the world). I’m sure that’s an exaggeration but this pile was at least 16 ft by 4 ft. The anaerobic pile is much slower to decompose when compared to a more often turned aerobic pile, but the key factor is that it is waaaay easier to build. Throw down the cardboard, throw down the grass, throw down the hay, put some water on, and back away slowly. By this time next year we should have a real nice pile of soil to help feed the plants. As the farm grows we are going to need a lot of organic matter to add to the soil and the easier it is to get that soil the better.

  The next few weeks will be filled with organizing the filing, finishing the last bed, finding material for a hoop house to start seedlings in anf putting that up.

         It has been a month since we first stepped on to this beautiful vista over- looking the vast fields of a small farming community in Princeton IN. We were incredibly lucky to have met the Orr’s. Well, more correctly, we are very lucky that my friend Cody Hall met the Orr’s and recommended us for the job. It is because of our relationship with the Orr family that we have been given this opportunity to live and work on Kolb Homestead, and we are very grateful for that fact. This will be our first attempt at farming and a real chance to try and live a dream. Amongst the many things that Caitlin and I had in common when we met was the desire to practice the art of farming as it once was no more the sixty years ago. I remember Caitlin saying, “Humans did not fight their way to the top of the food chain to sit in a cubicle for 50 hrs a week”. It was love at first auspicious moral declaration.
          Given the immense amount that we need to learn about running a farm it is by no means going to be an easy task to start one. However, if we are successful then there is comfort in knowing that success is more than likely available to anyone.  For us there is more to farming than Horticulture and Animal husbandry. This country is in dire need of some cultural adjustments and the planet as a whole is long overdue for some real respect. We need simplicity, but simplicity is not something that you tell other people to do without first attempting it yourself. If there is to be any hope of real lasting change in the world it will not be accomplished by any amount of didactic commands on anyone’s part. It will be accomplished by an individual’s emersion in the ebb and flow of cultural fluctuation, and the formation of communities around common principles. I can’t say that we will be successful in accomplishing all the things that we set out to do, but in like manner, neither can I deny it. With all the uncertainty about the future there are a few simple things that I know for certain we have accomplished.
           After more consideration than was probably warranted, Caitlin and I got around to planting two plots 20 x 55 and a 15 x 40. In the beds we put: carrots, onions, kale, spinach, arugula, radishes, broccoli, beets, chard, mesclun, cilantro, garlic, and six types of lettuce. Most everything has come up and we think a lot will survive. We had a brief assault from some flea beetles but they flocked to the radishes and left everything else alone. I would be more concerned but it appears to be the end of the season and colder weather works as a great pesticide. So they are starting to taper off. We did some research and found out that flea beetles love radishes. Many people use them as trap crops. They plant them in the garden for the expressed purpose of diverting flea beetles away from other crops. Score one for beginner’s luck. I think we’re gonna be naturals.
            Aside from the plants we have started building a chicken tractor. It is basically an 8X8 square raised to three feet. That cube is further broken up into a 3×8 coop and a 5×8 pen (will have pictures soon). It will be used to cart the chickens around the farm for pest control and pasture management. Among the long list of skills that I simply do not have; carpentry is clearly one of the top five. But, we learn as we go.
            In the coming weeks there will hopefully be chickens occupying the tractor and a cold frame over the crops. We are off to a good start. Now if we can just keep the momentum.

We have started an organic farming operation on Kolb Homestead near Princeton, Indiana. We are conducting a tool drive to put all those old unused garden tools back to work. We are looking for old rakes, shovels, hoes with or without handles or an old lawn mower or small tractor anything that a vegetable and small livestock operation might be able to use. We are also looking for more traditional tools like hammers, screwdrivers, pliers and wrenches to build chicken tractors and other structures. 

If you have anything that you are no longer using and would like to donate, please reply and we will arrange to pick up or you can always drop it by the house at Harrison Lake.

The Orr Family (Mary Lu, David and Daniel)

Cody Young and Caitlin Carlson (Kolb Homestead Farmers)