Wow- that’s a level up from what I pictured. How many beans do you plan to plant? Once they get going, they are pretty productive, so if you don’t get enough PYO traffic, you’ll get tired of picking beans very quickly. Also, if you wanted to spread out the season and varieties, it could be more trouble than it is worth to use the seeder. I was picturing something the size of the thing you would seed a lawn with, rather than 40 acres. A person with a pole (making seed holes) and a kid running behind them with a bag of seed doesn’t seem like a bad option, at least for the # of row-ft I thought you would need.
Don’t take the above to say you are wrong in your approach. It probably says more about my ignorance than anything.
Bob, I read your post and made me laugh, 2X. I talk to other farmers here and try to avoid mentioning I farm only 18 acres. They would laugh at me. Most folks here wouldn’t consider an 18 acre farm any farm at all. Here, if you aren’t farming 1000 acres minimum, it really isn’t farming.
When I bought my little 4 row planter last weekend, I saw lots of 20 + row Kinze and JD planters which were sold for junk. That’s OK though. I’m comfortable being a little farmer, if I can peddle a little fruit or veggies, that’s my goal.
Here are a couple pics of equip of my small operation.
A pic of a shipping container we bought this summer. If my wife kicks me out of the house, I think I could live in it, if it wasn’t in the heat of summer.
You probably could- there was an episode of one of the house moving shows (Texas Flip N Move?) where the guy got beat out on the auction and decided to flip a shipping container instead. He still made (a little) money on it, but nowhere near as much as the team that moved an actual house- something like 1-2K vs 20K.
I think I see why you want to stay away from climbing beans. I was originally thinking it wouldn’t be that bad, but building enough support could be costly. Maybe seeding some along an already existing fence would be a possibility, but it would be a minor component. Weed control could be a bit harder as well, if you have some existing overgrowth near the fences.
18 acres feels like a lot to handle. People see my 0.5 acres and ask if I’m running a farm already. Farming 1000+ acres must require a completely different mindset.
Bob,
On 1000 acre farm the tractor applies fertilizer based on the needs. The data is received via GPS / sattelite. Everything is big so your tilling / planting 50 ft at a time. The big farmers here like in Olpea’s area are farming thousands of acres. The combine practically runs itself. Land is relatively nice and flat so no skill is needed. Grains are all gmo roundup ready so there are no weeds to worry about.
I had a series of thoughts (maybe not that original) when I read your post:
My first thought was mostly “ugh” (particularly the Roundup Ready), with a bit of “that’s interesting and kind of neat”.
2nd- I suppose that without such efficiency, a lot of people would starve.
3rd- Modern farming enables our civilization (so few people making food for so many)
4th- Cheap oil and manufacturing (tractors/chemicals) enable modern farming
5th- Things may be more fragile than we imagine- humans could be in serious trouble if one of the above breaks.
I kind of knew it (other than the GPS controlled fertilizer, which is cool), but hadn’t stopped to think about it enough.
I think you’re right on all counts. I generally support modern agriculture, but I think it is fragile and not necessarily good for our food security. I think it’s fragile that in the “bread basket” so few crops are grown, the epitome of monoculture. I think it’s also fragile that almost all of our fruits and vegetables are grown in California (normally a desert).
Believe it or not, I think the average farm size is likely to get bigger. I read somewhere the average age of the American farmer is 60. I suspect when those farmers can no longer farm, there will be fewer to replace them.
Every market is different. Here near the big city I doubt I could get anyone to come pick or buy beans. What we find sells for a premium are the iconic vegetables and fruit. I.e. tomatoes, zucchini, sweet corn, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, peaches, apricots. Stuff that is less familiar like okra and beans you really have to “sell” to get it to move. But ill admit that this market im in is totally atypical because I have nearly no competition other than the grocery store. There is almost no foodstuff farming going on in middle Arizona. Its all alfalfa, cotton, and dent corn. Occasionally you might see some oats, milo, or barley but thats it.
[quote=“Derby42, post:19, topic:9564”]
No, Roma II bush bean , it’s a flat bean much better freash than canned.
[/quote]Roma II so far are my favorite raw or cooked yet I personally like them better cooked
Where I grew up there is a farm that has pick your own strawberries, in the summer kids would volunteer to pick strawberries because it was free all you can eat strawberries and the kids ate less than they picked, so even though the kids eat lots of berries it still saves the farm a lot of money. Kids who grow up eating food that they help to pick eat way more healthy as adults so it betters the community.
The hole on the left looks like slug damage - often occurs on lowers leaves. The brown on the right looks like mechanical damage to the leaf veins - like a break, accidental hoe encounter. The distortion of the leaf may indicate a leaf miner. Do many of the leaves look like this?
@JustAnne4 Only a few. Doesn’t seem like damage is widespread. And you are correct it is a low lying leaf. I sprayed with a spinosad called Naturlyte but it only works on present pests. It is something that can be reapplied on a regular basis so I’ll just keep up a good schedule. On the other hand I don’t know about the possibility of slugs but if they are there I’ll find something to get rid of them too…
I use something like Sluggo. I spread it in the evening after a rain, and when there’s not rain in the forecast for the next few days. I do this about 1x/month - kinda sparingly.
Leaf miners distort the leaves - make them look crinkly. IF that is what you have, I don’t know if Spinosad is for that. Others might know. I’d be inclined to use Pyganic.
Thanks @JustAnne4. I’m reading more and I use wormcastings as a fertilizer. I haven’t used the liquid yet and hear it helps will leaf disease and repels bugs? Any info. You may shed on this?
Farming 1000+ acres must require a completely different mindset.
