plow anatomy + farmhack photos + farm photos

Heyoooo,

Two Spruce Farm staff has been real busy since the last post,  mostly with that most farmy of farming activities, plowing. To begin, this past weekend we traveled to Connecticut for a plow clinic given by master plowman Sam Rich at We Li Kit Farms. Neither Daniel nor I had ever used a plow before, much less a plow with draft animals, so learning from Sam (who was the walking plow champion at the 2007 USA plow match) was a good place to start.

Secretly, I came into the event wondering how much there could possibly be to learn about plowing. You just pull it behind some animals and it turns over ground, right? Uncomplicated. Turns out it's a very complicated and nuanced skill to plow correctly, and I was humbled by the amount of information Sam gave out that I didn't know. There's an entire lexicon associated with plows about which I was mostly unaware. At one point this weekend Sam was speaking and I realized only someone who was familiar with plowing with horses (or had just learned about plowing with horses) would be able to even understand that Sam was speaking standard English. 

For the sake of public education here's a diagram of a single- bottom walking plow, which is what we've been using and can be pulled behind 1-4 or more animals, depending on the size of the furrow slice it is taking (which is dependent on the width of the moldboard, see below). There are other types of plows used with draft animals, namely sulky plows, which have wheels and a seat on which the teamster can ride. Donn also has a trailer plow, which is pulled behind a forecart. There are probably other types of plows. As I've already confessed, I am a plow novice.

Also the "shin" is the leading edge of the plow.

View of the same type of plow from the other side. The piece of metal on the bottom of the plow is the landside or landslide. The heel is the part of the landside closest to the handles. 

 We also got the opportunity to watch some other teamsters work with their horses- seeing others' style of driving horses was great for us. We got to plow a little with a team of oxen which was really cool/ much different than horses. Oxen are much chiller than horses, based on this one experience. Last Friday, Sam worked on Donn's walking plow, changing the angle of the point dramatically in order to increase the land suction, or the force keeping the landside at the right depth and angle during plowing.

We got back from the clinic ready to plow up the land we'll be using this season- it had been too wet to plow until earlier last week. But despite watching skilled teamsters plow all weekend, it turns out there's still a learning curve. We worked at the beginning of the week with Donn and a couple of teamsters from Essex Farm, and though we're by no means at Sam's level, we're improving. We've plowed up about 2/5 of an acre (or 16,000 square feet, which sounds way more impressive) so far.

Below are more pictures from the FarmHack plus some requisite lamb photos. We've been chipping away at the forecart (Donn put in a couple of nights welding since the event) but the excitement of spring has put it on the back burner a bit. We'll keep working on rainy days and when we have the time and hopefully next time we post about it, it'll be being pulled by horses!

unbolting the front end from the rear end

watching to see if it'll come apart easily

it's starting to separate!

we got it!

here's the front of the tractor, propped up in the right side of the shop. we have a dream to work on the engine and turn it into a stationary power unit that we could use to power basically anything. There's a pully on the other side of the tractor that will run a belt when engaged.

we also worked on making a tongue (part that the horses hold up and pull against) for the cart. we had dragged this ironwood tree out of the forest a week before and we shaped it with a chainsaw and handheld planer. 

Ben and Becca (friends from Dickinson) lining up holes to be drilled into the steel frame we're building.

first piece of the frame bolted on!

And now, the lambs: 

We've also been putting seeds in the ground! We plowed the greenhouse garden, the smallest of our three planting areas, this week, then dragged it with a chain harrow, raked out the stones and clods and straw, and marked it for planting nice, straight rows. Peas, carrots, beets, spinach, radishes, and scallions went in yesterday and got watered in by a light rain today. They were all direct seeded using the Planet Jr we bought. We transplanted kale yesterday, too--our first transplanting of the season! Things are warming up and becoming more busy. CSA customers are signing up and contacting us with questions. Flowers are blooming and trees are budding and the ducks are swimming on the pond. We're plowing and harrowing and discing and preparing to transplant more and seed more and grow a lot! If you haven't signed up for a share yet and would like to, please get in touch with us!