Gregory Hatfield

jacque g wrote:
I think your most valuable asset is the one between your ears. Next would be a strong, diversified community.

Other problems, no matter how dire, can be solved, but no solutions are possible without creativity and flexibility, and no ideas, however good, can be lasting without a supportive social network.

Agreed. You can only do so much on your own. We are so far removed from our hunter gatherer ancestors that very, very few can survive that way today. Whether we want to admit it or not we humans need each other.

Basic necessities, food, clothing, shelter. As a general rule you can survive 30 days without food but only 3 without water.

I have also come to the conclusion that some type of woven wire perimeter fence is what I'll be doing as well. 90% of my perimeter fence line is also a tree line and past experience has shown me that for a number of reasons that is not a good combination for electric perimeter.  I'll be using wood posts in the corners and gate openings and metal t-posts along the lines with additional wood posts about every 50 feet. Eventually I will be implementing an intensively managed rotational grazing system.

My plan is to set the woven wire 3 inches or so off the ground with a sacrificial single strand of barbless barbed-wire wire below and another sacrificial strand or two of barbless above the woven wire. In my area, the bottom of the fences rust out first and I also want to protect the top of the woven from falling branches, etc. This should maximize the life of the woven wire and also allow me to use a shorter height which will be a little less expensive.

I will then run an electric line inside the perimeter fence along the keyline where my slopes transition to botton land. This will effectively divide the pasture in half for wet season grazing on the slopes and dry season grazing on the bottom. I will then run portable electric wire off the main keyline wire and adjust paddock sizes as needed.

My pastures have been recovering since 2003 and I too am shooting for livestock in 2012.

This is where I'd start

jacque g wrote:
Why not ask the sellers to leave the field ready to fallow? Presumably, they will be harvesting the corn with horse-drawn equipment. Also, they would be the best experts to start with on asking about good forage species for the area. You'll want a grass/legume mix of some kind.

And this

H Ludi Tyler wrote:
I don't see why you'd need to till it.  If you're just using hand tools, a scythe should work on the corn stalks.  Just cut them down and leave them as mulch.

I posted a couple links above of information about native grasses for NY.

Chop and drop.

You said the soil is likely wet. How wet does it get over winter? Some farmlands can be a virtual flood zones in the winter. Is your land above or below the stream? Does the stream flood? Have you been able to observe it through 4 seasons? Is there an undercover beneath the standing corn? Bare ground, weeds, grasses, etc. How early can the land be seeded next spring?

The mulch will help but I'd be concerned about erosion over the winter, especially if you have much bare ground, and would want to get some forage started ASAP to help hold the soil together. Talk to your neighbors and local extension agent. If possible, start the dialog with them now, from your current location.

It can be done, two acres isn't that much. Continue gathering information in order to minimize wasting your efforts since you have such a small window of opportunity this fall.

It sounds like you are not very close to the land at present. How much time will you be able to spend working the land between now and next spring when you move onto the property?

After my last post I must admit I knew little about the pellet making process so have been doing some research and so far have come up with the following brief synopsis (although I suspect you already know all this):

The biomass pellet mills I looked at all needed to be fed very small particulate material, 1/4" or less. Moisture content and need of a binder for the raw material varies.

The hammer mill cuts the raw material down to size for the pellet mill. Hammer mills can be fed beans, seeds, grains, corn cobs, stalks, leaves and pods but only pre-chipped wood. Moisture content of the raw material varies. Questions I would ask are: can the hammer mill process whole corn cobs and stalks or do they need to be cut up first? etc.  Experience will tell you how dry the raw material needs to be. These factors will likely vary from mill to mill depending on horsepower etc.

If you want to process wood waste into pellets you'll need at least a chipper, hammer mill, and pellet mill.

Assuming this is being done on a small scale for personal, non-commercial use only, if I had none of this machinery and my end goal was making pellets, the first piece of machinery I'd purchase would be a used 10HP or greater chipper shredder. With this you can at least process your raw material for animal bedding and composting. This would be a relatively small investment and get you quickly familiarized with processing your raw material.

From there, you can gauge if you need a different chipper/shredder (all are not alike) or if you need to scale up to a larger machine and then work your way up to the pellet mill if you feel it is still a worthwhile endeavor.

In my case, I have about 5 acres of scrub alder and blackberries on part of my property that I want to restore back to pasture. From my experience using it, I know my 10hp chipper shredder is not going to cut it for this project. So, as I have a tractor, I'll be shopping for a used, self feeding PTO driven chipper. Then, if I find I have mountains of wood chips that I cannot use I may look into processing them further.

Start small and work you way up the ladder as your knowledge and experience grow.

OK, I now understand better where you're coming from. I wish I had the personal experience you are seeking. My experience pretty much mirrors that of Marissa's.

As you well know, permaculture and sustainable ag is all about non-conventional applications, at least until a critical mass is reached, which makes it that much more difficult to glean from others personal experiences.

I suspect you have already done this, but I would first have a clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish (which you seem to have) then call the manufacturers and/or whoever sells the equipment to the end user, ask if they have ever sold to a customer(s) that are using the equipment similarly and if so, ask for references. They will likely need the end users permission first. If they are unwilling to do this minimal amount of work for a potential sale I'd move on (but maybe call back later as I may have just gotten the wrong person).

I didn't see a hammer mill that also pelletizes at the C.S. Bell website. Maybe a biomass pellet mill would suit a broader spectrum of your needs, although the price and scale may not fit your available resources ($ and raw material). I can also see a PTO driven mill making a lot of sense as co-op purchase.

As for my interest, these are two pieces of equipment that are on my radar as well, I am just not at a point to where their implementation is needed.

I share many of your sentiments and frustrations at the how difficult it can be at times to find the information needed to make purchasing decisions based on my intended use.

Nonetheless, I have to say that either I missed it, or you failed to include the very information you complained of not being able to find that, I believe, could be helpful to many here, including myself.

So, what is your intended use(s) of the hammer mill and what led you to conclude that the particular make and model will suit your needs and that it is a good decision to purchase it with a credit card?

Please do not be offended as that is absolutely not my intention, I truly am interested.

Edit: I re-read your post and understand your intended uses but the second part of my question still stands.

Peace

The  Stevens County Assembly passed a Food Freedom ordinance this summer.

http://www.stevenscountyassembly.com/blog-entry/farm/food-freedom-ordinance-final

Thanks for the responses, very much appreciated.

I have an early edition of Jeavons' book and surprisingly,  there is very little in it regarding cover crops.

I'd be sowing a crop but need fencing first, too many hungry critters out here.

I'll take the suggestions and see what's available locally. Probably try two or three and do a mini trial.

First off, let me qualify myself as just starting down the permaculture path. As the title says, I'd appreciate some suggestions for a cover crop(s) that will overwinter until early spring. I live in Kitsap County in western WA. and have a 500sf area prepared. biointensive, ready to be sown that was previously sod in an area that we used to garden. I'd start some winter veggies but have too many other projects on my plate. I'd like to be able to just broadcast some seed and forget about it until next year, that includes no watering as our ample fall rains are just around the corner. My main objectives are weed suppression and maintaining soil tilth so that my efforts to prepare the area will not have been in vain. Will likely be following up with planting a variety of typical annual veggies. I have never cover cropped before. Hopefully I'm not asking for too much. Many thanks in advance.