Tools

Equipment for large-scale agriculture is too big or too expensive, and many home gardening tools don’t work efficiently on larger jobs or break easily. Tiny farming on plots up to two or three acres requires its own special gear…

Groundhogs be zapped!

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Electric fence for groundhogs

Big Agriculture has its genetic engineering and laserbeam weeding; on the tiny farm, sharpened wooden stakes and startling but harmless electric shocks are about as high tech as it gets. Today I laid out the groundhog electric fence line—poly rope with metal strands twisted in, strung at six inches (there’s another line at 28″ for the deer).

After last year’s first-time groundhog attack, this approach seemed to work. Still, that was later in the season, when the voracious little critters were already starting to get heavy and slow as they bulked up for hibernation. Maybe they were too lazy to put much energy into dealing with short, sharp shocks. This time around, they’re well-motivated, slimmed down, and hungry for the all-you-can-eat veggie buffet only a short waddle away. So…we’ll see! Weeds that touch the low line can draw off electricity—a new extra weeding job to add to the list…

The future of weeding!

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LaserWeeder

This 40-second LaserWeeder video I think speaks for itself. What more could I say? Wow, technology! The madness continues? Imagine the efficiency! What are we thinking? AI, of course. Hendrix (for some generations, shades of a jungle war on weeds)!

Here’s what’s under the hood: “AI-powered precision weed control. Featuring high-resolution cameras and cutting-edge computing, LaserWeeder can instantly differentiate between weeds and crops, targeting and eliminating weeds with precision lasers. This chemical-free solution operates 24/7, boosting crop yields, lowering farming expenses, and supporting sustainable agriculture.”

It can identify 4.7 million images an hour—sounds…frantic, processing all those images, ID-ing the weeds, passing coordinates on to the lasers, or whatever exactly the AI has it doing. LED lighting four times brighter than the sun. Sub-millimeter laser accuracy. Targets 5,000 weeds a minute.

Smart miniature laser cannons, deployed to the farming field. What will they think of next?!

No doubt the LaserWeeder will come to mind now and then when I’m crawling around hand-pulling weeds. Either that or the song.… Read the rest

Critical garden gear!

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Charging electric fence battery

As important as any tool around here, the battery for the electric fence is absolutely critical: for several years now, it’s powered the first and last line of defense against…deer! As of last season, and the addition of a low-strung line only a few inches above the ground, it also gives a little jolt to the groundhogs that suddenly appeared in force. Without the e-fence, the market garden would eventually be munched into oblivion. Along with keeping the battery charged and checking that the fence line hasn’t gone down or gotten overrun by weeds, there’s also looking daily for animal tracks and signs of snacking. Doing the inspection rounds first thing every day is mix of low-level stress, anticipation of the worst, and general excitement, until it checks out as all-clear. Which, thankfully, is almost all of the time!

Lettuce under lights

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Lettuce seedling

The first round of lettuce, five days from germination, under the lights. I could have started them earlier: two weeks, three, four? It all depends on the weather, when it seems right to transplant, and when you’re hoping for the first harvest. This year, hopefully young harvestable lettuce is ready by late June, so if I can plant them out in mid-May, great! Some years, I’ve started lettuce as early as February, for planting in April in an unheated hoophouse. This time around, it’s straight to the open field. We’ll see how it works out!

Pepper’s eye view

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Peppers under lights

Here’s what the tiny sweet pepper plants would be seeing if they saw like we do, from under the fluorescent tubes in one of the light racks. It has a bit of an alien spacecraft hovering feel. The seedlings would be more pleased with the zillion times stronger real sun, but considering that it still drops down to freezing outside at night, they have to make do with weak substitute sun and indoor warmth as they get an early start on the growing season. These peppers are about a month old, still with only their seed leaves. Welcome to this season’s tiny farming transplant production!

Hauling water

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Filling water jugs

The seedling room is in a fully modern building with all the modern conveniences like electricity, heating, ample insulation and screened windows well-positioned for a bug-free cross-breeze and lots of natural light. The only thing missing is a handy supply of running water. Drilling for a new well located nearby ended in failure after a couple days of exploration produced only an expensive dry hole. So, until the gutter-fed rain barrels are turned over in warmer weather—overnight freezing of collected rainwater could crack them—I bring over water for the seedlings in 18 liter jugs filled from another well in a building not too far away. Simple systems and the rituals of spring!


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