Author Archives: Hermit

Just an update on what I am doing.
The weather is pretty nice for short periods then back to the cold.  So I have make hay while the sun shines, so to speak.
I have cleared two spots on my clearing for gardens.  The clearing is only maybe an acre total, surrounded by tall trees.  So not much sunlight gets to it.  My gardens need to be on the north side of the clearing.  The land is very rocky so it took a lot of cleaning to get it tillable.  But once the rocks were cleaned out the dirt is very good.  Basically a healthy forest floor.
This is my main garden I have been using for years

This area I just started preparing this year.   I had to remove a ton of rocks.  Some are actually boulders.

This is the new garden with the my cabin and clothesline behind.

I first prepared each place with my old Ford 9N tractor with a plow and a subsoiler.   This tractor is one of three 9N tractors I have.

After using the tractor I used this rototiller to help dig up all the rocks so I could pick them up.  The tiller is an $800 tiller that I got for $200 at Rural King.  The engine was blown up so they decided to just sell it at is.  I found it was just the piston connecting rod.  I bought a new rod for $25 and the tiller works great.

I also got some trees and berries to plant.  These are apple, pear and peach.  I will plant a few here where there is enough sun and the rest over at my daughters.
Ignore my laundry hanging on the line behind the trees.

Finally, there is a couple acre field down the road at my daughters that I am planting.   It may look very flat but this is actually the hilltop.  About 2000 ft elevation and about 1200 feet above the Allegheny river a few miles away. This photo shows the field with the second Ford 9N tractor parked in front with the discs attached. The third tractor is mainly for parts for the other two.

My daughter has chickens, rabbits, ducks and geese.  So quite of bit of this field will be planted with fodder crops like turnips, beets, squash and radishes to feed the animals.   But still plenty of room to plant lots of human food.  I plant a variety of things but prefer things that store well into winter like potatoes, cabbage, winter squash etc or things that are easily canned for storage.  Of course some fresh vegetables are available throughout the summer and early fall.

I’ll update later when I start to plant.  Probably in about a month.…