I originally adopted the no-till approach to farming out of necessity.\u00a0 Well, desperation, really.\u00a0 An intensely rainy spring in 2018 kept me from being able to till the soil as usual and meant the only way to get transplants in the ground was to skip the tilling and try something new.\u00a0 Thus began my foray into no-till flower farming.<\/p>\n
I never would have guessed at the start of this no-till flower farming journey, which I now call \u201cregenerative land stewardship\u201d, that I would learn so much and feel like I\u2019m finally truly awake and observant in the flower fields. \u00a0No-till flower farming has brought a newfound awareness of just how complex the ecosystem I steward is and how powerful my presence there can be, for better or for worse.<\/p>\n
In 2018, after eight years of tilling beds every time we flipped them over and tilling the entire field from top to bottom each fall, the soil was a homogenous, dry, lifeless substrate favored by weed seedlings far more than my flower crops. \u00a0Now, in the summer of 2020, more than two years after ceasing all tilling at the farm, it\u2019s like I\u2019m seeing soil for the very first time.<\/p>\n
The soil in the fields is spongy, dark, loamy, earthy in scent, and utterly packed with life of all shapes and sizes, including rich networks of white mycelium threads weaving through it, creating gorgeous aggregates of various sizes that mean the soil is full of pores and oxygen.\u00a0 \u00a0It gives me so much joy to dig into this richness whenever placing new transplants, knowing the roots of the plants I\u2019ve carefully tended from seed will now enter this thriving community and instantly be surrounded and supported by all this life.<\/p>\n
For me, no-till flower farming has really become something different than when I first bought into this farming system.\u00a0 Originally, I was just looking to solve a singular problem:\u00a0 a muddy field in an excessively rainy season. \u00a0But now I realize how comprehensive and wholistic this approach is and how it changes everything about farming.<\/p>\n
For starters: it\u2019s way more efficient!!\u00a0 No-till meant that I didn\u2019t have to keep my tractor maintained (I\u2019ve since given up having a tractor altogether) and didn\u2019t have to spend aggravating time coaxing the three-point hitch and the heavy tiller to connect.\u00a0 \u00a0I also noticed that it was a lot easier to weed throughout the season, saving us time on hot July days (woot!).\u00a0 A real surprise was that we could flip beds and plant at break-neck speed compared to the previous tilling approach. \u00a0\u00a0Because I didn\u2019t have to fuss with the tractor and tiller each time, the crew could immediately jump into a bed (a partial bed at that! No waiting for the entire bed to finish and clear!) and get to work with planting.\u00a0 The soil became so loose and lovely, there was no more stabbing at dry, cracked ground with a trowel.\u00a0 I\u2019ve truly been shocked at how much faster planting is; \u00a0I\u2019m still trying to adjust my timing for planting to keep up with this new pace.<\/p>\n
Now that I\u2019ve been no-till flower farming for more than two full seasons, it has evolved into a truly regenerative approach with the real focus being on SUPPORTING the LIFE in and on the soil, not just stopping the disturbance of it. \u00a0All of this is not just about tillage.\u00a0 It\u2019s also about keeping living roots in the soil at all times.\u00a0 And it\u2019s about sheltering the soil so all the life in it feels safe and cozy.\u00a0 Now, rather than focusing on not disturbing the soil (the core tenant of \u201cno till\u201d), I\u2019m realizing that my real role as stewardess of my farm\u2019s land is to provide for the soil life.\u00a0 And in doing such, the soil\u2019s rich web will in turn support my flowering crops.\u00a0 It\u2019s a cycle of reciprocity, often spiritual in nature and as old as the ages, that somehow got horribly lost in modern agriculture.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve still got so much to learn about using farming to heal the earth, starting with the six acres under my care at the moment. \u00a0I\u2019m reading books, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, experimenting with making natural fertilizers with ingredients like raw milk, egg shells, and molasses (it really works!), propagating mycelium on rye seeds, observing how cover crops have so much more potential than being simply \u201cgreen manure\u201d, and spending time in my fields standing still, letting Nature teach me through observation. \u00a0\u00a0I will definitely be writing a lot more on the topic of no-till flower farming and other regenerative farming practices.\u00a0 Observing, appreciating and supporting the earth\u2019s community, of which we humans are a minuscule part, has really become a deep passion of mine!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I originally adopted the no-till approach to farming out of necessity.\u00a0 Well, desperation, really.\u00a0 An intensely rainy spring in 2018 kept me from being able to till the soil as usual and meant the only way to get transplants in the ground was to skip the tilling and try something new.\u00a0 Thus began my foray 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