One of my favorite spring projects is plowing the garden and everything has to line up just right to help make it happen smoothly. First, the soil has to have dried out enough that it is friable and doesn’t layer or clump which could harm the soil health by increasing compaction and altering the soil structure by having an uneven air/water/soil particle mix. Then, a nice cool day with a slight breeze as the perfect weather for the horses and the teamster to stay comfortable. And finally, I need the time and energy to get the plow out and have a team of horses that knows how to plow.
My horses of choice in recent years has been Jacqui and her offspring Derby. Jacqui is now 23 years old, Derby is 14, so they’ve had years of experience. They aren’t in the best of shape this spring because of the Covid virus preventing riding lessons, but they held up and worked nicely today. It’s a real team effort. The animals must walk steadily together, the one on the right walking in the furrow and the one on the left in the not-yet-turned soil, listening to voice commands “gee” to move a little to the right and “haw” a little to the left. They need to know to dig in and pull a little harder if the plow point slips too deep into the soil or gets caught up in some well-established plant roots; and to be ready to stop if they feel the plow point catching on a big rock. The teamster, meanwhile, has the lines tied around his/her back in a special knot that doesn’t dig into the spine. The lines are placed around the waist and over one shoulder so he/she can duck out if something breaks or goes awry. Along with voice commands, the teamster directs the horses slightly with a little twist of the body to the right or to the left or by leaning back into the lines to slow the horses gait. He/she needs to have had enough experience to use the plow handles to direct the cut of the plow: “handles pulled up sends the point down”, “push down sends the point up” and “tilt the handles the opposite way you want the point to go in order to cut a wider or narrower furrow”. Handling a walking plow is one of those skills that if you think about too much you’ll mess it up; but you need to constantly be thinking about it until it becomes an automatic reflex.
My plow is an old John Deere my dad purchased at a farm auction and gave to me. At 12″, it’s a little large for my horses, but I can change the settings to make it work (Plows are measured by the designed cut of the furrow rather than by the actual length of the share). It’s a magical feeling when the horizontal and vertical hitch adjustments are set right for the soil depth and width of cut, the plow share and landslide are shiny and clean because they greased up so they didn’t get rusty, and the soil is just right so the plow slices through the ground with a nice hum and little maneuvering effort by the teamster… until you hit a rock and then you just clench your teeth and let the feel of the rock help you decide if you should tilt and slide above it, dig down and shovel it out, or which way to direct the plow to skirt around it.
It’s easy to romanticize working with a walking plow and a team of horses, the fresh air, birds singing, and feeling of accomplishment when you see nice straight furrows of rich black loam, but in reality it does usually involve some sweat, achy muscles, blisters, dehydration and bug bites. And today, in particular, the slightly sweet smell of the freshly turned soil was often overwhelmed by the odor from the dairy farm next door as they made multiple trips with tanker trucks in and out of their yard spreading manure getting their own fields ready to plant.
I don’t mind if Randy, from the dairy farm, sometimes refers to me as his “Amish” neighbor because of my reliance on the horses for the garden tillage and cultivation. I’ll have covered and know every inch of my one acre plot by the time I’m done plowing and I’ll know exactly where there might be stones that need removing, heavier clay, a hardpan, or a section that seems low on compost.
The traditional rule-of-thumb is that you can plow an acre per horse per day with a moldboard blow. Today I got done in a couple hours all but an area I’m saving to plant potatoes tomorrow and an area of the garden where there is lots of existing dead surface vegetation that might not need plowing before planting. My time with the walking plow is is usually limited to only a few mornings or afternoons each year, but they are special times.
Earth day tomorrow. If you can’t prepare a garden, hope you can do something for it!
The team at work.
