Forum Friday// Breaking Records, A Killer Deep Mulch Thread, & IG Honorable Mentions
Breaking [our own] Records
First, let me express how dumbfounded we are that No-Till Growers receives the reader/listenership that it does. Ahem… we’re dumbfounded. Week after week, y’all tune in, and this last one was no exception. The podcast downloads chart shows a steadily increasing sawtooth pattern, except the last tooth is a little… pronounced. Maybe a lot pronounced. Sure, names like JM generate a lot of traffic, borderline clickbait even but for good reason. We look to our leaders and pioneers within a given field to sometimes gauge our reaction to new information. In the psychological world, this is called referencing.
While we believe no-till methods have a place on most every farm (and we’re seeing more and more of them dedicate more space to experimentation all the time), there is still a lot to learn and improve upon. And we really appreciate his perspective that no-till is a tool in the farmers toolbox. We are not No-Till Growers because we feel every farm should be 100% not tilling. We’re No-Till Growers because our aim is to give farmers tools for reducing it when and where possible. A resource dedicated to what is—in reality—just a small facet of overall soil stewardship. And, because “Improving Living Soil Growers” doesn’t have near as good of a ring to it.
It’s because of your support that we’re able to bring all of these different perspectives from the fore-front, from trail-blazers in market gardening to one of the top soil scientists in the world, into one place. For free. However, it takes a considerable amount of time, work, and no small amount of cash to do so. for a breakdown of what it actually takes to produce the show, check this out. If you’d like to support our work, and get a second season of the No-Till Market Garden Podcast, please consider becoming a Patreon member or sending a few dollars via Venmo (@notillgrowers) or PayPal (notillgrowers@gmail.com).
A Killer Deep Mulch Thread
Speaking of tools in the toolbox, last week we mentioned forum user David Blanchard’s responses on the Deep Compost Mineral Balancing thread on the Growers Community. He brings up several things to consider when using compost, how he farms and utilizes no-till methods, and how these systems might be improved upon. Definitely worth checking out.
Honorable IG mentions
Y’all blew up our Instagram account this week. One of the benefits of social media is that you can get a glimpse, for better or worse, into what other farms are doing. This last week, we mentioned Oxton Organics and Mossy Willow Farm. We love connecting farmers through our work! PSA: be careful when consuming social media, especially when looking at other farms. I, myself, have a hard time comparing my farm (i.e. myself) to the curated lens of other farms, instead of my own farm last season.