Shepherds Grain Hard Red Winter 2009

This is HRW on the breaks above the Snake River, a reeeeeally dry area at times. The crop was just about to have permanent moisture stress damage when a very timely rain came. This crop is growing on soil groomed for increasing soil health. The ground had a shot of calcium carbonate ( lime) prior to a green manure crop in '08. The HRW was seeded with a small amount of "conventional" fertility (NPKS) and molasses for the soil biology, humic acid to increase nutrient efficiancy, and an enzyme that releases soil elements. The crop has been able to resist the moisture stress better than the neighbors conventional approach. This management is very different and far from perfected. It is something we have been working on for several years and beginning to show promise. Our idea is to feed the soil, make it healthy and in turn a healthy soil will result in a healthy food!

2009 DNS Progress

Shepherds Grain DNS starting to head, located above the Snake River outside Uniontown, WA (June 10)

Black Saturday Big Time Erosion Spring 2009

These are pics of erosion from an intense thunderstorm just up the road from our house last Saturday (6/09)
These are pea and garbanzo bean fields that were "conventionally" planted in May.
The conventional tillage leaves these fields defenseless to erosion when hit by the precipitation from a cloudburst. Tons of "Palouse Gold" (our soil) is lost in minutes. ABSOLUTELY ,PERMANENTLY GONE!
The county road grader had to clean the mud off the road. Whitman county spends over $700,000 per year cleaning roads and ditches of eroded soil.
This is our Direct Seeded garbanzo field in the same area, its hard to understand why farmers don't get involved with Direct Seed Technology!

A stand of Tara spring wheat for Shepherds Grain in the middle of May 2009. Direct Seed left a very good residue cover for moisture retention and erosion control. We are a little late this year but look good so far!