OSDev.org

Is anyone here interested in farming? I enjoy raising chickens and ducks here in France. I also have a vegetable patch and I am growing tomatoes, potatoes, and onions.

We can share photos if you are interested in our gardens

I like the idea of growing vegetables and fruit but I dislike the manual labour involved so I hope that someday I'll have time to invest in automating the process by putting together an automatic planter/drill, an automatic fertilizer spreader, a pump system, and some moisture and temperature sensors. My girlfriend has some land outside the city where we live and, for now, it's just standing there. I'm not sure how to go about collecting; any automated process I can think of (right now) would involve complex vision processing and control theory. While I do have some experience in those areas, putting together something that's good enough seems quite daunting (how much stuff will I have to ruin before I get it right?).

Conceptually, it sounds like a very easy project but it will no doubt be expensive and very time-consuming, as I will have to surround the land with fences, consider my electrical power options and take steps in that direction, research the agriculture involved, look up and buy all the materials, build enough equipment to cover the whole field, test it, install it, buy the seeds and fertilizer I'll need, and handle any problems that will pop up along the way. Also, I might need equipment I haven't thought about, since I'm quite ignorant about agriculture at the present time (e.g., I have no idea whether you're supposed to take out dead plants or leave them there, as fertilizer).

Regarding animals, I could also put together an incubator, automatic feeders, and cameras (to check to see whather they're sick, etc.) but it sounds like too much involvement on my part. I don't want to go there every other day to collect eggs and/or milk and/or whatever. I also don't want to hire someone to do this for me.

I grow some vegetables in my backyard. Last year I was involved in a community garden at work, but someone stole some of my produce

I grow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, capsicums (bell peppers in America). I tried onions, but my onion patch flooded - I think it rotted the bulbs and weeds invaded and took them over.

I'm not an expert (I'm struggling to control the weeds in my lawn!) but from trial and error what I found works really good is to a) raise the garden bed up a little from the surrounding area or plant on top of a mound - so water runs off rather than runs in, and b) use a weed cloth and cut little holes for where you plant - like this:


Most of the effort use to be weeding, but the weed cloth really made things simpler that I haven't had to weed this year. Apart from first planting them (digging holes, putting the sprout in, filling it with soil, and covering it with mulch) the only maintenance is watering them if it hasn't rained for about 3 days straight, and spraying them with insect repellent every 2nd weekend (otherwise bugs eat the leaves).

My father in Australia grows many different types of vegetables (eggplants, zucchinis, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, lots of herbs) - and he's lived in the same region his whole life so he knows what grows in each season and when the best time to start them. He and my sister love the idea of cooking with fresh produce.

I'm not this crazy, but I've thought about the possibility of a family being self-sufficient (I'm sure there are some farmers out there that are) - if you cooked with seasonal foods and grew them on a scale large enough to feed your family daily.

There are many things I would miss such as non-seasonal/non-regional foods, meats, and without prepared sauces there would be a lot of extra work involved in cooking everything from scratch. I don't think I'd want to live like that, but I think it would be possible. (If I were extremely poor and couldn't afford food, then it may sound like a good idea.)

As a thought experiment, I have wondered how difficult it would be to eliminate your food costs completely - and have a closed-cycle food supply of germinating, creating your own compost, etc.

MessiahAndrw wrote:There are many things I would miss such as non-seasonal/non-regional foods, meats, and without prepared sauces there would be a lot of extra work involved in cooking everything from scratch. I don't think I'd want to live like that, but I think it would be possible. (If I were extremely poor and couldn't afford food, then it may sound like a good idea.)

And you will even more dislike the "independent" living in case you were extremely poor. The costs of heating, water supply, clothing and anything you can not produce yourself will be overwhelming in contrast to the "vegetable income" you can generate. You just can't sale enough vegetables to get the heating, the water, the clothes, ...

embryo wrote:The costs of heating,

People heat way too much, and it's simple to burn logs.

water supply

One-off cost of a well or handpump, or even rainwater or a well placed mountain creek.

clothing

A few sheep should be enough. Or cotton if it has to be strictly vegetation.

will be overwhelming in contrast to the "vegetable income" you can generate.

And yet, mankind still survived the middle ages, even without your help.

Combuster wrote:People heat way too much, and it's simple to burn logs.

But why people heat too much? Are they so stupid? The winter is really dangerous if you have a habit to heat with logs only.

Combuster wrote:One-off cost of a well or handpump, or even rainwater or a well placed mountain creek.

Have you ever managed to collect some rainwater and keep it until next rain? The water becomes rotten and you need a lot of logs to boil it.

Combuster wrote:A few sheep should be enough. Or cotton if it has to be strictly vegetation.

And who will make the clothes from it?

Combuster wrote:mankind still survived the middle ages, even without your help.

Yes, people managed to live without gadgets and fancy advertisings, but do you have the skills required? And do you know what the mortality rate was in those times? And how hard should people work only for food?

The dream of a free and peaceful life in harmony with nature is still a dream, unless you have some community which has required skills and has already created everything required. One man in the field will straggle for his life. Unfortunately, but true.

embryo wrote:do you have the skills required?

The orange I'm eating right now is 100% home grown. I'll just say I'd prefer taking my chances without you leeching off me

Hi,

The key to everything is the right balance. Human beings are supposed to be social and not fully "self sufficient". I am an Achayan, we were traditionally farmers. I know from my own grandparents and parents that even though we were quite self sufficient ( even without electircity!) life was really hard.

If you can grow your own crops at home - it is great. But if you take it to the extereme it becomes hard



@Andrew and Combuster: I wish if I could have my own personal farm too. Those pictures look great. May be after I am done with my studies, I might get some time for it.
--Thomas

I am also interested please share photos!