Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1174258
27 farm406 For a warm season cover crop, Wicks orders sorghum-Sudan grass for the biomass, taproot, and feed value; pearl millet for feed, for breaking up disease pathogens, and for growth in poor soil; and red clover, because it is a legume and will fix atmospheric nitrogen. Tillage radish is added because it captures nutrients and helps to break up compaction in the soil. Sunflowers are part of the mix because their long taproots help with water infiltration rates. Wicks mixes this seed at the seed facility and may later add seed varieties he has on hand. When a field has a warm season cover crop, cale graze on the mix and then it winterkills. e first year of grazing experience showed that the calves were a hundred pounds heavier than in normal years. e next spring, a cash crop is planted. If it is lentils, then winter wheat is planted in early fall aer the lentils have been harvested. Aer wheat harvest, the cool season cover crop is planted. As one environmental supportive measure, he has created a pollinator strip around his fields of western needle grass, green needle grass, slender wheatgrass, Lewis Flax, Maximilian Sunflower and alfalfa for buerflies, bees, and other insects. e cool season cover crop mix contains triticale for its height and biomass to suppress weeds, Austrian winter peas for nitrogen fixation, and hairy vetch for its nitrogen fixation. is mix will winter over and grow into the spring, competing with weeds until it is time to seed the warm season cover crop. e cool season mix cover crop is disked or beer yet crimped with a large blade roller to break the stalks and to leave a weed barrier mulch. Wicks' two crop cycles are 1) warm season cover crop, lentils, winter wheat, and then cool season cover crop or 2) warm season cover crop during one season, spring cash crop the next season, and then cool season cover crop. As these cover crops create biomass, they build organic maer over time which also helps to keep the soil like a sponge Gwen Givens picks green beans Givens makes homemade salsa. The Wicks started raising their own chickens last spring and are now enjoying eggs from free-range hens.