Spring road safety reminders

Springtime brings more farm equipment on the road. Whether you’re operating the equipment or sharing the road with it, safety is paramount.

Farm equipment cannot travel above 30 miles per hour; which means as soon as you see a farmer up ahead on the road you should begin slowing down. Farmers will have their tractors equipped with slow moving vehicle signs and flashing lights to help with visibility.

As a farmer, before operating farm equipment, understand how to do so safely. Read the operations manual and pay attention to any safety or warning decals on the equipment. Before operation, inspect the equipment for any safety hazards. During inspection, also identify all safety hazards including mov- ing parts, pinch points, crush points, pull-in areas, and free-wheeling areas. Be sure anyone who is going to be using the equipment is aware of these areas as well. Make sure that all SMV signs are visible and all lights are in working order before leaving the farm site. You may also consider using a follow vehicle when moving large pieces of equipment — especially at night. Proper safety precautions on the roads keep not only you, but the other people using the road, safe. organic matter. And, since Karsten is his own one man research and development department, he’s invented a baler for converting semi-composted material into bales for next season. He’s got lots of nice photographs, and easy-to-follow written instructions which will show you how to build your own hand-operated baler and how to make your own bales using it.

This article was submitted by Katie Drewitz, University of Minnesota Extension.

The Karsten R and D department also has developed a straw bale cold frame, a plastic insulated straw bale hoop garden, and an early-season straw bale greenhouse. He’s got a raft of photos and wellwritten text which will be your guide if you choose to make any of these straw bale do-it-yourself projects.

But the heart of “Straw Bale Gardens Complete” is a seven-chapter section which takes the reader through everything they need to know about straw bales and possible alternatives, to harvesting their crop. In between there are chapters on planning the garden and how to (and how not to) construct your garden along with a trellis and an irrigation system. There is a detailed discussion on fertilizers and a day-by-day guide for conditioning your bales so they will be ready for planting. There are sample garden layouts and guides for planting seeds and transplants. There is also a section on the care of a growing garden and the harvest section even has a nice section on putting up your harvest.

It’s all there. Karsten has done all of this on his own and he’s a good teacher. He’s listened to the problems of other straw bale gardeners and come up with solutions for them. “Straw Bale Gardens Complete” is a top notch how-to guide for beginning straw bale gardeners and even those with some experience.

But if you think growing some vegetables in a straw bale garden is going to save you some money, stop right now. Straw bale gardening is input intensive. From the bales to the fertilizer to the potting soil, along with various long-lived infrastructure costs, these are going to be expensive vegetables. Straw bale gardening looks like a rewarding hobby. But I’m a farmer and I plan on continuing to grow my vegetables in the soil. v