Below is my photo diary of the four hour Small Farm Equipment and Cover Crop Workshop at CEFS held on August 21, 2006. As promised in the registration information for the event, "this on-farm workshop provided producers, extension agents, crop consultants and others with hands-on opportunities to learn about specialized equipment for cultivation and cover crop management on small farms." At this workshop we:

-Learned strategies to successfully establish and manage cover crops.
-Saw a variety of summer cover crop species in the field.
-Watched demonstrations of hand equipment suitable for small farms.
-Watched demonstrations of tractor-mounted equipment designed for small farms

No matter what your cover crop goals are - building soil fertility, weed surpression, attracting beneficial insects, providing pasture - and no matter what equipment you have to work with - a large tractor, a walk-behind tiller, or hand tools - this workshop provided the answers for choosing, planting, and managing summer cover crops. Bryan Green, Ken Fager, Emily Vollmer and the all the workshop presenters and support staff were well prepared and professional. I can honestly say that this was one of the most informative and relevant workshops I attended.

Links to more information on cover crops can be found at "Growing Small Farms", the Chatham County Center, North Carolina Cooperative Extension website maintained by Debbie Roos.

Cover crop seed is available from Windcrest Farm.

Click on any image below for a larger view and to scroll through the entire album.