Farming on Heavy Wet Clay + No-Till Lessons Learned with Jesse Frost

The No-Till Flowers Podcast

Today’s guest needs little introduction in the small farm no-till world. Jesse Frost of Rough Draft Farm in central Kentucky has helped so many of us learn about soil health and diversified small scale production through the No-Till Growers YouTube channel, the No-Till Growers podcast, and his book The Living Soil Handbook.

If you’ve struggled with heavy clay, boggy or compacted soils at your farm or in your garden, this is the episode for you! Frequently I get asked about my recommendations for clay and poorly draining areas, but I actually have no experience with those conditions myself. Jesse does. And I eagerly picked his brain for you all. You're welcome! 😉

We talk a bit about cover crops for clay soils, including tillage radish, phacelia, sorghum sudangrass, vetch, and winter rye.

Also in this episode, Jesse and I take a stroll down memory lane to consider both of our paths as regenerative growers. As you’ll hear, five or six years ago, there was only a trickle of guidance available for smaller farms looking to implement no-till practices on a production level. We both had to do a lot of experimenting on our farms and still do today. We mention the Singing Frogs interview on the Farmer To Farmer Podcast back in 2018, a key catalyst for both of our no-till journies. Also Andrew Mefferd's book The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution, which was published in the spring of 2019. Both are highly recommended if you haven't already discovered them.

Also Mentioned In This Episode:

The Regenerative Growers COHORT with me, Jennie Love, is a year-long, small group coaching program for those that need a little help learning how to apply all the concepts and practices talked about here on the podcast. To learn more, click here.

Other On-demand Short Courses for Farmers:

• Foliage for the Win
• Successful Flower CSAs and Subscriptions
• CREW: Hiring and Managing
• Woodies: Playing the Long Game (coming in February 2024)
• Simple Steps to Better Marketing (coming in January 2024)

Tap into the above courses and resources any time you need. These are available on-demand through the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network. Current RFFN members shoud follow this link to access the Short Courses at the discounted member rate.

Join the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network for just $20/year if you'd like to continue the conversation on topics covered in this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also want to listen to:

Episode 14: Breaking Down Compost with Jesse Frost

Episode 33: Cover Cropping Basics for Small Scale Regenerative (Flower) Farms

Episode 13: Improving Poor Compost with Ellen Polishuk

Episode 28: Seed Starting, Regenerative Style with Lisa Mason Zeigler

Episode 12: The Everything Tulips Episdoe with Dave Dowling

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