Turning Weeds Into Pasture Without Heavy Machinery: Regenerative | Permaculture

Turning Weeds Into Pasture Without Heavy Machinery: Regenerative | Permaculture
Today we are sharing our journey of converting 2 acres of overgrown weeds and saplings into lush pasture without the use of heavy machinery. We do not have access to a tractor so this pasture restoration was achieved by utilizing equipment and tools that most people and homesteaders have available to them.
A little bit about us: We are new to being homesteaders on KZbin and we started our family homestead from scratch. We recently moved into this 100+ year old farmhouse with a little less than 4 acres, a couple barns, and a whole lot of potential. After being inspired by other homesteading channels, we decided to start our own to document our journey as a homesteading family.
We hope you enjoy and join us for the journey. If you choose to subscribe, don’t forget to hit the bell notification as well so you don’t miss out on the fun. We are always up for adventure and for learning from others as we go.
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Keywords:
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[@hubertdaugherty8986]

Documenting your journey helps others starting theirs. Thanks

[@IndyHomestead]

We are happy to share! We appreciate you being here.

[@Growmap]

@@IndyHomestead Did you just hand scatter the seed over what you cut down?

[@rhettcrandall7758]

I’m also curious about your method for seeding and how you got good seed to soil contact. Very nice looking pasture.

[@Homesteadturcke]

I get it. I've been doing this on my Costa Rica farm for 7 years, now. It's made a huge impact. But, there is significant rainfall there. Here in North Georgia and the southeast in general, severe drought is becoming the norm.

[@WellGrazed]

Humidity levels through the year is what determines growth, not rainfall. In brittle environments where humidity is low most of the year (desert), grazing animals are vastly more important to break down plant matter. Get animals back on the land!

[@Homesteadturcke]

@@WellGrazed 1500 feet of fence going in for a few and a goat 🐑

[@JScottAudio]

Would you comment on the method you used to reseed the Pasture?

[@stephaniedagenais525]

Beautiful pasture!! Can’t wait to get ours looking like that!!

[@lauralee6628]

you can eliminate all machinery - all you needed were a few cows for a few days to trample all of that matter and seed it the same time

[@michaelripperger5674]

Rent some cows and goats. Would take that down to bare ground

[@JScottAudio]

How did you overseed? did you bring in a Seed Drill? or did you hand spread it? and if you Hand Spread it...how did you create contact of the seed with the Soil?

[@sabbaticusfarm]

What a fantastic video. I'm in the same spot with our pastures and am in need of a low impact permaculture approach. Thank you for this!!

[@BombsAwayLP]

Im in the exact same boat just moved onto a property and it looks just like that, but i do have a tractor

[@finallyfriday.]

Those saplings would make a great woven fence. Cut the thickest to post length and the rest weave back and forth thru those posts. A little shrub growth and new tree saplings and you have a living hedgerow.

[@BrendaGillam]

Love this, awesome job guys! We are in the Indy area as well (Tipton) and have some areas like this as well. While we are seeming to get it converted to pasture slowly, I’ll have to show my husband this and see what we can use for the next patch of land :] thanks for sharing

[@IndyHomestead]

Thank you Brenda! Hope you guys find this helpful for your property. Nice to connect with other Indiana homesteaders! ☺

[@George-vp9lz]

Thanks for the info. Nice!

[@1voluntaryist]

"Controlled Grazing" builds pasture best because that is how nature does it, as you noted. Find a neighbor who is feeding his stock, loan your pasture, then after 4 days, turn chickens loose.

[@JScottShipman]

Excellent video!

[@Tacticalredneckequipment]

I'm using pretty much the same approach minus the reseeding. I'm on a neighbors old 16 acer cow pasture, it was probably overgrazed, then abandoned for a decade. It's big, so parts are still over grown, but you can tell where I've done the most work.

[@CjplusLj]

Exactly what I’ve got, 10 year old cow land that’s weeded, same size too

[@stewartthomas2642]

Love your stuff kick on love it 👍 ❤

[@woodlandacres]

wow, nice results and very informative!

[@CjplusLj]

Wonderful growth

[@TexasLiberTea]

Amazing results! How did you seed the pasture? Did you just broadcast it or was there a specific tool you used? I'm needing to seed an existing pasture but I don't want to till it or strip it first.

[@tink7478]

Hi, great work! How did you sow the seeds?

[@rongrey2110]

What type of seeds did you use? I have loblolly pine on my acreage would I have to treat the soil first for the correct PH ?

[@LaraGration]

Great work. Would love to know how you seeded the paddock without machinery.

[@IndyHomestead]

All of the overseeding was done by hand! Using fence posts as points of reference, moved and distributed seeds in a grid-like pattern.

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

Hopefully you left some goldenrod somewhere else on your property, it is a very beneficial native for pollinators. Sounds like you're interested in native grass though, that's cool! And looks like you have a vid on making a prairie so you guys prob know what's up

[@peterkramer288]

Well done.

[@ralphanderson5621]

Great video

[@nancybirkenstock3448]

I realized you used what resources you had and timing as far as blocking the reseeding process. Awesome! General question from anyone. Would goats have worked for this condition?

[@deefay2998]

Goats would have worked very well,but you do need a way of keeping them where you want them.

[@nkraemer]

Great content. Thank you. Question: when you pushed down the weeds with your mower, why didn't you also use the mower to cut them? Would that have provided the same benefit? Thanks for your time on this video.

[@briangrantackert1732]

Please answer these questions

[@ottoflouer1750]

Look up roller crimping

[@waynelemieux5111]

So wait, how did you seed it

[@MegaSnail1]

Which perennial grasses did you use? Thank you.

[@CesarADiaz1]

Amazing work guys I'm just curious to know what kind of grasses you used for your forage? Thanks again for your video and hoping to see more of your progress 🙏🌱🌎

[@IndyHomestead]

Cesar, glad you enjoyed the video! The mixture we used contains perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, and orchardgrass. This spring we seeded native grasses incuding Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Canada Wild Rye, Indian Grass, Switch Grass and Side-Oats Grama. We also overseeded this spring a mix of perennial native forbs for nitrogen fixation and wildlife benefits. Will gladly show a progress video of this year's growth!

[@solitarybea]

Wow, almost seems too good to be possible.

[@IndyHomestead]

We are very happy with how it turned out.

[@GSteel-rh9iu]

What cover crop did you plant?

[@nukalavenkatreddy2749]

hi mr indy/ what is the name of grass seed

[@jennifer55]

Did you just do a spreader for the seeds? Did you WAY overseed as well since you could not use a No-Till Drill? Please answer these extremely important questions

[@jonathanknobel2014]

What state is this in?

[@IndyHomestead]

We are located in Indiana!

[@jonathanknobel2014]

@@IndyHomestead nice, was curious because I’m moving there this year! God bless.

[@musicgroopie1]

I would have hired or purchased some goats

[@JimHerman-o3q]

Making things so difficult ! Been farming....pasturing cattle for 45 years.....milk cows. Mother nature will paint the world green !!!!!! Heavy equipment ....cattle are heavy too ! Cut and bale hay from your pasture yearly ! You can buy a full line of basic hay equipment for around 15000 dollars. Most people own a vehicle that costs more then that ! Fertilize with a 60 -80-80 fertilizer and you will be amazed at the quality and amount of grass ! Forget this so called regenerative thingy ! Feed the cattle !

[@paulkaufmann8130]

I don't think your solution is practical for 2 acres. They might be able to buy 2 more acres for $15k, tho.

[@coziii.1829]

I guess it’s ok I would of found someone with goats of sheep And sometimes they do it for free Mob grazing would of hot that done in a day or so Big trees you might have to do it

[@smopoo]

That land was regenerating, succession was imminent. Weird choice.

[@tomclarke4978]

Agree, not sure the world needs more pasture and less nature

[@jackluedtke6432]

@@tomclarke4978 pasture is 1000% better than monocultures propped up by artificial poisons that accumulate in the soil (90%+ of all agricultural land)

[@tomclarke4978]

@@jackluedtke6432 well I agree, but i don’t think either of us was referring to monoculture farming

[@chaparra71]

@@tomclarke4978well, these folks NEED pasture.

[@ottoflouer1750]

This isn't very regenerative

[@jackluedtke6432]

The best thing to do would to have rotated goats and swine by the look of it. Just sending cattle in probably would have done it eventually too.

[@glennmaillard5972]

It is regenerative, you know.