Why reinvent the wheel ? While that might seem unnecessary , farmers like Trish Jenkins and Jeremy Smith often have forward-looking minds , dreaming up ways to do things more efficiently and , well , but just . TheirCycle Farm , in the northerly Black Hills of South Dakota , is a small , diversified assorted vegetable farm . With over 40 different crop and an active CSA , the duette is commit to building community of interests through the use of man - powered and regenerative agriculture practices . We spoke with Trish Jenkins about the creative ways they use bicycles on their farm to keep things in movement .
1. Why did you name your farm Cycle Farm?
Trish Jenkins : We’re excited about bike as deportation and smart , efficient putz for small plate farms — they ’re also irresistibly fun , engaging and offer a great way to interact with your community , neighbourhood or city . The name round Farm capsulize our love for wheel , as well as honor all the profoundly of import natural cycles that we lick with as farmers — everything from day and seasons , life and dying , to begrime nutrient cycling and the hydrologic round . We ’re attached to producing food in a way that fosters soil health and promotes a diverse local ecology , and part of this is minimizing our inputs and fogy fuel use by using bicycles and human magnate .
2. How do you use bicycles in your farming?
TJ : mainly , we use bikes for delivery of green goods to restaurants and sodbuster market and run errand to town . We also use our cargo bike to drag things back and forth from the domain . It ’s set about a flat for haul fencing material , drinking straw bales , box of Irish potato and special racks adapt for carry buckets or unwinding curlicue of drip mag tape . We also have a few creature that are made from recycled motorcycle portion , like a wheel hoe , circular dibbler and a garden cart .
3. What have you found to be the biggest advantages of cycle farming?
TJ : By choose to use wheel and organic , no - tillfarming practices , we had crushed inauguration cost than if we had opted for mechanisation . The annual expense of fuel and sustentation are also greatly reduced . But more important than monetary savings , we really appreciate how directly we can engage with our landed estate and biotic community through work by hand and foot .
Working by hand set aside us the chance to be more present and observing than if we were sitting in a tractor nates . There are no motor prevail , we have our hand in the soil , and we can hear birds and all the buzzing pollinator . Also , delivering by bicycle pop the question us a hazard to stop and visit with neighbour , something we would n’t be able to do if load up in a hand truck . Our community is the mainstay of our farm , and we rate chance for meaningful engagement — and oftentimes this happens along the bike path .
4. Any limitations you’ve found with using bicycles? How do you address these issues?
TJ : For our scale and management goals , cycle really are the most appropriate prick . We can dribble up to 350 pounds , so we can extend most things and workaday study is all done by motorcycle . However , we ’ve receive that in operating a farm , there are some things that outdo this electrical capacity . We sourcecompost , chicken feed and strew bales for mulch from off - farm . For these we take over a pickup and trailer . Another limit is prison term . Some things take longer to do by bridge player and bicycle . We ’re still working on solving the time - direction challenge , but increasingly we ’re doing well at cope the stresses they cause .
5. Do you retrofit the bicycles yourself?
TJ : Jeremy apprentice at theCenter for Appropriate Transportin Eugene , Ore. , a bicycle frame - building shop , and built his cargo bike there . We have two other bicycles we built up from used component part . We are big fans of community bicycle co - ops and workspaces .
6. You have some really interesting bike pictures on your website. Tell us about those unique inventions.
TJ : Jeremy ’s bike is a bakfiet or long john - style bike . It ’s an former invention from northern Europe , where the cargo area sits between the passenger and the front cycle . Often this cargo area is a wooden box , but we opted for a flatbed to allow for more versatility . Two wheels keep the bike easily manoeuvrable and the low essence of gravity of the cargo arena provides stability . FarmHack.org has large resources on other bicycle derived farm equipment .
Our new garden cart is quickly becoming a favorite tool on the farm . It ’s a modified design fromFarm Hand Carts , using 24 - inch bike bike and size for our bed . The feet on the handcart are shaped like hearts , so it get out play footprints around the farm .
Trish Jenkins
Trish Jenkins
Trish Jenkins
