I have no complaints with how the BCS handles. I just need to resist the temptation to try to till too deep in one pass. If I ever get around to buying wheel weights, as recommended, one pass would likely do it.
Until the clay dries 
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You donât want to till deep. It kill the mychorrhizal fungus and disturbs the micro-organisms in the soil. which add the soil structure you are looking for good longer term plant growth. And you end up burying weed seeds that get turned back up next year instead of eaten by birds and mice.
clay sucks. The crap turns rock hard and makes it hard to weed, but once you get it loosened up with various techniques, things grow better and it is easier to weed. It just takes several years to get it tuned up. IT is the reason why we have a rear tine tiller, the front tine one shook the living crap out of you, and itself. I think it last 5 years before the gear case went bad on our clay. It felt like you were literally tilling rocks. Since the soil has been loosened up it works up a lot nicer, and holds a lot more water, I was dumping tons of grass clippings on it, but getting the deep rooted radish on it, really helped.
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Truth is, I donât want to till at all
Our soil is really pretty good. Clay loam. Sometimes gravelly (like, 6" gravel). Much better than what we had at the old place. But if it crusts over because I didnât cover it well enough for the winter, it needs loosening and weeding before we can plant. Tilling isnât the best way, but it is one way that can help.
Today we moved my sonâs geese to the area weâll plant in a few days. Lots of weeds right now, but the geese are super weeders. When they are done, it will be BARE ground. And pretty crusty from their flappy little feet. And well fertilized. So I will likely need to soften at least a few inches at the surface to give the seeds a fighting chance. And some spots will be tilled too deep, and some not deep enough. And I will rejoice when Iâm finished just the same 
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Maybe drag a single thin planting line and leave the rest of the soil as is? The fungal networks would be disrupted in the furrow but the much larger area in between would not.
You might preserve 80% of the no till benefits with a lot less work.
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You can do strip tilling, or just till a couple of inches deep. Just enough to get the seed soil contact. There are a few factors when you are doing a garden especially a market garden. A cover crop inbetween the rows, mulching, etc. there are quite a few ways to handle it depending on what you prefer doing, and what free/cheap resources are available, what crops you are producing, and what soil type you have to start with.
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There are a lot of work-a-rounds for bad soils or weeds if you are just growing for your own pantry but growing to market produce is a whole other dimension. Especially if you canât purchase large quantities of non-contaminated compost or have the ability to make large quantities yourself. If your weeds or grasses are spread by rhizomes then tilling is a bad plan. Itâs like the sorcererâs apprentice where the more Mickey Mouse chops up the water carrying brooms the more they wreck havoc. Thatâs the kind of grass in my garden. Those rhizomes can spread a foot long. I have covered them with tarps for a whole season and they still greened up the next year. I can clean a bed by hand that will be pretty good for a season but I have never conquered the grass. I do it like the guy in this video. One thing to do it in a 4 by 30 foot bed, but I wouldnât want to do an acre.
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quackgrass is a pain. It can take years to control organically. Unless say wood vinegar can knock it out. RoundUp knocks it out, but you canât use that if you are organic.
This is what Vermont says:
https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/quackgrass.html
Maineâs is a bit more detailed.
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Hi, all!
I have been thinking and decided to share this with you all. As you should be aware of, NEXT WEEK, we are having our annual Woodgas Meetup in Whitley City, Kentucky at the Sandhill 4H camp area. It was moved from Argos, Indiana because the âMarshall County Fairgrounds Managementâ made no secret that we were no longer wanted there. 
That is history. We are going to make the new venue work for our Meetup. All indications are that they WANT us there. Looks Great! If you have signed up, HooRay! Looking forward to meeting some new folks!
Now the rest of the audienceâŚ
Just come.
You donât have to have a woodgas vehicle, or anything, (I donât).
You donât have to have a âfinishedâ project.
You donât have to camp, there are motels within a short drive.
You donât have to be a chef, just bring something to share.
You donât have to be a social butterfly, many of us donât fit into molds, we are outsiders.
You donât have to be political, that ruins the atmosphere.
Its a âFamily Reunionâ If you like the forum, you are part of the Family!
Just come.
Some are too far away, we understand. Some must care for loved ones.
We donât know what next year will bring, Life is unpredictable.
Come, you will be welcome. 
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Thanks, Mike, for your kindness! I wish we didnât fit the âtoo far awayâ category. This âplaceâ does feel like family. Thanks to all of you for making it that way.
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Yâall come!
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Wish I could be there next weekend, perhaps another year (winning the lottery first, thatâll be easy 
)
I do hope you guys going there will enjoy yourselves a lot 
However, yesterday I was at a collectors home nearby that usually shows his collection on Swedens national day every year and I thought you guys would enjoy that too.
I thought I only made short movies but my phone seems to want other things, a shame holding my phone up several times for a minute but only made a pic, especially a shame with the closeups on the rock crusher and the hit-and-miss running it.
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I forgot to mention that the big one he could not get started, he sid that he had only ran it once before and then it ran fine but it seems as it has a probable valve leak that pushes fuel out during compression.
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So true Mike. As I told my son, âIf youâre willing to entertain the idea that you could drive down the road powered by wood, youâre willing to think outside the box.â
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Technically, I think you are burning, the box, pallets and crates. 
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Been talking to a lot of guys at work since driving truck to work⌠got into a conversation with a gentleman yesterday and i made coment about driving on wood not paying a gas tax. (He is one of these guys that likes to read and is very knowledgeable) he said well actuallyâŚ" there is a law out there that states if we are at war, or during a state of emergency you can drive on alternate fuels and dyed fuels legally"⌠then he went on to say that âBush declared war on terror and it was never resended, and Trump declared a national emergency that was never resendedâ⌠he said "your not going to argue with the DOT officer on the side of the road, but would win in court.
Granted there would be leagal fees to do so. "
I have no idea if what he said was true. Nor do i plan to drive on farm gas/off road fuel and find out⌠but found it interesting nun the less.
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You could argue since the Dakota never truly stops dribbling the tiniest amount of gasoline from the injectors youâre not dodging road tax, youâre merely stretching your fuel economy.
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It -was- true at one point. However, federally it was all waived for sure back in about 2010, for all alternative fuel vehicles to help get them on the road. They monitor farm fuel with fuel audits rather then pulling someone over randomly to check the tank.
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Johan, whereâs that at? I didnât know about that place. But not a single gasifier, was there?
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No, unfortunately no gasifiers, only hit and miss plus a couple running on steam.
Just by Norr Amsberg, not sure that I should put his name on here. Interesting fellow though, well worth a visit.
I will probably go there next year again if you want to come.
I missed taking a pic of a beautifully rebuilt roadster from 1930 -ish (guesstimated) before he left but I managed to snap one of his friends car before he left there as well.
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Yesterday at grandaughters softball tournament I saw something that I never new existed - a GPS robot that chalked the lines on the softball field automatically.
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