Homemade Overseeder

       One of the traits my dad passed down to me is "do with what you got, and make it work". Part of our mission with the store is to help fellow homesteaders become not only self-sufficient but to try and keep things simple and inexpensive. I was born and raised in South Georgia on a 300 acre farm and I began my journey into the farming world. I soon realized how expensive and debt bound "large scale" farming was. I owned,  rather the bank owned, a 125HP 4455 John Deere, 18 foot harrow, 4 bottom flip moldboard plow, 4 row strip till and 4 row vacuum planters...and wow, before I knew it the worn out, low PH soil, rainless area I was attempting to farm showed me quickly I could not farm it like my Big Pa did. Six years later the Lord called me to pursue a debt free small scale farming life here in the state of Tennessee working for the Smiths on their 200 acre farm with 2 Belgians and a Model M Farmall.
      One of our first projects after my arrival here was to overseed some winter grazing for the milk cows and draft animals. We bought an old International 8' grain drill with a hydraulic lift for $400. I wanted to be able to inexpensively overseed or "no till drill" some wheat and rye grass on all our pastures. I took this drill and I welded 1/2 rebarb to each of the legs that are supposed to flex with a spring. By doing this I was able to make the hydraulics almost pick the grain drill up off the ground. So for the drill to cut into the soil and through the grass we drove very slowly, weighed down the drill and waited on a day after a rain for soil softness. In this silty soil, I was able to plant almost 1/2 to 3/4" deep and this did a very nice job. Opposed to renting a drill from the Co-op or farm center for $200 a day. We made our own and can use it any time in tilled soil or on pasture with success. We included some pictures with our post to show you how we did it.

Happy welding,

Jesse
The Back to the Land Store