My Mini City Farm is Moving! - Part 2 - Tilling the Soil

We started the second day of work bright eyed and bushy tailed. We learned from our mistakes from the first day and rented an industrial tiller. There was simply no way 1/2 acre was going to be done by hand. No way. Not if I wanted to live to tell the tale, which I did.

The weather was really working with us. It was a high of 72F, clear skies, and a lovely breeze. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Very different from Day 1 which was a scorching 92F. 

Using the Industrial Tiller

All I'm going to say is that I'm glad my husband was running that thing. The soil here is so dense and dry, it was a challenge even getting it to dig in. He had to put a lot of his weight on the tiller throughout the entire process. My job was to rake, but I'll discuss those fun times in a minute.

One of the main concerns for us using the tiller was the number of rocks in the ground. The more we tilled, the more we realized just how serious it was. Every square foot had probably 15-20 golf ball and smaller sized rocks. This made getting through the dirt even more difficult. 

We found that quite a few of the root systems for the weeds in the yard were so deep they weren't being picked up by the tiller. If it wasn't so upsetting, I would have been decently impressed at their will to hang on. That tiller went about 8" into the ground on average and some of these root systems went well below that.

Raking the Weeds

The next step after tilling was for me to go behind my husband and rake out the large clumps of weeds, pull any that didn't get tilled up, and "try" to get rid of as many rocks as possible. That last part could have gone better, but hey, we're going for livable not perfect.

I found out quickly how little upper body strength I really had. Fast. Like in the first 10 minutes. 

For the most, this was smooth. It was physically demanding, and I wouldn't recommend it for people with any preexisting health issues, but we got through it. We got about 3/4 of the yard done that day. Not too shabby for two folks who have never taken on a project like that before.

The Mini City Farm is happening y'all! Stay tuned for Part 3.