Am I Cheating or Just Growing Up as a Farmer Dad (Weed Fabric vs Old Ways)

It is a rare, beautiful day here in Western North Carolina. We've got 600 onions we need to plant, and it's going to rain tomorrow, so we've got to get this done today. It'll be good that they get in and then get that water. You think we can do it? Yeah. All right, Henry, you think we can do it? You think we can? Yeah. Step 1. Uncover the garden bed. Oh good, you're putting silage— you're putting, uh, you're putting sandbags down on it. This tarp gets blown off and the chickens get in here and scratch it. Step 2, let's run the drip. Hook my holes in the drip line. We didn't have drip right here, so although we're probably not going to need it because Right now we're getting, we're getting plenty of, uh, rain. We will need it, and we won't be able to get to it because we're going to do the weed fabric. You slide that on and then you screw that on over it. What's wrong? Well, get in. We got one, one tape in, but I think we have to tape it down. We're gonna put staples every so often, not pinning it because otherwise water won't be able to get through. We got one pinned. Yeah, just drove it in right there. Not all the way, it just keeps it from, you know, going over, and that's enough, but certainly not all the way in. Okay, you, you started this, but this is terribly twisted. Come on, Henry, let's do this. Come on. All right, you got them unpinned. Okay, here goes. This is something we can count on. This is weed fabric. It does feel a bit like a compromise, but this is also a compromise. And these computers or phones or TVs you're watching this on right now, you know, this is UV rated. For up to 5 years. So we'll use it for 4 years, hopefully mitigating any kind of plastic leaching into our soil. We are going to do an experiment though, because the permaculture me, the pure me, wants to see if we can't make this work kind of like we make the garlic work. Oh my gosh. It's pre-drilled, no burning holes in weed fabric. Thank you, Farmer's Friend. We're gonna unroll our plastic and— hey, you got to keep it tight. Maybe get on the other side so you can keep pulling it tight and keep keeping it straight. That's what we got. We got what, maybe a third of the way? Come on, Henry, it's time for lunch. I'm losing Gideon, I'm losing mom. I'm losing Lily to errands. I think I'm losing Jonah and Josiah too. Am I losing you this afternoon too? We can help you. Am I losing you? We can help you. All right, we've had our lunch. I did manage to talk them out of shop— their tool shopping spree. You guys willing to go tomorrow? Yep. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, that's why we're doing this. All right, so I've got 2 helpers plus and a half. You're gonna get the— you're gonna get the rubber mallet for this, huh? He's a quarter help. He might be negative help. Negative help. We're teasing. You can help. Can you bring us an onion? Can you bring us an onion? We're teasing. You're a wonderful help. Has their own, or Henry, you bring them to us, or what? Everybody has their own row. Just plant them in an inch. Talk to them. Yeah, there's energy, man. I'm gonna eat you. Okay, no, don't tell them that. Hey, you're good. We're gonna take care of you. You're gonna take care of us. Well, say it in a different way. You're gonna— we're gonna— look, I'll talk to him. I'm gonna take care of you and you're gonna take care of us. Thank you. Because onions go really good with meat. Wait, what's the problem? I hate onions. You do? So you're doing this out of love. Oh, thank you for picking up the stakes. Oh boy, he's pounding them into the weed fabric. Now weeds will come up through that, Henry. They're asking me if we're gonna put hay over these. You could put hay over these because there is gonna be weeds grow in these open spots. Onions, garlic, you gotta do something because they don't, uh, they just go straight up there a little bit. They don't block out weeds. They don't— we What do you call that, splay? Are we gonna have enough onions to do this whole thing? Probably not. See how with the garlic, every year we just plant the garlic, we put a ton of hay on it, and it works. We might weed it once or twice and it's not a problem. Onions act a lot like garlic. I'm thinking we're gonna leave a little row here for experimentation. Any chance you can hammer those in on a weed fabric? Dude, I forgot to give Harriet her calf back this morning. She was separated last night. We got the milk and then I forgot to put the calf back with her. There, reunited. Wait, please, I just got this. Here, go, go in the thing and get one for yourself. Make sure you get some red ones in the weed fabric. Mom will be upset if we run our experiment on red onions. I think we're gonna make it. You guys think we're gonna have enough? We need red. No, no, that's for me. Yeah, don't plant any more of those. Plant some red ones. 600 onions. Let's do some math. Or should we not? Let's say they last 100 weeks in storage. Uh, that's not 100 a week, that's 10 a week. Okay, that's not too far off actually. That's not too far off. Wait, did I just do math in public? Hold on. What is that, Austin? Uh, oh no, that's 100 days. Shoot, is that 10 onions a day? What is it? Okay, 100 days. How many weeks is that? Let's say 120. 120 days the onions will last. Divided by 7 is 17 weeks. There's 600. This is gonna be ridiculous. 35. 35 onions a week. What is that a day? 5 onions a day. 2 and a half onions a day, maybe. Okay, okay. Hey, you want to put the hay down first and plant into it? Do— only we have red onions for this experiment? We have enough. Okay, no, it's not only red onions, right? Yeah. Oh nice. About planting right into holes. That's pretty nice. We're going to compare this. We're going to be fair, although I am going to be biased towards the fabric permaculture way. The fabric? No. Hey, do you know if we have 6— if we plant 600 onions like we're doing, we're gonna have 5 a day. We're gonna have 5 a day for 100 days. Look at over there. Just say you better get liking onions. Onions, breakfast, lunch, and supper, huh? On average, I think we eat about half an onion a day. Look at here, our chickens open up our garlic here. This is garlic, okay? It's basically the exact same. So why can't hay mulch work on the garlic? I mean, sorry, why can't hay mulch work on the onions? About halfway done through the garlic. The boys got the onions. How much onions you got left? One little tiny bundle. Okay, we'll put it in the raised bed. Help protect them from frost. The hay will settle, they'll get established, and we'll re— we'll add more just like what we're doing to the garlic. Shoot! I gotta get the net. Okay, see if you can't find a short one. You don't need a big one. Gonna protect the onions and garlic from the rogue chickens. That one, look at that. Onion soup for tens and tens of dozens and dozens of days. Hey, those gloves a little too big? Yeah. Okay. All right, that's it. Time will tell which one does better. I know which one I feel better about— the hay, of course. But I also feel good about providing food for my family. Time will tell. Which one are y'all pulling for? Comment. Happy day.