Where would you go?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

All of the above, things change quarter to quarter and within that, nothing flat perfect or black here, white as snow fire burnt in the last century full of potholes, one dumb fat blonde told my why do i bitch, i have 6 to 8 percent om , , well i dont i can show a soil sample with 1 percent om and i dont think they use fractions, plus the climate wreck, its is so variable here i have two quarters half mile apart with a 10 bushel difference.

And where is that, roughly?

[makar]

Land starts a good rifle shot south of the pioneer elevator in rycroft, pure gumbo then south and west to ashes and muskeg patches. There is a reason first farm has cows. Whole area should but times changed. People get fooled here because soil changes so quick, some of the best soil in alberta is next to me.

[makar]

Call me stupid no organic matter no dirt.

[makar]

One quarter of mine dad said he used to walk across it to school and the ashes were half way up his rubber boots. I cant buy my crops i have to grow them and the suka curva mother nature dont always let me.

[farmaholic]

Bigzee made a good point, as did Maker. Every area has some good and poor dirt. Even the Regina Plains gumbo can have some 1 inch deep water duck pastures...and once that stuff is saturated the only place for the water to go is up through evaporation.

Oddly enough I've said it before that there are people who wouldn't want to farm the Slum of the Ghetto, but it's home to me and all I know. I've seen alot worse and alot better. We ourselves have a mixed bag of tricks. But if I had to buy a new farm, if I could afford to be fussy...I would be! "Some" costs don't change much whether you're farming good dirt or poor dirt...but their abilities and limitations of each IS different.

117 years here...and if I could I would buy more beside me, if it was the right stuff...even if it cost a bit more for that luxury. But I am running out of time.

Edit: corrected to 117 years.

[makar]

I would trade with you farma at least i could balance tires instead of digging clay with a screwdriver never mind trashing my track shovel.

[Taiga]

Land starts a good rifle shot south of the pioneer elevator in rycroft, pure gumbo then south and west to ashes and muskeg patches. There is a reason first farm has cows. Whole area should but times changed. People get fooled here because soil changes so quick, some of the best soil in alberta is next to me.

What is the history of the ashes you are referring to? Repeated historical wildfires, or damages from land clearing, or something else? I am further west of you and we don’t have that. I understand there were several large wildfires through my area of the Peace before full settlement, started by early settlers and Indians and you can still see the black stumps in places, but nothing that has left permanent ash on the ground. Some areas the topsoil is only 5cm deep however.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I would trade with you farma at least i could balance tires instead of digging clay with a screwdriver never mind trashing my track shovel.

You know, it never occurred to me that that wasn't a normal state of affairs. So, not everyone who drives on gravel roads, and off road has this problem? I don't balance any tires either, a 1/2 Oz weight is insignificant compared to the 4 lbs of clay perpetually stuck to the rims. I sure do enjoy stopping on the side of the road, in my good clothes, laying in the muck with a tire iron trying to get the unbalanced mud out so I can go faster than 30km/hour.

I gave some thought to the ashes comment, as I was burning brush piles today. The only thing that makes sense is that the land used to have deep peat moss, and it burnt completely, likely over the span of decades. A stack of poplar trees 15 feet high, and solid only leaves a couple of inches of ashes, so there is no way that standing timber could ever leave that much ashes. But the peat can burn/smoulder underground for years, with little oxygen, so it would leave lots of ashes in the process. Must have eventually burnt through to the surface, or a surface fire finished the job, and left the peat ashes exposed. Which would explain the low OM and shallow top soil you describe. Probably used to be the deepest richest soil in the area, then burnt all the OM, literally.

Whenever I've dug to the bottom of peat moss here(the deepest I have found is 11 feet), I find there is a layer of top soil at the very bottom, very similar to the top soil in other non-peat low ground, 6 to 8 inches deep, then clay below that, which I assume wouldn't burn?