First, I plowed the soil with the Farmall Cub and its single bottom plow. It did a reasonable job.
I decided to use up the rest of the barley I harvested (by hand) last year. Although I had lofty intentions of malting the barley and making beer, I decided to pull the plug on that project after I realized the amount of time and resources that would be required. I had about 80 pounds of barley left, and figured it would work well in combination with clover, plus it would give the pigs something to munch on next spring while the clover was establishing. I started off by spreading the barley with a pull-behind seeder I got for $35 at the local ReStore. Although I thought I got a good deal on the seeder, it was not built for work on moderately uneven ground and disintegrated within the first 30 minutes. I resorted to hand broadcasting the rest of the seed, which actually didn't take me too long.
I ran over the ground with the drag harrow again, and then Jen helped me to hand broadcast the clover. I went with 30 pounds of ladino clover, and 10 pounds of alsike clover. The ladino I broadcast over the entire field, and the alsike I broadcast in the wetter areas (it is supposed to be the best clover for wet areas). The seed cost me about $200 (plus about $50 in fuel and depreciation), and I'm hoping it returns the equivalent of a ton of grain per acre next year, which would give me a net savings of about $1700 over buying commercial feed. I also used organic seeds and am thinking seriously about certifying the pigs organic next year, which means I have the potential to save even more.
I did the a final harrowing after planting last Friday, and here's how the field looked yesterday.