Our farmland was used for growing crops for many years before we acquired it.  The land needed to be restored, as the fertility was low, the soil was in poor condition and there were a lot of weeds.  We used rotations of different cover crops over a 5 year time period to help with recovery of the soil.  We did not use fertilizer or herbicides - letting the cover crops do the job of suppressing weeds and helping rebuild the biological activity of  the soil.  Compost and lime were the only soil amendments used.    After the cover crop rotations, we planted permanent pasture for livestock grazing.   Here are some photographs of the different types of cover crops that we used, and how the pastures look now.  You can read more about our cover crop program, including details on the schedule we used  here:

A field of a mixed cover crop of oats and peas, planted in the spring.

Up close picture of oats and peas

Spring cover crop being mowed in preparation for the next crop to be planted. Mowing and reincorporating the residue back into the soil is a way to keep nutrients in the soil.

Oats and peas make a nice combination to grow together. They grow well early in the spring. The peas use the oats for support, attaching to them with their tendrils.

Buckwheat in flower

Buckwheat flowers provide a great source of nectar for honeybees, butterlies and other beneficial insects. When planted in the summer, buckwheat can help sustain honeybee colonies by providing a nectar source during a dearth of other flowering plants.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is our favorite cover crop. It grows quickly and really helps control weeds. Bees and butterflies love buckwheat - it's a great source of nectar for the bees in the summer.

Sunnhemp growing in the summer. Sunnhemp adds fertility to the soil - it is a nitrogen fixing plant.

Sunnhemp

Sunnhemp just starting to bloom. We cut the sunnhemp right when it started blooming - otherwise the plants get too tall and difficult to manage.

Laura standing in a field of sunnhemp, bordered by sunflowers. Sunflowers are great to plant at field edges. They bloom for a long time, look pretty from a distance, and provide nectar and pollen for beneficial insects.

Sudex (sorghum-sudangrass). Sudex grows very tall and has a lot of biomass. It does a good job of suppressing weeds. Sudex can be cut and used for forage for animals (livestock) as well.

Bill and Laura almost swamped out in a field of Sudex, summer 2014.

Sudex just starting to send up seed stalks. If you are going to cut the Sudex to reincorporate it into the soil, cut it at this stage or a little before, to make it easier to manage the stalks.

Sudex in autumn, has started to die back after seed heads were formed. In this field, we left the sudex on over the winter. The plants will die back and the large amount of biomass will keep the soil covered like a mulch during the winter.

One of the pastures shortly after planting, with clover and pasture grasses growing well.

Root nodules on a sunnhemp plant. These nodules are where nitrogen-fixing bacteria live, giving the plant the characteristic of fixing nitrogen, adding fertility to the soil.

Bill and Jules taking a break from mowing the spring cover crop in preparation for planting the summer crop.

Mature pasture after establishment.