The Spring Grains project gave us the opportunity to test the new Earthway Seeder. I was initially inspired by the series of Earthway seeder’s that Mark Bomford strung together at the Vancouver Energy Farm in October. We used the seeders to sow overwinter cereal crops, fava beans, and crimson clover. At the Vancouver Energy Farm three separate seeders were purchased and Mark performed a custom connection that worked quite well. When deciding to purchase a seeder for the Willits Energy Farm I found a farm supply that sold three seeders as one unit. The main difference between the Willits seeders and the Vancouver Seeders is that the one we purchased has one hand-grip for the three seeders instead of three separate grips.

The seeds are dispensed by a rotating seed plate. The seeder comes with various sized seed plates for drilling different seeds. The rotation of the plate is driven by the rotation of the front wheel. If the front wheel does not spin the seed is not sown. Since the Earthway seeders are so light weight they sometimes float over the surface of the soil and the front wheel tends to “plow” more than spin. I find this to be the main drawback to these seeders when I worked with them both in Vancouver and in Willits. I am ready to add weight over the front wheels to make sure that they are driven into the ground, turn, and distribute the seed.

As you would expect, pushing three seeders at once saves time and footsteps. I think that it will be cool to drill seed a row of corn and two rows of clover at the same time. This is a useful companion planting and shows what can be accomplished with three seeders in one pass.

Close-up of Three-Wide Earthway Seeder

Another Shot of the Seeder