VIDEO: MIND, BODY, AND SOIL.
So I made a video. It's a bit of an experiment––making videos––so I will take any and all suggestions on how I can make it better. The goal is to be able to make videos like this that are fun (hopefully fun) but that are efficient––finding time to make videos is not easy. So anyway, let us know what you think. Got tips or pointers (besides to spell the word "guarantee" correctly the first time)? I'd love to hear them!-Jesse.
DRIFT.
I went to a neighbor's and filled the back of our truck with some old, dry compost. On the way back with the first load, I could see in the side view mirror how a little of the compost was drifting out onto the roadside, and sorta smiled thinking about how nice this drive would look if I did this enough times––a sort of residual fertilization program: Our style of natural farming, in a sense, improving the landscape beyond our farm.Because heavy on my mind was also all of the drift from herbicide we can see around our county. Roadside trees and plants show with bleached white leaves, and the fields look stained with black. If you were to stand above it, it would look like a bomb went off––not even and straight like rows of corn, but powerful and indiscriminate, like chemical warfare.I've said it before, but farms are not contained by the barbed wire and land surveys that define them. They are living, connected parts of a giant biological organism. They touch. They mingle. Birds travel between them. Deer, farmers, dogs, water, and wind, too. What I do here affects what my neighbors do. And vice versa. If we promote life, we spread life. Death, unfortunately, is spreadable, too.Not lost on me, of course, is that there is a fundamental difference in approach. We love our neighbor's dearly, but we believe in diversity, where conventional farming is about sterility. So they may not want my life any more than I want their death.Ultimately, farmers can choose to change, but consumers help influence that decision. The choices we make in what we eat, have their drift, too. We create the demand for the herbicide, pesticide, and exhaust from trucks between here and California, Mexico or Canada every day. The question then is not just "Are these tomatoes good for me," but "Are these tomatoes good for everything?"-Jesse.
GETTING OUR HANDS DIRTY.
And just like that, its spring. One day I am complaining about the brutal winter, and (truly!) the very next day, we are busy planting and preparing beds and starting soil blocks. How wonderful to have our hands in the dirt again, sun on our bare shoulders, sore muscles at night.We planted peas in our own garden and started cabbage and broccoli in soil blocks. In the big gardens, we prepared beds by spreading compost (with the trusty golf cart) and planted onions and lettuce with the Smiths while the children picked chickweed.What are you busy with in these early days of spring?- Hannah.
PROGRESS.
Today was an unbelievably beautiful and warm January day. With plans of preparing our garden spot, we packed up early and headed to the farm, crew in tow, to make some actual progress. Although it is not a great time for planting seeds, it's a perfectly good time to get your land ready for those seeds. Inspired by people like Masanobu Fukuoka and Bill Mollison, we are trying to employ more "no-till" methods of farming. Most of these ideas involve laying down some sort of mulch and letting the soil till itself underneath. Today that meant basically laying down cardboard...then walking away. The cardboard, when it becomes wet, begins to rot. This decomposes all the debris and plant matter underneath it, while also attracting beneficial microorganisms and especially worms. Over time, it creates a layer of rich, loose topsoil. By letting it over-winter, you have a bed ready just in time for spring––no tractors, machines or tilling and thus no real "impact" on the soil. By helping preserve soil structure and moisture, this is an extremely kind and sustainable style of farming!The first step was fencing off the garden area. Although we don't yet have to worry about critters eating our little plants, we do have a couple of horses who might trot right through our hard work. So we (by we, I mean Jesse) put up some strategic barbed wire, making sure to add bright flags so the horses don't get caught by surprise.
Then, we got to work on the garden. My mom and dad were there to assist, and the help was much appreciated as we cut weeds, moved rocks, and tried to relocate loads of manure in a wheelbarrow with no wheel!
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| Clearing the weeds. |
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| Digging around, checking the soil. |
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| Taking a break to talk with AUNT ELIN! We love you! |
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| The fruits of our dumpster-diving labor. |
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| An unexpected, mystery guest joins the crew. He seems overly enthusiastic. |
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| Hard working mom, hauling cardboard. |
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| So helpful. |
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| We HAVE been looking for an antique tub.... |
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| Moving poo. |
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| Yay! Horse manure! |
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| Oh man, I want to keep this dog. |
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| After laying down the cardboard, we poured water on it, to speed up the decomposition. Then we placed rocks on it to secure it. Then we spread the manure, as an additional compost for the soil. |
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| The final product! We gathered all the weeds we had cleared and added them as a final mulch on top.................................................................................................................
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It feels truly amazing to have done some real work today. Although this was just a start (we need about five times this amount of cardboarded area), it is something! Some actual work to show for all of our stressing and planning! Our interim stay in the city has been a dramatic shift from last years daily physical labor and outdoor life. It was so good to be back on a farm. I am happy today, once again having some aches in my bones, some dirt under my nails, some progress made.
- Hannah.