Miscellaneous Rambling
I've been looking at the best way to prep my land for next year's harvest. Coincidentally, I ran across this in-depth piece about restoring America's soil: Can American soil be brought back to life? "Promoting soil health comes down to three basic practices: Make sure the soil is covered with plants at all times, diversify what it grows and don't disrupt it. What this means in practice is rotating crops, so fields aren't trying to support the same plant year after year. And it means using techniques like “cover-cropping””“planting a secondary plant like grasses, legumes or vegetables”“between rows of crops or on other exposed soil instead of leaving it bare."
I've been forming out my beds for next spring. I formed out and planted 17 beds this year. I'm adding the better part of eight more this fall: raking out the rocks, hoeing them, planting field peas or daikon radishes as cover crops or covering with uprooted tall lettuce plants that have gone to seed, adding compost (from the stripped sod from last spring that has decomposed over the past four months) . . . and, of course, piling rocks at the head of each bed so I can find them next spring.
If it, of course, drudgery, but I enjoy it and need to lose the weight that (slowly, imperceptibly, illusorily) comes with it. The endless string of podcasts and Catholic history lessons make it even more edifying.
Man, I detest the Southern Poverty Law Center. From the National Catholic Register: SPLC 'Hate Map' Targets Christians, Pro-Family Groups.
