This morning, Rebekah and I prepared lunch. We reheated the last three soups (black bean, tomato and chicken soups) and made roasted carrots and parsnips as well as whole wheat/honey biscuits.
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| Stephen hitching up the bed shaper |
In the afternoon, our group went out to see the North Orange fields. Stephen and Tyson demonstrated hitching up implements to the tractor and then did their best to "shape the beds." It was a bit tough because the field was still full of plowed in oat straw, which was the cover crop from last fall. Cover crops are funny things--after a field has been harvested, the farmer plows in the left-over plants and then puts new seed down on the soil. This seed--often oats, rye, vetch or a combination of these--germinates, grows and is left inthe field over the winter. It isn't collected as food for humans or animals. Instead, it nourishes the soil adding nutrients and organic matter to feed the microbes therein. Those microbes help feed the next food crop. This is a great story for another time.
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| discussing the soil |
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| Looking back at the bed |
While the farmers continued to fiddle with the tractor, the rest of us went off to clear the hedges around the North Orange fields.
Emily pointed out some lovely flowers--a trillium about to bloom and another crocus like flower already in bloom. I was excited to find Canada Mayflower--one of my favorite spring flowers--about to bloom. I'll sneak back over this weekend and see if they bloom. The weather has gotten warm and muggy today. Very summer-like!
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| Emily up a tree |
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| Trillium about to bloom |
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