Putting on the poo

Ben loading up some poo

Manure is a necessary part of farming in a sustainable way.
People think that farmers only grow plants, but at the heart of it, farming is the cultivation of soil microbes. Without a healthy crop of microbes in the soil the plants have trouble absorbing nutrients. In many ways plants and people are very much alike, we both have a symbiotic relationship with single-celled organisms to help us get nutrients from our food.

So Melissa and I spent the better part of yesterday putting the poo onto our field. We had 6 yards of organic source cow manure delivered into one big, stinking pile. From that pile we manually spread the aged cow pie mix onto each of our 80' beds. It smelled a bit, but anyone from farm country gets a sense of nostalgia from the scent of manure.

Baby plants, Melissa and our farm-cat friend Boomerang

Today we began the muscle building process of forming our raised beds. Each 2' wide pathway has to be dug out a bit and dumped onto the adjacent beds before a final tilling. Farmers lucky enough to have a tractor can do this with very little sweat, but since we can't afford one (yet), we're putting our sweat equity to work. Given that many people spend tons of money per year at a gym to reach a similar result, I'd say its quite a deal. However my sore muscles presently disagree...

Anyway, all of this work is so that these babies have a place to go. These babies, as well as tons of seed are waiting to move into their beds next week. It is a pleasure to know that all of this work is leading to the best part of farming...PLANTING!!!

 - Ben