Last month we put a plan into action to write a new story for our north pastures. They have been ok for hay and spectacular for mice, but we want them to have more adventure on their pages. A story filled with organic crops, soil-building forage, and a place to graze for heritage breed lawn mowers (grazing animals).
To do this, we hired one of the valley’s prominent “ghostwriters” to lay the foundation of this new chapter for us and the land. With a 115 horsepower pencil, the pages of this chapter turned from green to brown in a matter of hours. It’s a risky move, as plowing established pasture can cast harsh and detrimental words on our ecological emotions. But sometimes, you need a little tough love to get yourself on track to a better future.
With soil turned, the commitment to write this new story is now very real. A special blend of words must assemble and spread across the pages, but not before working the soil down to a finer textured parchment. And we must hurry. If not done soon, the sky will write a different story on this land — one of cats and dogs raining down into the muddy tragedy of a long winter’s waiting and some very happy weeds.
The upside is two half-acre parcels prepared for cropping, alternating between them annually. Two greenhouses will be set up for starting the season earlier (a priority for the resident aspiring Tomato Queen) and sheltering a few tender trees whose stories we refuse to bring to an end (miniature olives and a few citrus). The rest will remain as pasture with a healthy revision to include better species of plants for carbon sequestration, grazing, and pollinator support.
Seeing these pastures ripped open has been a bit shocking. The 8-inch thick sheets of turf flipped up, over, and sideways has a violent look to it and feels dissonant in my no-till indoctrinated brain. Sometimes though, bold new stories benefit from tried and true themes. While no-till farming has gained popularity as a more ecologically appropriate approach to soil management, the underlying story might be too complex and varied to accept a single, universal approach for all times and places. Much like the way the microbiome of your own digestive system influences your overall health, it’s beginning to appear that the microbial mass of the soil has a more significant influence over broader ecological outcomes than mechanical practices:
“As several studies have reported, the better performance of organic farming in sequestering soil carbon may be because organic systems have between 32% and 84% greater microbial biomass; and organic farming systems appear to have positive effects on soil microbial community size and activity. A long-term study published in 2007 concluded that “organic farming can build up soil organic matter better than conventional no-till farming can”. A recent U.S. study found that organically managed soils store more carbon for longer periods and have on average 44% higher levels of humic acid—the component of soil that sequesters carbon over the long term—than soils not managed organically.” - from the 2018 Policy Briefing document by the Soil Association, an organic certifier in the U.K.
I spent years consuming the valid and useful perspectives of progressive soil advocates and agroecology activists regarding soil conservation and the significance of a no-till approach. I still believe in its value and ability to move us forward. I’m also learning that few plots of land are in an equal state. While these ideas are useful, it’s important to be sure we are thinking our own thoughts and not applying the thoughts of others to the land we’re working with an expectation that the outcome will be the same as anywhere else. We must think critically about the current conditions, history of management, and the objectives we hope to achieve in order to develop the most appropriate process for progress.
So while the lack of tilling for the last 30 years has provided habitat and hay here, it has also resulted in heavy, compacted soil that does not absorb or filter water well. Lack of penetration by both air and water means lower and less healthy microbial mass. Tilling these pastures will improve our ability to establish beneficial plants more quickly while making space and conditions for more microbial life. Since some parts of our land have wetland characteristics, it is important to note that just because the state of the soil is not ideal for producing crops, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t ecologically relevant. For the lower laying, wetter land we will seek other solutions to tilling. It’s likely that half our land will alway be tall grass in the summer, water and ducks in the winter. And that’s fine for us, we like that story, too.
After a long week of uncertainty, we got the seed down and rolled in a half hour before sunset on a Friday. Three hours later, it started raining — nature’s cue to stay indoors and relax for the weekend. By Monday, the sun started peeking out onto a well-watered plot. Now we sit back and wait while the rest of this story writes itself — and hope that the rough draft is done before the first frost.