EARTH WORKS
Spring is the time for 'working the ground', the base resource of most growers, here on the organic 'eco micro-holding' (small smallholding) in the UK north midlands. The growing land is basically a black loam - it has been a cottage garden for possibly 2-300 years - but now after having had regular dressings of compost and ash (mainly woodash) for 30 years, it is a dark brown tilthy loam; it's almost like sowing and planting into compost itself at times. Slightly strange to think, too, that even in the fast-pace current techno 'e' world, everyone still needs the produce of those who till the earth - ?
Pesky pests------
Many of the growing 'pests and problems' have seemed to fade away over this thirty year period. White onion rot fungus is no longer with us (fingers etc. crossed), nor is cabbage root fly which used to be a bit of a nuisance. Even club root, a notoriously difficult fungal soil-based brassica (cabbages etc.) disease to get rid of, doesn't seem now to be much of an issue - the bassicas certainly grow well enough. The only pests these days are carrot root fly (overcome by now growing carrots in a glasshouse), occasional blackfly on broad beans, generally not bad as the beans are grown as a relatively early crop (dealt with 'mechanically' i.e. rubbing them out with fingers), and caterpiller attacks mid to late summer on winter greens brassica plants (dealt with likewise mechanically).
'Labours of love'-------
In spite of some physical limitation (bad back), and with help, sowing and planting now at mid April are pretty much up to scratch - all the onion sets (which normally give a year's supply of onions) were in at mid March, helping to spread the workload, broad bean plants planted mid-March, a good size bed to also contribute to longer-term soil fertility, beans as a legume fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil (for free), a row of peas up by the start of April, sundry seeds (salads, spring onions etc) in by early April, beetroot seeds sown ealy April, and spuds in over late March to mid April.
The loam soil has just to be relatively quickly 'shaved' to clear any weeds, the soil loosened with a garden fork, and, Bob's your uncle, in the stuff goes. Easy working is one reason for no raised beds, the other being that the experimental raised bed last spring took a devil of a lot of waterng, loam soil not being too water retentive - maybe raised beds could be better suited to 'heavier' soils? (soils with clay content). So, as usual, a 'high interest' time of year, full of promise------and good 'independent living' activity, nourishing the 'freerange' spirit. A leanish time of the year for produce, though, - right now there's just leeks, spring cabbage and lettuce to eat. Still, better than a kick in the pants----?
High value land-----?
The student poster on the wall outlining her project was entitled 'The True Value of Land'. Interesting, but only then to find that the study was restricted to identifying its actual current financial value rather than any more multi-dimensioned investigation. Set the ol'grey cells going, though, thinking about the various aspects of the 'true' value of land.
Survival, a pretty basic human need, could probably be land's most fundamental use, even in today's high-tech times. If there's no land or not enough of it or it's unproductive, then any society is probably not going to 'survive and thrive' too well, a situation undoubtedly and unfortunately well illustrated in the world today, and illustrated historically here in the UK by the fact that several rural areas became prosperous literally off the backs of land-using sheep i.e. creating wealth through wool sales. Land is then needed too in the wider living sense, now not just to grow food but also to provide sufficient 'space' for secure/relaxed living, to provide a basic resource for leisure activities and for recreation, and at times to help fulfill human needs of challenge and development, as well as furnishing vital minerals, aggregates and ore.
Providing 'nature nurturing' opportunities could be a further functional land use, enabling people to connect with and enjoy nature, then perhaps leading to another 'supporting mankind' use: that of practising care, both in the form of 'nature nurturing' itself, but also in terms of practising longer-term resource husbanding. Before the advent of chemical fertilisers and sprays, farmers had to think long-term and 'husband the land' in the sense of ensuring its on-going 'sustainability'; what they were doing to it now would affect its productivity two or three years down the line. They used the well-known 'four-course' rotation stretching crop planning over four years, and including 'land-replenishing' crops such as grass and clover, which was one way they ensured on-going fertility of the soil.
Feline fill-in ------
Brief delay here now for some immediate 'nature nurturing' for Tiger Tilly cat, (below with mate Tizz the Wizz) recently hurt on the road outside the cottage, who's come for a cuddle. Found abandoned as a tiny, blind kitten on someone's lawn and then hand-reared by a vet nurse. As neat a little cat as can be -small, black with a white collar, a white nose 'blaze', white whiskers and four little white paws, fiercely independent and an awesome hunter - a real 'freeranger', loved and 'nurtured' to bits, especially now after her accident
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Anchors away-----
Back to the 'plot' (ahem) - how else can land serve functionally? As a base, foundation, 'anchor' asset, for instance, in that when times get rocky and the economic seas get rough, land becomes the 'foundation' resource people turn to and invest in, seeking a degree of permanence and security, to counter those 'rough seas'-? Owning land can maybe give a feeling of safety, a 'counter' to any 'fast-paced' sense of life, along with providing a direct link with nature.
Having a dig-----
All these functional factors must of course feed into the current monetary value of land- maybe a heightened awareness of future resource scarcity could be influencing the current fairly rapid rise in UK farmland, for instance - ? Whilst the actual economic value of land gives a focal point, it seems likely that quite a few differing factors feed into its end price, hence the need to go behind what economists have called 'the money veil' and dig (ahem) deeper.
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