Garden Tool Quiz

Do you know what this is?

When I was growing up, we called it a hand cultivator.  It was used in our garden from the time I can remember.  Ours did not have the multiple attachments, just the prong thingy that is in the middle of the picture.   Since dad didn't want it anymore, for sentimental reasons, I nabbed it.  I always used it and liked it.  Yeah, I know, how weird is that?  Most people would prefer a "real" tiller.   I still have this darling antique.  The center prong is missing, but it still gets the job done.   Since our little Mantis tiller isn't working (something about gunk and a carburetor), I've been using this old one.  It looks like this only with more dirt ground into the wooden handles and a bit of rust on the wheel.  It is a great upper body workout, for those who are interested in such things. I'm probably just old-fashioned or maybe I just like to live in the past, (sometimes, I still like my telephone and running water) but there is something satisfying about using this old cultivator.  It helps me remember my dad, who taught me about planting and caring for a garden.  Who taught me about putting up fence and burning horns off calves.  He taught me about loving the country.  There I go getting nostalgic. It was a lovely, cool evening.  Perfect for working in the garden.  Garden work is usually preferable to cleaning the bathroom.  Bathroom cleaning is important, too, It's just that I would rather be outside.  I was able to get half of the upper garden worked up this evening. The happy news around here is that my John Deere, while repairs are yet to be completed,  is about done with her surgery and just needs to be stitched up.  That can't happen soon enough. Giver of All Good, Streams upon streams of love overflow my path. Thou hast made me out of nothing,    hast recalled me from a far country,    hast translated me from ignorance to knowledge,                                  from darkness to light,                                  from death to life,                                 from misery to peace,                                 from folly to wisdom,                                from error to truth,                                from sin to victory. Thanks be to thee for my high and holy calling. I bless thee for ministering angels,                   for the comfort of thy Word,                  for the ordinances of thy church,                  for the teaching of thy Spirit,                 for thy holy sacraments,                 for the communion of saints,                for Christian fellowship,                for the recorded annals of holy lives,               for examples sweet to allure,              for beacons sad to deter. I entrust myself to thee, for thou hast redeemed me. I bless and adore thee, the eternal God,    for the comfort of these thoughts,      the  joy of these hopes. ~an excerpt from Comforts, from The Valley of Vision

Charles H. Spurgeon

A fellow blogger and Christian agrarian, Brenda, at A Separate Path, has a great post on Spurgeon.  There is a selection from the introduction to his book, Farm Sermons.  It is well worth the read.  I invite you to check it out here.

Buckwheat: A Look Back

Ahh, yes, the title does sound rather formal, but, it's buckwheat.  How formal can buckwheat get?

Last spring, after much research into green manure, my husband and I decided that we would give buckwheat a try.  Our original garden plot was seven years old.  We thought it would be a good time to give it a rest and use the buckwheat as a cover crop, as well as one that would be used as a green manure.  This was going to be a boost to the soil as well as a deterrent to the weeds that have no problem growing in my garden, no matter what is going on with the soil.

*DISCLAIMER:  WE REALLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING (BUT WE THOUGHT WE DID)!*

Disclaimer having thus been issued, I can fill you in on the details.  

The buckwheat was easily procured at our wonderful local feed mill, Bowser's.  It was then hand broadcast onto our tilled garden.  It grew into a lovely plot of buckwheat.  The local bee population seemed to enjoy it as well.  A huge plus, I think.  Here's where things went awry, in my humble opinion.  From what I understood, the buckwheat should be tilled under before it flowers and goes to seed.  OR, it can be left and the first frost would kill it and then it can be left to rot and then tilled into the ground.  I thought the first option sounded more "green".  I was going with that.  It seemed a happy thought.  When the buckwheat began to look like it was going to flower, the guy who runs the tractor and hooks up the equipment on this little corner of the world was informed of said event and that the plot needed to be tilled very soon.  I even offered to run the tractor, if he would connect the tiller.  The offer of me running any type of equipment usually speeds up any process for fear that I might actually do it.  When he sees me with a hammer, well, you get the picture, I think.  But, this time it didn't work.  It seems he didn't really believe I would even attempt to connect the tiller, let alone run it in the garden.  The buckwheat bloomed.  After much wringing of hands, on my part, the plot was mowed.  I thought, then, that it would be tilled.  At this point, the big guy had so many irons in the fire that there was no hope of getting the tiller on the tractor.  It wasn't long before a second crop of buckwheat emerged just as lovely as the first, albeit, unwanted.  This second crop was then mowed.  Yet, again, another crop was beginning to show it's strong and sturdy self.  At least the frost saved us from another round.  Fast forward to the spring.  The garden was tilled.  Crops were planted.  And, yes, you guessed it, there is buckwheat sprouting in the garden.  Thankfully just a few plants here and there that are easily dispatched and used as green manure, manually.  

All this being said, I am certain that there are plenty of folks who have had great success with green manures and are seasoned veterans at this craft.  It seems as if the use an old Presbyterian motto might work here, "But, we've never done it that way before."  You can teach an old dog new tricks, I think, just not these old dogs.

I have no idea if our soil has profited from our experiment with buckwheat.  I really don't know if we will ever try it again.  (My boss says, "NO".)  I still have weeds, though.  But, I think that's just life with a garden.  Or, maybe it's just life.

To read what real experts say about green manure, you can check out Gardening When it Counts, Growing Food in Hard Times, by Steve Solomon.  Or, online here.

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P.S.  My camera was accidentally left at our daughter's in Minnesota.  It is being returned when they come for a visit the end of June.  I miss it.  

My sweet ride, Hazel, my John Deere, had to go in for major surgery this spring.  She has yet to be repaired.  In the meantime, I'm using an old Craftsman, which gets the grass cut with twice the amount of time and effort...the steering is bad.  I miss it more than my camera.  My arms and shoulders are getting a great workout though.

O LORD,

Whose power is infinite and wisdom infallible,

Order things that they may neither hinder, nor discourage me...

Permit me not to labour at work which thou wilt not bless,

     that I may serve thee without disgrace or debt;

Let me dwell in thy most secret place under thy shadow,

   where is safe impenetrable protection from

     the arrow that flieth by day,

     the pestilence that walketh in darkness,

     the strife of tongues,...

     the perils of youth,

     the temptations of middle life,

     the mournings of old age,

     the fear of death.

I am entirely dependent upon thee for support, counsel, consolation.

Strengthen me by thy Spirit in my inner self

     for every purpose of my Christian life.

--selections from Refuge, from A Valley of Vision