I have a confession.

We are not the “greenest” farm family out there. We use chemicals, we use fertilizer and in the winter I just can’t bring myself to hang clothes on the line.

We do try to make things environmentally friendly(er) on the farm though. One way is by preventing soil erosion. All those Virginia rains and spring winds can be hard on farmland so we plant a winter cover crop of rye to those fields that are plowed (i.e. those fields in which we plant peanuts) or we practice the no-till method of farming.

All of the following fields were planted using the no-till method last season and you can see that we did not disturb the soil at all after harvest…

We use the no-till (really it means exactly what you’d think - we don’t till the land) method for planting crops like soybeans, corn or - in past years - cotton.

You can see that everything was completely left alone after the crop was harvested. We saved time, labor and fuel by not turning over the soil. Sure is ugly though, isn’t it?

It also conserves moisture in the soil which I guess is what would happen to your skin if you never took a bath… but ewwwwwww. I’ll stick with my big bottle of Lubriderm, thankyouverymuch.

The next fields yielded peanuts for us in the fall. Do you remember how the peanuts had to be dug (click here to jog your memory)? So on these fields we planted rye as a winter cover crop.

Instead of trying to list all the advantages of a cover crop myself, I’m just going to quote Dr. John Bradley

The added residue and coverage provided by cover crops is vital to low-residue crops such as cotton and soybeans. Cover crops also provide food and cover in winter months for earthworms, soil microbes and wildlife. They also add organic matter and tilth to the soil and keep the surface particles from running together and/or “baking out” in late spring. The residue from a cover crop also helps to keep the soil cooler in early summer, which reduces moisture loss and provides a more suitable environment for root growth. When the cover crop is terminated in early spring, the decaying roots leave macropores in the soil which improve water infiltration and aeration of the soil. The residue left from winter cover crops will also help protect seedlings from wind and sand-blasting in early summer.

Whew. Seems to me like it’s worth planting, huh?

And just to veer off topic here, I snapped pics of the old hog houses because I was thinking about my previous post on junking…

But I really don’t think there’s anything in this one. Maybe there is for someone far more creative than me though.

But this. Hmmm. Do you think that Brad and Angelina would want this? I think it would fit in perfectly at their French castle, don’t you?