Thursday, June 4

Remember. I told you yesterday that the field was completely plowed by the time I got up in the morning. This is it.

I love the sight and scent of newly plowed earth. I always find it amazing that this is the same earth that God created thousands of years ago – and asked us to take care of it.

The next field, on the homestead, is sprouting with newly planted corn (see my May 21 entry) and looks quite different from the previous one, because it was not plowed or tilled. It was planted by using a method called no-till where the previous crop is controlled with a herbicide and the next crop is planted.

By mid afternoon there was someone back in Eli and Jacob’s field. It appears that someone came in from the outside to do this because of the larger equipment.

He was pulling equipment that was doing three or four different things in preparing the ground for planting.

I have been away from farming too long to know their proper names. The last piece is a cultipacker – a piece of equipment that crushes dirt clods, removes air pockets, and presses down small stones, forming a smooth, firm seedbed.

I am interested to see what process they use next – or if it is now prepared for planting.