November 4

Daylight savings time is upon us, that artificial contrivance of Dr. Franklin to allow, in part, an extension of the working farm day.

Farm chores now have made a transition, and we should soon hear the tractors again now that the store has closed. The fields have remnants of crops unpicked, and these will be turned under to promote their return to the soil.

It is more encouraging to see the plow in May, for it signals the beginning of the growing season, when we are filled with wonder and anticipation of root and shoot, leaf and flower. November plowing is a sign of ending, where vestiges of last summer’s production are put back to the Earth.

It is a necessary thing to do – to allow for the organic components of life to cycle back to its constituents, to become part of the fodder that will one day next spring be taken up by new life as the season renews.

The fields won’t likely be turned bare this time. We should see shoots of winter rye within the week, the cover crop that will hold the soil and store nutrients for the winter, until spring plowing will return it once again.