24 May 2011

Weather - what else?

Stratheden is in a cycle of monsoons. For maybe a month or more, there has almost always been "the daily downpour." The topography of Floyd county mitigates against flooding, thank goodness, or we'd be up to our powder horns in water by now. The heavy clay here never seems to stop absorbing water, much to my surprise.

Today two waves of liquid passed over the farm, one a gentle rain, one a downpour. Mr. Fuzzy was able to work before the first and between the two - the garden is too wet to till so Mr. Fuzzy is swinging his Ugandan hoe high and blasting apart the dense clay. After the hoe has broken the soil into chunks, Mr. Fuzzy uses his father's four tine cultivator (now approaching forty-five years old) to produce a reasonably homogeneous and loose soil structure that is ready for planting.

Here is a view of Black Ridge after the second storm today.

2 comments:

steven L. said...

Mr. Fuzzy,

I might be wrong but I was always told not to work clay when it's wet...it will only harden the clots harder when they dry.

SML

Mr. Fuzzy said...

You're right but I can't wait forever to plant, alas. Also adding amendments as I go (esp the Fifth Amendment) before the Tea Party takes them away.