Lesson in Farming

Having grown up around farming, my eyes zero in on peculiar things I see in fields. And I have a farm curious friend, Cathy, who is always asking me questions like "what is the crop in that field?" or "how do you know when corn is ripe?" She grew up in Philadelphia but is very interested in farming. I try my best to give correct answers but at times I get stumped. A month ago I went for a walk and saw fields full of this mystery crop.

It looked like peas to me but I couldn't figure out why the local farmers would be growing fields of peas. I took these pictures and had Cathy take them to her German neighbor who has a farm. He knew right way what it was. This is a green manure used on fallow years to retain soil and to put nutrients back into the ground. Legumes such as peas are used to fix nitrogen and suppress weeds.

I walked by the same field last night and sure enough there are now peas on the plants. I guess I am a life long learned because these kinds of discoveries fascinate me and when I see a mystery like this I am not happy until I can solve it.