Fall Planting

Coming out from days of shock, I motivated myself to plant a new crop. I packed up all the seed and tools, focusing on logistical step by planned step. I had to get through this heaviness and make sure I have something in the ground before the rains. After all, nature waits for no one.When arrived at the field, I finally realized what had happened around me. The previous dark days cleared for a warm, welcoming weekend. I embraced the crisp autumn air and gentle autumn light, brushed through the newly sprouted pasture, called back and forth with the birds, and inhaled the richness of the landscape. Nature is a force that never ceases to amaze.I'm still looking for land, at this point for a spring planting, but I have a small experimental plot in Petaluma for now. I planted a large stretch of Ethiopian Blue Tinge Emmer, then smaller plots of hard red, non-proprietary wheat: Canus, Hollis, Marquis, and Fortuna, and some beans: chickpea and Hunan popping bean. Yes, a bean you can pop like popcorn! I broadcast red clover to fix nitrogen and help the grains out compete weeds.The rains are coming this week, interspersed with sunshine and warmth, which will surely stimulate the seeds to sprout. Now begins the waiting game, the long pregnant pause.