Dear Farm Journal,
As I grow in mindfulness, I recognize my thought patterns often trace the life of plants. With each slant of the eye, I mark germination, moisture, budding growth, and first fruit. I’ve come into a sense that the plant kingdom is designed to thrive if the core elements of life are present. However, when a plant, or worse, an entire crop, begins to fail, I recognize I have a lot to learn about plant disease, pests, soil deficiencies, and all sorts of maladies. Today we found a few kohlrabi with an alien-like mold on the bulb, as well as a root oddity causing one of the spinach beds to yellow. As a new farmer with no formal agrarian education, I’m left to do what any layman would. I snap a photo and Google it. I scan the internet; downy mildew, club root, alternaria leaf spot, root maggots, cut worms, fusarium wilt, boron deficiency, and the lists roll on. I haven’t quite gotten to the bottom of anything yet…other than I have a lot to read in the seasons ahead.
~Joy