Farmers like Abebe Moliso, whose family land in the Ethiopian highlands became severely degraded from years of monocropping, overgrazing, and slashing the forests in the pursuit of new productive fields, all of which radically changed the local climate. The more he and his neighbors farmed, the less they grew. As the rains vanished and temperatures soared, the topsoil hardened like pavement. They eventually had no option but to stop farming and let the land heal. Supported by a food-for-work strategy developed by the World Food Program and the Ethiopian government, Abebe and his neighbors began terracing their gently sloping land and digging shallow water pans to collect rainwater whenever it came. They nurtured the growth of natural grasses to reinvigorate the soil and planted trees that would provide shade and falling leaves to cover and protect the ground, absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and stir the precipitation cycle. They also embraced crop diversity by adopting traditional crops, including hardier, more nutritious varieties that had been orphaned by modern agriculture demands.
After nearly a decade of healing, the natural allies were resurrected – springs and ponds reappeared, pollinators returned, insects and microorganisms multiplied to nourish the soils. His farming operation benefited too, with a diverse array of vegetables, fruits, and grains now flourishing in his fields.
With Agriculture Facing a ‘Great Collision,’ More Farmers Seek to Nourish and Heal (The Daily Yonder)
Work in progress
You little electrons will go places I can only dream of
Carving sale is now open, through next weekend!
Somewhere in America, someone is waking up this morning and saying, “Wait, what? There’s an election?” I cannot tell you how much I envy that person.
Whatever good you may think you are doing for your community by voting, you can do far more simply by bagging up your leaves instead of dumping them in the street. Thank you.
Two fishermen running down the beach trying to reel in a big one, hooting like Slim Pickens riding the bomb.
And then this. It is one of the annoyances of my life that this happens every day and I almost never see it. We have these great gifts and we have traded them for… Raleigh?
The rising sun broke through the clouds this morning like the pulsing craquelure of dying firelogs. The camera would not have done it justice.