Week 1

I had a wonderful experience at Gaining Ground my first week. It was really wonderful to be outside in the sun and active after 1+ year of lockdown.

Some things I learned about:

Bed Preparation - The fields must be properly readied for the growing season. Generally, each field must be, in order: cleared of cover crop, broadforked, amended, fertilized, composted, mixed, and then planted in.
Soil Chemistry - It turns out that many plants require a careful balance of elements and nutrients in the soil to grow to their maximum potential. We "amend" the soil at the beginning of every growing season with the needed constituents based on laboratory soil testing.
Planting Methods - many methods exist for planting and cultivating crops. We direct seeded some and transplanted others, and I became familiar with the various equipment used to do so.