From Disaster to Divine in a Hayfield
So, there we sat with all of that grass seed in our truck and rain on the way. Once the storms moved through, the ground was likely to be too wet to get in with a tractor without risk of severely compacting the soil. It was time to act. But how? We have no grain drill, no grass drill, NOTHING mechanical with which to plant grass seed. I made a decision to plant the seed by hand.
And what could be simpler? Yes, I was contemplating very hard physical work, but waiting for machinery appeared to be like Waiting for Godot: it was never going to happen. It was certainly not going to happen during that short window of time when one can hope to successfully plant cool season grasses in our area. Unfortunately, my husband had to work and could not join me until late afternoon in the rush to plant before the rains. So it was down to me to get the job done.
With a high level of frustration and not a small amount of anger at the "custom" farmer, I set out to our farm with the load of grass seed and a few simple hand tools. I stopped by the farm store and bought some surveyor flags. Once at the farm, I paced around the farm field once to establish size by my pace. Then I re-paced the field, placing flags around it to establish a grid. The day was warm and sunny, the birds were singing, and there was not a sound of civilization around me. The frustration and anger began to melt away and I focused on my task.
The day passed by slowly. I filled a bucket with seed and then walked a portion of the grid, carefully sowing seed to try to get an even coverage on the land. But as I walked, I noticed some areas had some volunteer grass already, while other areas were bare, so I would sow a little heavier on the bare spots. The sun, the birds, and the peace filled me, and though I walked many miles as I moved through the field on the grid, the work did not wear me down. I found an old tractor part, and a spent arrow. I noted the areas of the field that may need some attention with extra compost. I got to know the field.
It was late afternoon and I was
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