Despite a shaky start at Reverence the Wave 2 planting is nearly complete (sunflowers and some experiments with grains yet to be done this weekend).  The Wave 1 harvest is still underway - lettuces and kale and collards though strawberries are almost done and peas and spinach were a major bust.  Lucky for me that I am friends with a local farmer who is willing to trade spinach for asparagus!

Of course, in the rush to get all the planting done the weeds have been overlooked.  The potato hills are thistle infested and it will be a major undertaking to get those all cleared.  On the up side - the cole beds and onion bed are weed free (for now) and the tomato rows look OK.  They will be hoed and mulched this weekend and the corn field will be dethistled and tilled.  I'll also be planting clovers and annual rye in between rows - this creates lovely pathways during the season.  The rye will winter kill and leave a nice mat of biomass to walk on during the spring - and the clovers will come back - hopefully densely enough to crowd out weeds.

Buckwheat will go into a section I am working on rehabilitating (Wave 1 cover) and will later get tilled under and succeeded by winter wheat or oats (haven't decided yet!).  And sometime very soon the potatoes will get dethistled and otherwise weeded and then hilled and mulched (she said optimistically) with annual rye and clovers in between.

A little rain is needed now though - those carrot, beet, bean, and cucumber seeds are unlikely to sprout without it!  The Chicago area got some heavy rain (and damaging hail) while we stayed dry here.  I really wanted that rain but am glad not to had golf ball size hail slamming into my tomatoes.

All in all, though, I am once again wildly impressed with the way the farm is shaping up.  I'm also thrilled by the legions of red wing blackbirds and swallows who have made their homes at Reverence and by the development of a substantial stand of milkweed.  It's great to have the company of the birds and bees and butterflies while I work (the swallows where busily gulping down winged insects while I was mowing down the asparagus the other day - an amazing aerial ballet).

No matter how the season finally turns out I know I will be deeply grateful - not just for whatever I harvest but for the opportunity to work with Nature to create food and habitat.  I feel the deepest sense of awe and reverence on the farm and in the backgarden - a connection to all that is and the humble realization that I am not apart from nature but deeply rooted within it.