Oats (top), Japanese Radish (white flowers) and Vetch (purple) |
There
are lots of possibilities. It might have been Lillies, which the
Bushpigs love to root up around this time of year. It always looks
like the Lillies have been quite destroyed, but it turns out to be an
essential part of their lifecycle. Without the help of the Bushpigs
to break up and distribute the root fragments, the Lillies will, in
time, die out. But I'm pretty sure there were no Lillies growing in
that part of the field, and Bushpig diggings are generally much
deeper, more emphatic, than what I was seeing. So not Bushpigs.
Then
it dawned on me. This was the patch where I threw out a batch of
spent brewing grains a week or two back. The local Pigeons have been
foraging them intensively, and they've scratched the ground clear,
eliminating the Buffalo grass in this limited area. Just what I want,
and exactly the same thing Chickens do, given the opportunity.
The
pasture is just reaching a point in its rehabilitation where it wants
to become productive. Beneath the ever-deepening layers of organic
matter, the soil is moist, still
quite sticky and gluey, but slowly gaining structure, slowly coming
back to life. We see it in the ever increasing variety of plant
species growing in amongst the Buffalo and Kikuyu grasses that once
dominated the field, suffocating all other plant-life. There are the
Vetches and Mustards, the Japanese Radish and Oats and Millets we
have sown, but there are also the "weeds" -- tall grasses
that make so much useful strawey mulch when cut down, another unnamed
weed with soft, sticky, stinky leaves that blanket the grass, denying
it light, Dandelions, with their long taproot that opens up the soil
to admit new air and life. The bees are certainly making good use of
the flowering Vetches.
So
now it is time. The field is well on its way to recovery, well enough
able that adding light livestock will be beneficial to all parties,
will accelerate the soil building, the nutrient/energy flows, and the
diversity.
Time
for me to get on with
building a
new Chicken run and housing...
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