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Peirce Mill Update #5: Spring soil springs into action

Our previous post documenting the soil generation activities at Peirce Mill was from October 2018, and can be found here.

After a good hard winter here in Washington, DC it was good to see that the winter cover crops did their job.  We recently joined almost 20 volunteers for an afternoon spent helping to clear out the winter cover, churn up the soil a bit, and then plant a new layer of summer cover crops.  Farmer Tim Makepeace lead the operation per usual, stylish in his Amish hat, and explained that he “got a little crazy” for this summer.  He’ll be cranking up the number and volume of cover species significantly because…why not.  After a lot of honest, blister-enticing labor, 40 different seed species were spread around the trees, including:

Crimson clover
Vetch
Phacilia
Kale
Collard
Mustard
Winter Pea
Cow pea
Mung bean
Lentil
Oat
Rye
Wheat
Barley
Millet
Buckwheat
Flax
Fenugreek
Sunflower
Cosmos flower
Marigold
Nasturtium

If it’s worth doing it’s worth overdoing!

Hank Dearden of ForestPlanet, Tim Makepeace of the Peirce Mill Orchard, and a happy healthy Lincoln pear tree

Tim also recommended a great write up of how interconnected species can work together to create a highly functioning eco-system.  Please check out this paper, the Power of Diversity by Keith Burns, principal at Green Cover Seed.

While ForestPlanet is focused on supporting tree cultivation on a massive scale all over the world, we know good stewardship when we see it (especially in our back yard).  The challenges faced here in Washington, DC are similar to those in Madagascar, Tanzania, Haiti, Nepal, or wherever.  Trees are needed to help revitalize soil, and healthy soil is necessary for all plants and crops.

To that end, thanks for your continued support of ForestPlanet and our mission to plant millions of trees per year where they are needed most.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time to plant a tree is today!”

 

 

 

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