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Thursdays
and Fridays at 7:49 am and 5:00pm Hosted by Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm in Watsonville. |
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A Harrowing Experience April 15th This is Andrew Griffin of Mariquita Farm with Life on the Farm. In the Viking tradition of my Danish ancestors the crow was a messenger of the gods and could speak in omens to those with ears to hear. Me, I've never heard crows say much more than "What's for lunch?" I live in Watsonville but farm in Hollister so I commute to the field. One spring morning, while still a few miles from the farm, I fell to wondering if Espaņa, our foreman, would be able to get in the ground with the tractor, or would the soil still be too wet? I turned onto San Felipe Road and saw in the distance a swirling cloud of black birds. Crows. Espaņa was turning the cover crop under, I could tell. Some crow perched on a branch of a tree at the edge of the field had watched Espaņa hook the disk harrow to the tractor and squawked in excitement. Seven crows heard it and flew over to investigate. Espaņa revved the tractor engine sending a smoke signal of diesel exhaust into the dawn and 77 crows materialized like magical black precipitate from clear sky. By the time I got to the farm Espaņa was already cutting a swath through the green field. An airborn legion of crows swooped and dived in the wake of the tractor like seagulls after a fishing boat. They flapped and scandalized and pecked at the retreating pink tails of earthworms thrown to the surface by the violence of the passing steel disks. Crows gobbled broken bird eggs from torn, exposed nests and swallowed up confused insects. We are always watched by crows. If I could understand them as they croak at me from tree tops I'm sure the crows would prophesy a "harrowing" experience in the near future. For KUSP this is Andrew Griffin.
----- More about Mariquita
Farm: Website More about Andy's writings: Ladybug Letter Website Andy's Vegetable Photo Gallery: hundreds of vegetable and farming photos |
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