The healthy forager

“If you had a field like that, what would you do with it?”, is a question we often ask each other when we cycle past this particular field in the picture below:

For us this will always remain just a daydream, but farmers around the Northern Hemisphere are answering that question right at the moment. For many crops, it’s sowing time.

On my way to pick oysters I cycled past this field again today, and because it had been raining the soil looked really dark. Almost a bit like Chernozem. This is a black, highly fertile type of soil (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-chernozem.html) that is abundant in Ukraine and other areas of Central Europe. It is one of the richest soils on Earth. But what is happening in all those Ukrainian fields right now? Are farmers sowing, wondering whether they will still be alive at harvest time? Are they not sowing, because they are at the front, fighting? When your livelihood depends on sowing at the right time…. I cannot begin to imagine the agony all these farmers are in.

Cycling on, in full appreciation of my freedom, I found oyster mushrooms and velvet shanks. There was enough for two good lunch portions, and an evening meal. My parsley is ready to eat, too, which made a flavoursome addition.

I haven’t yet sown any seeds outdoors, it’s still too cold in Aberdeen. But when I do, every time my hands turn over the soil and filter out any stones, my mind will be on the Chernozem plains, hoping they will bear crops this year.