Food, Feed & Fallow

Cultivated agriculture really took off after the last ice age ended about 11500 years ago, where grain crops were first sown into prepared soil around the middle east. Other cultures domesticated additional crops such as rice in China, root vegetables in the tropics and tomatoes in the Americas.  This farming practices intensified during the bronze and iron ages, where irrigation vastly increased production and fields. 

It was in the Roman times the concept a 3-crop rotation was devised.  The first year land was dedicated to a crop for human food, the second year for feed for their livestock and in the third year the land was to remain fallow to allow organic matter to restore the soil back to health. So, if a farmer had 3 fields, each one would be in a stage of these 3 year cycles.

I feel my life has been in this cycle, in the early years I devoured study and feasted on learning and gaining experience, my last professional phase saw me more deliberate in nourishing those around me for their growth, and then now, the time of fallow.

For the past 2 months I really have not done much.  I walked slowing around the property absorbing and bathing nature, much to the joy of the dogs. I Poodled about and fiddled with gadgets as to allow my mind to slow down and recover.  

However, I am really conscious that I can’t stay in this state of Fallow.  I need to look for new ways for to feed my physical, mental and spiritual growth.  Find sustainable ways to feed those around me and find times of micro fallow to keep all my reserves full.  

May you find your way to keep your life in the balance of Food, Feed and Fallow.