Cork Board – March 27

Willow trees are greening, robins are mating, and the Worm Moon is waxing full this weekend. Here on our little patch of earth, shoots of cilantro, lettuce, peas, spinach and radishes are springing forth from the ground. It rains every other day, and it is as wet as wet can get. Our yard has become a marsh where the spring peepers play. When you walk through the grass and listen close, under the song of the frogs you can hear the crackling, sucking sound of living mud.

Lady Day is behind us. Holy Week lies ahead. Let us press on!

“Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.” -Hosea 6:3

As the Midwestern planting seasons fast approaches, this week’s news and notes is all about farmers:

• It Shouldn’t Cost the Farm to Fix a Tractor, Kevin O’Reilly, Wall Street Journal, via The Farmer’s Bookshelf (@1947Farmall) on Twitter: Do small farmers have a right to fix their own equipment? How much value do you get from a machine you can’t affordably repair? Mr. O’Reilly, an advocate with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, interviews farmers from Missouri and Minnesota.

• House Agriculture Committee to Explore Legacy of Discrimination Against Black Farmers, Eva McKend, Spectrum News 1, via Darrell the Farmer (@farmerdarrell) on Twitter: Black farmers were the heart, soul, backbone and aching body of agriculture in the South. Today, they make up less than two percent of America’s total farmers. This week the House investigated whether Department of Agriculture bureaucracy has perpetuated systemic discrimination against them.

• Annunciation or Lady Day, The Old Farmer’s Almanac: There is farming lore for every feast day. The almanac keeps me up to speed on the farm chores and even the flower proper to every notable celebration on the Christian calendar.