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Animal Tracks •
Worm
under the irrigation tape
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Allies
and Enemies
AS
much as I like to include discussion about the many
interesting animals I see here during the course of
our week, the most important are often the less obvious
and sometimes least appealing. You hear over and again
how woms are so vital to healthy soil. This guy was
hanging out under the irrigation tape right in the plant
root zone. I'm sure that the effects of fertilizers
and lawn chemicals on earthworm populations don't make
the product labels. Worm castings, are one of the most
fertile and rich growing media we know.
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Ground beetles are great predatorsand we have them in abundance.
Just move some of the straw mulch and you'll see them scurry
off to the shade. Spiders, of course are really valuable and
this web trap is typical. You can see hundreds if not thousands
in the fields in the dewy mornings. I have observed the bald
faced hornets {cover page} picking flys
off the cows flanks and then fly to their nests.
 We
have lots of toads and frogs here and they eat mobs of bugs
as well. Of course the birds are eating non-stop.
I
was out checking on the field prepared for planting and trying
to decide if we can spend the time to hand pick rocks [a
rock picker or rock fork is tops on my Christmas gift list]
before planting when i saw this box turtle. I had to chuckle
because my mind immediately flickered to the discussion about
patience, persistance and enduring. So back to childhood tales
of the tortise and the hare. Slow and steady doesn't quite
fit with our farming season but the message
to me in part is that a turtle with a direction or  purpose
in mind can accomplish far more than anyone with no goal.
When I first saw her she (I think) was on the other side of
the field and headed through the rocks. When I caught up to
her with the camera she had navigated the field and was in
the grassy margine on the other side. Some days feel like
plodding but as you can see in these photos there is nothing
missing in how this turtle is equipped. Nice manicure! 
AS
that thought passed I really have to marvel at what they pick
for a path.
The field you see is very rocky and not an easy one to navigate.
I have tried to taken a turtles-eye-view of the
field to give you an idea. This box turtle, just kept on stepping.
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