Remember that budding branch from the last post? It’s all dressed up and ready to go out on a picnic now.
The bees are busy pollinating all the blooms on the property, including the fava (my favorite). When the fava beans start coming off the plant, we will post recipes here on the numerous ways to eat fresh fava.
The manure mixture we use as mulch in the orchard has a significant amount of rice hulls in the recipe – some of which apparently still had rice in them, as there is rice growing in the middle of the mustard and the fescue this year. It’s the feathery grass in the lower left hand of the above photo.
Rice hulls are an effective ingredient for amending heavy or compacted soil. They don’t have an enormous amount of nutrient makeup, but the empty fibrous casings can lighten the soil and create space for water to drain. Generally they should be mixed with something that does have high nutrient value, like the aforementioned manure. Our orchard is really happy with the mix we have, if last year’s crop is anything to go by.
Lindsey works at Weston Miles Architects as a sustainability coordinator and part-time blog and website guru, among other tasks. She is formally educated in passive energy conservation and design, but is an environmental enthusiast in pretty much all areas one can be.