Alley cropping Milky Oats at #antelopefoodforest 🌀
Again I find myself in The Practice of Relationship, as milky oats (avena sativa) need to be checked on often in order to catch them in their prime harvest time. You know they’re ready when you squeeze the seed head and a drop of “milk” appears, the plant’s naturally occurring latex that marks its readiness. The medicine of oat is a blessing to a culture of many a frayed nervous system and allows gentle easing through the shifts of seasons and great life transition. We planted oat as a alley crop in the food forest this year, another way to stack functions and provide a yield as we build healthy soil. As I spend several hours harvesting and processing this week, I cannot help but recognize the lifting of my spirit after some really rough times. Simply working and tending to oat has alleviated some of my heavy weights I’ve been carrying; my days hold meaning and purpose. I keep these truths close as I continue to uncover what activities “fill me up”... as the multifaceted and complex humans that we are there is the continuous illumination of new pathways towards growth and healing and artistry. My Relationship with the land is strengthened as I observe the natural rhythms, as I directly experience the effect this work has on my being, and the ways that every step in this process participates in the regeneration of Earth and Body. 🌀photos & words @megmastel
