"In harrowing half an acre Willow and I walk five miles. No one except kings and clergy was fat in the time of the horse. A man ploughing one single acre could expect to walk as much as ten miles.
The high-tone jingle of the harness, the clinking of the harrow when it hits a stone, the working-oneness of man and beast, the breath of horse in the coldening afternoon air, the proud lift of hoof out of soil, the distant cawing of the rooks - these are things English and lost.
I am happy harrowing, an emotional state which may, according to scientists at the University of Bristol, be enhanced by the soil itself. A specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccue, activates a set of serotonin-releasing neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus of the brain, the same one targeted by Prozac. You can get an effective dose of Mycobacterium vaccue by walking in the wild or gardening.
Or walking over a ploughed field."
- The Running Hare
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteSome doctors actually tell you not to touch the soil when gardening, because there are negative types of bacteria in the soil now.
However I don't doubt that there was a time when all said here was very true.
I have been threatening my neighbours on both sides for years with back yard chickens. They just throw it right back at me "Go for it, Filthie! We would love to have the birds nearby! Just make sure we get some eggs once in awhile..."
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to make us some cheese, TB? :)
Linda, it is a sad state of affairs (at least in my mind) when such things are only relegated to memory. Are we truly better off in a world where most of us only hear the noise of the commute and endless entertainment every moment of every day/
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I will take my chances with the soil.
Do it Glen. Occasional eggs are a cheap price.
ReplyDeleteCheese? I need to get back to it - my schedule has been terribly disrupted but it is on the list for this year.