Dayton "Dirt" - February 22, 2013

Today marks the 281st birthday of George Washington, surveyor, military man, statesman (president) and farmer. I just marvel when I think that if Washington had his way, he would have loved to spend all his time at his home Mt. Vernon to farm after the war. Washington did experiment with crop rotation and composting manure as he was wise enough to know that the soil needed tending to be productive. Farmers today know the importance of caring for the land as they now routinely rotate their crops and are active in planting cover crops in order to build the tilth of the productive soil. Lately, the farms in western Ohio along the Maumee River basin are thought to contribute up to 40% of the nutrient pollution to Lake Erie which is right up there with the overflow of the Detroit sewage treatment. It seems that the runoff from the larger than average Ohio farms contains nutrients which contribute to algae bloom in the Lake. The state government is now working with farmers to reduce the runoff that results from applying chemical fertilizer and manure on the fields frozen over in wintertime. Runoff from the urbanized areas is also to blame for major pollution of creeks, streams, rivers and lakes and hopefully will not escape the reduction of runoff needed from these areas too. As always, Carol Zeh’s program on Hummingbirds was a smash hit. Just what is it about these amazing creatures by which most of us seemed to be entranced? The wonders of the natural world are all around us that we normally take for granted. Taking time to learn about these wonders and time for reflection would for sure serve us all well. Tom