One of our biggest harvests every year is that of rocks. Some of our fields are virtually stone free, while others produce a new crop of rocks year after year. The rocks in the soil do have some benefits, yet farm equipment does not compete well against rocks, especially the big ones. An important piece of equipment on New England farms is the welder. Without using chemical herbicides, steel in the field is the organic farmer's main tool against weeds. The steel cultivators and tillage equipment are meant to move the dirt and cover the weeds. But big rocks do not like to move and they will often break or bend the farmers steel. The welder, which replaced the blacksmith, mends the injuries from encounters with the stones. To minimize the use of the welder, we scour the fields every spring before we plow them. The frost has pushed rocks to the soil surface and the snow and rain has washed them off so they are easily visible. Once the top three inches of the soil are not frozen or covered by snow, we slowly walk through the fields with the tractor and the stone bucket crawling behind. The exposed rocks are no match for this posse of cowboys. Each stone is picked up and tossed into the bucket, where it will be delivered to a rock pile or one of our new stone walls. Before the modern tractor, farmers used a horse or oxen drawn stoneboat (similar to a sled). The stones would be rolled on to the stoneboat and then later rolled off at the edge of the field.

I like to begin rock harvest as early in March as possible. If we wait until April, we will be busy with plowing and planting. By later in April our winter cover crops are vigorously growing and beginning to hide the rocks with their growth. A warm, dry spell in March can allow us to complete this first harvest. If this elongated winter continues, I am becoming increasingly concerned that we will not have the time to pick the stones this year before we need to begin plowing the fields.

Even though rocks have a tendency to damage my farm equipment, I see the beauty and benefit in them. Each rock is unique. Each rock has its own character. I like to give each rock a prominent home in a stately wall that passersby will marvel at. Rocks in the field are able to control the temperature for our crops by absorbing and radiating heat from the sun during the cold nights and they are able to condense water from the air during the hottest days of the year to help a plant survive drought.  The minerals of the stone are slowly worn away and become part of the soil, later to be broken down by the natural flora and fauna of the soil and made usable by plants. The minerals are taken up by the plants to become our food. So, the rocks are in our food, in a small sense. The most modern hydroponic systems put those minerals into water, which the plants then absorb. Our way relies on the living soil to naturally deliver the minerals to the plants. The roots of the plants are surrounded by an intricate web of life that brings food to the plant and then the plant becomes food for us- all beginning with the rocks.

So, it is with some hesitation that I remove the rocks from the fields. I feel that I am telling the rocks "Listen, I thank you for all you have done to help this soil be productive over the centuries, but I am going to move you over here to this nice spot on the wall I am building. Just stay there for a few centuries and then consider migrating back." I think that the rocks would probably be happier snuggled amongst the roots of the plants than on top of what a stately wall. Does the rock think of the wall as its prison or as its pinnacle? Does Sisyphus think about the rock as he rolls it up the hill or is he just thinking about eternity? Did Rock n Roll begin while they were Rolling Stones onto a stoneboat out in a field?