Getting Rid of Weeds, or Hoeing Is the Source of All Human Excellence

Last weekend, we completely prepared 3 beds. However, we have 20 more. Each bed is 25’ x 4’, with a 1’ aisle in between. Each block consists of 8 beds. During the following week, we spent a few days of strenuous effort hoeing out the grasses of one entire block so that we could rake the beds into shape during the upcoming weekend. It’s easy to see why people have found ways to have other things or people do the work for them. It’s amazing that humans have developed the awareness to build tools.

Ancient Egyptian Tomb

Think about all of the developments in thought and skill that have had to occur over the course of human history for tractors to have been created.

At the same time, though, think about the fact that humans have also consciously created seeds that are designed to be infertile.


Once the grasses were hoed and dried in the sun for a few days (helping to retain as much soil as possible in the beds), we raked them into piles. We piled them together in appropriate locations for the winter rains to wash the soil back onto the beds. As for the grasses themselves, we’ll compost them in the near future.

Chopping the clumps (not our toes...) with a digging fork to loosen the soil before raking.

Raking Respite. Progress Picture.

Finally, we have one block of beds ready for the cover crops!