I was thinking a bit about crop rotations the past couple of days. Actually, I was thinking about rest and taking a break, but the similarities are there, if you care to look for them.

Most of Canada has some form of Family Day on this week in February. Across social media, I saw that lots of businesses were closed and were celebrating/enjoying a break to reflect on family (since most people cannot get together beyond those that are in their household). It was nice to see. Our family is spread out across the world and has been for quite a few months, so it was not an elaborate event.

I had started out thinking that I would treat Family Day like any other Monday; I would continue to work as usual. I have been working hard lately, putting in long days and hours, writing, preparing presentations, developing content for my website, and working on fleshing out new ideas. At times, it does not feel entirely rewarding, as most of it is work that has no immediate payout or tangible financial benefit (which is important in my seedling business). I have been working to try and prepare for paid work in the future. I have been working to set up and promote new ideas and projects that will pay off later. I have been doing work to remain visible and to increase my visibility in new regions. It is draining, to say the least. And so, my Monday plan was to “just keep at it…”. But, in the end, I decided to take a break from all of it. I spent the day crocheting a gift for a friend and watching TV. I hung out with my wife and dog. It was not an exciting day, but it was needed.

Crop Rotations

Crop rotations, in their simplest form, are essentially a break for the soil. It is a shift away from one particular crop or type of plant. It is a break in the various cycles. If you grow the same crop on the same ground, over and over, things get worn out. You do not see the results that you saw early on. There can be a build up of a pest that prefers the one crop over another. Certain nutrients can become depleted over time.

Rotations are generally recommended to last 2-4 (or more) years, depending on the purpose and focus of the rotation. I usually focus on pest management when planning rotations, but really, they just represent a change or a break. Rotations bring variation and variety to the soil. Rotations are a chance to have a different crop with a different root profile in the soil. You can stir things up a bit. Rotations give a chance for other soil flora and fauna to develop. You can build up the long-term fertility through rotations. You can get a handle on weeds, insects, or diseases, by breaking the life and disease cycles. You might see that there are more management options available for you to choose from to deal with problems that you have been having.

Sometimes, in small spaces, rotations can be challenging to implement, since you do not have the amount of growing area that might be necessary to allow you to grow all the crop you want/need. It might be hard to get an appreciable separation between past and present crops.

I would suggest that you focus on the change, not the space. What traits characterize the past crop? Select a crop (or a plant type) that is opposite or different in some appreciable way. If, in one space, what you had growing was shallow rooted, grow something with deeper roots the next year. If the crop was a heavy feeder or did not put much back into the soil in terms of organic matter, maybe focus on adding organic matter after harvest. Alternatively, add a cover crop that is planted after you take the crop off, and that will be worked in the next spring. If your current crop had some pest issues, choose a crop that is not a host for that pest, or that will allow you to control it more easily.

If we follow regular rotations, we should see a payoff in crop productivity and yield, or a reduction in production costs, or some other benefit.

How do we “rotate” ourselves?

Realistically, we cannot take ourselves out of rotation for extended periods, but we can implement small changes or breaks into our lives that serve the same purpose. If you are spending long hours on the computer, find a task that is upright and/or outside. If you have been working alone, see about doing a collaboration, or do some group work. Take a break to do something else, whatever that might look like. Following your short “rotation”, I think that you will see heightened productivity, as you have a renewed focus that comes from having had a break of some sort.

It is important to keep in mind that most of the main benefits that come from rotations come after an extended period, not after a single season. One break is not going to make much difference, nor is a single day off, or a single change. Implement regular changes and breaks, and you should be productive for years.