I have pounds of them left, the cover crop seeds for legumes and grains and greens and deep-digging Daikon radishes. The plants they grow are not only beautiful but they also scavenge for nutrients, convert nitrogen from the air into a form usable by plants, build organic matter, aerate the soil, and improve soil tilth and microbial life. Plus, some are edible as a forage crop for animals and/or for human consumption. So, win-win-win-win-win.

But I’m not planting my garden this year. I’m helping plant Lish’s and Candida’s and Elise’s and Caru’s and Stephen’s and Josette’s while traveling Round America with a Duck (departure tomorrow — here’s the route).

So I asked Lish, the farmer at my first stop at a goat dairy farm in North Carolina, if I should bring what remains in my bag. She said yes, and I’m excited.

The heartbreak of my wood-chipped garden beds is soon to be replaced by the fresh smell of spring earth elsewhere.

All is well. All is well.

I’m covered.

(If interested, there is more about cover crops in my book, Food for My Daughters, available globally.)