10 January 2005

Plough Monday

Traditionally the first Monday after Epiphany, when the men headed back to work--in those agricultural days, their plowing.

(Who plows in the winter? Well, from what I understand, snow has always been called "poor man's fertilizer." After a light snowfall, the average farmer back then might hitch up his oxen or horses and plow the snow into the soil, adding nitrogen. This was also a practice of dryland farming, to capture moisture in the soil.)

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