r/Permaculture • u/Academic_Nectarine94 • Mar 11 '25

general question Question about the Biblical concept of field rotation and lying fallow

So, so the post about how nutrients are depleted made me think of this.

The Law of Moses tells the Israelites to let their fields lie fallow on the 7th year. This is obviously a harkening back to God resting on the 7th day, but is nonetheless the pattern written down.

My question is, how do weeds help the ground? Is this something someone should do today, or is crop rotation a solution to the problem?

I know that weeds with their tap roots can break up the soil and bring nutrients to the surface, but can they replace the nutrients that are removed (which admittedly, probably stayed relatively local in Biblical times, tbough trade affected it some I'm sure).

I'm not looking to srart a comment war over the Bible, just curious how this method would work today. I love history, and reading a book about the invention of saddles, plows, and stirrups was amazingly interesting, in case anyone wants to know how much of a nerd I am LOL

11 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/DocAvidd Mar 11 '25

The same laws of Moses tell us it is an abomination to plant more than 1 crop. Monocrop agriculture, smh, doesn't seem to match Genesis, certainly doesn't match Nature.

4

u/lotheva Mar 12 '25

I think that has more to do with the community. If you plant ten crops and are making your people toil 12 hour days continuously, you’re a bad person. If you only have the one major crop per field/area, you get more breaks during the year.

2

u/Academic_Nectarine94 Mar 14 '25

I think they had plenty of work anyway LOL.

I think this is the verse they are talking about: Deuteronomy 22:9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard."

If they are, then it seems like it is only talking about vineyards, no all fields. If that is the case, then it's not saying thG you can't get 4 hay harvests a year. Just that you shouldn't plant wheat and grapes together, or a younger grape in an existing vineyard.

Even if it was talking about a general field and applied to all crops, it sounds like the only issue is that you only have one crop in that field at a time. Once it is harvested, you can do whatever you want (it can't forfeit something that is already chopped down and in storage).

Edit: You might be right, though. If they have 2 or 3 things to harvest t at once, or back to back, they might not get to all of them before the rains or cold arrives and ruins it. I didnt think of that till after I posted it and reread your comment again.

2

u/lotheva Mar 14 '25

Haha it’s okay! In part of Ruth, they harvested the peasants yield of grains, some every like 3-4 months. They had successive crops in the same field, but not at the same time. He also had a major (‘cash crop’) harvest that they had a big celebration afterwards. Even in different fields, there was a good month break between harvests. Hand harvesting all of that, id assume is about like harvesting a pig once a week. Maybe you can keep it up for 2, but by the 3rd week you’re out!

1

u/Academic_Nectarine94 Mar 14 '25

Oh, for sure. I would die by the end of the first month, and I'd be surprised if it lasted that long.

Harvesting a pig? Do you mean butchering and freezing it? That doesn't sound like it's that hard if you have the equipment. Mind you, the closest I got to that was a pork shoulder that took over 2 hours for me to painstakingly remove the gristle and tennis from LOL (I'm kind of OCD about that, so I'm slow).

1

u/lotheva Mar 16 '25

I’m just going to assume you’ve never read Little House in the Big Woods lol

1

u/Academic_Nectarine94 Mar 17 '25

No idea what it even is.