 uncle’s 100-cow dairy farm as a child. The patchwork landscape of the farm’s 500 rolling acres changed every summer as corn, oats, and alfalfa followed each other in rotation. Deep-rooted alfalfa brought minerals to the surface and added nitrogen to the soil. Its nutrient-rich stems and leaves fed the baling machine for a couple of summers before the tractor and disc plowed it under. Corn came next and grew strong on the enriched soil, its stubbled roots holding the soil during the spring rains. A summer of densely-planted oats reduced the weeds and provided straw and cattle feed before alfalfa’s return.
Using cover crops to feed the soil, build humus, smother weeds, and prevent erosion works on a much smaller scale, too. These plants not only help replenish tired soil—they can also increase the number and variety of beneficial insects and other organisms in the garden. Although many plants can fulfill more than one function, it helps to categorize cover crops according to their main contribution.
Legumes, like alfalfa, clover, beans, and peas, have nodules on their roots that can capture nitrogen from the air and “fix” it in the soil. They improve soil fertility.
Deep-rooted plants retrieve minerals from deep below the surface, making them available to other crops. These include buckwheat and alfalfa.
Some plants, such as mustards, rapeseed and ryegrass, produce compounds that inhibit the growth of disease and pest organisms and weed seeds.
Grassy and densely rooted cover crops, such as buckwheat and rye, prevent soil erosion and moisture loss by covering the soil. They also inhibit weed growth by shading the soil and competing for moisture.
To prevent the cover crops from becoming weeds themselves, it’s important to cut them down and turn them under before they go to seed. After they’ve been added to the soil, they decompose and release their nutrients.
For more information on cover crops check out the Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures, from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.
stay as friends or more than friends?

i (20F) have been interested in a girl (23F) for almost a year now. when it started, we didn’t know each other, i just thought she was a pretty girl so i followed her on instagram. at the beginning of the year, we met through a common hobby we both share and that’s how we started talking. 

We both have been clear about our sexualities, and we were just friends from a common hobby. as time passed, we became closer as friends and became less awkward with each other. fast forward to now, we are going on a trip overseas together with other friends, and we’ve only met eat other less than 5 times since we became friends. She has expressed how she is okay with staying with me overseas and that she doesn’t mind spending time w me personally but not with my friends (they are guys).

I still do have an interest in dating her, but at the same time i am also contented with how the way things are. she has many people hitting her up that are much more prettier than me and i feel like i have no chance in asking her out on a date because i know she usually rejects people and i’m afraid i will ruin the friendship we have too.

Should i just take the risk and ask her out, or just stay as friends since i’m contented with it as well? It’s also bizarre how we became friends too 🙃I am sure you can agree with me here when I say this long weekend cannot come sooner! We have literally been counting down the days. All we want to do is relax, rest, read and basically do nothing for five whole days straight (yip, Monday included!). Our plans include drinking all the tea while reading all the books. Luckily, this is what le bf, Claude, plans on doing too, so we’re going to be doing just that.
Claude is an avid sports fan (me, not so much) so he loves rugby and cannot wait to read this book. He also loves biographies, so this book has his name all over it.
Winging It is a biography about Jonathan Kaplan, a celebrated international rugby referee and former world record-holder for most Test caps. The story is about Jonathan’s decision to have a baby by surrogate and the two-year fertility process that followed as well as the birth of his son Kaleb.
Available from Exclusive Books for R285.
Another book on Claude’s list is Captive. Simply because he (and me) absolutely loves this African bush and this book looks brilliant!
The story is about a soldier turned wildlife veterinarian, Dr Graham Baird, who is no stranger to the dangers of the African bush. While on a trip to track down a baby elephant, he’s caught up in a deadly shootout with poachers. Caught up in his campaign of terror is Australian lawyer, Kerry Maxwell. She is in Africa to volunteer alongside Dr Baird at a wildlife rehabilitation centre, and soon finds herself in the middle of a bloody feud when she’s kidnapped by Costa, a corrupt politician and Mozambique’s poaching kingpin. Finding themselves on the frontline of the war on poaching, both Baird and Maxwell must fight for their lives if they are to escape a terrifying enemy...
Available from Exclusive Books for R292.
This is the first book I will be diving into this weekend. I cannot wait because I have read so many wonderful reviews on this very timely book. It is a book that is so relevant today because of the continuous school shootings that plague America.
Available from Exclusive Books for R295.
From the author of one of my favourite books I have read (review here), Luckiest Girl Alive, this is a new thriller by Jessica Knoll. The story is about a pair of competitive and uber-successful sisters whose secrets and lies result in murder.10. Some plastics are easily soluble in solvents.
The advantages of the material are wear resistance, acid, and alkali corrosion resistance, resistance to flexing, and no odor in the rubber shoes. However, plastics also have some shortcomings, which are worse than women’s mouths. The degree of hardening, overheating and softening is large, and the breaking strength is not as good as natural rubber. So how to increase the service life? Sandals should be placed in the shade to make it dry slowly after washing. Don’t put it in the sun, don’t put it on the stove. Special attention should be paid to not allowing sharp and sharp things to stab the soles. Because of the holes in the plastic products, the holes will expand and the wear life will be affected. If there is a hole, use a hot iron rod to melt the hole around it and squeeze it quickly to make it glue.
1. Avoid wearing shoes with bare feet. Because plastic sandals have poor air permeability, wearing a pair of thin socks can absorb the sweat on the feet.
2. Avoid the size of the shoes is small. The disadvantage of plastic sandals is that the breathability is poor, and the sweat of the soles of the feet does not easily evaporate. Therefore, the size of the shoes should not be small, it is better to have half or one shoe size than other shoes so that you don’t feel bored or squeeze your feet.
3. Avoid contact with acid f raw solution. Because acid solutions have a corrosive effect on plastic products, plastic sandals should not be exposed to acidic solutions.
The last thing to remind you is that people who are prone to sweating should not wear sandals with a heel after the Baotou, but should wear sandals that are vacant.
Be careful to buy dark, odorous plastic shoes, otherwise, it will not only cause dermatitis but also lead to more serious health problems. The reason is that some plastic shoes with deep color and odor are made of industrial waste plastics, which contain a large amount of sulfur and aniline substances. The long-term contact between the human body and these substances is very harmful to health.
But the unemployment insurance policy that held numerous men and women afloat previous calendar year...
Further, unemployment advantages are not attained cash flow and so never depend toward two essential tax benefits that retain tens of millions of operating families with small children out of poverty: the attained cash flow tax credit and the more little one tax credit.
“If you’re a one father or mother or a couple with kids residing on, say, $25,000 a calendar year, you may possibly see 25% or extra of your once-a-year profits in the sort of your federal tax refund due to the fact of these credits,” states Timothy Flacke, government director of Commonwealth, a nonprofit that encourages monetary safety.
There isn’t an straightforward workaround for tax refunds shriveled by insufficient withholding. But Congress provided a opportunity take care of for the tax credits difficulty in the $900 billion coronavirus relief laws passed past month: Filers can decide on to use their 2019 cash flow to determine their credits instead than their 2020 money.
But that take care of hasn’t been commonly described, suggests Leigh Phillips, main executive officer of SaverLife, a nonprofit that encourages operating families to save. Not everybody uses up-to-day tax computer software or well-informed tax preparers, and Phillips anxieties that many suitable people today will not study about it before submitting their returns. The IRS will start accepting returns Feb. 12.
Analysis confirms that the earliest recipients of refunds just about every yr are