On our way back from the mountain we saw a farmer discing a field with a tractor, a rare sight in Ethiopia. 95% of Ethiopian farmers usually work their land with a pair of oxen and a home made maesha (plough). We (Dani and Melissa) were excited to see the freshly tilled soil, and immediately made a bee line to touch it. The texture is likely silty loam, but we couldn't do a proper hand texture so this is just a guess. The color reminds us of a brown chernozem. We regret not bring our Munsell Color Charts. We will post a picture of the soil profile and the tractor tomorrow. In case you're wondering it was not John Deer.
Dani, Melissa, Jenn, Alexis, Michelle, Amanda
Dani, Melissa, Jenn, Alexis, Michelle, Amanda
A brown chernozem? I guess you can't take the prairies out of the flat landers! And no proper hand texturing, classifying soil texture visually? Sacrilege! Yes, the Munsell Color Chart must not have made it on the lonely planet's list of items needed for travel to Africa. It looks like there is some interesting root growth in that profile!
ReplyDelete