One day when it was obvious to Frau Ballwein, our farmer landlady, that we three Americans didn’t know a lot about farming, she shook her head and said, “I’ve always said kids from the city should all spend a summer on a farm so that they can learn the birds and the bees!” This to me, someone who grew up in a town of about 500 people!One thing I didn’t understand was liquid manure. Why would farmers in our area subject us to that horrible smell? They ride around in their fields spraying it into the wind, and that’s supposed to help the crops grow? Like Frau Ballwein said, I needed some educating.
Jauche as it’s called in German is where it’s at. If a farmer has cows and pigs, you better believe they are putting those animals’ manure to good use. They shovel it up, throw it into a big vat, and let it collect with rain water. What they have is free fertilizer.
I call the tractor and tank the Jauche-Mobile (like the Batmobile). Nikolas prefers calling it the Poop-Mobile.
Believe it or not, whenever I smell it now, it reminds me of home. I don’t think it’s gross any more. Frau Ballwein would be proud.
