Taking a Sabbatical Year

I read in the Jewish Torah (or the first 5 books of the Old Testament) about commands with promises attached.  The one that peaked my curiosity, as it comes to regenerative gardening/farming, was the command to let the land rest every seven years.  In essence, it lies fallow.

The promise in Leviticus 25:18-22 says: " ‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.  Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.  ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”  Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.  And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest."

Since the Jewish calendar year starts over every Autumn on the 1st of Tishri, which was 7 September 2021, I harvested everything I could prior to that.  Then, I just let it all go!  Since then, I haven't planted a thing, nor pruned.  

What's been interesting are the observations that I've been able to make as I watch the land do what it wants to do.  Wild grapes exploded on the south side.  Wild blackberries and strawberries came up near my driveway.  I even found fruit trees (peach & pear) on the North end where kids had thrown their pits.  These trees were already 7-9 ft high when I found them!  So, guess where I'm going to plant my grapes, berries, and food forest?

Today is the 1st of Tishri once again, so I am ready to plant/prune!  As for the fertility, I'll have to follow up next year with an update.  If it works, it's just one more tool to enhance fertility without chemicals!!  A tool that used to be a mainstay, but has been forgotten due to intensive farming practices.  I'm sure someone with more knowledge can expound.

Huh, very interesting! I've read that quite a few times but it never crossed my mind to try it out on my land. Out of curiosity, did you water or irrigate at all?

Jenny, we had a wet summer, so I did not need to water anything.  (This is not always normal for NW Ohio after June.)  My pastures were green all year, so the Dexters were happy.  Also, I failed to mention that pumpkins, winter squash, and birdhouse gourds volunteered from some seeds that must've been sown in a previous year.  I even had some zinnias pop up in what was the vegetable garden.

Alexander Rodewald wrote:I read in the Jewish Torah (or the first 5 books of the Old Testament) about commands with promises attached.  The one that peaked my curiosity, as it comes to regenerative gardening/farming, was the command to let the land rest every seven years.  In essence, it lies fallow.

The promise in Leviticus 25:18-22 says: " ‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.  Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.  ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”  Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.  And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest."

Since the Jewish calendar year starts over every Autumn on the 1st of Tishri, which was 7 September 2021, I harvested everything I could prior to that.  Then, I just let it all go!  Since then, I haven't planted a thing, nor pruned.  

What's been interesting are the observations that I've been able to make as I watch the land do what it wants to do.  Wild grapes exploded on the south side.  Wild blackberries and strawberries came up near my driveway.  I even found fruit trees (peach & pear) on the North end where kids had thrown their pits.  These trees were already 7-9 ft high when I found them!  So, guess where I'm going to plant my grapes, berries, and food forest?

Today is the 1st of Tishri once again, so I am ready to plant/prune!  As for the fertility, I'll have to follow up next year with an update.  If it works, it's just one more tool to enhance fertility without chemicals!!  A tool that used to be a mainstay, but has been forgotten due to intensive farming practices.  I'm sure someone with more knowledge can expound.

Technically, this only applies to growing on land within Israel. But I suppose the same benefits can be had on one's own property!

Thanks for raining on my parade, Brandon!  haha  (jk)

You're right about the promises being for Israel, but I believe that many of the mechanisms for blessing are baked into the systems of nature/creation.  I'm not trying to be legalistic, but am trying to live abundantly by working with the creation's natural (God-designed) tendencies.  

Alexander Rodewald wrote:Thanks for raining on my parade, Brandon!  haha  (jk)

You're right about the promises being for Israel, but I believe that many of the mechanisms for blessing are baked into the systems of nature/creation.  I'm not trying to be legalistic, but am trying to live abundantly by working with the creation's natural (God-designed) tendencies.  

Oops sorry! :)

I think you have the right idea!

Alexander,

Just out of curiosity, is it allowed to plant a cover crop to grow during the 7th year but not harvest it?  If so, this might be a great time to add in a legume or annual seed mix so as to bulk up your land while it rests.

Very interesting information, thanks for sharing.

Eric

Your post really spoke to spoke to me. I've upped my gardening game the last few years, and since about June I've been thinking, "this land needs to rest." So in early September I gathered the last of my harvest and walked away. Maybe I need a rest too? My friends and neighbors know that I usually garden year round, so when they have asked me what I'm planting for fall I see the strange looks when I tell them that I'm giving my land a break. I don't know when I'll go back, maybe spring, maybe I'll wait a whole year. All I'm certain of is that for now, we're both resting. Our land takes such good care of us, I want to know that I'm taking good care of it too. I want my land to depend on me to give it what it needs, just as we depend on it to give us what we need. It feels right to give my land some time to itself, a few seasons when we aren't always working on it, so it can do what it wants. I've been thinking a good bit about that passage of scripture, and even though it's not my seventh year it feels like the right time to give the garden space to renew itself.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. It was lovely to see my recent musings echoed on this page.

Eric Hanson wrote:...is it allowed to plant a cover crop to grow during the 7th year but not harvest it?  If so, this might be a great time to add in a legume or annual seed mix so as to bulk up your land while it rests.

Very interesting information, thanks for sharing.   -Eric

Eric, I guess that depends on your conviction.  We literally let it all go, because that was the "letter of the law".  However, I prayed about this for a few years before doing it and felt at peace with it.  Even our house landscaping rested without annuals this year.  We rested just as much as the land!

As I mentioned in the OP, without imposing anything on the land we were able to see it's natural bent.  I grew closer to God as I walked around the property seeing and commenting about what He was showing me.  That was worth it!  (Not to mention the motivation and ideas we now have!)

Alexander,

Ok, very interesting approach.  It seems like it is equal parts practical and aesthetic while being 100% conforming to your conviction.  

I am very interested to know how the soil fertility changes, how you might alter your growing practices, how you control weed competition, etc. etc.

Actually I think leaving land fallow for a time is very sensible.  I have let garden beds go fallow from time to time, but I have always had significant weed competition afterwards.

Please let us know how things work out!

Eric

Here is a quick update in our first growing year after taking a full sabbatical year...

Sabbath year started in Sep. 2021 and ended Sep. 2022.  That whole year, the chickens (layers) had free range of the whole property.  Cows grazed as normal.  American Guinea Hogs cleared some land on the North side of the property, where I also found 8-9ft volunteer peach trees.

In the Fall of 2022, I mulched a bit and put garlic everywhere.  Potatoes went under the mulch (hay/bedding) in the ground-level garden.  Then, Winter happened, and we harvested our AGH's.  

In the Spring, I started a new orchard (food forest) where the peach pits had volunteered.  This was also where the hogs had cleared weeds and tilled the surface a little.  The Sabbath let me observe how poorly the previous orchard's location was.  Grapes and black berries love the old location, but fruit trees didn't.  So why fight nature?!

It is now July 11th, and in spite of the May-June drought, we finally got some rain and things are bursting!!  Those potatoes that over-wintered are up to my thigh and covered in purple flowers.  The food forest (which is only 2 months old) looks like it's been there for a couple years.  Pumpkin leaves are a deeper green than I've seen, and wider than my shoulders with many female flowers.  Everything is just bursting, even first year rhubarb.

On the negative side, there does seem to be more weed pressure.  Thistles especially have been spreading everywhere.  (I probably need goats!)  Mulch has kept much at bay, but I've been chopping/dropping more than ever out of necessity.  This might help the soil in the long-run, but it's more than I am used to.  Also, the garlic did not like the North side by the food forest, to my astonishment.  It's great everywhere else.  

I'll keep updating a bit in the future, but for now, the biggest take-away is that I was able to really observe and react to what the Land wanted to do.  Our land was very low fertility with no worm activity from tillage and row cropping, but seems to be coming alive; probably from a combination of animals, permaculture techniques, and the sabbath rest.