Mud, Pottery and Food Production

Anybody for a facial?  This mud hole is a semi-permanent hog wallow on our place.  It is at a corner on our boundary which jogs around an adjacent creek.  This area has a clay soil on which the water will sit for long periods -- it doesn't percolate into the ground easily.  I suspect the Caddo Indians who once called this area home used this clay in their pottery.

The mud is now being used by hogs and other animals as a place to seek relief from parasites.  A good coating of the sticky mess is protection from biting flies which are a continual nuisance this time of year.  Fortunately, the nature of the soil is such that the damage to the land is limited to this small area, unlike where the hogs dig for grubs and roots in the pasture.

There are many different soils on our place; they range from alluvial deposits from the creeks to heavy clay which underlays the area.  Erosion from past farming practices has left only thin topsoil in a few places with the clay exposed in an area or, two.  Those practices were ended many, many years ago when cotton was no longer a viable economic crop for the farmers.  The land was left fallow or, allowed to go back to pasture and woodland which is the natural mix for this part of the state.

The clay soils interest me because of their use in pottery making.  The most common is a dark gray clay, however, there are also pockets of red and yellow.  The gray seems to be best for pottery based on a few shards that have been found, but I also have seen some pottery made from the red; it seems to have more sand mixed into it and has a grainier texture.

Because of the poor quality of soils in this area, it is difficult to have a high quality garden.  I have not attempted to garden since we have lived here, but would like to do so.  I was visiting with a friend the other day and we were standing at the end of his very large Fall garden which was pumpkins and black-eyed peas.  I bent down and grabbed a handful of soil and worked it in my hand.  It seemed almost ideal for raising crops.

I asked him about it and he said it has taken a lot of years to get it that way.  He has hauled in sand, peat and composted manure to get it to the consistency that it now has.  He uses a roto-tiller to work the soil and always turns the plant residue back into the soil.  His flock of chickens were working hard to remove any bugs they could find among the young plants as we visited.  He had planted some older varieties of peas and we talked some about heirloom plant species.

Once again, I have taken a wandering path in my post.  What I want to convey is that ranchers and farmers care about the land.  When working within a natural system there are many areas of knowledge that require attention.  Today, there are many who want to move away from traditional agriculture.  I have posted previously about skyscraper greenhouses clinging to the sides of a building and about the use of robotics and artificial intelligence.  Those things have a place, but I hope we never lose the general understanding of how to grow our food utilizing the resources within a natural system.

The Caddo Indians understood the land.  They raised crops, hunted wildlife and were able to find all they needed for survival as provided by nature.  They cooked their meals in pots made by their own hands from the soil that supported the wildlife and plants that went into it.  I fear much of that knowledge is disappearing in our technology-focused world.