Wild weather again. Most of today was spent under a cloudy overcast-- although at noon the sun seemed to burn through. The temperature climbed slowly into the upper 80Fs and low 90Fs. Everything changed in the ten minutes after closing.
This morning started fine and easy. The foreman and I are getting along real well these days-- so our work sped along pleasantly. After going through the greenhouse and walking the fields, we hitched the empty post wagon up to the tractor and went for a ride. We rolled up to the hilltop fields where the boss dumped all the extra trellises along a stone wall (right by the potatoes)-- stacked the wagon up with 45 rusted posts, nearly a hundred improvised stakes and a couple dozen bundles of old wire. Looking over the potato and corn fields the foreman spotted a large 'tom turkey' gliding around in a mating dance-- he was a very big fella, 30lbs at least. We caught sight of some female turkeys watching the male display before the tractor engine scared off the lot of them.
The foreman and I took the long ride from the hilltop down to the cherry tomato fields. There's an ancient (200-300 year old) stone slab bridge across the streams-- one tractor can pass over slow and carefully, but with a wagon in tow the only way from the hill top to the farm central is by taking the main road. An eight-teen wheeler nearly mowed us down, despite the foreman's best efforts. A little rattled, we made it to the tomatoes and started laying the final two rows of trellis.
It went much the same as yesterday, the foreman inched the tractor along and pried out holes while I bashed the posts into place. The foreman had his Ipod going again, making things easy. At one point he switched to AM radio news-- just in time for us to catch the weather warning broadcast. Out west the state is being pummeled again with severe thunderstorms and hail. We kept up the pace and finished up quickly-- all the extra posts, the stakes and wire coils were dumped in orderly piles along the tractor road.
Back at the farm store, the boss finally arrived. Last night a few brisk thunderstorms passed through the area, watering all the crops and making yesterday's irrigation troubles seem silly. The storms brought some stiff winds, so the boss had hustled over in the middle of the night and taken down the tarp awning and closed up the greenhouse. The foreman and I rehung the tarp-- tying off the loose bits where necessary. One last task before lunch. The boss and I loaded the van with all the unsold lettuce seedlings we had up in the store. He drove me down to the lower fields and I sunk the 90-120 plants into dirt. Bah wasn't in today, so Old Rudolpho was out on his own picking spinach and broccoli rabe. The spinach came from the rows heavily damaged by mold earlier this spring-- there wasn't much to pick, maybe 3 bushel packs total. The spinach rows share a bed with a single line of broccoli-- all of which the boss plans to till over and replant. The boss explained-- with the rush to plant the tomatoes we unfortunately allowed the broccoli to flower, shooting in the foot its chance at food production. So it must go.
Watching Old Rudolpho work from my lettuce planting, he didn't looking too good. When his sons arrive they help him along and pick up any slack, but on his own he marched at a snails speed down the line with the filled crates. Somehow he managed, but all the same I dragged him out of the fields with me when lunch time swung around.
Got a surprise call at lunch-- from my buddy who worked a week with me in the hard early days of April. He was well, and we chatted as I wandered about the horse pond.
After lunch the boss and I spent some quality time installing the steel sink. The legs actually fit into place, but the long screws we dropped into the concrete left much to be desired. They weren't exactly the right type of screws for the job-- the boss has a strict regimen of thrift, everything is saved and reused (from screws and bolts to drip line and plastic field wrap). The screws fit in perfect but as we tightened the bolts, the screws spun with the bolt despite the concrete. Using some ingenious bolt/washer combinations and a pair of vice grips, we managed to tighten down the legs sufficiently. Jockey was in, manning a customer-less ice cream window, so he came out and we hefted the sink top into its place on the legs. I dug out a place for the rusted iron support beam, and soon the sink looked pretty legitimate. Just in time.
Old Rudolpho finally finished picking the spinach and rabe, leaving the bushel crates in the walk-in cooler. The honor of first wash detail were all mine. After scrubbing out the sink, I filled it up and dumped in a crates worth of spinach to soak. I filled up the the second sink (its a double sink) and began a few hours of washing. The simple steps: soaking in the first sink removes most of the field dirt; next, you gather a bunch worth of spinach and tie it up with an elastic band; dunk it in the dirt-less water of the second sink then pack it into an empty crate. Once washed, it's back into the cooler-- washing and chilling really does good things for veggie greens, the process firms up the produce making it last a good deal longer (and look better too).
I finished up the spinach and rabe in time to hop unto the tractor as the foreman headed off to the forest field. Woodchucks and deer had eaten a good chunk out of the zucchini and summer squash rows. In the field we pulled out the stubs left behind and replanted new seeds in their place. The foreman brought along a roll of gauze cloth to cover over and protect the plants from the vermin. As we rolled out the cloth the clouds on the horizon started to turn dark. As we rode back to the farm store the wind really took off, blowing hard through the trees.
Checking the radio--sure enough the western storms were headed our way fast. We brought all the basil trays into the greenhouse and started weather-proofing the farm store. After the tornado scares a few weeks back, we all have the system down like clockwork-- trash barrels go to their place, Jockey and I unhitched the awning, produce wagons were rolled underneath the hard porch roof, Viking and I tucked away all the seedlings for sale. It was closing time and the boss told us all to go home-- but for some reason we all stayed, standing about talking. The boss's wife came over to pick up some spinach and rabe with Lucy. It was around that time I took a look to the north.
The sky was nearly night black-- thick low clouds. The system was moving down from the north-west (original reports predicted it would by-pass us entirely on its way south). The storm front was straight as a knife cut-- one side red afternoon clouds/ the other black storm. I saw several shots of lightning right as the wind picked up and temperature dropped into the mid 60Fs. Viking and the foreman snapped pictures-- the approaching storm really was incredible looking. The awning blew loose from the cinder blocks we tucked it under -- Jockey and I sprinted across the fields in pursuit. We caught the tarp and folded it up. Everyone went quickly on our ways home.
Driving home, it was a hard rain-- one of those where the windshield wipers just can't keep up with the water. As I'm writing this post I can feel some of these thunder bursts rumbling through the ground.
I hope the foreman's erosion trenches work out in the tomato field. And I really hope Rhode Island is in tomorrow, I got a feeling the morning is gonna be spent shoveling lots of mud.
Stay dry and onward tomorrow.
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