Living Up

Full sun today, big clouds drifted here and there. Temperature stuck at 80F.

Back from the city-- real happy to see Darlin. It took quite some sleep this weekend to shed last week, though squeezed a few shared drinks with friends. Met a 60 yr old man in a Hawaiian shirt outside the bus station-- he grew up in Oregon and we chatted a long time about the state of things in this world. It's funny how much an old man and a young man can agree upon.

Dwelling a bit on the city, probably because the first day back in the fields after a trip is always strange-- maybe lonely is the word. Monday is a lonely day.



Stretch (the tall high school guy who helped out in March) was back. He's been working weekends, but the boss has upped him to the big leagues. Rail skinny and two feet taller than me, Stretch has a speech impediment-- so he's pretty quiet. We grabbed 5 gallon buckets and headed down to the lower fields with the boss. Old Rudolpho apparently got real sick over the weekend, so Bah was out alone facing down the snap and sweet pea harvest--until we got there.

We focused on the sweet peas (Bah had the snap peas covered)-- even the boss was on his knees digging pods out of the tangled rows. We filled up three buckets and marched them back to the farm store. The boss decided that too many things needed doing for us to spend the day with peas. We have 12 rows (6 beds) of snap peas and 6 rows (3 beds) of sweet peas, all of them are ready to pick right now. 20lbs of each type are kept in the store, a couple hundred lbs are held for the CSA, and then all the rest are boxed up to be sold wholesale. Stretch and I headed up by the onion field to cut a crate of broccoli rabe and spinach. I sliced a quick crate full of rabe, then we finished off the spinach. Washed and chilled.

According to the boss, this could be the week for buying a new van. He only buys domestic made cars and machinery for the farm (strange then that he only buys foreign cars for his family)-- so its gonna be Chevy or Ford. The boss wife is a gifted negotiator, so he's waiting until she has a free day to head to the dealership. Stretch and I saddled up to go pick the hilltop field's strawberries-- except the van was outta gas. So we piled into the boss's wife's SUV and rode up-- felt like going to soccer practice. --Aside-- the boss has real interesting... music taste, he upped the volume on some top-40 hits of the week station on our ride.

Over the weekend the hilltop strawberries turned around, (it wasn't too great but) a lot more berries were ripe for picking. We filled up four boxes (32 pints) before lunch, with quite a few left for the picking. Last week's rain must have made me sun-soft, picking out in the full heat was oppressive. On the ride back to the farm store the boss pointed out the turkey nest that the foreman accidentally ran over while mowing down a field with the tractor-- big eggs were smashed all over the place.


The boss wandered into my pizza shop at lunch. He sat down and we talked up-coming markets. The town board convinced him into joining a new market at the town center-- unfortunately, its the same day as one of the old reliables. The boss hired a new kid today to work part time. He figures that between Rhode Island, NYU and the new guy, running the new markets shouldn't be a problem. Before the boss sat down I was flipping through a sports magazine, so we chatted about a NFL dropout turned professional crossing guard who has the strongest hands in the world.


Viking and NYU both have Mondays off, so no post-lunch hanging out today-- straight to work. Stretch had the trays and pints already, so we hiked back up to the strawberry fields for picking. The boss came to join us after a while and we polished off the sparse remaining rows. Before heading back with the berries, we checked out the beet/spinach/arugula/rabe field NYU and I weeded last week. Everything is growing fast, but detailed weeding is needed between the plants. The boss revealed his plan for a new work/wrecking crew-- I'd be in charge of NYU, Stretch and the new guy. Tomorrow will be our test day, weeding on the hilltop. I felt bad for the foreman, hardly ever see him out of the tractor these days-- definitely a solitary way to pass the days.

Back at the farm store we unloaded all the strawberries and got set for raspberries. Stretch was given 3 pick buckets and set up in the raspberries at the far end of the lower fields (picking the first of the season). I wasn't so lucky. The boss set me up with the trimmer to saw down the weed forest enveloping all the lower field rows. I ran out of string several times, but the going was quick-- then the serious business began, h hand weed the travel lane between the fava beans and sweet peas. The lane had been overgrown with  tower weeds with waxy leaves resistant to herbicide. I gave 'em hell.

Through some miracle of the work-trance I managed to finish the entire 500 yard lane right before closing. Stretch dumped off his day's raspberry picking-- the boss was unimpressed and gave a brief lecture on the maturity required to get. a job. done. Felt bad for Stretch (i've never picked raspberries yet) , so I snuck him a cookie from the kitchen. I checked over the greenhouse before signing out-- and the boss caught me. He decided, in addition to a work crew, I needed to look after the sprouts from now on-- get them watered in the morning and make sure they stay hydrated on hot days. I hope a raise is creeping down the pipelines.

Bumped into Wild Woman (she owns and cares for the horses) on her way up from the barn. She refuses to wear shoes, even around the horses. It was the best news she heard all day when I mentioned the raspberries Stretch dumped at the store. She hustled in to lift a pint, and I headed home.


Plugged in the camera, a picture day is immanent. I wanted to wait for Darlin's next visit, but things are developing week by week now. No one would recognize the farm if I waited another few days.

On to tomorrow!