Right Hand

Sunny all day through. Temperature stayed in the mid 70Fs.

Walked into the farm store and got right to work this morning. Lettuce needed to be seeded-- 4 trays of loose leaf, 4 trays of romaine (little over a 1000 plants of each). I setup the trays on a plywood board on some saw-horses down in the greenhouse, and got to droppin' seed. The boss swung through in a rush-- he was headed out west-state to pick up some seed and clear a few health certifications in several farmer market towns (gotta have the paperwork if you wanna sell the jam). Before leaving he rattled off a list of things to get done-- wrote 'em all down on a piece of cardboard.

I covered the lettuce trays over with a quarter inch worth of soil and soaked them all through. Next up. I laid out 18 trays, filled 'em with soil, soaked and let them sit-- ready for brussel sprout and cabbage seeding. Rhode Island and Mouse were holding down the store-- as its one of Viking's few days off. NYU didn't show up today, not sure if he has a new work schedule.

The towers of empty pick crates are starting to rise behind the farm store-- last year, deep into the season, it looked like a lobster boat on the way out to sea. I grabbed a bushel crate and the sharpest long-knife I could find-- out to the lower fields.

Bah and Old Rudolpho were out with big white buckets picking snap peas-- they had six buckets full by mid-morning. I hustled down the overgrown-weed row, cutting half a bushel of spinach and half a bushel of broccoli rabe (this stuff was headed for the farm store shelves, still a little early in the week to start CSA picking). As I finished up my last few bunches, Old Rudolpho gave out the lunch time yell and headed in. Carried my crate back to the farm store, hosed off the catch and left it to chill in the cooler-- lunch time.


The boss still wasn't back by the time I got off lunch. Onward checklist. I towered up the 18 trays for brussel sprouts and cabbage, and carried them up to the farm store. Jockey arrived, I set him and Rhode Island seeding the trays. A few weeks ago, Rhode Island did a spectacularly shoddy job at seeding a lettuce tray-- 0 seeds in some soil plugs, and 5 seeds packed into others. It goes: 1 seed, 1 plug-- otherwise, instead of one usable plant, you get multiple stunted wastes bound for the compost pile. I brought the problem lettuce tray up for Jockey to sort out.

Next on the list (last thing), I had to trim where the stone horse wall meets the garden-- around the mound of spearmint. I headed down to the workshop to find the trimmer and bumped into the boss's brother. He had found an enormous straw sun hat in his closet, and was embarrassed to be caught wearing it. Chatted with him a while-- he's preparing several stretches of unused pasture to grow feed corn, so he doesn't have to ship in food for the herd over winter. Wrestled around with his pack of Labradors, then found the trimmer-- unfortunately it didn't work.

I took the machine up under the store awning and really laid into it-- the engine just wouldn't catch. Figured it had to be a spark-plug issue, so I pulled it apart and sure enough the plug was burned out-- nothing to do but wait for the boss.

It wasn't long until the van rolled up-- I hopped in, told the boss about the plug and we sped off to the last landscaping job of spring. The boss was in a great mood, so we joked around as I dug up bushes and transplanted them around the yard. We moved a bunch of day-lilies and cleared out all the garden weeds. The boss left me at the job while he went to pick up the trimmer, spark plugs and a few tanks worth of diesel. Without him, I filled in all the holes left by the bushes and cleared a fence of bittersweet and poison ivy vines (goddammit).

The boss took his time getting back, so I wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood. Once he returned we pruned up the bushes and trees, then gathered up all the clippings-- back to the farm. The foreman spent the day wed to the tractor-- pumpkins needed planting: lots of sugar, ornamental and giants. The boss and I headed down to the lower fields, connecting all the irrigation lines NYU and I moved last week. The foreman tilled the spent rows and they're now ready for another planting. Lines all set, I headed with the boss down to the horse pond to get the pump running.

The day's end was so close-- but there was a kink. One of 'the twins' came by to visit-- wading over the horse fence, ankle deep in muck and shit, he was wearing a suit. The boss stopped the tractor pump and sauntered over to talk to the twin, who worked of him 20 years ago in the early 90s-- now the twin is a medical supply salesman. He was a nice fellow. The pump was all connected and ready to go, but I milled around the horse paddock until the boss was ready-- that took a long while. (While I waited, sitting against the tractor wheel smoking, I decided that if I visit the farm 20 years from now wearing a suit and selling medical supplies-- killing myself would be just about the only reasonable choice.)

Finally got the water running, with no further interruptions. Ran to the tomato field and closed the wheel valve leading to the tomato line (they won't need any water for a while still). Down in the lower fields, I cleared a few clogged water gun nozzles with the boss-- then called it a day.


Asides:
A picture day is in order-- over the few weeks since Darlin's photo-visit the fields have simply erupted. Looking at her pictures, its hard to believe they're the same fields. Shots from two weeks ago look like bleak March or April compared to now. Unfortunately, with all the summer help wandering about these days its hard to get the peace and time for a photo adventure-- someone is always at your heels. I'll find a good day, or make one.

Overhearing the boss's conversation with the twin-- he was glowing with pride at all we've accomplished the past few years (and this year in particular). After 39 years of farming, these past 5 or so years he's finally hit the big time. Feels good slogging away on a successful farm-- all the sweat seems worth something.

Take it easy, sunny days are ahead.