Corn in the fields. ehehe.
Overcast all morning, gave way to rain mid-afternoon. Temperature dipped to 69F and low 70Fs.
Corn is in the fields! Today was the first corn picking day-- Bah and Old Rudolpho were in the rows filling sacks all morning. First tomatoes too! Not many, but 10lbs of the moskvich came red and ready from the fields (they're the quickest to mature, 60 days from transplant to fruit). Wednesday is heavy picking, but today was variety day.
Waved down Newport and Stretch out behind the store, they watched and chatted as I watered down the greenhouse. The boss was out harassing the van dealership-- we're supposed to get the new van Wednesday (I think), but he wanted it early (didn't happen). So we followed the work list-- passed round the knives, grabbed the crates and bustled out to the lower field. We cut: 1 case of romaine, 1 case of loose leaf, 1 case of dinosaur/red boar kale, pulled 1 case of beets (first planting to survive to harvest, if you remember the previous rounds didn't work out so well), 15 quarts of strawberries. We stacked up the catch by the roadside and the foreman came by with the tractor, wagon piled high-- 15 buckets of big cucumber, 6 buckets of pickling cukes, 3 buckets of summer squash, 3 zucchini buckets, 1 bucket of kousa/patty pan squash, 4 bags of corn and a single green pepper. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew had a busy morning.
Back at the store we set to work, washing the greens and lettuce, washing the cukes and squash, the beets, the kale, and the rest. We packed everything into bushel boxes and started loading up the cooler. It must have been a busy weekend, the walk-in was nearly empty-- we fixed that. Stretch and I finished rubbing down the pickling cukes and we all headed to lunch.
Action days-- gotta love 'em. After lunch we got out the buckets and loaded them up with Urea fertilizer (46% nitrogen). One of the maturing lettuce beds had developed a yellow tint to their bottom leaves, due to a nutrient deficiency-- the foreman sent us over to fix it. Stretch and I spread around all around the plants-- the boss pulled up right as we finished. He figured that since we were out there we might as well fertilize the string beans (they looked a bit nutrient stressed too). Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew was picking the beans, so we slid past them and spread the Urea. It seemed to go real fast-- though I did have to follow behind Stretch and shake the pellets off the plant leaves (concentrated nitrogen can burn/damage the plant if it isn't absorbed properly through the soil). Newport was out picking raspberries in one of the hill top fields that's just on the edge of harvest time. We finished up with the beans and headed to the trellised tomatoes. They were looking in need of nitrogen, so we laid it on along the plastic wraps' edges. Put away the fertilizer and Stretch ambled out to join Newport in the raspberries. I stuck behind to move some irrigation lines out of the foreman's way-- he had a lot of harrowing to do: next years strawberries' soil is getting prepped and several beds are spent and need replanting.
Headed back to the store and chatted around with the boss's daughter-- Viking took a couple days off, so she is watching after things. I am thick into poison ivy bought number 10+, but the daughter apparently has a steroid cream that works wonders (though it might bleach the skin temporarily). She said she'd bring some by tomorrow, we'll see about that. Then again, I was chain smoking all day as the ivy rashes around my knees were driving me crazy. Caught up with Jockey, then headed back to the lower fields with the trimmer.
All the sunflowers NYU and planted in early spring have busted up 4-5ft tall-- unfortunately you can hardly see them as the grasses and weeds along the wall have grown even taller (nearly choking the flowers out). I fired up machine and dealt with the long grasses, I had plans later in the day for the weed-bushes. The rain started slowly and built up over an hour. The foreman waved me over to the corn field at one point-- we hunted down the rows and each took a good ear. Ate 'em raw. Sweet as a berry. Got back to trimming-- headed up and cleared all the travel rows through the lower fields blueberries. It really started raining.
Time was flying somehow-- trimming must have taken a while, as closing was a half-hour away. I brought the trimmer back to the greenhouse and found Stretch/Newport seeding a new round of lettuce. I took up the machete and headed through the rain to deal with those weed-bushes around the sunflowers. Hacked them up and down-- people driving by must have thought I was psychotic.
Finished up and met the boss at the store. Things really seem to be working out for the best this year. He fixed the water pump's primer crank over the weekend, but blew a gasket. The replacement is due to arrive in a few days-- but wouldn't ya know it, here's the rain and irrigating doesn't even matter. The boss is getting giddy (or as near giddy as he can get) over the approach of the high season: when the corn hits stride and the tomatoes explode into red. It's contagious. I can't wait to get out there and pluck buckets full. Supposed to rain through tomorrow morning, so we'll see what's to be done. Took my leave and headed home.
Photo day tomorrow? Yes I think so. Though I got a morning doc appointment... but that doesn't matter. A day has room for it all.
On to tomorrow.
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