The Big Sweat

Full sun all day, big clouds here and there in the early afternoon. Temperature was a straight 88F in the shade.

Today was one of those long ones that never end-- long, but so much got done.

Pulled in this morning to find Newport waiting for me by his car. The boss headed out west state before sunrise to pick up the repaired water pump-- the repairs were much more serious than expected (new internal bearings, patched priming mechanism, replaced all internal gaskets, some inner bits connecting the fan to the PTO had rusted through and were replaced). The boss was on his way back, but still an hour out-- he wanted the water running the second he returned. So Newport and I had some piping to do.

With the irrigation out of commission for the past week (and no rain), the center of the tomato field had become a bit stressed and wilted-- time for the big gun. We carried out the big-gun from the barn and set in the middle of the center tractor road-- must have weighed 200 and something pounds. We ran a 4in pipe straight from the tomato field's water gate and hooked it directly to the gun, no reducer-- just a 4in column of water flowing like a freight train.

Next up-- we attached the strawberries' drip lines in the lower field and attached water gun lines through the chard/kale/beets and through the lettuce. Hustled over to the forest field and sorted out all the drip lines through the squash/cucumbers/peppers/eggplant/basil/cantaloupes. We headed back to the tomato field and attached up all the tomatoes' drip lines and got the drip running through squash/cantaloupe outside the store all squared away. The boss pulled up as we checked over the last nozzles. Newport and I dragged the water pump into the yard outside the greenhouse-- the foreman wasn't back with the tractor yet, but the boss didn't want to waste any time. We hopped into the van and chugged up the hilltop to collect Bah and Old Rudolpho's corn bags.

The boss crept the van along the tractor road in the middle of the field, I walked behind hefting the full bags up to Newport-- who piled them into the van. 17 bags of corn. We dumped the bags at the store and met the foreman down at the horse pond. Got the pump all connected up--the foreman and Newport ran out to check/clear the lines, while the boss and I got the water going. There's a big difference after the repairs-- the suction line fills up in no time. I got my first chance behind the tractor wheel too-- nothing fancy, but still. The boss shambled over to the far side of the horse pasture to keep an eye on the big gun, I sat in the cab inching up the PTO throttle-- from 10,000 rpms up to 23,000 rpms. The resulting high water pressure projects the beam of water higher and farther-- allowing it to spread/mist out into raindrop size by the time the water hits the tomato plant. This big gun drops an inch worth of water coverage every hour-- immense. The boss gave me the thumbs up and I sprinted over to help him check over the cantaloupe/squash drip.

Newport, Stretch and the foreman came over and we started trying to patch up the leaky drips-- it's supposedly a lot easier with the water flowing. The heavy water pressure pushing the big gun was too much-- all our splicing/plugging attempts exploded. Plastic adapters and steel bracers rocketed everywhere. The boss had bought parts a few sizes too small-- the foreman's sanity was ready to snap, he was furious. Soaked, muddy and on-edge we sloshed off to a late lunch.


After lunch, Newport and I kicked around the store helping Stretch, Easy, NYU and Jockey get the CSA setup in order. The boss met us and new orders-- Newport and I were going picking. We grabbed knives and each took a tower of 12 buckets-- then marched the long road up to the forest field. Walking by the tomato field we saw that the foreman had cut off the big gun and Bah/Old Rudolpho's crew was out picking. In the forest field we got right to it-- cut: 2 buckets of zucchini, 3 buckets of summer squash. Stretch came up to help us out and we cut 1 bucket of patty pan and 1 bucket of kousa squash. The foreman called me up-- he was starting the water artery leading up to the forest field. Stretch and Newport got a start on the eggplant while I ran down field to check the connections/headlines. Everything was going fine until the water pressure burst a steel bracer in the headline and a torrent erupted. The foreman sprinted out of the woods and between the two of us, we muscled the pieces back together (water still running) and replaced the brace. Soaked from head to toe-- man do I need new boots, the both toes are blown out.

I slogged down and joined Newport/Stretch picking eggplant-- the water guns soaked us through (just assumed I'd be sopping wet the rest of the day). We got: 3 buckets of big eggplant, 2 1/2 buckets of long oriental eggplant and 1 bucket of fairy tale. The boss picked up everything and dropped off more buckets-- it was cucumber time. And what a time it was.

As Newport said-- I can't swing a dead cat without seeing 40 goddamn cucumbers in front of me. The new plastic wrap planting method has worked wonders-- there's never been a cucumber harvest like this one. I filled a bucket covering just 6ft of plant vine-- one bucket fits 30-40 depending on its size. We filled 18 buckets, that's about 1,000lbs of cucumbers in 2 hours. Amazing. The boss laughed sadly when he came to pick up the buckets-- he had no idea what we'd do with them all. Picked the pickling cukes next and filled 6 buckets-- and we only stopped because there simply were no more buckets left. We cut and bunched a big box worth of basil-- 50 some bunches. Newport and I were ready to collapse.

We marched down the hill path, basil in hand. Closing time was here. The boss met us by the road side, perched up in his brother's open air tractor-- on his way to pick up the pickling cukes and straggling buckets of cucumbers. Checks were waiting for us in the store, he said get on home and take it easy this weekend-- don't do anything I wouldn't do. Like drugs?-- Newport smiled at him. The boss roared off in the tractor laughing to himself.

Got the check and got myself home. I am wiped out.


Take it easy.