Hawks Above

Much done, much to write. But first:

Had a fine time drinking and catching up with the family this weekend-- I've been out in the fields/bouncing to the city so much that it'd been a long time since meeting up with all the uncles, aunts and cousins. Sometimes you have one of those moments when reality catches up on you-- my cousin is having a baby in September. But what really got me-- her husband was real excited and asked me about bringing the baby to the farm to get pumpkins in October. Man, that just hit me at that right angle. I really hope they come on by, I'll give 'em the best damn pumpkins the world has ever seen. Hahaha-- It's the little things that really get a person excited sometimes.

In other news-- I got a phone call last night from a dear old buddy that had fallen off my radar into some jungle in Nicaragua. Turns out this fellow, Jimbo, is back state side-- looking to catch up/get to work. So ol' Jimbo is coming to stay a few days this week and put in some hours at the farm. He was studying/working tropical-climate farming, so I expect he'll pull his weight just fine. Jimbo is due to arrive tomorrow night or Wednesday-- safe travels to him. We got a lot of talking/work/drinking to do.

On with it already.
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Hawks Above

Strange weather today. Temperature stuck around 79F, but the humidity was near a swampy 100%. The boys decided that the problem wasn't so much the heat itself, or the humidity, but the damn sun. Stayed clear and miserable for the most part, but dark isolated rain clouds passed over a few times bringing brief and heavy rain. Cooled off during the rain, but once it left-- the sun felt twice as hot.


Busy day. Held up in road-construction traffic, so I got to the farm 10mins late. The foreman, Newport and Stretch were lounging around the tractor waiting for me. They busted my chops, then we got on with it. We all climbed aboard the tractor with buckets, crates, knives and shears-- then rolled out to the forest fields. Picking day. We fanned out and cut: 4 buckets of zucchini (found a monster as thick as my leg, as long as my arm), 6 buckets of summer squash, 2 buckets of patty pan, 2 buckets of kousa, 4 buckets of eggplant, 3 crates of beets and 1 crate of basil. The boss brought everything back in the van, then we followed on foot-- back to the store.

Washed up and boxed the kousa/beets. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew was out doing a heavy tomato picking-- we ferreted full buckets up beneath the store's awning. New orders-- Newport, Stretch and I grabbed a tray of pints/buckets and headed out to the crappy rows of raspberries out mid-center of the lower fields. The picking was slow and staggered-- weeds had swallowed up most of the berry canes. We only managed to get 8 pints. A rain cloud swept overhead and we covered the berries with our shirts-- if picked raspberries get wet they mold in mere hours. Carried back the mostly empty tray and headed to lunch.


After lunch I stumbled into Rhode Island-- he's back from his 3 week vacation, so he's still a bit outta step. Tomorrow is the first full staff day in a few weeks: Rhode Island is back now, Viking/NYU/Big Boy are back tomorrow. The 8 pints of raspberries had already sold. The store/cooler was cleaned out of every berry we had, so-- Newport and Stretch headed to the blueberries and I stumbled down to the day-neutral strawberries.

The rows were looking a lot better than usual-- many more and bigger too. I inched my way down the three 500yard rows, but still only filled up 8 quarts in 2 hours. Brought back the quarts to the store and waited out a few minutes worth of rain-- then out to join the boys in the blueberries.

We picked along and managed to fill 3 trays (25+ pints apiece). Newport and I took a break on a big rock that rises up out of the middle of the field-- hawks were flying everywhere. We laughed watching a tight group of 70 or so sparrows chasing off a big ol' red tailed hawk. Closing time was a few minutes off and the heat finally caught up to us. We all hunkered down under the bushes for some cigarettes and bullshit/conversation. We carried back the final half filled berry tray to the store and met the boss-- he was happily shining and boxing 500lbs worth of big tomatoes.
Day is done, so home we run.



Aside: got a new pair of boots. Those Wolverines just couldn't hack it. Work/construction/hiking boots can't handle this job-- flipping between dry dusty heat, pouring rain, 1 foot deep mud, and every job in between. Most options disintegrate (like my old Wolverines), leak or get torn to shreds. So I upgraded.
Logging boots are it:
--They cover/lace half way up the calf (no more lower leg poison ivy, no more rolled ankles while carrying buckets of potatoes down a rocky hill)
--Steel shanked (more of an inner steel skirting than a steel toe, so if a horse stomps my foot all my toes aren't guillotined by the steel boot. But no more busting toes while dragging/kicking rocks out of the field-- Double plus!)
--Heavy water-proofed (supposedly everything is these days, but I like the leak protection on the shoe-tongue)
--The sole is attached by triple stitching around the edge and bottom, then reinforced with metal-polymer screws (haven't found a boot that holds up enough yet, but this seems like the last-best chance)


Today was the first time I've wore 'em, so they need to break in-- but all 'n all, so far I love 'em. The company is called Carolina, but they're made in China. It figures that last time (the wolverines) I bought US and they disintegrated, we'll see how these go.


Well, take it easy. Back tomorrow, maybe with the help/company of my buddy Jimbo.