Lichen and Rain

Foggy morning turned mist, then rain all afternoon. Starting to warm up, 60Fs from noon onward.

With the fields waiting for sun, there was little to do for them today. The plants in the greenhouse are ready for transplanting within the next week-- tomatoes and peppers are itching to get out there.

We spent today working around the farm store. With the health inspector coming next Monday, Viking girl was hard at work sanitizing and cleaning everything in the kitchen that sat around all winter. Attached to the farm store we have a big walk in cooler, used mostly to chill greens taken from the field before market-- and hold produce for the CSA and store. Nothing really stays in there longer than a week at most- except maybe the berry slop, which we hold in big sealed buckets until jam time.

The cooler has been leaking a lot lately, so the boss and foreman spent all day cutting through the metal lining, tearing out rotted insulation and framing. Most of the structure is fine, but two whole 6ft panels had been compromised. I nailed together a frame out of 2x4s which we installed and secured in the gaps. The replacement insulation is all ready for tomorrow, but as I said the foreman and boss worked all day cleaning and repairing this thing.

I offered sporadic assistance, but most of the morning I weeded out around the store. We have a little gravel porch off to the side for eating lunch and it was entirely overgrown. I picked away chatting with Viking, she's pretty into wild flowers and herbal stuff-- so she showed me different plants and told me what they can do-- we had a pretty deep thicket of Lemondrop (rub its leaves and it smells like lemons). I saved a bunch of violets and wild weed do-dads for her to transplant at her house.

After lunch, I got to work on the fence-- its a pretty basic log picket, running around the store, porch and garden. It was almost entirely engulfed in lichen, which had begun to seriously erode the wood beneath. I scratched it all away with a putty knife, chatting around with Viking. It took most of the afternoon to finish the length, and it could still use a serious one-over with an electric sander.

I met up with the boss down in the main greenhouse and we seeded 9 more trays of tomatoes. Once they germinate, these will be saved for the second planting-- giving us tomatoes August, clear through September (weather permitting).


Lucy was up to no good this afternoon. Somewhere in the corroded paneling of the cooler a song bird had set up its nest. It must have been waiting out the rain, as when we pulled out the insulation it fell out, nest and all. Lucy snatched it up and ran off into a field. Twenty-some birds followed her out, dive bombing and harassing the dog. She wasn't fazed, and had herself a meal. Or half of one, grew bored and then wandered away.


Paid, and getting all ready for this working weekend. I will bring the camera with me-- or borrow a replacement to bring. A lot has changed with the season's progression-- all the strawberries and blueberries have gone into bloom, great stuff to share.

Stay dry and catch ya tomorrow.