Red Potatoes

Mist and light rain all day, high 40Fs.

Boss rolled in and said-- don't you dare say 'good morning'-- and laughed his way down to the green house. My tile work set fine overnight, or at least as well as it could in this humidity. The foreman and I grabbed four trays of bok choi- two different varieties--, two dibbles and headed down to the lower fields for more planting.

These fields are almost completely filled up now, only maybe a row and a half remain open-- although we're saving space on the wood's edge to sink in some rows of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and pumpkins. We set to it and filled up the open row with the bok choi-- ~800 plants. We finished up right around lunch.

The potatoes we hacked up yesterday can't sit too long once prepared before going into the ground. The afternoon became dedicated potato time. The foreman headed up to the top fields with the old tractor and started cutting trenches, while me and the boss loaded 6 boxes or 300lbs of red potatoes into the front of the new tractor. We grabbed a handed pumped sprayer for good measure and the boss headed up the hill. 

I saddled up in the van with Lucy the Weimaraner. I haven't mentioned her too much yet, maybe cause she's omnipresent-- everywhere the boss goes, she is too. Lucy just has her own way-- wandering the farm, digging, harassing the horses or cows, and hunting what she sees fit. She's a bit of a sociopath for a dog, tending to catch and then cripple mice before wandering away bored. Rodents are no longer much of a problem with her around. Although, the boss is getting worried that she's become a bit too wild-- at 2 1/2 years old she's already been hit twice by cars, one time bad enough to warrant an operation. She has a habit of scaring young kids too, so her leash-less days may be numbered.
Driving with Lucy is another experience entirely, as she constantly stands on your lap and has a habit of headbutting the stick into different gears. We managed, and soon joined the gang in the hill top field.

While the foreman finished re-cutting the 6 big rows across the field (the soil had resettled on account of the rain) I sat with the boss as he mixed a bit of pesticide in the hand pump. The stuff he uses is 1oz pesticide to 1000ft of field-- so pretty diluted stuff-- but it is effective for fighting the Colorado Potato Flies. Those bugs are ruthless, and breed quickly-- apparently able to re-adapt to different pesticides throughout a single season. The flies devour potato plants down to nothing, literally eating any part of the plant that inches above the soil-- they're easily able to wipe out an entire crop. Nevertheless, The boss is careful in choosing what and how he sprays. This type manages to keep a few steps ahead of the flies and he swears by it. This stuff is also pretty innocuous, he swears by the motto-- if I can't handle it without a respirator, I wont spray the food with it. Some sprays are very potent-- but the boss definitely favors a lighter touch.

The boss sprayed the bottom of the trench, while I dropped potato eyes in spaced ~ 6in apart. The foreman joined in laying potatoes and we filled the rows over several hours. With an hour and some left before closing, we took up the hoes and covered over the rows. We hoed like dogs and somehow managed to finish before the day's end. The boss's brother had come up in his back-ho to clear more brush-- so when we all left, it was quite a caravan-- two tractors, the back-ho and then me and Lucy trailing in the van. Seemed a bit excessive for just a bunch of potatoes.

I am moving up the totem pole of responsibilities (slowly). The boss is heading out this Sunday and the foreman is also going to be out of town, so I am going to look after the farm for them. It probably won't amount to more than a lot of watering, but who knows what trouble I'll get into (another picture day?).

Doesn't look like these rain clouds will break until Monday-- here's to a soggy week. Catch ya tomorrow.