Rise and Wash

Clear skies and high winds.

Started out today in the lower fields clearing more rocks. Not much to it, just opening the way for the harrow to come through. These fields have great soil, regardless of the rocks-- the Boss's family raised dairy cows on this land for generations, so (literally) centuries of manure has thickened up beautifully, deep dark dirt. Fortunately, the stones in these fields tend to be a lot smaller and easier on the back. The foreman got right to work, he brought the harrow through then planted more rows of sweet corn.

Bah and I kept chugging rolling stones. The two of us have become the defacto manual labor crew, while the boss and foreman roll about busy in the tractors. The Boss has been spreading a good deal of compost and fertilizer across the lower fields- the foreman has been wed to the seeder day in and out.

The fertilizer spreader is good for tightly packed fields, but the berry rows require a more personal touch-- spreading the stuff by hand around the plant base out to where the roots extend, keeping it away from the walking rows where there be weeds. Bah and I spread fertilizer over the emaciated raspberry field, then the gooseberries, blackberries and black-raspberry rows.

At lunch, I rambled off to the greek joint in town for some pizza.

In the afternoon, I met Bah and we headed to the blueberry rows to prune out the dead branches sapping from the bushes. Last summer was dry and harsh on these blueberries- a row right next to the day neutral strawberries was particularly hard hit. Looking over them with the boss, he conjectured that perhaps there was a gravel deposit beneath this side of the field-- as it always has a problem with water retention. We hacked the row down to its living sticks and picked through the rest of the berry rows ( they fared much better). If the weather keeps wet and sunny, we could have a big blueberry harvest in July-- the bushes are loaded top to bottom with red buds and flowers.

A correctional aside-- I am not particularly gifted at estimating acreage (one is equal to somewhere between a tennis court and a mile, right?). Inquiring with the Boss, he gave me the following break down:
The total property is somewhere around a hundred and sixty acres. Forty acres are cleared for veggie planting, store and barn. Twenty acres are grazing for the cow herd, and the remaining hundred is all forest. As it stands, we aren't in the habit of clearing any more for use. Everything agrable and flat enough, is already in use. The boss said he even planned to tear up a few of the far off berry fields by the cow pasture, simply because we have too much. When harvest comes we don't have enough hands to pick everything fast enough- a few rows nearly rotted on the vine last season. So it goes.

This acreage came back to haunt me, as I spent the rest of the day mowing down the grass fields around the top side of the boss's house. Three hours spent not pruning berries-- oh well there is tomorrow.

Today has me back in the writing swing, tomorrow will be a beefy-er reconting-- especially after my little field trip today. After lunch I hiked out to the beehives and snapped a few pictures. Last time I checked them out, if you remember, was on a cold March day while minding a nearby bonfire. Back then I could walk right up and around the twenty hives without hearing or seeing a single bee. A lot has changed since then. The bees are back up to full production. I didn't push my luck, stayed a good twenty feet off, but the air around every opening was covered thick with worker bees doing their thing. Tomorrow, I'll just run down and snap a picture of the calf too-- and see how much she's grown by the season's end.

More coming.