Rhode Island and the Boys

Full sun all day through. The temperature stuck at 82F.

Got in a few minutes late this morning-- not a good start. Avoided eye contact with the boss as he led the boys down to the lower fields, I passed down to the greenhouse. Chatted with the foreman about liquid fertilizer mixtures as I watered the seedlings-- 2nd round of tomatoes (for late summer/fall) are 3inches tall, 2 big plantings worth of broccoli are coming along (one almost ready for planting, the other hasn't germinated yet), romaine/loose leaf lettuce trays were slowly making progress, more basil is creeping out, 2 trays of zinnias are almost ready to be planted around the store and the potted rosemary plants were looking hearty as ever. I turned off the hose, grabbed a pick bucket and sprinted to the raspberry field at the far side of the lower fields.

The boys were just getting started, and the boss gave me a quick run down of the picking plan before he drove off in the SUV. He'd dumped 3 big plastic flat trays packed full of pint containers (~30 per tray). Raspberry picking is a dexterity game-- dodge through the prickered canes, digging out only the deep red berries (which easily pop off their stems when ripe). We use plastic paint buckets with ropes attached to carry the raspberries, so both our hands are free to pick and plop-- but you can never fill a bucket more than 1/3-1/2 full or else the weight will start to crush the berries at the bottom. I started at a fever pace to catch up/ pay penance for being late.

The boys crew is: Rhode Island (with Viking ruling the store, he's a field man now), NYU, Stretch, Big Boy (the new guy-- he's built like a thick stump, 14 years old but could bench press the van) and then there was me. We worked our way down the rows at a decent clip. Reached through the raspberries to shake Big Boy's hand and introduce myself-- he hardly said another word for the rest of the day. It was good to be back bullshitting with the boys, even Stretch was chatty-- ready to bust Rhode Island's chops at every turn. Though Rhode Island hardly left an opening-- he talked without stopping for a breath all morning. Jockey might as well have been tied to a whipping post, the way Rhode Island complained and tore the kid to pieces-- it got so bad that NYU (no friend to Jockey) finally told him to lay off and shut his face for a minute. Between that, Rhode Island's drinking stories and his detailed fantasies in filth, Big Boy was left somewhere between polite horror and terrified good humor. Rhode Island decided that because the boss has 2 daughters, we're all his adopt-a-sons by proxy. We filled up 2 trays (60 pints) and started a good number on the 3rd tray when we finished the rows (many berries left to ripen). Before leaving for lunch, I dragged the boys once more down the line to catch the few stray berries they'd missed.


After lunch I chatted with Jay-jay and Old Rudolpho. Two of the daughter-in-laws started working today-- their entire crew was out with Bah picking peas. The boys were ready to go, so we filled the water bottles and hiked up to the hilltop fields.

Like the boss mentioned yesterday, our big job of the day was to weed 8 beds (2 beet beds/6 rows, 3 spinach beds/9 rows, 1 arugula bed/3 rows, 1 bok choi bed/2 black summer rows & 1 Mei Qing row, 1 bed of broccoli rabe/3 rows). We started in high spirits-- be done in no time, or so we thought. Each row took about 40 minutes at a medium pace to finish-- but the foreman is always right, the summer boys worked like a funeral dirge. NYU kept with me and we cleared out the arugula in no time, then he took a beet bed and I turned to the Bok Choi. Stretch kept moving through a spinach bed-- but Big Boy and Rhode Island were a problem. When I finished the bok choi, no one had made any progress except NYU. So the two of us went to check on Big Boy-- and oh boy. The 2 rows he supposedly finished had more weeds left alive than beets. We gave him a few pointers and started to give him a hand, but he laid down and pulled weeds like he was playing with dandelions in a park. Rhode Island attempted to trade conversation for weeding-- so I sent him on a water refill run to the farm store. The sun was melting the boys down.

Fortunately Stretch upped his weeding game, between him, NYU and me we cleared nearly all the beds. Rhode Island finally returned in his jeep with water. With twenty minutes until closing, only the bed of rabe remained. All the boys set in and it proved a quick job. The boss came by to admire our work, then we all piled into Rhode Island's jeep for a near death experience/ ride back to the farm store.

After closing I stuck around to help the boss cut fertilizer bags into the spreader attached to the tractor. He asked me what I thought of Big Boy. I told him the guy did good for his first day, very very unused to the fields but with arms like his he'd catch on quick. The boss agreed. I checked in on the greenhouse and gave the seedlings a light watering. Viking seemed particularly harried in the store, so I took my leave and headed home.


Tomorrow is the first mega-pick day of the season. 3 markets start this week, the store needs to be restocked and the CSA is just a few days off-- hope the boys are ready.