Working Day

Full sun throughout the day, big clouds drifting by. Temperature was about 82F.

Picking day full throttle.

Bah and Rudolpho's crew had a real early morning, they picked: corn, summer squash, zucchini, kousa, patty pan, cucumbers, pickling cukes, green peppers and chard. Stretch, NYU, Newport and I loaded the buckets/crates onto the tractor and took 'em back to the store-- where we washed, boxed and chilled the lot. It took all morning. We rummaged through the barn and dragged out a few hundred buckets-- tomato time is getting close and we're gonna need 'em. We separated (easier said than done when a winter's worth of crap binds the bucket stacks together), washed and left the buckets out to dry. NYU and I went down to the lower fields with 16 crates, time for the lettuce. We got 10 crates of loose leaf and 6 big cardboard boxes of romaine. Found a lot of damaged lettuce and a few piles of deer droppings. Cut 3 crates of kale-- 2 red boar, 1 dinosaur. Added the greens into the wash rotation and we scrubbed at the sink until lunch.


After lunch Stretch, NYU and I finished the remaining lettuce. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew marched off to get a few trays of blueberries/raspberries before calling it an early day. The boss had special plans for us. We grabbed hoes and 2 buckets apiece, then hiked over to the far side of the hilltop-- potato time! Digging potatoes is pretty enjoyable, NYU says it's like looking for gold-- red gold, the boss smiled. Spirits were pretty good. We've never planted so many potatoes-- but people in the CSA are crazy about them. Out of the 20 some beds of potatoes, we stuck to 1 (double row) bed of the red potatoes. They're thin skinned and mature the fastest. The foreman told me-- the potatoes aren't the plant's seeds, ya know, they're tubular roots where they store water and nutrients. So we pulled 'em-- pretty good sized ones too (from thumb sized to 2 fists put together).

Got 8 buckets of potatoes from 1/3 of one bed. The boss was off to get the new van so our crew walked a few feet over to the winter squash. Weeding time again. Spent the rest of the day clearing out the rows-- 7 out of the 20 rows remain. Long day's work.

Exhaustion snuck up on all of us-- NYU disappeared for an hour to 'get water', Newport and I slumped onto a big log for a smoke but we dozed off a few minutes instead. Stretch got us moving again and it was back to work. Closing time came and homeward bound.


Found the camera and let it charge all day. Sleep can't come soon enough.
That's how it goes. But pictures tomorrow, if I get the chance.

On to it then.