Clouds and Cabbage

Sunny morning, dark clouds covered over the afternoon. Occasional drizzles, but rain didn't start until after closing.


Made my way down to the greenhouse this morning and watered up the seedlings-- 4 rounds of lettuce left (6 trays apiece) and the 5-6 rosemary pots. The boss and Jockey headed out early for the big money market-- leaving the rest of us with some big projects to get done.

Newport, Stretch and I headed up to the raspberries (mid-hill over by the horse pasture), picking time. Big Boy and Rhode Island climbed the hilltop to transplant a big set of broccoli and brussel sprouts (the rest of us rolled our eyes hearing that they were going off alone).  The bees were everywhere in the berry field-- we picked 1 1/2 trays before Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew came to lend a hand. We finished up the field, getting 3 trays total (75ish pints). Me and the boys grabbed our water and hiked up to lend Big Boy and Rhode Island some hands.

They hadn't even finished 1/3 of a bed in the 2 some hours they were up there-- and Rhode Island had planted all of it. He was very happy to see us. Big Boy was sitting crossed legged by the woods edge poking at the dirt. Newport corralled him back over. Between the 5 of us, we finished planting the broccoli and got a start on the sprouts. Lunch time.

After lunch Big Boy, Stretch and I climbed back up the fill and sunk in more brussel sprouts. The rest of the boys trickled back into the field. Drizzled on and off as we completed the sprout tray (all together, we filled 2 1/2 beds). Weeding time.

Got the hoes and hand tools dirty clearing the thick growth around 2 beds of broccoli and 2 beds of cabbage. Bah came over as it started to lightly rain. He found tons of pig (or was it hog?) weed mixed in with all the cabbage beds-- his wife cooks the leaves down with water,salt and shrimp. We helped Bah find and cut 2 big plastic bags worth of the hog weed. Back to pulling weeds. We inched along and horsed around, catching up on all of Rhode Island's vacation exploits. The foreman came to help us out-- it took most of the afternoon, but we finished the 2 long beds of broccoli. We started hacking back the cabbages' weeds-- finished half a bed by closing.

Homeward bound.


Viking isn't back till tomorrow-- it'll be good to finally have NYU in the fields again. Hope he hasn't lost his edge. Over lunch NYU was telling me that the store has him bored out of his mind, he's itching at the gate to get outside. No word yet from my buddy Jimbo-- then again, he's the sort of fella who just shows up. Maybe he'll get in late tonight-- ready for a day in the rain tomorrow. Well, here's hoping.

Take it easy.