Full sun through most of the day, partial clouds swept over the late afternoon. Temperature kept to 88F.
Our big money market was today, so I got in and ran about getting everything ready. Both Viking and the boss's daughter are out this week, so NYU is manning the store-- which means he sits at the cash register reading. Stretch and I ran out to the lower field to cut 2 crates of lettuce and 1 crate of beets. Newport was stuck with Big Boy-- they washed everything up and eventually grabbed 15 or so bunches of swiss chard. We got the van all packed up and the boss headed off to market alone. He left an ambitious to-do list. First up: we ran out and picked through the day neutral strawberries-- time flew and by the time we dropped the berries off at the store it was time for lunch.
After lunch we headed over to the nearest blueberry field and picked a large trays worth (30 pints). After their morning together, Newport whipped and drived Big Boy into slightly better shape-- unfortunately, there is no cure for lazy. We polished off the blueberries and left them off in the store with NYU. We hiked the hilltop and joined Bah/Old Rudolpho's crew weeding the winter squash-- little less than half of the field remained. We made fast progress with the assembled mega-crew.
As we cleared the final row, Newport and I worked alongside Jay-jay (Old Rudolpho's grandson). He's a big fella, but was down in the dirt pull more than his fair share. Newport laughed and asked him how old he was-- 13, about to turn 14 was his answer. Newport sighed and laughed again then pointed down to Big Boy saying-- well, look at this guy sitting staring at the dirt and he's older than you, Jay-Jay, it must be a cultural thing, because believe me when I tell you: white people are just plain lazy. I laughed, but Jay-Jay just smiled and kept pulling weeds.
Finally the winter squash was cleared. Newport and I walked the 22 rows and pulled any new weeds while Stretch and Big Boy collapsed on a log. On to the next task-- weed the 2 long beds of beets in the forest field. The winter squash and beets are as far apart as it gets-- a 15-20 minute walk if you follow the road. So we decided to take the direct line route through the woods, through 10-15 acres of thick forest. For some stupid reason Newport and Big Boy pressed ahead while Stretch and I got our water-- by the time we entered the woods the two were nowhere in sight. Oh well, so we made our own way. We followed one of the old cattle paths that the boss's father cut to bring his cows to what used to be the hilltop pasture. It led us along some old growth trees, deeper and deeper in. We hopped two streams and found one of the water-springs. Soon enough we spotted the upward slope leading to the forest field-- Newport was there waiting and Big Boy was half asleep in the shade.
We quadruple teamed one beet bed and made good time, sweating away until closing. The foreman rolled over in the tractor 10 minutes before the day's end. He weeded with us through till the end. We grabbed our water then all climbed aboard the tractor-- Newport hanging from the cab-stairs, Stretch/Big Boy/Me sat in the front loader. The foreman raised us 20ft into the air and floored it back to the farm store. We all hopped down and got homeward.
Because of all the scheduling madness this week, the boss is sending me to one of the Thursday markets. I'm looking forward to checking out what everyone is selling this year-- just hope the boss doesn't make a habit of sending me out. Tomorrow then.
Get on to it.
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