Band Standing

Full sun all day through. The temperature started at 49F this morning, but warmed up to the lower 70Fs (in the sun).

Big news today. One of our statesmen has been appointed to the Agricultural Committee in congress-- that's big stuff, but there's bigger yet to come. Turns out the boss has met this statesman several times, being president of the county farmer's bureau has its benefits. The statesman is starting a national tour of small farms to get a sense for what they need. And he's starting at our farm. The boss announced it to the boys this morning-- the foreman and Newport were floored. There will be press, security, other congress people and all their staff-- it'll be a mess.

So it was time to get started tidying up the place and making things look respectable. Newport and I set down to some tag team weeding/brush clearing. The gardens around the farm had grown thick with grasses/weeds/vines. We gave it the works-- weeding clean around the store/gravel by the ice cream window. Gizzie was in the kitchens making pies and churning out more jam/sauce. It took all morning, but the weeds are gone and all the flowers have been deadheaded. It looked like a wasteland. Caught up with Newport on his doings this weekend-- the festival was a big success, double the attendance of last year. Lunch time.


Hunkered down with Gizzie for sandwiches. Darlin brought me back a tin-whistle from her Ireland trip-- I tooted away on it all lunch, tormenting Gizzie. Bah walked by and looked at us-- his face more confused than words can convey.


After lunch it was time to pull pumpkins. Newport and I grabbed the big shears, then hopped on the tractor with the foreman. We filled the front loader/ piled 'em up on the big mower attached to the tractor. 7 full trips. 3 trips taking only the fully orange-ripe pumpkins, 4 trips cutting big greens/half-ripe/anything we could find. It's slow work-- wandering through the weed jungle, taking only 2 pumpkins at a time. But it's a pleasant sweat.

We arranged all the pumpkins around the store front-- covering over the bare gardens, a sea of orange stretches out deep into the parking lot. Set out a big wood/wire table and stacked it high. Looked good, only a little space was left for the sugar pumpkins (when their time comes).

Time somehow flew by out there-- I could hardly believe when Newport told me closing was only an hour away. We set out for the hill top-- taking a quick drag through the tiny-ornamental patch. Snipping and tossing, the bucket filled up surprisingly fast. We rolled back to the store, hosed 'em off, set 'em in buckets, then covered the front corn table over with orange.

It was a quick day hauling pumpkins, but it snuck up and wiped me out. Whew.

Take it easy.