Full sun all day through, heavy humidity sunk over the afternoon. Temperature was between 88-92F.
Stretch, NYU and I started off the day-- we ran over to the forest fields to lend Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew a hand picking eggplant and basil. Big-Jay was in today (Jay-Jay's father and Old Rudolpho's youngest son). We got 3 crates worth of basil and filled 10 buckets of big/oriental/fairytale eggplant. Seems that Old Rudolpho has had enough of hand gestures, so taught me the Spanish words for everything in the field then asked for the English equivalent. The store was going crazy in preparation for the double markets/CSA-- the boss called us over and we filled up all the crates and trays for market.
The boss, his daughter and Rhode Island rumbled off in the van-- back to real work. We joined the crew and picked string beans until lunch.
Today was Stretch's last day. NYU and I hung around chatting with him in the parking lot, wishing him luck at next week's game. Waved after as he pulled out of the grass field, see ya later friend-- might be the last I see of him.
After lunch NYU and I got the everything set for the second market and laid out most of the CSA produce. Then back to the beans. Bah was out pulling blackberries, so we hunkered down for more Spanish lessons with Old Rudolpho and family. It took another 4 hours of straight picking before the field was clear. The foreman was turning over all the spent fields-- the first few rounds of sweet corn has passed so he cut 'em all down. NYU and I pulled the irrigation line out of the lettuce field and stacked the pipes by the roadside-- no more lettuce, so they were all churned under the soil. Bah ran over beforehand and took 10 heads for home-- but I don't know how he can stomach it, once we stopped watering the leaves become very bitter-- like biting into a maple leaf.
With the beans picked, we made our way over to the tomato fields. We picked 40+ buckets worth of Rose tomatoes-- dirty rotten work, there's nothing like that mucousy tomato feel/stench. That said, there were much fewer bad ones today-- guess the fungicide did the trick. Closing time came around with half the section covered. The foreman brought the tractor around and I piled all the buckets onto the loader and rotor attachment-- then down around to the barn to unload. Sorting and shining tomorrow I bet-- but it was time to get home.
Tired week and tomorrow is NYU's last day--whelp, that's how it goes.
Take it easy.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Van Rights
Full sun all day through-- the wet finally dried out of the ground a little after noon. The temperature stayed around 85F.
Today was a good working day.
I met the NYU and Stretch out back this morning. We stuffed buckets into the van and the boss took us up to the forest field for pepper picking. Tomorrow is double market/CSA so the boss wanted a big haul. We filled 15 buckets, (the boss brought 8 packing boxes and it took all we had to fill 'em up) then filled 8 more buckets. Stacked all the full boxes/buckets in the shade, then culled through the Red Knight rows-- picking out all the damaged/eaten/fungus covered peppers. We headed back to the store to get knives and crates-- then off to the lower fields. We cut swiss chard until lunch, filling up 8 crates worth.
Stretch headed off to football practice, his first game is next week-- time surely flies. After lunch it was just me and NYU-- he laughed, saying it was just like old times back in the Spring. He was real excited to hear I'm planning on (at least) spending the winter living in the City (where he goes to school)-- we planned to share many drinks. The two of us returned to the lower fields to cut kale-- 3 crates of Red Boar, 1 crate of Dinosaur (the dinosaur kale isn't as bunchy as the red boar, you can almost fit triple in the same amount of space). NYU wandered out into the sweet corn to have a heated phone argument with his girlfriend-- I minded my own business and kept to the kale. We carried the catch back to the store and washed the chard/kale/shipped-in lettuce.
Rhode Island had finished up his kitchen work, so he came out and the three of us picked 4 buckets worth of zucchini from the rows near the greenhouse. NYU and Rhode Island started washing/boxing up the zucchini-- but the boss had plans for me. The farm has had some problems over the last couple weeks with our phone lines, so the electricians were in fixing up all the wiring-- which meant no phone calls, credit card machine or electricity. The boss and Jockey had bottled up 3 big batches of tomato sauce this morning, so the big jars all needed to be sterilized/sealed in boiling water. While they set up some big propane burners/big water kettles, I headed out in the new van to collect the full berry trays from Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew. I drove around, following the town road up to the hill top. Loaded up 3 raspberry trays and 1 of blackberries-- carefully bracing the trays against one another, so the long drive along the dirt roads wouldn't spill the berries.
Back at the farm store, I loaded everything into the cooler and joked around with the boys. New orders-- we loaded the van with buckets and hoes, it was time for pulling more potatoes. The boss drove us up the hill and checked over the fields-- the potato plants themselves are in rough shape. Most of the red/yukon potato plants have been eaten by the colorado bugs-- not a leaf in sight. Fortunately, the tubers are fully formed and the beetles don't touch 'em-- which is good, as the ground was writhing with countless larvae. NYU, Rhode Island and I always get on-- so we joked and chatted about all sorts of filth. The boss likes nothing more than a good dirty joke, so he stuck around and pulled alongside us. The boss gave Rhode Island some advice for his women problems and told us-- a man doesn't stay virile forever, even if he's ready and fit, circumstances won't allow it-- so enjoy it while it lasts boys. We pulled 4 buckets of reds and 4 buckets of yukon golds.
The boss drove us and the buckets back to the store. NYU and Rhode Island got busy scrubbing the potatoes-- but once again, I had special orders. The boss and I loaded up the van, then drove out to pick some corn-- maybe I'm becoming one of the few trusted to properly gauge an ear's maturity. Anyway, we picked 3 bags worth and stocked up the store for the night. Closing time was creeping up, but the boss had one more job for me and the boys. I drove 70 some cardboard boxes down to the tomato storage in the barn, then me and the boys loaded up 70 full tomato boxes for CSA tomorrow. The van was nearly overflowing with tomatoes, so I took the long steady road back to the store. We arranged all the boxes beneath the back awning and called it a day.
Whew, the rainy days this week really wiped me out-- but nothing like the dry and sun to get me moving. Feeling good, there are some busy days ahead. NYU, Stretch, Rhode Island and Jockey will be missed-- but work goes on, we'll have to push that much harder (earning my 'full-timer' title, ehehehe). NYU plans to weasel his way up the ladder farm once he graduates-- I think the farm bug has caught him finally.
Take it easy, more coming tomorrow.
Today was a good working day.
I met the NYU and Stretch out back this morning. We stuffed buckets into the van and the boss took us up to the forest field for pepper picking. Tomorrow is double market/CSA so the boss wanted a big haul. We filled 15 buckets, (the boss brought 8 packing boxes and it took all we had to fill 'em up) then filled 8 more buckets. Stacked all the full boxes/buckets in the shade, then culled through the Red Knight rows-- picking out all the damaged/eaten/fungus covered peppers. We headed back to the store to get knives and crates-- then off to the lower fields. We cut swiss chard until lunch, filling up 8 crates worth.
Stretch headed off to football practice, his first game is next week-- time surely flies. After lunch it was just me and NYU-- he laughed, saying it was just like old times back in the Spring. He was real excited to hear I'm planning on (at least) spending the winter living in the City (where he goes to school)-- we planned to share many drinks. The two of us returned to the lower fields to cut kale-- 3 crates of Red Boar, 1 crate of Dinosaur (the dinosaur kale isn't as bunchy as the red boar, you can almost fit triple in the same amount of space). NYU wandered out into the sweet corn to have a heated phone argument with his girlfriend-- I minded my own business and kept to the kale. We carried the catch back to the store and washed the chard/kale/shipped-in lettuce.
Rhode Island had finished up his kitchen work, so he came out and the three of us picked 4 buckets worth of zucchini from the rows near the greenhouse. NYU and Rhode Island started washing/boxing up the zucchini-- but the boss had plans for me. The farm has had some problems over the last couple weeks with our phone lines, so the electricians were in fixing up all the wiring-- which meant no phone calls, credit card machine or electricity. The boss and Jockey had bottled up 3 big batches of tomato sauce this morning, so the big jars all needed to be sterilized/sealed in boiling water. While they set up some big propane burners/big water kettles, I headed out in the new van to collect the full berry trays from Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew. I drove around, following the town road up to the hill top. Loaded up 3 raspberry trays and 1 of blackberries-- carefully bracing the trays against one another, so the long drive along the dirt roads wouldn't spill the berries.
Back at the farm store, I loaded everything into the cooler and joked around with the boys. New orders-- we loaded the van with buckets and hoes, it was time for pulling more potatoes. The boss drove us up the hill and checked over the fields-- the potato plants themselves are in rough shape. Most of the red/yukon potato plants have been eaten by the colorado bugs-- not a leaf in sight. Fortunately, the tubers are fully formed and the beetles don't touch 'em-- which is good, as the ground was writhing with countless larvae. NYU, Rhode Island and I always get on-- so we joked and chatted about all sorts of filth. The boss likes nothing more than a good dirty joke, so he stuck around and pulled alongside us. The boss gave Rhode Island some advice for his women problems and told us-- a man doesn't stay virile forever, even if he's ready and fit, circumstances won't allow it-- so enjoy it while it lasts boys. We pulled 4 buckets of reds and 4 buckets of yukon golds.
The boss drove us and the buckets back to the store. NYU and Rhode Island got busy scrubbing the potatoes-- but once again, I had special orders. The boss and I loaded up the van, then drove out to pick some corn-- maybe I'm becoming one of the few trusted to properly gauge an ear's maturity. Anyway, we picked 3 bags worth and stocked up the store for the night. Closing time was creeping up, but the boss had one more job for me and the boys. I drove 70 some cardboard boxes down to the tomato storage in the barn, then me and the boys loaded up 70 full tomato boxes for CSA tomorrow. The van was nearly overflowing with tomatoes, so I took the long steady road back to the store. We arranged all the boxes beneath the back awning and called it a day.
Whew, the rainy days this week really wiped me out-- but nothing like the dry and sun to get me moving. Feeling good, there are some busy days ahead. NYU, Stretch, Rhode Island and Jockey will be missed-- but work goes on, we'll have to push that much harder (earning my 'full-timer' title, ehehehe). NYU plans to weasel his way up the ladder farm once he graduates-- I think the farm bug has caught him finally.
Take it easy, more coming tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The Phone in the Rat
Cloudy all morning, few spits from the sky-- but the rain never came. Cleared up in the afternoon-- some sun even peeked through. Temperature climbed a little from 64F up to the low 70Fs.
This morning started over the sinks. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew were back at it-- they had on a picking frenzy. 40 some buckets of summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers and pickling cukes needed washing. NYU and the boss got packed up for market, Stretch/Newport/Big Boy and I scrubbed. Just as we got down to the last few buckets-- the foreman rolled up in the tractor with more cucumbers and cukes. Fortunately, it was my time to escape.
The store was low on everything, so Viking sent me to work. Picked 1/2 a crate of Dinosaur/Red Boar Kale and Swiss Chard, then picked 2 buckets worth of Green/Yellow string beans. I brought everything back to the store, the boss/NYU had left-- the boys were ready to go. We grabbed buckets and picked a couple more buckets worth of beans before lunch.
After lunch the assembly line began. Now that the rain has stopped the tomato fields are overflowing. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew set out to pick-- and the haul was huge. Newport, Big Boy and I got to shining/sorting out the tomatoes in the barn as fast as we could. Emptying the buckets, so the foreman could bring them back to the crew for more tomatoes. It was endless. We sorted many ways today: 1sts for wholesale, 2nds for wholesale, 1sts for ripening/keeping, 2nds for keeping and trash. The foreman made 8-9 tractor trips (with about 300lbs per trip, so 2,400- 3,500lbs total).
Fall is coming on fast-- both Stretch and Big Boy started football practice this week (Stretch left at noon, Big Boy left mid-afternoon). As we sorted tomatoes, minute before leaving, sick-tragedy fell on Big Boy. He slipped and dropped his cellphone (he calls and messages his friends ceaselessly), he dropped it into the liquid-rotted body of a dead rat. When Big Boy picked up his phone it was covered in what looked like wet cat food. He was upset.
Newport scrapped up the rat remains with a shovel and pour down rubbing alcohol and water-- then back to sorting. We kept at it the rest of the day-- and I bet there will be much more sorting tomorrow.
Not much more to it-- a long, slow day.
Take it easy.
This morning started over the sinks. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew were back at it-- they had on a picking frenzy. 40 some buckets of summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers and pickling cukes needed washing. NYU and the boss got packed up for market, Stretch/Newport/Big Boy and I scrubbed. Just as we got down to the last few buckets-- the foreman rolled up in the tractor with more cucumbers and cukes. Fortunately, it was my time to escape.
The store was low on everything, so Viking sent me to work. Picked 1/2 a crate of Dinosaur/Red Boar Kale and Swiss Chard, then picked 2 buckets worth of Green/Yellow string beans. I brought everything back to the store, the boss/NYU had left-- the boys were ready to go. We grabbed buckets and picked a couple more buckets worth of beans before lunch.
After lunch the assembly line began. Now that the rain has stopped the tomato fields are overflowing. Bah and Old Rudolpho's crew set out to pick-- and the haul was huge. Newport, Big Boy and I got to shining/sorting out the tomatoes in the barn as fast as we could. Emptying the buckets, so the foreman could bring them back to the crew for more tomatoes. It was endless. We sorted many ways today: 1sts for wholesale, 2nds for wholesale, 1sts for ripening/keeping, 2nds for keeping and trash. The foreman made 8-9 tractor trips (with about 300lbs per trip, so 2,400- 3,500lbs total).
Fall is coming on fast-- both Stretch and Big Boy started football practice this week (Stretch left at noon, Big Boy left mid-afternoon). As we sorted tomatoes, minute before leaving, sick-tragedy fell on Big Boy. He slipped and dropped his cellphone (he calls and messages his friends ceaselessly), he dropped it into the liquid-rotted body of a dead rat. When Big Boy picked up his phone it was covered in what looked like wet cat food. He was upset.
Newport scrapped up the rat remains with a shovel and pour down rubbing alcohol and water-- then back to sorting. We kept at it the rest of the day-- and I bet there will be much more sorting tomorrow.
Not much more to it-- a long, slow day.
Take it easy.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Rivers 'N Grease
Back from a city weekend. Feeling good, feeling light, feeling ready. Ready for work and postings.
Hard rain all day through, our first real weekday washout of the summer. Temperature stuck at 65F.
My brother dropped me off this morning, I had the full regalia: rain slick and the new boots (their trial by fire). Joined up with the foreman, Stretch and Newport out back-- hiding beneath the tattered tarp awning. One quick job: we took hoes and shovels to clear out some drainage trenches around the store/greenhouse/barn. The boss showed up and we got to business.
Enough tomatoes have started coming from the fields that its no longer possible to keep them out behind the store-- from now on, everything goes to the barn basement/workshop/storage. It's an ideal tomato location: the temperature is pretty consistent (60-70F), no rats/vermin (thanks to the 3-4 feral barn cats) and is easily accessible when it comes time for wholesaling. 65 buckets of tomatoes where set in the doorway, we set up and got to shining/sorting. Shining is especially important this year, giving us a chance to wipe off the fungicide alongside the dirt/rotten leaves. (Last year was perfect dry growing, no need for -cides of any type.) So we got shining. Only 3 categories today-- 1sts ripe, 1sts needing to ripen and 2nds. Newport brought a radio down and plugged in his music. The water bucket we used to dampen our wipe clothes went black from the dirt/fungicide/tomato plant remnants. We worked at a frantic pace-- all of us not-so-secretly hoping the boss would send us home early after the job was done. Finished up the shining/sorting in no time.
Next up-- greenhouse cleaning. It was a wet walk up, it was a thick drenching rain. The boss decided no more lettuce this year-- we have too much to worry about with the corn/squash/tomatoes/peppers/everything else. We'll just buy-in what we need for the store/CSA from neighbor farms. So we dumped out all the lettuce seedling trays (they looked badly neglected, someone has habitually forgotten to water them on the weekends). Sorted out all the empty trays and cleared off all the wood palates. Organized all the fertilizers, herb/pesticide containters, tools and tables. We hefted up the palates and stacked them up against the left greenhouse wall. We found some enormous wasp nests (each had 200-300 angry wasps humming). Newport and I got the poison and sprayed them down. Stretch got bit by an angry escapee, so we let him have his vengeance on the remaining nests (2 in the greenhouse frame, 1 in a pick crate and 1 underneath a saw horse). Newport and I lit memorial cigarettes in the wasps' honor. With the floor space cleared, we went around and easily pulled all the weeds growing out of the dirt floor. Raked down the floor and tossed all the mess in the trash. Stretch and I went through all the tools and sorted them based on how frequently they're used-- hoes/rakes up front, grub-hoes and axes in back. Lunch time.
Ate my soggy sandwich on a milk crate in the store with Rhode Island and Jockey. After lunch I helped the boss load all the 2nd tomatoes from the barn into the van, then into the kitchen. Time to make tomato sauce. Newport, Jockey and I got busy: first hand washing every tomato (15 boxes worth), then coring out the stem piece with knives and finally dicing them into kitchen pails (also with knives). We filled 5 big buckets. The boss has a wild machine from yester-year-- 1950's electric tomato de-seeder. Hunks of tomato go in, the skin/seeds/scars/imperfections ooze out one end and a pure tomato pulp drips into a bucket. But Jockey, as kitchen man, handled all that-- Newport and I were on barn duty. We cleaned the barn out head to toe: organized all the cardboard boxes (berry/pumpkin/tomato/shipping/picking/otherwise), stacked the baskets/pint & quart containers/plastic-bag dispensers/field cloth/plastic wrap/styrofoam/ pick crates/rope coils/bushel crates & boxes/olde-time steel pick trays. We organized everything-- fortunately both Newport and I are a bit obsessive compulsive. I climbed into the basement and Newport threw all the big tomato storage trays/the smaller wholesale tomato trays down between the floorboards to me. We stacked 'em up and organized them in the basement/storage room where we shined/sorted earlier. What's next?
Newport and I met the foreman in the greenhouse-- he'd somehow managed to drive tractor completely inside. We cleaned all the windows and cab interior. Newport called it an early day. I stuck around and helped the foreman grease all the tractor's joints. Almost every movable joint in the tractor (front loader/wheels/rear power box) has a tiny steel cap-- which connects to the nozzle of our hand cranked grease gun. So the foreman and I climbed all over the tractor hunting out and greasing joints. Most joints only require 2-3 cranks before grease spills from the seams (our sign that it's well lubricated), but the rear axle enclosure required somewhere around 160 cranks before the grease spilled out. We popped the hood and vacuumed/cleaned out the air filters. Closed up the hood and searched over the entire machine looking for something to do. The foreman climbed on top of the tractor cab, straightened out the radio antenna with a smile and sat down for a cigarette-- all done.
The boss was nowhere to be found and there was nothing to do. It was just the foreman and me left, so we took the shovel/hoe out again to fix up the drain grates/erosion pools lining the boss's brother's garden. With that done, there really was nothing left to do. The boss called and told us to get on home, maybe tomorrow will be dryer. Maybe.
Asides: Whew, feels good to do a full post after the weak thursday/friday efforts of last week. Jimbo definitely kept me guessing with his semi-surprise visit. He certainly gave me a lot to think about. We sat up on the hill top and he ran through a couple of the soil development programs he's been studying. The real problem farms are in right now, as far as developing soil goes, is that almost everyone is depended on petroleum based fertilizers. It's the cheapest, it's the easiest to manage (tons of time/technology devoted to its use), but the coupled rising cost/diminishing supply its future is suspect. The answer is animals. Jimbo worked side-by-side with an agro-pioneer whose developed a systematic method. Here's the basic lowdown: grow grass in a field and portion it into a manageable grid, graze a cow herd on the grass moving them between sections every couple days, 3ish days after the herd has moved on introduce a full coop of chickens into the grid space (it takes 3ish days for maggots/other larvae to hatch inside the cows feces), the chickens break up the manure and shit the grub nutrients back into the soil, (after moving the chickens to the next grid space) plant tubers everywhere (like diakon radishes/etc), when they mature (after months) send in the hogs, the pigs will root up the radish tubers turning/mixing in the green matter/feces/soil with their own excrement essentially doing a passive plowing for you. Through Jimbo and his buddy's experiments they found this method can add an inch of grade A+ top soil a year. For a bit of context-- it took my boss's forefathers a generation of dairy farming for every inch of top soil they got. Amazing. I really hope Jimbo has got something here. A functional topsoil development program free of petroleum products would be huge. Anyway, Jimbo shared many such farming schemes over the course of his visit-- he's changed a lot I might add. He was always a fellow obsessed with ideas, but now he's started to temper his ideas with their application-- and he'll be the first to tell you: where ideals and reality meet, is a bloody disappointing mess. Many great sounding ideas just don't work, others work but ultimately require so much labor and energy they might as well have failed. It was a good visit. And a good kick off to spending a wild weekend with Darlin and friends in the city.
As I said earlier, I'm ready to go-- if it only wasn't for all this damn rain.
Take it easy.
Hard rain all day through, our first real weekday washout of the summer. Temperature stuck at 65F.
My brother dropped me off this morning, I had the full regalia: rain slick and the new boots (their trial by fire). Joined up with the foreman, Stretch and Newport out back-- hiding beneath the tattered tarp awning. One quick job: we took hoes and shovels to clear out some drainage trenches around the store/greenhouse/barn. The boss showed up and we got to business.
Enough tomatoes have started coming from the fields that its no longer possible to keep them out behind the store-- from now on, everything goes to the barn basement/workshop/storage. It's an ideal tomato location: the temperature is pretty consistent (60-70F), no rats/vermin (thanks to the 3-4 feral barn cats) and is easily accessible when it comes time for wholesaling. 65 buckets of tomatoes where set in the doorway, we set up and got to shining/sorting. Shining is especially important this year, giving us a chance to wipe off the fungicide alongside the dirt/rotten leaves. (Last year was perfect dry growing, no need for -cides of any type.) So we got shining. Only 3 categories today-- 1sts ripe, 1sts needing to ripen and 2nds. Newport brought a radio down and plugged in his music. The water bucket we used to dampen our wipe clothes went black from the dirt/fungicide/tomato plant remnants. We worked at a frantic pace-- all of us not-so-secretly hoping the boss would send us home early after the job was done. Finished up the shining/sorting in no time.
Next up-- greenhouse cleaning. It was a wet walk up, it was a thick drenching rain. The boss decided no more lettuce this year-- we have too much to worry about with the corn/squash/tomatoes/peppers/everything else. We'll just buy-in what we need for the store/CSA from neighbor farms. So we dumped out all the lettuce seedling trays (they looked badly neglected, someone has habitually forgotten to water them on the weekends). Sorted out all the empty trays and cleared off all the wood palates. Organized all the fertilizers, herb/pesticide containters, tools and tables. We hefted up the palates and stacked them up against the left greenhouse wall. We found some enormous wasp nests (each had 200-300 angry wasps humming). Newport and I got the poison and sprayed them down. Stretch got bit by an angry escapee, so we let him have his vengeance on the remaining nests (2 in the greenhouse frame, 1 in a pick crate and 1 underneath a saw horse). Newport and I lit memorial cigarettes in the wasps' honor. With the floor space cleared, we went around and easily pulled all the weeds growing out of the dirt floor. Raked down the floor and tossed all the mess in the trash. Stretch and I went through all the tools and sorted them based on how frequently they're used-- hoes/rakes up front, grub-hoes and axes in back. Lunch time.
Ate my soggy sandwich on a milk crate in the store with Rhode Island and Jockey. After lunch I helped the boss load all the 2nd tomatoes from the barn into the van, then into the kitchen. Time to make tomato sauce. Newport, Jockey and I got busy: first hand washing every tomato (15 boxes worth), then coring out the stem piece with knives and finally dicing them into kitchen pails (also with knives). We filled 5 big buckets. The boss has a wild machine from yester-year-- 1950's electric tomato de-seeder. Hunks of tomato go in, the skin/seeds/scars/imperfections ooze out one end and a pure tomato pulp drips into a bucket. But Jockey, as kitchen man, handled all that-- Newport and I were on barn duty. We cleaned the barn out head to toe: organized all the cardboard boxes (berry/pumpkin/tomato/shipping/picking/otherwise), stacked the baskets/pint & quart containers/plastic-bag dispensers/field cloth/plastic wrap/styrofoam/ pick crates/rope coils/bushel crates & boxes/olde-time steel pick trays. We organized everything-- fortunately both Newport and I are a bit obsessive compulsive. I climbed into the basement and Newport threw all the big tomato storage trays/the smaller wholesale tomato trays down between the floorboards to me. We stacked 'em up and organized them in the basement/storage room where we shined/sorted earlier. What's next?
Newport and I met the foreman in the greenhouse-- he'd somehow managed to drive tractor completely inside. We cleaned all the windows and cab interior. Newport called it an early day. I stuck around and helped the foreman grease all the tractor's joints. Almost every movable joint in the tractor (front loader/wheels/rear power box) has a tiny steel cap-- which connects to the nozzle of our hand cranked grease gun. So the foreman and I climbed all over the tractor hunting out and greasing joints. Most joints only require 2-3 cranks before grease spills from the seams (our sign that it's well lubricated), but the rear axle enclosure required somewhere around 160 cranks before the grease spilled out. We popped the hood and vacuumed/cleaned out the air filters. Closed up the hood and searched over the entire machine looking for something to do. The foreman climbed on top of the tractor cab, straightened out the radio antenna with a smile and sat down for a cigarette-- all done.
The boss was nowhere to be found and there was nothing to do. It was just the foreman and me left, so we took the shovel/hoe out again to fix up the drain grates/erosion pools lining the boss's brother's garden. With that done, there really was nothing left to do. The boss called and told us to get on home, maybe tomorrow will be dryer. Maybe.
Asides: Whew, feels good to do a full post after the weak thursday/friday efforts of last week. Jimbo definitely kept me guessing with his semi-surprise visit. He certainly gave me a lot to think about. We sat up on the hill top and he ran through a couple of the soil development programs he's been studying. The real problem farms are in right now, as far as developing soil goes, is that almost everyone is depended on petroleum based fertilizers. It's the cheapest, it's the easiest to manage (tons of time/technology devoted to its use), but the coupled rising cost/diminishing supply its future is suspect. The answer is animals. Jimbo worked side-by-side with an agro-pioneer whose developed a systematic method. Here's the basic lowdown: grow grass in a field and portion it into a manageable grid, graze a cow herd on the grass moving them between sections every couple days, 3ish days after the herd has moved on introduce a full coop of chickens into the grid space (it takes 3ish days for maggots/other larvae to hatch inside the cows feces), the chickens break up the manure and shit the grub nutrients back into the soil, (after moving the chickens to the next grid space) plant tubers everywhere (like diakon radishes/etc), when they mature (after months) send in the hogs, the pigs will root up the radish tubers turning/mixing in the green matter/feces/soil with their own excrement essentially doing a passive plowing for you. Through Jimbo and his buddy's experiments they found this method can add an inch of grade A+ top soil a year. For a bit of context-- it took my boss's forefathers a generation of dairy farming for every inch of top soil they got. Amazing. I really hope Jimbo has got something here. A functional topsoil development program free of petroleum products would be huge. Anyway, Jimbo shared many such farming schemes over the course of his visit-- he's changed a lot I might add. He was always a fellow obsessed with ideas, but now he's started to temper his ideas with their application-- and he'll be the first to tell you: where ideals and reality meet, is a bloody disappointing mess. Many great sounding ideas just don't work, others work but ultimately require so much labor and energy they might as well have failed. It was a good visit. And a good kick off to spending a wild weekend with Darlin and friends in the city.
As I said earlier, I'm ready to go-- if it only wasn't for all this damn rain.
Take it easy.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Beans and Business
Well, Jimbo certainly threw a wrench in my posting yesterday. It was good seeing the guy, we had lots to catch upon. Anyway, writing this from the bus-- on its way to the city. So, on with it.
Full sun all day through. Temperature in the low 80Fs.
When I pulled up to the store this morning, the boss was in the van waiting for me-- all the boys were piled in back. I hopped in and we got off to the forest field. Stretch, NYU and Newport were on basil bunching/basil weeding duty. The trimmer was packed in the van-- my job was to clear out the travel aisles between the pepper rows. Got trimming. Finished up and gave the boys a hand with the basil-- after the weeding, we filled up 4 crates (25+ bunches each). Back to the store.
The boys hosed off the basil and soaked up some lettuce left in the cooler. I trimmed the fields around the store, getting things clean and pretty for CSA this afternoon. Finished up in time for lunch.
After lunch we got big orders-- pick all the string beans. Pulled a stack of buckets and walked down to the lower fields. Picking time. After 2 hours the boss called me over-- cut a bucket of zucchini from the new squash rows by the greenhouse. Then back to the beans. We picked straight through until closing (got 14 buckets worth, quite a catch). Payday-- then got veggies to bring Darlin in the city. Home then to the bus.
Whew, these past couple day posts have been pretty weak. I blame Jimbo, ehehe.
Asides: Viking brought in 2 kittens this week- she's giving them to Mouse and her sister. Viking has 5 cats already (her mother-in-law may or may not have 15), she needed someone to take 'em off her hands.
Lots of protests at the town center this week. People marching around with placards, yelling for jobs. NYU and I had a chat with the boss on this subject. Both NYU and the boss took the US credit downgrade very personally. But the boss's perspective is pretty blunt and grisly-- the economy will never be what it was, ever-- it was a lie. He is not optimistic. But then again, neither are NYU and I-- after the boss conversation, the two of us counted our farm blessings: we will always have a job with the boss (if/when we want it), no matter how nasty the rest of the country gets. I'm afraid a job like this might become more and more valuable in the years ahead. Then again, I'd be here doing this job whatever the political weather-- I guess the economic context just makes the icing sweeter. Oh hell, oh well.
This week was full of sweaty grunt work, but next week is the big goodbyes. NYU, Jockey, Rhode Island and Stretch are all headed back to school-- really only Newport, Viking, the foreman and me left. It's gonna be a big change and a lot more work-- probably a lot quieter/lonelier too. Got the help wanted sign up, we'll see if any good hands bite.
On to the city-- back with real business on Monday. Lot has change, lot is changing-- but Monday. Deal with it all on Monday.
Full sun all day through. Temperature in the low 80Fs.
When I pulled up to the store this morning, the boss was in the van waiting for me-- all the boys were piled in back. I hopped in and we got off to the forest field. Stretch, NYU and Newport were on basil bunching/basil weeding duty. The trimmer was packed in the van-- my job was to clear out the travel aisles between the pepper rows. Got trimming. Finished up and gave the boys a hand with the basil-- after the weeding, we filled up 4 crates (25+ bunches each). Back to the store.
The boys hosed off the basil and soaked up some lettuce left in the cooler. I trimmed the fields around the store, getting things clean and pretty for CSA this afternoon. Finished up in time for lunch.
After lunch we got big orders-- pick all the string beans. Pulled a stack of buckets and walked down to the lower fields. Picking time. After 2 hours the boss called me over-- cut a bucket of zucchini from the new squash rows by the greenhouse. Then back to the beans. We picked straight through until closing (got 14 buckets worth, quite a catch). Payday-- then got veggies to bring Darlin in the city. Home then to the bus.
Whew, these past couple day posts have been pretty weak. I blame Jimbo, ehehe.
Asides: Viking brought in 2 kittens this week- she's giving them to Mouse and her sister. Viking has 5 cats already (her mother-in-law may or may not have 15), she needed someone to take 'em off her hands.
Lots of protests at the town center this week. People marching around with placards, yelling for jobs. NYU and I had a chat with the boss on this subject. Both NYU and the boss took the US credit downgrade very personally. But the boss's perspective is pretty blunt and grisly-- the economy will never be what it was, ever-- it was a lie. He is not optimistic. But then again, neither are NYU and I-- after the boss conversation, the two of us counted our farm blessings: we will always have a job with the boss (if/when we want it), no matter how nasty the rest of the country gets. I'm afraid a job like this might become more and more valuable in the years ahead. Then again, I'd be here doing this job whatever the political weather-- I guess the economic context just makes the icing sweeter. Oh hell, oh well.
This week was full of sweaty grunt work, but next week is the big goodbyes. NYU, Jockey, Rhode Island and Stretch are all headed back to school-- really only Newport, Viking, the foreman and me left. It's gonna be a big change and a lot more work-- probably a lot quieter/lonelier too. Got the help wanted sign up, we'll see if any good hands bite.
On to the city-- back with real business on Monday. Lot has change, lot is changing-- but Monday. Deal with it all on Monday.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Blackberries
Late night edit:
Whew, pretty late now. Ready for sleep. But here's the quick day run down:
Picked raspberries (2 trays)
Picked first blackberries (3/4 tray)
???? (can't remember...)
Prepped for CSA
Lunch
Cut: Summer squash, zucchini, kousa, patty pan, cucumbers, pickling cukes and eggplant.
Cleaned buckets
Picked raspberries (1 tray)
Picked string beans (7 buckets)
Jimbo showed up at the farm a half hour before closing-- he got out and picked with us.
A mover and shaker, this friend of mine. Well, I'm exhausted and tomorrow is city bound, so bed.
I'll post some real business tomorrow from the bus.
Take it easy.
Whew, pretty late now. Ready for sleep. But here's the quick day run down:
Picked raspberries (2 trays)
Picked first blackberries (3/4 tray)
???? (can't remember...)
Prepped for CSA
Lunch
Cut: Summer squash, zucchini, kousa, patty pan, cucumbers, pickling cukes and eggplant.
Cleaned buckets
Picked raspberries (1 tray)
Picked string beans (7 buckets)
Jimbo showed up at the farm a half hour before closing-- he got out and picked with us.
A mover and shaker, this friend of mine. Well, I'm exhausted and tomorrow is city bound, so bed.
I'll post some real business tomorrow from the bus.
Take it easy.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Rain and Rot
Heavy rain and thunderstorms pushed through last night-- lost a big tree in the woods around our house. We've had enough rain for a while-- the wet is gonna damage the tomato harvest-- so no more until September. Full sun all day through-- quick thunderstorm blew through immediately after closing. Temperature stuck at 79F.
Rain blew off early this morning-- Old Rudolpho and his family decided all the same to stay home on account of the wetness. Stretch and NYU got set up at the wash sink to finally get started cleaning off everything we've picked this week. Bah, Newport and I headed up to the forest fields for a serious round of pepper picking. Only the blocky green peppers are ready-- the Ace and Super Shepherd (if I remember rightly). The Italian bull nose (or Red Knights) shouldn't be picked green, so there is some time to wait until they reach mature pepper redness. So we cut peppers like crazy. Filled 5 big cardboard boxes (equal to 2+ buckets a piece), then 9 tall buckets-- so about 19 buckets worth of green peppers. Then we got a start on cutting basil-- got 15 bunches before lunch time.
After lunch, as Newport said, Stretch and I got the short end of the stick. The two of us headed back to the forest field and cut another 35 bunches of basil. Brought the crates back to the store and were intercepted by the boss. His brother needed some strong hands.
Stretch and I got some work gloves, then headed to the far side of the hill top by the Taylor raspberries-- the boss's brother was waiting for us in his backhoe/heavy tractor. Way, way back in early spring when the boss and I set up brush fires-- we stacked up a big pile of trees/logs to save as firewood for this winter. It was time to move the pile into a more accessible/less in the way position (only the brother's tractor is powerful enough to heft 6+ trees at a time). Between Stretch, me and the brother in the tractor, we wrestled the logs & trees onto the iron forklift arms.After a couple fully loaded trips with the tractor-- the pile was all set in its new place. We found 2 steel gates we'd left beneath the pile (pulled them from the roadside brush this spring)-- so Stretch and I hefted and carefully balanced them on the forklift. The brother drove them back to the greenhouse along the town road (we followed behind on foot to wave traffic back)-- then we moved the gates onto the empty wagon. Whew.
Next up-- the boss sent Stretch and me to join Bah picking tomatoes. We slugged through the trellised big tomatoes and cherries. We got quite a haul-- then happily checked the time. To our horror, it was only 3pm-- spirits were crushed. The foreman, Newport and NYU were out behind the store shining tomatoes and boxing the washed produce-- we started shambling through the tomato fields.
Worked in a daze for the rest of the day, picking tomatoes. The rain has done a number on the ripening tomatoes-- lots of rot. The rest of the boys eventually came down to help out picking-- but the day continued like a dirge. Picked slowly through and covered 2/3s of the field before closing.
Again, the boss intercepted us on the walk back to the store-- he needed help with 'something.' No one said a word, so I volunteered. The boss waved everyone else home, but I got into the van-- we were headed to the hill top to pick a few more bags of corn.
Up on the hill it was just me, the boss and Lucy the dog. Wasn't so bad. The thunderclouds were sweeping out in the distance as we hustled through the corn rows tearing of ears. All the bags we brought had big holes at the bottom, so we carried armloads of ears back to the van. More than enough corn to cover the store for the night-- the boss says we'll need at least 20 bags (1,200+ ears) for double markets and CSA tomorrow. We rolled in a slow loop around the hilltop checking on the progress of all the fields-- looking damn good:
Butternut squash is forming, buttercup squash is well into blossoming, the sugar pumpkins are in bloom, fall corn is growing out, feed corn for the cows over winter is 7ft tall and climbing (just starting to put out its tassels, potatoes are still cookining underground, fall raspberries are moving along, fall/late summer tomatoes are keeping pace, broccoli/cauliflower/brussel sprouts/cabbage are starting to settle.
Whew, overtime day was done and the thunder blew over.
Looks like my buddy Jimbo is passing through tomorrow night for just a quick visit-- no time for the fields. Oh well, there's always some sort of next time.
Time for a dinner and sit.
Take it easy.
Rain blew off early this morning-- Old Rudolpho and his family decided all the same to stay home on account of the wetness. Stretch and NYU got set up at the wash sink to finally get started cleaning off everything we've picked this week. Bah, Newport and I headed up to the forest fields for a serious round of pepper picking. Only the blocky green peppers are ready-- the Ace and Super Shepherd (if I remember rightly). The Italian bull nose (or Red Knights) shouldn't be picked green, so there is some time to wait until they reach mature pepper redness. So we cut peppers like crazy. Filled 5 big cardboard boxes (equal to 2+ buckets a piece), then 9 tall buckets-- so about 19 buckets worth of green peppers. Then we got a start on cutting basil-- got 15 bunches before lunch time.
After lunch, as Newport said, Stretch and I got the short end of the stick. The two of us headed back to the forest field and cut another 35 bunches of basil. Brought the crates back to the store and were intercepted by the boss. His brother needed some strong hands.
Stretch and I got some work gloves, then headed to the far side of the hill top by the Taylor raspberries-- the boss's brother was waiting for us in his backhoe/heavy tractor. Way, way back in early spring when the boss and I set up brush fires-- we stacked up a big pile of trees/logs to save as firewood for this winter. It was time to move the pile into a more accessible/less in the way position (only the brother's tractor is powerful enough to heft 6+ trees at a time). Between Stretch, me and the brother in the tractor, we wrestled the logs & trees onto the iron forklift arms.After a couple fully loaded trips with the tractor-- the pile was all set in its new place. We found 2 steel gates we'd left beneath the pile (pulled them from the roadside brush this spring)-- so Stretch and I hefted and carefully balanced them on the forklift. The brother drove them back to the greenhouse along the town road (we followed behind on foot to wave traffic back)-- then we moved the gates onto the empty wagon. Whew.
Next up-- the boss sent Stretch and me to join Bah picking tomatoes. We slugged through the trellised big tomatoes and cherries. We got quite a haul-- then happily checked the time. To our horror, it was only 3pm-- spirits were crushed. The foreman, Newport and NYU were out behind the store shining tomatoes and boxing the washed produce-- we started shambling through the tomato fields.
Worked in a daze for the rest of the day, picking tomatoes. The rain has done a number on the ripening tomatoes-- lots of rot. The rest of the boys eventually came down to help out picking-- but the day continued like a dirge. Picked slowly through and covered 2/3s of the field before closing.
Again, the boss intercepted us on the walk back to the store-- he needed help with 'something.' No one said a word, so I volunteered. The boss waved everyone else home, but I got into the van-- we were headed to the hill top to pick a few more bags of corn.
Up on the hill it was just me, the boss and Lucy the dog. Wasn't so bad. The thunderclouds were sweeping out in the distance as we hustled through the corn rows tearing of ears. All the bags we brought had big holes at the bottom, so we carried armloads of ears back to the van. More than enough corn to cover the store for the night-- the boss says we'll need at least 20 bags (1,200+ ears) for double markets and CSA tomorrow. We rolled in a slow loop around the hilltop checking on the progress of all the fields-- looking damn good:
Butternut squash is forming, buttercup squash is well into blossoming, the sugar pumpkins are in bloom, fall corn is growing out, feed corn for the cows over winter is 7ft tall and climbing (just starting to put out its tassels, potatoes are still cookining underground, fall raspberries are moving along, fall/late summer tomatoes are keeping pace, broccoli/cauliflower/brussel sprouts/cabbage are starting to settle.
Whew, overtime day was done and the thunder blew over.
Looks like my buddy Jimbo is passing through tomorrow night for just a quick visit-- no time for the fields. Oh well, there's always some sort of next time.
Time for a dinner and sit.
Take it easy.
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