to cultivate is to weed

What of the past 4 days?

Friday:

E was still down for the count so D and I metered out a manageable day for ourselves.
Set up irrigation lines in our W2, SL and E fields as it was to be a bit of a dry, hot(ish) one. Glad we did as it was just that.
Most of our day was spent running errands after the initial set-up.
Picking up: hardware; electronic supplies; 1000 lbs of potting soil; 1000 lbs of potatoes.

A partial view-



Speaking of views... the mighty Hudson-



...and a bird's-eye view in the greenhouse-



On Saturday I attended the first of many CRAFT meetings for the 2008 season. CRAFT stands for Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training. www.craftfarmapprentice.com if you would like to read more about it.
Roughly 30 apprentices and 12 farmers from the region attended. This meeting was more of an orientation to the program than a specific look at the farm we were visiting.
We did, however, have a basic tractor safety "seminar" to end the day. What did I learn?
1. One's finger(s) holds up to "run-ins" with heavy farm machinery (pto shafts especially) about as well as a fresh carrot might (read: not so well).
2. If you flip a tractor (the #1 cause of injury/death with tractors), well, you're doomed. Seriously, I asked the speaker if there was any "out" or "best course of action" if you felt the tractor start to tip. His answer: I can't give you an answer, because, well, there really isn't a "best way."
So definitely read your instruction manuals and practice safe tractor-ing. Remember: Keep your tractor's center of gravity LOW.

My Saturday evening through Monday morning was wonderfully relaxing and fun.
Many laughs, lots of good food/drink, a trip to the local antique store and some moon watching through a telescope.
A few pics:


I. Really. Dig. Beets.









...Aaaaaand, finally, today.

Straight to this guy:



That holds this guy:


That mechanically cultivates/weeds the soil between rows like this:


This was my first time cultivating. I was amazed at how delicate of a procedure it actually is. And to be doing it on a tractor?? In the second picture above, notice how there is space, laterally, between each wheel of blades. That space, that 2-3 inches is for the planted row of young/fragile transplants that you'll be cultivating around. Trying to make sure you don't harm or pull up any transplants as you barrel along as straight as possible on the tractor is quite a task.
After the tractor cultivation comes the manual part. On hands and knees with a hand-held weeding tool making sure that every last one of those rye roots comes out of the onion rows. This kept me busy for the majority of my Monday. E spent her day in the greenhouse seeding tomatoes, escarole and fennel... among other good stuff.

Knees are feelin the burn a little and I'm ready for a little rest, but it was surely another wonderful day to be outside diggin in...

dig.