rewards (updated below)

Sooooo. Yes. It has been a week since I've blogged.
Never fear! For I have remedied my absence by retro-blogging the past week.
Read the four posts below to see me slog my way through a fierce game of catch-up.

Don't worry... I'll wait.

And now that you've read all the posts below... I trust you have...
..highlights of the weekend.

-Friday pizza
-Saturday distribution (didn't harvest enough carrots initially. H, Gail and I made up the difference in 25 minutes. mad skills. happy members.)
-Grocery shopping followed by a pick-ur-own strawberry experience. ...followed by... ANOTHER NAP when back at the farm.
-Pasta and artichoke sauce dinner. Handmade bean dip.
-Sunday. Worked 6+ hours in preparation for today's CRAFT visit. Mowing/weedwhacking. That's it.
-Some of THE best Banana/Cherry bread, Fruit pie and Strawberry Jam I've had in..hmm.. ever. Yeah. Thank you.

TODAY!! FINALLY!!

And, funny enough, I'm gonna stop for now as I've passed out twice in 10 minutes.

Suffice to say that we hosted this week's CRAFT visit today and it was great. Really. Great. We (read: D) walked our 30 visitors through several different means of mechanical cultivation while E and I demonstrated. I had a wonderful time. I think most everyone else did as well.

Anyhoo, elaboration and pics tomorrow.

Thanks for reading (and commenting)!!

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(update)

The morning began with harvesting in Y.
Lettuce and Escarole. The day was sizing up to be a hot one, therefore we took care of the leafy greens first lest they wilt in the midday sun. E had friends visiting, so fortunately there were extra hands in the field.
Our lettuce is really growing fast... a little too fast. Plus with the large amounts of rain we've received this season, the underside of the heads are experiencing some rot. Not enough to be a problem per say, but definitely slows harvesting down and makes it possible for diseases to begin and spread. So.. just a little more sun/dryness would be nice. Of course, not too much though.

On Sunday I spent 5 hours mowing the grounds in prep for the visitors, but did not get to finish. After lettuce and escarole were in the cooler, D and the others headed to W for more veggies while I donned the weedwhacker. (As an aside, I think I'm beginning to take issue with said tool as I've been experiencing and inordinate amount of spit-back while using it. In the face, on the arms/shins... even up the nose. Ergh! Aaaand (this one was my fault) I laid waste to a small patch of Poison Ivy. Yep. Good news is that I washed it off in time and got only the smallest hint of a rash on my arm. Doesn't even itch or anything. Either way, the weedwhacker and I are having some issues.)

After all was done:





Lunch was short. Seemed to be anyway.

D, E and I assessed what was left to be done before the visit. I took the rototilling side of things. We tilled 4 beds in D (or E, don't remember) to be used for demonstrational purposes as well as for real planting purposes. E marked up one of the beds for our hand-transplanting demonstration and I wheeled down to W to till under the first half of the carrot bed. By this time it was 20 til 2 and people were about to arrive. Back to the farm proper to get things moving.

I was so impressed at everybody's punctuality. Of course, the farming type is usually extremely concerned about time issues, so it stands to reason.
With everyone gathered (about 30 in all), we started in the barn. Going around the group, everyone said where they were from and a question they might have about mechanical cultivation. Then, D gave a history of the farm, the owners and his association/employment.
Our first stop after was the back barn to see all of the garlic that was harvested on Friday. Smiles on faces, always good. Especially on those of fellow farmers.
We then moved to our first demonstration site where both Farmalls were waiting with implements attached. D began by explaining the physical layout/measurements of the beds, fields, rows, etc. then had me demonstrate how we mark our beds. Without a hitch. Yay. While I was on my way down the row, D and E showed how we hand transplanted lettuce on the grid. All were very engaged in what was going on. I felt proud of our team and what we've accomplished. (Also, I was given yet another opportunity to truly appreciate the experience and tutelage here as I heard comments from other apprentices about only beginning the most basic functions on tractors at their farms. D puts a lot of trust in us, and sometimes we make booboos, but we've been presented with the entire spectrum of skills necessary to run our own farms already. Indeed, D is a great mentor). E then demonstrated the basket weeder while I took the marking tractor to the barn to switch out the marker for cultivating sweeps. The anxiety-inducing procedure of sweeping winter squash was up next.
All came to A and watched me hum right down the first row of the field without a hitch. Niiiiice. Quite pleased.

We made our way to the greenhouse and talked through D's construction of it his first year. Then it was over to the 3 Sisters Field. People really dug the whole layout. I was/am truly happy about that as E and I have put quite a bit of work into it.

The rest of the visit was a tour of the other fields interspersed with questions/discussions about pest control, irrigation, farm implements and crop rotations/cover cropping. I had some nice conversations with a few of the other interns. It's great to get a feel for how other farms are going about meeting the same basic goals.

When all was done, D offered a tour of his house to anyone who was interested. About 15 went. Very cool.

I cleaned up the demonstration areas, smiled, congratulated E and D, sat down and cracked a beer to celebrate. Job well done, everybody!

A few pics from the visit. Dig.