My retention is a tad sub-par.
I've been wracking my brain for a while now trying to recall what was accomplished on Friday. Hmmmmm. Ahhhh yes.
As it was just D and I, our focus was on harvesting for Saturday's distribution.
We began in Y trying to play "catch-up-with-the-fast-growing-semi-bolty-lettuce." A tough game when you realize just how much lettuce there is and how small your window of time is to harvest it. Also, lettuce is not so "waterproof." It's fairly sensitive and needs a good balance of rain and sun. If the soil remains wet for too long, leaf rot is right around the corner. We saw quite a bit on the heads we were targeting. Luckily most heads were still beautiful past the outside layer of leaves. We got what we could, plus some escarole. Johanna had joined the crowd by this point.
Our next move was down to W1 to, first, get cabbage and then pull yet another round of Swiss Chard. Unbelievable how many times the same bed has been harvested. Nancy, Katherine and Daniel joined us as well. We made quick work of the Chard and rallied back on the farm proper for break time, then to gather summer squash.
(By the way, gotta hand it to summer squash... nice natural defense. You scratch my arms so readily. I'm almost deterred. But, alas, I win...)
During our break we made our way through the first 100 bulbs of garlic. Snipping peeling and cleaning for distribution.
Before lunch, D and I moved the irrigation line from Y to Z to give the potatoes a little drink. We tried moving the pipes "rowing crew" style. 6 at once, piled on our shoulders. Supporting both ends. A tad painful. Not so light and my shoulders are just a bit bone-y. Either way it was effective and the potatoes were happy.
The afternoon had us hand washing carrots in REALLY cold water. D was even wincing.
With hands properly numb, I was off to the greenhouse to fill flats with soil for our weekly lettuce seeding. After seeding, it was over to the chicken coop for a thorough cleaning and laying of wood shavings. Just like the potatoes, the chickens were happy. ...well, not like they told me or anything, but they certainly didn't argue.
The week was effectively over.
I picked up H from the train station, we picked up pizza, we plopped ourselves down in my quarters and ate. Work hard... eat hard???
Saturday's distribution was beautiful.. from what I could tell. D, H and I set up and then it was off to other work with me. H ran the first part of distribution. Good stuff. D and I moved irrigation from Z to Y as the sun has been fairly relentless for the past 10 days so the crops begin to think they're doomed and they start going into "seed! seed!" mode. A little water and the stress is gone. Ahhh...
The rest of my morning was buddingh rows in E and running drip tape for all things planted in D and E. 16 lines in all. H helped (thank you!). D ran distribution. The plants drank heartily.
With E gone for the weekend I tended to all the animals. Happy to. And might I say, the sheep were very well behaved. Lined up at the fence to go back inside for the night.. both nights.
Sunday was a work/rest day. H left early and I had a few things to address.
Peppers and eggplants needed a bit of water so I did some maintenance on the drip lines that are still there and got them running.
Afterward I spent a couple hours in the 3 Sisters Field. A bit o hand weeding. The result? Quite nice.
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Last night I woke to the sound of rain (just as predicted. the rain, that is.). This was/is very good news as it alleviated any need for irrigation today.
I woke this morning to this.
Again. Good news.
First up, a walk around the entire farm to get a status report on everything and to prioritize the day/week.
The big priority was to get lettuce seedlings OUT of their too-small cells and into the ground in D. And that we did, along with scallions.
With E back from her trip it was then time for the two of us to play "catch-up-with-the-fast-growing-semi-bolty-lettuce." Y was the target again. That took us to lunch. After which time we went straight back down to finish clearing the bed (with the help of our volunteer friend, Gordon). Beans and summer squash also made the list of harvest items today.
My evening has been taken by soil exploration. I've been digging through the online soil profile of H's and my prospective land offer. Amazing how precisely the usda has mapped out and profiled the soil of pretty much the whole country down to, at least, the acre, if not the square foot. Impressive.
Tomorrow I'm going on a hunt for a log (after a full day's work of course). Said log will be fashioned by me into a one piece bench for the 3 Sisters Field gazebo/canopy. Must. have. meditational. space/seat. Can't wait to try my hand at wood craft. Will let you know how things move along.
That's all I got for this one. Hmmm. Got this as well, though.
Dig.
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