and then...

there are days when a single task/movement is repeated (out of necessity) over and over.
And then, the day is over.

Today it was plugging transplants into the ground of field Y (and lower Solar) by hand.

Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Parsley
Fennel
Leeks
Scallions
Tomatoes



Before any of this could happen we:

1. Moved irrigation from W1, W2 and E to Y.
(Y field is 400' long.
Twice the number of pipes needed.
13 - 30' pieces in all.)





2. Rototilled the beds to be used. (E did so)

3. Marked the beds with the Cub. 1' sq. grid.

4. Watered all flats to be transplanted and loaded them in the van.

5. Punched 128cell flats on punch board for ease of removal.

Then we planted. And planted...

Enjoyable conversation.
Bad impressions.
Made up lyrics.
Meditative spans.
Fugue states.
-
Lunch came (and went) quickly.
-
We tried using the mechanical transplanter for leeks in the afternoon, but it was just NOT agreeing with us. We were unclogging it every 10 feet.



Hands were/are faster...

So, with scallions done, it was off to lower Solar field to plant the rest of our tomatoes (and run drip tape). Aside from our stock varieties that we planted, E has been experimenting with about 20 different varieties she chose. They, unfortunately, have not been faring well in their flats, but we still planted them. However, to give them a little "boost" we watered them in with fish emulsion.
Now, I like all the "smells" of the farm. Some that others might even find offensive... But, really, the smell of fish emulsion is truly a fist to the chest.
Nothing one can do but put some gloves on, shoulder down and get those tomatoes in the ground as fast as humanly possible. FOR REAL!

Seriously, I hope they outgrow their "fish-less" neighbors. Make it all worthwhile...

The evening was taken with rototilling our Three Sisters field (many cool plans, btw. Will write more soon), shutting up the greenhouse and cleaning my own quarters (amazing how messy/dusty it can get).

Tomorrow we start work @ 5:30 due to the large amount of greens harvesting that needs done for Saturday. Keepin it cool...

Watch out 4:30 am. Here I come!

Dig.

moving water... and thoughts

Today saw a lot of motion.

My hands.
My legs.
My mind.
My eyes.
My problem solving skills...

We laid drip tape all day (in the Solar fields, the flower bed and the garlic beds). The first time I had ever done so.

Joints
Lengths
Pivot points
Clamps
Headers
Valves (Solenoid, Manual plastic)
Kinks
Holes
Scissors
Connectors
Posts
Goof plugs (lg & sm)
Blowtorch
Hole punch
Pliers
Screwdriver.....

As it was a long day in the sun, I am giving in to rest. Posting pics now. Perhaps a few captions as well.

Thorough cultivation before...


200' lengths from last season


Pivot tapes 1 at time around posts, up rows










It's aliiiive



y mas

1st tomato of 2008



F fence booboo fix





Three Sisters - Hopi Blue Corn.. exciting...



Good stuff!



To catch up on some sleep now...

Dig

CSA

I woke feeling a bit drained as I did not get enough sleep due to late blogging.
No worries. Fresh hot coffee is never more than a 5 minute wait. Pour. Fill. Push button (twice). Wait...
Automatic awake.

Ready for the first distribution of 2008!

Oatmeal was the breakfast. Greenhouse was the first destination.
I was happy to see that our 6 flats of fennel were standing again. Yesterday I set the dill out to harden off. It was windy. Fennel is not so sturdy due to its broad top and comparatively narrow base, so the wind had it all laying down by the end of the day. By midday today, it was back to its healthy vertical self.
Note to self: Watermelon leaves are about the diameter of a baseball; Corn is just showing sprouts; It took only 3 full days for tomatoes in 20 rows to sprout; Lettuce is ready to be transplanted again.

From the greenhouse we motored straight to W1 to harvest for today's distributions.
Radishes
Turnips
Mustard Greens

Some pics, perhaps?











Satisfied with our take we laid out irrigation (as it was already hot and aiming to get that much hotter) and headed for the barn to prepare the shares for the drop off location.

Every member received:

3/4 lb Arugula
1/2 lb Spinach
3/4 lb Salad Mix
1/4 lb Tatsoi
1 Head Lettuce
1 Bunch Radishes

Putting it all together.





All together now



After it was all prepped and loaded in the van,



(aaaand after a long-ish lunch) we headed toward the city for our drop-off.

Parkway. Pretty. Hazy.





Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from the drop-off as I forgot my camera in the van during the visit. Suffice to say that the grounds on which the pick-up occurs are stunning. The mighty Hudson rolling by... The old stone buildings, grandiose and quiet... Rooms with views.
(Thanks to the director for the research information she gave me. Very thoughtful.)

On the way back upstate we encountered quite a deluge. 2-3 miles of blanket rains. 3-4 inch pooling on the roadway. Traffic slowed. As quickly as it happened, though, it was done.

We made it back to the farm just as the last "Tuesday" member was picking up their share.

The set up.





A brief clean up was followed by my usual trip to the greenhouse for closing.

Pats on the back all around for our first distribution day! Maaaany more to come. I hope all are enjoying some wonderfully tasty greens, radishes and turnips tonight/tomorrow. As I alluded to last night: The connection one feels to the community, through CSA, is something truly special/unique. It stands only to grow...

dig

hit the brakes

Are we really harvesting already? For the first distribution??
Is my weekend already over?
Have I not posted since Thursday night?

Well... crazy, but, yes. Indeed, time seems to be moving at a much faster clip than it was in early April. I do, however, feel as though we're hitting a stride. The day-to-day groove feels rather second nature now. Sure we are just now starting distributions which will take some time to understand/execute well, (and there are many forthcoming parts of the season with their own intricacies) but, if I'm not mistaken, I think I'm really beginning to internalize this experience.

My partner/girlfriend (visited this weekend) and I were trying to remember what we did over Memorial Day weekend last year. To recall, I had to dig through old emails. Turns out I was working all weekend and saw a friend's band play a small club in the city. What I was NOT doing was imagining that in exactly one year I would be here... farming... loving everything about it (the process; the connectedness; the community; the empowerment; on and on) and looking forward to next season... when, hopefully, it will be our farm that I'm experiencing. Life happens sometimes...

(I kinda want to leave the post at that, but I've got sooo many pics and particulars to share, so, onward)

Friday was just about as picture perfect as it gets for a spring day.
D was taking a well-deserved long breakfast (as it was his birthday), so E and I hopped to it and dug right in. I began by fixing my diagonal tension wire booboo on the F field fence. I'll have to get a picture of my solution as I was happy with how it turned out. Fence is as good as new.

What to do for the rest of the morning?? Weeding. Lots of weeding. The garlic beds & W1 were looking pretty hairy in a few places. With the help of our (many) volunteers, Severine, Nancy, Johanna, Katherine, Daniel & John, we made quick work of the garlic, lettuce, kale, bokchoi, mas y mas...

Some real breathtaking sights that day









Helping hands









Wow! Love this picture!



Lunch was a GINORMOUS salad of fresh greens, seeds, nuts, raisins, oil, lemon and pepper. Man oh man.

The latter half of Friday we spent "beautifying" an already beautiful farm. Believe it or not, it looked even better afterward. I weedwacked the entirety of the fence line around the main area of the farm, put tools away and headed toward the weekend.

H (girlfriend) and I spent all of Saturday working on the car. Mostly interior work. She directed (read: did most of the work).

Amazing. From this...



To this.



Serious voodoo on that one.

Bad news is that it still does not run. But now I know why. NO TIMING BELT. Go figure. Also, a length of chewed up extension cord (from a diy repair job gone wrong) stuck in the crankshaft gear. Anyway, very difficult to get the crankshaft, camshaft and fuel injector pump turning when there is nothing there to turn them. The installation of a timing belt (while certainly possible) requires the removal and replacement of way too many parts (cylinder head/gasket, fuel injection lines, alternator among them) to list and too much time to do so. Therefore, I have made the decision to pursue professional repair help. I am still rather determined to get this guy running as Jetta diesels are great cars.

Sunday was relaxed and had us weeding lettuce and spinach in W1 in prep for today's harvesting. Which leads me to today.

H stuck around for the morning's harvest. Good stuff.
First thing was to remove the reemay. That fabric is much heavier when saturated with dew. E can attest. Definitely a 3-person job.



With pro guidance from D, we sliced our way through a couple beds of lettuce (100 heads of salad mix alone) and spinach. Yes, I snuck a few bites. Wait.. Yeah, ok, I did. Too good.

E harvests



The Harvester



All greens were weighed and stored in the cooler for distribution. Don't remember exact weights, but we did quite well.

After regrouping we continued our lawn care project. I hopped on the riding mower and H manned the weedwacker (E finished her first member newsletter article). About 45 minutes later H took off. I finished mowing. E finished weedwacking and the day wrapped up early as D gave us some Memorial Day time off. Thanks!

I'm excited to head down to the city tomorrow for this season's first remote pick-up for members. I get to meet those who will be enjoying all the food we've helped grow. Hope they like it as much as I do...

Dig.

thursday in threes

Beginning with yesterday:

Fog bookended day





Tilled all morning.





F as field!
Not too shabby...



"Three Sisters" field.
900 square feet.
Gonna plant traditionally.
That means mounds.



A little booboo.
D forgave me.



D's birthday Friday.
Ate lunch out.
With farm director.



Love this photo.
On the way.
Move, barn, move.



Weeded all afternoon.
Arugula, Lettuce, Spinach.
Wheel hoe'd first.
Stirrup hoe'd second.
By hand last.



tis lovely, no?





After work, rain...
Lots of rain.



Cut my hair.
Washed my me.
Shaved my face.
Felt like new.

Closed up farm.

-----------

And now, today:

Beautiful steaming eggs!





More rain today.
Rather chilly too.
Strange weather lately.
Intense isolated showers.
Back and forth,
good for plants.
Getting big fast.
May bolt though.
Little too soon.

Seeded 150 tomatoes.
Six hundred-ish lettuce.

First distribution Tuesday.
Refurbished old signs.



Attracted to rust.
Me, that is.





Cleaned out barn.
Ready for distribution.
D goofs off.
Happy Birthday, man!



Lunch was fast.
What is new?

Moved harvest boxes.
Retrieved hay wagon.
Tried backing up.
With wagon on...
Shyeah, what ever.

E cleaned barn. (made kimchi too. mad, mad good)

Helped clear drywall.
At D's house.
Big ol' pile.
Over a ton.
Trip to dump.
Big ol' machines.
Forgot my camera.
Muy, muy impressive.

Rabbits left today.
Boo hoo hoo.

Cleaned chicken (c)(p)oop.
Chix are growing.



Closed the greenhouse.
Ate beans, bread,
from local farm, best butter ever.
Really really really.

Writing blog now.
Old timey radio
playing in background.

Thoughts of gratefulness.

Wonderful place here.

So, yeah. Dig

the system is down

solid storm/big lightning strike last night = internet down all evening = no wednesday blog.

to sum wednesday (will elaborate tonight though..): I rototilled. I weeded.

dig

harvest: define

I was going to title this post "lunatic: define," but felt this title to be a little more topical. That being said, I would like to acknowledge this month's full moon's direct effect on my thought/body processes. Was anyone else feeling an extreme deficit of attention and inversely a surplus of aimless energy over the past few days?
Good gravy! It was all I could do to keep from "pogo-ing" all over the farm to wear myself out while humming some 3-note children's tune over and over again to keep my mind focused on one thing. Good news is that the moon is waning and I'm no longer feeling stretched and pulled by unseen hands.

Onward...

Scrambled eggs with sauteed swiss chard and raisin/walnut multigrain toast for breakfast. It just occurred to me that I'm not sure why I've been recounting my breakfasts in posts. Don't think I'll need/use that info going forward. However, it does seem to anchor the day in my memory rather well. Shall continue to do so... most of the time.

Soooo.. we began our workday by Harvesting. Indeed. Reaping what we sowed (actually, what D direct seeded, but....). Arugula, Tatsoi, and Radishes. If there were some way to give anyone reading this a taste (right now) of what came from our field today, I would pay a premium to have such means.. umm.. installed.?.? In lieu of such technology, a handful of pics.

Pre-Harvest. Really. 1 month ago nothing was there


The first item pulled from W1


Walk softly...


Pro


Novice


Radish


One of my favorites




After harvesting 72lbs of Arugula, 36 lbs of Radishes & 34lbs of Tatsoi...



We moved to the other side of W1 to take care of some slightly past due cultivation. E on the basket weeder, me with the offset wheel hoe and D using any means necessary we took care of the big areas. We quickly made the switch to hands and knees when it came to weeding Tatsoi and Turnips. This is what we crawled through throughout our late morning.



Oh, and today's close up pic. Germinating buckwheat seed.



Lunch was fast, furious and I had the distinct urge to "pogo."

My afternoon was fairly straight forward. With the threat of rain for the next few days, we decided to divide and conquer. E finished cultivating W1 while I mowed and plowed field A (the soil was still a little moist, but was pretty easily worked up) in preparation for our June planting of winter squash. That took me through the end of the workday.



Post workday saw E break ground for her/our "Three Sisters" experiment beside field F.
Very cool. Will give updates.

Also, E had two friends from a neighboring town come over for dinner. Quinoa and root vegetables. Fresh greens & radish salad. Sauteed asparagus. Dang.
N be hungry no more... well, at least for another half hour.

Dig

yeah, i used "ergo"

Wow! Do I have quite a bit of ground to cover...yep, ground.

It is getting late here as today was an extended one due to our CRAFT visit (which I'll get into). Ergo... my post will be slightly "list"y. Forgive my shortcut, but sleep beckons...

Friday:

was rainy/cool.
I plowed 8-9 rows in D (prep for beans, beets, lettuce, carrots, herbs, etc). Didn't plow far enough toward the garlic as I was concerned about hitting it with the disc on the plow. Will get the unplowed strip with the rototiller.
Planted summer squash in field B with ever-helpful volunteer.



E and volunteer "potted on" some seedlings in the greenhouse while I cleaned out the farm van. A task that is a bit more involved than you may assume.
Went to W1 with volunteer to harvest some greens for lunch and the weekend.
Post lunch had various rainy day projects including replacing the two friction disks inside of the two-plate slip clutch on our rototiller. Still waiting to see if it works "as good as new."
Last thing was to manure (2-4-2) the strawberry patch by hand... making sure I got good and smelly right before my (showerless) train ride into the city for the weekend.

Weekend:

Was awesome.
Saw my brother's band play. Great stuff.
Really dug into brainstorming/laying out plans for my (our, actually) future farm.
Drank good organic wine. Etc...

Today:

The weather was absolutely strange. Clear, then stormy and unseasonably cold.
We began in the greehouse seeding lettuce, melons. Journeyed to W field to weed onions and carrots. Check out the pics of the crazy growing veggies... mmmmm.
Went to our Monday CRAFT meeting. Interesting visit. In some ways their structure/process is very similar to ours and in some ways, completely different. The opportunity(ies) to see other farms in action is so priceless. We are really very fortunate to have such a helpful informative program.

....This post will now be dedicated to pictures from today. Btw, I figured out how to take extremely close & in-focus pictures yesterday. Abused this option countless times today.































Dig

weather..or not

Guess what I ate this morning? You guessed it, OATMEAL.
Loves me some oatmeal.

Speaking of food that I love, I got a care package from mom and sister this week.
Sourdough pretzels, fruit/nut mixes, seeds, etc. GOOD STUFF!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

So...
E had the chicken coop opened and the bunnies fed by 6:30 so I hit the greenhouse to see what I could see.

Cloudy, damp, cool morning? Little to no transpiration in the seedlings overnight? Need only spot-water a few things, but definitely a prime keep-the-greenhouse-closed day.

Morning meeting was rather abbreviated as we knew we had the chance of late morning/afternoon rain. Peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, leeks, scallions, lettuce, basil and parsley (phew...) were all up for transplantation today.

By 8am I had 19 beds (13 in Solar U and 6 in Solar L) marked for planting.



Peppers (Ace, Red Knight, Cayenne, Antohi, Jalapeno, a couple others..) went in first. Eggplant next and tomatoes third. All by hand.







Note to self: Tomatoes @ 18"/single row.. and they need to be planted rather deep (to first leaves). Also, very frost sensitive. As are peppers and eggplants.
In fact, we almost canceled our transplanting well into the first row as D got a call from his neighbor alerting him of a possible frost tonight. Don't think it's gonna happen, but we did lay out reemay (new fabric is so easy to work with) to be sure of their safety. Plus flea beetles just LOOOVE eggplants.





After the Solar fields were done we headed down to field Y with "the transplanter" to get lettuce in the ground. After some adjustments and a few stops and starts, we had a great looking bed of greens. Leeks, scallions, parsley and basil (smelled sooo great; never noticed the hint of licorice in it) were all done by hand.
Y is a bit of beast to hand plant into as it is quite rocky and the dead rye that was tilled under last week was still partially on the surface. No worries. We, and our hands, survived.

Not much more to the workday after that.
This was the actual point when we laid out the reemay on the fields for frost and pest protection. ...During which time we had this hanging overhead.



Surprisingly no rain. Just a bit ominous... beautifully so.

Post workday saw me consolidating and rearranging the greenhouse. So strange to see it only half full again. I hung the tarp partition as we only have to heat half the space tonight. Saving fuel/money...

Another wonderful salad + boiled potatoes and celeriac for dinner. Mmmm.

Looking forward to sharing all the fantastic foods we're tending to. Soon enough...

Dig

hurtz donut...

Yesterday I ate 4 glazed donuts.
Not the freshly-made-every-morning-mom'n'pop-non-processed ingredients-type donuts.
No. The ones in a box I see stacked and sold by the register at pharmacies. That being said... they tasted AWESOME, hence four eaten. And I want to thank D for the thoughtful mid morning treat (yes, I'd probably eat more if given).
However, as I've spent the past few years treating my body fairly well on a day-to-day basis, I can truly tell when I put a questionable food(s) in it. Slow to the draw this morning. A bit lethargic for the first couple hours. Partially hydrogenated oils and processed sugars... in large volumes.

Eggs, toast and coffee (and Emergen-C) for breakfast.

We debated our plan of attack at the morning meeting as there is quite a bit of time/weather sensitive work to be done in the next few days. Soil prep, transplanting overdue seedlings, WEEDING!...
We passed on the weeding as the weather was sizing up to give us a much better transplanting day. Reason being that tomorrow shows rain. If we transplanted today the soil would be drier and workable and the plants would get water soon after being grounded. Plus, while weeds grow crazy fast and are harder to remove further on, they can be pulled in dry AND wet weather. So transplanting it was/is. Transplanting would wait until Tuesday's mowing was complete though.

Straight to the tractor to mow the rest of the W fields. A rather frustrating mowing experience as I slammed a few hidden bedrocks, couldn't get into a groove with the delicate maneuvering in tight spaces and, for the life of me, could not keep the tractor from lurching regardless of how slow I let out the clutch and what combination of low gears I used. I did finish, albeit a little later than I wanted.

The lead up to lunch saw two beds of celeriac hand-transplanted and one bed of cabbage cultivated.

Lunch was more greens from W1 (arugula, pak-choi, lettuce), chic peas, sunflower seeds, quinoa and sauerkraut (homemade by E) all thrown together in one delicious salad. Take that, 4 donuts!

Afternoon began by finishing our de-rocking of field F. E took over the mowing reigns as I hopped aboard the John Deere to rototill the rest of F's plowed sod.
Unfortunately, about 1 1/2 beds in, due to the mammoth power of the Deere and the not-so-mammoth size of the rototiller compared to what it was trying to chop, its 2-plate slip clutch (yep, the one D and I serviced and I devoted most of a posting to) had a pretty hard core burnout. It does not seem to have seized, but best to put it to rest until tomorrow when we can take a closer look. Dang Belleville Spring!!

As tilling was no longer a viable option, I switched to the riding mower to finish off a few places outside of W fields' fencing that I missed earlier.

The day seemed done as soon as it began.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for light rain tomorrow. Still have not rectified the rain gear situation. Perhaps I can blame that one on the donuts too...

Two more things:

1. I realized at the end of the day that I had taken no pictures. I promise it won't happen again.
2. No further progress on the car as I spent my free time reading the manual... preparing to troubleshoot.

Another gorgeous day here on the farm. Seem to have a lot of them...

Dig

veni vidi vi-mowed

This may be my easiest post yet/ever.

Today... I mowed. Rows of rye (to prep soil) and lawn grass.

Here are most of the pictures from my day of mowing.





















Mow-hawks!! Ahh ha ha ha ha!!!





That's correct. I like mowing.

A few more things:

The salad from last night



Summer squash update. Biiiiig!



Finally. We have lights and an engine that turns over. Just doesn't "start" yet. Must spend some time in the manual tonight.



DIY...

DIG...

frames

“The most important thing in art is the frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively - because, without this humble appliance, you can't know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a "box" around it because otherwise, what is that [deleted] on the wall?” -Frank Zappa

This quote came to mind quite a few times this morning.
Farming: The Art
Field F, The soil/rows/lines/rocks: The Art
All plants that will grow there: The Art
The actual construction of the fence: The Art

We finished "the frame" this morning.

And so, we have a new "work." A perpetually unfinished piece, mind you. Always in transition. ...but whose "event space/canvas" has now been defined.

We are quite happy with the results.













Can you spot where the trench was dug? Hopefully not...



After putting away all of our fencing supplies and commenting time and again on how dang chilly it was/is today (It is May 12th right??), we grabbed some garbage bags and played clean up crew along the road leading to and away from the farm. Appearance is half the battle you know...

Lunch was a quick grazing through some culinary odds and ends.
We had a 70 mile trek to the farm we were visiting for our CRAFT meeting/tour looming.

The farm/tour was great. Soil health was the topic. Very informative. Great questions asked. All readily answered and explored. Many thoughts for me to chew on as I mull over the possibilities of finding land to farm in the near future. Exciting stuff...



A bit of grocery shopping at a nearby farm on the way back. Upon return we had dinner... but not just any dinner. Tonight's main course was a salad (my first real salad in over a month) made of greens from our own W1 field. Good gravy, how tender and flavorful. Really. Really. ummm... Really.

-My weekend was wonderful, by the way. Pizza, Unreal farmscapes, Diner food (for the first time in over a month, easily), ...and this...





Diesel. Dig.

It rained today. All day. We spent the latter half of the day in it... and
I still love a rainy day. Happy to know that.

Chilly/wet morning = hot oatmeal & coffee. Does is have to get any better than that? I'd say no.

Plans changed slightly with the presence of rain.
There are plenty of flats of bok choi, lettuce and parsley that need to be transplanted now-ish, but they'll have to wait til Monday.
Morning check on the greenhouse showed solid growth all around, but tomatoes are looking a little less green than usual. Not exactly sure why. Perhaps it has not been hot/dry enough for them to truly "take hold." They are not big fans of the weather as it has been.





What they do have is an amazing earthy smell that I'm sure most everybody has experienced at some point. I could hang out in the greenhouse all day and smell them. That particular smell triggers EARLY childhood (some of the first ones I can actually recall) memories of our family garden. Good memories. The ones that didn't include me sitting on a hill of fire ants. ...I think that was me...

On and on.

Our day focused on two major projects:

1 - Clean the chicken coop, top to bottom (making the hens and chicks oh so happy).
2 - Finish as much of the fence around field F as possible.

I could go into fine detail about the steps involved with each project, but, alas I am not feeling too verbose.

Pics and captions it is... heck, I'm a visual learner anyway.

There is no "before" picture for the coop, but rest assured that (while conditions always remain on the clean side of unclean) it needed some cleanin. Donned gloves and breathing mask and hit it...

Post clean with happy hens-













I suppose these guys are happy too...



Lunch was quick. PBJ style.

After lunch was done it was time to "fence!"

We finished all 3 triple post corners with crossbeams and diagonal high tension support wire.
This is one. The other two look pretty similar.



With those done and the three of us getting antsy to run wire through, we pressed on.
Basically, we pushed back about 200 ft of fencing at the top of fields B thru E to include all of F.



This morning the wire was running right down that line (above pic). And now it's taking a sharp left turn at the left of the (same) pic, then a sharp right after about 50 ft to continue down the length of field F (below).



At the end of F it takes one more sharp right and meets again with field E where it originated. D REALLY knows what he's doing. Dig this process.

So, pretty well soaked and reaching quittin time, we packed it all up and made our way to the office. Congratulated each other on lots of hard work and called it a week.

One more thing: Tomorrow holds the possibility of a "set of wheels" for me. How excited am I? Yep. Pretty much.

Dig

post post

To paraphrase Del, "Check ya self, Respect ya self
and wash your body 'fore your sweatshirt melt."

Did just that last night followed by a shave and felt "like a new man."
That is until this morning... and afternoon. Digging holes for and pounding in posts for field F most of the day. No complaints from me though. A few animal grunts when mustering up the energy to keep pounding dirt, but no complaints.
Hands got a little busted up:





Quickly, the day started with rain. Light rain.



I love rainy/foggy days. As I've explained to a friend, it feels as if the earth is giving you a big hug. I know. A little sappy... but heartfelt.
So, eggs and bagels were on the menu. Always tasty.
I started the workday in Field Y rototilling the latter half of the beds. Working up the soil for (I think) beans, sweet potatoes and tomatoes among others. Very nice.
Rather enjoy working in the light rain. Note to self: Poncho not the best idea. Need rain jacket that will not stand in the way of my every range of movement...

From there it was straight to F for the rest of the day. Placing posts for the electric fence.
The process was as follows:
1. Dig post hole with PTO-driven auger (note: If you hit bedrock, try another square foot of soil to dig into. One reason to do so may be that you could snap the bolt that holds the auger to the arm... 3 times)
2. Person #1 takes the 20 lb iron chisel rod/tamping tool and breaks up a few inches of soil/rock at the base of the hole
3. Person #2 gets handheld post hole shovel/digger and removes the broken soil/rock
4. Repeat 2 & 3 until the hole reaches a depth of 4ft... or until you hit bedrock and choose not to drill another hole.
5. Place 10-ish ft length of lumber on end in hole.
6. Place handy-dandy post leveller on post and make sure it's plum
7. Slowly replace dirt in hole around post while pounding said dirt to firm post support
8. Perspire



We did this 7 times today.
And field F takes on even more definition. Exciting.
A few pics:









End of day happiness...



Tomorrow - we string wire.
Tonight - I cut things a little short.
Now - I go to bed...

Many thanks for reading this blog.. and for the awesome comments.

Dig

keep pluggin

Yesterday was our first 7am start. Today our second. We will probably keep this schedule.
I thought 5:30am might be a hair early for me to wake, but I find I quite prefer the early morning. I love seeing all the different "gears" of the day slowly start to turn. By noon you've put in 5 hours, the day is rockin and the momentum carries you through the end.
Yes, I like experiencing the full "day."

Speaking of full days...


Another oatmeal/raisin breakfast. Really can't get enough... rather chronic.

Three "musts" today:
1) Further prepare soil in W2, Flower Bed, B and F.
2) Transplant flower seedlings.
3) Direct seed parsnips/carrots/etc. in W2

I volunteered to saddle up the New Holland (soil prep) for the day. E was in charge of transplanting to the flower bed and D oversaw the direct seeding.

My first task was to chisel plow 4 beds in W2 and most of the flower bed.
This is the chisel plow. I think you've met before. 4 long "tusks" below the frame dig roughly 1 foot deep through the soil of a bed. Problems arise quickly when one plows a particularly rocky bed/field. A fast clutch foot can be the only thing that stands in the way of the chisel plow losing a tusk to a small "boulder" or a piece of bedrock below the surface. Ouch.


Amazingly, this handmade (by D) piece of steel serves the same purpose... only you do it... BY HAND. Think I'll stick with the helping hand of diesel on this one.



My view for pretty much the whole day.



My outfit for pretty much the whole day. The pollen has been kickin my sinuses' butt since Monday. Figured I'd be proactive today. Worked very well... the breather that is.


After my W2 beds were finished, I cruised back to the flower bed and dug it up as well. Immediately afterward I dropped off the chisel plow and hooked up my old friend, the rototiller.
Easiest way to level a rototiller is on flat, paved ground. ..naturally.



The flower bed ...post-rototilling... AAAAND minus a handful of recently transplanted oregano plants. D'OH!!! D was very nice about my mistake. I'll be looking to buy a few seedlings to replace the ones I tilled under.


When this was done, E marked the beds and began transplanting.



I continued the day's rototilling adventures in field B which was freshly plowed by E yesterday. Usually one would wait until the cover crop (B was rye) that was plowed under had a chance to die/dry out before tilling, but we're a little pressed on time as the next few days look like rain, hence the task at hand.

Half way through the field I noticed a strange clicking coming from the rototiller's chain drive casing. Didn't want to take any chances so I waited until after lunch when I could discuss with D. Turned out to be nothing. Good to err on the side of caution though.

Finished up field B and headed down to W2 to re-rototill the 4 beds from the morning (a couple were too narrow for D to properly mark).
Soooo, attempt number two...
Too narrow again (If anyone's truly interested in what my mistake was, let me know and I'll explain in tomorrow's post).
Frustration!! I very nearly stopped so that D could do the ace job that I'm sure he could, but... I was really determined to get the beds right. Learn learn learn...
SOOO, attempt number three...
We've got a winner!!
No pics, but I was happy and so was D. Good news all around.

My workday ended in the nascent field F rototilling (and picking up large quantities of rocks from) what was plowed yesterday. The left side has been rototilled. The right side, not so much. Big difference.



More F work tomorrow.

Early evening saw a bit of grounds keeping as I tried my hand at weedwhacking for the first time in probably 13 years...
Yep! Quite fun...
I forgot how quickly (and thickly) one gets covered in flecks of grass/dirt.



What can I say? Another great day on the farm.
A little bit of frustration trumped by perseverance and encouragement.

More chances to learn tomorrow, I'm well sure.

Dig

Birth of the Cool... Field

Today... it began. F field. I. Am. Excited.
Why (you might ask) am I so excited by this?

Is it because I like to "burn stuff?" Possibly.
Is it because I like to dig post holes and pound soil by hand?? Great workout.
Is it because I enjoy picking up rock after rock that's being unearthed by the plow??? Easy on the knees when planting/weeding...

The real answer is: All of these things. (Yes, I do enjoy making/sustaining
BON-, CAMP-, and other CONTROLLED fires)

But these three reasons are a subset of one main reason:
If I am to pursue farming in earnest (which, at this point, I can truly, truly see myself doing... sooner than later), then I am actually seeing/working through/learning about the birth of a field (read: farm), yes... from the ground up.
Today was the first "day" in field F. Hereafter it will be part of the farm.
Exciting. More later...

I've been absent for a few days. Gotta play catch up.

Let's start with Friday.

Overcast and on the tail end of some rain...
On our way to the greenhouse we (well, D actually) noticed a very peculiar thing in field A:

Who, or what, did this? The (10year old) beans we were trying out as cover crop have been piled neatly...over the entirety of their 3 beds.



D says it's mice (I say aliens. Ones that are REALLY particular about fava bean placement). Either way, very cool.

Friday morning was spent transplanting onions using the transplanter and cabbage by hand from 50cell flats (and E's soil blocks) to the ground in W2.









FYI: Soil blocks are used to plant seeds in, just the same as flats, except not really. One must form them with a press, making sure the soil is the right consistency. The blocks/soil are free standing as opposed to soil in the plastic flats that take the shape of each cell and are supported by the sides/bottom. The main reason one might want to utilize soil blocks (instead of flats) is that air can circulate around the entirety of the cell, not just top and bottom.

On and on. We had help transplanting from a volunteer. Many thanks...

After lunch I worked on our other riding mower as the parts that we ordered the week before finally arrived. It took some coaxing, but I finally fixed the blade assembly and reinstalled it. Changed the oil, cleaned all the nooks and crannies and crossed my fingers. Started without a hitch... and it cut grass REAL GOOD too.

------

My weekend was wonderful. Indeed. Some hardcore brainstorming about what comes after this apprenticeship (yep, already looking down the road). Very exciting possibilities/options. Will expound when the time is right.

The weekend also saw my second CRAFT visit...to a biodynamic farm about 30 miles away. We got an in-depth look at their livestock, cheese making and lactofermentation operations as well. All very interesting.

And before I forget, Sunday saw the arrival of 3 Tunis sheep. E has got her hands full at this point. Managing very well though. They eat LOADS of grass. Very quiet.



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Monday (in brief):

Spent morning raising the irrigation box in field Z and levelling ground around the box by the greenhouse. This procedure I've done before. This I'll have to do again. Lot of digging with a shovel, placing and pounding of rocks, proper levelling of box and replacing of excavated soil.

My afternoon was spent cultivating/weeding broccoli in W1. Also, as we pulled the reemay from our 6 beds of onions for the last time (setting them loose as we're hoping we've had our last frost), I got to cultivate them with the basket weeder on the Cub tractor.
Speaking of frost, our broccoli got a little frost damage, but only where the reemay was laying on top of them. No worries though. They're tough.



Today: Field F (pics and captions time)

Haven't had a sunrise (5:46am) pic in a while. Beautiful





F - Pre-anything



Fires begun... hours from plowing



...twisted fiya shtahta..







Marking/measuring the parimeter of the bed area and the fence line





Official groundbreaking!!





Fires out... plowing underway... time to dig post holes for electric fence corner posts







Posts and hand tools



4ft deep



In the meantime, E finishes plowing. F is officially carved out...





Back to the post... Lots of this action...





And??? Quite proud of the work done... Back patting all around...



I swear it was a white t-shirt and clean khakis this morning.



A wonderful day. Truly.

Before the day ended I got another 1 1/2 hours of mowing in. Why do I dig mowing so much? I leave it to you. No clue here.

Upon closing the greenhouse, I had to capture the latest on the summer squash. They just don't stop, eh?


Sleep awaits. Sweet sleep.

Dig

one month

Good gravy it's been one month already!

As it kinda snuck up on me, I have nothing prepared to mark the occasion, be it a picture or insight or...
Suffice to say that I continue to be very happy with my decision to pursue sustainable agriculture. It. Gives. Back.
Really. What more can one ask?
6 more months to go. Exciting.

Today saw more soil prep, weeding, transplanting... and a couple blunders, that will remain unspecified. In the words of Ice Cube, "It was a good day."

Eggs, spelt bread w/ butter and an orange for breakfast. Aaaand we're off!!

E & I moved a (very heavy) rabbit hutch into place behind the first barn. She is watching these guys for a few weeks while their owner (an agro-friend of hers) travels the country making a documentary.





These aren't your "childhood pet experiment"-sized rabbits. Nope. BIG rabbits these ones. Big on cute too.

Check on greenhouse with coffee in hand. What a combination. Hot coffee. Cold morning. Smell of baby greens/water/soil. Use that imagination... C'mon. Good stuff.

Morning meeting. Me go fertilizing and rototilling in W2.

Saw a lot of this today


We've got onions that overtook their flats (pictures have been posted of said onions) and needed to be transplanted today as it's supposed to rain on Friday.

My handy prep work:





Sometimes those beds just DO NOT want to stay straight. Aaaargh!


In the meantime, E had her fill of power mowing some cover crops with this guy.





Haven't had a chance to use it yet. Hopefully soon. Power tools...

After lunch the afternoon was taken with prep and execution of transplanting Spinach, Lettuce, Parsley and Onions (using the transplanter). I drove "the beast." E and D (and a volunteer for the first half) manned the mad machine.



I had an epiphany (or two) as to how to keep a straight line down the bed at such a SLOW SPEED.



Seems like a no-brainer to line your hood ornament with the center of the bed and square your hood to the sides of the bed rather than steer at the tires' point of contact... right? Well, we learn.

Irrigation was laid out after all was put to the ground and our day was finished.

I made a pilgrimage on foot to the gas station 1/2 mile away for some evening beer (just felt right today). Delicious. As was the quinoa/parsnip/dandelion green mixture that E concocted for dinner.

Another lovely day on the farm. Hopefully tomorrow will not see as much rain as is forecast. A selfish wish on that one.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Now.

Dig.