just like a thursday

A not-so-unique day today. Surely nothing close to negative in there, just very "meat and potatoes."

What I might mention before the meat & potatoes, though, is the ragweed pollen that's been kicking my nose's butt for the past week. Hoo wee!! Did you say you want me to sneeze... AGAIN?? Okay! Here goes!! ....Thank you sir, may I have another?!?!?!

For real. It's been quite the sneeze fest. Local honey has offered a modicum of relief, but with levels as high as they've been, nothing short of my own bubble is going to offer clear sinuses.

On with the day...

I began by pulling drip tape back into the peppers that we weeded a few weeks ago. This time though we are using only one line per bed as the plants have peaked and will not need such a big push. Plus their roots are far down and spread laterally enough to be able to tap water from a greater depth and distance.
Eggplants received a little water as well. Luckily the lines were still set up in the beds.
With the focus on irrigation (as our 10-day forecast shows little to no rain), I moved the overhead lines from our squash and cucumbers in F to the beans/herbs/chard area in D. Poised to irrigate, but not until peppers and eggplants were done. Must make sure to run one zone at a time so as not to exceed the capabilities of the well pump.

All the while, D & E were cleaning out the greenhouse. Major cleaning too. Looks awesome. All ready for the squash on Monday.

When that was finished, we all cultivated the two new beds of squash and cucs in F. The cucumbers are not doing too well for some reason. The germination rate was about 50%. And those that did germinate are barely over 3" tall. We cultivated them anyway (instead of tilling them in) to see what will come of it.

We took a quick break.

E & I went straight to harvesting. Lettuce first, then leeks.

We killed 10 minutes before lunch trimming garlic. Good time killer.

-------

After eating, I hopped on the Cub to basket weed the freshly handweeded beds in C. While handweeding is the most thorough method of cultivation, it's still good practice to turn over all the weedlings that were left for dead before they have a chance to re-root.

Turned on overhead irrigation in D then.

Straight to the sweet potato bed in Y to help D & E cultivate. My weapon was a collinear hoe. Now, the soil in that field is rocky to begin with, but add sunny/dry weather for over a week and you get a soil whose tilth is somewhere close to "sidewalk." Regardless we made our way through. As an aside, some creature(s) has managed to nibble its way down the length of the 400' bed. Taking the outermost leaves from the vines. Not bad damage, just don't want anymore than that.

Our last harvest of the day was peppers. All red all the time. Beautiful.

To end my day, I made a trip to a farm close by to pick up chicken feed. Wouldn't want those guys to miss out on their daily game of "pecking order breakfast." It can get kinda violent in there. Believe me.

After the workday, I moved straight to the log. Using a drawknife I shaved off all the unwanted bark and rotted wood around the outside. With that done I plotted a 13 x 15" rectangle on the end of the log so I can rough cut it with the chainsaw tomorrow.
More pictures then.

Laundry came after. Then a very tasty dinner and now this.

Ok, not as "meat and potatoes" as it felt. Perhaps... with a few tasty side dishes.

Dig.

(b)logging

Hmmm. Spelt. Not my favorite grain for bread. Rather crumbly.
Just so you know.

This morning felt great. Cool. Sunny. Oatmeal(y). Coffee(y).
Can one ask for much more? Perhaps a little, but largely.. no.

I've been meaning to get some shots of the winter squash field. The plants are yellowed and on their way out. The squashes themselves look amazing. We will be having a squash harvesting get together this Monday, Labor Day. The field will be picked clean and the squash will be laid out in the greenhouse to cure.
Anyway, hows about a little time lapse photography of the field?



















The first pic was taken on June 30 and the last one this morning.

Our day in short??

Trimmed and bagged onions. 850 lbs.
Handweeded spinach.
Moved irrigation over to moisten soil in beet bed with a 20min. shower.
Lunch
Handweeded beets.
Harvested Summer Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers
Cultivated our 3 beds of Brassicas in Y field. Mad rocky field. Tough to wheel hoe.
Back to the greenhouse for more onion(ing). 200 lbs.
Day over...

Then??????

Time to retrieve my log!! I geared up with leather gloves, a 30' chain w/ hooks, and my camera. Hopped on the New Holland, dropped the loader bucket and headed to the woods below W field. It wasn't difficult to find a path to the log through the woods as 1. It's not densely wooded, and 2. With only the potato spade on the back of the tractor (and no big bucket on front), I could squeeze into tighter spaces.
The process was rather straightforward, albeit a bit of a chore to execute. Get one end of the chain wrapped around the log about 1/4 of the way down the length, and the other end of the chain secured to the potato spade on the back. Gear down to the lowest possible "crawl" speed and pull the thing out of the woods. Yeah, there was a lot of starting and stopping. Ultimately I shortened the chain length enough so that the back hitch could actually lift the front lip of the log about a half inch above the ground. Much easier to control and much less of a furrow left behind. I'll leave you with pics of the process. Feel free to create your own captions.

































When I got it close to the barn, I pulled the chain, rolled it onto (recently attached) forks and placed it where I'll be working on it.







Done and done. Aaand mad excited.

Shortly after, Gayle (one of our star volunteers) showed up thinking we were doing a work and wine party. Unfortunately we were not. She, her daughter and daughter's boyfriend decided to stay anyway, so we put them to work trimming and bagging the last of the onions. Yes, of course we worked with them. With onions done (615 lbs. YAAAAAAAYYY!! Thanks, guys!), the day was truly finished, except for one last thing.... a nice long shower.

What a day. Dig.

days in one day

I seem to have fallen into a routine of catch-up.
Why? Not sure. Just is.

I am learning no fewer things day to day.
I am working no less day to day.
I've got to acknowledge and record what's happening.

Here we go, however, with one more (hopefully) catch-up.

------

Thursday, 21

We began at the regular time, 7am, and harvested, if I'm not mistaken, lettuce and leeks. At 9am, we called it a day. Well, D suggested we do in light of the Dutchess County Fair being in full swing. Who am I to argue? If the man wants to go to the fair... by all means.

Although we all went separately, we all went. I took the (bad) car.

The fair was BIG. My hometown's county fair was rather sizable for the area, but this was, indeed, a happening.

I wandered the grounds by myself trying to take in as much as I could before I had to leave.
Highlights for me:
All the livestock
"Salute to Agriculture" building
Horticulture Building
A dog show (the obstacle course part. muy impressive)
Horse riding/jumping arena
A mop salesman "wowing" the crowd
And???
This exhibit (all running, by the way). Sooooo cool.



















And this (below) which was rather interesting. One of the (if not THE) first forms of agricultural mechanization.
The running water falls into the carved out section on the right, which, when full, exerts enough force to lift the head.



In turn, the water naturally spills out and the hammer comes falling down on the stump. It was (and still is in some areas of Brazil) used to de-hull rice. Brilliant.



In all, a great time at the fair.

Picked up H afterward for a weekday visit. Made an amazing salad for lunch. Ate pizza for dinner. Nice.


Friday, 22nd


Man! Did we harvest...

Though we started with cultivation. All of our spring greens that have been under Reemay and beets and beans needed some attention. Luckily we had some help.

Help with harvesting too.
Tomatoes
Potatoes
&
Beans

Oh, and Nancy made some of the richest, tastiest pound cake I've ever had. Hoo wee!

The afternoon had E and I pulling in
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Peppers
Eggplants

Large quantities of each at that.

Long day. Straight to the train afterward for an extended weekend in the city.


Saturday and Sunday, 23rd & 24th


Helped (along with my mom and sis) my brother tear apart his kitchen to ready for painting, new cabinets and counter. GOOD times!!


Monday, 25th


We began by hand weeding turnips in D. Painstaking. Root crops, despite their sturdiness when mature, are quite fragile early on.
We were rained off the field for about and hour. No worries, their were/are plenty of storage onions in the greenhouse to cut and bag.
A quick break and we finished weeding through the rest of the morning with Gordon, great volunteer.

Cucumbers and squash were up first after lunch. Then peppers. Then eggplants. Then tomatoes to finish the day.


Today, 26th


Harvested:

Leeks
Scallions (took sooo long!)
Arugula (yaaaay! nts: better to wait until dry(er) to harvest.)
Tatsoi
Beans

We packed shares. Mitch showed up and helped along with Johanna. Always good on a Tuesday.

During my downtime before distribution, D showed me how to use a chainsaw. After the demonstration we went to woods behind W field, to the large downed tree I spied weeks ago. I'm going to carve a bench from it. No worries, I'll be taking many pics of the process.
He sawed through one end of the piece and left the other end for me to cut later.

Distribution was quick and enjoyable.

Then it was down to the tree by myself to cut the piece from its trunk. The chainsaw felt very easy to maneuver and caused me no trouble at all. I made it through the log with ease and it fell to the ground. Now we've got to find a way to get the tractor into the woods to pull it up to the farm proper so I can begin to carve. I. Am. Excited.

...and the season keeps moving steadily along.

dig.

introspection

Why is it that on some days one's voice feels/sounds so uncomfortably foreign coming from their own throat that they find it much easier to remain silent for most of the day?

Yeah. Rarely. But sometimes.

It was a quiet day. Reflective. Though we surely worked.

Lettuce needed to be harvested. Otherwise we would have lost a few hundred feet by Friday. Strange how fast some varieties bolt... even though the temperature has been relatively moderate for mid-August, i.e. Mottistone, always quick to bolt.
Straight from Lettuce to Swiss Chard in Y. This younger bed has not developed as many brown spots on the stems that the bed in W1 did. An easier/faster harvest. And surely more aesthetically pleasing. (nts: when harvested properly, one bed of chard can regenerate. lasting the better part of the whole season. impressive. space efficient)
From Chard we moved to Leeks. I love processing these guys.
Pull from the ground and stack in piles going one direction.
After all is pulled, sit next to a pile.
Pick one up, hold plant w/ root pointing right.
With razor sharp harvesting knife, cut off bottom 1/4" of plant with swift motion.
Pull off 1 or 2 outer leaves to clean.
Chop one side of leaves at diagonal.
Spin and do the same to the other side.

When you've done it enough times and perhaps have achieved a modicum of speed, the rhythm that develops is completely hypnotic.

After Leeks we cultivated the harvested Chard bed, then picked Beans until lunch.

In our off time (as we took a couple hours in light of our evening work party) I cruised and picked up a couple bales of wood shavings.... THEN??
Yep, cleaned the chicken coop. My singularly least favorite farm chore. Gloves, breather mask, powdered "droppings." Sheesh...
Finished right @ 4:30 and though I was greeted by D for our work party prep time, I insisted on (read: asked politely) showering the layer of "chicken" off me. Felt much better when done.

For the work party, two things:
1. We harvested a bed of carrots (which yielded about 493lbs). Most cool.
2. Nobody showed. That is until Judy (thanks!) showed a half hour before the wine portion of the evening.

This time we did up a little fire at the corner of what was the melon field.
Salsa. Chips. Trail Mix .. and wine.

Wine, idle chatter and warmth from the fire. A perfect end to the day

Heading to the Dutchess Co. Fair tomorrow. Should be a hoot!!!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Dig.

rush rush

Today we harvested. A lot. Quickly.

350 heads Lettuce
161 lbs Carrots
400+ Squash
100+ Cucumbers
200+ Basil
223 Peppers
255 lbs Potatoes

And that in under 4 hours.

Pam helped us pack city shares.

We broke for lunch around 1pm. I left for the dropoff by 1:30.

Back by 5:15. Helped break down distribution and walked the farm to take some pictures.

Dig.

whole lotta doin

A week since I last posted? Indeed.
I shall do my best to recount most of each day... with a heavy dose of brevity.

Tuesday, 12th

D put E and I in charge as he was in dire need of house construction time.
We managed to harvest (the two of us, then joined by Johanna and Pam):
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Parsley
Lettuce
Peppers
Squash
Tomatoes

Not too shabby.
I stayed here and set up/managed distribution all by my lonesome. I really dug it.
Our "pick your own" list included:
Beans
Basil
Dill
Cilantro
Scallions
..and Flowers of course.

I was happy with the day's smoothness.


Wednesday, 13th


My day began by cleaning the greenhouse. Knee high in onion remnants. Making way for those arriving later in the day. After that, I prepped the onion harvesting areas with harvest bins and organized the tables in the greenhouse.
The late morning/lunch hour saw several teenage "vacationers" (who were staying with a counselor in the guest house on the property) helping us harvest our last 3 beds of onions. Storage onions on this go round. These ones will last through the winter if kept properly.
After onions, I went to work handweeding/hoeing the beds of Asian greens that are now coming up nicely.
E had family visit in the afternoon. Later she and her family laid out 2+ large harvest bins of onions on greenhouse tables to cure.
She laid out more in the post work hours, and even later I finished up the job.


Thursday, 14th


I started with the basket weeder.
The purslane growing in D (in Carrots, Beets, Chard, Herbs, Etc) is relentless.
Knock it down and if it's not completely severed and/or totally dried out by the sun, it's back w/in a day or two.
I was a little skittish about basket weeding the carrot bed as they are still seedlings and easily covered up by the flying soil coming from the weeder. I made my pass and it seemed to work. Asking D about it the next day, I realize I could've been even more aggressive.
(Events on Wednesday and Thursday are a little foggy, so I may be just a hair off on some of these. Rest assured they all happened though.)
We cultivated for the better part of the day. D was working on his house again.

Thursday night was our 3rd work and wine event.
We had a few wonderful volunteers show to help trim and bag garlic and onions.
Then we had wine. Simplicity. A gorgeous evening too...


Friday, 15th


Harvest harvest harvest.
With help too. Thankfully.
Lettuce
Leeks
Beans
Potatoes (the first time too...which I missed as I was harvesting Squash. I did volunteer to do so however...)
-afternoon-
more Squash
Cucumbers
Peppers
Eggplants (they are FINALLY slowing down)
Tomatoes

All ready for distribution. Quite a feat of harvesting.


Saturday, 16th

A few pics from distribution...

(first big tomato harvest! yay!)


(10th anniversary t-shirts, aprons and bags. nice)






...which I left early to mow/weedwhack all morning and into the late afternoon in preparation for our second BIG picnic of the season. Oh yeah, and in case you forgot, mowing rocks! Curiously within the first 10 minutes of weedwhacking I unknowingly hacked into a nest of yellow jackets. This I didn't even realize until I was already stung (in the temple...ouch) by a quick one. ^#%$*&!!! (Sunday the right side of my face swelled up. My eye all puffy. I looked like a prize fighter. Nice.)

Picked up H around 4.
People arrived around 5-5:30. We socialized, we drank, we ate good dishes made/brought by members.
Curiously (again), I entertained with a few songs on the old geetar and vocals. People seemed to dig. Martha (one of our regular volunteers) joined me for several more (we put them together just a couple hours prior). She rocked it.
And then...talk about cool stuff...two children of one of our members played violin and cello separately and together. Really awesome.
And then...!! Bob (member) used my guitar to bang out and old Woody Guthrie number to much applause.
And finally.. D sang one of his field songs for everyone to hear. Go D.
A truly wonderful evening.

(all pics taken by H. thank you.)




















Sunday, 17th


I rested.


Monday, 18th


First up was an early morning run to the train station to drop off H.
Back in time to hit up the gas station for some coffee.
A slice and a half of cold pizza for breakfast and I was ready to break me off a lil Monday sumpm sumpm.
We took (what seems to be) our regular Monday morning farm tour. What did we see?

- Winter Squash plants are beginning to turn. We'll let them die out completely and harvest their fruit. Pretty self-sufficient plants.
- Asian greens are rocking right along.
- Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation. Everywhere. Not only do we want to give our growing crops as much space and nutrient access as possible, BUT, we want to seed our fall cover crops soon (in the used/bare beds/fields). However, we need to make sure we eliminate as much potential (and actual) weed seed as possible. Tough to do when they just keep coming. Perfecta will probably work best as it is a surface cultivator. Rototilling will turn any viable weed seed too deep into the soil, basically setting up another few years of that particular weed in that particular spot. Not good.
- We've planted too many leeks. Must harvest.
- Something has eaten a sizable portion of our fall kale in Y. As well as some Broccoli and Cabbage...and some sweet potato leaves.
Groundhog?
Rabbit?
Deer?
Not sure yet. We can't seem to find its route to and fro. We shall keep our eyes open.

We harvested leeks.
We harvested tomatoes (450+ lbs).
We hand weeded carrots in D.
I cultivated with the perfecta for the last 3 hours of the day.

Straight ahead farming stuff.

I made an amazing salad and roasted some potatoes for dinner tonight. SOOOO Good.

Phew!! Happy I'm caught up now.

Thanks for reading.

Dig.

serial minimalism.. or minimal serialism??

I enjoyed distribution
I worked distribution
I relaxed with H
We put in the sheep

I slept like a log
I slept for many hours
I could've slept longer
We had a tasty brunch

I drove the car south
I saw countless installations
I had my mind blown
We conversed for hours

I think about the season
I consider it ending
I tend to panic
We seemed to have time...

-------

We toured the farm
We seeded lettuce
We harvested beets n carrots
I operated the root washer

We took a break
We cleared the melon beds
We each took a tractor
I disced melons and basil

We got a nice storm
We watched clouds rotate
We cleaned more garlic
I was crashing a bit

We harvested leeks in the rain
We needed sweaters
We are pretty sure it's August
I rested after work

We ate a huge meal
We need the energy
We are managing w/out D tomorrow
I enjoy the challenge

Dig

stiff backs and falling stars

Did we harvest today??? Of course we did!!!

What did we harvest??? Of course we did!!! ...ooops. I mean...
A lot of stuff!!!

Lettuce
Leeks
Cilantro
Swiss Chard
Watermelon
Canteloupe
Beans
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Eggplant (400+)
Peppers
Tomatoes

phew!!!!!

Can you believe that we are close to 32,000 lbs of produce harvested this season already?
I have trouble imagining 32 of anything, let alone 32,000.
Good stuff.

We would've harvested more tomatoes this afternoon had we not been chased off the field by very dark clouds that ultimately brought torrential rain. During the storm we cleaned garlic. A good rainy day "go to." That finished our workday.

Ooooooo.....

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw meteors on Wednesday night. This is very exciting to me as (they were part of, and) August always means the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. I have observed this shower every year since I was very young. 7 or 8 perhaps. My dad would wake us on the night of August 11-12 around 2 or 3am. We would sit on reclining lawn chairs in the backyard with blankets over us and stare skyward. Such wonder... and it hasn't faded. I'm always excited this time of year to catch a glimpse of a few (or many) falling stars.

Dig.

remember all those onions???

So, yeah, yesterday we addressed (read: cleaned and bagged) 1000+lbs of those 10,000 onions we planted in early April. Not only did we (we 3 and 10 wonderful volunteers) work, we socialized, we drank wine, we ate watermelon... we washed our hands to no avail.

But let me rewind quickly...

The morning was cool (as it has been the past several days). Wednesday, being our "space to breathe" day as we don't have to harvest, afforded us some time to take a status tour of the farm.
Many things to do including (as always) cultivation. Before that, though, I took a little time to prep for the Onion party we had last night. I washed the mesh onions bags to try to free them of any past residue.
With bags washed I needed to find a place to dry them...

Voila. Like these pics.











While I was prepping, D was fixing the spray jets on the root washer.
After this, E and I spent the better part of the rest of the morning weeding and thinning beets in D. Badly needed.

We had our afternoon off as we were going to work in the evening. Though I still managed to work. I hopped a tractor and mowed all the areas of Y field. My fastidious side was plenty satisfied having done so.
Cruised then in "my" bad motomobile to get some chips and crackers for the post-work eats/drinks.

Back to the work party then.
What can I say? People arrived around 6. We cleaned loads of onions and bagged them. We talked and laughed And then we ate and drank. How awesome is this "job?"







THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS!!

------

And today then.
What a strange day for weather. Coolish and partly cloudy in the morning, but still storms developed. Pretty intense ones in the area. Storms that would build to full size within a half hour, make some noise and move on. Just odd... The good news is that we don't have to irrigate for a while. Like that.

We harvested carrots first. (nts: d tried using the chisel plow to loosen the carrots. didn't work so well this time. using fork/shovels takes a little longer, but is more effective) And then we tried out the repaired root washer... like a charm. Nice one, D.

Our next move was to cultivate. I removed reemay, moved irrigation and then Basket Weeded our latest planted rows in D. Turned out very well. E used the Perfecta on every piece of field that was not planted and feeling weed pressure. D tilled in some headlands.

Lunch came quickly. Black beans and quinoa for me.

After lunch we ducked into the back barn to clean some garlic while we let a storm pass, then it was back to the tractors. This took me through the rest of the day.
A little hand weeding of carrots was thrown in there too.

Tomorrow's harvest is going to take a lot of doin.

Lookin forward to it. See what we can wrangle.

Dig.

must be the season of the eggplant

Before I recap today's adventures, I must mention 2 things I neglected yesterday.

1. I have been playing Mother Nature with the beans in the 3 Sisters Field. Most of their tendrils missed their intended trellises. So.. I helped them along.







The canopy/gazebo has just GOT to look like I see it in my mind's eye. In a month, it should.

2. WE HAVE EGGPLANTS COMING OUT OUR EARS!!!
Yesterday we harvested 550 Italian Eggplants. Yep. 550. And that wasn't even the entirety of what was available. Now I have no real frame of reference for previous seasons' takes, but D cannot stop commenting on how much we're pulling in. It's blowin my mind too.
We had to harvest them in the same manner as melons (throwing them to a catcher posted at a LARGE bin on loader forks) due to the quantity. Personal harvest bins would've been ridiculously slow.





(bwah ha ha ha ha!!!)



I like this series of pics (in the eggplant rows, no doubt)











----

As for today, it moved along just like a Tuesday here should.

We harvested.
We loaded bins for remote drop off.
This week's Tuesday share?

1 Head Lettuce
1 Basil Plant (yes whole plant)
1 Bunch Dill
1 lb Carrots (topped)
2 Squash
2 Peppers
5 Eggplants
2 Onions
3 Tomatoes
1 Fennel
3 Leeks
1 Watermelon
1 Cantaloupe

craziness..

We had lunch.
Loaded up the van and I made the drop-offs. Uneventful.
Back to the farm. Unload bins. Fix van tail lights.
Wash dishes. Stretch. Yoga. Shower. Shave. Take pics around the farm.
Eat. Play guitar (as I'm playing a set at next weekend's member picnic).
BLOG.

Gonna keep it at that and toss some pics your way. The bed beckons...











mas manana.

dig

catch-up in four

Need to set boundary
else I'll never finish.

----
Thursday was July 31st.
----
I was still managing.
Harvested more and more.
Lettuce, Scallions, Cilantro, Carrots
Summer Squash and Zucchini.
Picked our first Cucumbers.
Actually D picked them.
All by lunch time.
Martha and Amanda volunteered.

We had extended break.
Were working that evening.

My parents visited Thursday!!
Two on the left.



Their presence brought happiness.
We cruised for food.
Ate at Uncle Sonny's.
Who needs anything else?

"Weeding and Wining" followed.
We weeded Peppers, Tomatoes.
Parents stepped right in.
They rock. Most def.
Two volunteers helped us.
Had wine after weeding.
A truly nice evening.
A good idea, E.

----
Friday was August 1st.
----

I was STILL managing.
D must be crazy.
Harvested more and more.
Chard, Beets, Cabbage, Fennel.
Parents, Volunteers arrived then.
We did Beans next.
The variety was Romanette.
nts: harvest beans DRY.

Had a relaxing break.
Cruised with parents afterward.
Hit the local winery.
Got an impromptu tour.
We visited Wethersfield Gardens.
A total mind scrambler.

Parents then took off.
The visit was awesome.

Back to harvest work.
I missed the following.
Melons, Cantaloupe, Pepper, Eggplants.
E and I Tomatoed.
We all did Onions.
Quite a few rotted.
All others looked great.
D & E finished.
I kept on working.
Trellised 800' of tomatoes.
Dripping head to toe.

Laundry that evening. Fitting.
Happy to be clean.

----
Saturday was August 2nd
----

Two words. Huge Share!

Will let pics speak.













Managed that harvest. Yay!

I worked through distribution.
Set up D irrigation.
Cultivated potatoes with chisel.
Weed whacked Cornell trials.

Helped tear down distribution.

Bee lined to train.

Dreamy weekend in city.
Actually slept 11 hours...
all in one night.

----
Monday is August 4th
----

What to do today?????
Why, Harvest, of course!!

Leeks, Beets, Fennel, Melons.
Cantaloupe, Peppers, and Eggplants.
Btw. Rotten Cantaloupe? Terrible.
Can barely stand it.

After work I mowed.
Kept Buckwheat from seeding.
W1, W2 and W3.

Been sourcing, pricing fencing.
Must get things together.
Next season is close.
I surely am excited.
Just need to find
9 foot wooden posts...
And all is good.

Soon, young farmer. Soon.

Dig.