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.