The downfalls of cooperative farming (alt. title: "Where's are the damned tools?"

Now, please no one take offense to this blog entry. I'm not pointing fingers, because if I did, a few would be pointed at myself. But, alas, this has been my major (and maybe others') frustration this summer. My day started off like this:

Foggy, humid and sluggish- both out in the field and a little in my brain too. I started off with some wheel hoeing to clear the mind and the field. I only did one row, but it was a very bad row surrounding the rainbow chard. I think we might get a harvest out of it now that they have a chance... just maybe if the weather can hold out a little bit longer.

Then I fed Aspen and cleaned out her stall.

Then I went to the Yippee book to get things together for the Co-op order, but...hmmm.... no scale. I looked in the greenhouse, in the house and in the shed. Then I looked again. Unfortunately, I may not have looked where it is suppose to be because, some tools (especially newer ones) don't have a home quite yet. It may be with Harvest Fest stuff. Or maybe hiding in Linda's house. I was ready to give up and call the co-op saying we wouldn't be able to deliver today, but then Alex showed up and saved the day (or atleast the co-op order). He showed me what sizes to make the bunches (one great skill he has learned working produce for years). He then left in a flurry to run a bunch of other errands.

So I went to the field ready to harvest... but where were the harvest knives (and the herb scissors)? I found sheaths, but not knives. I decided to use a pruners for the parsley and for the kale I just tore off stems (hope the co-op doesn't mind the jagged ends). Unfortunately I caught the drip tape in one place with the pruners. I should turn on the water to test the drip tape and should fill up the sinks to soak the veggies... but where was the hose to fill the sink? And wait, is the irrigation isn't even hooked up to the greenhouse and I can't find the several hundred feet long chunk of hose to connect it too.... You get the idea.

After all was said and done (as always) it was a good day. The co-op got their deliver around 6pm (minus the spearmint- due to the lack of water it was in a pretty sad state). Leah came out to collect for the farmer's market tomorrow- it was really nice to have someone out in the field. It gets lonely out there sometimes, (Linda was gone yesterday, along with Eddie and I think Jim too). The clouds lifted and the sun came out and Serena looked happy to be out amongst the veggies again and so was I.

Weeds? What Weeds?

Today was a pleasantly uneventful day of weeding and some "yard work" around the field. After a fine cup of coffee - no milk,  and a bit of the 'ol chit chat with Linda - I headed out on the bike to the field to start weeding.  A short walk up and down the rows reveal a lot of excellent looking vegetables ready to go including some of the smaller tomatoes.  To aid in showing off the beauty of our crops I took to the field with stirrup hoe in hand and began the art of close weeding.  

Later on in the day, I helped Linda do some trimmng around the fence - a simple but important task, because Linda emphasized that the willows growing along the fence "can make our quackgrass look like Mother Teresa!"(Mother Teresa = a Roman Catholic nun who is famed for ministering to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying and founding the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India.)  With that said, I grabbed the loppers (loppers = a general gardening/landscaping tool used to trim and prune rather thick branches) and cut weeds like the world depended on it.  

Other jaberwacky (jaberwacky = see flapdoodle) and flapdoodle (flapdoodle = see jaberwacky); with produce looking as delicious as ours we have a good chance of doing well at the Bayfront Harvest Festival this weekend.  I plan on attending and joining other local farmers in  sell-ebrating our harvests.  Good food, music, and people; should be fun!