Libby

Cold-weather harvest

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Some days now, the temperature is in the +/-20°C (50°F) range, and nights hover around the freezing point—not that cold, but comparatively so when other days shoot up to summery highs. I’m now keeping the row cover permanently on the eggplant and peppers, they’re no longer out there to grow—not enough sun—the field is now simply a convenient storage system. Picking from under cover, pulling back only as much as necessary, we take what we need for and leave the rest. There’s probably two more week’s worth of sweet and hot peppers, and at least another week of baby eggplant to go after today…

Bundling up a bit kinda seems to be the general choice. Libby and Lynn are in winter outerwear mode, down to insulated rubber boots, while Toshiko, who finds it colder here than at home in Japan, keeps warm with layers. Seasons change…

Violet returns: visiting with worms

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Young Violet (2) returned to the field, sans siblings. She seemed to have fun on her first garden visit, on a sunny afternoon—today’s cool, cloudy, wet conditions didn’t faze her in the least. Interacting with earthworms occupied a good hour…

While Libby and Lynn dug carrots, Violet helpfully and with great interest relocated disturbed worms. A hands-on biology lesson, an early pre-school start… (Looking back, for the most part, I’d have much rather grown up in a field than in a classroom!)

Cutting spinach

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Spinach cutting close-up

Spinach has kinda been the star of the harvest for the last couple of weeks. After a “normal” summer—hot and dry for the last three years—it’s usually not around at this time of year due to poor germination. This season, with cloudy, cooler days and all the rain, spinach is in abundance: glossy, deep green, succulent, full of flavor. Libby and Lynn chop away, cutting an inch or two up the stems. This technique takes out the small new growth leaves, but it’s fast and efficient, and the plants still grow back for a second harvest. The alternate picking-single-leaves approach is more laid back, great for leisurely field chats—this harvest, we opted for quick…

Nothing like teamwork: head down, knife in hand, side by side…

My, what a nice, wide path!

Last of the lettuce

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Can’t quite seem to stop planting! Lynn and Libby put in a last 200 or so lettuce seedlings to see how far they’ll go in fall growth. The soil is still moist an inch (2.5cm) or so down, but the surface is way DRY from a few days of sun and breeze, so we watered in these guys—the weather’s been great, sunny and warm this week…and it’s back to the hoses!

Working the tiny tractor

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Rototilling with the Kubota compact tractor

Working with the tiny tractor always looks like fun: after three seasons, it’s still fun for me, and just about everyone else seems to enjoy it, too! This Kubota compact tractor is dead simple to operate, rugged and reliable, easy on diesel, and nonthreateningly…tiny. And it’s as close as we’ve gotten to the other world of big, mechanized agriculture. Tilling with the 48″ rototiller is the Kubota’s main in-the-garden-beds field duty (and that’s something I try to keep to a minimum). I’ve come to rely on it for this one critical task, and to a lesser degree, for moving earth, manure, compost and other things with the front-end loader. Particularly, when time gets short and weeds on open sections start to go crazy, it’s great to have around. Here, Libby tries rotilling for the very first time, working up two sections for planting out fall brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage,…). And, yep, looks like she’s having fun!

“I love intense!”

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If you’re not on top of weeds by mid-June, things are gonna get ugly. Here, I’ve yet to come close to not having…problem spots, like this year’s onion section, where a perfect combination of heat and rain made relatively tiny pigweed JUMP in just a couple of days. At this size, and with the weeds growing right close to the onions, careful hand-weeding is the only option, other than tilling under the crop. Today. Lynn, Libby and I tackled the job…

Hours of weeding and a complete weather change later, the deed was done. As much as you think about the intense amount of labor, what that adds to the true cost of one of these onions, how things could’ve been done more efficiently, and so forth, you can’t help but be satisfied by such a complete…makeover. I asked Libby, after her very first crazy weeding spree, how she felt. With a big grin, she said: “I love intense!” You can’t help but love that attitude! :)

And there was still time for other fieldwork, an unhurried lunch break, and time out to play with the goats… Is this an economically viable way to farm? Well, it’s kinda working out so far, things are slowly, steadily improving, and we seem to be having ever more fun as it goes along!

Instant farmer!

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Libby’s first day on the farm: a full day in the field, plus a Big Salad lunch! There’ve been a few first-timer days this year, and a bit of a casual presentation routine has developed. Starts with a tour: “How much detail do you want?” The difference between growing more or less by hand, as we do here, and different degrees of tractor-based farming is probably the main point I try to get across. And then, it’s on to the fabulous WORK, a taste of the many tiny farming fieldwork pleasures. Today, Libby pulled weeds from carrot beds, on her own for a while, and then I joined in. Weeding carrots and tomatoes, hand-pulling and with the wheel hoe, setting up some home garden-type tomato cages, transplanting lettuce…the time flew by. Chatting is usually a big part of working in the field (with no noisy machines to get in the way): farming stuff, trading bits of personal history, and inevitably, it seems, some Bigger Topics. Today, the concept of MINDFULNESS came up and really stuck with me… And so, another fine day on the tiny farm. Libby seemed PRETTY HAPPY with it all. Cool. We’ll see her next week! :)


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