The Ride

Up and down. In and out. Peaks and valleys. Ebb and flow.

Yep. It is a ride. Not too often a wild ride, but there are thrills and spills. High and low.

I bring this up because I fear, and feel, the Passion wanning. Maybe because it is hot. Maybe it is because the farm is as close to Autopilot it can fly. We are half way thru the CSA season and feeling tired. I am tired because I have nearly abused myself for three days. Ass was dragin' and I felt wiped, worn out and devoid of energy. Others sure seemed to be in the same boat.

The abuse I am talking about came in the three previous days. See, guilt had creep inside me and the only way I could fight was to put my head down and Work. Work hard and fast. Like a mule in blinders I had narrow vision.

I had to get some energy. Physical speed and power took the place of lackluster, failing passion. Parts and pieces of me are hurting now. Too Much pulling and tearing of weeds. Too Much heavy lifting with my legs, of course, and back and Anger. Bruce Banner was always looking for the Strength. Instead he got the Hulk, and The Hulk, well, HULK SMASH! It was only an old railroad tie and cider block. And, it did relieve some pressure...I smashed it as best I could.

Anyway, as we say down on the Farm,"My neckback shoulder ankletoe wrist hurts".

@#$^@#$*

I forgot what the bleep I was going to post. I was sitting here with an idea, and, poof it is gone. I blame the "Done, but with errors on page" message bottom left on my screen. I dont know what the errors are, how many, or how to get rid of them. Screw it! I'll be back.

Shit In My Life

OK! So things can always be worse. But, just for the sick and twisted fun of it all I am going to make a list. This list is entitled: THE SHIT IN MY LIFE.






Taxes, politics and the economy, shit that they are, do not make this list.


Here goes: SHIT IN MY LIFE

Dog shit. Chicken shit. Sheep shit. Goat shit. Cat shit. Horse shit. Baby shit. And of course my own. Which someday, I expect, will be the ONLY shit in my life. After all babies ain't babies for longer than forever, right? They will handle that kind of business all by themselves someday.

I do not have to have dogs and cats, but I do. They are a part of the family and I am the family pooper scooper, so...

Organic farming is not done without shit. In this case the shit is the good stuff! Fuel for the soil. It's the nutrient cycle; in, out, and around. Chicken, sheep, goat, horse(and Moo-beast, if we had any)poo poo all benefit, add to and in strange ways empower or encourage our farm. Actually the ways are not so strange. They are perfectly natural, sustainable and dynamic. OK, so if they are BIO DYNAMIC then the ways become a little strange to me. If not strange, then, unfamiliar and different.

The above is a list of a lot of shit, but not bad shit, not by any one's measure...

23 dollars? Gold for pennies, I tell you

The CSA boxes this week? Just gorgeous! They have color. They have varitey. They have freshness. They have nutrition.

The aesthetic value alone, if I had to put a dollar amount on it, is worth, like eight bucks. Minimum.

That brings the total Farmer's Market dollar value to 31 bucks!!

They really are that Nice, guys. And gals.

And what can one say about this blog post?

Vague.

I had a heartbreaking experience

It is true: I wanted to cry.

See, sometime between 9 and 11 months ago I planted out Leeks that had been seed starts even longer ago. Big deal you might say. Maybe. But to me it is a big deal. Either Farmer Drew or my self preped the planting tray and sowed the seeds and then both of took an active hands on experience of watering and feeding the seedlings for another of amount time.

Eventually planting day comes. And this was all me. I am not boasting here. Just a fact. I planted out these particular Leek. All five hundred feet of them were under my scrutiny. Alternating between bent back and crawling on my hands and knees I placed each seedling in the row.

Obviously this is not the tear jerking part. That came today when I MOWED the whole mess down with the lawn tractor.

The starts had, well, a good start. Planted out, watered and tended as needed. The tending to tends to become enfrequent, or at the most happens when there is nothing else to do. So one can project from this that they were lost in the weeds. True that. The Leeks were nearly drowned by the competition. However, it seems that the weather played are more significant role in the demise of the Leeks. The cold wet weather through out this spring right into mid-summer did damage that could not be stopped or altered to ensure a profitable crop.

As the wet and chilly days stalled the development of the plants, the sunny, long and warm days boosted and jumped-started the growth of said Leeks straight to flowering, i. e., they all bolted. And, that is no good for eating.

Ruined and lost crop!

Sad.

As we say in the business, "That's Farming".