bad blogger good farmer

Yes I'm a bad blogger but a good farmer. I should write on my blog more often but I don't. When I can't sleep I should write a bit but then I might stay even more awake thinking about the farm even more. But I've been a good farmer. It really shows out in the field and at farmers mkt. All through the summer I managed to stay on top of things and get all the planting/transplanting done on schedule.

There was only one bump in the road when right around my birthday I pinched a nerve in my back and was bedridden for three days,not being able to move my right leg. Luckily my chiropracter was able to sort it out and I was back at it shortly. Thanks Russ, you are the man. And I owe so much gratitute to my Partner in Life Lisa, as she nurtured me, helped me in and out of bed, and did all the irrigation. And Axel (apprentice) did his best to keep up with everything while nursing a sore heart as his partner had left for the summer.
Life can be a big challenge for everyone and I don't single farmer's out, but in the middle of the summer, when there is so much riding on getting this planted on time, or weeding this area, or preping these rows, Life really can throw you a curve ball by having you out of commission for 5 days.

But now so much time has passed and so much has happened. We had a new addition to the crew here, Scott. A pleasent young man,who was thrown directly into the fire and put in charge of cutting zucchini. Zucchini can be a great friend of the farmer but it can also be a chore you dread, or you can embrace it for what it is. An everyday task, no time off for weekends, no doing it later in the day cause you don't feel like it this morning, no putting it off cause if you do, You end up making more work for yourself and throwing a ton of zucchini on the ground cause it 's got to be from 4 to 7 inches anything else and nobody wants to buy it. So he put his nose to the grindstone and after taking way longer than it humanly should the first day, got it straight and ended up being a wonderfull zucchini cutter. Then I really challenged him and gave him cucumber picking duties. At first he shared these with Axel but Axel had grown weary of picking cucumbers, as this is his second summer and his tolerence for mundane tasks can be low. And Axel was needed full time picking cherry tomatoes. Which has earned him the nickname of The Tomatoenator. Partly because of our Govenor the Terminator, partly because Axel has a german accent, but mostly because he is a cherry tomato picken machine. Back to Scott, and his trial by fire. Well he didn't quit after being assigned two dastardly duties, and he managed to become quite proficent at them both. And he is still here to this day, having gladly taken to many other duties that farmworkers find unpleasent, and with a very bright and sunshiny attitude.
So let's see.So far it's planitng good, pinchned nerve bad, new farm worker good, so far good 2 bad 1. Let's see the rest of the story and how that scores.

We got back at Farmers Market late than usuall after such a rainy spring but sales we're really good. Our Grass Valley mkt. Started setting sales records and kept doing so, and that has been fantastic. Chico mkt has kept plugging along, with good sales but it dosn't even come close to the buisness we do in Grass Valley. We saw many of our favorite customers, and worried about some as we hadn't seen them yet. You see Farmers market is most of Lisa and I's social life, and we love seeing old customers for the first time and catching up with other vendor friends. So all in all Farmers Market good! Score now good 3 and bad 1.

So now it's September and all the fall Broccolli is in the ground and doing well, and the Carrotts are up and the germination is good, with not to many weeds. so all looks well for the Fall/Winter. Summer harvests are slowing a bit but with more runs of Tomatoes and Peppers to come. So now with most planting done I can concentrate on tilling in old crops to may way for the Garlic and Onions.

And some really big news!! After saving for many years we started on building a shop this summer. And it's just about done. No more working on tractors in the blazing sun, or having over stuffed sheds with not enough room to move, and having a proper place to store tools. And even better when we put up the sombrero around the back and sides I'll have a proper place to store Garlic and Onions instead off under trees and tarps. So now the score is good 4 and bad 1.
So after a long summer, one wicked hot heat wave, we are looking forward a bit to the fall slowdown, but very very gratefull for all of summers bounty and success