Sunday, June 28, 2009

Wicked Hot

Yes it's Wicked Hot. Wicked Hot is when at 8:00 am you are sweating in just a few minutes of being outside. Wicked Hot is when the swamp cooler blows at 90F and it seems cool. Wicked Hot is when you don't really look forward to all the work to be done that day. Wicked hot is when your moving irrigation lines and the hoses burn your hands. Wicked Hot is when you roll out of bed at 5:00am so you can be mostly done by the high heat of the day. Wicked Hot is when you don't feel like cooking even though you have some of the worlds finest vegetables/meat at hand. Wicked Hot is when you have to really stay on top of irrigation or it all piles up. Wicked Hot is when you really see what the apprentices are made of. Wicked Hot is when you see what you are made of.
It was Wicked Hot yesterday too. I got back from Farmers Market at 3:00pm, unloaded the truck, and then watered the Nursery. Market's yesterday were really good.
The Grass Valley Market was a bit more busy and I got to see one of my favorite customers for the first time this year, Rosa. She's a big fan of Pyramid Farms, she just Loves our cilantro, and is one of my good luck charms. She was one of my first customers to show up and wait for Market to open. In Grass Valley years ago Market opened at 9:00am, so people would show up and wait in line for the bell to ring. Some vendors would have 20 people waiting for the start. I was just starting out and new to the Market so I was second on people's stops. Rosa was one of the first people who made me first on their stops. She would get the stands MO goin'. Mo is short for Momentum, which can be huge at Market. It creates even more MO, which attracts even more customers, and so on and so on. I've got a few tricks to keep the Mo goin' when there is a lull. I start putting the cash box away so I can go pee and that's just about a cinch to get somone to show up. Or there's moving boxes, just start moving boxes back on to the truck and it works like a charm, and of course in the middle of the MO restocking an item keeps it movin' or just rearranging something that isn't movin' jump starts it. Working it at Farmers Market is one part Farming, one part your Farms regular customers, one part sorcery ( manifesting the material world). It's like a dance, and a ritual combined. I Love the whole experience, and sometimes wonder if I'll be like some of my other Farmer friends and be 85 and still selling at the Market. (Go Ken & Betty) It's kind of addicting, and is most of my social interaction with other Human Beings off the Farm.

Friday, June 26, 2009

I Love Late June.

Why?

cause life in the Field is still ... well right now on Friday afternoon at 3:30 all the picking is done,
I'm mostly done for the day. Cept for............minor stuff.. well not minor but it limits my exposure to the outside for much time, Irrigation has to be turned on/off, trucks moved ready to load, Hogs fed, Market prep, stuff like that.
Tomorrow the alarm goes of at 3:45, I jump out of bed, load the truck, drive an hour and twenty minutes, set up for Farmers Market, do Market, breakdown, then do wholesale delivery, then again drive an hour and twenty minutes home. Then of course there is all the stuff I do when I get home. So it makes for a long day.
So when it's Friday afternoon at 3:30 I Love it when I"m done with the strenuous stuff for the day.
See ya later I got goofing of to do.

Friday, June 19, 2009

A few Thoughts

Yes If you look at the time of this post it's almost 5:00 am right now. I'm a Farmer so I should be gettin up to eat my breakfast before I start my day huh? Well right now I"m not sleeping as I should be in fact I haven't been sleeping for the last 2 hours. INSOMNIA!!!! The dreaded curse of an overactive mind. And right now I don't have to start my day at 5:00am, that will come later of course.

Last evening Lee and Francine from GRUB, a very new, small Farm here in Chico came by for a visit/tour. It's inspiring to know that others in your community are passionate about vegetables. They are ever so new to the Farming Game, but have such a good start. It's my secret desire to see small Farms everywhere, feeding their communities, actively pursuing the New Agrarian Life. I'm somewhat a visionary, somewhat a realist, and I Love food and I feel others could benefit from eating healthy, fresh, local, produce. So when I meet others who are helping take us to the place we could be it makes me excited. I of course feel that right now in THIS day and age that all those who have the ability to do so, could eat more vegetables and fruit, and all those that they do eat should be produced locally. If people would do this we would not just have a few farms who are rockin the World, but we would have a whole New Agrarian Life, everywhere we looked in this valley, one of the finest agricultural landscapes in the world we would see a pastoral landscape of super productive farms. people would have good jobs, producing a REAL economy, with long term growth and sustainability. We would gather with our friends and celebrate life and death, the passing of the seasons, and the harvests that they bring. We would give our selves the opportunity to experience true liberation and self responsibility. This Earth would be a better place for it all.
So here's to You folks of GRUB!!!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Twelve's

It's been Twelve's around here lately. That is in hour workdays. Onion and Garlic harvest is almost done, along with most of our summer crop plantings. That's what makes Early June so busy.
Not only do we have to keep our planting going, but get the Onions and Garlic out of the ground. Luckily with the rain that we had here it softened the ground up so I could immediately till the Onion/ Garlic rows to prepare them for Carrot planting. That is a big time saver. I don't have to disk them, irrigate them, then till. Just till. WhooHoo.
The rain/cool weather did help in a few other ways also. Instead of Twelves in 95F it was Twelve's in the low 80's. Quite a difference.
The Farmers Market's have been pretty good. Zucchini sales could be better but I think having Spinach and Lettuce takes some of that volume. It can be quite a balancing act, to much variety and all of a sudden you go home with to much Zucchini. I have been Wholesaling quite a bit, but the Zuch's are so prolific this year we can't sell it all. And the hogs certainly can't eat it all, this week we took some to the Jesus Center and hope to set up even more donations to them. It' saddens me to til in perfectly good produce back into the ground. But I don't have all that much extra time to set up distribution to those in need. Hopefully the Jesus Center can help.
Well I got a hog pen to clean.