Losing it By Degrees

Ok - the roller coaster makes this farming business a bit more difficult than one would think.  What is it with 95 degrees Fahrenheit and high winds followed by 95 degrees Fahrenheit and no wind followed by 65 degrees F with a *northeast* wind? 

Everyone on the farm Wednesday worked admirably through the warm weather.  But, you know it is warm when you see everyone sloooowing dooowwwn and you're pretty sure they are not aware of it.  A shade and lemonade break was in order!  Tammy bought me a nice thermos to keep drinks cold (1 liter bottle) and I went through that thing seven or eight times yesterday.  And, that doesn't account for all of the fluids I had to down to stay hydrated.  Then, there was today.  I actually found myself putting on another layer at one point when I was on the tractor.  I am sure everyone who was outside Wednesday couldn't make themselves believe that the next day would be this different.

But, on to the farm report of this blog post:
- The first week of CSA deliveries is completed.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of the new members and, of course, were pleased to see the returning members as well. 
- this week, we got in all but a handful (five or so) of the sweet peppers - for the workers who helped and want to brag - we put in 567 of them on Wednesday.  Tammy and I put in another 151 eggplant that evening (about 100 to go).
- ten trays of onions went in on Wednesday.  That would be somewhere in the order of 450 feet (double rows).
- today, we put in over 1200 feet of winter squash.  That includes transplanting four trays of plants (an experiment this season to see if we can incorporate this technique). 
- We managed to do all of the picking, cleaning, etc for CSA distributions on Tuesday and Thursday.  Approximately 85 shares were delivered. 
- The wind did a number on our clothesline and one a couple of cold frames (broken windows) - so we had to repair these.
- And...with wind and heat, plants in the field desperately needed water.  We don't have an installed drip irrigation system so set up and time is required to do this on the farm. 
- Thank you Kenny for helping us move the rest of the giant maple to a back corner of the property.
- Monday saw another 1200 feet of winter squash seed go in and 1000 feet of companion flowers.

Still to plant: melons, watermelon, hot peppers, okra, pumpkin and the sweet corn we grow for our own freezing (that often seems to go last).  Of course, there are successions of shorter season crops and there are some onions still to put in.  And, more companion flowers are planned.  Hopefully we can dry out after tonight's rain enough to get another planting session in later in the weekend.

then - oui..... we weed.