Day 15 (6/29/12): Weed Away

It was an early start this morning for CSA day, so work started at 7.  I harvested the pak choi and lettuce  and cleaned the lettuce, ready for display.  The pak choi had to have its flower cut off to prevent it from going to seed.  If the vegetable goes to seed, the leaves (what you eat) become bitter.  The lettuce were also going to seed, producing some pretty tall lettuce heads.  While you can prevent some platns, like turnips and pok choi from going to seed, it’s harder to prevent others, like lettuce.  

The rest of the day was rather simply planned.  Weed Field 7.  However much I dislike weeding the thick, grassy between-rows areas, it’s a job that must be done.  This is the worst of the weeding for the year, and after it’s done, there will just be easier upkeep.  After quickly rolling the remay off the blooming squash plants, I headed over to Field 7 for the rest of the day… it was only 9am.  Mary understood how draining the task is, and was sympathetic.  She said I could hill the potatoes² if I needed a break.  I weeded from 9 to noon frustratingly with a gardening hoe³, from noon to 1 more easily with a cultivator claw⁴, and from 1:45 to 5:45 most easily with a stirrup hoe.  Katie was weeding Field 5 and was already using the stirrup hoe, so we traded after lunch.  Mary went to the Union Farmer’s Market today, but she called a couple times to check in to see how things were going.  She wouldn’t let us work any more past 5:45. 

On our way up from the fields, I grabbed some parsley and kale to add to our pizzas for dinner.  Pizzas with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and kale on one and sautéed onions on the other.  Mmmmm.  I rode my bike alongside Kenya while the pizza was cooking.  As advice for cross-training, my coach told me to use a lower gear to have quicker turnover on the bike to better mimic a running cadence – I was on gear 1, peddling almost as quickly as Kenya was running.  There was a hail storm warning, so we quickly closed the hoop house sides (the hoop houses can be entirely picked off the ground by wind) and brought the animals in.  This was my first time dealing with ‘the boys’ (Gil’s steer), but With a hurried set of instructions, I helped Kenya lead the steer up from their electric fence to the barn.  I leaned into my steer, Red, making sure that I couldn’t be stepped on, and tugged him away from distractions, like munching on grass, although I couldn’t win the battle of him stopping to get a drink from a water bucket.  Finally done for the day, us girls sat down to watch Mary Poppins with our pizza (Gil was with Mary at market).  

Kenya's cat, Marzipan, loves my room.  I always have a little buddy when I'm in here.  I don't know if it's the warmth of the 3rd floor, the bugs crawling around my room (there aren't as many now that I've closed my window), or my company that he likes, perhaps a combination.  I certainly enjoy his company, as long as he doesn’t wake me up at 4:30 by knocking things off my dresser again.  

It’s been one of the longer days, so I’m ready to hit the sack.

lettuce head going to seed

normal lettuce head

¹ 

² Hilling potatoes is mounding the part of the plant above ground with more dirt so there is room for the potatoes to grow.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7l_DOlx1Uo

³ Gardening hoe

⁴ Cultivator claw