Day 4 (6/18/12): Bachelorette Pad

I awoke this morning again at 6:20, before my alarm.  I went on a leisurely bike ride down Point RD, next to the farm and off of Rte. 27.  This rolling street is a jumble of farms, hidden houses in the trees, lakefront cottages, and a summer camp for kids.  I don't recommend talking on the phone while riding your bike on a highway, but I'm glad I got to talk to Mom and Dad as they were driving back up to Albany from dropping Abigail off in Charlottesville, VA.  Back in time to scarf down some peanut butter toast and write down my work list for the day, I was out the door by 8:02 (darn!).  While watering the plants in the lower hoop house, I searched for predator insects, as instructed.  When found, we're supposed to terminate them by squishing between our fingers.  There were a few bugs that resemble stink bugs, although I can't remember their name off the top of my head, although I do know that their insides smell like sour banana Laffy Taffy's.  Also on the cucumbers in the hoop house were Cucumber Beetles¹ and their eggs²; many of these I found mating, so this made it easier to ‘kill 2 bugs with one squish.’  I got a little too into this ‘I Spy’ game of spotting the bugs.  After rinsing my hands of the guts and stench, I was ready to plant for the rest of the day.  The sky was overcast all morning.  This was nice as I finished planting the cucumbers in Field #6 and started back up on the squash in Field #7.  One of the most time-consuming tasks in garden care here, I think, is transporting all of the tools across the farm wherever need be.  Katie joined me just past 10:30, after handing the shop off to a family friend of Mary’s to run for the day.  (The shop had been doing really well yesterday, being a day on the weekend and a holiday, but Monday proved less fruitful.)  Katy and I planted 2 rows of squash (Delicata, Sunshine Winter, Spaghetti, and Acorn) today, starting with cutting the black plastic and ending with covering the plants with Remay.  Our production line was a little different from Kenya and mine on Saturday; because today we cut the holes all at once, dug and composted the entire row, and watered and planted the entire row all at once, instead of digging, composting, watering, and planting all at once as Kenya and I had done.  We had a lunch break of grilled cheese sandwiches, thanks to Ellie, and rest, and were back in Field #7 to finish planting, this time in the sun.  Katie had to leave at 4:45, before we were finished, to take back over the shop and feed the animals.  I finished planting, put away my things, closed both hoop houses, and shadowed Katy as she fed the animals.  I told her of my ‘fear’ of birds, and we decided I should take baby steps to warm-up to the chickens and turkeys so that I’m not jumpy around them later (although not quite like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNgaBJ7V3cQ).  Therefore, I went with her to feed the chickens and the baby turkeys, and I even helped pick up and put some of the baby turkeys under their heat lamp to keep them from getting sick.  

Ellie went out to eat dinner with friends, so she left Katie and me some American Chop Suey (macaroni and hamburger) to heat up for dinner, and we watched another episode of The Walton’s and last week’s The Daily Show before getting ready for bed.  Goodnight!

¹ Cucumber beetles devastate the cucumber plant by chewing holes through their leaves.  

² Many of the Cucumber Beetle eggs are laid on the bottom part of the leaves or on the stem.