Day 22 (7/6/12): End Week 3

We had an early start for CSA.  I harvested in the herb garden with Mary while Katie and Jillian went up down to harvest kohlrabi.  As I picked the kale leaves off the stems, I had to be careful to start from the bottom and pick up.  Someone had ripped off the top chunk of several kale plants, rendering them useless.  Tearing off the meristem¹ like this not only hinders growth of the plant, but already-made leaves start to die and fall off.  For the rest of the day, we three apprentices were down in the fields.  Mary decided that if each of us completed one footpath of hoe-weeding a day in fields 4, 5, 6, or 7, we should be in good shape.  So Katie suggested we use share time slots throughout the day to share the stirrup hoe for hoe-weeding.  Mary told me once that one of the top reasons she picked Katie to be an apprentice was that she included on her resumé that she had common sense, and common sense is not common.  Anyway, it was the hottest day of the week, and I got through my Field 7 footpath of hoe-weeding (although I didn’t finish picking up behind me), weeding the collard greens and mustard and beets, and finishing a few other odds and ends in the fields.  Mary included on my list that I must work no later than 5.  

Tonight was pizza night, but we were out of sauce and cheese.  Kenya, Jillian, and I biked down to Day’s general store for some pricy pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Since we were down there, we thought we might as well beat the heat by bridge jumping again, so the three of us took a dip in the refreshing water.  Even in my barefeet, it looked like I was wearing socks because of my sneaker tan and the grime on my legs.  Everyone, excluding Sage who was with her mom at market all day, enjoyed our pizza and sun tea garnished with mint while watching She’s them man.  

¹ I tried to explain this concept to Sage the other day, as she was comparing her hair to the plants.  Hair grows from the roots, while plants get their nutrients from their roots but grow from the top, like I explained in Day 21’s post about the tomato plants.  The largest leaves, for example in lettuce or Kale, are at the bottom, but new growth is at the top.  Thank you Bio 102.