I'm writing this on a very rainy Wednesday. It has already rained well over 2 inches and there is no sign of it lighting up anytime soon. I'm loving it! Rain days are simply the best. I think my whole body relaxes just a little, enough to feel the heaviness of the low pressure. Rainy days on the farm often involve indoor activities such as seeding trays, trellising and pruning tomatoes, office work and packshed cleanup. The pace is often a bit slower, maybe because of the cloudy weather, but most likely because we worked our little butts off to get everything done before the rain arrived! Yes, it's a real whirlwind before the rain. You could say we experience our own farm storm before the rain.
What does a farm whirlwind look like? Well for the past two days, I've probably checked the weather forecast twenty times. When is the rain starting? Will there be wind? How much rain will fall? Do we need to top up the rain with some irrigation? But mostly, it's all about what farm chore need get done before the rain arrives.
How about I recap the last couple of days...
On Monday, we transplanted LOTS of seedlings - 7,000 lettuces, 1,000 spinaches, 400 romaine lettuces, 150 fennel seedlings as well as 1,200 curly and 500 lacinato kale, which we also covered to protect them from those pesky flea beetles (that translates to 800 feet of row cover that needs to be buried using people power and shovels). We harvested zucchini and broccoli, mowed the cover crops and lightly tilled them into the soil.
Tuesday, in preparation for Thursday's CSA, we harvested lettuce, spinach, radishes and beets. We also cultivated as many rows of carrots and beets as we could, and hand weeded any spots that needed the extra attention. We fertilized many, many rows to then seed our final carrot and bean plantings.
Phew, that's a lot of work for two little days. And to be honest, it was a little hard getting out of bed this morning, but it was totally worth it! 'Cause now our little seeds and seedlings are enjoying a good long drink of water and the extra space out in the field. Plus we farmers get some good quality tomato time...and everyone LOVES working in the tomatoes, they're truly a fan favourite around here. Happy rain day!