Live Earth Farm Nwsltr 2007

Greetings from Farmer Tom
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Ever wondered what it would be like to work on a farm? Here is a typical day, in the heart of the summer season:

It is Monday, 6:30am; another day, another week of harvesting is upon us. The morning is foggy and damp, the plants are wet, covered with a heavy dew. Everyone is gathered next to the strawberry plot in our field on Casserly Road. The yellow strawberry boxes are still in the harvest carts, marking the spot in the field where we left off picking on Saturday. For over 20 weeks now (since the end of March), we have been continuously harvesting strawberries – almost daily. Strawberries are best picked in the morning, since the fruit cool down during the night and are easier to snap off the plant. It takes a skilled hand movement – a combined twist, pull and snapping motion – to prevent the green calyx from separating from the berry. Picking strawberries requires bending low to inspect each plant, moving patiently up and down the rows, with focused attention, so as to discern the right quality of each and every berry. In a little over an hour 40 to 50 flats are picked [a flat = 12 baskets]; this is the usual amount we need to pick daily in order not only to stay on top of the continually ripening berries, but also to keep a fresh inventory for our delivery needs: to a local bakery, to farmer's markets, and of course for our CSA shares (which receive the majority of the harvest).

By 8am the green bean plants are still too wet to be picked; the sun won't be burning off the fog for another couple of hours, so the group splits up: some will pick cherry tomatoes, the rest, mostly the women, will pick raspberries. There is an important and often unrecognized benefit of a small scale, highly diversified farming operation such as ours, and that is that the physical labor of fieldwork – although all hard work – is at least varied. In other words, different motions and body positions are required for harvesting different crops (or for performing other tasks such as weeding or sowing), and so by alternating between crops or tasks, the physical strain (on one’s back, in particular) is distributed throughout the day.
Elisa with an armload of heirloom tomatoes

Elisa with an armload of heirloom tomatoes

By 10 o' clock the sun is starting to burn off the fog; the harvest van is full, and the berries need to be transported from the field to the cooler. While Alejandro drives off to unload, the harvest switches to tomatoes. Our heirloom tomatoes are quite abundant right now; the fruit are maturing fast, and need to get picked off the plants. So this week’s shares boxes will be heavy, as we will be giving everyone between 3 and 4 of these wonderful summer fruit! (That's my daughter Elisa at right; the tomatoes are so big she can't even hold onto them all!)

By Noon nearly half a ton of tomatoes have been picked (i.e. fifty 20 lb. boxes), and it's time for a half-hour lunch break under the shady Mimosa trees alongside the field. The rhythm shifts after lunch: Clemente and Jonathan are off to irrigate a block of lettuce seedlings planted on Saturday as well as a block of freshly sown spinach, arugula, and radishes. (These three crops, incidentally, are typically sown together in one block, because they all germinate and mature within the same timeframe and generally have similar growing needs.) The rest of the group is off to pick green beans, as we'll need approximately 1000 lbs. (50 crates) over the next two days.

Now it’s around 4:30pm, and the last harvest of the day is the broccolini, which we like to harvest before it gets watered. The plants are waist high, and one gets completely drenched and muddy if we don't do the harvesting and watering in the right order. The broccolini is now tall, so all the shoots are within easy reach; no need to bend over. This Italian heirloom form of broccoli produces a large number of tender side shoots, and can be harvested multiple times over a period of up to 2 or 3 months. The last two years we have increased our plantings of broccolini, because not only does it have a superior taste but also it requires less space and is easier to harvest.

It is almost 6 o'clock now, and for everyone it's time to go home. Well... nearly everyone; two people continue to work: Juanillo is still plowing a field at our site along Pioneer Rd., and Juan is sowing green beans. These two will work until sundown, because it's a good time of day to work the soil – the day has cooled back down, and the soil moisture is 1 to 2 inches below the surface... ideal for sowing beans.

- Tom

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