Worcester Woods Farm

     We have a fair amount of tools on the farm here to achieve most tasks. Granted, many of them are semi-broken and in need of replacement or serious attention, but all in all most provide some relief in alleviating the amount of physical effort needed to complete the job. Pitchforks break most often, followed by shovels, and then rakes. Actually, the lawnmower has broken the most this summer, but this is mainly because I like to pretend it is my tractor. I’m sure the good people down at Craftsman never envisioned their little green riding mower cutting down four foot high brush or dragging  a 300 pound hog from up in the field. My father always shakes his head in disbelief (and bordering on disappointment) when I call him up for help fixing yet another part on this poor machine. Bonnie always tells me now to “at least get the lawn mowed first before you go and break it again”. Fair enough. It’s like this obsessive urge that I get to make something look nicer or save some time by avoiding doing something by hand. Even though I know I will probably break the mower, I can somehow convince myself that if I’m careful enough all will be safe. And then there is always that one rock that I didn’t see, or small tree stump I forgot about, or just simply utter fatigue (on the mower’s part) that will bring my project to an abrupt end. Then comes the grumpy walk from the field to the house, which gives way to the complete feeling of idiocy as I open the door and announce “well, I broke the mower again”.
          My most valuable tool this summer might have to be the radio in the truck. When you work alone all day, and I think especially when it is physical labor, the radio provides much needed relief from boredom or loneliness. It doesn’t separate me from the world like an Ipod does, and it often keeps me from talking myself out of finishing the job by redirecting my attention. I mostly listen to news and local talk shows in the morning, and then whatever floats my boat for music in the afternoon. There have been many embarrassing moments when a biker pedals by and I am singing along with some horrible hard rock ballad to my dogs, who are just using the shade the truck provides. And through some amazing Darwinian adaptation I no longer hear the “ding ding ding” that results from leaving the truck door open so that the radio can be heard.
           So far we have brought you over thirty different veggies this summer, but there are others that I have really been counting on sending out. Namely eggplant, celery, peppers and melons. We usually have pretty good luck with these crops, even though we are noticeably colder that most spots around the area. The peppers are just coming on, the eggplant plants are big and beautiful, but they just aren’t setting fruit. The melons are getting close, but it’s tricky to get them picked at just the right time, which is pretty important. There is little more disappointing that an unripe or overripe melon. The celery is almost always strong, but not this year. I got my starts in late, then they got weeded in, they need tons of water, etc. Hopefully we will salvage something out of it. There are some nice pumpkins out in the field, but the winter squash seems not as strong as usual. I guess you can’t win ‘em all, but we would sure like to. This is the first year in a few that we have gone light on the amount of compost or manure we’ve spread on the beds. It’s very expensive to buy a lot from VT. Compost (although it’s excellent stuff), and we needed to wait another season or two before a lot of our own piles were ready. It has taken a few years, but after this growing season I think we will have a steady supply to cover all of our own needs. This may be the reason why things have not grown perfect, but I think that it is a combination of stuff…some controllable and some not. Things haven’t necessarily grown poorly, but something is a little off. It must be that damn global warming!