Well, our Monday was fairly normal with a morning harvest and sending out 349.71 pounds of food. It could have been a higher total, but the gleaners were down 4 people and that can make a really big difference. We would not be able to operate without these partnerships and we do try to help on the morning of the harvest or pick veggies that can be held the day before. We used to be able to say our food was harvested and delivered within several hours. Now we grow so much more food that sometimes it has to be held in the coolbot for 24 hours or over a weekend. I’m okay with that change.
Then came Tuesday. We decided this was onion harvest day for tunnel 8. Claire’s project for the summer was tracking the weights of produce in our Upper Field and comparing them with the amounts of biochar in those beds. She has already done this with the harvested garlic. Claire brought along her Mom (Heather), and we headed out to the tunnel no one wants to go in. Why you might ask? Well, it was “abandoned” by us after the lettuce was harvested. My story is there was too much to keep up with elsewhere on the farm, so being the last tunnel furthest from view, out of sight out of…. It was just scary in there! So that takes us to Tuesday morning. Armed with carts and harvest buckets, we pulled out 586.92 pounds of onions! Luckily, Wendi came to help us, and it took about two hours to harvest and weigh all those alliums. The variety was Ailsa Craig, which can get up to 5 pounds each. Our largest onion was 2 pounds. I cannot imagine a 5 pound onion! So here are photos showing just part of our bounty. This table of onions is holding what came from bed 1, and we had 4 beds! Now there are onions everywhere!
Thanks Claire, Heather, Wendi, and Carrie! Now we have so many onions to donate, and everyone eats onions (except my brother-in-law). 🙂
On Wednesday, Julia came with a team to glean, and we sent out 791.77 pounds to 8 different locations. Abigail came with her sons, Henry and Jacob.They were a great help in the zucchini plots. The poundage of zucchini alone was over 200 pounds. My favorite moment of the day was when Henry asked his mom if they could come back again to help before they left for their home in New York. This is part of what we are so happy to do–giving experiences to young people on how food is grown, harvested, and donated. We loaded up their minivan and sent them off on a delivery! Everyone’s vehicles were maxed out with boxes. Deidra was contemplating how to get more into her Tesla so Julia would not have to make two trips. When you run out of space in your trunk, there’s always the Tesla “front trunk”! Is that a term?
We took Thursday off. It was a rainy day, and we all had work we could do from home. Crop planning for 2023 is a priority. Carrie and I want to plan where all the cover crops are going so we won’t have winter rye holding us back from planting next Spring. We also want to get these plantings going as we harvest our final crops. This all works around a 4 crop rotation. MOFGA suggests 4 years before planting the same crop family in the same location. Another big goal is not to have any (or very few) plots tarped over Winter. Fighting to keep the tarps on the ground with our strong winds before the snow falls is a big challenge we would rather not face again.
There was another big tomato harvest on Friday. All the field tomatoes have to be picked underripe due to our friends The Crows. We then sort them to hold for ripening at the farm. Eliot was helping with this assignment. He also helped me pack and sort out the boxes for distribution. After calling him Ethan all morning, he finally told me his name was Eliot. 🙁 Sorry Eliot, but thanks for being such a great help! We sent out 431.72 pounds on Friday and again filled all the gleaners’ cars to the max! This week’s total was 1,573.20 lbs.
Cathy went into the Rimol greenhouse to cut a Tromboncino squash and promised to give me feedback on how she cooked it. We are in love with its bell-shaped flowers. Here is her delicious looking plate of Tromboncino noodles.
Denise and David learned to broadfork on Friday, so Tina and Ian could help us plant 2 more beds of Nappa cabbage (266 seedlings) for a fall harvest.
On Friday we had what is now called a “Theda”. A member of our mowing team ran over and sliced open one of our main irrigation pipes. I put out a call for help, and, on Saturday, Burnham came to get it back up and running. Thank you, Burnham. Even with that inch of rain we got last week, we are watering daily. Our friend Mary came and made and delivered lovely bouquets to Morning Glory. They are available to buy for a donation. Elizabeth stopped by and picked her own lovely bouquet.
Our Fabulous Fix-It Team worked out a much easier, time-saving approach to the ongoing tunnel door issue. This group is so great at bringing their ideas and experiences together to work out the best solution. I am like a deer in the headlights when I am asked to come be a part of their strategizing. I honestly don’t know what G2G would do without them and their skill set.
We had 13 volunteers on Saturday–harvesting tomatoes, working in the Rimol, trailing and suckering cucumbers, deadheading flowers, prepping a bed for a cover crop planting, fixing irrigation issues, and watering. There is always something to do. When asked if we might have a volunteering opportunity for someone who has a disability, I say of course! I always tell people our volunteers are 3 to 93, and there is always a task or project that everyone can be a part of.
A few end of the week notes:
The elderberries are definitely ready to start harvesting. PICK-YOUR-OWN ELDERBERRIES! $10/lb donation – Monday to Saturday 8-2.
And thank you to Sue, who brought us a big load of cardboard!
We need to borrow butterfly nets for monarch tagging on September 9th with students from Maine Coast Waldorf School! If you have any that you’d be willing to loan us, please let us know!
If anyone is interested in volunteering, but not interested in gardening, we are associated with 3 gleaning organizations. Here are links to their organizations:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/538312537205695/
Cumberland County Gleaning Initiative
Also, a belated shout out to two groups of campers and their counselors from Apogee Adventures, who lent us 60 hours of human help on August 11. They were an amazingly engaged, energetic, and helpful group of kids!
One final thought is that I am always learning. Sometimes I take things for granted, such as our harvest board. Carrie or I will fill out the board for each of our 3 gleanings. On Saturday, someone asked me where all these fresh picked tomatoes were going. I had just filled in the board for Monday. It gives plot locations of vegetables ready to pick, names of recipients, info on certain crops going to certain recipients, poundage, etc.
As I explained it to the Saturday team, they had an AHA! moment–another piece of our farm puzzle was filled in. This, in turn, gave me an AHA! moment. I need to share more of how our whole operation works, so everyone can get an idea of their roles in the bigger picture. I promise to work on that. 🙂
As always, thanks for all the help. All of you inspire me.
Theda