Options Du Jour

Options Du Jour

Nothing disorients me more than to have excess time on my hands. By definition a farmer never lacks for job security, unless he is the type of guy who has determined that he will no longer work in the rain. Believe me when I say that there is still a vast quantity of work to be done.

I don’t even know why I add the word “still” in there, as though the time will come when we will all sit back in our lounge chairs and announce, “Well, that’s that! The work is now done.” On a year-round farm, you can’t run out of work.

The list is not endless but only because I’ve never tried to jot down the options du jour. Farming is such that I can attack any one of a dozen different tasks, with none being more pressing than the next. One advantage is that I never feel bogged down with one agenda, especially if that agenda happens to be physically demanding.

So much of what needs to be done is logistical in nature, such as caging the tomato plants. To allow the plants to flop in the breeze, so to speak, is to invite later issues with tomatoes in the dirt, breakage, and general mayhem.

To cage more than 200 plants, however, requires first much thought, and then comparable follow-through. Last year we experienced some bruising when the Ace tomato plants simply produced too much fruit within the confines of the metal construction wire cages, in which they were enshrined.

Those wire cages are unforgiving when it comes to crowded conditions. What I have in mind this year, is the six inch by six inch netting, that comes in thirty-by-six feet rolls, give or take. Using bamboo, I will simply enclose the plants, either individually, or more if it seems logical, and figure that the netting will allow for more expansion, without crimping style.

Am I going to set out to enclose more than 200 tomato plants at one go? Baby steps.

With all of the prep work I have already completed, I still have the two lowest terraces to be done. Originally, Gluten-Free Mama wanted to plant winter squash, but tomatoes took precedence, and the squash was planted out by Boss Lady because the time had come.

Considering I am still seeking homes for about 20 Aces and a smattering of others, these terraces make the most sense. Besides, regardless of what will go in, I need to get them prepped. One thing that has stalled the process, is that I have run out of my home-grown compost, and will have to go up to the big pile and rustle up a truck filled with it.

On the list is this same compost prep for next year, as that which just ran out. I have a monstrous pile of pulled weeds, chicken manure, and used straw, to which I need to infuse a truck load of that same compost. So that’s two trucks filled with compost that I need to move.

I have stayed bravely abreast of the weeding throughout my entire complex, but I dare not slack off now. With the new rain will come a late rally and I must be vigilant. Job security.

Having completed the foundation/skirting work, I still have one generator door to build and attach, and one new generator house to build at SmallBoy’s site, for which I still need a slab. I have committed to painting the cabin as well, if we can put together a simple set of scaffolding, so that I do not have to go up and down all day on a ladder. Ladders and bad knees are not a good fit.

Our cannabis has been in the ground for about three weeks now, so we’re not yet to the point where we need to start the ‘booing. We have decided to hold off until towards the end of June, and just let them spread their own wings for the time being.

I have two projects pending, one involving the division of a large herb bed, and the other a far more complex endeavor. I want to relocate the Celtic Cross/Circle that I assembled about two decades ago, to a new location, one which cannot be driven over.

I made the original out of smooth river rock, acquired over time, but it got ravaged because it was at the edge of our parking area, and vehicles kept ending up on top of it. Additionally, winter rains each year gradually covered it with a layer of dirt, from which I had to retrieve it. 

Now it is sadly in need of some TLC, which I have in abundance, possibly fueled by the THC, but that is pure conjecture. And no, the project doesn’t come under the category of farming, but it does apply when it comes to those options, of which I may avail myself on any given Sunday, if’n it don’t rain.

Otherwise, I have a breath-taking idea-I could clean house. 

Breath-taking might be a stretch.