We slept at Timothy's even though it has been a rainy and cool week, much more like April than June. It seems like it has been raining forever -- I can't remember the last sunny day. I think it was Monday. But I am committed to being in Loudoun for any of the days the workers need me. And in fact, rainy days are the days they might need me the most because it is hard to figure out what to do or how much to keep working on the bad weather days. When it is nice out, there are fewer decisions to make.
As I have said before, the bed is very high off the ground so it is a project to get in and out. Because it rained all night and there is a tin roof about two feet over our heads, I was quite aware of the weather. And since I was more awake than usual, of course I had to pee. So eventually I had to wrestle my way out of bed, feeling around with my toes as I dangled my leg down toward the irrigation box that now serves as a safe stepping stone. After I came back inside I had to dry off with a towel. Anyway, it was hard to think about sleeping after all those shenanigans. I had no idea what time it was, but I could see shapes in the dark so it was getting to be morning for sure.
So after about fifteen minutes of pondering the consequences of all this rain (I had told the workers to meet at 7:00 and it was too late to change that plan, and besides my phone was up in the barn getting charged so I couldn't send a text if I wanted to), I decided it was time to get up. This time Jon woke up, and he asked what time it was. I said I thought it was about to be daytime. He turned on a lantern and told me it was not quite 5:00. Like I said, almost daytime.
When I am home and I wake up early I just come downstairs and get to work on the computer. There is always something that needs doing. I am behind right this minute on preparing for the CSA which starts the day after tomorrow. Anyway, now there is wifi in the Green Barn so I can do sit-down work even when I am in the middle of that totally chaotic construction zone (Jon and Stephen are still working on the bathroom, now at the tiling phase, and their tools and detritus take up quite a big area. I have carved out a space for the rest of us by putting together a table made of boards and crates, and demanding a shelf for notebooks and rubber bands and computer stuff, but we have to step around a great deal of the work area to get to it.).
No hot yukky, no light except for a trouble lamp, no heat. Not perfect, but I got out the trusty iPad and got to work. I knew there were other farmers awake out there. Sent a text to Zach asking him to let me know when he could talk. Within minutes, he called me and we made a plan together.
It was still misty and drizzling but I drove around to see whether we could still walk in any of the fields. Most were too soft, but the one I was most interested in had been compacted just enough by tractor tires and I thought we might be able to manage.
At 7:00 it was touch and go, but we went. It is not ideal in the least to mulch in the rain, but there was no way to know if it would rain more or stop, so I didn't let them know there was even a question. And eventually it stopped raining and Amelia and I took off our outer layers because we were getting hot. It is a cheerful group we have this year, and they are gelling into a very functional and friendly unit. It is actually a joy to watch them. They work hard and they like to learn and they laugh and they talk. I feel like a proud mom.
The plan was to mulch until 8:15 and by then our shoes had five pounds of mud caked on and we could not have continued. It started to rain hard and we headed inside for our meeting.
I am discovering that all those years of classroom management have made me a different sort of manager. These are not fifth graders by any means, but I want to keep them interested, keep them moving from one thing to the next, allowing for some amount of socializing while I teach. My classroom was always noisy. Part of the goal was to allow the group to like being a group. The same is true on the farm, and especially on the Loudoun farm. In Vienna, the group goes home by early afternoon, to separate lives. In Loudoun, they live and work together, so it is really important for them to enjoy the whole package.
Anyway, all this rain was a challenge. After a couple of days, you run out of appropriate tasks. While I lay in bed contemplating the game plan, I decided to give up by noon. So I had arranged with Zach that he could have two of our workers (his farm is two hours away, so it is not a small effort to send him help) overnight, and one person spent the day driving to Lancaster County to pick up a new implement, and there was enough work in the barn for three, and one person could head to Vienna. And then I could go home to my warm house and get some dry clothes on.
After our meeting where we divided up the tasks and talked about the afternoon plan, we had a fast-paced morning picking: four separate teams with short lists but big numbers. They filled their golf carts with crates and bent their heads to keep the rain off their faces. They did such a good job in every way. After an hour and a half we all convened in the washing area and used all the sinks and the pressure sprayers, and we cleaned lettuce and beets and chard and kale and scallions and put them into sanitized crates (two of them were sanitizing crates outside, working like demons). The new barn is a dream to work in. Concrete floor, big spaces, huge cooler, lots of water pressure, a drain that we don't even think about because it is under the sinks, giant doors. SO GOOD.
And the morning was over. We always have a potluck lunch on Thursdays and I had asked Ellen if we could please come to her house because we needed a place to feel warm and dry. She nicely made space for us all. Everyone changed into dry-ish clothes, although few of us had anything clean to wear, and we had hot chili and macaroni and cheese and salad and bread and rice krispie treats. And as Carrie said, those girls (the workers) talked to each other as if they never get to see each other.
I am feeling very good about the season as it is unfolding. A little less good about my aching muscles, but that's a different story.
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