Farm Work

Finished coppicing our basket willow this morning. The remaining whips and branches were woven into wattle along the drainage ditch that passes through the farm in an effort to reduce erosion.

I just learned that our recently recondition BCS tiller has bit the dust. Apparently it blew a connecting rod while I was returning it to the shed after a short bout of tilling. My friend Dean from Victoria, who was over with his family over the weekend helping me with some larger jobs, kindly offered to bring the old beast in to town to get it looked at. Today he emailed me the diagnosis I was expecting with the quip, “So you want to be a farmer still?” to which I replied, with no hesitation, “Of course.”

Shit does happen – especially on a farm. Some of it requires composting. Some of it not so much. All of it requires a longer view, a great deal of patience and faith.

Case in point: Shortly after learning about the loss of our BCS, our local priest/counselor/farmer and proud owner of a similar BCS, Ellen Willingham called. Upon hearing about our recent loss, she graciously  agreed to loan us her tiller.

In the mean time Dean is looking into the possibility of getting our tiller’s engine replaced. If it happens great. If it doesn’t, we’ll find another solution. No worries. No need to get anxious.

Farm work can, at times, be overwhelming and emotionally draining – especially when dealing with  the harsh realities of nature. Today was like that for me. Fresh from a very productive weekend harvesting, marketing and moving chickens I reviewed our recently started ‘crops’ only to find that the lettuce wasn’t germinating (again!); the recently germinated carrots had even more recently suffered an assault by an army of mini-slugs that have apparently also recently ‘germinated’ in warmth of our greenhouse; and the spinach, radishes and mustard greens that I planted a month ago had been overtaken by weeds. In the midst of my dispair I happened to notice the peas – those steady, cool-loving, large-seeded sweeties, poking their green tendrilish shoots out of the soil, unbothered by weeds, the damp, the cold or – at least for the time being – by slugs and I instantly felt better. All I can say is thank God for peas! They were just what I needed to see today.

Spent the afternoon, preparing the ground for this year’s potatoes. It’s been years since I have planted potatoes. For the past 12 years all of the land I’ve had access too has been home to large resident populations of wireworms (the larvae of the click beetle) not only do they love potatoes but they also have incredibly long larval periods (7-11 years!). Well the land we have access to on Karl Hamson’s place looks to be relatively wireworm free. So we’ve got a wide range of potato types that well be planting over the next few days. With any luck in 2-3 months we should have a crop of delicious tubers!