July's Schedule is Ready
I think before any season begins on a farm, all but the very best farmers can just fill in the calendar far ahead of July with one thing mostly every day.
“Ah, so what’cha doin’ der the 14th of July, eh?”
“Lemme take a gander at the old calendar. Op, yeah, of course. Look there, I’ll be weedin’!! Purdy much the whole month looks like. Whatev’r yer thinkin’ ‘bout can prolly wait ’til August?”
It feels like a little bit of a cheat, as the so called Jefe of this place. I hardly even have to make a plan in July. Wake up, weed, lunch, weed, sleep, dream of weeding and maybe yams and ice cream. It has military predictability, but we only kill plants. I would venture to say that it’s efficient in it’s simplicity of planning, except that it is a sign that we didn’t do things right the first time, or even the second time, so it’s not actually efficient at all. When we go out to weed, it is purely about saving a crop from our own follies. Now we have to get out there on hands and knees, get pestered by deer flies, and save certain crops, one after another. Salad and beets are saved today. Peppers and Eggplants will be saved tomorrow. Next time, we’ll get it right the first time, or maybe the second…is what I tell myself. I want to be efficient. I don’t want to have to weed. But Momma Nature gave us July cause she knows we are going to mess it all up.
I curse a lot, and also hit myself in the face in July, on account of all the aforementioned deer flies. I forgot to mention them in my previous blog post emotings about the beautiful insects of the area. It goes dragon flies (so mysterious and regal), lightening bugs (so etherial) and biting flies (oh *&%^ that!!).
On a recent day of harvest, I was openly cursing about getting pester and occasionally feasted on by the flies, and noticed that no one else was seeming to mind them. Mar was quiet, Molly was silently working away. Chris and Natalie too. Not a peep of distain.
“Am I the only one getting eaten alive out here?! I’m going crazy! Yesterday, the back of my neck was covered in bites!!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah, me too”, Molly said with Buddhist calm. “It’s pretty crazy”.
I am silenced. I feel some shame of being such a pretty princess about it all. It’s July. What do I expect? What am I expecting? By August the flies will pass and the weeding will be an after thought. So suck it up Buttercup.
We keep harvesting, and I still curse a little under my breath.
Dragon Flies…so mysterious. Lightening Bugs…so etherial. Biting flies…inner peace or some @*^%.