8-27-10

AMAZING AUGUST

AND ON HIS FARM HE HAD A....

OKRA BLOSSOM

SWEET PEPPERS

GREENHOUSE AT DUSK

There is a strange sensation here we're feeling that we did not feel at any other farm. It's an urge to do as much work as the farmers. At all other places, the WWOOF hosts have worked more than us, and we felt comfortable with that, seeing no reason to break our backs, since we were only volunteers. Here however, the combination of Melody and Adam being our same age, in addition to it being the peak of summer and produce needing to be harvested each and every day compels us to go above and beyond the call of duty. Trouble is, on a day like today, when we worked 13 hours, from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm with a short lunch break, we worked less than both Melody and Adam by a solid 4 hours. They keep saying "it's not your farm, go home," but there's work to be done and how can we sit at home, not learn, and do nothing when there is so much needing attention? It's great for us to see how maniacally they work; is this something we really want to do? Is it something we even can do? But it's only the summer, and they probably have 4-5 months of snowy weather here when they cannot do an ounce of work on these beloved, belabored fields.

Tomatoes. That one word sums up today pretty well. When we agreed to come here, it was under the impression that there were 6 acres of tomatoes that needed our attention. This statement proved so true today. There are several varieties of tomatoes growing here, in two separate areas: in the rolling greenhouse, and in the lower fields (there are three field areas: the upper, that has clay soil, the middle, that has lush, loamy soil and the tomato greenhouse, and the lower, with amazing soil in a flood plain). The tomatoes in the greenhouse grow in a managed, magnificently cared for manner, and less than 5% of these tomatoes are lost to rot, fungus, or other undesirables. The field tomatoes however, grow in a more Vietnam jungle type atmosphere, and unfortunately, nearly 50% of these tomatoes fall victim to, for lack of a scientific term, smushing. Because they are so densely packed in and not staked, the vines are literally falling on each other. Many plants crush other plants, many obstruct sunlight preventing even ripening, and others are crushed by the soles of our shoes as we wade through the thicket trying to harvest others. In the greenhouse, one can harvest 100lbs of tomatoes in less than 15 minutes. In the field, it takes well over two hours. It's so hard to find them, and half the ones you find that are red and seemingly ripe are rotten on the underside. It's tragic to see so many tomatoes that are 3/4 flawless, with one big soft rotten spot, assuring no sale could ever take place.

With hundreds of pounds of organic tomatoes harvested, some for CSA customers, most for wholesale at local restaurants, the crop was divided into three levels of quality. The most pristine ones are off to the restaurants for $2-$4 a pound, depending on variety. The middle level is given to the CSA. This middle level of tomatoes is far superior to any tomato you will find in a supermarket, because it ripens fully on the vine and tastes so sweet and delicious. It might just have the smallest spot or blemish somewhere. The third division is bruised or most often, slightly cracked and soft tomatoes. These in theory are the ripest, sweetest tomatoes, but because they don't look perfect, people don't want them. Consumers are so used to perfect, unblemished produce, they would never consider purchasing a cracked or bruised piece of fruit. Luckily for us, we got to take them and make one killer tomato sauce for dinner. Mamma Mia, we made a lot of sauce!