What Not To Do

Much of farming is trial and error. Finding out what works and what doesn't. I have been at Sunrise about a month and a half now, still chugging along, still holding onto my prefix, intern, not quite to farmer status yet, but getting closer.

Over the past week or so I have taken quite a few pictures of what not to do on the farm. Now take notes:

#1. DO NOT SLEEP ON THE JOB:



This picture was taken last week while Micha was giving us a lesson on lashing. No, I'm not talking about what probably first came to mind, some kind of cult-ish act of whipping. I'm talking about lashing as in fastening a cord to something in a secure way. I will agree, it was early, but I'm personally not a standing sleeper like my mamma Sandy. Even though Sandy slept through a greater portion of the lesson she sure did lash the hell outta those polyvinyl chloride pipes.

#2. DO NOT TELL LIES



This photo was taken during our monthly farm tour. I wouldn't say that Avana flat out lied to all those lovely folks, particularly our house mate Larry, pictured in the black and white collared button up, but I would say all those nice things about the row cover were a little biased. She did flip both sides of the coin and all, telling of the pros and cons, but she did fail to mention that the Devil himself feng shui-s (verb) his palace with this synthetic disaster. It may be great for adding good energy to the home or starting a bon fire, but this stuff didn't help our lovely crop in this case. This beautiful row was ridden with leaf eating worms when we finally uncovered them.



#3. DO NOT THROW DARTS AT PEOPLES FACES



Earlier in the week we conducted a little biological monitoring that consisted of tossing darts and closely examining a six inch diameter plot of the field. This rule is pretty simple however. Do not throw darts at peoples faces. In the NOLS world they would call this one a near miss. Sandy nearly missed throwing the dart square in my face while I was trying to take a picture of her and Micha in the beautiful landscape. I still captured a great shot, but it nearly cost me my life. Would I do it again? Definitely. It's called extreme photography.

#4. DO NOT USE TOOLS IMPROPERLY



This is a shot of me weeding with a hand trowel as if it were a shovel. You would probably get no where fast using this method, and if you finally did in fact get to where ever your were trying to go, you would have a broken back. End of story. And PS, a shovel probably wouldn't be the tool of choice anyway.

#5. DO NOT TOUCH THE ELECTRIC FENCE



I got shocked. Twice. And once was enough. Although some people pay lots of money to get this adrenaline rush I would say, steer clear.

#6. DO NOT FORGET TO CHECK UNDER THE ROW COVER



Reference #2. The row cover does have some benefits but in my opinion, it is visually unpleasing and it disconnects you from the crops that are growing underneath. This particular row got a little, emphasis on little, neglected. When we finally got around to giving it a little TLC the weeds chocked out our crop. They will live though, don't worry.



#7. DO NOT OPT FOR THE QUICK FIX



If a riser blows off the line, maybe it needs a little more then a hand tightening to fasten it back on, maybe, just throwing that out there. Well we opted for the quick fix and this is what happened, exactly what happened the first time, another blown off riser. We learned from this lesson though, today when it happened we decided to switch out the pipe entirely.

#8. DO NOT FARM NAKED



Right now farming naked is only in my dreams, but I guess for some reason that's not allowed here. So here's the next best thing, bathing suits and sports bars. However, naked farming did make the list of things not to do because of a few factors: thistle and sunburns.



#9. DON'T FORGET TO HARVEST A ROW



While harvesting garlic scapes, a farmers market delicacy, I simply forgot to harvest the last two rows. Keep in mind that those two rows are way out in left field and any individual could have easily made the same mistake. This is me trying to justify my foolishness. Anyway, when I realized what I had done, I went back and harvested another handful. Or should I say liberated? I enabled those scapes to become something great, a secret weapon, and a gift for Lara.



#10. DON'T BE A TURD



None of us can really pass on a break when they are offered, especially when they include coffee and toast, but its easy for those 10 minute breaks to some how turn into 25 minute breaks. Sometimes I have to remind myself, this is what I signed up for, now don't be a turd. Get up. And get back to work.



This past week the team had a lot of freedom to make management choices. We really are growing as a group and becoming more efficient as a product. We will probably keep adding to the list of things not to do, but I would say the list of things TO DO is growing exponentially. I couldn't ask for a greater experience.



See ya out there.